By Samantha Cooney
INDIANAPOLIS — Some say it’s haunted; others scoff at the idea.
Either way, the 23-room mansion known as the historic Hannah House is an excellent place to visit.
Ali Austin, public relations director, has been working at the house for about a year and a half.
“I just came for an overnight stay,” she said. “I stayed the night and had a great time, but my boyfriend actually lived here so I started hanging out more.”
Austin said she met the owners of the house and soon began her career.
The Hannah House was built in 1958 and both of the Hannahs actually died there.
“There have been reports of things happening in every room of the house,” Austin said.
The servants’ quarters were added onto the house later, and the upstairs was made into an apartment that is rented out to a tenant.
“Many stories written in books start in grandma’s room, which is located upstairs, but of course all these stories are not true,” Austin said. “This is where I sleep when I stay over.”
That’s in spite of some saying that the walls drip blood (not true, Austin says).
Several people do say that they smell roses or other flowers in the room.
There is a bookshelf that opens to a secret room that leads down to the basement.
Other rooms upstairs — the “bride’s room” and another bedroom — are said to have paranormal activity including moving figures being spotted in the windows, a table moving, and even the scent of a tobacco pipe.
But it’s the legend of the house’s cellar that has become the most well known.
The story is that the cellar was a favorite hiding spot for the house’s servants, but when the house caught fire, many were buried in the rubble.
Now visitors to the basement report being touched and having their hair pulled, along with seeing lanterns swing on their own. There have been several reports of electronic voice phanominom (EVP, as the ghost trackers call it), warning visitors to get out of the house.
“It is creepy,” Austin admitted.
The basement has changed little over the years and still has some of “grandma’s” canned goods from the 1940s and ‘50s.
The Hannah House is open throughout the year for weddings, tours, and even parties. Tour admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 6-12. Open house tour times vary during the year.
For more information, visit the website at www.thehannahmansion.org/home.html, call 787-8486, or e-mail to info@thehannahmansion.org.
samantha.cooney@flyergroup.com
