Haunted Carbondale Rain House

 Rain House stood at the northwest corner of West Oak and N. Poplar and, until it was razed a few years ago was, after Hundley House, the site of the most notorious murder in Carbondale's history, though today few people have heard of it.

 During spring break in 1982, most of SIUC decamped for the week including SIUC marketing professor Sion Raveed. However, unlike the rest of campus, Raveed did not return to campus. On March 9th the campus and community found out why.  His body  was found stuffed into a laundry bag in the basement of Rain House, dead from multiple stab wounds to his chest. Since prior to his time at SIUC Raveed had worked in international finance, his experience in the field a major reason for his recruitment to the department, and some of the activities he had been involved in were questionable to say the least, investigators thought maybe his past had caught up with him and not only the local police but representatives of the State Police, FBE and SEC visits, although what they sought was never made public.

However, the truth, when it came out, was much more prosaic. Raveed owned several rental properties in town and, sometime during spring break, he and his property manager had an argument that ended with the manager knifing Raveed multiple times, hiding the body in a laundry bag in the Rain House basement and fleeing to Canada, from where he was later extradited and convicted of manslaughter.

For a number of years afterwards, tenants in Rain House reported hearing voices, footsteps, electrical powered items turning on and off, cold spots, items moving by themselves and the smell of something dead or rotting. For a number of years after the murder, Rain House would rent then a short time after a "For Rent" sign would again appear in the window and its demolition means no other renters will encounter the uneasy spirit of Sion Raveed.

Halloween

 There was a lot of foot traffic downtown both Friday and Saturday night. Fraterinties or someone had gotten permission to close off West College for a street party and people were walking around in costume Saturday afternoon for a Halloween pub crawl to most of the bars on the strip as well as Oakland Station in the old fire station on S. Oakland. S. Glenview closed for Trick or treating and a broke water main on Chautaqua made driving out in that area to get home pretty tricky.

Apparently drunks were sleeping under some of the Road closed signs in the area as well. 

Faner Hall

 Dedicated in 1975, the Brutalist architecture of Faner Hall cuts across the central part of the SUC campus like a wall. Named after former SIUC English instructor and department chair  Robert Faner, who taught at the university for 37 years and died of a heart attack in his office in a building located where Faner Hall now stands, and now the hub of the College of Liberal Arts, the design is unlike any other building on campus. In fact, there is an urban legend that, after the SUC student riots of May of 1970, Faner Hall was designed so that if rioters took over any part of the building, that section could be sealed off from the rest of the structure. Of course, anyone walking through the building will find, though it might take a couple of tries, it can be navigated from end to end, although, according to another legend, at least one student never made it out.

Described by those who have seen her as a young woman carrying a backpack with shoulder length brown hair, wearing a green top and jeans.  Generally when she appears, it is in the eventing. She will pass by in the hallway and  turn one of the building's myriad corners. When the person she passed turns the corner, they see an empty hallway before them. Students in the building at night have reported hearing footsteps behind them but when they turn around, they see only a deserted corridor.

On a Haunted Carbondale tour a few years ago, an adjunct professor with an office in Faner told her encounter with Faner's ghost. Several evenings while she was in the office, someone had knocked on her office door but never came in when asked and, when the professor opened the door, no one was there. On one  occasion, instead of waiting, she opened the door almost immediately to see a young woman in a green top and jeans turning the corridor at the end of the hallway. Following the figure, she called to her but got no response and, when she turned the corner, saw only the empty hall. 

Lakey Creek Ghost

 since it is that time of the year, I thought I would post some of the Carbondale and southern Illinois ghost stories the Carbondale Times published this fall

Heading east out of McCleansboro on State Route 14, the driver will pass a Dollar General Store and soon cross over a small concrete slab bridge spanning a shallow creek, located just east of the intersection with County Road 1050. The stream beneath is  Lakey's Creek and was one of the most haunted spots in Southern Illinois during the mid 19th century. The haunting of Lakey's Creek dates back to the early 1800's when a man named Lakey built a cabin a short distance south of where the bridge crosses the creek ( Research among old property deeds from the era did find that a Joel Leaky, a variation in the spelling of Lakey,  owned property in that area at approximately the time when the story takes place so that much is true) . Like many early single homesteaders, Lakey was fairly withdrawn, having little to do with his neighbors. so they thought little of it when they did not see him in town or visiting with neighbors. 

