Haunted Houses of Monrovia by Michael J. Kouri
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By Carina Arias and Clara Fouser, MHM Staff Members Haunted Houses of Monrovia by Michael J. Kouri
As docents who assist in the archive, Clara and I have come across some incredible historical pieces. One thing for certain: we knew that the October newsletter needed to feature something from our archive, but with a spooky touch. We immediately searched through our museum collection database to locate anything that fits within the theme of Halloween. We typed in “Halloween”, “ghost”, “witch”, “pumpkin”–you name it! But nothing came up. Finally, we typed in “haunted” and our database revealed a book by Michael J. Kouri called “Haunted Houses of Monrovia”. Clara and I gasped with excitement. The author, a psychic medium from Los Angeles, wrote this book in 2000 to document ghost stories in historic places in Monrovia. He mentions a variety of buildings– some that no longer exist–but all with spooky ghost-sightings. That said, Clara and I thought we would share our favorite stories from the book!
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By Oliver Beckwith, MHM Board Member Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
You should know that Monrovia’s first mayor was William Newton Monroe, but what do you know about the city’s second mayor, William A. Pile? He was one of the early founders and promoters of Monrovia, and today his Idlewild Home on North Mayflower Avenue is a local landmark.
William Anderson Pile was born on February 11, 1829, near Indianapolis, Indiana. After receiving a formal education he became a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. When the Civil War broke out he signed on as a Chaplain for the 1st Missouri Light Artillery Regiment. Soon Pile joined in the physical struggle to preserve the Union, and he became known as the “Fighting Parson.”
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