Legends and Lore of Illinois Volume 3 Issue 3
-
Upload
black-oak-media-inc -
Category
Documents
-
view
222 -
download
4
description
Transcript of Legends and Lore of Illinois Volume 3 Issue 3
-
From the author
If you love the Legends and Lore of Illinois, you
need to buy our new book, Legends and Lore of Illinois:
Case Files Volume 1. It is a collection of the first two
years of the Legends and Lore of Illinois, with a few
surprises thrown in. For the first time, you can read
two stories from the early days of The Fallen, or get an
exclusive preview of their next adventure: Black
Willow Grove.
Legends and Lore of Illinois: Case Files is available
at Amazon.com. Buy it new from Black Oak Media
and get a small discount. Go here to buy it new:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0979040132/
ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&qid=1235326323&sr=1-
1&condition=new
I would like to thank Angie Faller of the Eff-
ingham Daily News for her wonderful article on me and
Ramsey Cemetery. Welcome to the Legends and Lore of
Illinois all you new readers! I hope you stick around
because we have a lot of great issues to come. g
Your letters
Thanks for the info on Hartford Castle.. i'll put it
on the list of places to go. just was on the legends and
lore site and went to check out the info on the newest
place ...Ramsey cemetery. Saw that you talked about it
being misnamed as the Kazbar Cemetery in another
publication. I grew up and ran around that area for
years before i knew it was called Ramsey cemetery.. as
kids if we went out there it was called the Kazbar... like
..Where ya want to meet up?... let's go out to the Kazbar.
never was clear on where that name came from just
thought i would let ya know that its been called that in
the area for 20 plus years by some folks.
not sure where i first heard it called that..just at a
party or a gathering of other kids as an area to go hang
out and party and ride four wheelers in the woods
around it. let me know if ya know why it was called the
Kazbar... little info i never picked up.. wierd.. lol thanks
again for the info on Hartford.
S. Lewis
Send us a letter! E-mail your questions or
comments to: [email protected]
http://www.myspace.com/legendsandloreofillinois
http://www.youtube.com/illinoisghosts
http://trueillinoisghosts.com
Contents From the Author 1 Your Letters 1 A Quick and Dirty Guide 2 The Fallen Investigate 3 Fan Support Page 6 Adventures Log 7 Paranormal 101 8 Trivia 8
I
One of the few abandoned buildings left at Manteno.
-
A Quick and Dirty Guide to
Manteno State Hospital
Manteno State Hospital, one of two such
facilities in Kankakee County, opened its doors in the
early 1930s. It took several years after the purchase of
the property in 1927 for the sprawling mental hospital
to be completed. Like Peoria (Bartonville) State
Hospital, Manteno was laid out in a cottage plan,
which meant that the patients were housed in a series of
separate buildings, rather than in one single institution.
When it first opened, Manteno accommodated 5,500
patients and 760 staff.
It didnt take long for tragedy to strike the
hospital. In an incident that Time magazine referred to
as the Manteno Madness, 384 patients and staff came
down with typhoid fever (47 died) in 1939. At first,
Ralph Hinton, the director of Manteno State, believed
the affliction to be nothing more than a common case of
diarrhea, but state welfare agents stepped in as the
number of ill dramatically increased. Panic gripped the
hospital.
Patients lay moaning in bed, Time reported.
Others, whipped by mad fear, beat against the
screened windows, grappled with attendants Every
night kitchen boys and orderlies disappeared. Over 45
ran away in all. (Manteno Madness, Time, 23
October 1939)
Kankakee County States Attorney Sam Shapiro,
who would go on to become the governor of Illinois,
dragged the director of the states Public Welfare
Department, Archie Bowen, to court over the incident
in
in 1940 even though Bowen had sent a truckload of
typhoid vaccine to Manteno at the onset of the
outbreak. At first, Bowen was convicted, but the State
Supreme Court overturned the conviction because, as
the Kankakee Daily Journal reported, Shapiro had
failed to show that the epidemic was caused by
polluted drinking water. (Daily Journal, 31 March
2007).
The Manteno State Hospital was later renamed
the Manteno Mental Health Center, and closed in 1985
along with many of the other such mental health
facilities in Illinois. Its campus was divided up and
sold off. The north side of campus became a veterans
home. Other buildings were consolidated into the
Illinois Diversatech Campus and rented to businesses.
The main administration building became a bank.
Despite public health concerns, a housing project
called Fairway Oaks Estates was recently built at the
location.
Manteno has attracted many curiosity seekers
since its closure, including its share of ghost hunters.
Over the years I have had many reports of people
who entered the old buildings and saw nurses and
doctors and even patients still dressed in their gowns,
Chad Lewis recently told the Daily Journal. (Daily
Journal, 31 October 2008) Amateur investigators have
taken dozens of strange photographs in the old
buildings.
