Most paranormal investigations are fueled by caffeinated beverages of one sort or another.”
Richard Estep – Paranormal Author
What started out as a small log cabin in the 1880’s, the Monroe house has become a national hotspot for paranormal investigators around the country. But how and why?
Located at 218 Monroe Ave in Hartford City, Indiana, what became known as the Monroe house originally started with the Berger Family. Immigrated from Belgium in 1892, the family sought to settle in a new home here in the states. They took quite a liking to the area of Indiana where the “factory boom” of industrialization was prominent. At first, everything was going well in the family’s new home, but within months, John Berger, the head of the family mysteriously died of tuberculosis. Strange things started occurring following his death; such as a random fire in the upstairs bedroom destroying much of the property and the majority of the Berger family.
The only survivors were the widow and one surviving child. The widow Berger decided to rebuild the house and rent out the rooms to people in order to make ends meet. Among the tenants, the Meyers family check in to stay. Ulysses Meyers; who was well known in the community, was a kind and well-to-do family man. However, within a few months, Ulysses began exhibiting strange behavior. His family and colleagues described him as ‘unrecognizable.’
Showing signs of rage, insanity, and hysteria that led to physical and verbal abuse directed towards his family. This led to him losing his job and the town’s respect. His behavior only got worse when he emptied out his family’s savings and skipped town with his new mistress. The Meyers family left broken; wondered how and why this all happened. The only difference in their lives over the months prior was that they moved into that house.
Now with the destruction of two families; rumors started circulating around the town about the house being cursed. The Meyers had no choice but to move out and Ms. Berger and her child couldn’t keep tenants due to the reputation of the house and were forced to sell the house at a fire-sale rate. What came of Ms. Berger and her child after that is still unknown.
Over time, the property had a revolving door of owners and tenants. Different owners would gradually make improvements to the house into the triplex that it is today. Numerous reports of strange paranormal activity came from the neighbors and passers-by.
In the late 1980s-1990s, rumors flew about people sneaking into the house and performing satanic rituals in the basement. From there, the stories only intensified and spread. Pretty soon the average tenant stay was one year or less.
Eventually, the abandoned house was boarded up and the windows were blacked out to keep people from looking inside. Not from vandalism, but the neighbors claiming they saw shadowy figures and calling the police. This soon attracted paranormal scholars and investigation groups. These investigators claimed they witnessed shadowy and inhuman manifestations, eerie footsteps, knocking on doors and cabinets, and loud bangs in the distance. It all seemed to have come from the basement or top floor where the satanic rituals and the deadly fire took place. Both locations reported an old mysterious woman attacking people, but who was she? Or what was she?
One paranormal team, who chose to remain anonymous, in 2014 had an experience so horrifying they fled the scene in the middle of the investigation. Amidst a strong thunderstorm one night, they set up shop in the house and began documenting. They proceeded down the basement stairs where things took a turn that altered their lives. A cold, dense air engulfed the area as they walked down the steps. Suddenly, their flashlights and equipment started failing. Only the flashes of lightening from outside gave them any kind of vision. They asked questions to invoke an interaction as they usually do. Immediately, according to the team, an apparition appeared. Scaring the hell out of everyone, they ran back upstairs and out of the house leaving and refused to ever return. Still to this day they won’t comment on what they witnessed.
Multiple investigations continued until 2016. A ghost hunting show called Paranormal Lockdown was conducting their own investigation with Nick Groff and Katrina Weirdman. While filming in the basement, they found an opening into the crawl space and found human remains in a shallow grave.
They stopped filming and called the police. The remains were sent to an anthropologist at the nearby university for confirmation. Turns out the bones were human but the details of the investigation were kept under wraps. Many speculate that they were the bones of a teenage girl who disappeared many years ago. The local police expressed little to no interest in following up in the investigation seeing as there was no missing persons report ever filed. Perhaps she was used in one of the occult rituals that were performed in the basement? I guess we’ll never know for sure.
The house was only closed off to the public for a brief period of time after that. It didn’t take long for other ghost hunting teams to do their own detective stories at the Monroe house since the house now had a celebrity status to it. More and more reports of demonic noises, growls, strange smells, loud noises, and full blown attacks occurred amongst the visitors. Some people even reported bite and scratch marks on their bodies. Commanding EVP’s(electronic voice phenomenon) and windows randomly shattering throughout the house continued.
One guy, allegedly, leaped out of an upstairs window while being attacked by something or someone. Strange liquid was seen dripping from places that didn’t make sense. People reported horrifying nightmares with what little sleep they could get.
The Monroe house is still a popular area for the ghost hunting world. Was it plagued by some kind of family curse brought over by the Berger family? Did Ulysses Meyers have a dark secret that no one knew about? Did the occult rituals open a doorway that has remained open and allowed the supernatural forces to grow stronger? And who was the victim whose bones lied buried in that shallow grave for so many years?
The Monroe house possesses more questions than answers.
