Читать книгу Twin Cities Haunted Handbook - Jeff Morris - Страница 28

SELTZ’ POINT AT LAKE COMO

1360 Lexington Parkway North, St. Paul, Minnesota 55103

directions

Take I-94 West from downtown St. Paul for about 2 miles until you reach exit 239B, the Lexington Parkway exit. Turn right onto Lexington Parkway North and follow it for another 2 miles. This will take you into Lake Como Park and to the shores of Lake Como.

history

The ghostly history of this beautiful lake in the middle of Como Park can be traced all the way to Northfield, Minnesota, and all the way back to September 7, 1876. This was the location and date of perhaps the most famous bank robbery in the history of Minnesota. One of the most famous outlaw gangs of the time period, the James-Younger Gang, decided to meet outside of Northfield and rob the First National Bank of Northfield because of ties that it shared with Union leadership during the Civil War. At around 2 p.m., three men entered the bank while the other five terrorized the street by firing their weapons into the air. The town would have none of it. From the cover of the surrounding stores, the townspeople opened fire on the robbers. Several were killed, more were wounded, and some escaped.

A posse eventually caught up with the robber Charlie Pitts and killed him in a shootout. The body of Charlie was purchased by a local physician named Henry Hoyt, who wanted to use the body for medical research and display. Before he was able to do anything with the body, Dr. Hoyt was granted an opportunity to travel to Chicago for a few months. Unwilling to let the body go to waste, he placed the body in a coffin and submerged it in the waters of Lake Como at Seltz’ Point to preserve it. During the time of Dr. Hoyt’s absence, someone discovered the submerged body in the water. The police were called and a murder investigation ensued. Eventually, Hoyt was called back to St. Paul to straighten everything out with the investigation, and throughout the following years, the bones of Charlie Pitts have traveled from museum to medical school throughout the region.

No one is quite sure where the body is today.

ghost story

Rumor has it that the ghost of Charlie Pitts haunts the corner of the lake where his body had been stored. These rumors and legends designate this corner as Seltz’ Point. People around this area will sometimes see a man who looks very much like Charlie Pitts walking through the area in the shallows of the lake or along the lakeshore. This man will always seem lost and confused. When he sees someone approaching him, he immediately vanishes without a trace. Others will report being touched or feeling unwelcome when nearing the shoreline at Seltz’ Point.

visiting

The tricky part of visiting this particular ghost is that no one seems to be quite sure where Seltz’ Point is. We spoke to several employees at a pavilion at the lakeshore who had never heard of Seltz’ Point and had worked there for years. Luckily, though, Lake Como itself is neither very large nor very deep. You can easily walk around it by using one of the many sidewalks and trails in the area. Typically, the ghost is experienced during times when the sun is not shining brightly. This means that people have experiences at night, at dusk, or even during rainy days.