Newsweek Magazine first published
this story in December of 1993.
Chantel Lakey and her fiancé Dale were driving along the
Pacific Coast Highway when Dale abruptly pulled the car over to the side of the
road. The sun was beginning to set and he had spotted a trail that he knew had
a spectacular view of the ocean.
The two young lovers managed
to climb to the top of this trail through a dense forest that grew on a steep
cliff overhanging the coast. After admiring the view they started the decent
back down the cliff’s side to their car.
Dale spotted an animal trail
that he felt would be easier on Chantel. But the pair soon found this was a
mistake. For the path they were on quickly turned into a steep cliff covered in
loose shale and rock. To compound their situation the sun set and it started to
rain. The path they were on became even more slippery.
The two found they could not
climb back up so they had no choice but to continue down. Dale walked in front
so that he could turn around and help Chantel when needed. Tragically, the last
time he turned his foot slipped and he fell off the cliff, to his death.
Chantel was now terrified. In shock and clutching the loose rock near her she was unable to move. Later she stated that
she did not believe in a “higher being” but desperate she cried out to God for
help.
What happened next she is
firmly convinced saved her life. She saw a bright light and then a “gateway
between heaven and earth” opened up. She looked around to see that Angels now
surrounded her. She described them as a “wall of protection” that was holding
her close.
Within minutes she realized
that she was now looking up at the cliff from the roadside. “Somehow she had
managed to descend” but she did not remember how.
When the recue team went to
retrieve her fiancé’s body they found they could not go down the same trail
Chantel had descended. They stated the path was impossible to climb down --even
with all their combined experience and equipment.
In the mid-1970s Clyde
Mudgett who was born in St. Paul, Minnesota was an up and coming boxer who had
won the Indiana Golden Glove Championship twice.
Mudgett had talent but he
hated training and he lacked the self-discipline to compete at a higher level.
He unfortunately also was involved in criminal activity. He was charged with breaking and
entering and was sent to the Indiana State Reformatory.
After he was released he
returned to boxing in an attempt to turn his life around. He turned pro in 1977
but after this he once more was involved in criminal activity.
In April of 1983 Mudgett who was not
very bright cooked up a hair-brained scheme that ended his life. A Burglary
One Tuesday afternoon the
Andersen Meat Company located in a 3-story building near Beech and Forest
streets in St. Paul received an anonymous phone call * that informed them that
someone had tried to burglarize their business the previous Sunday. They were
told that this burglar might still be on the premises. Oddly, they were told
they best check their chimney.
Hoping it was just a prank
call they called the police just in case. The police discovered a rope dangling
on the outside of the company’s chimney. When they tried to remove it they
discovered it was attached to something and wouldn’t budge. So the police
called the fire department for assistance.
The fireman attached the end
of this rope to their engine’s ladder and tried to pull it up but at this point
the rope snapped. Several of the men then heard something drop down the
chimney.
What dropped was the dead
mummified body of Clyde Mudgett. Witnesses stated it was in a “gruesome state.”
The authorities determined that Mudgett’s death was caused by “ a burglary gone
awry.”
Mudgett’s plan was to lower
his 6 foot, 190 pound frame down the narrow chimney using the rope. Once inside the building he probably planned to steal meat and any available cash.
But as mentioned he was not
very smart--he underestimated the length of the rope he would need for the 50 foot chinmey by about 20
feet. So he found himself wedged in the narrow space not being able to descend
any further and because of the tight space not being able to climb back up.
The blackened walls and smoke
inside the chimney was full of toxic fumes, which rendered him unconscious but
not before he shredded his hands and shoes in a desperate attempt to escape.
The state Medical Examiner
explained afterwards that even though it had just been two days since his
death his body was in a mummified state-- as a result of heat and fumes. Haunted Boxing Gym
This strange story most
likely would have been eventually forgotten but in 1991 a retired pipe
insulator, Jim Glancey discovered the Andersen Meat building was up for sale.
An avid boxing fan, Glancey
had always dreamed of owning a boxing gym. Glancey bought the building and paid
$50,000 to have it renovated. He had the second floor turned into an apartment
where he could live.
Jim Glancey
After moving in, Glancey began to hear in his upstairs apartment someone
punching a bag downstairs--always in the middle of the night. At first,
thinking it must be an intruder, Glancey went in search but never found anyone.
As these nightly sounds of
someone punching a bag downstairs continued, Glancey became more and more
perplexed-- that is until he was told about the building’s deadly history.
Clancey after doing research
about Mudgett concluded that this “hard hitting ghost” might be him. He felt
that Mudgett was making up for lost time by doing the training he had not done
while alive.
Clancey even mentioned that
Mudgett’s practice appeared to be paying off because he heard the bag
progressively being hit harder. On more than one occasion the bag was hit so
hard that the plaster in Clancey’s apartment fell from the ceiling.
Clancey also stated while in
his apartment he often felt as if he was being watched and that something or someone often followed him around.
One young student fighter
that trained at his gym also encountered Mudgett’s ghost. One day as he trained
alone in one of the gym's rooms he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He
approached Clancey frantic to know if he had tapped him. Clancey denied this
and afterwards this young man refused to train alone.
In 1996, a columnist and
photographer for a local newspaper decided to do a “ghost hunt” at the gym.
They placed cameras in various locations. Nothing much happened in the early
evening and the reporter who was restless started to punch Mudgett’s favorite
bag--he noted this bag was secured to the floor and ceiling.
Later that night they saw
this bag swaying back and forth without cause. The reporter was surprised to
see that it was no longer attached to the floor.
Afterwards, this columnist
“made” light of their ghost hunt at Glancey’s gym in a tongue and cheek piece
he wrote.
But months later, the
photographer returned to the gym to do work on an unrelated story. He was
standing on a table with his equipment when the table legs collapsed beneath
him--he fell and got a nasty gash on his leg. It was discovered the screws in
the legs of this table had been loosened.
This photographer who still
has a scar believes this incident was the ghost’s way of getting even.
In 2002, at the age of 75 Jim
Clancey closed down his gym. Today the building houses shops, studios and
apartments.
* The anonymous caller obviously
knew Mudgett’s plans but since there was no proof--his death was ruled an accident.
