CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
124 North 20th Street
Status: Historical School
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ammodramus" title="User:Ammodramus">Ammodramus</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC0, Link
History
Omaha was the original capital of the Nebraska Territory and the Territorial Capitol Building once stood where this school is located now.
In 1869, when Nebraska became a State and the capital was moved to Lincoln, the building and land were donated for educational use. In 1870 the Capitol building was demolished and a red brick school was built for students from kindergarten to grade 12.
In 1900 the school we see today was built and converted into just a high school – Grades K – 8 were moved to Central Elementary School.
In 1930 a gym was added to the building. In the early 1980’s the entire building underwent an extensive renovation and the outdoor courtyard was enclosed in a translucent dome.
It is, without a doubt, one of the most impressive high schools in North America.
Paranormal Activity
The original part of this school is haunted by 2 ghosts who don’t seem to be able to leave their work behind even after death. Curiously, these spirits are only active after hours during evenings or on weekends; although its possible they are just missed during a chaotic school day in an institute with over 2,000 students.
A former Dean of Students is seen a blur of white that moves down the main hall and enters the office of the Dean of Students. He is also seen as a shadowy figure in the window of that same office and is known for waving to the living outside the building.
A former janitor makes their presence with phantom sounds of sweeping and the squeaking sounds of a custodian cart being moved along the floors of the halls.
There are also cold spots felt in the main hall and a disembodied voice saying “I know you’re here” when 1 or 2 people are present or “I know you’re all here” when there is a group of 3 more living people. This could be either of the 2 ghosts presented above or a third ghost entirely.
Either way there are at least 2 intelligent hauntings at this high school.
HUMMEL PARK
3033 Hummel Road
Status: Public Park, Urban Legend
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.
MUSEUM OF SHADOWS
1110 Douglas Street
Status: Paranormal Museum
History
Owners Nate and Kaleigh Raterman opened the museum 6 years ago though their experiences with haunted objects date back to 2006.
It is now the largest collection of haunted objects in the world – over 3,000 - and was voted the most haunted museum in the world.
The museum is in 2 floors of a 4 story building and is a self-guided tour.
They are constantly collecting new objects and will even come to your house to remove them if you’re unlucky enough to possess one.
All new objects are quarantined and vetted for attachments before being put on display.
Some of the objects are – of course – very unfriendly and some of them just difficult to be around and all are encased in glass preventing any contact with the living.
There are Ghost Hunts with periodic ghost hunts in building with state of the art equipment that can be booked through their website (link above). They also have Sit Challenges where you can sit in a dark room with a haunted object and see if you can make it 10 minutes before pulling the whimp cord.
In the United States you can also watch a show filmed here on Amazon Prime; they have just started filming Season 2.
Paranormal Activity
The museum has a doll named Ayda that has been voted the world’s creepiest doll by Destination America; surpassing both Annabelle and Robert.
Ayda turns her head, moves her arms and legs and has even leaned forward banged her face on the glass before sitting back up. Her last owner kept the doll tied up.
In the basement – where there’s a room full of items that have dark attachments and people comment on the energy being so heavy it can be difficult to breathe – there is Claire; yet another doll.
Claire is the main reason no one is allowed to touch or interact with the objects. People used to take pieces of Claire’s hair and bad things happened: lost jobs, bankruptcy, car accidents etc. The museum began to get calls from all over looking to return her hair.
Claire is also known to speak and make sounds like crying or saying “help me find my mommy” or just straight up “let me out of here”. People are even warned to be careful what they say around her; she is always listening.
If you’re up for it you can even take the Sit Challenge (see above) with Claire if you dare.
Visitors have also reported seeing apparitions, hearing disembodied voices and there is said to be security footage of objects moving on their own.