Indianapolis- Allison Mansion

[wicked]

Location Name- Riverdale The Allison Mansion

City/Town/County- Indianapolis,IN

Legend:Keys missing, objects moved, the library room completely rearranged - furniture not just books. Strangest thing - the basement has an indoor pool in it. The pool is where a baby crying has been heard. A Legend is that the Allison's had a child and the baby drowned in the pool. (The baby was not the Allison's but could have been a servants.)

History: Built by James and Sarah Allison. Construction began in 1911 and ended in 1914 at a cost of over $2 million. The house boasted a reat hall, dining room, music room with a 2 story pipe organ, marble aviary, billiard room, indoor pool, automatic lighting closet, namy bedrooms, a breakfast room, sleeping porches and a grand kitchen. James spared no expense on his home. An entire species of tree went extinct when the only forest it grew in was harvested to mill wood for the great hall. He formed Allison Engineering Company as well as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (including the Indianapolis 500). He and Sarah were divorced in 1928 and he married his former employee Lucile Musset a month later. He contracted pneumonia and died in the summer of 1928 at the age of 56 just one week after this marriage. He was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery. This home (as well as Frank Wheeler's Stokely Mansion) was bought by the Sister's of Saint Francis and transformed into Marian College in 1937. In 1971 Riverdale was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Directions: This place is on a college campus and can't be investigated without being rented (EXPENSIVE). If rented we can't tell them we're doing it for an investigation so I won't bother putting directions on here. I would like to rent this place at some point because I've been there and it does have some feelings of unease. Not allowed on the top floor.

GPS coordinates:N39°49’01.08 W86°12’06.51

Photos: Overlook

Marble aviary

Upstairs

Music room

Riverdale

Great Hall



Misc: www.marian.edu/Riverdale/Pages/default.aspx

[wicked]

We went to the Allison Mansion the other day and faked the need for a place to have a wedding reception so we could get pics. I'm only putting this one up here b/c eventhough we took a ton and got a few orbs on them, I can't say with any certainty that they weren't cause by light reflection. This is the only one that came out strong like this and while I'm not a real big fan of orbs to begin with, I just thought I'd share this one.

[seamus]

The main story about Allison Mansion is about the little girl who drowned in the basement pool. My niece is currently a student there, her mom and grandmother are grads and in fact their great aunt was the nun who founded Marain and I think her picture is scarier than any of the legends!

[wicked]

has she had experiences then?

[seamus]

No. My sister-in-law had art classes in the Allison Mansion and said that it sometimes felt a "little odd" if you were there later at night but that she had never had any experiences nor anyone else she knew had. Even when the house is rented access is limited, so I would save my money if I were you.

[wicked]

yeah weve never rented it but been thru it so i wouldnt spend the money

[kelli1499]

I go to Marian University (the college where the mansion is located) and I've never felt uneasy in Allison Mansion.

Stokely Mansion is another story however. There's a haunted dog walk. You walk slowly, arms linked with three people. One person knocks on the door five times and without breaking the link you turn around and walk down the steps. You wait there for a moment and you can hear dogs barking and a little boy named Timmy singing his name and playing jacks. It's scary.

[wicked]

Have you ever gotten any type of evidence there?

[Mike R]

I went to Marian in the 1960's, graduate class of 1968. I spent many many hours studying in the mansion as it was used as the library at the time. I have been in every room, never felt anything unusual except for one place, the POOL. Then it was open in the winter for the sisters to use. I was able to get access one day without notice when the pool was filled with water. It is very large tiled pool with an 8ft depth on the east end. I just wanted to get out of there, very strange feeling about that place, now I know why(Child Drowning)

Mike R

[wicked]

Probably a long shot, but you don't happen to have any pics from when you went there do you?

[Mike R]

Sorry to say, I have no pics. As an alumnus I might be able to get some information regarding the current status of the pool and just maybe arrange for access, its a long shot might be worth it. Do you have a smart phone to take pics? The pool is in the basement north end with entry through two large stained glass doors. Getting to that area would be through the "bottle room" and then through a couple of corridors.

[wicked]

There's another way down there? The last time I went there the pool room was closed off and locked and (I was told) used for storage. And unfortunately my phone isn't quite as smart as it thinks it is

[rationaldisaster]

i know this has nothing to do with the allison mansion and im sorry but i found something u were looking for information on about the indiana village for the epileptics (new castle state hospital) and i have done enough digging on the subject and found areas that were not highlighted in your maps i would like to possibly be involved even in the investigation if possible if you are willing. i would love to talk to you on a phone if at all possible it is easier for me to talk voice to voice. my email is [e-mail] please contact me if you might be intrested in what i have learned. there are some pretty heinous things that happened there

[wicked]

I emailed you.

[grateful]

I went to school there and catered at the mansion for a ton of events. There is no place in that mansion I have not been. The most uncomfortable room in the house is the game room downstairs - it was utilized as a "man's room" where the man would go at night to play cards and smoke cigars. It is off of the pool area. There are cold spots and the sense that you are being watched. After events I would be in the home alone cleaning up. The presence of Mrs. Allison is very real and I was always careful to avoid the mirrors. Her diary was found in a hidden panel at the top of the stairs. Since the house was built for her, I think she chose to never leave. The pool is creepy, but I think it's just because it is so still in that area. You can access it from The servant stairs in the kitchen or through the marble room. The very top of the house, the attic, has a dark spot in the corner where no one will go.