Iowa Western class hides a history lesson inside a ghost hunt
Haunted Bluffs course took students to four historic Council Bluffs sites this fall, and a second session is planned for spring
Josh Baker found that history class was not always much fun when he was a student, so this fall he tried a different approach. Baker, a continuing education coordinator at Iowa Western Community College, created Haunted Bluffs, a noncredit class that taught Council Bluffs history at four of the city’s oldest sites while students used paranormal investigation equipment after dark. “There’s so much history in Council Bluffs,” Baker said. “I thought there’s got to be a good way to really kind of highlight that in a new way.” The full series sold out on its second day. Ten students signed up for all four sessions, and five more joined each night as drop-ins, for about 30 participants in all. Baker said every participant told him they learned something about the sites they had not known before. “That was my devious plan,” he said of tucking a history lesson inside the ghost hunt.
Baker developed the class with Corinne Peterson and Holly Marsh of the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County, who have some experience with paranormal investigations. The first session was held at the Squirrel Cage Jail, one of the few rotary jails still standing in the country. There, students learned that children sometimes lived in the jail when a parent was convicted. The second session was at the RailsWest Railroad Museum, where Baker said his research turned up the fact that the depot there is not the original. A rail car loaded with dynamite exploded in the Rock Island yard in 1881, leaving a crater 15 feet deep. The third session took the class to the Bregant House, known as the Little People’s House, which was built for retired vaudeville performers Jean and Inez Bregant. Baker said it was the first official investigation of that house. The series ended at Fairview Cemetery and its Black Angel monument.
Along with the history, students learned to use equipment such as digital recorders, dowsing rods and a “spirit box” that scans radio frequencies. They also learned how to separate possible evidence from ordinary background noise. Baker said participants recorded what they believe are voices at each location. In one instance, he said, a participant who felt a connection with a presence at the jail later found a tombstone at Fairview bearing the same name, Beatrice. Baker said he felt an icy cold touch on his back during the investigation at the Bregant House. He admitted he had no investigation experience before the class and said he is now more of a believer than when he started.
Baker said the class is not only for believers. “I would love to have skeptics come and sort of maybe try to debunk whatever they’re hearing,” he said. “I want that clash.” He said people have always been curious about the unknown, and the class gives them a reason to explore local history while they look for answers. Students met once more after the last session to review evidence together, since they had worked in separate groups during the investigations. Two audio clips from the class are posted on the Facebook page of Iowa Western’s business and communication division.
Baker plans to offer Haunted Bluffs again, tentatively in March. Registration details will be posted on Iowa Western’s website at iwcc.edu and on the college’s social media pages.
