Haunts in Real Time

Episode 2: “The Limb of Unknown Child”- This episode takes us to a haunted cemetery in my hometown in Iowa. Oakdale Memorial Gardens Cemetery is known for several different haunts. Especially the one surrounding the old orphan graves.

Entering the ornate, wrought iron gates of this paranormal playground, one is struck by the beauty of this cemetery. Meticulously landscaped with gorgeous flowers, it boasts a serene pond, which gives a false sense of normalcy.

A chilling contrast, where lively ducks and geese frolic, amongst the backdrop of the dead. A distraction from the menagerie of tombstones that litter the green, rolling hills of the grounds.

Angels, crosses, looming monuments and offerings of wind-swaying balloons or flowers on the graves, hold quiet, secret, meetings with each other. There are little houses of the dead dotting the grassy knolls. Small, barred, mossy buildings; grey stone monsters of private, crypt-hiding mausoleums.

Occasionally, a mourner can be seen wandering, lost in thought, among the stony statues. Of course, there are the new areas and the old areas of the graves, as it is in most graveyards. The old dead meets the new dead.

Walking by the newer gravestones makes me wonder, do the old dead greet the newly dead upon arrival? Do they give them a grand tour of the grounds, introducing new spirits to the old? I picture some ghost, translucently dressed in today's garb, being welcomed by a Victorian lady in fancy, flowing dress, on the green hills.

This cemetery is different. It is a virtual spook factory. The more I dig into the grave of the mystery of this place, the more dead that step forward to meet me.

A LITTLE HISTORY MYSTERY:

Established in 1856, its sprawling hills and valleys, lined by ancient oak trees, make up seventy-eight acres, along a street called Eastern Avenue, in Davenport, Iowa. In one sitting, I cannot thoroughly cover all the history that haunts these grounds. I will give you the main points and I encourage you, (If you are a lover of paranormal activity) to look this cemetery up. You won't be sorry…or will you?

It is the final resting place for many interesting people. Such as the legendary jazz musician “Bix” Beiderbecke. Every year, here in Davenport, Iowa, there is a festival of music, a running race and food vendors, all celebrating his life which we call “The Bix Fest”.

LEGEND OF THE SCREAMS…

One of the many haunts lands us here, at the gravesite of 250 orphan children. They were all housed right across the street, from Oakdale Memorial Cemetery, at one time. Where, in 1865, the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home was established there, for the 150 American Civil War orphans, that were bustled on a steamboat to here, to live.

According to legend, if you stand by this section on Halloween night, you can hear the screams of orphans. Many have heard them in broad daylight. Some people claim to hear their own names called out to them by children.

MY OWN PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES…

I myself, have stood there during the day, at the children's graves, and gotten mad goosebumps. Once, a baby deer walked out from behind the dedication monument, and I froze. We stood there, with eyes locked on each other. Then, it casually turned, and silently disappeared, behind some tombstones nearby. I followed it, but never saw it again.

I believe what I saw was a child's spirit, inside of the baby deer. Perhaps curious as to why I was visiting, or waiting around, to be rescued by a long-lost dead parent of the Civil War? I just know that I had a deep, sad feeling, while standing there on that hilly batch of land that housed the bodies of children, almost none of whom lived past eighteen.

There are two graves that stand out. One bears the name “Limb of Unknown Child” and the other, “Baby Boy Fear 1938”

This is a mystery, as there are no records of either grave. One can only use their imagination, on why these graves were labeled this way.

Across the street from Oakdale Memorial cemetery, still stands The Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home. The looming, historical, red brick building and separate cottages surrounding it is now a youth center for troubled teens, called the Annie Whitmeyer Center. (The story of Annie Whitmeyer is a whole other History Mystery story) The Orphanage was also used, up to the 1970s, as a home for children from broken homes, from everywhere in Iowa.

It is also said to be haunted, an extension of the cemeteries' lost children's lives, buried across the street. People through the years have seen shadow figures, heard singing or giggles and whisperings, of children, down the dark halls at night.

I specifically read a comment from someone who worked at the old Orphans’ Home, who said that she and another worker witnessed a tall, shadowy, dark figure, floating down the hall, wearing odd spectacles or goggles. It disappeared before their eyes.

When I researched, there were many comments at the bottom of a newspaper, protesting the praise of the old orphans' home, that may be a reason for the hauntings:

Some still living, were raised there in the 60s and 70s, claiming firsthand that it was a horrible experience. Beatings, rape, and torture were some of the accusations in the comments. Imagine what may have been done all the way back into the 1800’s to some of those children, left to the devices of strangers taking care of them there. It was a different time, for sure.

FIERY DEATHS

Three fires are recorded as having broken out there, when it was The Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans' Home. The old newspapers recorded that there were no deaths in the fires. This is disputed by many and harbors the mystery of a cover up.

