ahein075
- Sep 19, 2023
- 6 min read

When love dies...a haunting is born

Updated: Oct 3, 2023

Trigger warning: Mention of suicide.

A beautiful house, a tragic story of love and loss, overwhelming grief...can only lead to a happy ending, right? Wrong! The following story will lead to a haunting so severe that it even includes doppelgängers.

Let's travel to Monticello, Arkansas, and take a look at the Allen House. This house was planned out by Joe Lee Allen and it was built in 1906. It is a combination of Queen Anne, Gothic, and Neo-classical styles - some of my personal favorite styles for a home. The home is 8,000 square feet (pretty much 8x the size of my house...*I shed a small tear of envy*). It is three stories with 16 rooms, including a full attic, surrounded by a wrought iron fence. Not sure why it's called the Allen House and not the Allen Mansion, though.

Joe Lee Allen moved into the home with his wife, Caddye, and their three daughters. By 1919, Joe officially owned the house. Joe was the owner of a livery stable in Monticello, and he was a successful businessman. Over time, he also ended up owning a hotel, a private school, and even became the President of the Commercial Loan and Trust Company. He sold vehicles and horse-drawn buggies.

Sounds like a fairytale life, right? Well...not so much.

In 1914, the second daughter, Ladell, married Boyd Randolf Bonner and they had a son named Allen "Duke" Bonner. Ladell and Boyd ended up getting divorced and Ladell moved back in with her parents at the Allen House. In 1917, Joe Lee Allen died of a heart attack.

Ladell's son, Allen, grew up to be a humor writer. He died in 1944 of pneumonia in New York City. In June 1948, Boyd Bonner died in Los Angeles, California.

On Christmas night, 1948, Ladell's mom hosted her annual Christmas party at the Allen House. Reports stated that Ladell was not her usual cheerful self and retired to the master suite that evening with some appetizers and a glass of punch. What no one knew was that Ladell had added mercury-cyanide to her punch in order to commit suicide. Ladell died on January 2, 1949.

It was believed by many that Ladell was so grief stricken from the deaths of her father, her son, and her ex-husband that she decided to end her life. No one knew the truth for sure, though, as Ladell never left a note.

After Ladell's death, her mother, Caddye, had the master suite sealed up. It remained untouched for 37 years...even after Caddye died in 1956. The remaining heir took ownership of the house and renovated it into apartments...all except the master suite.

If I had been a tenant there, my curiosity would've been overwhelming and I will admit that I probably would've tried to figure out what was inside that room. I'm not saying it's right, just admitting that I have very low self-control.

It didn't take long for renters to start experiencing paranormal activity. People reported seeing hazy figures in photographs, furniture would be rearranged by an unseen hand, people would hearing banging on the walls and crying. Some people reported seeing the figure of a lady sitting in a turret window. Others reported seeing a shadow man wearing a wide brimmed hat. Many people have claimed to smell cigar smoke - it's said that Joe Lee Allen liked to smoke cigars.

One tenant of the Allen House was author, Carolyn Wilson, and her husband. She stated her paranormal experiences at the Allen House inspired her to write a romantic thriller novel, The Scent of Lilacs, that took place in a mansion.

Many paranormal groups have investigated the house and claimed to have caught many paranormal experiences. Some have said they spotted images of a woman, who they thought might be Ladell, in mirrors and photographs taken at the house. Some investigators claimed to have seen the ghosts of three little girls playing in the downstairs area - possibly the three Allen sisters coming back as their younger selves???

Of course, what is a haunted location without the sounds of footsteps, crying and moaning that cannot be explained? All of that is said to go on at the Allen House as well.

A couple living in one of the apartments at the Allen House claimed that they experienced a situation where their closet door would not open for them...as if someone/something was holding the door closed from the inside by holding the knob. That would be a moment where I personally wet myself.

