Haunted Kansas: Strange Happenings

I never really believed in ghosts until the first time I visited Hutchinson Kansas. Now I have no doubts. Back in 2004, when I flew out to Kansas with my wife Tami to look for a house to rent, we stepped into one of Hutchinson's many beautiful antique shops to browse around and while I was looking into the glass counter, I got a chill down my spine and the air felt really thick. At the same time Tami said she heard someone breathing behind her but there was nobody there. That was my first experience with the paranormal.

I didn't really get freaked out by that incident, but once we moved to Hutchinson, we started to experience more and more unusual things. It started with the noises in the attic. It sounded like a grown man was walking around up there, but when I went to check it out there was nothing up there but insulation. Then one night my wife woke me up with a blood curdling scream that had me slapping at the walls looking for the light switch. After I turned the lights on, Tami told me she was laying on the couch and saw a man from the civil war days float through the kitchen wall into the living room and over her, then finally exiting through the living room window. Now I was freaking a little.

All this activity seemed to take place when the weather turned colder, then subside except for an occasional knocking on the wall or a visit from a ghost cat. I have to admit I was skeptical even after most of these incidents but all doubt was soon removed when I saw a man walk through a wall at a manufactured homes job I was working at. Actually it was half window and half wall. I found out later a man died out there on the job. I was working in a closet with a light switch in it and the lights kept going off. I turned it on three more times only to have it turn off again. A co-worker saw a girl walk through that same closet two days earlier, when there were no lights on.

Most of the folks I know in Hutchinson have a ghost story to tell. One woman who lives in Medora, which is about four or five miles north of Hutchinson, told us one day she was looking out her window and saw an old stagecoach across the highway from her house coming towards her driveway. She said after the stagecoach made it across the highway it suddenly disappeared as it approached the driveway. Another friend of mine said she always hears knocking in her basement.

Many places around Hutchinson are said to be haunted or have paranormal activities. The fifth floor of the courthouse is said to have a woman who supposedly killed herself while jailed there. Workers who clean up at the courthouse after-hours say there's a sense that someone is watching them as they cleaned up. Candles are said to have been lit on their own. And crying is heard when there is nobody there. One woman said she was cleaning up and the copy machine started on its own. Many locals have heard this story many times over the years and just as many believe the story as those who do not believe it.

The Hutchinson Library is another building in town with a haunted past. A librarian is said to have been roaming the basement of the library for years. Ida Day Holzapfel was the head librarian from 1915-1925 and then again from 1947-1954. She moved to California and died in a car crash. She is said to straighten out books that are out of place. Employees claim to hear footsteps and hear her voice.

Many locals have heard these stories many times over the years. Some choose to believe, some choose to ignore the believers. One thing is certain. When you see one ghost, all doubt will be removed.