Haunted Dubuque

    Dubuque was founded in 1833, and many things have happened over the years, some good, some not so good. People have come and gone but a few have chosen to stay and stay and stay. Consider the reports of the haunting of many of the well-known places that we all have visited. BOO!

    The Grand Theater is reputed to be haunted by "Zelda" and her entourage of unknown spirits. Built in 1890, the theater has hosted stars such as George M. Cohan, Sarah Bernhardt, and Lillian Russell. But the police have recorded many calls reporting strange voices, footsteps, singing, piano playing, and the all-too-familiar blasts of cold air. It's been claimed that an apparition even appeared during a taped stage performance. Now that's dramatic!

    Sitting on a hill overlooking the river at the northern end of Dubuque, a gothic mansion of stone may not be as placid as it seems. Built in 1840 by shipping tycoon Mathias Ham, the 23-room Ham House is one of the most prominent in the city. It is said that sometime during the 1890s, when the last remaining family member was living in the home, the haunting began.
    Sarah Ham was alone in an upstairs bedroom when an intruder broke in. Two shots rang out and the intruder fled, leaving a bloody trail that led to the nearby river. There, on the muddy bank, lay the body of a dead river pirate.
    To this day at the Ham House, footsteps can be heard descending at a run from the fourth floor to the basement. At dusk, a mysterious bobbing light appears to travel up from the river to the great mansion. Is it the spirit of the dead seeking revenge? Only three floors of the home are open for tours, the fourth is blocked off. Is that where one can find the door against which the dying man leaned, and where his blood still "bleeds" through many coats of paint?

    Even the three colleges in Dubuque can't escape the stories of ghosts. Like the dorm room at Clarke College. It is rumored that a 22-year-old nursing student hung herself in the closet. Does she still share the room with the current student? Does she make her presence known by playing with electronic buttons and lights? Is that her occasional cold breath felt upon an unwilling neck?
    The fourth floor of the University of Dubuque's Cassat Hall is the last place many students would want to live. Resident assistants claim that during their nightly "rounds," they often run through the halls because they feel an eerie presence and sometimes a rush of cold air.
    Loras College has its share of spirits as well. One is said to be a ghostly priest that performs midnight masses. Although he accepted many contributions for masses, he was accidentally killed before he had a chance to fulfill his obligations. Emily recalls another story of spirits on the Loras campus, "Harry and Flora Wahlert are buried in the crypt below Christ the King Chapel. Rumor has it that late at night you can hear Mrs. Wahlert playing the organ. And if you are brave enough to take a peek, you can see her husband sitting in a wheelchair listening to her play."
    The second floor of Keane Hall is haunted by the ghost of a student who committed suicide in his room after his girlfriend broke up with him. The door to the room looks typical enough. But if you hold a black light up to it, you can see a face and what could be tears or blood. The door has been replaced, but the image keeps returning.

    Mt. Carmel, one of the area's oldest nunneries, was built in 1889. A ghostly number of sister's reportedly still wander about the buildings,moving things to keep the place orderly and turning lights on and off as they deem necessary. Mt. Carmel has suffered two fires. One conflagration was said to have been so terrible that a room full of school children perished. The hall was rebuilt, but you can still hear the cries of children and the crackling of flames when the night is right.

    So, next time you¹re alone and the windows rattle or a door flies shut, maybe it's not the wind, but a visitor of the past. Beware. Dubuque can be a scary place, especially at Halloween.