However, after several days of no sightings of Lakey, some travellers on the road that passed north of his cabin noted no smoke coming from its chimney. Given that the weather was cooling and a fire was necessary even for making most meals, they found this odd so turned their horses from the road towards Lakey's homestead. Arriving in the yard, they found Lakey's body sprawled in the yard, his head severed and placed on a nearby stump. According to one version of the story , the killer was never caught, but another says his son in law was arrested and tried for the crime, though what happened afterwards is unknown.

For years afterwards,evening  westbound travelers on the old wagon road north of Lakey's abandoned cabin would occasionally be joined by a headless rider on horseback, who would either ride with or pursue them until they reached the middle of the ford across the creek, at which point the ghost would either vanish or at that spot or turn and ride downstream, vanishing in the mists rising from the creek. 

As with the spirits of Dug Hill, the advent of the automobile caused sightings of the ghost to dwindle to almost nothing, though there have been a few  reports by drivers crossing the bridge who saw something "strange" and, upon slowing down, saw a large horse standing by the creek 

Recycling Bin

 Here is hoping the city picks up the recycling from the East College location soon.  Neither the cardboard nor the plastic/ glass bins have been emptied in at least two weeks.  People dropping off recycling materials are just piling stuff up around the bins because there is no more room, except for glass and paper.  I am glad the city put a recycling drop off point there again but it does need to get picked up at least once a week.

Candidates

 Here is the slate of candidates for mayor and city council. Carolyin Harvey and Nancy Maxwell are the only two candidates running for re-election.  Adam Loos is stepping down from his council position to run for mayor and Clare Killman has opted not to run again.  I may be misreading the name but it looks as if Mayor Harvey's son Jarius will be running against her for mayor. LaCaje Hill was on the council for 1 term, failing to win re-election in 2023

The following candidates filed nomination petitions for Mayor of Carbondale.

 

Mayor

1 – Adam Loos, 512 W. Pecan St.                                                                     (October 26, 8:09 a.m.)

2 – Carolin Harvey, 109 South Tower Road                                                (October 26, 1:03 p.m.)

3 – Patrick Noel, 611 Randolph Rd                                                                  (October 26, 2:31 p.m.)  

4 – May, F.S., Harvey K. Jairus, 621 N. Springer, St.                              (October 26, 4:08 p.m.)

5 – John Gardner, 4440 W Pleasant Hill Rd                                                (October 26, 4:46 p.m.)

The following candidates filed nomination petitions for Carbondale City Council Member. 

 

City Councilmember

1 – Dr. Ryan J. Reed, Sr., 1704 W Taylor Dr                                                 (October 19, 8:00 a.m.)

2 – LaCaje Elijah Hill, 603 S Skyline Dr                                                          (October 19, 1:10 p.m.)

3 – Nancy R. Maxwell, 1408 Bobette Lane                                                  (October 19, 4:17 p.m.)

4 – Yahaira L. Vargas, 700 West Main Street Ste. A                               (October 19, 4:18 p.m.)

5 – Jasper Futch, 1211 W Short Dr                                                                    (October 21, 2:10 p.m.)

6 – Casey Allen VanWinkle, 3212 West Kent Drive                 (October 26, 10:22 a.m.)

7 – Chastity Mays, 107 South Glenview Drive                                           (October 26, 11:13 a.m.)

8 – Robert Bruce Pierce, 703 N. Allyn St.                                                     (October 26, 11:42 a.m.)

9 – Jason Endicott, 707 N McKinley St                                                           (October 26, 11:54 a.m.)

10 - David “Zen” Dhabolt, 401 W Elm St Unit B                                       (October 26, 3:43 p.m.)

Trick or Treat on Main Street

 Good turnout for the event yesterday or as Carbondale Main Street called it, the Candy Walk.  I counted at least three dozen locations particpating with over 450 trick or treaters through the door at Castle Perilous Games & Books. have no idea how many people went to the Safe Halloween event at Murdale.