Many believe there were deaths of children in the fire. In fact, the screams in the graveyard, are said to be the screams of children that died a fiery death there, in the orphan's home across the street. Forever buried under the disguise of death from diseases of that era.

Death by fire may account for those graves marked “Baby Boy Fear” and “The Limb of Unknown Child”. It leaves one with a bad taste in the mouth, doesn't it?

MYSTERY OF THE WITCHES CRYSTAL…

Another haunted mystery here at Oakdale Memorial Gardens Cemetery that is worth mentioning, is The Witches Crystal. I attended a graveside ceremony there, with my nephew. Afterwards, he casually asked me if I would like to see the Witches Crystal.

Laughing, I agreed, assuming he was just being facetious. There, sticking out of the ground, near a cemetery road, was a two-foot, frosty crystal, in the long shape of a sword. He said that it stayed freezing cold in the summer.

I reached down to touch it and yes, it was like a huge, upside-down icicle. Even though it was 80 degrees outside. He said he had heard a rumor that the cemetery can't remove it, because it is imbedded so far down into the ground. No one knows where it came from, and how it got stuck in that angle into the ground so deep. I have looked and there is no literature on this subject. However, I can vouch that the Witches Crystal is there.

MY OWN RELATIVES…

Now, did I mention that I have several relatives buried there? Including my dear, sweet mother. They were all too drink oriented to haunt a boring cemetery though. If they did, it wouldn't be long before they pulled a stage-left, to a nearby tavern to haunt, as they did in life.

Although, I think my mother may have sent a sign one day. When my mom was brought there to be buried, my sister and I stopped in the graveyard's office, to choose the etchings for her tombstone.

My mom was a huge lover of hummingbirds, so we poured over the tombstone etching book for pictures. While thumbing the book for hummingbirds, the office lady stepped into the room shaking her head.

“So odd, a hummingbird has been hovering at my office window all day! It won't go away! I have never seen hummingbirds around here.”

She shrugged and disappeared back into her office. My sister and I froze, staring at each other. We both had chills. We had never met the lady and never told anyone about my mom's love for hummingbirds. We still talk about it today with goosebumps.

However, I must add something that my mom told me before she passed. In her dry sense of humor way, she scolded me, “Now, don't go hanging around the grave, because I don't plan on being there!” Of course, I never did listen, growing up and to this day.

FUTURE EPISODES

I tell you, the more I studied about Oakdale Memorial Gardens Cemetery, the more I was sure this haunted place was a source for a whole novel. I read about a class which was working on a project about the Underground Railroad. They were studying up on a man who escaped to the help of the anti-slavery network movement in Davenport, Iowa here. The class discovered that there were at least eleven former slaves who found freedom here and were buried at Oakdale Memorial Gardens cemetery.

This headstone marks the grave of escaped slave Matilda Busey. Other members of her family are also buried at Oakdale Memorial Gardens cemetery in Davenport, Iowa. I have not yet dived into hauntings for this area of the cemetery yet, but I am sure I will open a Pandoras Box of Mystery History and restless spirits, here. No doubt.

Davenport, Iowa has a well-known history with the Underground Railroad. I know many people who have lived in homes in an area called McClellan Heights Historic District. The area sits on a hill overlooking the Mississippi river. Many of these homes have basements with trapdoors to dark tunnels, which were used to help slaves escape. I am thinking this may be one of my future episodes of Haunts in Real Time.

PET CEMETARY… “PETLAND” …

Also, notable in this cemetery is “Petland” which as of yet, no ghost stories have come to mind. However, walking through this large animal burial site is a little unnerving. Rows and rows of animal graves stretch on and on, in an exceptionally large section, hugged by a shady, forest area.

Each one boasts a picture and a synopsis, on the lovely life of the beloved pet. Balloons, flowers, stuffed animals, and toys decorate the graves. One can't imagine all the tears and heartaches, which have hovered over the many beloved pet graves.

I passed by the pictures, reading several of the grave stories. Dogs, cats, birds, and even horses, have their pictures, of a life well lived, posted. You wonder if among the cemetery's green hills, wander the spirits of frolicking pets. Maybe even playing with a certain baby deer?

Can you just imagine the sounds of animal spirits in the wind? Along with the screams of children? Or whispering and singing of homesick toddlers, in the dark halls of the old orphan home?

Why, I am barely brave enough to visit, even during a sunny day, let alone at night. I won't be there to hear your ghostly howls in the dark, Fido!

Bottom line…Moms are always right!

Thanks for reading! Sources: Quad City Times Newspaper, The Historical Society of Iowa, State Library of Iowa, Davenport Public Library, Wikipedia.org