HUMMEL PARK

History

In 1930 a parcel of land consisting of 200 acres was donated to the City of Omaha for the purposes of creating a park. The Park was named after Joseph B Hummel who had been a superintendent of Omaha’s Parks and Recreation Department.

There been a number of stories and legends told over the decades about the park – most of which are untrue – but it is highly possible there is an actual of paranormal activity in the park as well.

Paranormal Activity

Legend 1) The standard Satanic Ritual and Sacrifice urban legend. This is purely based on some pentagrams painted in the park – which is standard graffiti in any city. Most people haven’t even figured out the pentagram has to be inverted to be a sign of evil.

Legend 2) The is a family, pack or group of albinos in the park that attack people – some stories even say they’re cannibals. There is no record of this either in the past or ongoing.

Legend 3) There are trees bent permanently down by the weight of the lynchings that happened in the park. There is no historical evidence of any lynchings done in the park.

Legend 4) There is an ancient Aboriginal burial ground in the park filled with angry spirits. No archeologist has ever found one; nor is there any historical record of one with the Indigenous People.

Legend 5) A settler named Jacob Clatanoff once lived in the area long before there was a park here. He lived with his wife – Laurinda – who killed him, buried him and ran off with her lover. Again, no historical record – but in this case that may not mean its untrue. There is certainly not records of every single person who settled in the area.

People have reported seeing an apparition of a man that cries out, “where is Laurinda” and “don’t leave me”.

Legend 6) The Stairway to Hell. There is a stairway in the park and you never can count the same number of steps going up as going down. Some people say this is true and its because the stairs are damaged and weathered by age. Some people say this is false and they have counted the same number going up and down. Either way its very unlikely the stairs will get you to Hell.

Legend 7) There have been many deaths and crimes in the park. This is absolutely true. The Park is a heavily wooded area near a large city so it’s bound to attract the underside of society.

Per North Omaha History these crimes can be verified:

1933 – A radio repairman was murdered in the park

1950 – A drunk driver ran into a University of Omaha hayride resulting in 1 death

1956 – a woman was raped in the park

1983 – a group of prostitutes murdered another prostitute and dumped her body – outside of the park.

1988 – a woman was raped in the park by a recently released criminal

1992 – a high school student was kidnapped and murdered in the park

2006 – a missing child’s body was found in the park

There are reports of apparitions creeping between the trees, shadow figures, disembodied voices and screams, unexplained mists and winds and feelings of not being alone and being followed.