Halloween Hauntings and Stories - Halloween Special

Get ready for a nostalgic trip back to the Halloween days of yore as we, recall our favorite Halloween memories from Mokena. But Halloween is not just about the candy and costumes. It's also a time for ghost stories and eerie encounters. We've got a spine-chilling tale about an outhouse, with consequences that will make you scream! Then, Matt shares the story of a local Mokenian, and his haunting experiences at a now-closed Mokena bar, including phantom footsteps, spooked dogs, and possessed lamps. 

As with any town that has old buildings with a long history, will have its share of stories of hauntings and questionable passings. Mokena is no different and Matt brought us some good stories for this episode, as always! 

From both of us, we hope you have a safe and happy Halloween! 
Israel & Matt

Chapters

• 0:00 Halloween Traditions and Memories
• 11:21 Haunted Bar in Mokena
• 25:51 Halloween Pranks and Community Celebrations
• 31:01 Happy Halloween With Mokena's Front Porch

Transcript

Israel: 0:00

Welcome to Mokena's Front Porch. A Mokena History podcast with Matt Galek and me, Israel Smith. Alright, Matt, welcome back. Tonight we're going to be talking a little Halloween and fall. We're kind of enjoying our last few days of what's probably going to be the warm weather for the year, definitely, but fall in Mokena and just fall in general. You know, I think it's one of my favorite seasons.

Israel: 0:24

Oh, absolutely Bonfires and all that Good stuff, and one of the things we were talking about was some of the traditions and things going on in town around Halloween, and one of the major ones being Halloween Hallows. Oh yeah, what do you remember about Halloween Hallows growing up as a kid?

Matt: 0:43

Well, yeah, halloween Hallow was always great, and back when I was growing up, so in the 90s and in the 80s because that's when the Park District started started doing it I think the first one was maybe around must have been around 82 or 83, I think, years ago. So once again, in my time in the early 90s and going into the mid 90s, it was always held right at the main park on the Port Road. There were some kind of rides and stuff like that, but there was just all kinds of stuff that was going on. There were things like pumpkin contests, costume contests, which I did one year. I must have been about five hours in that contest, costume contest and remember your costume?

Matt: 1:27

Yeah, it was a dinosaur, nice, yeah, my grandma made me a dinosaur costume, as she always made my costumes when I was growing up, and yeah, it was a whole thing. There was like a stage and you had to walk across the stage and I can't remember how it was determined who won. I can't imagine people were voting on costumes little kids were wearing, but in any case, somehow a winner was decreed and I did not win. I don't think I did that year, but there was, there was all kinds of stuff. There was a there was always a like a scarecrow pit, for lack of better ways to describe it. Over at the Park District there was what's a scarecrow pit.

Israel: 2:10

What do you? What does that mean?

Matt: 2:11

It was like an area that was roped off that was just full of tons of hay and loose clothes and you would go in there and stuff your scarecrow. Oh, it was really cool. We had a scarecrow one year, a life size scarecrow that we made at Halloween.

Israel: 2:30

Hello, oh, and you had to take them home with you. You got to take them home, yeah sweet.

Matt: 2:34

Yeah, it was pretty cool. I didn't do that every year because we discovered early on that I have a pretty bad allergy to hay. So there was a year or two where I was going in there and then would get horribly sick when I got home. But that was. That was one of the many things you could do there. It just it took over the whole area of main park and there was so much to do and I think my favorite thing was the haunted trail.

Israel: 3:00

The haunted trail? Was that behind? And the trail behind the park district?

Matt: 3:04

Yeah, yeah yeah, In the in the woods that are kind of to the south of the baseball fields and the football field and all that, there's that little trail back there and every year it would be haunted. And in later years I mean this was still going on 2009, 2010, they were still doing it Because I always would do it with the library when I worked at the library for a real long time and we're still doing it then. But when I was really little, so early 90s I remember it being pretty scary. It was. I mean, it was haunted, Like people were going through it to be scared. Later on it became a lot more friendly to little kids and stuff. But and no, there was yeah, it was, it was. It was pretty, pretty intense for a little kid when haunted houses.

Israel: 4:00

Haunted houses ever your thing Like. Was that something you enjoyed? Yeah, I would say so.

