Reeder Road
Reeder Road is located in Griffith, Indiana and is a famous haunted location. Its a five mile road between Griffith and Merrillville, located south off of Oak Ridge park by a wooded area. The main story of this haunted stretch of road concerns a teenager driving down the road in the 1970s. He interacted with a ghost while speeding around. It was a girl who told him that her car had broke down and she needed a ride home. When driving by Ross Cemetery, the girl vanished. The legend is that this girl was killed in a car accident in 1955 and was buried in the cemetery after the incident.
Another local legend talks about walking-down Reeder Road for an hour and a half from the direction of Griffith. When you look to the right, you will see a church painted white that dates back to the early 1900s. While walking by, you will hear the screams of a congregation that a malicious pastor killed many years before. One other legend is if you walk along the train tracks that parallel the road, a man dressed in black will start to walk towards you in the distance. Since the late 1980s, the road has been closed and is barricaded by yellow objects.
(Source: Belanger, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. 2005.)
Reeder Road on The Griffith Side Has a No Trespassing Sign Up and a No Turn Around Sign Up. Cops Stake it out and will bust you. If you go back there. 4/8/2010
I was just there tonight and didnt see any no trespassing signs? I usually go in at the start of the road over in Griffith off of the main Redar Road that has the buildings and houses on it. Ive been there atleast 9-10 times without any issues. I also have gotten some interesting pics. We have yet to go to Ross cemetery and the chapel!
I’m not one to give in to the fear-producing power of superstition but I’ve done a lot of ‘google mapping”, and I’m just simply tired of hearing stories about the Griffith side. On the Merrillville side, it comes out to Hendricks St (which leads to T w/ 73rd. The street you are technically on before turning onto Hendricks is 58th St. It is a small amount of Road that is surrounded by swamp and forest on one side, a garage and what looks like 2greenhouses on the other (and more forest of course). Now there is something interesting about entering onto 58th, it has a wooden sign that states no trespassing and is the type of wood and paint color to denote Fed Forest land. (I believe that this Fed-land is actually Oak Ridge Praire (an IN state park).
Not scared of the “ghosts”, but more so of trespassing charges. I’m not very familiar with Reeder road, but by being curious about 58th and the random Federal sign, I was able to find that that road turned into deteriorated path, that path runs into railroad, step over the railroad, realize there’s nothing around you, especially a ghost, and then say “hey, I’m back on Reeder”. Check it out w/ google maps or some satellite device. I’m also working on a theory that the railroad crossing is assessable through Oak Ridge Prairie on the Oak Savannah Trail (off of Main St, at corner called Johnson Rd.)
I encourage anyone interested in these two alternate ways to Reeder Rd to map it at least one time, and also share your experiences and details.
I’ve never read the story about the church before, but reading the part about the “man in black” following you brought chills up my spine. Previously, I’ve only heard about the teenage girl who died & “haunts” the road. Before I go on, I’d like to let everyone know, I’ve always been weary about places that people say are “haunted” & never bought into it. & I’m not under any medication or mental evaluation…lol. The Merrillville side does in fact have a “No Trespassing” & you will have a shotgun drawn and/or shot at you until you leave…just a forewarning! I have heard this from various people who have tried to go in this side so I’d advise against going in this way. To get to the part that is part of the story, you have to go in the Griffith side off of Colfax. Drive past the houses & you’ll see a factory or large building of some sort (that I think was recently built, it wasn’t there the first time I went). To your left you’ll see a yellow gate, park nearby & you have to jump the gate, carefully walk over some old railroad tracks & you’ll be on a narrow trail in the woods adjacent to the road. Make sure to bring a flashlight, cellphone, and/or camera!
The first time I went was back in high school with a friend and our boyfriends, I remember it was in the summer, I would like to note that nobody had jackets (this will be an important detail) we were all dressed very lightly. Me & the other girl came up with the idea & pretty much forced our boyfriends to take us. We parked by the buildings before the houses & walked into a random spot on the left hand side (after walking past all the houses) into the woods before the gate/trail b/c we weren’t aware of where the entrance really was, nobody had been there before. In the woods it was easy to get an eerie feeling of course, but I felt very uneasy & wanted to get out. There were mounds of dirt in the woods that I couldn’t make out too well b/c it was dark, but the mounds appeared to be “breathing.” I don’t know if it was a trick on my eyes, but everybody else saw it as well. By the time we found the tracks & gate, me & my friend told our boyfriends we were going back to the car & they continued on w/o us. We were running for less than a minute & there was a torrential downpour out of nowhere, it wasn’t even supposed to rain & there weren’t even any storm clouds in the sky. It was hard for us to run b/c of all the rain that was in the road & we weren’t exactly wearing appropriate shoes. W looked behind us to see if our boyfriends were coming & there was seriously a man/person/something walking slowly behind us (like Michael Myer’s style) in a long black hooded cloak. We started screaming & running like crazy but the guy was still right behind us…we finally got to the car & of course it was locked, but the cloaked person was gone & it wasn’t raining anymore. We waited about 5 minutes frantic as hell when our boyfriends came running fast down the street yelling that we had to go FAST! They didn’t go down the trail, instead they walked all the way down the dirt road & came up to a trailer that was parked in the middle of it. I guess a guy inside saw them, grabbed his shotgun & started chasing them. We jumped in the car & told them about the cloaked person but they said they didn’t them & that it wasn’t even raining by them. I didn’t go back for at least 10 years after that. I heard quite a few friends talking about it after then who have told me they never saw any ghosts, but have been surrounded by people in black cloaks in a spot off the trail.
A few months ago, my husband somehow convinced me to go b/c he was curious about it, especially after hearing my story which he didn’t believe (which I don’t blame him, it’s not too believable!) This time we went over the gate & tracks, & followed the trail for quite some time taking various pictures & video. There was a large group of guys ahead of us, which made me feel better b/c we weren’t alone. The guys decided to turn around & leave, but we kept walking. I’m not sure how long we were walking for, but we came up on a smaller trail off the main trail. We came to a large clearing in the woods, it was a perfect circle w/sand covering it, so we know somebody made it. In the middle was burnt wood as well as shotgun casings. It looked to me like it was a ritual circle, which would be a good explanation for the people in black cloaks. I came to this conclusion b/c there weren’t any logs/anything to sit on around the fire so it didn’t make sense for it to be a bonfire pit. Plus, who would have a bonfire pit that deep in the woods? I really wish I would have had time to take a picture, but after seeing the shotgun shells my husband said we needed to get the hell outta there right away. We were rushing back down the trail the way we came & we heard footsteps behind us, so we ran like hell & didn’t even have time to look back. Just jumped in the car & left fast!
I’m not sure if there is anything haunted about it, though when we looked at the pictures there were quite a lot of “orbs.” I definitely think there is something strange going on back there & you couldn’t pay me to go back there again!
i remember going down that place of horrors. i was walking and talking along with my brother, and i kicked something. it was bone. and couple of inches in front of that bone were piles of bones. then , there was this old rusty truck slowly watching us as we were walking. the faster we got, the 1mph fater he went.and im only eleven
@Dan
ahh they dont go down there anymore. one the street og hendriks, there are people living over there, so they dont bother anymore.
@Cheryl
you will like the cemetary of ross. i went there with my brother, and we found the girl named elizabeth wilson’s grave. its old and all, but if you put your hand on they greave, you can make out the letters
@Lindsay
Interesting since I went there today and searched that entire graveyard (it’s tiny) and there is no Elizabeth Wilson. There are also no obituaries for her in this area, and since it has been said she died in the 50′s in a car crash, the grave marker would not be faded. The ones that are come from the horse and buggy days.
Reder Road is closed and anyone who trespasses
will be arrested for sure.
Though back in the day it was used for many suicides thats
why the road was shut down.
The girl is a urban legend and her name is Elizabeth Wilson.
If ya actually been down there and walked it ya see a white
church at the end.
This is from the 1900′s kids and said to be haunted also.
I think its best to stay out of the area as very guarded
and they will arrest you if your seen on that road.
There’s a reason they shut it down go to ya library and
see the real stories.
Laters
Peak
I have been there many times. There is no church at the end, no man walking with a trench coat and there is not shotgun shells or sand spots. It is simply an abandoned road that goes through Oak Ridge Prarie, which is a PUBLIC PARK! It’s not private property and unless you walk in through the industrial parkway entrance, you are perfectly fine. Tell the police to shove it, they can’t do anything. One time I was there with a group of friends about 20 years ago. The road was completely closed off but a white car came out of nowhere, started to follow us and than disappeared into thin air. Kind of weird and scary, but we just went back to the car. I have walked the entire trail and I have never been bothered by the police, except for once when I was drunk. Don’t listen to the old wives tales and let the trolls scare you, it’s perfectly safe and everyone knows that if you shoot a trespasser you will be arrested. ESPECIALLY IN GRIFFITH, MERRERVILLE and GARY. They do not have a law that states you can shoot on site, especially in a high “trespassing area”. Screw off trolls.
I remember back in high school in the 80′s, my friends and I drove down Reeder Rd. one night (something a lot of us did back then). We were all trying to freak each other out. We stopped the car on the train tracks, it was very dark, but everyone in the car saw a figure of a man walking down the train tracks towards us! Needless to say, we got out of there real quick!!
Me and my buddy are professional ghost hunters ( N.I.P.I ) and we have been back there several times. We’ve done many hours of research about the road and haven’t yet found anything that would give a reason to why the location is haunted. However, every time we have gone back there and walked the entire trail we’ve noticed some few odd things. about a mile up the path, we found several small bones ( likely those of dead small animals ). also on the right side of the path there are what appear to be some kind of road markers. we could swear we’ve seen dark clothed figures standing behind them and also inside the woods. nothing has ever come after us or anything like that and everytime we’ve gone to check the figures we can’t seem to find them. pictures and video of our investigations can be found on facebook and myspace. facebook.com/n.i.p.i and myspace.com/n.i.p.i
@Dan
Well, thereare no Tresspassing signs where Reeder Road is, there is onlya gate.
Been back there before in the 90′s, nothing really there. My dad is a retired county officer, just said the only thing that happened out that way was some one was found beheaded in the field where the emissions testing facility now sits, far enough away from Reeder Road.
I walk down Redar Road all of the time It is in “Oak Ridge Prarie” a county park. I have driven on it when I was a teenager. There is nothing supernatural out there. It used to be a dumping ground for bodies by the Chicago mob though.