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Stories a place tells about itself, passed down and still repeated.
Avon, IN
The railroad bridge west of Indianapolis has accumulated several local ghost stories, most famously involving a mother and child and another tale about a worker supposedly entombed in the structure. The bridge remains an active railroad structure, so OddWay visitors should view it only from legal public areas around Washington Township Park and never walk on the tracks.
Wheatfield, IN
This unusual steel bridge over the Kankakee River carries a persistent local story that some of its metal came from the original 1893 Chicago World's Fair Ferris wheel. The bridge itself is real and historically significant, while the Ferris-wheel connection is best treated as legend rather than settled fact.
Clinton Falls, IN
The 1922 Edna Collins Covered Bridge crosses Little Walnut Creek and carries one of Putnam County's persistent ghost stories. Local legend tells of a girl named Edna who would wait for her parents to honk three times at the bridge and is now supposedly connected to unexplained sounds and sightings around the structure.
New Harmony, IN
New Harmony tradition once claimed that the Archangel Gabriel visited communal leader George Rapp in 1819 and left footprints impressed into a limestone slab. The weathered slab still survives behind a brick wall near Church and Main Streets, but it is on private property and should only be viewed from the public sidewalk through or over the wall.
Fort Wayne, IN
John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, died near Fort Wayne in 1845 after decades of planting and tending orchards across the frontier. A prominent memorial in Johnny Appleseed Park marks the burial place traditionally accepted as his grave, giving the American folk figure a real public destination.
Arlington, IN
The grave of young Lova Cline is marked by an elaborate miniature house built by her family rather than a conventional headstone. Local stories later attached eerie details to the little structure, including claims that objects inside change position, making it one of Indiana's better-known unusual cemetery monuments.
Mooresville, IN
Stop on Gravity Hill, outside Mooresville, put the car in neutral, and it appears to roll uphill. The slope is an illusion — the surrounding land hides the true horizon, so a gentle descent reads as a climb — which has never once stopped anyone trying it with a bottle of water. A public road, so pull over sensibly and watch for traffic.
New Harmony, IN
The Harmonists who founded New Harmony in the early nineteenth century used a labyrinth as a spiritual symbol of the difficult path toward enlightenment. Today's hedge labyrinth recreates that tradition around a small temple and is open to visitors year-round without admission.
Martinsville, IN
This small cemetery inside Morgan-Monroe State Forest has become the center of a long-running "Lady in Black" legend involving a grieving woman said to linger near an old tree and grave. The haunting is folklore, not established fact, and visitors should treat the active cemetery respectfully and use normal daylight forest access.
Terre Haute, IN
Terre Haute legend says a bulldog nicknamed Stiffy Green remained devoted to his owner, florist John Heinl, and later became associated with Heinl's mausoleum in Highland Lawn Cemetery. Stories claim the dog's green eyes could be seen glowing near the tomb; the original dog figure is now preserved at the Vigo County History Center, while the mausoleum remains the physical location tied to the legend.