Matt: 4:04

There never really were too many around here. The park district did have one for a year or two in conjunction with Halloween Hollow in some kind of building that was over toward the over toward the eastern side of the park district. There is a kind of like a garage over there now in the area that borders the park district and where the Methodist Church used to be. There was a haunted house over there and that was pretty cool. I really like that. When I was a kind of later elementary school age that was going on.

Matt: 4:43

But in terms of other ones, I remember Frankfort would put one on. That may have been what organization did that? Was it like the Frankfurt Lions or might have been the Frankfurt JCs? They put on a haunted house that had a pretty good reputation. It was pretty scary, I remember. But let's see, yeah, there weren't too many like nowadays they. There are these haunted houses where you have to buy a ticket and it costs like $50 and it's like this whole big production. That kind of thing wasn't really around Mokena when I was growing up.

Israel: 5:18

They had. They used to do the prison out in Goliath. Oh yeah, that was, yeah, that would be scary enough to go through on its own.

Matt: 5:26

It is yeah.

Israel: 5:27

If it was haunted house? Yeah, exactly. And then you know, trunker treats are a big thing now which I think is probably a newer. It is a newer thing. That's come along, yeah, yeah. But a good way for people to kind of get out in the community. And St John's is doing it, does a big one and Gear Heads does one. That's yeah, that's nice.

Matt: 5:47

Yeah, pretty popular.

Israel: 5:48

And then just you know in general trick or treating obviously kids is huge.

Matt: 5:52

Oh, I hope so.

Israel: 5:53

Yeah, any any prime spots that you know of to tip people off on for good candy spots.

Matt: 5:59

Oh yeah, so this, this may have changed in the many years since I was trick or treating, but one year my friends and I ventured out to what is that subdivision called, is it? It's the area that's, let's see here, that south of Lincoln Highway, kind of over around Owens Road. There is the new Northwestern facility over there brand new, the subdivision that's kind of south back in there. How did we wind up there? I think one of my friends knew somebody back there. In any case, we went trick or treating back there and this was when this was still a pretty pretty brand new subdivision. We went trick or treating back there and got a lot of full size candy bars and stuff like that. Yeah so, but it was always good, no matter where.

Matt: 6:53

I always, for for quite a while, I would do a couple hours trick or treating it in my friend's neighborhood, which was Pheasant Ridge, which is little ways off of 195th Street, north of 195th Street and or, I'm sorry, south of 195th Street, just kind of West of St Mary's and and all that. We would go all throughout that neighborhood and then, when we were done there, my parents would pick me up. I'd come back home to my part of Mokena over by the city hall and then I would cram in as much time trick or treating there too, before trick or treat time ended. And it was I always. I abided by the rules because I didn't want to any grown ups to get mad at me or anything If I came to their door after hours.

Israel: 7:41

So well, we've our go to has been over. On Fiona Fiona is a real popular one, and there were the Fiona Halloween houses. Yeah, absolutely. Which one of them is closing down? This year is the first year they're not doing it. Yeah, that's crazy. The neighbor still has it. Oh good, but I the, the family that closed down, was selling all their stuff. Yeah, I saw that and I picked up five about four or five foot alien.

Matt: 8:12

Oh, cool, cool that's part of their display lives on here Good.

Israel: 8:16

That's a, that's a piece of.

Matt: 8:18

Mokena history for sure. Yeah because that that house was their yard was going on for 25 years. That's yeah, I believe it. Yeah, because I remember when they first started doing that and that was a huge attraction in Mokena. Yeah, for sure. I mean we, we went by it every year.

Israel: 8:34

Yeah they scared the bejesus out of our kids.

Matt: 8:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what it's all about yeah, it's a lot of fun.

Israel: 8:41

So hopefully the neighbors picked up a lot of their stuff and hope so as well. I hope so, and we got a little alien to show. So if you come trick or treating in our house you can say hi to them. Cool, so tell us a little bit about kind of the the olden days in Mokena and how they were different back then.

Matt: 9:01

Yeah well, halloween was always a pretty big deal in Mokena, even before us. However, the big difference in the Halloween's of your are that they got really out of hand in terms of people playing jokes like practical jokes. I would say kind of that. The greatest joke in the world is that. You know, I would say kind of that. The greatest generation, as we call it, the World War Two generation, the people that grew up to fight in World War Two and came of age during the Great Depression, and the generations maybe the couple of generations before them, were the ones who really engaged in a lot of this. In town. Jokes would range from moving things like wagons into weird places. I think a couple times wagons wound up on roofs of front street businesses.

