Comments for Incidents At South York Street: Page 1

Hi Natters--I felt at the time it was probably Edwin Heinemann because of a picture I found at the local historical society of him standing in front of his store. His hair in that photo was very close to the head of hair on the apparition I saw that night/early morning. I still have a photocopy of the image but it's possible an online search might turn up an image of him for you to see. I know at the time this account was first published that other YGS members found quite a bit of info online I wasn't aware of. I did all my initial research on the property before the internet.

The other reason I considered the apparition was Heinemann and not Balgemann was because it appeared on the property where his store had been and that he had died of a heart attack there. Of course the sound of metal objects being dropped could point to the blacksmith Balgemann too. As I stated in the account, there is the possibility it could have been either of them or, as you wrote, even another one time employee of the blacksmith shop.

Thanks for the question--glad you liked the account!

Hi Manafon - First of all, I love this story. I have a question as I'm curious. What makes you think the man you and Jim saw was more likely to be Edwin Heinemann and not Louis Balgemann? As you mentioned the sound of metal objects being dropped, wouldn't this make it more likely to be Balgemann (or a blacksmith employee) dropping tools? Was it because the figure looked like the picture you saw of Heinemann with the wiry hair? Are there any pictures of Balgemann in existence that we know about? I guess butchers also have tools for preparing meat so it could equally have been Heinemann dropping them?

Tweed--"Random" is a great word for these images finally popping up! It's been, just about, two years since I posted this account so it was a genuine surprise to see them. I do still have the negatives of the photos and these anomalies show up on them as well. The rest of the roll of film was normal.

The image of the truck was taken at twilight but my wife states emphatically that there were no cars driving in the area when she snapped that shot. There really does seem to be "movement" in some sections of the red line. That milky splotch is of interest because it faintly resembles the weird bluish splotch that appeared under a window in that apartment one night.

At the end of the day, I am completely on the fence about these images but it's cool to have them as a part of the account as they are somewhat strange, and as you wrote, occurred when a lot of other weird stuff was transpiring.

How random! 😲 Thanks Martin!

Manafon, the only 'logical' explanation I got for these is the white splash above the cup could've been something in the development of the film. Or maybe even something with the film itself. Do you, or did you have the negatives? Did these odd things appear there as well? I've never seen such a stark white splotch on a photo before, very intriguing!
The swirly stuff in the truck photo I've seen before but only on indoor photos, with artificial lights, never outdoors during daylight. I always thought it was something to do with lights hitting or bouncing off the lense, or some such. But outdoors in daylight, on what looks like a cloudy day, during a time of much paranormal weirdness, hmmm very intriguing again.

Glad these photos got posted. Martin, you've excelled yourself! 😆

Martin--Wow! It's great to see these photos added to this old account of mine. I'm interested in the thoughts of the YGS community. I'm also a bit stunned at how young I look in the first photo, although it was 1992 😲

Note: some new photos provided by the author have been published.

Tweed--I have speakers now that work with the contours of the room for optimum surround sound. The stereo and speakers I had in that apartment in the early 90s were not cutting edge and they definitely weren't searching out a sweet spot. I used that same stereo and speakers, after moving out, for another four years or so in two other houses with no issues. The thumping only occurred at 2:30 in the morning in that one apartment. It really seems something was trying very hard to make its presence known.

As for the photos, I put them up three times and each time the link was disabled, for whatever reason, after only a few hours. I contacted photobucket and was told everything should be fine but each time I put 'em up the link would go down. It was extremely annoying.

Manafon, Jeesh that loud?! 😲 That's crazy disturbing.
Really wonder what it was all about. Reminds me of some modern speakers or hifi systems I've heard of that make a loud racket to find the sweet spot. I don't know what it's called, but some systems have an inbuilt sound, like an alarm beeping, that you activate after setting them up in a room. The beeping starts at a comfortable volume and increases to incredibly loud and fast. I guess it stops once it's detected the size of the room and where each speaker is in relation to one another. I guess it's to do with surround sound. Whatever the reasoning for that technology, maybe a similar logic behind what happened to your speakers all those years ago. Very intriguing and downright creepy.

What were the photobucket links? Couldn't get them to work. Tried clicking 'get started', no luck. Photobucket should really get it the hell right sometime. Bunch of numpties.

Tweed--I never looked at the speaker cone to see if it was moving but the speakers and even the floor would vibrate intensely with the weird thumping.

I really wish that one woman who had also briefly lived in the building had written more of her encounter with an apparition in the building. I tried to encourage her to do so but she seemed to be happy to have had her experience validated. That she found the YGS site, and in particular my account, shows it was something that had been on her mind for years. The guy she lived with seemed to have a slow mental breakdown during his time in the building. I always wondered if he experienced some paranormal incidents that intensified his issues.

