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>> BRANDON: Coming up... >> PAYTON: Discover Indiana's latest and wettest spooky tradition, Scubaween.

>> BRANDON: Find a new haunt at the Roads Hotel.

>> PAYTON: And go for a spin at one of Indiana's more dizzying museums.

>> BRANDON: That's all on this episode of... >> TOGETHER: "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> PAYTON: Welcome to "Journey Indiana."

I'm Payton Whaley.

>> BRANDON: And I'm Brandon Wentz.

And we're coming to you from the Indiana Repertory Theatre.

Located inside the historic Indiana Theatre in downtown Indianapolis, the Indiana Repertory Theatre has been entertaining audiences for more than 50 years, thanks to a dedicated team on stage and behind the scenes, the theater produces a wide variety of stage performances, including some perennial favorites, ensuring that the IRT has something for everyone.

>> PAYTON: And we'll learn all about this thespian sanctuary in just a bit.

But first, producer Jason Pear takes us to Lawrence County to float a new idea on a classic Halloween tradition.

♪ >> Today, we're having our annual pumpkin carving contest where everybody can bring a pumpkin, take it down underwater and carve the pumpkin.

♪ >> That's right, he said underwater, because this event, an annual fund-raiser, known as Scubaween, takes place out there!

♪ >> We've been doing the pumpkin carving contest for about 30 years, and the rules are real simple.

The pumpkin goes down whole.

When it comes up, it's done.

>> The rules may be simple, but the reality is anything but.

>> Right, pumpkins float.

So you've got to think about that when you plan your pumpkin.

>> Make sure you get the right sized pumpkin.

You get it too big, and it's like sinking a basketball.

So it makes it really, really hard.

>> So if you get the tiny one, they're super thick, so you can't really carve anything in it.

So it's, like, yeah, you've got to get that right happy medium for it.

>> Ah.

>> The newbies always bring big pumpkins.

>> And some have additional concerns.

>> My pumpkin carving skills outside of water, very bad!

So I'm not thinking that this would go any better under water, but we are definitely going to give it a shot.

>> Before long, tanks are unloaded.

Gear is assembled and checked.

And it's time to get in the water.

♪ >> Water temperature, believe it or not, 74 degrees this time of year.

And prior to everybody getting in the water, we had 20-foot visibility, which for Indiana lakes this time of year is really good!

♪ >> That visibility wouldn't last long.

With 25 divers participating, the water quickly becomes a mix of silt, pumpkin guts and the occasional blue gill.

Design and techniques varied, but the divers worked together to ensure that everyone stayed safe and everyone had fun.

>> We have people who are always open to help each other, to train, to go out with them, give them advice, even like now, even though we've got pumpkin carving people down, we have safety divers swimming around, keeping an eye on everybody, making sure they are okay, answering any questions they have, giving them advice.

Yeah, it's a contest, but it's a fun contest.

This is what's really neat about divers, is it is truly a family.

And they say, well, what do you have in common?

Well, it's a love of the water.

Everybody loves the water.

They all want to go blow bubbles.

They want to see what it's about.

There's 72% of the earth that's water covered, and there's a lot of places to explore.

>> After an hour or so, the exploring and the carving was complete.

>> I did it.

>> Now, all the aquatic artists had to do was make their case.

>> And everybody's gonna vote, and then we'll slowly eliminate it down.

There are three categories.

Best of Theme, Best Overall, and Boy Did You Really Try!

>> It's an octopus with seven legs.

[ Laughter ] >> It's kind of a self-portrait.

So -- [ Laughter ] >> We was down there in the middle of carving this perfect pumpkin when out of nowhere this baby -- baby just came up, slammed through the middle of it, scared the crap out of us.

We dropped everything and ran.

So this is what we have.

>> It's poorly carved and -- but I did it under water.

[ Cheers ] >> This one is a classic poster for Jaws.

So not only is it, you know, spooky scary movie, but it's also marine themed.

I think I'm just going for the damn she tried award, because damn did I try to carve this pumpkin.

[ Applause ] >> And when all the pumpkin politicking was complete, the winners got the final word.

>> Happy Scubaween!

>> BRANDON: Are you much of a diver?

>> PAYTON: Not at all.

