A glimpse into the haunted history of Lawrence, KS: The Lawrence Ghost Tour

8:00 pm.  After dark.  October 26th, 2013.  The Saturday before Halloween.  Ghosts are diligent, haunting places year-round.  But people seem to think it only happens in October.  This is the most popular time for the Lawrence Ghost Tour, as well.

There were some vivid historic accounts of the Quantrill Raid, and some tidbits on a couple of haunted houses that used to be brothels. Apparently a buxom redheaded apparition appeared at the foot of a husband and wife’s bed undulating scintillatingly. The wife attempted to wake her husband, but he was in some type of sleep paralysis and missed the whole thing. One of the neighbors called the police because she thought an intruder was in the house. This was the first stop after leaving the Eldridge, the point of departure.

IMG_1843The Eldridge has many ghost stories, especially involving the fifth floor, room 506 in particular.  We were shown a photo of the lobby, where a ghost can be seen standing in the elevator.

 

IMG_1844Sigma Nu Fraternity House.  Kansas Governor Roscoe Stubbs lived there in the early 1900’s.  He returned from a trip one day to find his wife sitting in a rocking chair and his young lover hung in an upstairs room.  Legend has it, Virginia, the young woman who hung herself still haunts the building.

 

IMG_1846Pioneer Cemetery.  Some people on the tour claimed their cell phones and photographic equipment would not work inside the cemetery.

 

The last stop was the Children’s Cemetery at Haskell.

An all-around informative tour without any over-dramatics, just a lot of great history and ghost stories. I went with a couple of skeptics. However, there were several people who bought ghost-hunting apps on their phones part-way through the tour and seemed to be having a good time with them.

 

For more information about this and other Kansas Ghost Tours: http://www.ghosttoursofkansas.com