Only a small handful of abandoned buildings
remain, and it is doubtful they will exist for much
longer. The quiet town of Manteno has done its best to
erase the memory of this place, but there will always
be stories. g An exterior courtyard outside of one of the cottages.
The front porch Visitors are few and far between.
II
-
The Fallen
Investigation File 027
Aurelia parked her battered old Buick LeSabre
across from the last dilapidated structure of the dozens
that once made up Manteno State Hospital. Originally
laid out in cottages, each building had been either
converted into a business, boarded up, or torn down
all except for this one. Aurelia had agreed to meet the
rest of The Fallen there, having been delayed for about
thirty minutes by a previous commitment.
The Fallens dark blue, Toyota Corolla sat along
the curb, empty. Jerks, Aurelia grumbled. Her
friends had apparently decided to begin the
investigation without her. She slammed the door of her
LeSabre and scanned the area with a hawkish gaze.
Down the block, children laughed and played in the
subdivision that had sprung up around the old hospital.
The air was still chilly, but the sun warmed anyone who
was under its rays.
Disregarding any concern for stealth, she yelled,
Hello? Im here! Where are you?
There was no reply.
Aurelia sighed and strolled toward the H
shaped building. The front of the one-story building
was enhanced with a wide porch. The porchs roof was
held up by a row of white pillars, and a plywood board
covered every window.
If they arent going to come out here, Aurelia
reasoned, Ill just have to go in after them.
It was no use trying the main entrance; the
doors were heavily chained, but Aurelias curiosity led
her onto the porch anyway. With a uniquely sensitive
mind, she could imagine the more docile patients
waiting for visitors. A profound sadness permeated the
air, and the building itself seemed to exhale with the
breeze. Aurelia couldnt sense how many souls
wandered the grounds, but she could feel their
presence.
She worked her way around the side of the
building until it opened up into a small courtyard. A
corridor, which connected the two sections, sat about
fifteen yards ahead of her. The doors on either section
were chained shut and large blocks of cement had been
placed in front of them, but most of the windows along
the corridor were damaged, allowing for easy access.
There was no sign of Mike, Greg, Emmer, or Davin
anywhere.
Cursing under her breath, Aurelia stomped over
to the corridor, intending to enter the building there,
but as she gained a foothold on the windowsill with her
boot, she noticed some movement out of the corner of
her eye. The motion came from a window located at
ground level on the section to her left. A railing
surrounded the window, which allowed light to spill
into the hospitals basement. Aura paused and her eyes
other window. When she was halfway across the
A hallway inside Manteno Hospital.
III
-
focused on the spot. Nothing stirred, but she felt a
tingle run up her spine.
Hesitating, she turned and walked toward the
other window. When she was halfway across the
courtyard, she thought she saw a flash of light in the
basement through the pealing window frame. Hah!
Aurelia cried. There you are, bastards! She rushed
over and used the railing to swing down into the
window sill. A thick grease came off on her hands, and
she frowned.
Gross, Aurelia said. She wiped her hands on
some old, dried leaves and peered through the window
into the basement of the hospital. Hello? she yelled.
The echo of her own voice was the only reply. She
wrinkled her brow and slid, feet first, through the
window. It was about a yard drop to the floor.
Landing without any difficulty, she dug into the pocket
of her hooded sweatshirt and produced a small
flashlight.
The beam revealed an empty, rectangular room.
Small piles of debris littered the floor, but there were no
furniture or markings to indicate for what the room was
once used. Aurelia remembered that Mike had rambled
on and on about tunnels that linked all of the buildings
as her flashlight fell on a narrow hallway.
A heavy thud suddenly echoed from
somewhere beyond the range of the beam, and Aurelia
jumped despite having been steeled by years of
encounters with the unusual. She quickly looked
around to make sure that no one had seen. In the back
of her mind, she was beginning to believe that her
friends were playing some kind of joke.
Or, at least, she hoped. She was still shaken up
Or, at least, she hoped. She was still shaken up
by her encounter outside of Ramsey Cemetery, and by
her feelings about Black Willow Grove, the code name
for The Fallens most recent assignment. Mike had
forbidden the group from using the towns real name.
The feelings she got there were odd and ominous. She
felt that nowa gnawing sense that something other
than the spirits of the departed stalked these corridors.
Even the dead seemed to flee from this unknown
presence.
A musty smell like that of old newspapers
wafted past Aurelias aquiline nose. She sniffed
defiantly and marched down the dark hallway, deep
into the bowels of Manteno. Condensation dripped
from the pipes overhead, and old bulbs sat lifeless in
their sockets in the ceiling.
