Take one sumptuous young woman frolicking about in the deep woods in her birthday suit, and several dandy fishermen catching a glimpse of her playing about and you can spell trouble with a capital “T”. Of course the stunningly beautiful young woman had virtually no idea that she was being spied upon due to her own deteriorating eyesight, and a self absorbed nature that gave the appearance to most that she could quite possibly be made of the same stock as a Greek Goddess.
Nobody knew for sure why the young woman kept to herself in the uninhabited wilderness deep within northern Indiana, but the local fishermen knew that they would catch her swimming and running around stark naked, and never failed to sneak up on her and watch in awe from afar. It was highly unethical for a woman to behave in this manner, but her beauty was hard to ignore as was her naked form for that matter. Stories between the men began to spread like wildfire as to why a woman would do such a thing. Tales from a broken love affair to her being a blatant exhibitionist began to circulate amongst the men.
This was still an innocent time in the world, with it being only the second decade of the twentieth century, and the spying fishermen were left with the conclusion that she must be a hermit of some sort as she never attempted to make contact with anyone that they were aware of. They did however take note that she had found refuge in a small abandoned fishing cottage, and upon asking around, nobody remembered her from the nearby town of Chesterton. She was eventually dubbed Diana of the Dunes, by the local fishermen, for her likeness to the ancient Greek Goddess, but after a bit of investigating one man discovered that her name was actually Alice Marble Gray, the daughter of one of the most influential families from Chicago, Illinois.
Alice had actually once been a working girl who traveled extensively and had become well cultured over time. She had once carried the title of editorial secretary for the popular Woman’s World Magazine, and had saved up a tidy sum of money during her time of being gainfully employed. However her sight began to give out on her and she decided to go back to the place she loved so much as a child and live her life as a recluse away from prying eyes of gossip hounds. Unfortunately the fishermen had discovered her secret and were not about to give her so much as one moment of privacy. She was just too beautiful to ignore.
During the summer of 1920, after five long years of being alone, Alice met Paul Wilson, a drifter with a low I.Q. and bad intentions. Unfortunately Alice was not the greatest at spotting character flaws in people and totally missed the bad vibes that Paul sent out. Paul moved into the cottage and the couple lived a peaceful life for almost two years. During the spring of 1922, a man’s body was found on the beach brutally beaten and burned in an attempt to hide evidence. Paul and Alice were questioned substantially, and even suspected that Paul had something to do with the murder.
The couple no longer felt safe from the prying eyes and wagging tongues of the locals and decided a move was the only way to avoid harassment from those that felt a murderer had not been brought to justice. They loaded up their belongings and moved 13 miles away to nearby Michigan City, Indiana. Everything seemed to be going well until Alice became deathly ill for months at a time. In between her bouts with headaches, vomiting and fever she managed to bare two children. Paul began drinking heavily and he started beating Alice senseless.
The beatings, illness and depression were at first suspected as the reasons why she suddenly died at a young age in 1925, but after further testing it was determined that the official cause of death was from the accumulation of urinary waste products in the blood or medically termed as uremic poisoning. It was believed that this complication was heightened by the repeated blows to Alice’s back and stomach area brought forth by her husband. Paul disappeared as fast as lightning, and a manhunt was called on to locate the accused murderer. They eventually found the good for nothing in a California prison serving time for other charges brought against him in another crime. Sadly, no one knows for certain whatever became of Alice’s children other than they were possibly put into an orphanage and later placed up for adoption.
The legend of the ghost woman roaming around near the water at Dunes State Park began not long after Alice’s demise in 1925 when locals and visitors started witnessing a beautiful young woman running around in the nude. From all appearances, most of the people that have caught a glimpse of Alice report that she is spirit like, but she is in no way scary other than the fact that she is a ghost. She just comes off as being in total peace with herself and the world around her. In fact many of the people that were aware of the stories surrounding the nude young woman from almost a century ago fell certain that Alice has returned to the very place that gave her fond memories of a happier time in her life before she met the likes of Paul Wilson.
Point of Interest: The month of June has been noted to drop down to the 50’s and have thick fog cover and heavy mist along the beach in the area of Lake Michigan that Alice once frolicked about.
Location: National Parks, Beaches, State Parks, 1600 N 25 E Chesterton, Indiana 46304
Phone: (219) 926-1952
http://www.prairieghosts.com/dunes.html
http://www.theshadowlands.net/places/indiana.htm
http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/haunted115.html
http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/2980.htm
http://www.hauntin.gs/Indiana/Chesterton/Diana%20of%20the%20Dunes/244/