History: The Scott County Home, one mile south of Scottsburg, Indiana was built in 1879 to replace the previous County Home located in Lexington, Indiana. The house was originally a frame house, but in 1892 was replaced with the current brick building. By law every county had to have a home for the poor or those who had nowhere else to go. In 1973 the house was no longer in use, as it served various functions, including the county health department. In 2000 it was put on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2001 it became the Scott County Heritage Center and Museum.

Legend/Reported Haunting: Many of the ghost stories are told by staff, visitors and volunteers at the museum. Many claimed to be skeptics before their experiences with the ghosts who are said to stay in their home long after their deaths. Odd smells, shadows, noises, and even full bodied apparitions have reportedly been experienced in this old building.

Investigation: We took the "ghost tour" held by the museum every October. The guides were very eager to share their experiences and give you time to take any photos, recordings etc. you may want to. I will list each section of the home, the particular haunting of that area and what we experienced.

Main Floor entry way: Reportedly a ghost by the name of "Bubba" haunts this area. He has been seen wearing overalls and a flannel shirt. No member of our group heard or saw anything. Our photos did not show anything out of the ordinary.

Display room to the right of entry way: "Bubba" is believed to be attached to wood hoppers donated to the museum. This room reportedly also is much warmer then the rest of the home even though the heating/air should maintain the same temperture. The heating system has been checked out for malfunction and none was found.

None of our group memebers experienced anything out of the ordianry in this room. The temperture did seem a few degress warmer, however I feel that this was due to the 11 of us standing in a small room together for a little while and not anything paranormal. A prior tour visitor shared a photo taken in the entryway clearly showing a man in overalls and a flannel shirt. While I do not doubt the validity of this photo, it was not taken by one of our group members so we cannot accept it for ourselves without knowing the circumstances the photo was taken in.

Upstairs room: This room is reported to be haunted by a ghost named "Lester".

We experienced nothing abnormal about this area.

Marys room: Mary is reportedly the ghost known the longest to the staff, her smell of "sewer gas" is the way she usually makes her prescence known. Mary in life was a resident of the poor home who often broke the rules of no pets by feeding the stray cats and attempting to sneak one in sometimes. It is also reported that a cat can be heard meowing in the building. Several staff members and volunteers report hearing the cat and often looking for a cat thinking one may have gotten into the building somehow.

We experienced nothing out of the ordinary in Mary's room.

Lillians room: Lillian is described as manifesting herself with the odor of lilacs, or "old lady perfume".

We experienced nothing paranormal here.

Conclusion: Although we personally experienced nothing out of the ordinary, the "ghost tour" was defiantly worth the money. (your money is going to a good cause) The staff shared some EVP's recorded in the museum and they were quite convincing. You can purchase an overnight visit for $50.00 per person,and we have decided we may do this in the near future. With the tour group plus the volunteers, it was very hard to determine if sounds were made by other people, or by something not easily explained. I can say for sure I witnessed one reported event at the museum. It is said that sometimes the lights upstairs are on, even though there is no electricity upstairs. We drove by the museum late one night to see the lights on upstairs. However I had always assumed someone was there working on something. There really is no lights upstairs to be turned on. However I am not saying this is paranormal ethier, since someone could have been working upstairs with work lights even at 2am.

More detailed descriptions of the ghosts believed to be in the home can be found in the book for sale in the gift shop titled "Ghosts in Scott County?...nah". It is reasonably priced and all the benefits of the book are given to the museum.

It is important to say here that we have no personal involvement in the museum, except that we are glad a great old historic structure has been saved and being used in great way.

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