>> BRANDON: Yeah, I'm a -- I'm a trained diver.

What about pumpkin carver?

>> PAYTON: Oh, I'm an expert.

>> BRANDON: Yeah?

How do you think it would turn out under water?

>> PAYTON: Much worse.

[ Laughter ] Want to learn more, head to southernIndianascuba.com.

>> BRANDON: Earlier we spoke with Benjamin Hanna, the artistic director at the Indiana Repertory Theatre to learn more about this wonderful place.

♪ >> Live theater is such an important part of building community.

It's a great way to gather together to celebrate stories, to learn about other cultures and other people.

Indiana Repertory Theatre is a professional nonprofit theater located right in the heart of downtown Indianapolis.

And our mission is to make sure that we impact our community by telling stories that make folks better citizens, better neighbors, and how we can celebrate our human experience together.

♪ IRT has been in existence since 1972.

We moved here in '80 and renovated this space.

The building we're located in is an old movie palace.

It's almost 100 years old.

At one point, this theater had 3,000 seats and people gathered to watch one movie, 3,000 of them at a time.

♪ We have two main stages.

We have the OneAmerica main stage, and that's where I'm sitting in right now.

It's nearly 650 seats and it's proscenium.

Our second space is upstairs, and it's a smaller space, and it's recently been renamed in honor of Janet Allen, our former artistic director.

It's a 350-seat small thrust theater, which means there are audiences on both sides of the actors, and also in front of the actors.

So it's -- you kind of are playing to a broader spectrum of folks.

Making theater is a team sport.

It takes so many different kinds of players to make it possible.

And everyone has to have their strengths.

So we have departments in sets, lights, sound, costumes, projections and paints.

All of these departments have folks with specialized skills to make what you see on stage possible.

I love working with them to explore and build whole worlds that are put up in days and taken down in days, and you can come in here one month and see a dilapidated mansion, and the next month, you are in some monstrous projection space, and all that is possible because of our artisans.

When we think about what we'll produce on our stage in any given season, we want to make sure that we are lifting all kinds of stories from all kinds of people and cultures.

We also want to make sure that we are showing lots of different genres.

So you will see a classic story, maybe a Shakespeare piece.

We're also introducing musicals back into our repertoire.

And the idea is that we celebrate all kinds of theater here in this building, and we provide a variety to an audience.

>> I think what keeps me going is the fact that every one of our artisans here believes truly in our mission, believes in the power of live theater to transform lives, to open hearts, to think forward into a better tomorrow.

If you've ever worked with people who are passionate about something, and believe in the mission of an organization, anything is possible.

And I think we find that every single time we do a new piece here.

>> BRANDON: So, Payton, have you been to the Indiana Repertory Theatre before?

>> PAYTON: No, this is my first time here.

>> BRANDON: Oh, really?

Yeah.

So myself and Ashley both have performed inside of this theater.

>> PAYTON: No kidding.

>> BRANDON: And now you have too.

>> PAYTON: Look at that.

>> BRANDON: Want to learn more?

Head to irtlive.com.

>> PAYTON: Up next, producer John Timm takes us to Hamilton County to explore the Roads Hotel, where some guests are a little late checking out.

>> I've spent a lot of time in this building over the last six years.

There's times that I've been here by myself.

I can hear the boards creaking like somebody walking down the hallway or something.

I'll hear talking sometimes, and it's just -- it's always muffled.

There's definitely things that I can't explain that happen here.

We are at the Roads Hotel in Atlanta, Indiana.

♪ Roads Hotel was built in 1893 by Abraham Kauffman.

Newton Roads purchased it for his wife Clara, and they opened it up as a hotel.

Newton was a traveling salesman.

So he was gone a lot, and Clara was here running the hotel.

But once Clara passed, the daughter Hazel was actually running the place.

[ Train whistle ] If you noticed a block over from here, there's railroad tracks.

This was a layover for the train going back and forth from Chicago and back.

So a lot of people stayed here during the hotel days.

Eventually, after Newton passed, the rumors are that Clara wanted to keep the doors open to the place, so it became a speakeasy and a brothel.

