McConnaughy Cemetery Investigation

If it was not for the fencing and sign, one would probably not even know there is a small cemetery in Ox Bow County Park in Elkhart County. As the sign says, it is the McConnaughy Cemetery. According to the website Findagrave.com, it is believed this cemetery was founded on land owned by George Keitner in 1846 and was originally known as the Keitner Cemetery. By 1915 Charles M. McConnaughy had possession of the land. He was the grandson of James Frier, who settled on the Elkhart Prairie in 1830 and was the first county assessor. The same website says there are four internments in the cemetery, two of which have the last name Keitner. It’s possible, though, there are others buried in the cemetery but with no available records. Also, there are no visible grave markers. They may have been destroyed by the weather elements. It was common for families not to be able to afford a marker that would last. Now this is part of Ox Bow Park and it is near the banks of the Elkhart River. Findagrave.com also says there are 63 lots in the cemetery, though I would assume no one has been buried there for quite a long time.

Address: 23033 Co Rd 45, Goshen, IN 46528

Telephone: (574) 875-7422

Hauntings: There have been isolated reports of paranormal activity within the confines of where the old cemetery used to be. Some have reported shadow figures.

The Ghost Research Society investigated McConnaughy Cemetery on July 28, 2018 and the team members included: Kathie Para, Barbara Meagher and Dale Kaczmarek

Equipment setup: Digital recorders, cameras, Tri-Field Natural EM Meter, K-II Meters, X-Cam SLS device and the Phasma Box were employed.

Experiments performed: A Phasma Box EVP session was conducted just outside of the fence along where the cemetery used to be. No visible markers were seen and it is not known how many bodies were interred here.

Personal experiences:

Barbara Meagher: This second cemetery was then visited, however this investigator did not stay due to the hour.

Kathie Para: While attending the Michiana Paranormal Fair in Ox Bow Park, GRS members (Dale, Barb, Marge and I) participated in a public investigation of the two cemeteries in this expansive park. The property once was home to the Elkhart County Home, long since closed and torn down. Two cemeteries remain on the property, the McConnaughy family cemetery and the Elkhart County Home Cemetery.

Both cemeteries are now overgrown with brush with no remaining headstones or other grave markers and are bordered by the Elkhart River.

Due to the facts there were several other people participating in the investigations and that this was during regular park operating hours, there was much contamination. However, we did get some interesting responses from the Phasmabox and some K-II activity. I personally captured no evidence either on my digital recorder or in photographs. However, there is an unmistakable feeling of perhaps some lingering spirits in both cemeteries.

Dale Kaczmarek: It took us way too much time to find this cemetery as we were kind of wandering around the woods until someone else from our group showed us the way. This cemetery had no visible markers but does have a small wooden fence and sign marking where this old cemetery used to be. There are trails in the woods, some that lead to a very steep slope to a small stream. It is advised to stay on the trail as there are deer ticks that are more than happy to attach themselves to you if you wander off the path.

Evidence collected:

More than a hundred mcconnaughy.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session, a question was asked, “How many people are buried here?”  A very clear female responded with, “More than a hundred.”

The water is over, how are you mcconnaughy.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session the device said, “The water is over” and “How are you?”

Words spoken by the Ovilus X in dictionary mode: Tide. Nothing was discernable in phonetic mode. In real time, it sounded like a spirit of a man was asking for us to “take his picture” and “why don’t you take my picture.” Upon review however it was not possible to make out those sentences due in part to not having a good quality external speaker and perhaps the digital recorder was a bit too close to the external speaker further distorting the possible communication.

Conclusions: There was some contamination from a nearby game of soccer that was going on in the background. There were a lot of whistles from referees and others from the group talking in the woods and cars driving past which further hindered our EVP session. This session was much better than our second session held at the Elkhart County Home Cemetery.

Distortion was a real problem here and it has been corrected for future investigations with the Phasma Box. We still did get some very clear responses to questions and a couple other very clear utterances; even though they made no sense in the context of the questions being asked at the time.