It was a cold and rainy October 31st at around 7pm; since I live in quite a rural area I knew all my neighbors were already gorging themselves with the candy intended for the extremely rare change they would have any trick or treaters. I was about 13 or 14 and I remember sitting at the kitchen table, possibly fiddling with one of my many model car kits, when my sisters boyfriend, at the time, walked in. He asked me if I wanted to go up to Center Grove and see if we could get away with trick or treating. Center Grove is a wealthy little town just south of Indianapolis, and not very from where I live, so he and I assumed wealth meant they would have better candy, so I agreed to go.
He and myself loaded up in his truck and headed into the night. We soon reached the top of the hill just off 37 on Stone's Crossing Road and drove into a small, secluded and heavily wooded subdivision with a variety of expensive looking homes. As we drove down the street and parked in the cul de sac I distinctly remember this chill coming over me and a deep sense of fear and anguish consuming me, but as it was Halloween I never gave it more than a second of attention. We then put on some half-assed costumes just to get by and went over our plan of action.
Since he was 18, and taller than anyone who should ever be trick or treating, the plan was to disguise our voices and keep from being detected. To avoid them discovering his hairy arms I had to grab the candy for him and was instructed to toss his candy in his bag before putting it in my own, a fact I forgot the entire time, yet it never caused any issues. After we got a satisfactory amount of candy we headed back to his truck in the cul de sac, I stared out into the woods and that feeling returned as if something from within the woods was trying to tell me something, again I dismissed it as the general spookiness that Halloween brings and quickly refocused on the candy I had.
Fast forward to about 2002 when I became obsessed with Indiana ghost stories and mysterious history. One of the most common stories was about the still unsolved 1978 Burger Chef Murders. The story is that right about closing time on November 17 two men went into the Burger Chef in Speedway Indiana, robbed and murdered the four employees (ranging in age from 20 to 16). The next day their bodies were discovered in a rural area, which just so happened to be located off Stone's Crossing road, some sources even claiming that very spot is now occupied by the subdivision we were trick or treating all them years ago.
Only a few years ago did these two events register in my head when I was told a ghost story by someone who lived in the trailer park that is right across 37 from the land where the bodies were found. One night they had awoke to see who they assumed to be their girlfriend preparing for bed. When she didn't respond to his questions he sat up and started to ask again, the apparition turned to him and disappeared. He himself didn't add the events together until 2008 when the news carried an anniversary update on the events, which was to simply remind us that it remains unsolved to this day. He recognized the ghost as being the eldest female from one of the photos.
With all the weird history tied to this particular story, and the fact that their remains were found mere miles from where I grew up and live, I'm vastly intrigued by it. There have been endless leads, I'm sure, yet nothing ever came to light as to who exactly did this, or why they drove 20 miles to dump the bodies when Indiana was and still remains quite heavily wooded everywhere! As time goes on it becomes harder and harder to solve the true crime, but the weird feeling I got that night makes more sense.
Only a few years ago did these two events register in my head when I was told a ghost story by someone who lived in the trailer park that is right across 37 from the land where the bodies were found. One night they had awoke to see who they assumed to be their girlfriend preparing for bed. When she didn't respond to his questions he sat up and started to ask again, the apparition turned to him and disappeared. He himself didn't add the events together until 2008 when the news carried an anniversary update on the events, which was to simply remind us that it remains unsolved to this day. He recognized the ghost as being the eldest female from one of the photos.
With all the weird history tied to this particular story, and the fact that their remains were found mere miles from where I grew up and live, I'm vastly intrigued by it. There have been endless leads, I'm sure, yet nothing ever came to light as to who exactly did this, or why they drove 20 miles to dump the bodies when Indiana was and still remains quite heavily wooded everywhere! As time goes on it becomes harder and harder to solve the true crime, but the weird feeling I got that night makes more sense.
