Hutsonville Massacre Site Investigation

Hutsonville was laid out in April, 1832, by Robert Harrison, and the original plat embraced 48 lots, most of which were sold at the first sale. These 48 lots were on the old State Road running from Vincennes to Chicago. This road passed through Palestine, Hutsonville, York, Darwin, Paris and Danville, and was without any question, most people believe, the road traveled by the Lincoln family on their way from Kentucky to Springfield in the year 1830.

In the winter of 1812 Isaac Huston built a cabin about one mile south of the present location of Hutsonville where he and his wife and six children resided for a few months. During the following April, while he was at mill, his entire family was massacred by Indians, his home burned, and a neighbor by the name of Dixon was also murdered.

One bright October morning Hutson, thinking all Indian dangers past, started to mill far across the plain to the village of Palestine, the only mill for many miles around. Suddenly, a band of yelling, half drunken Indians appeared. The mother and children fled in terror, but it was useless. They were soon captured. The small babe was taken from its mother's arms and before her very eyes, thrown into a kettle of boiling water. With savage cruelty the mother and her children save one was tomahawked. The cabin was set on fire and the bodies of mother and all her children were cast amid the flames. Some reports say that the family members were decapitated and their heads were put on fence posts around the property.

The oldest girl, a blue eyed maid of sixteen summers, was led away captive to live a life of shame with her savage masters.

When he finally came back from Palestine, he found his family murdered and their bodies strewn about the place. He vowed vengeance and tried unsuccessfully to hunt down those Indians responsible for his family’s death. Eventually he was to succumb to a bullet from his foes.

The town was called "Hutsonville" in memory of Isaac Hutson, whose family was murdered by the Indians.

The first residence built in Hutsonville after the town was laid out was erected by William Cox, in the fall of 1832, on Lot 32, which is the spot where stands the house in which Frank Bogard lived and died. The next house was built by William M. Hurst, brother of Uncle Jack Hurst, Uncle Jack being the father of W. B. Hurst. He put up a kitchen in the fall of 1832 and used it as a counting room until he could complete the remainder of the residence in the following spring.

(Thanks to: Crawford County, Illinois GenWeb site for the history. https://crawford.illinoisgenweb.org/news/herald2.php)

Address: 1550^th St., Hutsonville, Illinois. A little over a mile south of town on Rose St., this becomes 1550th St., on the east side of the road. Open from 8am-5pm daily.

Hauntings: Reports of disembodied voices and screams as well as shadow figures seen on the property and especially near the old church. The actual massacre site is today located behind a barn that is owned by Green Thumb Plants.

The Ghost Research Society investigated the Hutsonville Massacre Site Memorial on August 3, 2019 and the team members included: Mike Rosario and Dale Kaczmarek, with help from Jason Snider from the Crawford County Illinois Ghost Society and Joann Wade

Equipment setup: No equipment was set up. I only used a digital recorder, camera and Sony Nightshot camera.

Experiments performed: A single EVP session was conducted around the property including the church and some of the larger buildings that fronted the area where the massacre had happened in the past.

Personal experiences: While walking around a larger building in the back of the village, I heard two knocks coming from inside the building. I guess that those sounds could have been caused by rodents or animals that were living in the place.

I kept hearing voices coming from that same building. In fact, for almost an entire five minute segment, numerous voices were heard and one clear voice speaking an whole sentence.

Evidence collected:

Female voice edited Hutsonville.MPG – this is an edited clip, cleaned up clip of a female voice picked up in the large building in the back of the property.

Female voice Hutsonville.MPG – a clear, true EVP of a female speaking a whole sentence which could not be discerned from inside the large building in the back of the property.

Conclusions: This was a brief stop at the historic site which I first saw in July of 2017. It was extremely hot and the rest stayed in the car while I explored around a bit to get a feel for the place and conduct a short EVP session throughout the recreated village but especially at the church and larger building at the back of the property.

I did feel a little odd especially where the large building was located due to noises and voices that I heard for some time while I was in that vicinity.

This would be a location to visit after hours for a longer time period, more people and equipment especially EMF meters, Nightshot camcorders and digital recorders.