The Dolls of Harry Powers' Victims

Merry Christmas! I hope Santa brought you and yours lots of goodies this year! Maybe he brought you lots of fun, new ghost hunting gadgets, or maybe a trip to your favorite haunted location in 2023? Maybe he even brought you a possessed or haunted collectible...

In the not too distant past, it was pretty much accepted that every little girl wanted a new dolly for Christmas. Baby dolls, fancy porcelain dolls, rag dolls---it didn't matter. As long as there was a new doll waiting under the Christmas tree, you were going to have one happy tot. 

On Christmas morning in 1931, little girls in and around Park Ridge Illinois may have woken up to a dolly under the tree...but that dolly may or may not have been NEW. In fact, it may have been previous owned by a victim of Harry Powers, West Virginia's very own serial killer!
 

Harry Powers was actually born Harm Drenth in the Netherlands on November 17, 1893. He moved to the United States in 1910, first settling in Iowa, before moving to a little area known as Quiet Dell, West Virginia in 1926. A year later, he married Luella Strother, owner of a grocery store owner, whom he met through a 'lonely hearts' personal ad. But, even after his marriage, Powers continued to correspond to multiple women through such personal ads.

One such woman was Asta Eicher of Park Ridge, Illinois, who Powers wrote to under the name of Cornelius Pierson. Mrs. Eicher was a widow with three children named Harry, Greta, and Annabel. Powers went to visit Mrs. Eicher in Park Ridge on June 23, 1931 and the two went away together for a few days while the children remained in the care of a family friend named Elizabeth Abernathy. While gone, Powers sent a letter to Abernathy saying he was coming to collect the children to bring them to their mother. When he showed up, he brought with him a check to cash from Mrs. Eicher's bank account. However, when he sent one of the children to the bank to cash it, the teller refused because the signature appeared to be forged. In response, Powers and the children immediately left, telling a concerned neighbor they were taking a trip to Europe. 

Unfortunately, this would be the last time that the people of Park Ridge would see the children alive. In August of 1931, police began investigating the disappearance of the Eicher family, and found "Mr. Pierson" had cleaned out the Eicher home. They also found letters connecting "Pierson" to the home in Quiet Dell, West Virginia. Authorities searched the Quiet Dell property and made a series of gruesome discoveries. In a set of rooms under the garage, a bloody child's handprint, bloody clothing, hair, and a burned bankbook were found. As neighbors began to ascend on the property to watch the proceedings, a 15 year old boy told authorities that he had recently helped Powers dig a ditch. When the filled-in ditch was searched, the bodies of Mrs. Eicher and her three children were found, along with the body of Dorothy Lemke, another 'lonely hearts' victim of Powers who had recently gone missing from Massachusetts. 

On December 12, 1931, Powers was found guilty and sentenced to death by for his crimes. He was hanged on March 18, 1932 at the West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville. He is buried at the prison's cemetery, known as Whitegate Cemetery. 

The photograph above comes from the September 17th, 1931 edition of the Burbank Daily Evening Review (Burbank, California). It was posted by the awesome Facebook page, Historian of the Strange.  The photo shows a collection of dolls owned by presumably Greta and Annabel Eicher that were left in the house after their disappearance and murder by Harry Powers. The police officers are preparing to auction the dolls off to the public...just in time for Christmas! So, I'm guessing there were a few little girls out there who received a rather unique present that year, and a few macabre relic collectors who treated themselves as well. And I know it was a different time, but even back in 1931, it just seems really bad taste to auction off a bunch of toys owned by children who had just recently been discovered to have been brutally murdered.

I can't help wondering if any of these dolls are still out there and if any of their owners ever reported any paranormal activity associated with them. 

Another photo of Herbert Fraker with some of the dolls.
From NY Daily News Archives via GettyImages

November is Serial Killer Month

Well, its November 1st. Halloween is unfortunately gone for another year...but the spookiness continues all year here at Theresa's Haunted History!

I'd like to start this new month by wishing all those November babies a very big 'Happy Birthday!' I'd like to follow that up with the hope that none of you November babies reading this blog are associated in any way with that graphic to the left, lol.

A couple of years ago, I came across this photo, or at least, one very similar to it, on Facebook. Since then, I've seen other graphics and even articles posted all claiming the same thing. That thing is this:

*THE MAJORITY OF SERIAL KILLERS WERE BORN IN NOVEMBER*

Apparently there was a study done back in 2006 by Jan Ruis. When Ruis compared the birth dates for 100 serial killers, it was discovered that 17 of the subjects were born in November. That's almost twice as many as the average of 9 serial killers per every other month. But why are so many serial killers being born in November?  Perhaps it has less to do with the month itself, and more with the astrological sign.

