"House of Blue Lights is the bomb!" We always went there at night as a dare and never damaged any property. After his death, Skiles’ intended for his property to become a Boy Scout camp or a nature preserve. In the legend and lore of Indianapolis, few names evoke such vivid images of mystery and intrigue as the House of Blue Lights. this is more than a love story. HOUSE of BLUE LIGHTS. 139 views, added to favorites 7 times. If he had intended on going to college, he never got an opportunity. Plagued with stress-related ulcers, Skiles began to leave each night and stayed at his girlfriend’s house, so as to not be tormented by the nonstop onslaught of lookie-loos. Watch the video for House of Blue Lights from Asleep At The Wheel's The Very Best Of Asleep At The Wheel for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. The House of Blue Lights. So he kept her in a glass coffin, surrounded it with blue lights (her favorite color), and kept her in his house. The Test family monument in Crown Hill Cemetery and Skiles Test’s marker. The song itself was later recorded by Chuck Miller, Earl Richards, Merrill Moore, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Freddy Cannon, Canned Heat, Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, The Flamin' Groovies, Mitch Woods, Meat Puppets, George Thorogood and others. Crazy fun nights that just might get you a kiss for your protection of the girls. Skiles’ father, Charles E. Test, was president of the National Motor Vehicle Company until his death in 1910. The sun was going down as we came upon the bath house. While driving along the highway the eye would wink open and shut. It is owned and operated by the Louellen Test Hesse family. It was a large house with a pool and a farm (and a pet cemetery, so that was true). What fun after all these years to find the legend continued and inspired a mystery novel. Skiles grew up, along with brother Donald and sister Dorothy, in the mansion their father Charles built at 795 Middle Drive in Woodruff Place on the near east side. Then a helicopter began circling the property and all the kids took off in every direction thinking they would get caught. There were blue-tinted greenhouse lights. not easy to see each other, but I am sure God has a plan. The true mystery surrounding what would become the urban legend known as “The House of Blue Lights” wasn’t the location of Skiles Test’s dead wife — in truth, his wife and two ex-wives long outlived him — it’s how and why the legend came to be in the first place. The Test Building at Monument Circle and West Market Street. Herb Abramson Engineer. Coming upon this eye in the dark added to the mystery of the place. The approximate location of the house marked by the arrow. I think we lived across the street from each other in Devonshire V. Garry you did a great job, Skiles would be proud of your remembrance. According to his will, as long as the city properly maintains the property, it will remain a city controlled preserve. Skiles found a teen in his kitchen drinking a Coke he’d taken from the fridge. The 1975 book The House of Blue Lights by Kay J. Miclot suggests that the legend seems to begin to pop up between the two World Wars. Notably for the time, the song featured a " hipster "-style spoken introduction by Raye and Morse: "Well, whatcha say, baby? Friday Mystery House- Where is/ Was This? The Circle Motor Inn’s six stories and 200 parking spaces represented two-thirds of all the available parking downtown for a full 20 years after it opened in 1925. Whenever I’m at the park, I’ll collect “new” trash that slovenly visitors toss, and take it to the parking lot for disposal. Lots of hard work all year. 56 likes. Around 1951-52 four of us drove onto the road at the side of the house of blue lights. He had a phone in alot of rooms in his house even the bathrooms. HI Mailbag: Northside Chinese Restaurants, HI Mailbag: Indianapolis’ First Public Schools, President Abraham Lincoln’s Last Stop in Indianapolis, Sunday Ads: Indiana State Fair:1883 Revisited. The estate sale that followed was nearly as legendary as the house itself. She said it was impressive and she did recall seeing a single blue light bulb somewhere. What I like most about this story is that it is rather unique for an urban legend and has also incorporated so many actual real-world elements that thousands of people either know of or even directly experienced over the decades. 5.0 out of 5 stars House Of Blue Lights Keeps The Party Jumping! Myth: The House of Blue Lights “When I was growing up, all the kids in the neighborhood knew about the house of blue lights. Right: The tunnel between the house and garage. Fortunately, the driver heard a scraping noise along the side of the car, hit the ignition and sped away just in time. Garry actually worked for Skiles on the farm in the 60s and turned his experiences there into a novel, Murder at the House of Blue Lights, available to buy or download on Amazon.com. Ryan Hamlett turned a teenage fascination with exploring "haunted places" into a love of Urban Exploration. The House of Blue Lights Lyrics Lace up your boots and we'll broom on down To a knocked out shack on the edge of town There's an eight beat combo that just won't quit Legend has it that the owner Skiles Test was an eccentric millionaire that had buried his wife in a glass casket in the middle of his swimming pool and surrounded her with blue lights (reported to be her favorite color). I and several of my HS buddies went up to see the house back in the 1970s. Garry will also be on a panel of five local authors talking about their books at the Irvington Public Library at 5625 East Washington St. on November 12 at 6:30pm. 97 likes. There were several variations, but the core legend had it that a rich old man lived in his secluded house, in which his beloved wife died by accident. The workers in charge of hauling the debris from so many razed buildings began to cut corners towards the end of their mission. I worked with a gal named Lois Brogan who early on was a secretary for Skiles test she said he laughed and got a big kick out of what the kids said about his house. Skiles passed away on March 19th, 1964 and was buried in his family lot in Crown Hill Cemetery a few days later. And there are those who still swear that blue lights may still be seen flickering between the trees, were someone foolhardy enough to walk up the long, winding path into Skiles Test’s woods late at night. It was first recorded by Freddie Slack with singer Ella Mae Morse, and was covered the same year by The Andrews Sisters. Author and a former farmhand of Skiles Test, Garry Ledbetter, thinks it was closer to World War II. "The House of Blue Lights" is a popular song published in 1946, written by Don Raye and Freddie Slack. 