She was getting close to the source of her
gnawing dread, but her flashlight revealed nothing but
dirt and cobwebs. Curiosity drove her forward. If her
friends jumped out at the last moment, she thought
with amusement, she would quickly make them very
sorry.
Before she could finish her thought, she felt a
rush of ice cold air that almost knocked her down. She
took a wide stance and braced herself as if she was
entering a storm without an umbrella. Her flashlight
flickered and threatened to be extinguished, but the
battery held. Not that its narrow beam did any good
the shadows in the corridor seemed to congeal and
absorb what precious little light the device emitted.
Wasting no time, Aurelia thrust out her hands
and cried out, Eko, eko, Azarak! Eko, eko, Zomelak!
An old security light has been dark for decades.
Most of the windows in this building have been boarded up.
IV
-
Bazabi lacha bachabe! Lamac cahi achababe!
The shadows retreated for a moment, but
returned in full force. A gust of wind burst through the
tunnel and Aurelia fell to the ground. Her rear end
planted itself amongst the grime and broken bits of
cement. Suddenly, a bright light illuminated the
hallway directly in the path of the shadows. The
luminescent glow burned away the darkness, and the
howling wind fell to a whisper. Just like that, the light
was gone, and the corridor returned to normal. The
whole incident lasted only a few seconds.
Thats twice Ive been saved by something, Aurelia
thought. Once might have been a coincidence, but twice is a
pattern. She grudgingly thanked whatever it was,
pulled herself up, and dusted herself off. Just then, she
heard footsteps coming from around the bend in the
hallway and she readied herself for another encounter.
This time she would not be caught off guard.
Moments later, Mike, Greg, Emmer, and Davin
appeared around the corner. They made a collective
sigh of relief when they saw Aurelia, but it was short
lived.
Aurelia marched over to the group, pushed
Davin out of the way, and punched Mike in the face.
Mike swore while Greg and Emmer laughed. Their
laughter quickly died when Aurelia spun toward them
with a menacing glare.
Where the hell have you been? she yelled. I
almost got killed down here.
We didnt know where you were, Mike
protested while checking his nose for blood. We
waited forever and you never showed up.
I told you I was going to be late, Aurelia hissed.
What happened? Davin asked. What do you
mean you were almost killed?
There was something down here, Aurelia
explained. It attacked me. Luckily I was able to fight
it off.
What attacked you? Greg asked with a grin.
A rat? A gaggle of goblins?
Some kind of dark spirit, Aurelia replied. I
cant quite explain it.
Emmer snorted. So this thing just happened to
disappear before we got here? Where did it go? What
did it look like?
I dont know.
Wait a minute, Mike said while bending his
glasses back into their proper shape. Tell us exactly
what happened.
Aurelia explained everything that happened
since she arrived, leaving out the part about being
saved by a mysterious light.
We should be more careful, Mike said. I
dont have a good feeling about this. Luckily Aura was
able to fight this thing off, but next time either her or
any of us might not be so lucky.
Speak for yourself, Emmer replied. Im not
afraid of the invisible. Weve been through all of this
before. Nothing Ive seen or heard has been very
convincing. Im not going to jump at shadows.
Mike sighed. Well, lets finish up here, but lets
stick together, shall we? he said as he pulled a camera
out of the pocket of his trench coat. I want to explore
these tunnels. I know a lot of the buildings have been
torn down, but maybe well find something down
here.
Or something will find us, Greg chuckled.
Aurelia grit her teeth and joined her friends as
the five disappeared into the darkness. g
An old, broken window in Manteno.
V
-
FFaann SSuuppppoorrtt PPaaggee!!
I am new to the Legends and Lore of
Illinois and so far I love it! It's
fascinating to read about all the different
factual stories that make up Illinois lore.
Keep up the good work!
Jessica Meagher
Fort Polk, Louisiana
I have got the chance to travel and cemetery
walk with Michael on a couple of occasions. I
really enjoy reading the places he has gone and
all the stories that goes with them. It was great
to see the story of Peck Cemetery, it is a
beautiful place. Keep up the good work and
fans keep up the support.
Angie Johnson
Bement Illinois
Good job demystifying the legends
and urban myths in Illinois. I love
seeing someone dig into the actual
history of these fascinating places.
Looking forward to reading more...
Jan
Mattoon, IL
VI
-
Adventurers log
What do Shoe Factory Road, Cuba Road, and
Manteno State Hospital have in common? All of them
have fallen victim to sprawl in one way or another.
Sprawl is the building of tasteless subdivisions, big box
retailers, and oceans of parking lots. It is the soft glow
of mall lights instead of your favorite playgroundsthe
abandoned places where your imagination used to run
wild, or the farms and forests of yesteryear.
