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LILYDALE PARK

950 Lilydale Road, Lilydale, Minnesota 55118

directions

From St. Paul, take Wabasha Street to the south over the Mississippi River. Follow this road for about a half mile until you reach Plato Boulevard. Turn right onto Plato Boulevard West. Follow Plato for a half mile until you get to the Harbor Road Raise. Turn left onto Harbor Road Raise. Harbor Road becomes Water Street West. Follow Water Street for about a mile and a half until it changes its name to Lilydale Road. The park will be on your left.

history

Lilydale Park is an undeveloped park just outside of St. Paul, Minnesota. From the Mississippi River bluffs, you can see a spectacular view of the city skyline. The place is riddled with prehistoric geological and biological artifacts. Fossils are easy to find and caves dot the landscape.

For a while, the area was used as a brick-making factory. The owners of the factory chose the site because of all of the readily available clay. Today the factory is gone, but there are still remnants in the form of bricks and parts of buildings. Many of the caves in the area were made during the life of the brick factory and have been abandoned since the early 1900s. They are currently closed to the public.

Since the area has never been a developed park and many of the areas in the park are somewhat remote, the area at one time gained a rather dark reputation. Many people have committed suicide within the park, either throwing themselves from the bluffs or killing themselves in other ways on some of the remote trails. Several reported murders and rapes have occurred within the park as well.

ghost story

Several spirits haunt this park, and they appear at any time of the day—most often when the witnesses are alone in the park.

The ghosts heard most often here are children. Witnesses hear what sound like screaming children coming from all around them. These screams are heard most often near the caves. Whenever those hearing the screams try to find their source, no children are ever found.

People also encounter white, misty apparitions throughout the entire park. These apparitions float through the woods and the trails and then mysteriously disappear. Perhaps these are remnants of those people who met their untimely end here in the park.

visiting

The ghosts are said to haunt the areas outside of the caves, so the fact that the caves are closed for the public’s safety has no impact on your search for the ghosts here. The ghosts are not exclusively seen at night, so you have an opportunity to go to the park at any time in order to hunt for the apparitions and listen for the children here. The ghosts manifest most often when the witness is alone or in a small group. If you are walking through the park alone, be careful though. There are some dangerous trails and the area is rather remote. In addition, there have been documented rapes and murders within the park. If you go, be careful. You may want to stay away from the place at night.