I don’t know if I believe in ghosts, but I know some folks who do.
I hung out for a while with a family who lived outside of Raleigh, N. Carolina who all believed their old farm house was haunted. They were all smart and sane, and all of ‘em had their individual experiences with the ghost. The family’s father believed the ghost was his dead uncle, who was buried in the family plot, out in one corner of a field. (this is a common practice in the South.) The uncle was disinterred by his wife’s relatives 20 years after he passed on, and was re-buried next to her and her people.
Sounded reasonable to me that the ghost may have been upset over getting moved around. Most of the time, the family members were just startled by the ghost, who, I guess, didn’t have a routine. Once, the ghost got real upset- one night, everyone heard the dining room furniture, including a freezer and a chandelier, being thrown around and they all ran downstairs. Nothing was out of place. They were all creeped out, and the ghost didn’t show up for a long time afterwards.
When I was a kid here, there was an old abandoned house just up the block from the YMCA that burned down. I watched the fire and the firefighters at work with a bunch of other kids, and one said that the house was haunted. The property has apartments on it now, but I’ve never heard if any of the apartments have been visited.
And that’s the only local story I know. Does anyone have any local ghost stories to share?
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Hi Boomer…great post! So great for fall and school and Halloween. . .
The only story I know of is the Stanrod House in Pocatello. . .supposedly if you look up at the highest window you can sometimes see a woman’s face. . . supposed to be a maid or some other worker from the heyday of the Stanrod House who killed herself (of course) over a blighted romance (of course). . .
Also, a ghost allegedly haunts 3rd avenue in Driggs.. . never heard more about it, except that people claim to have seen such a ghost.
I remember when I was younger there were some stories of the Rose Hill Cemetery being haunted. Specifically a few gravestones. I never saw anything, but I remember feeling very eerie going through there at night when I was a teenager.
Hi, Easterner…
Thanks for reminding us of the Stanrod House. I heard the story long ago and had forgotten it.
Hey Joe…
Being a teenager and feeeling eerie go hand in hand. When a person’s a teen, they WANT to feel eerie! The Rogers family tomb used to get a lot of talk about haunting, but, heck-if someplace was going to be haunted, a cemetary would be the joint, I would think.
Ghosts give me the scaries because they are pale und dead. Ich say yikes bikes snooks when something is haunting the haus. They haunt me everywhere I go and I can see them and talk to them sometimes. There is one ghost by the name of Charles Shooterhoffler that comes and speaks to me. Please excuse my English because I cannot talk so well. Anyways, I have a friend whose name Yurgen Frankenstein who has nails on the side of his neck. He says he came to life by solar power und having a great life force from else where. He was born a wooden platform from professor Carlos Punter. He creates and does many things. Sometimes he dresses a witch and rides on a broom. I once got a curse on me and his face a huge how do you say bump or wart I think on his eye lid. My best friend Smigel Dooler has a mother for a vampire und it is sehr great und auch beautiful. The mayor says that bats can sleep with us in bed and I suck my thumb to be protected from unwanters.
There is a haunted lot on 18th I think – the time warp yard. The knocking grave is in Rose hill in the far E plot. There was an old folk’s home – oops – “retirement village” that burned down by where the KAO is, some time ago. If you’ve ever been in the ruins on the island N of town at the energy plant at night, that’s a scary one.
I used to hear about a ghost from the vaudeville era that haunted The Colonial Theater and continued when it was renamed The Paramount Theater. An employee showed me the dressing rooms the actors used, and the ghost supposedly was felt and heard mainly around the rooms and the stage. She hated going back into those areas for anything, and said it made her skin crawl.
(Of course, I took advantage of that information to terrorize her just a bit more, buuwaahaahaa!)
i believe your right on the time ward yard…although i am not sure where it is….i have been there and been through it about 9 years ago….freaky thing is time did ward about 15 mins on a 2 min walk………………….the story is that a man slaughtered his entire family and hung them in the trees…i am not sure anyone else know anything on this one?
has anyone ever heard any stories about the old abandoned school, New Sweden, in Idaho Falls? I’ve been out there are have had some pretty freaky stuff happen, but I would like to know the “ghost stories” if you will
OOh, thanks for reminding me. That was one scary place down in the bowels. Way spookier was the Boiler room/ Basement at O.E.Bell, when it was abandoned it was a creepy skool to explore.
