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The Historical Eskridge Hotel
Date:
April 1, 2006 History:
The town of
Wynnewood was started as a settlement in 1886 by John Walner who began the town
with a store and Before 1887, settlers came to Wynnewood in ox carts, covered wagons, stagecoaches, on horses and then eventually by train. 1887 was a growing year for the town of Wynnewood as small businesses began to open and settle. By the beginning of the 1890's, hotels and boarding houses were build which provided a place for those travelers to stay.
The Eskridge Hotel was built by Pinckyney Reid Eskridge in 1907, the same year that Oklahoma was made a state. Mr. Eskridge traveled up and down the Santa Fe Railroad from Texas to Kansas buying cotton in wholesale lots. He and other traveling salesmen, known as “drummers” in the early days, complained about the uncomfortable, lumpy and saggy beds in most hotels. During the last months of the Indian Territory period, Mr. Eskridge had done well with his cotton business and since he had observed Wynnewood as the most thriving town on his route, he decided to build a hotel there with all the comforts of home. Mr. Eskridge constructed the three story brick hotel
with lathe and plaster interior walls, tall ceilings, door transoms, a dining
room, kitchen, lobby and sleeping rooms. He furnished every part of the hotel
with classic turn of the century good, serviceable furniture. In each sleeping
room he put thick pur cotton Ostermoor Although Mr. Eskridge never operated the hotel himself, he took an interest in making it a fine hotel with a famous family dining room. It became a local custom for families to dine at the Eskridge after church on Sunday and enjoy socializing in the lobby. In 1973, the Wynnewood Historical society turned the Eskridge Hotel into the “Eskridge Hotel and Museum to help preserve its history along with some of the local history of Wynnewood and the state of Oklahoma.
Now as a museum, the Eskridge Hotel’s 1907 elegant charm still remains, with its porches extending over the sidewalk and its benches on each side of the entrance retained. Not all of the original items from the Eskridge Hotel remain, but the items it holds tell a story from a past time long ago. As staff will tell you, the
Eskridge Hotel has been rumored to be haunted by several of the local townsfolk.
Rumors of this haunting state that the mannequins upstairs move on their own as
well as furniture and other items. Footsteps are reported to be heard
quite often when no one is upstairs as well as distance voices and ballroom
music. Dark shadows were also reported by those staff Intrigued by the rumors of paranormal activity, we contacted the Wynnewood Historical Society and asked permission to investigate the old hotel. Our first night there was very strange and we too were witnessing the shadows, footsteps and distant voices through the 2nd and 3rd floor of the hotel. Our group spent many a nights investigating the Eskridge and grew quite fond of the old building and with permission, turned the Eskridge Hotel into our research site. We want to send a special thank you out to Melissa and Cletus from the Historical Society!
I remember the first time that we drove by the Eskridge Hotel and I viewed it in all of it's age old glory. We were on our way to another investigation and happened to pass right by the Eskridge. I was immediately drawn to the building and knew that I wanted to do an investigation there. It wasn't too long after that that we were actually inside of the Eskridge conducting a full blown investigation!
On our first initial visit we had a thunderstorm move through the area and it seemed to increase the activity within the hotel and it seemed that activity seemed to be breaking loose all around us. Several of us commented on how we felt like we were being followed and watched. A couple of our members stated that they felt like they were touched and even felt breezes blowing by their faces. I did have one of the spirits there of a woman come
through to me while we were on the 2nd floor investigating. She called It was at that point when we were standing in the hall that I saw many people starting to come out from the hotel rooms and stand in the door entrances. Elizabeth then told me that "they were the ones hiding in the shadows," and all the sudden I felt such a great pain and loss coming from many of those spirits there. As I walked down towards the end of the hallway Elizabeth followed us, but would not go into any of the rooms. Almost as if it were a code of conduct of respect.
As we
walked into room #28, one of our members named Kristen felt drawn to a white Since this investigation and every time now that we go out to the Eskridge Hotel, we leave this man an orange on his table.
The Doctor's Room
-As
I walked by this doctor's bag, I heard a man saying that he wanted a bag open.
We did not know which one, however we started opening all the doctor's bags.
Upon doing so, one of the bags that Kristen and them opened, reveals
-As soon as we came out of the doctor's room I saw and heard a woman stick her head out of the hotel room asking for a blanket for the bed. I told the group and Kristen what I had just heard and she said that there was a blanket there in the Dr.'s Room but I hadn't noticed it sitting there in the darkened room. She picked up the blanket and we took it to the hotel room and Kristen & I placed it on the bed. I then saw the woman half sitting up and laying in the bed with a young child about the age of 2, beside her with her arms around this young child. I then heard her say "thank you." and again we had the same feeling of peace like we had doing something right.
After
we left the hotel room, we went back out into the hallway and I heard this woman
calling us down to the end of the hall stating that she wanted a dress. We ended
up going down to the end of the hall and when we walked in, I was drawn to this
lacey dress on this mannequin. Jim started asking her if she liked the dress and
then all the
We got the feeling that there was this elderly man still up on the 3rd floor who
was getting impatient because he had already waited for his turn to come and now
we were leaving. We assured him that we hadn't forgotten him and would be back
just as soon as we came back on the 13th of May and even though we did not want
to leave, we really needed to because of our family & children who needed us.
It wasn't until our next visit that this man came forward and asked for a hammer
to add to the tool collection he had going in the Tool & Tack Room. He
seemed very fond of the room and claimed to fix many things in the hotel with
the tools that were present.
Upon entering the Eskridge House, everything was dark and quiet. The home is empty and under renovation, so there is no electricity. Currently the inside of the house is down to just the wall studs. We had just returned from Oak Lawn Cemetery, which is the cemetery that Pinckney and Annie Eskridge are buried. The equipment we had in the home was a digital camera, digital audio, and our  flashlights.
