Macomb Poltergeist
Jason Nevel
Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: News
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"We have at least a dozen reputable witnesses that say they saw brown spots smolder suddenly on the walls and ceilings of the home and then burst into flames," Wilson said.
Walter Stonking was one of the spectators who helped extinguish the fires and personally saw some of the fires start.
"I don't like to even talk about it because I don't expect to be believed," Stonking said to a Chicago Tribune reporter at the scene. "Though it doesn't seem possible, I saw the fires and so did the others."
National media swarmed to the scene to witness what people were then calling the Macomb Poltergeist.
The house eventually burned down on Aug. 14. Wiley made a shelter for his wife and himself, while McNeill moved his children into the garage. The next day, the barn went up in flames, followed by the milk house (being used as a dining room). On Thursday, two fires were discovered in the chicken house and that same afternoon, the farm's second barn burned down in less than an hour.
The United States Air Force got involved in the mystery and suggested that some sort of directed radiation caused the fires.
Still, nobody had an answer, but people suspected Wanet of the wrongdoings and eventually found what they were looking for.
Investigators questioned the young girl and she allegedly confessed to arson. Wanet said she was unhappy, didn't like the farm, wanted to see her mother and, most telling, that she didn't have pretty clothes.
Authorities claimed she was starting the fires with kitchen matches when no one was looking. The explanation was good enough for police, but reporters were not satisfied. They still had eyewitness accounts of fires seeming to derive from thin air, which said they did not see Wanet around.
The press filed their stories and went back to their newspapers. Macomb continued to develop, and Wanet's whereabouts afterward were kept private. Distant relatives to the family could not be reached for comment, but the legend of Wanet McNeill has lived on.
-Praireghosts.com contributed to this article.
Walter Stonking was one of the spectators who helped extinguish the fires and personally saw some of the fires start.
"I don't like to even talk about it because I don't expect to be believed," Stonking said to a Chicago Tribune reporter at the scene. "Though it doesn't seem possible, I saw the fires and so did the others."
National media swarmed to the scene to witness what people were then calling the Macomb Poltergeist.
The house eventually burned down on Aug. 14. Wiley made a shelter for his wife and himself, while McNeill moved his children into the garage. The next day, the barn went up in flames, followed by the milk house (being used as a dining room). On Thursday, two fires were discovered in the chicken house and that same afternoon, the farm's second barn burned down in less than an hour.
The United States Air Force got involved in the mystery and suggested that some sort of directed radiation caused the fires.
Still, nobody had an answer, but people suspected Wanet of the wrongdoings and eventually found what they were looking for.
Investigators questioned the young girl and she allegedly confessed to arson. Wanet said she was unhappy, didn't like the farm, wanted to see her mother and, most telling, that she didn't have pretty clothes.
Authorities claimed she was starting the fires with kitchen matches when no one was looking. The explanation was good enough for police, but reporters were not satisfied. They still had eyewitness accounts of fires seeming to derive from thin air, which said they did not see Wanet around.
The press filed their stories and went back to their newspapers. Macomb continued to develop, and Wanet's whereabouts afterward were kept private. Distant relatives to the family could not be reached for comment, but the legend of Wanet McNeill has lived on.
-Praireghosts.com contributed to this article.
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