Resident Spirits
John Patrick Looney
It is well known that Y.M.C.A.’s often posed as a front for mob activities, brothels, speakeasy’s and illegal gambling. The Rock Island Y.M.C.A. was no exception, as it is where notorious mobster John Patrick Looney did a lot of his business.. Some refer to him as the hat man as he usually has on a top hat and often walks with a cane. Mr. Looney makes it known to visitors that he runs the building and he best not be crossed. He loves to interact with mediums and has been known to jump them. John Looney’s room was on the 4th floor—Room #415. It is also believed that he had a woman friend whom he refers to as Ma Cherie who resides in Room 442.!
More Information on John Looney Coming soon
Looney’s Boys
Some of John Looney’s henchmen, referred to as Looney’s Boys still wander the halls interacting with visitors. Looney’s Boys will interact with a lot of trigger objects, especially cigars and liquor bottles. We have also receive the name Bob as one of the henchmen. It is believed Bob was involved in throwing the man that resides in G5 down the elevator shaft.
Al Capone
It is believed that Alphonse “Al” Capone visited the Rock Island Y.M.C.A. at least once a month to do business with John Looney. It was well documented that Al Capone was afraid of Mr. Looney, however that didn’t stop him from visiting the Rock Island Y.M.C.A. for Tempelton Rye, which he referred to as “the good stuff.” Al will often interact with visitors who bring in Tempelton Rye and use it as a trigger object.
Helen Van Dale (Eula E. Wonders)
Helen Van Dale, “Queen of the Looney Underworld,“ was a well known madam of the “Ladies of the Night” She ran many brothels which she referred to as “resorts” on both sides of the river. When the heat would get turned up on one side of the river she would bounce to the other side. She was notoriously cruel to the point that she was the only person John Looney reportedly feared. She ran a strict brothel out of the Y.M.C.A. and had much success here as it attracted both classes of men—the working class that came in on the railroad and the upper class. Helen loves to interact with women visitors, especially if she finds one that she believes would make a good working girl for her. It is also believed she had a relationship with a gentleman who worked in the boiler room of the Y.M.C.A.
Helen was born on July 18, 1893, as Eula Elizabeth Lee in Paris, Edgar County, Illinois near the Indiana border to James Perry and Nancy Jane Lee. When Eula was about 17 years old, the United States government passed the Mann Act on June 25, 1910. This Act prohibited the transport of girls and women for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery. This Act would later have a major impact on Eula’s life.
Eula married Robert J. Rathburn in 1913. The marriage took place in Knox County, Illinois. Eula filed for divorce from Robert in 1914 in Knox County, Illinois. The divorce record names her as Catherine Helena Lee Rathburn. The divorce was granted on August 1, 1914 with Helen requesting the use of her maiden name Lee.
On August 23, 1915, Catherine Helen Lee married Henry G. Van Dale in Clinton, Iowa. Over the next few years, Helen gained favor with John Looney as she soon operated multiple “disorderly houses” in Rock Island and Davenport with girls being moved between the establishments.
In April 1919, Catherine H. Van Dale filed for divorce charging her husband, Henry, had married her within a year of his previous divorce.
O n May 9, 1919, Helen Van Dale and Lester Charles Smith were married. Helen Smith filed for and received a divorce from Lester Smith on January 15, 1920.
With the passage of the 18th Amendment and the start of Prohibition on January 17, 1920, a new element was added into local disorderly houses and underworld crime as bootlegging and illegal alcohol became a new source of revenue to fight over. Illegal alcohol soon was another fixture in Helen’s resorts. Helen is rumored to have also begun providing women for resorts in other cities and states. By 1922, Helen was a successful figure in underworld crime. She appears protected by both John Looney and Tom Cox.
November 24, 1922 Helen, John Looney, Tom Cox, and twelve others were charged with illegal gambling, prostitution, and other offenses. On December 5th, Helen was arrested at her Palmer Inn under charges of violating the White Slave law (Mann Act) by taking a 16-year-old Iowa girl into Illinois and also violation of the federal prohibition act. She was placed in the Scott County, Iowa jail pending charges in Iowa and faced extradition to Rock Island County, Illinois.
Helen’s boyfriend, Police Chief Tom Cox, was arrested and charged with planning the murder of William Gable with John Looney and Lawrence Pedigo, Looney’s Chief Lieutenant. Soon after Cox’s arrest, his wife visited him in jail.
