History
This house in Rice County has a history that is darker than some might expect. The house in question, was build in 1907 by a banker. Originally, it was not a residence but a dance house. It included a dance floor and hosted dances on Friday night for Lyons High School children and adult dances on Saturday night. At the time of it’s building, the first owner spent a lot of money on the house. The owner was a hunter and had leather etched with hunting scenes along the walls of the house imported from Italy. The front door of the house was made in Italy as well as the tiling for the fire place. The pocket doors of the house were imported from what was then known as Czechoslovakia.
An August 15, 1949 edition of the Lyons News entitled “Three Dead in Murder Tragedy” gives the brutal details of the sad story hidden behind the walls of the house. A man who lived in Lyons at the time, fired six shots, three from a .22 and two from a 20-gauge shotgun killing his wife and her parents. The article states that the man, a 260 pound man, drove his 1940 Ford sedan and filled it with gasoline. He subsequently drove it parking near the in-laws residence, where he walked around the back of the home and cut the wires to the telephone. He then removed his shoes so that he could quietly walk to the top floor of the house. His mother-in-law, apparently roused awake from the noise of entry, came to investigate what was going on. He met her on the stairway and shot her with his 20-gauge shotgun, a hit which caused her to fall to the bottom of the steps where she lay dead. As he climbed the staircase, another shoot out began between his father-in-law (armed with a 10-gauge shotgun) and him. The two men fired at each other repeatedly, missing each time. Finally a blast from the man caught his father-in-law on the right side and left him dead on the floor. The man made his way through the house looking into each room. After checking all of the upstairs rooms and downstairs, he finally committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with his pistol. Although wounded in the battle, his wife survived in critical condition at the hospital. She survived another six months before passing away suddenly.
For some, the dark history seems to continue even after 50 years since the murders. The current home owner said whatever has happened in the home continues to effect him and his family. Among the oddities that have happened in the house include the basement door suddenly opening up when no one is in the house, and a loud bump like someone kicking very hard that left current home owner’s bedroom door slowly opening. “It went errrrrrrr, and I mean you sat up in bed, there was no place to run and the both of us sat up,” said the home owner. The current home owner’s aren’t the only ones who have been haunted by the departed souls that dwell in the building. Another residence’s daughter-in-law, has also had some very interesting experiences in the house. The daughter-in-law claims that during an overnight stay she had a strange dream. The dream involved her laying in bed while it vibrated and hovered. She stated that during the dream, she somehow knew it was caused by a woman named with the same name as the wife from the news article. The daughter-in-law went downstairs and told her parents only to discover that the wife was killed 50 years ago.
A married couple, prior residence of the house, have also had a strange experience in the house. Their granddaughter who was 2 1/2 years old at the time, went over to the window of mother-in-law’s room, pointed down and kept repeating fall down ouchy after saying she saw a “pool of blood”. stated what was even more spooky about the incident is that they had no idea the blood had ever been there, and at the time all that was left were little black spots on the floor. The wife said even spookier is the fact that the wooden drapes of the window, which the current home owner installed just prior to giving them a tour, were ripped and twisted. The current home owner has regularly given tours of the house. Whether or not these experiences are real or not, it doesn’t change the chill one feels while walking into the house on a late evening. Whether or not it is a ghost or simply the cold night wind is up for the reader to decide.
Investigation
The investigation by the CKPS is set to be completed for March 3, 2018.
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