An empty swimming pool in the woods is a different kind of ruin from a stone wall beside a river. One suggests a vanished afternoon of music and crowds; the other may be the only surviving clue to an entire working settlement. Indiana’s trails and river-access walks contain both kinds of absence, along with a railroad project that left substantial marks despite never becoming the route its builders intended.
These three places are unsettling because recognizable human plans have been interrupted. They do not need invented hauntings to hold your attention. Rose Island preserves the outline of an amusement resort, Hindostan Falls leaves traces of a lost town beside the White River, and Clifty Falls contains remains of an unfinished railroad within a much larger natural landscape.
Access is different at each stop. Rose Island has a steep approach to an interpreted loop. Hindostan is a short river-access visit, not a long marked hiking circuit. At Clifty Falls, the old tunnel is closed indefinitely because of rockslides; the open trails and railroad remains around the park provide the appropriate visit. Keep those distinctions in mind when choosing the outing, especially if the most dramatic photograph first drew you in…