Mystery Location No. 262: July 18, 2021

This sounds like The Inn at 835 located at 835 South 2nd Street in Springfield, Illinois. It was built in 1909 by Bell Miller at the corner of Second and Canedy Streets as the town’s first modern apartment building. It is now a boutique hotel. The neighborhood in which it stands was dubbed “Aristocracy Hill” for its fine homes.

The hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is said to be haunted by the spirit of Bell Miller - people report hearing a friendly voice and seeing a ghostly figure in doorways. A book is frequently moved from its shelf in the parlor without explanation. Another tale is of peeling wallpaper being mysteriously repaired overnight, as if the ghost of the former owner is still caring for her building.

Springfield is the capital of Illinois and many of the state’s politicians reside there. Abraham Lincoln is famously associated with the city and his tomb is located in Springfield.

It seems that corruption frequently follows the state’s politicians. At least five former governors of Illinois have been charged with various crimes including embezzlement, bank fraud and perjury. One famous story of corruption in the city was the “Shoebox Scandal” of 1970. Following the death of Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell, John Rendleman II was cleaning out the politician’s rooms in the St. Nicholas Hotel in Springfield and stumbled on large quantities of cash stuffed in a variety of boxes, including a Marshall Fields Christmas box. Together with cash found in Powell’s office, there was approximately $800K in unexplained cash (Powell’s salary was around $30K/year). Powell’s total estate was valued close to $5M and federal investigators determined this wealth to have been acquired largely through cash bribes for awarding contracts to political allies.

Springfield is one of the most common city names in the United States with 41 towns bearing this name.