"The House of Blue Lights"

Although The House Of Blue Lights has been gone for many, many years, the legend lives on even today in central Indiana. Skiles Test was the eccentric owner of this mysterious estate in Indianapolis between 1913 and 1964. This home attracted many curious teenagers during the 1950s, all of whom were hoping for a glimpse of the late "Mrs Test" who is said to have been perfectly preserved, and placed in a glass coffin surrounded by blue Christmas tree lights.

The legend says that Mr Test felt these lights attracted the spirits of the dead, and he spent many a moonlit night, waiting for the return of his lost love, pacing around the glass coffin often speaking to her corpse as if she were alive! Some say they actually did hear a woman's voice calling out to Skiles, and an eerie blue light was seen floating through the woods that surrounded the home. Most of the curiosity seekers that crept through the woods, were later found running for their lives from the property, with Mr Test in hot pursuit of his trespassers.

Many of those terrified teens also swore they saw a Blue Lady in the woods, and narrowly escaped, vowing they would "never go up to that place again!!" One teen was separated from his friends, and was later found wandering aimlessly down the road, dazed and barely able to speak, his clothing torn, by what he claimed, was the Blue Lady! He said she had tried to pull him back into the woods, calling to him in a haunting voice, and that she was surrounded by a ghostly blue light, her hands as cold as ice. Luckily his shirt tore and he was able to escape.

Eventually Skiles Test passed away,a huge auction of all his possessions followed, and sadly, The House Of Blue Lights was torn down. As requested in his will, the property became a nature park, but to this day people still swear they see an mysterious blue light eliminating the woods where the house once stood!

This painting is my tribute to that legend. My wife and I spent some time living in Indiana just down the road from where the Test Estate used to stand. My wife happily modeled for the painting due to her love of this local legend.

Painted last year when I used acrylic on cotton canvas sheets. I now paint exclusively in oils on extra heavy-weight Crescent illustration board.

In memory of "The House Of Blue Lights"