The creepiest feeling I ever got in my life was in Rio De Janero.
A lot of Brazilians believe in voodoo. It’s common to see folks wearing a little charm that looks like a hand in a fist, with the thumb sticking up between the index and middle fingers. It’s a combination good luck and a protection, in case someone is out to get you. They also are big in lighting candles wherever they pray. (Yup- there are prayers in voodoo.)
One late night, after the best gig I ever played in my life, I was walking back with one of my best friends. There was a candle burning in a corner gutter a few blocks ahead. We were both half in the bag, and I decided I’d take the candle as a souvenir.
The closer we got to it, the less I wanted to mess with it. I actually bent down to pick it up, and got an overwhelming feeling of not messing with it. My buddy did too, but not as strongly. As I drew back, so did the strong feeling of dread, and it faded steadily as we walked away.
I dunno what it was, but if a ghost feels like that, I don’t want to mess with them either. For sure, there are things in this life that the heart knows that the head doesn’t.
I don’t really know if I believe in ghosts or not. But I can say this. One night, around 9:PM, a cat of mine was very upset. Her fur was on end, as though she stuck a paw in a light sockett. Her tail was even more so. She was growling and hissing, and moving her head here and there as though she was watching something with intent. I couldn’t see anything, and this had me so terrified, I had to spend the night at a friends house. Something is out there, maybe it’s where we go, when we pass on, waiting for judgement. I don’t know. But after that night, i’m not sure I want to know.
@ KatherineM
Funny you should ask about the new sweden school. A friend and I once went there at about 10 pm one night. I went inside through the front door, having keys for it and all, and went to the basement. I flipped the breaker and turned on the power. Lit the place up. I went back out to go get my friend, which was paranoid about the place and got back to the front door only to discovered that it had shut and was not opening for anything. The lights suddenly went out and I heard this giggling from all around me. I looked up thinking what the hell when I noticed this outline of a kid standing there at the top of the steps looking down at me. Its eyes were like flames….. I kicked that door down and ran like hell back to my friends car. He later told me that he’d seen alot of lights coming out of a window and could hear the giggling too. My friends father, which gave us the keys, went back the next day to find the door on the ground, the power up and going in there, which has since been cut off, and, from what I’m told, found what appeared to be flame marks on the floor where I saw that kid. Never want to go back there again. The very name of the school sends shivers up my spine.
Alrighty then!
I have a friend that claims three ghosts chased him out of rose hill cemetary after he and some other friends were using a weigy board there. He seemed truthfull about it. Maybee he was just freeaked out from using the weigy board.
Another guy that I know used to have a welding shop right next to that cemetary and he claimed that his garage door would close on its own. He said that it would be impossible for it to move unless someone acctually pulled it down with considerable force. He also heard stories from the cemetary care takers. Sounds haunted to me.
does anyone know where the the time warp yard or the haunted lot are?
I would like to know if i could possibly check out this new sweeden school. I went by it last night about 3 am and found the most eerie feeling Ive ever felt. If your friends dad could possibly let me see the inside of it one of these nights I would love to do some exploring within this eerie standing elementary so if anyone knows how that would be possible if i could get to the inside of this school I would be very appreciated….
Thank you
Gary…
Bad idea. If you go in, you’re trespassing, and the neighborhood around the school is quick to call the cops, because many others have prowled the property.
There is a very close-knit community out there, and I’ve heard from a few that there are plans for the New Sweden school. The New Sweden Grange Hall was once a school, as was the York Grange.
I’ve been in it many, many times back when it was still open. There are no ghosts, except in the minds of giggly 8 year old kids. That story started up after the school closed. It’s no more or less spooky than any of the other old school houses that were once scattered all over town- it’s just one of the last standing. There is another just like it that’s still being used as a private school on W. Iona Rd.
