Ghost of young woman haunts Carbondale dwelling, SIUC students

The dwelling at 507 W. College St. appears to be on its last leg, and after years of existence, is waiting demolition day.

The windows of the modest white house are dark and motionless; the front porch looks as if it might crumble at any moment.

It was in this house that Chris Reynolds remembers walking into the kitchen late one night and seeing a blond-haired girl standing in front of the refrigerator.

“I thought it was my roommate’s girlfriend,” Reynolds said, “but then I realized she went home for the weekend. [The ghost] yelled out to me:’Wait!’ And when I looked back she was gone. I was like, holy crap.”

Spotty city records indicate that a Mrs. Edna Brewer owned the house from 1943 on up to the last record showing her ownership in 1977.

It is unknown whether the girl seen by Reynolds was a former tenant or owner of the house.

Wygal said a couple of months after the first incident they were told by past tenants and Henry Fisher, the owner of Home Rentals, that the house had unusual occurrences. Home Rentals, which rented the house to the students, was unavailable for comment Monday.

“The guys that used to live there told us they were sitting around watching TV one night,” Wygal said, “and a shoe on the floor just flipped over right in front of them.”

Zach Wygal recalls waking up late on the first night at the house to go to the bathroom. As he walked by the kitchen he heard the sound of water running. After entering he saw the faucet turned on and all the burners on the stove turned on high.

“I thought somebody was trying to kill me,” he said. “I ran upstairs and woke [Reynolds] up and said, ‘There’s something wrong here.'”

Wygal said on several occasions he would be in bed and hear the metal cabinets and oven open and slam shut. When he would get up to inspect the noise, it would stop.

“I thought maybe it was my roommates, but they were all in bed,” he said.

According to Wygal, the previous tenants were making a videotape for a class and were shocked to find a voice saying, ‘Hello,’ in the background.

Despite all of the unusual occurrences, Reynolds said they were disappointed to find that they could not renew their lease.

“We thought it was fun,” he said. “We were looking forward to another year of craziness.”

As the house waits its destruction, one imminent question remains. Will the ghost inhabit a new home built on the site, or will the destruction bring down the ghostly spirit with it?

Reporter Jane Huh contributed to this story.

Reporter Brad Brondsema can be reached at [email protected]