It was a great building and very few who visited left without feeling the "vibes" that seemed to always be around.

Manafon, the layout correction time line thingy was not lost on me lol, how odd!😕
Now when I read the previous comments page the layout stuffs up, oh well!

That was awesome hearing from the previous poster about her experiences in this place! Wish she'd submitted her story too.

The speaker volume increase must have felt menacing. I would have definitely unplugged it too. Did you ever see the cone moving with the noise?
There's something not so nice about a presence that isn't bothered by anyone interrupting whatever it was doing. That it got louder is simply unsettling. 😕

Hi Tweed--I am glad you were still able to read my story. Weird how the formatting corrected itself AFTER you finished reading!

I do believe the apparition of the man in the apron was residual. He seemed to be repeating some long ago action and was completely oblivious to me. A woman, who lived across the hall from the apartment I lived in, actually commented on this story that she once saw a female apparition walking up the front staircase of the building carrying, what she thought to be, meat wrapped in butchers paper tied with twine. Like the apparition I saw, it also seemed residual and simply repeating an earlier action. The spinning blue object (according to Julie) was around six inches in circumference and shaped, roughly, like a spinning top. When this object moved beneath the window and I then saw it, it was probably a foot in circumference but appeared as if, for lack of a better word, had "splatted" against the wall. This action seemingly made it spread out, as it were.

I gotta say I really like your idea of the ghosts tapping into the magnets of the speakers and the bit of electricity that kept the monitor light on. The pulsing of this light and the increasing thumping sound does suggest the ghost was, quite possibly, gaining energy. A "smarty pants" indeed! Now you have me thinking of a sad faced ghost, all emotionally deflated after I would unplug the stereo. I would have kept the stereo plugged in if the sound didn't get so monstrously loud! As I wrote, it really seemed at times as if the speakers would blow.

Your thoughts on this are thought provoking and have me going over all the incidents again in my head--Thanks!

aaand right as I finish reading the page layout returns to normal!

Manafon, regardless I managed to read this lol.

My word what a collection of bizarre occurrences in one location! How cool it must have been to revisit the place years later!

That must have been so strange seeing pictures of the black smith and the butcher. Kudos to you for all your in depth research. Do you think the man in the smock was residual?

That blue mass, what the heck? How big was the spinning blue object, was it the same size as the blue mass? It's reaction is pretty telling. I agree, something trying to manifest.

This speaker business, I've been thinking lol.

You know how speakers have magnets, well I'm wondering if 'someone' (goodness knows who or what) but someone was trying to harness energy from your stereo somehow. You know how people theorise about cold spots, warm spots, being a result of energy being drawn from the atmosphere from a ghostly presence. Well, what if some smarty pants ghost worked out they could gain energy from charging the magnets (and also capitalise on the small amount of electricity housed in the plugged in stereo) to recharge their own energy levels. This may account for the light behaviour. Assuming ghosts need some kind of energy boost to manifest and/or manipulate/interact with the physical realm.
Then there's the time detail, a punctual 2:30, hmm yeah, what the hell. Maybe this is an atmosphere thing. During daylight hours the particles in our atmosphere change and it changes us, makes us more aware. (this is something I heard on a science program years ago) Anyway, during night fall these particles dwindle and we react by wanting to rest. (We and all other living things are apparently impacted by these particle changes, the opposite impacts are felt in nocturnal beings)
With this in mind, along with any possible particle matter we currently can't measure, maybe there was something about the atmosphere at 2:30 that made 'something' possible or easier for this entity. Maybe there is a witching hour after all. Darn darn, what the heck might have happened at 3am!
Jokes aside, the fact it gained in volume smacks of increased strength. I keep coming back to magnets, their energy field and possible hidden potential for ghosties. Aww, think of it's little face when you unplugged it.

Tweed--Thanks for noticing the weird formatting problem with this story of mine. I wonder how it happened? I have never seen it on any other story published on this site. I would be very interested in your thoughts on this particular story if it is fixed!

Hey Mods,

I was just about to read a few members older stories. I clicked on this one first and for some reason this here story of Manafon's is appearing off the page. The text is pushed off the boarder instead of fitting into the template. Err yeah, weird! I clicked on a random story of Rook's and it appears fine, as do the new stories. Also the rest of Manafon's stories appear fine. It seems to be just this one story.

Does the text in this story appear off the page for anyone else?

Gah this is pretty funny because I've been meaning to read this particular story for AGES and now when I put the time aside it's gone awry!😆

ani70,I completely agree with you that his behavior had nothing to do with you (if indeed it is the same person.) I was just remembering a guy from the apartment across the hall that seemed to have some issues. I do hope you will share more details of what you experienced there. What types of smells did you notice? What were the sounds you heard? Particularly I am interested in that apparition you saw. Was it the front stairway? I have to say it was the most haunted place I have ever lived in!