According to newspaper reports, Helen was upset while in jail that many of her friends did not support her. There may be some truth to that report, as news was released on December 12th that Helen had made an official statement implicating many of her former friends and boyfriend in illegal activities.
By March 1923, Helen had been released from Scott County, Iowa jail on bond and was ready to be a state witness in Illinois testifying against former boyfriend Tom Cox and Lawrence Pedigo (as Looney was still on the run). With the promise of being a state witness, Helen worked a deal not to be held in the Rock Island County, Illinois jail on her charges.
Helen married for the fourth time on July 19, 1923 to local salesman Edward H. Wriedt.
In September 1924, Helen filed for bankruptcy in Scott County stating she was living in Davenport. In her claim, she stated she had $1,386.18 in debt with no income.
On April 23, 1925, Edward Wriedt died from pneumonia at his parents’ home after an illness of about five months. Being his legal wife, Helen appears to have been given the body for burial. She purchased a lot in Fairmount Cemetery in Davenport and buried Eddie there.
On August 19, 1925, Helen Van Dale, John Looney, and seven others were officially indicted for the murder of William Gable. She was located and arrested on charges of complicity in the murder of William Gable on September 20, 1925 and taken to Rock Island County jail. She quickly began talking to prosecutors.
Helen said she heard John Looney, his son Connor, and Tom Cox plan the murder of William Gable on July 28, 1922. Officials arranged for her to remain in formal custody until the trial of John Looney. On December 14th at 1:00 p.m., Helen Van Dale took the stand against John Looney and she did not disappoint the crowd. From her sometimes coy answers about what type of establishments she ran to her detailed account of the meeting that took place between the Looneys and Tom Cox before the murder of William Gable, she had the audience captivated. One of the more interesting exchanges during the trial was when Helen testified she had threatened to kill Looney if he ever wrote her up in his scandalous newspaper, The Rock Island News, he used to blackmail local residents. Helen said Looney responded no one could kill him as he was protected by the devil. Charges against Helen were not pursued in the case.
On March 28, 1929, Helen married Irvin Joseph Wonders of Davenport in Clinton, Iowa. She was arrested along with her husband in a beer raid at their Davenport apartment in January and April 1932.
Eula E. Wonders, also known as Catherine/Katherine Helen(e), died December 11, 1951 in Peru, Illinois. She is buried in Fairmount Cemetery next to her last two husbands and her mother who died in Peru in August 1952. While Edward and Irvin have headstones, Eula and her mother’s graves are unmarked.
Ladies of the Night
Ladies of the Night are Helen’s call/working girls. They will often interact with men visitors. They will interact with them as if they were clients. Some of the ladies of the night have shown mediums and communicated to visitors that they were taken into what we refer to as the trunk room, abused, beaten, put in trunks and thrown into the river.
John G. Dickerson
John Dickerson is a convicted murderer who was working and living on the 3rdfloor of the Y.M.C.A. in 1968 at the time of the murder. John (age 20) murdered John Jones (age 30) at the Moline Elks Club over $50 and a pack of cigarettes that he stated were stolen out of his vehicle. Mr. Dickerson will interact with visitors especially if they offer him $50 or a pack of cigarettes.
More information coming soon
Paul Lowman
Paul Lowman is a 14 year old boy who attended swimming lessons at the Y.M.C.A.. He rushed out of the locker room before the others and dove into the pools shallow end thinking it was the deep end of the pool. Paul was found floating in the pool and rushed to the hospital. He died a few days later of pneumonia. Paul enjoys communicating with visitors through their equipment and Necrophonics.
Rose
Rose is a woman spirt who currently resides in the old Wrestling Room of the Y.M.C.A. Rose was chained to the wall of the room, abused and beaten. It is also believed that her hands were crushed. Rose has appeared to multiple mediums and showed them her abuse. She also communicates with gentle women, trying to relay her story and protect them from the same thing happening to them.
P J Martin
P J Martin taught both boys and girls sports at a local school. One of the classes he taught was a girls after school class. PJ wanders the halls, particularly Room 443 and has been known to flirt with the ladies and gents alike. He is also known for grabbing women.
Spirit of G5
The spirit of room G5 on 4th Floor is a man who was badly beaten and cowers in the corner of the room. He has shown multiple mediums that he had seen and heard something he shouldn’t have and was beaten and thrown down the elevator shaft as a result.
Nurse
There is believed to be a Nurse in the classroom who will interact with equipment.