The former grounds of Manteno State Hospital,
as it exists today, is a Frankenstein of reclamation. Part
of the hospital has been converted into a veterans
home, the weed-choked roads and dilapidated
buildings of which provide the perfect counter
argument to government-run anything. The rest has
been divided up into business and residential areas.
The existence of a housing project on the
grounds of a former mental hospital, with houses yards
away from some of the abandoned structures, is
something only Alfred Hitchcock or Stephen King
could dream up.
When I first went to Manteno last spring, I
couldn
couldnt believe my eyes. Firstly because I mistook the
veterans home for the abandoned hospital, and
secondly because I had to drive through a subdivision
to find the one building left to explore. It was surreal to
see homes across the street from this gutted and
decaying building. Most of the places I visit on these
adventures are along the back roads.
Places like Manteno really make us understand
the transitory nature of the world. Fifty years ago, what
visitor would have thought that someones house
would be located right where they stood, or that a bank
would occupy the main administration building of the
hospital? Yet here we are today. Institutions that seem
so solid now will all inevitably sit empty and in ruins.
Its the way of things.
Yet I cant help feeling a sadness that the ruins
of Manteno hospital will also cease to exist at some
point in the near future. As many times as I drove up
and down I-57 on my way to and from Eastern Illinois
University, as many times as I stopped off at the
Manteno exit for gas or dinner, I never realized until
recently that the ruins of this hospital were right there,
waiting to be explored. I consider myself lucky to have
learned about it when I did, and not when it was too
late.
As long as the stories remain, people will want
to know what really went on at Manteno State Hospital.
These stories may be all thats left one day. Or maybe
the residents of Fairway Oaks will create new stories for
future generations. Only time will tell. g
Order a full-color hard copy of this issue!
Print this page, fill out this form, cut it out, and mail it along
with your payment to: Black Oak Media PO Box 138 Cherry
Valley, IL 61016. Please print clearly.
1 Copy + Shipping $4.00
Legends and Lore of Illinois
Volume 3 Issue 3: Manteno State Hospital
Number of Copies:
Total: $
Shipping Address:
Phone #:
Please pay with check, cash, or money order.
Make checks payable to: Black Oak Media
VII
-
Paranormal 101
UFOUnidentified Flying Objects
Bennett, Jeffrey. Beyond UFOs: The Search for
Extraterrestrial Life and Its Astonishing Implications for Our
Future. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
Friedman, Stanton T. Flying Saucers and Science: A
Scientist Investigates the Mysteries of UFOs. Franklin Lakes:
Career Press, 2008.
Fuller, John G. The Interrupted Journey. New York:
Berkley Medallion Books, 1966, 1974.
Steiger, Brad, et al. Philadelphia Experiment and Other
UFO Conspiracies. Inner Light, 1990.
Von Dniken, Erich. Chariots of the Gods?: Unsolved
Mysteries of the Past. New York: Bantam Books, 1970, 1973.
I grew up reading those old paperbacks like The
Interrupted Journey filled with stories of regression
hypnosis and alien abductions. The possibility that we
werent alone in the universe fascinated me. Never the
less, my interest in the subject declined over the years, and
I had no idea just how many books there were on UFOs
until I looked on Amazon.com for some ideas to round out
the list above.
UFO research is probably the most legitimately
scientific of the paranormal fields, although aliens seem
just as fantastical as ghosts. Sightings of UFOs are still all
over the news, and TV shows like UFO Hunters keeps the
interest alive. In our bibliography this month Ive tried to
list some books to get anyone started on the road to UFO
study. Youll find a few brand new books and a few
classics, but all promise to be interesting. g
Trivia
Tough questions will be asked in this section. It is up to
you to uncover the clues and determine the solutions.
Sometimes you will find the answers buried in the current
issue; other times you will need to go to the location itself.
The answers to this months questions will be posted in next
months issue.
1. What was the name of the other mental hospital
in Kankakee County?
2. In what year was Manteno State Hospital
closed?
3. How many patents did Manteno house at its
height?
4. Who was the director of the hospital at the time
of the Manteno Madness?
5. Sam Shapiro went on to hold what prominent
public office in Illinois?
6. What was the name of the only remaining
derelict building on the hospital grounds?
7. What is the name of the housing project/
subdivision being built on the grounds of
Manteno State Hospital?
Go out and explore, and good luck!
Answers to last months questions:
1. Rock shelters. 2. The Lonely Lurker. 3. Serial Killers. 4.
Little Wabash River. 5. 1863. 6. 1850sEffingham grew into
a town. 7. Effingham County.
Small courtyards are located inside each building.
The doors of this particular building have been heavily damaged.
VIII