haunted road trip

my sister and i went on a road trip to decatur, IL. decatur is 30 miles southwest of champaign, really out in the middle of nowhere. my sister, who is heavy into the paranormal, did her research and decided that this town was both haunted enough and close enough to deserve a trip. it was her birthday present from me.

DAY 1: 11 OCT 11
she had a doctor's appointment at 11:30, so we weren't going to be able to leave early anyway. i slept in, packed, ran some errands, got my tips from the SB, got lunch and then picked her up. we got on the road around 1:30, about an hour after i wanted.

it's never easy getting out of the city, even at 1:30pm on a tuesday afternoon. we finally got on 57 south around 2 or so. first stop: sonic in champaign. we got there around 4pm. (yes, i like to speed.) i got tots and a cherry limeade and a cave tot toy. shannon got a pumpkin pie shake. it was amazing.

we got into decatur about 5pm. we stopped into target to get some snacks. then we headed off to find our hotel for the night. we ended up at the Decatur Conference Center. it was ok, nothing spectacular. free wireless, which was the only necessity of our sleeping arrangements. that, and two beds, of course.

anyway, we got our room and then headed out to check out the town. we found Greenwood Cemetery first, after much driving around like idiots. it's tucked away in a neighborhood, not really on a main drag. we drove until we found the back entrance. we could see headstones outlines against the sky, which was pretty cool, but not the way to get in. then we managed, with the help of shannon's android we managed to find the actual entrance. of course, it being 7pm, the gate was closed.

we drove around the town and Miliken University a bit, then, when i drove to get back onto the main road to go back to our hotel, we drove past a cemetery right in the middle of town. "hey, there's one," i said. and the gate was open. so we drove in.

we drove up over a hill so the car wouldn't be seen from the road. we got out and i got out my tripod and took some pictures. it was pretty sweet to be in a cemetery at night, especially when it's 70 degrees outside.


calvary cemetery

after we left the cemetery, we went back to the hotel. shannon grabbed her laptop and we headed down to the sports bar to get something for dinner and to blog about the day. fried pickles, nachos and watching Detroit beat the Rangers in post-season baseball and the night was complete. we actually went to sleep at 1am, after dicking around and an episode of Ghost Adventures on the laptop.

DAY 2: 12 Oct 11
woke up at 10am. got our crap together and headed to IHOP for breakfast. cinnamon-slathered pancakes and some bacon later, we crossed the street to... HOBBY LOBBY! one hour and several items later, we got something to quench our thirst and headed down to Greenwood Cemetery. it was 1pm. as we passed the Lincoln Square Theater, we noticed that they were having a flu shot clinic at 4pm. at least we would be able to get inside, since it didn't look like it was currently functioning as a theater.

Greenwood Cemetery is amazingly huge and beautiful. it took us a while to figure out what entrance we had encountered the night before, that's how large it is. it's nestled into a series of hills, which makes casually wandering around a workout, but the contour is a welcome change to the flatness that surrounds the area. the internet had compared this cemetery to Bachelor's Grove, but it's nothing like that old, neglected afterthought of a cemetery. we spent an hour here, until the winds picked up substantially and the rain started. then we headed off to thrift.

it was 2pm. we had a few hours to kill before the Lincoln was going to open. we stopped into a small thrift store that closed at 3pm, so then we decided to go to an antique mall we had seen advertised at our hotel.

Wabash Antique Mall


(two hours later...)

we emerged, blinking into the bright sunlight. this is what day looks like? yeah, the place was amazing. it was set into the old train depot and they had left the building intact, down to the ticket booth and the back offices. i managed to just buy a bag, shannon bought a shot glass and a few other things. it was a total time-suck, but we finally escaped, because they were closing.

so we head to the Lincoln Square Theater. on the main drag of town, it is a prominent feature of the area. with the typical 20s marquee sign, it was a pretty cool building. we went inside, where there were five people hanging out and eating. one was the CVS flu rep, who looked to be no older than 21. the other four were people from the theater. we explained that we didn't really want a flu shot, but that we were hoping to get some pics of the theater, since it was open.

well, we lucked out. turns out that one of the people there was a web designer and the other two women were board members of the theater (the fourth was just some guy who ended up leaving soon after we arrived). the women were going to be giving the web guy (who was easily in his 60s) a tour of the place and we could tag along. sweet!

so we went into the auditorium. on the stage, was a blue light. a Ghost Light, one of the women said. 'cause ghosts need light, evidently. yes, this place is super-haunted, which is why we were there. i got some nice shots of the house from stage, then we went up into the mezzanine and balcony, which was pretty awesome. the place is amazingly huge.

Lincoln Square Theater

by this time, we were absolutely starving. we had never stopped to eat lunch and now it was almost 6pm. we were told of a little street just parallel to Main Street that used to be where the brothels and saloons were. on the corner was a pizza place that used to be a jewelry store that was haunted. i guess we knew where we were going to get dinner!

