Ken Marks - Haunted Hannibal: History and Mystery in Americas Hometown

Published by Haunted America

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2010 by Ken and Lisa Marks

All rights reserved

Front cover: Federal Building, Lisa Marks.

First published 2010

e-book edition 2012

ISBN 978.1.61423.538.5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Marks, Ken.

Haunted Hannibal : history and mystery in Americas hometown / Ken and Lisa Marks.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ).

print ISBN 978-1-60949-044-7

1. Haunted places--Missouri--Hannibal. 2. Ghosts--Missouri--Hannibal. I. Marks, Lisa. II.

Title.

BF1472.U6M345 2010

133.109778353--dc22

2010030762

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the authors or The History Press. The authors and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book was not written for private circulation among friends; it was not written to cheer and instruct a diseased relative of the authors; it was not thrown off during intervals of wearing labor to amuse an idle hour. It was not written for any of these reasons, and therefore it is submitted without the usual apologies.
Mark Twain, The Gilded Age

What makes a place haunted?

Some say hauntings are more often than not the result of untimely deatha sudden, terrible death such as murder or drowning, disease that takes a young life, battles fought in war capturing the souls of young soldiers and, especially in America, the taming of the Wild West and the violence that it produced.

All of these types of events happened in Hannibal, Missouri. But does that automatically mean that Hannibal is haunted?

First of all, haunted is a relative term. We can be haunted by memories, haunted by an image weve seen on television or at the movies, haunted by a scary story we were told as a child. A house can be haunted by a former inhabitant. An object may be haunted by a residual trace of energy left behind by the objects previous ownera doll, for example, that was so beloved by a child that after a hundred years, when another person touches the doll, he or she is overcome by a sense of sweetness, love and joy.

So is Hannibal really haunted, you ask?

When we first moved from our hometown of St. Louis ninety-nine miles north to Hannibal in September 2009, we did not do so to seek out ghosts. Our aim was to try to save Rockcliffe Mansion. Rockcliffe, built in 1900 and open as a museum since 1968, was about to be sold and its museum-quality collection of original contents auctioned away. We moved into Rockcliffe to manage the property and keep the museum intact until arrangements for its long-term ownership and care could be secured.

Although wed heard rumors, we had no idea that the mansion was really haunted! It only took a few weeks of living at Rockcliffe for us, skeptics though we were, to admit that we were not alone in the mansion. Too many unexplainable things were happeningfootsteps up the servants staircase, doors slamming in the middle of the night, items that were sitting far back on deep shelves mysteriously making their way to the edge and crashing to the floor.

Yes, Virginia, there really are ghosts in Hannibal. At least in our opinion, and in the opinion of many other Hannibalians interviewed for this book.

As many different reasons exist to explain that a place might be haunted as there are stories of hauntings. Each story is unique, although a common theme seems to run throughouta sense of unfinished business after death. The stories contained in this collection share this theme, although the circumstances of each could not be more different.

We certainly dont profess to be authorities on hauntings. We would not want to attempt to investigate theories on how or why hauntings occur or go into detail about the science of paranormal investigations. We encourage you to seek out books written by professionals in these fields to learn more about the technical side of this topic.

We simply love history; weve become pretty good at storytelling by giving historical and haunted tours; and we are eager to share what weve learned about Hannibal and its colorful past. This book is our attempt to keep the legends and stories alive and share them with both Hannibalians and the guests who visit this wonderful town. We have tried to be as accurate and factual as possible when retelling these tales and ask forgiveness ahead of time for any discrepancies there may be. We are also sensitive to the fact that these stories mostly deal with real persons, both past and present, and we have done our best to be respectful.

We were caretakers of Rockcliffe Mansion until May 2010. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Rockcliffe and, frankly, grew comfortable living with the energies with which we shared the mansion. We were so intrigued with Hannibal and its amazing history that we sold our home in St. Louis and purchased a Second Empire Victorian home on Sixth Street (built in 1885 by Joseph Rowe, former mayor of Hannibal), thereby becoming official Hannibalians ourselves. We currently conduct Haunted Hannibal tours daily, taking our guests to the actual sites where hauntings have been reported and exploring the fascinating cemeteries in Hannibal.

Weve only been living in our new old home a short while and so far have not experienced any paranormal activity. However, one of the most haunted houses in Hannibalso haunted that it was featured on the NBC Today show as one of the ten best places to sleep with a ghostis directly behind our house.

So, is HannibalAmericas Hometown, the boyhood home of Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain)really haunted? We will leave it up to you to reach your own conclusions after reading this book, and we encourage you to visit our wonderful hamlet in northeastern Missouri to explore these magical places yourself.

It is with great trepidation that we begin this section of the book, with the certainty that we will neglect to thank someone of supreme importance to us. If this means you, please accept our sincere gratitude and forgive our transgression.

First, thank you so much to our parents, Terry and Alice Marks, Dale Crosswhite and Roseann Elmore Crosswhite Hudson; to our amazing children, Jordan Young and Shea Marks; to Gideon and Mary Elmore, whose spirits live on in these pages; and to Uncle Frankie, Frank Elmore. You are the most important people in our lives.

Thank you to Ben Gibson at The History Press for giving us this opportunity.

For all of the people who so graciously gave us their time and their stories, and who are included in this book, thank you all so much.

A shout out to dear friends Robert and Elizabeth Lawrence; John Robinson, who was the one who started us on this adventure; Gloria Austermann and Anna Jefferson, of course; Jackie and Steve Karlock, our mentors; Jim Barone, our champion; Mary McAvoy and Jeane Crowell, for sticking with us; Candace Klemann and Chris Bobek, for showing us the way; Lou and Jenie Barta, who dont seem to think were insane; Terry Sampson, for your leadership and enthusiasm; Henry Sweets and Cindy Lovell, for keeping Twain alive; Steve and Sandy Terry, for your support and encouragement; Jennifer Johnson and her brood, for making us laugh; Cindy Windland, for giving us a chance and for giving our new business a home; Brent Engel, Travis Given, Gloria Burns and the staff of the