Israel: 10:02

This is the equivalent of like hiding somebody's car. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Matt: 10:07

Yeah, wagon on a roof. Yeah, exactly. I think my earliest reference I ever came across to a Halloween in Moquina, if I remember right, might have been from the 1890s or the first couple years of the 20th century, and this was in the Moquina column of one of the Joliet papers. And whoever this local correspondent was didn't go into detail about what was going on, other than to say that this year was out of hand and that this sort of thing has to stop in the future.

Israel: 10:40

So what? Do you have any further idea what what that might mean? Like what could they have been doing to get out of hand?

Matt: 10:49

Yeah, yeah, I know that oftentimes that things involving the railroad tracks would come in like people would pile up just all kinds of miscellaneous stuff up on the railroad tracks to mess with the trains, and that that was even things like that would go on well into the time of cars. I think one year there was something like that, a similar kind of like a barricade of stuff, that wound up in Wolf Road that almost caused some accidents. Oh wow, the a common one and this, this kind of segues into my favorite Moquina Halloween story was in the days for years and years and years when Moquinians did not have indoor plumbing. Everybody had a privy or an outhouse behind their, their house or wherever they lived, and a pretty common one was to move outhouses once again, put them in weird places or just hide them.

Matt: 11:53

And there was a local lady who recounted this story years later, who she was born around. She must have been born around 1912 or so around 1913. So I'd imagine this was maybe like the end of the 20s or early 1930s when this happened in Moquina. She would have been about high school age when this happened, but it was Halloween night and she and her friends were engaged in moving somebody's outhouse under the cover of darkness, but it did not all go to plan because as they were doing it, she fell into the hole. Yeah.

Israel: 12:33

Yeah, that is not a hole you want to fall in.

Matt: 12:36

No, definitely not, Definitely not. Yeah, yeah, that's funny.

Israel: 12:40

Any idea where that was?

Matt: 12:41

Oh, unfortunately no.

Israel: 12:42

No.

Matt: 12:42

I wish I did. I wish I knew where this happened. It was in Moquina, somewhere, and it was a Halloween night. But yeah, no, I wish I did. But yeah, that was that's my favorite Moquina Halloween story.

Israel: 12:54

Yeah, well, that's interesting and it's funny that it would be of kind of that World War, two generation. And that because, yeah, I think there were a lot of pranksters and tricksters and I know I think of my grandpa, that generation. He was always pulling jokes or yeah, stuff like that.

Matt: 13:12

Oh yeah, absolutely yeah.

Israel: 13:14

But I mean moving outhouses and putting wagons on roofs is kind of a different level. It is yeah, yeah, it was pretty crazy. So, with this kind of being our Halloween episode, you know, last year we had an episode on the haunting of an English garden. That's right, yeah, yeah. And so this year we wanted to kind of you know. I asked you if you had any stories about Moquina, any Halloween stories or ghost stories or anything like that, that that you wanted to share. So what have you found for us, matt?

Matt: 13:48

Yeah well, this is. This, in my opinion, is probably the best Moquina ghost story it was. I have to give credit where credit is due this I never personally talked to the people that witnessed this supposed paranormal activity. The story was relayed to me and to the community at large by a Moquinian by the name of Bob Baker, who was a newspaper man in town for many, many, many years, and this was a story he printed in his Moquina paper, which was called the Independent News.

Israel: 14:29

His, like he started this paper on his own. Yes, that's right. Yeah, he, he founded it.

Matt: 14:32

He was the editor, and how long did that paper?

Matt: 14:37

go on, for it went on for a few years there, I believe his first paper, his first issue, came out in. It must have been 2001. It was. I believe it was the fall of 2001 because unfortunately I remember 9, 11 had just happened and the paper Independent News continued until my rough guess without actually looking through my stuff to find this would it must have been around 2005 or six, ok, thereabouts. So he had the early 2000s covered pretty well in Moquina, yeah, but in Halloween 2003, he put this story in the paper and this all took place.

