The fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana is the setting of some odd occurrentce- both supernatural and secretive- the in emmy-winning Netflix series Stranger Things. Here are a few real-life sites with mystical vibes and eerie backstories.
Want an invitation to sit in Joyce Byers’ living room? A reservation at the Graduate by Hilton Bloomington hotel is the next best thing. The two-room Stranger Things suite is an eerily accurate replica of the show’s set, complete with holiday lights, monster drawings, period furniture, and costumes.
When the Ohio River flooded in 1937, it all but wiped out the Rose Island Amusement Park, leaving behind stone pillars, metal archways, a fountain, and the swimming pool as ghostly reminders of a bygone time. Charlestown State Park maintains the site, which includes a nature trail.
On the campus of the former Central State Hospital in Indianapolis, the Indiana Medical History Museum—which includes the oldest pathology facility in the U.S.—houses all manner of preserved medical devices, lab equipment and compounds, slides, skeletons, and specimens … including brain samples.
If you’re driving on county roads northeast of Muncie, you may find an unusual sight: a small row of trees with shoes hanging from the branches. Mysterious in its origins, the Albany Shoe Tree has grown over the years, spreading from a single tree to now four that bear foot coverings as their fruit.
Indiana isn’t the first place you’d expect to find a religious shrine ensconced in shells. But Saint Anne Shell Chapel on the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College campus is filled with iridescent shells from the Wabash River, as conceived by Sister Mary Joseph Le Fer de la Motte.
Opened in 1882, the in Crawfordsville was the first of 18 rotary jails built in the U.S. and is the only one left standing with a still-operable turning mechanism. The jail site is rumored to be haunted and capitalizes on its spook factor by hosting night tours and ghost hunts.
A geological wonder, Jug Rock is the largest tea table rock formation east of the Mississippi. Composed of sandstone, the jug-shaped formation is 42 feet tall with a “stopper” appearing to balance precariously on top. The site is so revered, Shoals High School made Jug Rock its mascot and team name (Jug Rox).
When Nancy Kerlin Barnett passed away in 1831, she was buried in a spot overlooking Sugar Creek in Franklin, now known as Barnett Cemetery. Nancy’s family would not allow her body to be moved for later road construction, so her grave—which she shares with a few unidentified decedents—divides County Road 400 South.
Boasting “one inconvenient location since 1851,” Nashville’s Story Inn offers historic charm in its dining room and guest suites. In particular, the Blue Lady Room is an enchanting spot to spend a night connecting to the great beyond. Guests have reported seeing a blue-eyed ghost there.
