AMERICAN HAUNTINGS GHOST HUNTS
NIGHT AT THE HISTORIC STARK SALOON
ROSEDALE, INDIANA
NEXT AVAILABLE DATE: JUNE 13, 2025
8:00 PM TO 2:00 AM
$58 PER PERSON
CLICK HERE FOR RESERVATIONS!
Doors that open and close.
Phantom Footsteps that can’t be explained.
Phantom voices whispering in the ears of visitors.
A tragic couple reunited as spirits of the dead.
Join American Hauntings at one of the most haunted locations in Indiana! The historic Stark Saloon is a place of tragedy and mystery that mixes crime and the supernatural in ways that have sent visitors running out the front doors, leaving all their belongings behind. If you think you’re brave enough to confront the couple whose love ended here in betrayal and death, then book it now – only limited spots available!
The history of saloon began in 1902 when owner John Stark left his job in an area coal mine and opened the new tavern. He and his wife, Jennie, had been residents of Rosedale for several years, having been married eight years earlier at the home of Jennie’s parents. Soon after the saloon opened for business, Jennie became sick and her sister, Bertha, moved to Rosedale to help her care for their home and the Starks’ five children. And that was when the trouble began.
Bertha had not been in the home for long before she began a torrid affair with her brother-in-law, John. In a short time, Bertha became pregnant, which exposed the affair. When Jennie learned of the baby, she confronted her husband, and John flew into a rage. When John refused to force Bertha to leave their home, Jennie left and stayed with relatives for the next few weeks. Eventually, though, she became homesick and missed her children, so she wrote to John to ask if she could come home. He agreed and while a pregnant Bertha was still in the house, John and Jennie apparently reconciled and when spotted around town, it appeared they were happy and the trouble and scandal were behind them.
But appearances can be deceiving.
On the morning of February 6, 1903, simmering tensions boiled over and John shot Jennie to death in the saloon and then turned the gun on himself, leaving their children as orphans. In the wake of the murder and suicide, Bertha was forced to flee Rosedale with her five-week-old baby, terrified of the wrath of local citizens who were shocked by the terrible events that had occurred.
The Stark Saloon had been turned into a slaughterhouse. Jennie had been killed near the rear door, only steps away from the bar, where John had taken his own life. She had been shot through the hip and breast and had collapsed near the stove with blood spatter behind her on the wall. John was found lying at the north end of the bar with his head in a pool of blood. In less than a minute, two lives were lost in the saloon.
John and Jennie were both dead, but it’s believed their spirits have never left. To this day, owners and even casual visitors have encountered their ghosts on the main floor and second story of the building. A number of investigators have also visited, trying to make contact with these two heartbroken spirits and have reported strange noises, cold spots, phantom voices, and unnerving encounters with what they believe are the manifestations of the couple’s unresolved tragedy.
For those who are brave enough, the Stark Saloon offers a place where guests can immerse themselves in the building’s haunted history, so if you’re fascinated by true crime and ghosts, this is the perfect place to explore how the events of the past have created the hauntings of today.