A Haunting at Story Inn: The Tale of the Blue Lady

She wears a white gown, with piercing eyes as blue as ice.

BROWN COUNTY, IN: One of the most haunted places in the Midwest is just an hour south of Indianapolis.

The Story Inn, located in Nashville, Indiana, is the state’s oldest country inn. The small building looks like an antique shop with its rustic appearance. But there is a particular room at the Story Inn. It has three windows above the general store, a private deck overlooking a garden, a queen-sized bed, and a large bathroom with a clawfoot tub.
It is visited by a ghost known as the Blue Lady. According to one legend, the village of Story was founded by physician George Story in 1851. It was a small, sparsely populated farming town with a few main buildings and local businesses. Story dwindled into obscurity after the Great Depression took hold, and most jobs were lost, transforming it into a ghost town with only a handful of people remaining.

In the late 1970s, a local couple purchased the general store and jumpstarted Story’s revitalization. The couple added the Story Inn Bed & Breakfast to the store and ran it successfully for 15 years, eventually purchasing the additional 23 acres of the town along the way. The couple then sold the property to an attorney named Rick Hofstetter. In 2003, Hofstetter moved to Story.

Since then, Hofstetter has been flooded with tales of the inn’s paranormal activity. Though he initially brushed them off, the claims could no longer be ignored when Hofstetter combed through old guest books and discovered identical accounts of ghostly happenings that were decades apart.

According to guests, if the blue light on the nightstand is on, the ghost of a woman appears. Usually by the bed, in the mirror, or as a reflection in the window. Others have insisted that the blue lady will materialize without provocation. It’s not only the bedside light that’s earned her the “Blue Lady” moniker: her eyes are supposedly icy blue, and she has a habit of leaving behind blue-colored ribbons in her wake.

Sometimes, clad in a flowing white gown, she wanders the room as if no one else is there. Other times, she will acknowledge the guests. The smell of cherry tobacco is said to permeate the air after she makes an appearance, which has led many to believe that she is Jane Story, wife of the village founder. Mrs. Story had a strong preference for cherry tobacco.

If you are interested in staying in the Blue Lady Room visit https://storyinn.com/overnight-accommodations​. This room has windows facing West, South, and North. Story’s herb garden, patio, and even Brown County State Park can be seen from the private deck.