North Omaha Nights

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North Omaha Nights

North Omaha, Nebraska’s Hummel Park is often highlighted for its hiking, playgrounds, horseshoe pits, picnic shelters, disc golf, the Riverfront, the Missouri River Overlook, and the Devil’s Slide natural cliff.  Many residents from the area spend long summer days relaxing at the park and enjoying time with friends and family.  What many of those residents will caution however, is that no sane person enters that park any time after the sun goes down.

(images:photosoflessthanamazingjourneys/flickr)

(images:photosoflessthanamazingjourneys/flickr)

Often described as the most haunted place in the city, if not the whole state, Hummel Park sits on over two hundred acres of land that was donated to the city of Omaha.  The park is named after Joseph B. Hummel, a long time supervisor of the Parks and Recreation Department.

There is a much different sight and crowd that seems to be featured once the sun goes down.  With a deep seeded history into some of Omaha’s much darker past, the area is home to everything from animal sacrifices, lynchings, murders and paranormal activity of all kinds.

Many speculate that the paranormal activity comes from the fact that the acres that were donated to the city of Omaha were once the home of an ancient Native American burial site.  Many people credit the strange paranormal occurrences to the restless souls that were desecrated when the land was taken over.  Some of the rumors are heightened due to experiences and instances of hearing Native American drums or wolves howling at night.

Others claim that while it might be restless souls that linger at the park, terrorizing guests when the sun goes down, they are not Native American.  Instead, they claim the anger and evil in the park is from the early 1900s when lynch mobs were prevalent in the area.  As North Omaha is predominantly made up of minority communities, there were many lynchings that happened in Hummel Park.  People claim this is also the explanation for the grass and trees which seem to grow away from the roads at an arch, almost as if carrying an invisible weight.

North Omaha Nights

The Stairs, Summer 2009

Whatever the cause of the energy, it is sure not put at bay due to the populations of people who frequent the park after dark.  Many claim that the south side of the park maintains a lodge that is all boarded off.  While some transients frequent that area, others say it is a colony of albinos, rejected from the world.  The giant wooden igloo shows very little activity during the day but is a very active place once the sun goes down, heightening the rumors.

Additionally, altars of satanic worship litter the park.  Throughout the park, satanic symbols of pentagrams and inverted crosses litter every crevice.  Many animal carcasses are found in the morning, many mutilated, suggesting some type of animal sacrifice.  They are especially prevalent at the base of the Morphing Stairs.  The stairs are mysterious and almost paranormal themselves.  No matter how many times you climb and dismount, as you count, you will always get a different number of steps.

Whether from murders, or satanists, albinos or restless souls, many people experience stomachs, or feelings of disorientation and dizziness when leaving the park too late after the sun sets.  Many bodies are found there every year and people tell stories of experiencing strange knocks, screams, apparitions, or sounds.  The unluckiest of after hours guests even express horror as they were chased out of the park by a busted up car, only to have it disappear without warning a safe distance away.

Megan Borchert
Megan Borchert
Lover of all things unusual, Megan is a staff attorney for the state of South Dakota. When she's not stuffed in an office writing case synopses, you can find her at home with her army of Schnauzers, snuggled up with some strong wine and a good book.

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