The Osgood school is the same age, and it’s still standing, too. Eastside, Riverside, Southside, and Northside are gone now. They were all part of the same group, and all built around the same time period. Central followed, and it’s gone now, too, as has the original High School, which was in back of the O.E. Bell Jr. High building. At one time, there were ghost stories about all of them.
If you want to see ghosts, go down to Twin Falls and check out the Japanese internment camp ruins. Or go up to Coeur D’Alene and check out the remnants of Burke… those are the two places where sightings most often happen. Bannack, Montana, a ghost town just over the Idaho border on I-15, is full of ghosts- 12 people were hanged there in 3 days, and the town was known as Bloody Bannack.
You can also make your own ghosts out of Kleenex tissues and take some with you to any of the ‘eerie-feeling’ places listed above and you’ll get both: the sight and the hair-raising experience!
Im trying to find someone that has access to the property and to get the permission of the owner so i can study the paranormal activity that has gone on there for all these years. Ive been here for 26 years and that school has always intrigued me and Ive always wondered if what was being said about it is true. So if anyone knows the owners of that building and would let someone take a quick tour it would be greatly appreciated.
Boo!
my friend and I went to the New Sweden Elementary just hours ago. We didn’t get out of the car because of the whole trespassing deal, but I started feeling really sick, my mouth started bleeding, and all i could smell was fire and blood. All my friend said was that she felt strange, and I was gagging while trying to not show my mouth to her for obvious reasons. Luckily she decided to go back on her own terms, so I didn’t have to say anything.
Rose Hill Cemetary is just down the street from my house, and I can safely say I refuse to go in there. Once i pass the gates I start feeling sick, and I feel as though I can’t leave. Once I had a little boy follow me home from there once. He seemed nice, but also very afraid for some reason.
Ammon cemetary supposedly has the spirit of a little boy (they say it’s a girl, but my friend saw it herself and says it’s indeed a boy). He’s said to sit in or stand by a tree and watch you when you drive by. Sometimes I guess he’ll run up to the fence, but he disappears if you try to enter to the cemetary. I’ve only been there once, and I will say it’s rather eery, though not like how I feel in Rose Hill.
Fielding Memorial is a very creepy cemetary too. My friend and I went there once and didn’t last longer than ten minutes because I started having trouble breathing; it was as though something was strangling me. I woke up to my friend calling me, and it turns out she woke up hand marks around her throat.
A really, really bad place to go is somewhere called Portneuf; it’s on the high way from Idaho Falls down to Salt Lake City, I’m not sure of the exact location other than when the signs announce your arrival into it. I guess it’s close to wear the Mountain Meadows Massacre occurred. However, I didn’t know this while driving down there, and I started feeling uncomfortable and sick. Also, I started smelling the very strong scent of blood and something else I couldn’t recognize, and all I tasted was blood. I was almost crying by the time we finally got far enough away from it.
Those are just the places I’ve experienced first hand, though another one of my friends says that he often sees the spirit of a little boy in the O.E. Bell building.
I’ve experienced feelings of dread in my basement and attic.
I have too Bloop, especially on cleaning day.
Emil, perhaps you and your friend need to hang out at the mall instead.
The power of suggestion is a very powerful thing.
I grew up here just outside of Idaho Falls. I was the youngest of eight, and my two oldest sisters loved to scare the crap out of me. Now, I don’t know if this is true or just one of their stories, but my oldest sister still claims that it really happened.
She and some friends went to the Rose Hill Cemetery. Of course it was dark outside. Do many scary things happen during the day? Anyway they went straight to the knocking grave. It is one of the few statues used as headstones. I’m not sure which one. Well she said that she was already freaking out. It was dark they had been scaring each other with stories, and here they were about to do something that they had only heard about. Her friend refused to knock, and my sister didn’t want to leave with out doing it. You know, been there done that. Well, she said that she knoced three times. And nothing happened. And then about a minute later they heard three distinct knocks, just as she had done. They ran out of there screaming and sped away, and stayed awake all night long with the lights on. Wouldn’t you? So, as for this being true, I don’t know, but you asked for stories.