He did live in the efficiancy but I don't think my breaking up with him had anything to do with his break down. I broke up with him because he was becoming a bit too possesive and weird...er. But our break up was not intense or violent, just me leaving because I felt I needed out of that realtionship, quick. I simply stopped going over there anymore.

ani70, please consider sharing the story of what you encountered on York Street! I would be very interested (as other readers on this site would be) to hear more details of the sounds, smells and particularly the apparition of the woman carrying the package wrapped in twine you encountered. It really was a haunted place and your story would be a great addition to this site.

ani70--Wow, your mention of an apparition of a woman walking up the (what I believe) was the front staircase of the building carrying wrapped packages wrapped in twine was fascinating! By any chance was the apartment your boyfriend lived in Apartment C? Right before I moved out there was a guy who moved in there who seemed to slowly become more unstable as time went by. Stuff like throwing stuff around his apartment, playing music super loud on weekdays at four in the morning, never answering his door when you banged on it. I remember this guy had an intense break-up wiht his girlfriend in the hallway that seperated the apartments late one night and then the guy just went off the deep end. The apartment I'm referring to was the "efficiency" unit. I always wondered if the guy was just upset about a break-up or also effected by the building.

An ex boyfriend I believe. Sorry for the typo from my last post.

I believe it was an who used to live there but cannot be sure. My experiences were usually mostly of stange sounds when there should have been none, odd smells in the night, but the visual were of a woman coming up the stairs carrying paper wrapped packages, which now I believe we're of meat, tied with twine. I do not live in Villa Park any longer as I moved away in 1992, but I was born and raised in Villa Park.

Hi ani70--I am curious what you saw at York Street? I am also curious if I know you. What are the first names of your friends you knew at the building? I am asking because I wonder if we met sometime during the time I lived there. My wife Julie and I were friends with the other tenants and it would be great to hear what your experience at the building was. Thanks for the nice comments about my story. You write you live in Villa Park--that's where my brother lives. Small world.

From the description of the building, I believe I know exactly where that building was as I used to have friends that lived there. I am a Villa Parkeryself so am very familiar with Elmhurst. I knew I wasn't crazy! Thank you for verifying what I know I saw.

Hi Kitsune,
Thank you for your comments! Several years ago I did consider writing a book about local hauntings but presently I can't find the time (work etc). It is certainly something I may do some day. Hats off to the guy you mentioned who was able to retire on the proceeds of his books--nice!

* read, even * Sorry, all fingers and thumbs this morning when it comes to typing!

Hi Manafon, just wanted to tell you that I really enjoyed the detail and the style of your story - very well written. Have you ever thought of writing a book? The leader of the 'ghost hunt' organisation I used to belong to had a way with words too; he wrote several guides to ghosts in local areas and was able to retire on the proceeds; the books are still regularly for sale in local museums and book stores. I would certainly ready anything like this written by you:)

x77--thanks for the kind words! It is a bit of a long story. I do have a tendency to be long winded 😊

Wow! This is the longest story I have ever seen in YGS!
Nice story, it's very impressive, Thanks! 😁

I had the two images up on Photobucket that accompanied my story but looking today I see they are no longer there. I read several bad reviews of Photobucket and sharing images was at the top of the list of problems. Very annoying! Unless the administrator here can somehow can get the images put in with my story, it doesn't look like I'll be able to share them. Any other ideas?

The link to my photos on Photobucket states "sorry the page does not exist" but if you hit the "Getting Started" icon on that page it will take you to the photos. So you can see them even though the page says you can't. It's a bit tricky but it does work.

The photos mentioned in my story, "Incidents At South York Street", have been put up on Photobucket and can be found at the following link--
[URL=http://s79.photobucket.com/user/mjshannon67/media/001_zps99556d1e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j133/mjshannon67/001_zps99556d1e.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

zzsgranny--thanks! I sent the photos by responding to the email I received when my story was published. Hopefully this is what you meant. The two links to Martin on the page were for the Your Ghost Stories website and The Eclectic Store, so I assume I was just supposed to send the photos as a response to the acceptance email. Fingers crossed this works!

In the e-mail you received when your story was published is a link to send the pics to Martin so he can put them with the story. 😁

Thanks ifihadyoux and BadJuuJuu, I will first try the "contact" link and see what happens. If that doesn't work I will put them up on photo bucket or similar site.

I 2nd BJJ. Unfortunately she is correct and it's not the first time I've seen this happen, however I have seen stories with them in it so there must be a way. I suggest doing what BJJ suggests with contacting the admin or uploading them to a 3rd party site and posting the link.

