I need to start by prefacing this entry. In covering ghost stories I/we are covering real life, historical events. Largely, these events are from a deeper history where enough time has past that the wounds aren’t fresh-where time has allowed emotions to mellow. The frequent retellings of Julia Buccola’s life, death in 1921 and the supernatural occurrences since, are accepted, even though Julia wasn’t a public figure while alive. There are also the tragic events that, though perhaps fresh, such as the 1979 crash of flight 191 in Des Plaines or the 2003 E2 Nightclub Stampede where 21 lives were lost. Though these events are recent, there’s a lower expectation of privacy due to their being part of national news stories.
Unfortunately, there are times when discussing the historical moments that define a town, one must mention a recent “black mark.” In the 2003 release of the book “Voices from the Chicago Grave” I mentioned Libertyville’s so-called murder mansion that was the site of at least one Mafia killing (of Bobby Plummer) in the mid 1980s and, prior to that, a grisly slaying of Bruce and Darlene Rouse in 1980. The mention in the book, which was no longer than what you just read now, receiving quite the cryptic message from someone connected with the murders.
Later, discussing the hauntings at the site of the “House on Rainbow Road” and the mysterious origins of such hauntings, we learned of the death of seven year-old William Cokenower on the property in 1968. To my surprise I was contacted by his sister, who, along with their father, was amazingly helpful in helping us (as a whole) understand the incident that lead to their family member’s demise and, perhaps, the hauntings that followed.
Recently someone has come to me with a story relating to a somewhat recent murder-suicide and one of the most talked about haunted sites in Chicagoland. The person, who I do know by name, but would like to remain anonymous sent me the following message:
Went to the gate with a couple friends one night. Back in Oct ’91 I believe. Walked back there as far as we could before getting scared and turning back. As we walked back, one of my friends started babbling like he was talking in tongues or something. We thought he was fucking around but it was a little too weird. Especially since he didn’t speak all the way home. Two days later he took a shotgun and killed his ex-girlfriend and then himself. Surely a coincidence.
I pried a little more. I agreed it was pure coincidence, but still interesting to hear that one of the last acts someone did before committing one of the most heinous acts was visiting a haunted site. For the most part, it’s just a footnote, but one would have to wonder if being in a place with a dark past would’ve had some psychological impact on his future actions.
Eventually, I was able to get the name “Chris Trevino” out of my source. At that point I was able to verify that the timeline is accurate. Chris did indeed kill his ex-girlfriend before turning the gun on himself. His girlfriend died on the spot and Chris died four days later.
The following articles are some of the resources I used to verify the story I was told.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-11-05/news/9104090624_1_shotgun-two-other-girls-halloween-dance
Upon reading these articles, my curiosity is piqued in regards to a connection between the “speaking in tongues” episode and the tragedy two days later. As you’ll see in the articles, Chris was a well liked, educated and completely ‘together’ individual. Granted, high school relationships are some of the most tumultuous imaginable. However, it does seem noteworthy to me that this pretty well-adjusted and highly intelligent kid did what he did and just two days earlier was talking in tongues in a place where there are actively some very negative entities.
I am in the middle of a documentary that deals with current unsolved murders where the coroner has requested paranormal investigations. We are tremendously timid about doing anything that might be construed as exploitive or disrespectful. At the same time, this world of ‘ghost hunting’ isn’t about getting cheap thrills and scaring ourselves, but about answering a plethora of questions. Unfortunately the murder-suicide of 1991 won’t have anymore questions answered, but this is a little bit of anecdotal evidence. Maybe it’s nothing, but then again, that’s not for a single person to decide.
It wasn’t until after I left Nevada City that I visited TheShadowlands.net and learned that Nevada City boasts another haunted site – The National Hotel. By chance I snapped the following two pictures. The National Hotel is the green building on the right side of the road.