Another story that I grew up hearing is about the Crowley Road Ghosts. Now this one is freaky. You can hear things late at night. But not so much now that the city is creaping into that area. I first heard the story about twelve years ago. Back then Crowley was still strictly farm country, and there were only a few homes on it. Mostly farm homes.
The story goes, that there was a family. Mother, Father, and son. The father was a farmer and loved his family. The mother died and the father turned into a hard and bitter man. The son wasn’t allowed to see his friends or do anything fun. The boy grew and so did his resentment of his father. One Halloween the boy wanted to go trick or treating with a friend and his father wouldn’t allow him to. As any young boy will do, he snuck out and met his friend and had a successful night of trick or treating. The boy was walking home along Crowley Road by himself, dressed ( you might guess it) in his costume as a ghost. The father had noticed that his son wasn’t home and had just set out in his truck to find him. When his headlights lit up his son he freaked out (90’s terminology) and spun out and hit his son. He got out of his truck and realized that he had just killed his son. He put him in his truck and took him home, and cleaned him up and wrapped him in a blanket and buried him in the back yard. He then went to his barn and threw a rope over one of the rafters and hung himself. The story goes on that on Halloween night if you drive down Crowley Road you will see a lady and a little boy walking along the road, and the boy is holding a white cloth. The further down you go heading towards Lincoln if you roll your window down and drive slowly you can hear the creak of the father swinging on the rope.
Ghost stories can be fun, but like any other story, seperating fact from fiction is very hard. I’ve never done any research on this story, so I have no idea if there was a family that this tragedy happened to. Use your judgement. But it is fun to drive down Crowley and drive slowly on Halloween night and freak yourself out.
As for personal experiences, I’ve only had one in the I.F. area growing up. I can’t say exact locations, as my parents still live there. And I’m not sure if it was a ghost or something else. I lived right across the street from a school, and it was our job to keep an eye on it. The neighborly thing to do. One fall evening we were having dinner and I happened to look out our big picture window and could see the school right across the street. As I was looking I saw the cafeteria lights turn on. I didn’t think anything of it until I looked for cars. There weren’t any there. I started to get worried as there had been a few break-ins in the past. As I continued to watch, the lights just turned off. It was a total of probably two minutes. I told my dad that I had just seen the lights turn on in the cafeteria, but he didn’t believe me. He said that someone was probably over there closing up. I told him that there weren’t any cars there. He got worried and got the keys and went over. He walked all around the outside of the school and then went inside and searched it. He came back about a half hour later and said that there wasn’t anyone there, and that is was just my imagination. Granted, being a teenager the imagination is at it’s best, but I knew that I had seen those lights turn on. I saw the lights come on a few more times over the years, and there were never any cars there. My parents’ trees now block any view of the school, so I can no longer just casually look over. But I still wonder if it was my imagination.
hi.
anyone been in New Sweden? i have a couple times, but didnt have any paranormal activity. anybody had any sort of ghost run-ins?
I remember that in the cemetery by tophas park, back in the early 90’s, there was a large rain storm for a few days, and the earth went out on a few graves on a hill, and you could see a coffin stick out. It took a couple of days to correct the problem, but that in itself was very scary to me, as a young kid.
Does anyone have any further information on the 18th st lot and/or its location? I went up and down all of east and west 18th plus went thru the alley and was unable to locate anything that looked like an empty lot, especially big enough to hold a house. Thanks.
I give to you my brothers website I help support
http://idahohauntings.com/
Yeah, New Sweden school doesn’t have any activity there anymore. Back in the 80’s it was a place where teens gathered to spook each other and a place for vandalism and “demon worship”. It’s just a place the school district uses now for cold storage and it’s been boarded up pretty well. Nothing there except old desks, books, junk and a spray painted interior.
ive heard of hauntings at new sweden school in idaho falls, ive never been there personally i know friends who have and they always hear a weird cry coming from the back of the building that sounds like a woman, also a truck with a man in it has been seen near there and i heard from another source that has broken into the building that there is red smeared hand prints in the basement, there has also been pictures taken there with orbs just in certain areas