The photos didn't come in with the story, and you're not the first to have this issue. It's beyond my access to attach the pictures, you might try the "contact me" link at the top of the page to get in touch with admin. He's the only one who could do it with the story already published.
I'm sorry.

Hi ifihadyoux--I did send the photos before the story was posted. I intially received the email confirming the site had received my story, that it was pending publication and if I had any photos that accompanied it to respond to that email and send them as an attachment, which I did. The email with the photos was never returned so I assume someone at Your Ghost Stories received them. If I have to post the pictures to photo bucket I will but hopefully they went to someone on the site who could put them up. Either way I will post them somewhere so readers can see them.

I believe there is a different way to send the pictures but at this moment it is too late to attach it to the story itself. You can upload the pictures to a website such as photo bucket and post the link in the comments for us to view if you would like.

elnoraemily--wow, you dug up a lot of interesting stuff! I will have to take some time to check it all out. Also very cool you found the info on Anna Heinemann. Could that have been Edwin's wife since he died in 1906 (or 1907 as some sources have it)? Edwin was only 44 when when he died so I actually guess it could be. Thanks for all the new research! Notjustme, I did submit both pictures but since that was the first time I did it I am not sure where they are on the site. I sent them as an attachment but am not sure. Maybe someone can tell me if I did something wrong when initially sending them? I will gladly resend them if I need to.

Julie and I always found the strange hauntings in the building incredibly intriguing. We were never scared by any of it, more just interested. WiniPu4--thanks for the nice comments. I agree there was nothing menacing in the building. It was kind of fun to tell people who were visiting some of the paranormal things that happened. Most would say, "I'm glad I don't live here". Thanks for all the input.

Hello, Manafon:
I loved your story. I prefer longer, more involved stories with lots of details. Like elnora, I love history & looked up the same historical/genealogical sites before I noticed she posted them in the comments.
It sounds like you had a very interesting time while living at the building. Thankfully, none sounded too menacing & in one instance, even helpful. To me, it sounds like a combination of residual and intelligent energy.
Elnora, many colleges traditionally name the on-campus bar "The Rathskellar", which the students usually shorten (naturally) to "The Rat". I don't know the history behind this practice; however, like almost everything now it can probably be googled.
Kind Regards,
Lynev

Oh, the A.E. Heinemann you saw was as living the building, was his wife, Anna Emilie Regina Heinemann. She passed in the 1960s.

what an amazing experience for the young couple! Haha definitely got more than you bargained for huh? Thanks for sharing with us. I guess the souls that once resided there meant no harm, just a lot of imprints and memories. Wonderful.

As for the photos, where can we see them? 😊

Here are some links:
Http://www.elmhurst.org/index.aspx?NID=498

Https://books.google.com/books?id=pHEUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1056&lpg=PA1056&dq=heinemann+meat+market+run+by+edwin+heinemann&source=bl&ots=Zv--dS1kV5&sig=UC9YumtQC_y9h9PVLhS0GsV5t4I&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SAfJVOTYLvSRsQTd_4HYBg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=heinemann%20meat%20market%20run%20by%20edwin%20heinemann&f=false

This is just a cool read: http://elmhurstpubliclibrary.org/lib/wp-content/uploads/Elmhurst-Centennial-Program.pdf

Some of the dates from different sources don't seem to match up perfectly, but they do well enough.

And this, randomly, this appears to be his genealogy:
Http://www.geni.com/people/Edwin-Heinemann/6000000020916296119

Once I started, I was too interested to stop! I love history.

That's really interesting about the restaurant name! I did not know that.

Hi elnoraemily--the name "Ratskellar" is one commonly used for German styled restaurants. In Germany a ratskellar is the cellar of the town hall used as a beer hall or restaurant. In America a ratskellar is a restaurant patterned on the German ratskellar and also located in the basement of a building. I imagine there are countless restaurants that use the name Ratskellar across the country. The Ratskellar mentioned in my account has been closed since the mid 1990s.

I haven't lived in Elmhurst since 1993 but have remained in the general area since then. I was interested to read that you found out more about the Heinemann's! All my reasearch on the building was done when I was still living in the building--way pre-internet!

How very strange. There is a basement restaurant in an old building in downtown Indianapolis called The Rathskellar. My uncle took me once and it's actually quite good. I wonder if they are owned by the same people?

The blue figure sounds extremely odd. I don't really have anything for that. It doesn't sound humanoid.

The stereo could have been getting some sort of interference, but that is still odd. I'm trying to think of a certain signal that could effect it at a certain time.

Your city has quite a bit of history. I looked up the apparent ghost, Heinnmann, and found a huge amount of history. It's nice to see well documented history. Apparently, his daughters ran a separate store until the 60s.
There is a lot I want to say, but my brain is so overloaded with information that I cannot seem to find the words.