The last heir to the Allen House died in 1985 and his widow ended up selling the house. The new owners ended up opening up the master suite. Not sure if they knew why it was sealed up or they just didn't care, but it was the first time the room was opened since 1949. Let's just take a moment to visualize the pounds of dust on everything...ugh! Interestingly, they found a bottle of cyanide on a shelf in the closet. Talk about a trigger object!!!

The Allen House was later sold and bought by different owners here and there over the years and eventually ended up falling into disrepair. In 2007, the Allen House was bought by Mark and Rebecca Spencer. They fixed up the house, even hosting an open house night on Halloween. They were told the house was haunted, but didn't really believe any of the stories...until they officially moved in and found out for themselves that something else was in the house with them. One of the first things they experienced was seeing doppelgängers of themselves or of each other. What is a doppelgänger, you may ask?

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

doppelgänger noun dop·pel·gäng·er ˈdä-pəl-ˌgaŋ-ər -ˌgeŋ-, ˌdä-pəl-ˈgaŋ-, -ˈgeŋ-

variants or doppelganger

Synonyms of doppelgänger

1 a: DOUBLE sense 2asaid she had seen his doppelgänger b: ALTER EGO sense 1b c: a person who has the same name as another 2 : a ghostly counterpart (see COUNTERPART sense 3a) of a living person

A lot of people say that your doppelgänger is the exact 'evil' version of you and it's a bad omen if you make eye contact with your doppelgänger.

So, the Spencer family, including their sons, claimed that each one of them have seen their own doppelgängers or each other's doppelgängers. I think I would rather hear phantom footsteps at 3:00 a.m.

They reported that the kitchen cupboards have opened and closed on their own. They've seen shadow figures in the attic. They've reported hearing footsteps in the attic. The attic is supposedly one of the "hottest" spots in the house. The old crank Victrola in the living room/sitting room would play on its own. The dinning room is another "hot spot" as many funerals were held in the dinning room way back when. Imagine your dinning room now...got room and time to hold a funeral?

After a while, Mark Spencer said that he felt a "pull" to go into the attic one Saturday morning. While up there, he discovered a hidden area in the floorboards where he found 80+ letters written to Ladell by a Mr. Prentiss Hemingway Savage. He was someone who went to high school with Ladell, but later ended up as the Vice President of Texaco Oil and resided in Minneapolis, MN. They reconnected in 1948 and corresponded with each other via letters. The letters detailed a pretty big love story between the two. But...there was a catch...Mr. Savage was married. He made multiple claims to Ladell that he would leave his wife to be with her, but unfortunately stopped writing to her in the fall/early winter of 1948. He basically called everything off between the two of them and ghosted her (pun intended).

If you recall, earlier I mentioned that it was said Ladell died by suicide because of the grief of the loss of family members. But, was that the only reason she was grieving? Did the decision to commit suicide have more to do with Mr. Savage deciding to be a Savage Douchebag and broke her heart? I don't think we will truly ever know. I personally feel that when Mr. Savage ended the relationship that held so many happy promises for Ladell, that that was the final straw for her. My heart breaks for Ladell...

Overall, it sounds like the Allen House has a lot of ghosts...whether it be Ladell or other family members...or someone who decided they like the place. The house is filled with footsteps, banging noises, crying, things moving around, and, of course, doppelgängers. What an interesting mix.

The house has been on many paranormal shows - a couple I have referenced were "A Haunting - season 5, episode 4" and "Ghost Brothers - season 1, episode 2".

The house changed hands a few times over the years and fell into disrepair. In 2007, Mark and Rebecca Spencer purchased the house after falling in love with it on first sight. Since then, they have reported seeing doppelgängers of their own family members in the house. They have also reported an old crank Victrola running on its own with the turntable getting faster and faster instead of slower.

It sounds like you can take a tour of the Allen House by appointment. If you got the time and the money, try to check it out. Perhaps show Ladell there is still some love for her...just don't look your doppelgänger in the eye if you see them.