0:02

Well, hello neighbor. This is Lisa from the greater east side district two community council. I want to welcome you to nightmare on Ivy street. The spooky and darker history of the greater east side. During the month of October, and possibly beyond, we will be diving into the gently scary stories of Dayton's Bluff, Paine Fallon, Conway Battle Creek, Hazel Park, and other dark corners of the east side of St. Paul.. We will also be recounting some of the forgotten, darker, historical, true crime stories about east siders, or that happened here on the east side. We hope that you will send us your tails, the things that go bump in the night. So that we can highlight them to. We have two yards to spend today. So sit back. Grab a cup of hot cider and your favorite blankie. Let's walk down this road together.

Audio Only - All Participants: 1:00

Welcome to this first episode of Nightmare on Ivy Street. My name is Lisa, and I'm with the Greater East Side District 2 Community Council. I will be your guide on this journey through the darker corners of the East Side of St. Paul. Shall we begin? Her name is Mary. She is a bright and precocious six year old girl. She loves to play ball and is typically very happy. She lives, well, spends. Her time at the Mounds Theater and Mary, well, she met her unfortunate end. Over six decades ago, Mary's one of three spirits at theater. They love visitors. Although red has a special affinity for blondes. Jim is looking for his lost love and Mary may try to hold your hand. That is if you believe in that sort of thing. Our first nightmare on Ivy street today, it was one of the most popular haunted sites on the East side, the historic Mounds theater. Our sources today were the St. Paul pioneer press, the historic Mounds theater website, and. experience. The Mounds The Road in the Dayton's bluf as a movie house and vaude 1922 and provided enterta when it abruptly closed. for many years, waiting f her back to life since re has hosted plays, bands, Wrestling. And three, Resident Spirits. I actually had the pleasure of taking a tour of the theater with my nephew several years ago, with the group Real Haunted Tours. We learned about Red, the curmudgeonly camera operator, who stays in the film booth, and how Mary, our little girl ghost. Doesn't like him very much, and tends to remain at the front near the stage. We also heard the story of Jim, the lonely usher who walks the aisles and has been reportedly heard crying. Both Jim and Red love working at the theater so much, They decided to stay. There have been pictures taken of floating orbs and flashing lights, which may be records of our spirits or symptoms of an old theater. Did we have experiences while there? You wonder, well, perhaps, perhaps it was just a coincidence when I nephew swore, he felt a tap on the shoulder while in the basement and I felt static energy, like someone was trying to grab my hand near the stage. And while using what paranormal experts call a spirit box. An electronic device investigators use to communicate with spirits by scanning through radio frequencies. We were told not too welcomely to GET OUT by a male voice. Don't worry, we promptly did. Of course all of this could have been figments of imagination, or was it Jim or Red asking us to leave? If you would like to experience the theater yourself, you can email Real Haunted Tours at R. H. T. Mounds at gmail. com or the theater itself at historic mounds theater at gmail. com. The plan to do tours again in October of this year. Perhaps due to goal line construction, it may be a little more difficult to access the mound this year. And then again, those construction headaches may give Mary, Jim, or Red all the more reason to reach out to you. Phelan Lake, Phelan Park, Phelan Village. The name Phalen is well known.. Those of us who grew up on this side of town know it as synonymous with the East side, but who was Edward Phelan and why is his legacy not exactly pristine? Our second story today is less spooky and more true crime, or is it true? Our sources are from the Fort Snelling News People and Stories. Blog post by Bruce Peterson, the book, Minnesota Oldest Murder Mystery by Greg Bergman. And my favorite site, probably yours, Wikipedia. Edward Phelan, either spelled with two E's or the way we know it today with an A, was an Irish immigrant stationed at Fort Snelling approximately 20 years before Minnesota became an actual state. The soldier had a bad reputation, being a hothead and a bully. And my guess is his fellow soldiers at the fort were pretty happy about his upcoming discharge. very much. One benefit at the time of being with the army is that once discharged, you got first crack at claiming land that had been made legal to settle on following a treaty with the Ojibwe people. I won't get into the misdealing of the U. S. government with the peoples who were here before colonization, but let me acknowledge right now that we honor those of the past, present, and future indigenous peoples who have stewarded this land for centuries. And if you would like to learn more, you will add those notes to our pod description. Anyway, back to Ed. I'm sure he was pretty darn excited about being done with the army and being able to lay a claim to land. However, there was an issue. The money. He didn't have it. So he worked out a partnership with a sergeant at the fort, John Hayes, to pull their funds together and purchase the land. They were an odd couple of opposites. Phelan had passed. Criminal one. And as we said before, kind of a jerk. Hayes, however, seemed to get along with everybody. Phelan built a cabin on the large piece of property where most of downtown is today. And when Hayes was finally discharged, he joined his partner at the cabin. This is where the fighting began. At least that's the way neighbors remembered it. And there was a lot of it. In September 1839, however, Hayes was gone. Three weeks later, his body was found near Dayton's block. Several soldiers and a doctor from the fort went to investigate after a tip from a group of indigenous peoples. And who was there waiting for them? Yep, it was Ed. He was arrested and tried for murder. Although his temper reared its ugly head and most of his testimony was self incriminating, he was not convicted. He insisted on his innocence. But the neighbors didn't buy it. And he soon after sold his claim and moved further east to where Sweet Hollow Park is today. Ed tried to go about his business, well, in Ed's way. In 1850, on his way to California to escape a perjury charge, he was killed by his traveling companions who claimed self defense. Unfortunately, the court documents are long gone and we may never know what really happened to Hayes and if Phelan had really anything to do with his demise. There are rumors of a deathbed confession that someone made at some point, but no proof can be found to substantiate. Ed's neighbors had their own opinion of what happened, as neighbors often do. Thank you for joining me on this first episode of Nightmare on Ivy Street. Next week we'll have a very special guest. Real Haunted Tours will be here to talk about their experiences at the mounds. We will also be relaying a few spooky tales that your neighbors have submitted. Do you have a spooky tale or a darker historical story from the east side? We want to hear from you. Send our yarn to greater east side D two at gmail. com. That is greater east side D two at gmail. com. And we may share it on a future episode of the podcast until next time. Keep your porch lights on, listen for bumps in the night, and we will look for you in the darker corners of the east side.