Today on the grave talks a conversation about the haunted Chini mansion in Jerseyville, Illinois didn't start out as a stately mansion. Its history traces back to

1827 when it was known as the Red House. It was the area's first frame house

with two rooms upstairs and two rooms downstairs.

Over the years, it was not only a home, but a stagecoach stop, a tavern, a doctor's office, a bank, and it even had a cis-turn that hid slaves

searching for freedom on the underground railroad. Over the years the small Red house went from four rooms to a sprawling

mansion of more than 12,000 square feet. Thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers, the home is in remarkable condition.

This might explain why some former residents still remain in the home.

Several spirits still reside in the

in the Chini mansion, including a former owner,

Pied Chini himself, but he's not alone.

Today on the grave talks, we'll talk about the history and the hauntings of the Chini Mansion with Roger Sheffle.

Jersey County Historical Society owns the Chini Mansion.

We have since 1998.

And I sit on the board of directors for the society.

I'm actually secretary of the board. And then we break off into

committees for different duties around and I happen to be chairman of the

mansion committee. So I kind of run the day-to-day operations as far as the

Cheney mansion goes. When I first talked to you a week or so ago, my first

question to you is how do you pronounce it? Cheney or Cheney.

And you said Cheney and I said oh because I live right by a little town outside

of Wichita is called Cheney Kansas and there is a connection between the two which I did not see. in a letter to our genealogy lab in our museum and they were wanting more information on the first

PD Chini who they nicknamed Judge. He was one of the original, oh forefathers if you would here in our town and help get our community started

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