Posey Chapel

The original church that once stood here, burned to the ground back in the 1800's with many worshipers inside. A former preacher hung himself from a tree that is just inside the gate. People have reported seeing apparitions, including that of the preacher hanging from the tree.

The pavilion is located where the chapel once stood and is the center of most of the activity. A pair of red glowing eyes, and red orbs have also been reported moving around the woods which are near the pavilion.

People have also heard whispers, but they are so faint that what is being said cannot be understood. Once you enter the property you are overwhelmed, your heart starts pounding, and an indescribable heaviness is felt. Some have claimed to see the apparition of a woman in white on the top of the hill. People have also reported hearing disembodied voices, the faint sound of music and a woman singing, although what the woman is singing cannot be made out.

The Smell of Gas is a purely fictional story about a tragic event, a fire that kills a young couple. In real life, tragic events such as this tend to stick in the minds of people who live in the area, forever linking the place with the sorrows that happened there. The sense that some places are haunted by tragedy sometimes contributes to rumors that certain places are haunted literally.

I myself have never seen a ghost, but I became enthralled by my sister-in-law’s true haunting story. She told it to me on the night of my brother’s bachelor party, as we headed for a girls’ night out at a Michigan casino. We passed through Indiana’s LaPorte County, where my SIL (to protect her privacy, I’ll call her Missy) grew up. She shivered as we passed historic Posey Chapel Cemetery.

Posey Chapel is well-known to local paranormal enthusiasts. The chapel building itself, built in the 1840s, is no longer standing. It burned down many years ago; explanations of how it happened vary. Like many 19th century places of worship, it had a churchyard where the county’s early settlers are buried. A variety of mysterious happenings have been reported there, from unseen children calling for their mothers to a spectral black dog that appears out of nowhere. Missy’s experience was slightly different.

Missy was a young teen, working at a Dairy Queen. After work, she and some friends went out to Posey Chapel to see if they could channel some paranormal activity. They brought with them a Ouija board of sorts, improvised from fast food boxes. Missy and her friends found a grassy spot in between the ruins of the chapel and a wooded area nearby.

Their Ouija board seemed to make contact with some invisible entity. They asked it a question: “Are you an evil spirit?” At that moment, Missy heard a peculiar sound. It was a rustling sound, almost like the wind, but distinctly coming from the woods. She describes it as a “rising” sound. It was different from the soft movement sounds of a deer or small animal in the brush - it was more like the woods themselves were rising and coming toward Missy and her friends.

Panicked, they picked up the Ouija board and ran for the car. They drove back to the Dairy Queen, pulled up around back, and set the Ouija board on fire on top of the bare concrete. The cardboard contraption burned to ashes, all except for one word…Yes.