Haunted Iowa: Funeral Homes, Campus Ghosts and the Black Angel

The route begins at Periwinkle Place Manor in Chelsea, a Victorian mansion that once served as a funeral home. It continues through Iowa City with Brown Street, Plum Grove, the E.C. Mabie Theatre and the Black Angel of Oakland Cemetery. Other stops include Melbourne Manor, the buildings and traditions of Iowa State University and Farrar Elementary School near Maxwell, where investigators have described shadow figures, children’s voices and activity in otherwise empty halls.

Rather than treating every account as established fact, the episode compares documented history with the folklore that grew around each place. The result is a tour of haunted Iowa that considers why stories remain attached to funeral customs, family homes, campuses, monuments and schools long after their original occupants have gone.