♪ At first, I mean, it was a hotel, and things seemed fine from what we've understood, but then during the speakeasy brothel days, the rumors were it got kind of rough at times.

Even one of the parlor rooms here was a game room.

So a lot of gambling and stuff went on.

So who knows what kind of things, you know, fights, whatever might have happened here during that time frame.

There's rumors that Dillinger and Capone had spent time here.

People would say, well, Dillinger would come up through the back door and spend time here at the hotel.

The daughter, Hazel, once she passed, the hotel was empty for quite a while.

And then, at some point it became apartments.

We've had people that have come in, said they lived here during that time frame, when there were apartments and said that they had odd things happening.

So we know back then there was activity going on.

The owner before us being here, they were doing paranormal investigations and stuff.

They were booking it out.

So once we took over in 2017, that's what we started doing.

[ Footsteps ] I've been here at Roads Hotel for probably about six -- well, a little over six years now.

Yeah, I'm pretty much a tour guide, I guess you could say here, and showing people around, giving them a little bit of the history and telling them some of the paranormal things that we experience here.

We offer public investigations that we do every month.

We also do private investigations that people can do.

Or if you are brave enough, you can rent the place out for the entire night, and do a full overnight which is 7 p.m. until 10 a.m. the next morning.

People come in just for the history of the place, want to see the inside of it.

Then we have the ones that have watched the paranormal shows that are just kind of getting into paranormal investigations.

Then we have the ones that are just full on bringing all kinds of equipment in and -- and going in, you know, just with everything to try to see if they can capture something.

A lot of the experiences that people have, have been they see shadows.

There's been a few instances since I've been here that people have seen full-body apparitions.

Footsteps.

[ Footsteps ] Voices.

[ Muffled voices ] Newton and Clara had a son named Everett.

He was quarantined in Room 5 upstairs, and that's the room he passed in.

He got tuberculosis.

People go into his room quite often and experience like a heaviness in their chest.

People cough.

[ Coughing ] Then there's another rumor of a lady named Sarah that was one of the ladies during the brothel period.

Her room is probably one of the most active rooms that people have experiences and stuff in.

People have been touched in that room.

People hear voices.

There have been a few times since I've been here that people have actually seen a full-body apparition of a man standing outside of that doorway.

One of the officers within the county actually had an experience.

He had come by at one point, and I guess he saw a woman up in the window upstairs, and then I guess he wouldn't drive back by the place for quite a while.

We did have a time that a group saw a full-body apparition of a man upstairs, and it kind of freaked them out.

And I think they were supposed to be here the entire night.

They left in the middle of the night.

♪ We want to keep doing the paranormal investigations to help raise money for the building so we can keep working on restoration of the building.

Hopefully it will be here for another 130 years.

People should come here for the experience of learning a little bit of history of the town, the history of the building, and for those that are interested in the paranormal.

>> BRANDON: So haunted hotel.

>> PAYTON: Mm-hmm.

>> BRANDON: Would you stay overnight?

>> PAYTON: I think so.

I think it depends, you know, on a few things.

Is it safe?

Do they have breakfast?

HBO?

Lots of different factors you really want to consider before you stay in one of these.

Want to learn more?

Head to roadshotel.com.

>> BRANDON: Up next, producer John Timm takes us to Montgomery County, and gives it a whirl at the Rotary Jail Museum.

♪ >> A rotary jail is a system that was supposed to be safer than traditional jails at the time.

♪ It is a full circle of bars with one entry point on each level, and that made it so that every inmate had to go through that one entry point, and then they were rotated out to a solid wall of bars.

This made this system inescapable.

It also made it much safer for the guards that were working during that day.

♪ The rotary jails were created to solve a problem of jails at the time.

This allowed them to keep the same amount of inmates with a much smaller workforce.

Only three people were working at our rotary jail at any given time, and that was because instead of moving the guards to the inmates, the inmates were moved to the guards on an individual basis.

♪ We are at the Rotary Jail Museum of Crawfordsville, Indiana.

It was the first Rotary Jail Museum ever built.

It was the first of 18.

Only three of those still exist.

The one in Gallatin, Missouri; the one in Council Bluffs, Iowa; and this one right here.

♪ The Montgomery County rotary jail system was built in 1881 and remained operational until 1973.