Matt: 15:20

I won't say exactly where this happened, although I think those of us Moquinians in the know will probably be able to piece it together based on a few details, but all of this stuff was happening at a bar that no longer exists. I'll say that. But I'll say it, the building itself is not even there anymore, but it was on a corner in Moquina and this place had been a bar for quite some time and the owners of it in the yeah, this kind of timeframe, the early 2000s, have relayed some tales of strange things happening there. One of the things they said was that they lived above this bar, so they worked there and they lived there. It was a husband and wife. They would say that they would hear in the middle of the night heavy footsteps walking through the bar downstairs middle of the night so loud it woke them up. But Alas, no one was ever there. They reported their dogs, who lived with them, would react strangely to the building Often Maybe a year or two ago this is a real moisturizing place that I have heard I have been sold out and in one voice call in the building. Recently they have女 nail polish, which has just been fixed, acting like they're seeing somebody, seeing a person walking into a room, for example, and following this, whatever it was, around the room, but of course there's nothing there. They're reacting to nothing.

Matt: 16:52

Pretty cool detail was the gentleman of the couple told a story of how they had a couple of lamps or two, one or two lamps that were. You don't really see these kind anymore, but I remember them from growing up years ago. There were those kinds where you could kind of like touch the base and it turned it on. They apparently had a maybe one or two of these up in their living quarters and it would sort of they would come to life on their own. They would get brighter and brighter on their own and then sort of dim back out on their own as if once again, as if they're being controlled or touched. But nobody was there. They would just watch this happen and probably, oh yeah, they also reported down in the bar in the bathrooms that sometimes all the toilets would flush by themselves when no one was there. People did not like to remain in the bar by themselves after hours. It just kind of had a creepy vibe to it when no one was there.

Matt: 17:58

My favorite part of the story and this will kind of seg into the backstory my favorite part of the story is that there was a security camera system in the bar and the two barkeepers could watch it sort of upstairs in their living quarters. And a couple times when, after closing time, when no one was in the bar, they caught a figure, an apparition of a man just kind of sitting at the bar by himself. Oh, really, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they were able to describe him pretty well, down to what he was wearing and what he looked like. I think they said he had kind of really prominent, maybe kind of bushy, sideburns. You know, kind of like maybe you would see back in the 70s that sort of thing and they would. They told the story to people, to regulars at the bar.

Matt: 19:01

And now this is where we come to the backstory, the possible source of this haunting. If ghosts are what we think they are, and people multiple times identified this apparition as being the owner of a bar that had previously operated on that site it was not in that same building. You see, you don't? You don't really hear too much about ghosts from buildings that used to be on a site coming back, but in this, in this case, this is what was happening and there was a lot of history on this corner, the.

Matt: 19:46

So this man that was identified as being this apparition that was seen.

Matt: 19:51

He and his wife had kept a bar here previously, in the 1970s and into the 1980s, and, without mentioning their names, because a lot of people around town still remember them, the man was shot and killed in 1981 on that site in his bar, by his wife Wow, yeah yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, and what was later determined to have been self defense.

Matt: 20:22

She was never prosecuted and the the case was thrown out and she's deceased now. She passed away probably about 10 or so years ago, and he was the one who was identified by people after having been hearing the description of this apparition that was caught on on this security footage and, interestingly enough there was a another murder that occurred on that corner in 1964, involving a married couple, but this time it was kind of the other way around it was the, the man, the barkeeper, who had shot and killed his wife in what was at the time was said to have been an accidental shooting. But that occurred and a bar had been on that site on that corner going all the way back to the 1920s and there was a lot of nefarious prohibition activity that was going on there Now known site in the Frankfurt township area to get bootleg booze, as it were, at that time.

Israel: 21:36

So the two murders were both on the same, in the same bar, yes, and then that building was torn down and it's believed that's who's who's haunting the new bar that that was there.

Matt: 21:50

That's right. That's right. That's that building where the two murders happened and a supposed third one happened there in the 20s, but that was probably just a rumor. No one ever got down to the bottom of that. That building where that happened burned down in a fire around 1982 or 1983. It was not too long after the most recent murder case, I guess. That building burnt down and soon thereafter this newer two story building was built on the site. That held once again a few more bars over the years, and this was the building that had the alleged paranormal activity happening in it. If that means that, building's not there anymore.