Many of these November babies that grew up to be monsters fall under the sign of Scorpio. The astrological sign for Scorpio covers the dates of October 23 through November 21. And, according to a website on horoscopes, Scorpios have the following strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths: Resourceful, brave, passionate, stubborn, a true friend

Weaknesses: Distrusting, jealous, secretive, violent

So, yeah. I can see where those tendencies may be conducive to the behavior of a serial killer. Obviously, most Scorpios and/or people born in November never end up as serial killers, and instead are well-adjusted, productive members of society. But, its still an interesting topic to discuss...which is what we'll be doing all month long over at Theresa's Haunted History! Throughout November, I'll be posting some stuff on the supernatural side of serial killers and some additional resources about the astrology aspect. Over my years of research, I've discovered that there are a TON of people out there interested in the paranormal who are also very interested in serial killers and true crime. The correlation is huge.That fact, in and of itself, is worthy of study one day. But first, here's a very short list of some November-born serial killers you may have heard of. Sword and Scale lists the profiles of a few of them! 

Ted Bundy: November 24th

Charles Manson: November 12th

David Ray Parker: November 6th

Dennis Nilsen: November 23rd

Derrick Bird: November 27th

A Haunted House Urban Legend

The following story was posted by the Facebook page Creepy? or Not? in late March, 2015. 

"Killer Turns Abandoned Home Into Haunted House, Uses Real Corpses As Props

There is a serial killer in Gary, Indiana that is finally off the streets. But not before he could murder 11 people, hang their bodies on the walls and open his insanity to the public as a “Haunted House” attraction.


The serial killer in custody is 34 year old Donald Vann, and police have been looking for him since 2005. According to police, 25 bodies had been found between 2005 – 2012 – all of the murders with one thing in common.

All of the victims showed wounds with ‘crucifixion’ style markings in the hands and feet. They knew they had a serial killer on their hands. However, according to police, the killer seemed to have vanished. No bodies had been found for 2 years…. Until now.

Gary, Indiana is known for their surplus of abandoned homes, 10,000 to be exact. Most of them too run down to give away. Vann decided to find an abandoned home to occupy and make his own.
Authorities say Vann turned the basement of this abandoned house into a make shift morgue, collecting the bodies of his victims. In a video taped confession, Vann admitted he wanted to get caught. “I wanted to end this. But I wanted to make sure I’d be remembered.”

Vann said he had planned the ‘Haunted House’ for the last 8 months. Prepping the bodies for display. He opened the home on October 18 and police were called immediately by terrified attendees.

“When we entered the home, the smell was putrid. At first I thought the odor was like a stink bomb or something, ” said one attendee. “Then as we went through, he had bodies hanging up on crosses on the wall. It looked way too real. My husband went up close and touched it and said ‘Let’s get out of here! I think that’s real!’ At that point, the other people that were in there with us all ran out of the house screaming. It was absolute chaos!”

Another eyewitness said that Vann just sat there in a chair at the door entrance while people ran out.

“As we were all running out and screaming, he sat to the left of the door with a psychotic smirk on his face. He just had this blank stare, an emptiness in his eyes. I don’t know which was scarier, him or the dead people.”

The police department reported receiving over 50 911 calls reporting the incident. Police showed up within minutes, and arrested Vann.

The District Attorney’s office is hoping to charge Vann with the 11 murders in the home, as well as the 25 murders that occurred since 2005. According to police, he has already confessed to 17 out of those first 25."

Darren Vann

Sounds completely and utterly horrifying, right?  But...is it a TRUE story?  What makes this tale interesting is that it IS based on a grain of truth.   Research into the case reveals that Darren Deon Vann IS a real person from Gary, Indiana.  And, while he never turned any abandoned home into a haunted house attraction starring his victims, Vann is reported to have murdered at least seven women and hid their bodies in different abandoned properties in and around Gary, Indiana. 

So where does this fictionalized account of events come from? On October 23, 2014 the article above appeared on the BoomViral website.  BoomViral is an internet satire site, which explicitly states in its disclaimer that its stories are often completely fictional, or are fictionalized accounts based on true events.  This story falls into the latter category. It capitalized off an already sensational news story and turned it into a Halloween-themed read, just in time for the holiday.

The photo that was being used to illustrate this story comes from the iStock Getty Images webpage, and was uploaded by user 'andydidyk.' Over 40 tags were attached to this photo and others of the same building, including Kentucky, Indiana, AND Ohio, making exactly where this photo was taken difficult to ascertain, but it does NOT appear to be one of the homes where Vann's victims were found or where police were searching.  However, according to a member of the West Virginia Paranormal Group Facebook page, the home in question does have some history to it. It is believed to be located somewhere in Ohio and is allegedly haunted.  Loud noises and voices are said to be heard coming from the home, and some believe a ghostly figure can be seen in one of the windows.