Joliet's haunted history alive and well for local enthusiasts

JOLIET – Eleven years after its television premiere, Syfy’s “Ghost Hunters” – the reality TV show focused on paranormal investigation – has yet to spot an actual ghost on camera.

Yet Americans’ fascination with the supernatural remains – evidenced this Halloween season when families are estimated to have spent $6.9 billion on costumes, decorations, trick-or-treating, parties and haunted house visits.

“If we look at ‘Ghost Hunters,’ they’ve been on TV for quite a while, but they’ve never really captured a ghost. At least, not one that they can sit down with and talk about lottery advice,” said Tim Weldon, a philosophy professor at the University of St. Francis in Joliet and author of the book, “Haunted Beauty: Aesthetics and Mindfulness in the Traditional Ghost Story.”

Still, Weldon admits, he can’t help but join in on the “fun of the shudder,” as he calls it.

“It’s downright fun. After all, [adults] are the ones spending the money on the Hershey’s bag, right?” Weldon said. “We like to say, ‘Oh, it’s all for the kids,’ but we’re the ones answering the door.”

There’s something about the arrival of fall, he said.

“Unexplained events” – maybe the rattling of pipes in the attic, a shadow of movement in the hallway – normally chalked up to coincidence on a bright sunny afternoon becomes a spine-tingling, eerie sensation on a cold, windy October night.

What better way to investigate rumored hauntings than by exploring Joliet’s rich historic buildings?

Rialto Square Theatre

A lone light bulb burns from the historic Rialto Square Theatre’s darkened center stage – long after all the stagehands and theatergoers have gone home for the evening.

Superstitions surround this time-honored theater tradition – known as a “ghost light,” said technical director Lori Carmine.

Not only does the light prevent actors or theater workers from tripping over set pieces or having to walk around the theater in the dark, “it keeps the ghosts happy and safe,” she said.

Two spirits – a little boy named Colin and a female star performer – are rumored to haunt the darkened hallways of the theater at 102 N. Chicago St. in Joliet, which was built in 1926. Stagehands over the years say they’ve heard a child’s laughter late at night and the sounds of tap dancing and the dragging of chains across the stage, Carmine said.

One theater volunteer, Sharon Gawenda, swore she could feel the female performer’s presence. Gawenda and others at the theater call the woman “Vivian.”

“We think she’s a vaudeville act from the early 1930s, a dancer. We’re not too sure about singing. Whenever we mention dancing, it seems like the little [electronic voice phenomenon] machines go off. She gets really excited,” Gawenda said.

Hiram B. Scutt Mansion

The Hiram B. Scutt Mansion, 206 N. Broadway St., is known for both its stately architecture and ghostly reputation, said Greg Peerbolte, executive director of the Joliet Area Historical Museum.

The fascination of passersby with the 1882 mansion may have something to do with its appearance.

“Obviously, the appearance of the house has something to do with it. It fits our classic picture of a ‘Scooby Doo’ haunted house,” Peerbolte said.

The 1882 mansion’s history is somewhat dark, he said.

In 2006, a Joliet teenager was shot to death outside the mansion during a party. It was purchased later that year by Seth Magosky, a Joliet real estate agent, historian and John Wilkes Booth impersonator.

Magosky planned to convert it to the P. Seth Magosky Museum of Victorian Life & Joliet History. But in March 2007, Magosky, 39, was found dead in the mansion.

When the house was put up for sale in 2014, its dark history drew hundreds of visitors, Peerbolte said.

“Every place that is rumored to be haunted, 99 times out of 100, there’s a very pertinent historical story there,” he said. “Something tragic happened there. What we do find is that a lot of times, haunted is just a code word for historical. But haunted is more flashy.”