14" thin crust pepperoni and two diet pepsis later, we decided to head back to the hotel, change into dark clothing, grab our flashlights and check out some cemeteries located out on the rural roads. those are usually the coolest, oldest cemeteries. before we went to the antique mall, we had stopped in a gas station to use the facilities and i had taken notice of a map of the city on the wall. the cemeteries were marked and i noticed a lot more than what we had listed from the internet. we bought a map and planned accordingly.

but we wanted to visit one cemetery first. we arrived around 7pm. it was well past dusk, but there was still some light in the sky. i don't know how many of you have encountered this, but some people leave lights on the graves, which makes for a strange sight in the dark. they are usually solar powered and some hang from poles or are placed into the ground.

grave lights


this butterfly changed colors. notice the other grave lights in the background.

we hung out here for about half an hour and then headed back to our hotel to change. i was currently wearing a white hoodie, and i imagine my figure from the road must look a little strange. and we really didn't want any extra attention from the townsfolk.

our next stop was Salem Cemetery.


this stop was a little unnerving because it was next to a very well-lit church. sure, we could have parked in the parking lot, but then that would have been quite obvious, wouldn't it? so we drove around to a side road and parked there. of course, this was also obvious to drivers-by, but hopefully there weren't going to be a whole lot of those.

we snuck under the white plastic fence. there was actually an open gate by the parking lot, but we didn't want to walk all the way around. my sister was a little freaked out by the floodlights, but i assured her that there wasn't anyone in the church, since the parking lot was empty and there weren't any lights on in the church. we hung out here for about 30 minutes, then took off to our other destination.

hudelson cemetery was our next stop, about 2.5 miles down the road. let me preface this by saying... there's nothing out here. it's flat and boring and there are a smattering of farmhouses, but nothing much in the way of civilization. we were the only car on the road. it was also raining.

we turn down this road and manage to find a sign for the cemetery.

we saw this sign in the dark. photo from graveyards.com, taken by Angie Johnson


this is where the actual cemetery was

but we couldn't see the cemetery. or a road. the car-sized "path" is next to a plot of farmland and a copse of trees. i told shannon that i didn't really want to go down there without a 4-wheel drive car. so we ended up turning around and heading to our next cemetery.

brown cemetery was next on our creepy tour. it was a little hard to find, but we persevered and managed to find it ok. again, no locked cemetery gate or fence, so we drove on in and got out. it was almost 9pm.


brown cemetery

what was annoying about this cemetery was the farm next door. it was making this incredibly loud vacuum noise the entire time we were there. i kept hoping it would stop, but nope. it was nice to finally get in the car and close the doors.

our next stop was Muirheid Cemetery. this one was going to be a repeat of hudelson cemetery... a no show. after looking for it in google maps, this is why:

hello? muirheid cemetery?

as much as i love tromping through people's yards to get to strange, obscured cemeteries, i wasn't about to do it in the dark in a city where people love their guns. but after seeing this sign posted on graveyards.com, we should have come back during the day.

from graveyards.com, taken by Angie Johnson


so we called it a night and headed back to the hotel for more fried pickles and some dessert and a beer. and the rest of the play off games.

DAY 3: 13 OCT 11
woke up at 10:30. damn black-out curtains. plus, it was cloudy and rainy. our plan for the day was to head back to Calvary Cemetery then hit the road. we packed and got out around 11am. we hung out at Calvary for about 40 minutes.

Calvary Cemetery

the only mausoleum in the cemetery

so then we left town, after a quick stop to starbucks, of course. our next stop: Curtis Orchards in Champaign.

curtis orchards

they have a u-pick orchard and a pumpkin patch. they also have a very large metal indian with a bow and arrow, wearing a loincloth with his man parts removed. of course, i looked!

large metal indian

large metal indian's missing junk


anyway, we were overwhelmed with the amount of tasty goodness this place had. butters, preserves, spreads, corns of all types, teas, baked goods like pies, donuts. and the apples. oh, the apples. the u-pick was only golden delicious and gold rush apples, so we didn't go out into the orchard. but they had all sorts of other apples in the store, including honey crisp, which i snapped up in a champaign minute.

then we went out back, where the indian and the pumpkins were. we picked up some pie pumpkins and some gourds.
"
pie pumpkins!

"
easy-to-carry gourd

i spent $40 on all sorts of goodies. then we went to the petting zoo. the petting zoo consisted of goats and some ducks. kind of a crappy petting zoo, if you ask me. but nobody did, so away we went!

my haul from the orchard


you may see us all the time in local park!


fee-ee-ee-eed us!


after the orchard, we hit sonic again. i got another dino tot (this time i got a raptor tot). then the 2.5 hour drive back to the city. the rain hit us at about 75th and the Dan Ryan and really started coming down when we were on LSD by Wacker. the traffic sucked, but i managed to get home by 6, to a snuggly husband and left-over deep dish pizza. :)