Matt: 22:38

now you say and that building is also no longer not there. Yeah, it was. That building must have been torn down around. I'm trying to place this in my head, let's see. Oh, that must have been maybe 2009 or thereabouts. Give or take a few years, maybe.

Israel: 23:00

You're making me really curious on, but I understand if you don't want to share it. Yeah, I don't want to get in trouble, and you know who knows? Because maybe now whoever, whatever, if something's sitting there now, they're getting the haunting too. It could very well be. I'd be interested. It's like a land ghost.

Matt: 23:17

He stays with the land. Yeah, I'm really very curious.

Israel: 23:20

So if anybody hears anything, All right, wow, yeah, that stuff always gives me the chills.

Matt: 23:27

It's creepy. It's creepy stuff, yeah, yeah.

Israel: 23:29

It is, and I mean I can imagine not wanting to stay in a bar, especially if you heard a few ghost stories. I don't think I'd sit in Little Isle very long.

Matt: 23:37

I know, I don't know if it was dark in there. No, there's a lot of history there too.

Israel: 23:40

Yeah, yeah, a few rumors of ghosts and stuff and things they talk about in the basement there.

Matt: 23:46

Yeah, yeah yeah. That's another place that's got some stories attached to it.

Israel: 23:52

Yeah.

Matt: 23:53

Absolutely yeah.

Israel: 23:54

Well, good, it's good to get a little seasonal, and fall is a great time of year. Sure, yeah.

Matt: 24:04

Absolutely.

Israel: 24:05

I know that seeing all the trees changing around here and everything turning to fall, and then in winter, is one of my favorite teams of year.

Matt: 24:13

So yeah, oh, definitely, although I do love this summer. Yeah, oh, definitely, they each have their pros and cons. Yeah, yeah, cool.

Israel: 24:20

Good Well, thanks Matt.

Matt: 24:21

Thanks for sharing the story.

Israel: 24:23

And I hope you get some good candy. Me too I'm excited. In the story Matt mentioned a couple of the Halloween evenings where there was trouble. There was kind of people causing a ruckus or some trouble in town and then it actually kind of got serious at some point. So after we recorded, matt sent me a couple of old articles that he had found from the Molkina News Bulletin, and so I wanted to share a couple of those with you. So we'll start all the way with the oldest one, which starts from November 2, 1921.

Israel: 24:58

The Halloween sprites were broad Monday night in Molkina and did a little mischief. A company of about 17 young fellows marched on the Dan Cole premises, bent on mischief, when suddenly Carl Cole shot off a shotgun in the air. The sprites were very badly frightened and made a desperate dash to get away. They ran down the railroad tracks and across the joining fields in their hurry to get away. Now going to November 6, 1931, for an article titled Play Foolish and Dangerous Halloween Pranks at Halloween, in spite of the fact that Molkina had special police on duty, halloween night the Royal Blue Store operated by George McGrell was the object of a vicious attack by a rowdy group. The store was pelted with tomatoes and an electric barber pool was wrecked. About $25 damage was done. The matter is to come before the next council meeting. Quite. A number of our outhouses were overturned and windows all over town were soaked. The worst piece of rowdyism, one which stamped the perpetrators as either a bunch of morons or gangsters, was pulled off on Wolf Road a short distance north of Molkina. A roll of fence wire, a mailbox taken from the Anton Nelson Place and a large number of corn stalks was piled in the center of the highway. The obstruction could have resulted in a serious accident and might have caused fatal accident as it was. A car driven by a Mrs Semler nearly crashed into the obstruction. The miscreants showed themselves very foolish, as they can be made to pay a severe penalty for meddling with the government when they tore out the mailbox at the Nelson Place. Fellows who pull a stunt like this are a menace to the community and either a class with morons or hoodlums. Pretty harsh words. But clearly the pranks seem to be getting a little more serious.

