Mysteries Abound At Auto Museum; Source Of Titanic Exhibit Flooding Unclear
VOLO, IL — Brian Grams, museum director at Volo Museum, knows firsthand about some weird — and possibly paranormal activity — that has happened at the suburban museum.
The most recent being the unexplained flooding that occurred at within the Titanic exhibit, which has been on display at the museum, 27582 Volo Village Road in Volo, for a year.
Engineers have studied the source of the flooding since the museum was forced to close in recent weeks, but have come up empty on what led to it, Grams said Tuesday.
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The only clue is security footage, which shows water emerging from beneath a 1912 Renault, which is a sister car to the one that sank with the Titanic — the only car known to have been on board the ill-fated ship.
“The footage eerily mirrored scenes from the (1997) ‘Titanic’ movie, with water rushing in inexplicably,” according to a statement from the museum following the June 22 flood. “Despite extensive inspections, no reason for the water’s appearance could be found. The building, with its concrete floor and 40-plus years of flood-free history, presented no logical explanation for this occurrence. The surrounding area is not prone to flooding, and there were no visible cracks or holes in the foundation.”
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There were storms and major rain and flooding in the area that night, but the building is on high ground and had no exterior flooding, Grams said. There were also no apparent sources of water, no broken pipes, roof leaks or any other obvious points of entry for water.
The perimeter of the building was dry, with no signs of water.
“We have our own maintenance staff of engineers that do all our building here, even after pinpointing the leak to the area of the Titanic car, there is nothing there that would explain the allowance of such volumes of water,” he said Tuesday.
The exhibit has since reopened, and Grams has gotten questions regarding the history of hauntings in the building. The museum has been known as a “hot spot” for paranormal activity and has even attracted the attention of the Discovery Channel’s “Ghost Lab,” which filmed an episode there.
Grams said when he was a kid, there was an “antique fire station” building on the property. It was built to look like an old fire station, and it had antique fire trucks and equipment.
The building caught fire and burned down, he said. And then when a new building was built in its place, about 40 years ago, it was the museum’s mechanic building where they fixed cars, Grams said.
One of the movie cars at the museum is from the Stephen King horror hit “Christine,” named for the evil killer car. Grams recalls a night when he was there working late.
“When I left, I had to go through the building to get to my car. When I was walking directly in front of Christine, the horn just started blowing on its own,” he said.
The unexplained incident scared him and he ran.
“The next morning the mechanic found the battery was dead, and the horn relay was stuck,” he said.
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