House of Blue Lights

Informant- Catherine Calhoun: Mother, from Indianapolis, Indiana. 50 years old. She learned this piece originally from her mother and always thought it was a great myth that really stuck with her and is generally known around Indianappolis. Was conducted via phone interview.

Myth: The House of Blue Lights

            “When I was growing up, all the kids in the neighborhood knew about the house of blue lights. It got this name because it was decorated with blue lights all year round, making it look eerie at night. When I was a kid we always used to drive past the house and it was a really big deal. I used to make my parents go out of their way just so I could see the house. The story I heard was the the man who lived there was very rich, and when his wife died he kept her body inside the house. He put up the blue lights right after she died and they never seemed to go out. Apparently the wife would walk around the property and I knew people who claimed to see her in the blue lights when they went late at night. She gained the name the Lady in Blue from these sighting. We used to dare each other to walk up to the house and one time my friend even claimed she saw a woman in the window. After that we never went back but kids still would notoriously go there and play to seem cool because they wanted people to know they were not scared of the Lady in Blue. By the time I left Indianapolis the house was destroyed and I am not sure what is there now but it would be interesting to go back and see.”

 

Thoughts: I had never heard this story before my mother told me. I did some research and discovered that the house was owned by a wealthy man and after he died it was destroyed and given to the state. It is now a nature park. I have been to Indianapolis multiple times and have never been to the nature park that was one the House of the Lady in Blue. It would be interesting to see it now after hearing the myth.