Israel: 26:39

Now we jump a couple years to November 3rd 1933 with an article titled Halloween Pranks Bordered on Vandalism. Many of the Halloween pranks this year bordered on vandalism. At Molkina. Windows were broken in the G Wannamaker Store, the Molkina Tavern, in the Sutter Building and in the Braun Pool Hall. Gangs of boys pelted passing automobiles with tomatoes. Wednesday noon a man from Chicago appeared in Molkina and said that while he was driving on the wolf road someone threw a beat at his car, breaking a window. The broken glass cut his wife's face. He threatened to get out warrants. Two special police, tom Moore and Fred Steinhagen, were on duty Halloween night. People don't mind some harmless pranks, but do object to property damage. Now we jump ahead a few years, to November 6th 1952. And we have two stories from this one. The first one is titled Pranks Caused Trouble Lost Halloween.

Israel: 27:32

A small amount of damage was done in Mokena on Halloween Eve. The most severe was at the Mokena Coal and Feed Company owned by Andrew Zank on Front Street. A group of young men who were seen dancing on the roof succeeded in damaging it considerably, knocking many holes in it. The boys then got a hold of some 2x4s which were used as battering rams against the side of the building, breaking it down in many places. To carry their vandalism still further, they tossed bricks through the side on top of the building, completely destroying it. The steps at the rear building are made of cement blocks. The mandals took these cement blocks and hurled them into the scale pit, breaking them. They then took the truck and pushed it up against the building, rammed it and let the air out of all of the tires. All of these acts of rowdyism happened in the early morning hours and, not to end on a negative note, matt included, which happened to be on the same newspaper, clipping a little bit about some of the traditions and things that were going on back at this time in 1952. Some of the fun things and community things that were going on. So this is titled Halloween Parade Makes Hit With Kids.

Israel: 28:36

The parade and weenie roast and celebration of Halloween on witches night in Mokena last Friday night was a decided success. Ideal autumn weather contributed to the occasion, with the moon shining down brightly. The parade for the youngsters was sponsored by the AmVets Auxiliary. The children assembled at the schoolhouse and at 7 o'clock there were about 150 in the parade, which was led by police chief Whitney Carter to give the marching celebrants the swing and rhythm. Clarence Warner and Elwynne Shoenack played the drum and Mrs Jake Barron's the saxophone. Following immediately behind the parade leaders were Mrs Glades Fordonsky of Lincoln Estates, dressed as Miss America, and Mrs Harry Cooper, a tired, as Uncle Sam. They rode horses donated by Ralph Shoenack and Charles Rose. The parade proceeded to the VFW hall on Wolf Road. The judges who awarded the prizes in this unique and colorful parade were Mrs Sam Centers, earl Wolfgang and Marshall Mueller of Mokena, assisted by Mrs Albert Keppel.

Israel: 29:40

In the group of tots to fourth grade was Alan Hostert, who wore a piggy outfit, and chess home and a tiger outfit, and Dean and Dale Dergo. Dean was a clown and Dale impersonated Donald Duck. Carol Sherwood was dressed as a society lady in the fifth and eighth grade group, where Paulette Cooper, a piggy chef, joe Grobarcic, a lumberman, and Penny Spiewak, a gypsy, and Jerry Ann Hull, a raggedy Ann. Priced for the most original costume went to Claudia Halverson, who represented the Statue of Liberty. Prettiest costume was worn by Suzanne Shoe, a bridesmaid. Priced for funniest costume was awarded to Carol Marty, who was a tired as a walking bean pole. The last dressed costume was Pat Bowman as a dapper man, and Karen Anderson as a flapper lady.

Israel: 30:27

Upon arrival of the colorful calvocade at the VFW Hall, the gleeful youngsters were each given a box of crackerjack by members of the Ambet Post, which also sponsored the Weenie Roast. Such a huge bonfire was lighting up the sky of October's last beautiful night. Each child present was given a bun and a Weenie, there were marshmallows and taffy apples and the fun was unconfined. So that gives us a little picture of the days gone past and some of the Halloween celebrations and those things are changed. I think there's still some things that linger different events and different opportunities to get together as a community.

Israel: 31:01

So we hope you enjoyed this episode. We hope that you take this time, have some fun with the kids and the family If that's something you enjoy. If not, I hear the village has signs for no trick or treating at my house, but I will definitely be trick or treating here on our front porch and we hope you're doing the same. So I have a Happy Halloween. Like our Facebook page, share our post, share our new website, but have a Happy Halloween. Hope you enjoyed this story and we'll see you next time on Mokena's Front Porch.