HAUNTED LAWRENCE

At the southeastern foot of Mount Oread, nestled in a shady
neighborhood sits the historic Albach House. Given its rather
innocuous-looking exterior, it might come as a surprise that the structure
was the site of a wicked crime that resulted in a sick and bedridden man
losing his life. It might also come as a surprise that the ghost of this man is
said to still linger in the old house.
The structure was originally built by Johannes Phillip Albach, a German
immigrant, who was born in 1827 in Lich, a city in the Grand Duchy of
Hesse. Phillip entered young adulthood during the late 1840s, a politically
tumultuous time in Europe. A strong antiauthoritarian sentiment was
sweeping the continent, and many—Phillip included—became enamored
of promises of liberty and freedom. Phillip consequently aligned himself
with liberal insurrectionists and took part in the German Revolution of
1848. However, when the insurgency failed, he was forced to flee. He chose
to relocate to America, and after a brief stay in New York, he traveled to
California, where he became the manager of a wagon shop in Marysville.
In 1857, the German Confederation granted amnesty to all those who
had been involved in the revolution of the previous decade, and so Albach
returned to his homeland, retrieved his citizenship papers and married
his wife, Wilhelmina. Afterward, the two set off for America. Originally
planning to return to California, Phillip and Wilhelmina decided to settle
down in Lawrence around 1858. It has been speculated that Phillip chose
this town because of its opposition to slavery, a practice that he felt was far
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too similar to those oppressive European systems he had previously fought.
Phillip purchased a plot of land that was at the time south of the city’s limits,
and he built a modest cottage. Soon, Phillip and Wilhelmina were joined by
Phillip’s perennial bachelor brother, George.
Because the house was located about a mile south of Lawrence along the
Oregon Trail, the Albachs often hosted visitors passing through the area.
One of these lodgers was William Quantrill.
To this day in the Lawrence area, the name “William Quantrill” is uttered
in a tone dripping with hatred and disgust, and for good reason. Quantrill
was born on July 31, 1837, in what is now Dover, Ohio. As a young man,
he was academically gifted, and he became a schoolteacher at the age of
sixteen. A few years later, he journeyed to the Kansas Territory, where
his political beliefs started to develop. He came to oppose the Free State
movement and eventually gained a reputation as a bandit and an outlaw
who fought Jayhawkers with a group of men now referred to as Quantrill’s
Raiders. In the early 1860s, he set his sights on the antislavery stronghold of
Lawrence and began to carefully plan a raid of the city.
While he was scheming this diabolical attack, he stayed at the Albach
House under an assumed name, and due to the kindness showed to him
by the family, he decided to spare the house and its inhabitants. On the
morning of August 21, 1863, he posted a guard near the house and
specifically ordered his men not to despoil the property.
But after Quantrill’s men torched downtown Lawrence, several drunken
rogues found their way to the Albach House and decided to ransack it
anyway. The raiders surrounded the building and ordered the whole
family outside. Philip managed to steal away on a horse and thus evade
the marauders, but poor George, who was suffering from a nasty bout of
tuberculosis, was not so lucky. George was carried out of the house by the
remaining Albachs on a mattress. They laid him down in the yard, where
one of the ruffians swiftly and callously executed him. After the merciless
killing, Quantrill’s men—contrary to their leader’s explicit orders—burned
the structure to the ground. When the smoke cleared, the only thing that
remained were its foundations.
Following the ordeal, the surviving Albachs rebuilt the home, and in the
1870s, the cottage house was redesigned in the Italianate style. Additional
modifications were made in the 1880s, 1940s and 1970s. Today, the structure
is a veritable—but nonetheless lovely—palimpsest of architectural styles,
and the original foundations can still be seen in the dining room, where the
floor and the walls meet.
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The Albachs lived in the house for many years before they sold it, and
since the 1800s, the property has had many different owners and occupants.
George, however, has apparently never left.
According to author Beth Cooper, those who have stayed at the Albach
House say that a spirit roams its halls. Why do residents make this claim?
Perhaps it is because objects often vanish. Or perhaps it is because the
children of a previous homeowner claimed to have seen some sort of
apparition. One of the parents of these children told the Douglas County
Historical Society: “It is the belief of my children that they have seen a
ghost—and this was corroborated by friends who had come to spend the
night with us from time to time. They claim to have seen ‘an old man in
a white robe’ in the hallway.” However, the youths said that they were not
scared and that the ghostly apparition simply felt like “part of the house.”
The parents began to believe that whatever their children saw was actually
the specter of George Albach.
The current owners of the house, Tim and Judy Keller, have not
experienced anything too supernatural, and the two chalk this up to their
relationship with the ghost. (“We think he likes us,” Tim humorously
The front of the Albach House. Author’s collection.
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mused during an interview.) But even though the ghostly George enjoys his
houseguests now, that does not mean that the specter was always quiet.
At the top of the house’s ornate staircase is an empty expanse of wall,
which is located directly above the spot where George was murdered.
While conducting a tour of the house, Judy pointed toward the wall and
lightheartedly stated, “This is where George lives.” She explained that at
one point in the past, she had tried to hang a picture on the wall, only for
it to come crashing down in the middle of the night. It seems that George
was not fond of the family trying to hammer a nail into his ghostly dwelling.
The Kellers’ daughters were understandably frightened by the prospects
of living with a ghost, but a friend of the family assuaged their fears, arguing
that George was not malicious and was, in fact, a kindly spirit. The family
friend encouraged the girls to leave out chewing gum to show the specter
that they too meant no harm. This trick apparently worked, and George and
the Kellers have coexisted peacefully for many years now.
The Albach House is located at 1701 Tennessee Street.