Raintrees, roses, cauldrons and things that go bump on Halloween

By Jayne Spencer

Black rose Eerily, two Indiana University employees who responded to our request for stories about campus "haunts" work in buildings that have the word "raintree" in them.

Tamzen Meyer, marketing and advertising coordinator for the Organization of American Historians, based on the IU Bloomington campus, works at Raintree House. Alexander Mitic, a custodian at IU Northwest, works at Raintree Hall.

Here are their stories...

Meyer on couch TAMZEN MEYER, IUB

"I work in one of, if not the oldest IU building, the Raintree House at 112 N. Bryan St., which houses the Organization of American Historians. Many different stories came to mind when I read your request. First, here's a brief history of the house: Dates vary on exactly when the house was built. I've read two different sources, one which says it was built in 1839 and another says it was built it 1845. The house was originally on 160 acres of property. It has been owned by many different families, including Agnes Wells, who was the dean of women at IU from 1918-1938. In 1969, the property was purchased by the Trustees of IU and rented to the Organization of American Historians, its current occupants. The house may have served as part of the Underground Railroad and is officially designated an Indiana historic site. The William Millen family purchased the house for $1,600 and owned it until 1880. He was a farmer born in South Carolina in 1802. It is said that a serving woman fell into a bubbling cauldron of soap in the basement and died from the burns. Claims have been made that a faint whimpering sound can be heard coming from the house.

In one history of the house, it says that according to Mr. Stallknect, one of the owners of Raintree House, 'the builders of the house first lived in a crude home on the property. They were out of provisions and desperate and knelt to pray for help. Then a stag appeared on the hill, answering their prayers with venison.'

Both I and the wife of one of my co-workers have smelled a pungent scent of roses in the entranceway of the front door. When I smelled the roses, I just thought someone in the office had received roses. I went into the nearest office and asked who had received them, but no one had received flowers or had sprayed anything. That afternoon, I proceeded to tell one of my coworkers about the incident and he was shocked because his wife had the same thing happen to her just a few days before. She also saw a woman sitting on the couch right where we smelled the roses. I've smelled roses in the same place a few more times since then.

Many people in the office do not like to be in the building after dark. Some people who work on the second floor say they have been working after sunset several times and claim they hear someone coming up the stairs. They have yelled out 'who's there?' and never received a response. The two women who say this happened to them say that the noise is so distinct that they've actually gotten up out of their chairs and gone into the hallway to see who was there."