We went over the first floor, snapping pictures and listening closely for
anything unusual. We then proceeded to the second floor, to do the same
thing. Everything seemed equally quiet on the second floor as well. While we
were on the second floor, I took a moment to show Melissa Hinkle, who had given
us access to the home, the gravesite pictures I had just taken. After doing
this, we took some outside pictures, wrapped up, and went to the Hotel to begin
our investigation there. Later that night after the completion of the hotel
investigation, we began reviewing audio from the home. Toward the end of the
audio, we got to the point where I was showing Melissa the gravesite
 pictures.
Approximately 45 seconds after showing Melissa these pictures, a very
interesting EVP was captured. It was a voice, and sounded female. There were no
works spoken, but the voice was clearly in distress. It was quite loud, and
distinct. The voice seemed to be shocked or extremely disturbed by something.
**
Eskridge House Moan"
**The only correlation I can make as to why the voice was reacting this way was
because of the gravesite pictures that were being shown around that time. Could
it have been a reminder of a painful time? Or could it have been shock at the
realization that the Eskridges are no longer living? At a previous visit
to the Eskridge House, we also recorded another evp of what sounds to be a woman
saying,
"Really"
Our team plans to go back to this location and do some further investigating!
Evidence Collected
Photographs: There was one photograph taken that we have no explanation for. Just to note, our team has analyzed this photograph (as well as other teams) and we cannot find a reasonable explanation for it! This photo will be shown in different analyzed stages. The picture on the left is the one with a shadow anomaly in it. The one on the right is the comparison shot.
Video: There was one video recorded from this investigation Evp: There were 9 evp recorded from this investigation
"A doctor here?"
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Click
Here For the Movie Documentary 
post office. It was originally name Walner after its
founder, but was renamed to Wynnewood in 1887 by the railroad men who began to
move into the area when the railroad made its first run through the town.
The railroad men name a lot of the small town they settled in after their home
towns in Pennsylvania.
mattresses and in some rooms extra-length
beds. He wanted every guest to have a comfortable bed.
members who were in
the hotel at night.
Psychic
Investigator's Comments:
When we first walked inside the Eskridge,
it was early in the evening and we were given a full tour of the hotel by
Melissa who is the Treasurer for the Wynnewood Historical Society. The
minute I stepped through the door I felt my head began to spin as I picked up on
many different spirit energies. I also picked up on so much residual
energies from some of the items in the hotel/museum. It wasn't until later
on that evening when our teams were split up that we started hearing footsteps,
disembodied voices and seeing dark shadows roam about the halls. We also
heard weird noises like knocking, rapping, rattling, and squealing. 
herself Elizabeth and stated that she was in search of her son who had died
quite young. It was on our 3rd or 4th visit to the hotel that we
encountered activity of a different kind. I myself had been holding back
on trying to communicate with any spirits present because I wanted to make sure
that we could get some sort of evidence recorded on our equipment. Towards
the end of our investigation I felt compelled to go upstairs. I felt like
there was someone who had a strong message. While up on the 2nd floor I
encountered Elizabeth again who conveyed to me that there were many spirits
there in the hotel, many of which used the hotel as a refuge and home. She
told me that many of them stayed for various reasons.
Room #28
clothing hanging on a hook by the door. The group then began to smell
oranges. I myself did
not smell the oranges, but I saw orange peels and a small knife there on the
wooden table. Jimmy and I then all the sudden felt like a burst of electricity
blow right by us and we both said: "Did you feel that?" The next thing we know,
Kristen goes over by the white piece of cloth again and wants to find out what
it is. As she starts to touch it, she says: "What is this" and ask she picks it
up, J.T. and I both at the same time say: "tablecloth." Kristen asked if she
should take it down and I said yes and it needs to go on the table. Kristen then
took it and put it on the table and no sooner had she said, "That looks really
good on the table,"
the room's feeling changed to a relief and happy feeling. I
then saw the man sitting at the table again with his hands smoothing out the
wrinkles on the table cloth. He was smiling and was very happy. On our
following return visits to the Eskridge and room #28, we have brought this man
an orange and left it on the
table.
some old
broken doctor's tools. I touched the small brown bag and immediately knew that
this was the one. We placed the little brown bag on the shelf and left it open
and I felt like we had done what we were supposed to do. I also felt like this
man was unhappy and complaining about one of the wheelchairs not moving
correctly the way it should have, almost like it was broken a bit or so.
This man gave me the name Murrow and I really got the impression that he was
unhappy about one of the wheelchairs. Luckily for us we had audio going
and during this time when I started describing his feelings about the wheelchair
my other team members, we ended up getting an evp of a man talking about his
wheelchair right before a class "A" evp was recorded of a woman saying, "A
doctor here." The wheelchair part is very low and you have to listen
closely to hear it, but I promise you it's there! 
sudden we had the left sleeve start to move on its own. We told her
that she could have the dress if she wanted to. We talked about the dress being
pretty "cool with all the lacey holes in it" and we asked her if she wanted
something different and she gave us the impression that she didn't want anything
different because "summer was coming." I saw this woman with her arms held out
from her body and I got the impression of being hot, humid and sticky and then
that's when Kristen said she heard, "summer's coming." Kristen then started
feeling like we needed to add more to the "attire" like an accessory. I started
looking around and saw a pair of high hill shoes so I picked them up and said
that perhaps she would like these shoes. Then Kristen picked up a hat and took
it over by the dress and put in on the neck of the mannequin. We started talking
about how they seemed to go together. I then brought the shoes over and stated
that they seemed to match and so I set them down by the dress. We then
felt the same "relief" sensation that we had gotten in the other rooms.
The
Tool and Tack Room
The
Eskridge House