History of Halloween

    Halloween is our strangest annual celebration. It is neither patriotic nor historical, yet we celebrate it nationally. Unlike many other holidays, Halloween is not associated with any particular religion, though it touches death, spirituality and various religious beliefs. Halloween is a merger of customs from pagan and Christian traditions.
    On this one day a year, Oct. 31st, we here in the US throw caution to the wind and open our homes to strangers dressed in costumes and wearing masks, we then gladly give them a token gift of candy in hopes that no tricks are played.
    The festival of Samhain on Nov. 1st goes back as far as the Fifth Century B.C. This is the official end of the summer and the new year based on the natural cycles of the earth. Samhain celebrates the summer harvest and honors the dead – whose souls were thought to revisit the Earth at this time. This the time when the “thinness of the veil” between the worlds of the living and the dead occurs, and the power of divination is said to be strongest.
    Bonfires were lit, food would be left to attract the dead and the Celts wore masks to evade and frighten any evil spirits.
    The Catholic Church, with Pope Boniface IV, introduced All Saint’s Day on May 13th. Years later in 731 A.D. to replace the pagan festival of the dead, Pope Gregory III changed it to November 1st, to compete with the pagan ritual. Trying to end the non-Christian celebrations, the Roman Catholic Church blended Samhain festivities into the Christian Calendar.
    Today we celebrate three special days in autumn; Halloween on Oct. 31st, All Saint’s Day Nov. 1st and All Soul’s Day on Nov. 2nd.
    The Halloween name itself is of Christian origin. “All Hallow’s Eve” is the evening before All Saint’s Day, a special Holy Day. The word “hallow” means “sanctify” in old English which is to make sacred or purify. The phrase was shortened to simply Halloween.
    Halloween is one of the world’s oldest holidays and is known by many names. In Ireland it is called Pooky Night after a mischievous spirit in Irish folklore. Australia knows Halloween as Mischief Night or Danger Night. Some people there call it the Devil’s Night too. In the UK, particularly England, the night is called Nutcracker or Snap Apple Night. Families would eat nuts and apples in front of the fire as they told stories.
    An important event in Mexico is The Day of The Dead, (or to us, All Soul’s day). The day before is known as The Night of The Dead.
    All Souls Day is believed to have come from a Christian that had traveled to Jerusalem. Returning home he was shipwrecked and was washed ashore an island. Here he met a man who could hear the cries of the dead from a rock. It was the Abbot at French in Cluny who, at hearing this claim, made the 2nd of November the day to prayer for the trapped souls to grant them peace. Over the years, this simple festival spread to other parts of Europe and Britain.
    A ninth-century practice in Europe was called souling. On November 2nd, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for “soul cakes”. These were square pieces of bread with currants. The beggars would agree to pray for dead relatives, whose souls were in limbo. It was believed that these prayers by strangers could expedite a soul’s passage to heaven.
    From the beginning of time, people have worn masks when they wanted to avoid disasters or droughts, for the belief that demons or unhappy spirits brought on these problems were wide spread. By wearing masks one could confuse the demon and not be recognized and therefore protect his or her family and himself from these troubles. The custom of dressing up in costumes and visiting houses is called guising in Scotland.
    The tradition of Treat for Treats began with the Druids who believed the dead would cause panic by playing tricks on mankind, and to appease the spirits food would be given as gifts. Opening your door to the wandering dead became common during Samhain that some people eventually began to dress like the wandering dead and demanded food.
    Folklorist Tad Tuleja believed that trick-or-treating developed in the 1930’s as a means to control youngsters’ night pranks on Halloween. The phrase “trick or treat” didn’t come in use till 1941, when it appeared in the files of Merriam-Webster Inc, after being used in the title of a poem in the Saturday Evening Post. According to Oxford English Dictionary, the phrase appeared in The Sun in Baltimore in 1950. It may even be much older; it is fun for children to say and gives a bit of excitement to the evening of Halloween.
    One symbol associated with Halloween, the pumpkin which is a fruit, is of Native American heritage. Before Columbus it was unknown to Europeans. The sacred trinity of native foods was squash, beans and maize, which appear in the form of candy corn and corn shock decorations. In Ireland, turnips are used to make jack-o-lanterns originally. Pumpkins are easier to hollow out for a candle and to carve a scary face into. The custom of carving these lanterns come from a tale of a young man named Jack who met the Devil at a crossroad and struck up a deal. In exchange for seven years full of fun and merriment, Jack agreed to go down to hell. After seven years had passed, the devil came to collect Jack, but clever Jack nailed the devil’s hand to the wall. The devil could not escape and promised Jack he would not return for him. When Jack died he found his soul couldn’t enter heaven. When he tried to enter hell, the devil threw a ball of fire at him. This caused Jack to form a glow and now he wanders the earth and has fun with people. So beware of Jack, he has been known to lead many a folk to a bad end.
    The traditional colors of Halloween are orange and black. Orange represents pumpkins and the autumn harvest while black represents death and darkness. Other symbols of the harvest are scarecrows, corn shock and candy corn. Symbols of death are graveyards, ghosts, haunted houses and skeletons, with witches, goblins and black cats representing the darkness of evil and misfortune. All these items are used as decorations today. Due to the church’s disapproval of pagan beliefs and these symbols were logically incorporated into Halloween to "make light of" the pagan celebration.
    The true message of Halloween is that it is a time to reflect, give thanks for the harvest, and to honor those that have gone before us as well as to recognize the eternal cycle of life.

Friday the 13th

    In our civilized and educated society, one of the most common superstitions is that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day. If Friday the 13th makes you a little nervous, you may suffer from Paraskevidekatriaphobia. Each year there is one to three Friday the 13ths, and when the month begins with a Sunday, the second Friday is always number 13. In Greece and Spain, Tuesday the 13th is considered the unlucky date to avoid. While Japan considers 3 unlucky and 6 in Madagascar is the bad luck number. The Turks literally remove the number 13 from their vocabulary! In China, 13 is the number of obstacles, and in the ancient religion of Mexico, 13 is considered the most fortunate of numbers and symbolizes the Sun and male positive energy.

    It was on Friday October 13th, 1307, King Philip IV of France (also known as "Philip the Fair"), who in desperate need of money to continue his war with the English, arrested, tortured and killed hundreds of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, also known as the Knights Templar, in order to take their huge wealth for the French treasury which was nearly broke. The Grand Master Jacques DeMolay was arrested and crucified, and many more fled for their lives, bringing a major shock to the society of the times. The Templars were very powerful because the Order's infrastructure innovated many financial techniques that could be considered the foundation of modern banking. The Templars had used their wealth to construct numerous fortifications throughout the Holy Land, and were probably one of the best trained and disciplined fighting units of their day. They were also famous and easily recognized by a white surcoat with distinct red cross emblazoned above the heart or on the chest, as seen in many portrayals of crusading knights. The Templars were an unusual order in that they were both monks and soldiers, making them in effect some of the earliest "warrior monks" in the Western world. Under influence from King Philip, Pope Clement V then forcibly disbanded the order in 1314.

    By itself Friday has been known to be unlucky. Friday is believed to be the day that Eve tempted Adam with the apple (Muslims tout Friday as the day Allah created Adam), Cain killed his brother Abel. They say the Great Flood began on a Friday, and so did the confusion at the Tower of Babel. It’s also well know that the crucifixion of Jesus took place on that day as well. Some other fun facts about Friday and 13: