Evelyn Rake, left, of Warsaw Indiana Paranormal Studies, and Peggy Biltz, a volunteer at the Kosciusko County Historical Society, in one of the cells of the Old Jail Museum, 121 N. Indiana in Warsaw. Though she hasn’t experienced anything herself, Director Sally Hogan said many employees and volunteers have reported ghostly encounters. One man, after working in the women’s department, “ran out and would not come back,” she said. WIPRS’ encounters include disembodied voices, flashlights turning on and off and cell doors moving by themselves.

WARSAW — The story of Annie Chaplin contains illicit romance, a cruel father, murder-suicide and, finally, a ghost. So it’s no surprise local historians and ghost hunters have taken an interest, including Greg Steffe of Spirits of Warsaw ghost tours, Evelyn Rake and her sister Marianne Prater of Warsaw Indiana Paranormal Research Studies and members of the Kosciusko County Historical Society, located in Warsaw’s Old Jail Museum, 121 N. Indiana St., where Chaplin was incarcerated and murdered.

“Annie was 21 years old and from a good family,” said Steffe. Chaplin is one of the stars of his tour, which visits several spots in Warsaw where history and ghosts collide.

Her father, Moses Chaplin, was a prominent Pierceton citizen and, according to an Indianapolis Journal article from Sept. 29, 1880, a director of the First National Bank of Warsaw.

Annie seems to have been romantically involved with a travelling Singer Sewing Machine salesman from South Bend, Guin L. Smith, who was married with children. “On the 11th, the girl was arrested with Smith as an accomplice for forging a check on the First National Bank … signing her father’s — M.P. Chaplin — name to the same,” reported the Nappanee Weekly News, Oct. 8, 1880.

Moses refused to post his daughter’s bail. Smith made bail, and, according to the Weekly News, began “dissipating considerably … and acted as though something were weighing heavily on his mind.”

Annie became a local celebrity, gaining the public’s sympathy, who believed Smith had forced her to cash the check.“The father allowed her to remain in the care of the sheriff for the purpose of keeping her away from Smith, whom he understood to be a bad man,” wrote the Journal. Others thought Moses a stern father teaching his daughter a lesson.

A description of what happened next, taken from a Sept. 29, 1880, article in the Indianapolis Journal, is classic “yellow journalism” of the 1800s, which sought to shock readers; Steffe uses a similarly entertaining tone in his tour narrative.

“Annie was out in the jail yard and entered the water closet. Her watcher saw his chance; with one leap he sprang over the high board fence and concealed himself until the poor girl was retiring, when he sprang upon her, like a lion would a dog, and shot her twice.” The article went on to vividly describe his subsequent suicide and the bloody scene that resulted.

The old jail has long been thought to be “haunted,” and Annie’s is just one of the spirits said to reside there. One hundred and thirty-five years later, WIPRS was chosen by the Kosciusko County Historical Society to conduct paranormal investigations of the premises. These are open to the public. Paranormal 101, for ages 16 and over, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., offering instruction in the use of detecting equipment. Advanced Paranormal, ages 18 and up from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., allows groups or individuals to investigate on their own. Groups are strictly limited to 10.

Whether or not one believes in ghosts, Annie’s story and its aftermath tells a lot about how history is created and passed on, and, like Steffe’s tours, it’s a “perfect match: History, paranormal and entertaining people.”

For more info go to [email protected] or call Rake at (574) 376-0330.

Contact Steffe at (574) 453-7982 or www.spiritsofwarsaw.com.