♪ Our rotary jail is two sets of rotating cell blocks.

Each one has eight pie-shaped wedges, and those are encompassed by a solid wall of bars.

So there's only one entry point on each level.

So the cell had to be lined up to that opening before a prisoner could be let in or out.

♪ The way that the jail works is it is a solid circle of bars, and the cells rotate within those bars.

Between each cell is a solid steel plate that was used as a security measure, and as that spins inside of the bars, it made it possible to get fingers and toes caught.

The rotary jail system stopped being used in the late 1930s because of the injuries that were being sustained.

The rotary nature of the jail was supposed to be a safer design for both the guards and the inmates, but once it was put into practice, they realized that a lot of these inmates were receiving fractures and amputations to their limbs that were stuck outside of the bars before the cells were rotated.

♪ In the 1930s, there was a renovation to make this a stationary jail as the rotary jails were no longer considered safe.

♪ We have 16 cells on the rotary level, and we have a women's cell, a maximum security cell, and three cells in the infirmary level.

That's where those amputations and fractures were cared for.

♪ The sheriff and his family lived here on property.

The jail is not a quiet place.

And so there was very little privacy for the sheriff and his family, because they could hear the inmates at any given time.

♪ The design for the rotary jail is based on a railroad turnstile.

All the cells are built on top of that turnstile, and we hand crank that around to move the cells to the entry points.

♪ We make sure to turn the rotary jail on every single tour that we have so that everybody can experience that before we lose that function.

♪ We could hold 37 inmates at any given time, but we were rarely at capacity.

This was a jail and not a prison.

So most of our inmates only spent one to two days, and over half of all of those arrests from 1881 to 1973 were alcohol-related.

One of our most famous inmates that was here at the jail was John Coffee.

A lot of people will recognize that name from The Green Mile by Stephen King.

John Coffee was executed and it was later found out that he was completely innocent of his crimes.

Instead of having the mouse from The Green Mile , we had a raccoon.

And it was around for about 20 years, and it would come up every night and get food from the inmates and the turnkeys, and it eventually began doing tricks for its food.

♪ We have a lot of different visitors, and they come from all over the country.

We have those that are interested in criminal law.

We have those that are in college studying history.

And we just have residents around Crawfordsville that have never come in before and just want to see what we are about.

The rotary jail system is a really important piece of history, because this is from a bygone era.

It is technology that is no longer used.

It is one of three that are left in the world, and it has a lot of history behind it.

So I definitely feel like it's worth preserving.

♪ >> PAYTON: Now, Brandon, something that didn't make it into the story was how expensive bail was back then.

Cost, like, an arm and a leg.

>> BRANDON: Want to learn more?

Just head to rotaryjailmuseum.org.

>> PAYTON: And always, we'd like to encourage you to stay connected with us.

>> BRANDON: Just head over to JourneyIndiana.org.

There you can see full episodes, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, and suggest stories from your neck of the woods.

>> PAYTON: We also have a map feature that allows you to see where we've been, and to plan your own Indiana adventures.

So Brandon, do you want to go take a look around stage?

>> BRANDON: Yeah.

I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

♪ On the day we were there, The Rep was set up for a production of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein , and we were given the chance to recreate an iconic moment.

We are here with Rachelle Martin, the props manager at the IRT.

So what exactly is going on with Frankenstein?

I know there's some very interesting props being used.

>> A lot of different stuff.

Our cabinet is a wonderful thing that we see as a regular, normal cabinet in act one, but at intermission, our crew clears everything out of the inside and then at the top of act two, we have a surprise creature bursting out of it.

>> PAYTON: Now, Rachelle, the question on the tips of everyone's tongues, the fake blood that we're using, what does it taste like?

>> It's zesty mint, actually.

>> PAYTON: Oooh.

>> Yeah, I've tried it myself to make sure it was safe for the actors, and it is labeled as edible and it is premade.

>> BRANDON: All right.

So shall we give this a go?

>> PAYTON: I don't see why not.

Let's do it.

>> BRANDON: Okay.

♪ >> BRANDON: Bottoms up.

♪ We'll see you next on "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> Production support for "Journey Indiana" is provided by WTIU members.

Thank you!