98 likes. we talk on the phone and hope to get together soon. As kids , it was a great challenge so we were drawn to the property like moths to the fire. It was real and really scary! Even as teenagers these legends held interest for us. I attended Skiles Tests school and uncovered every inch of the building structures. An estimated 50,000 people showed up, some to bid on the loads of assorted items that Skiles had accumulated throughout his years, but most to get a up close look at his mysterious property. That is why we went at night, scared to death and waning to see for ourselves, if the stories were true. There are newspaper and internet articles galore. We were shook, but they took off. – Ryan. I now of the tunnel entrance you are speaking of, I to thought it was a tunnel that had been sealed off, but I have been told it was just a water facility of some type. The House Of Blue Lights was the name given to a house on the far northeast side of Indianapolis, Indiana. When parked, my friend would begin to quietly tell the story of a man with a Captain Hook hand who crept up upon some innocent teenagers, parked at this very spot, intending to assault them. It was great growing up on the farm. (photos courtesy of Garry Ledbetter). Most oddly, random collections of broken china are heaped into piles of garbage cans so rusty that one should get a tetanus shot for looking at them. Just a fun song with a great beat. (Google maps), HI Mailbag: Indianapolis’ “Automobile Row”, WTH: Marion County Courthouse vs. CC Building. Nearby Arsenal Technical High School wouldn’t open until 1912, so young Skiles attended Manual Training High School, located at 525 South Meridian before it was relocated to Madison Avenue in 1953. The animal graveyard was It’s still in operation on Kentucky Avenue today. Middle: The cat house. One thing for sure, the legend lives on…. Ingenuity Lee was placed in the role of caretaker and recruiter. $9.49 — Audio CD, Original recording reissued, January 1, 1969 "Please retry" $25.00 . The 1975 book The House of Blue Lights by Kay J. Miclot suggests that the legend seems to begin to pop up between the two World Wars. We came upon a chain link fence and walked along until we found a hole cut open and crept in. According to Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S. It was first recorded by Freddie Slack with singer Ella Mae Morse, and was covered the same year by The Andrews Sisters. Even today, though it has been many years since the “House” has been torn down, there is tremendous interest in it. It was illuminated in blue: bug lights and strings of fairy lights and flood lights and pool lights. A well-researched piece. Skiles loved the color blue. User/Possessors: Asura, Ingenuity Lee (operators); Gabriel the Devil Hunter (guest). Last edit on Jun 10, 2020. There are truths about the "House" blended throughout the fictional areas of the novel. Size 10.0 Source 78 User_cleaned David Skovron User_metadataentered Chris Cain User_transferred Chris Cain after almost 60 years we reconnected last year. Others were so bold as to take a midnight dip in the eccentric millionaire’s elaborate swimming pool or cruel enough to place one of the dozens of cats that lived on the property into the nearby dog pens. There were many fantastic things to see on the property. Writer’s note: I’d very much like to thank local author Garry Ledbetter for taking the time out of his weekend to talk to me about Skiles Test and The House of Blue Lights. There were barns filled with hundreds and hundreds of ketchup, mayonnaise and jelly jars. Tuning: E A D G B E. Key: F. Author johnsklar [a] 16,429. Which current House of Blue Lights might you be referring to? National would produce the car that won the second running of the Indy 500 in 1912, driven by Joe Dawson. I tried to see into the house. The mansion still sits on a giant lot, its heavily wooded garden obscuring the carriage house set back from the street. [1], Little Richard made reference to the "house of blue lights" in his 1958 hit "Good Golly, Miss Molly". Required fields are marked *. Box 2999, Indianapolis, IN 46206 © 2009-2017 HistoricIndianapolis.com, photo of the Skiles Test Nature Park. See 1 photo and 1 tip from 4 visitors to House Of Blue Lights. When I was a kid we always used to drive past the house and it was a really big deal. History: The House of Blue Lights was built on land owned by Stephen Loss, an earthly agent for the Asura. In the barns, There were plates dishes And coke bottles stacked everywhere. The House Of Blue Lights - Part 1: 7:33: Four Women: 3:33: Steady Roller: 3:15: Homemade Love: 6:24: But I Forgive You Blues: 2:29: Shut Your Mouth: 3:22: The House Of Blue Lights - Part 2: 4:04: Credits (12) Don Covay Guitar, Vocals, Producer. They traversed the steep, hilly, woods to get a glimpse of the macabre, a glimpse of a woman’s casket, wrapped in blue Christmas lights, kept in the strange house of her mourning husband. She loved the farm and the cats and Kim and Fuzzy. Posted by Ryan Hamlett | Oct 29, 2013 | Historic Miscellania | 26 |. later on I helped take care of the cats, feeding, cleaning litter boxes, etc., helping the vet when he was there. The fact that it is not some generic tall tale superimposed on some random location but rather a rather organic and historic story that has remained mostly rooted to its core elements over generations that has the most draw. Butch Valentine Bass. Can be a treat to play and sing. Don't miss the special HI extras in our newsletter! I hit my brakes and they flew by. It’s uncertain exactly when the property began to gain notoriety. (photo: Ryan Hamlett). Old ceramic drains pop up around the property and rusty fences are everywhere. The House of Blue Lights was well known in my hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. Skiles Test held dozens of patents, many of which were innovations in multi-story parking garages. Left: An aerial photo of Skiles Test’s property from 1937 (from IUPUI CEES) Right: Satellite photo of the Skiles Test Nature Park. We would later cruise the Drive-in’s. Your email address will not be published. We didn’t know where the dogs were. (photos: courtesy of Garry Ledbetter). 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