McCulloch Park - I See Dead People

When I was a little kid, there were times when we hung out at McCulloch Park.

It is right by GE and also - on the bus line. I know at some point, the Three Rivers Festival parade even marched by the area because we sat there and watched the parade that year.

Anyway...

One of the rumors that kids used to pass on from one generation to another was that there were still a bunch of people, buried in the park and that when it rained, their bodies would float up to the top.

Although your initial reaction as a kid would be fibber!, I would be lying if I didn't tell you that the first time I was informed of this rumor, I had a couple of difficult nights of sleeping.

In my dreams, I kept on seeing myself in McCulloch Park, playing on the grass, then the rain breaks out, and as I run to the gazebo to take shelter, I start tripping all over the bodies that have washed up from the ground.

I know - pretty creepy.

Over time, I just dismissed the rumor. Even forgot about it.

Until today.

Side note: For the record - we all know that Indiana Governor, Samuel Bigger, is still buried there and allegedly, he was the only one.

While I was out on Ancestry.com, I came across this:



A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE KAMMEIER FAMILY -- written by Ernst C. Kammeier

After being in America about two weeks, misfortune befell the family. The father became sick and died. That surely was a hard blow for the mother, who was left alone with three little children in a strange country. Fortunately the family was among good friends and neighbors who helped them as much as they could.

Henry Kammeier I was buried in the City cemetery on Broadway. This cemetery later was converted into a park and is called McCullouch Park in honor of Hugh McCullouch, a prominent citizen and banker of Ft. Wayne, who was Secretary of the Treasury of the United States under Pres­ident Lincoln, and who is said to have devised and inaugurated the modern banking system in the United States.

When the cemetery was converted into a city park about the year 1885, quite a number of bodies were removed to other burial grounds but that of Henry Kammeier was not disturbed and is still resting there. The grave is located in the southwest corner of the park near Broadway St. under a large elm tree.

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SO...I guess part of the rumor passed on from one generation to another was true - there ARE still dead people buried in McCulloch Park.