EDITOR'S NOTE: Below is a new (to me, at least) version of the old Purple Head legend of Stangle's Bridge. Has any heard of this one or any other such tales? If so, please let me know at rking@indian.vinu.edu .
Subject: Folklore Website
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 17:40:36 -0500
From: WLW46201@aol.com
Dear Mr. King:
I want to tell you what a wonderful, very well-done web site you have on the folklore of Knox County. I also want to thank you for telling me about it. As I might have mentioned to you in an earlier email, I will be giving four talks next month - A Tour of the Haunted Hoosier Heartland - and I plan to incorporate at least a few of the tales on your web site - if that is all right with you?
Again, your web site is fantastically well done, very interesting, and exciting.
Thank you for directing me to this remarkable site.
Wanda Lou Willis
Subject: Knox County Folklore - Hauntings
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 18:05:38 -0500
From: WLW46201@aol.com
Mr. King:
I was sorting through my haunting tales in preparation for my talks next month and realized that I had not sent you my version of the Purple Hand and Head tale. Also, I found one other tale from Knox County which I will forward on to you. These are written much as I present them in my talks. You may edit or rewrite as you wish.
There is a decrepit railroad bridge near Vincennes. Most of the ties are missing, leaving holes through its span like the gaps left by rotting teeth. One false step would send the explorer straight down to a tumultuous, rocky demise in the river below. The rusted metal skeletal frame spans the Wabash, an echo of the might of the former rail traffic that connected a nation before the advent of interstate highways and air commerce.
During the bloody years of the French and Indian Wars and the early settlement period, skirmishes between white settlers and Native Americans were constantly being fought along the banks of the Wabash on the land that is now Indiana. These battles left many dead on both sides, and as is the way with war, many of the dead would not receive proper burial.
So it was for one particular Shaman of a local tribe. He was killed in one of the early outbreaks of fighting near the site of (what would later be) the old iron bridge. Despite the efforts of his people to retrieve his body, which rested in the shallows, the Wabash River eventually claimed it. This holy man was denied proper burial according to Indian custom. His soul, therefore, could not be sent on and was destined to be earth bound.
According to local lore, anyone making their way out onto the old bridge (now known as Stangle's Bridge) and reaching the center will be greated first by a purple hand reaching up from the depths of the Wabash as if in supplication. He who hesitates after this vision will then see the Shaman's bloated, luminous head rising to the surface, his open eyes pleading to be properly buried and released from his watery imprisonment. These sightings have been experienced by many individuals over the years. Though a few say the hand and face are blue, they all agree the sight is frightening.
The Sigma Pi Fraternity headquarters in Vincennes is said to be haunted by Colonel Eugene Whart, the original owner of the building. The offices are in a Georgian-style mansion on Old Wheatland Road.
The thirteen-acre estate was once known as Rebel Hill, because it was presumed to be a meeting place for Southern sympathizers during the Civil War. The Wharf family left the land and house to Vincennes University in the 1950s, and in 1962 it was given to Sigma Pi.
The colonel's presence is manifested by roaming cold spots, lights that go on and off by themselves, moving objects, and a male voice.
The ghost has a very bad habit of turning perfectly good hot cups of coffee into undrinkable, cold liquid with a gust of ice cold wind. The executive director, however, insists that the house is not haunted. (Perhaps he doesn't drink coffee.)
Hope you can use these,
Wanda Lou Willis
Subject: Re: Knox County Folklore - Hauntings
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 09:07:27 -0500
From: WLW46201@aol.com
Yes, I do remember where I obtained this tale (concerning Stangle's Bridge). Actually, I had to "write" it, but the Canal Society of Indiana (of which I'm a board member) held their Spring Conference in Vincennes. Prior to my going there, I called the Chamber of Commerce (or something of that title) and asked a young lady if she was familiar with any haunting tales in the area or knew anyone. Well, she had never heard of any, but she said there was an "older" gentleman who worked in the office (he wasn't in at that time) who probably would know if there were any tales of this nature. She did call me back in about two days and told me about the purple head/hand story which she had gotten from him. The day she called I was packing my car to leave for the conference and neglected to get either her name or his - but, it was a type of folklore oral history.
wlw