Sense of Charms

sense of charms

2/21/2009

General Information

Investigators: Christy, Roger, Kendall, John, Debbie, Chris & Amanda

Equipment used: Hand held Sony video cameras, personal audio recorders, digital cameras, and various EMF meters

Initial Interview:

This residence is currently a business. After speaking to the business owners, they felt like they at least had the spirit of a man in their building but they were unsure and wanted some answers and evidence to see what could be documented and verified there. They in turn contacted OKPRI to come investigate the strange events and to see if we could document the strange things going on. After scheduling a date we headed out to this location.

Some of the current experiences in the home include:

A large cabinet fell over with Raggedy Ann doll and broke one of its doors off before they arrived at the shop one day.
Dolls get knocked off shelves all the time.
There are loud crashes and bangs upstairs but nothing is moved.
In the balloon room footsteps are heard and even the running footsteps of like a small child. They also hear walking upstairs.
Their kids who frequent the store with them are scared to go to the bathroom in the back and everyone who goes towards the back area is scared to go past playroom.
The CD player turns itself off and on, especially on before they arrive to open the shop.
Lights have been on when they come into the store even though they made sure the lights were off when they left.
One time the former owner’s daughter was hiding upstairs and she felt something tap her and she thought it was her brother but he was across the room. This same girl also saw a ghostly image in the store's computer screen.
Has woken up at night & not been able to move - has also been pushed, shoved & sat on while in bed (knows about sleep paralysis)
Certain parts of house feel creepy
Husband is worried it's going to hurt them
Client has had something around her since the 5th grade
Client is Wiccan & so is her daughter - She says she is careful with her circle but daughter has not always been so careful
Client was home alone & thought she saw her son walk through the house. A while later he came home & she realized it wasn't him.

There have been no deaths in this home.

Historical/Factual/Relevant Info:

Before Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the area where Shawnee sits was an established territory. On March 18, 1895, the Choctaw Oklahoma Gulf Railroad Company, under the director of John McLoud, sold the property to Daniel P. Page. The Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad (CO&G), known informally as the "Choctaw Route," was an American railroad located in located in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The company, originally known as the Choctaw Coal and Railway Company, completed its main line

between Memphis, Tennessee, and western Oklahoma by 1900. In 1901 the CO&G chartered a subsidiary company, the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Texas Railroad, to continue construction west into the Texas panhandle, and by 1902 the railroad had extended as far west as Amarillo.

The CO&G came under the control of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (the "Rock Island") in 1902, and it was formally merged into the Rock Island on January 1, 1948. The Memphis-Amarillo route remained an important main line for the Rock Island, hosting local and transcontinental freight traffic as well as passenger trains such as the Choctaw Rocket. Substantial portions of the former Choctaw Route were abandoned after the Rock Island was dissolved in 1980. Other segments of the former CO&G, however, remain in use by the Union Pacific Railroad and various short lines.

1897:

Mr. Page owned the property for around 2 years until April 2, 1897 when he sold one half of it to Max Herskowitz and the other half to G.M. Steel for $1500.00 a piece. Max was born on July 29, 1850 in Hungary. He and his wife, Hermione and their family traveled to the United States from Hamburg, Germany prior to 1978, and settled in New York where they had their first son, Emanuel. Over the years they ended up moving to Ohio and had a total of 11 children. The family eventually moved to Oklahoma City and Max became a well-known real estate businessman. Max had a building built shortly after he purchased the property somewhere in between 1897 and 1901and opened up a dry goods store called, “The Aurora Store” in which he had their oldest son Emmanuel manage, since Emmanuel lived in Shawnee at the time. Emmanuel also managed various hotels in Shawnee as well and had turned out to be a good businessman like his father.

After Max’s death on August 22, 1911, his family took over the property and business and it stayed in the family until it was sold in 1945. The Herskowitz family owned the land and building for 48 years. Next is the list of business this location has been.

1897-1911 – The Aurora Store (Dry Goods) - Still owned by the Herskowitz
1912-1923 – The Dixie Store (Dry Goods) – Still owned by the Herskowitz but leased out.
1924-1925 - No record of business but still owned by the Herskowitz
1925-1930 – The E.H. Francis Company (Dry Goods) - Still owned by the Herskowitz but leased out.
1930-1938 – Newark Shoe Store (Shoe Store) - Still owned by the Herskowitz but leased out.
1939-1944 – Cannon Shoe Store (Shoe Store) - Still owned by the Herskowitz but leased out.

1945 – The property and building was sold from the Herskowitz Estate to Felice Gold of California for $38,000. Felice Gold rented the property out to local tenants.

1945-1970 – Arden’s Dress Shop (Dress Store) The building still owned by Felice Gold but leased out.

1970 – The property and building was sold again from Felice Gold to Neil Satterfield and Alvin Squires.

1977, Satterfield and Squires joined to create Satterfield and Squires Building Corporation. It remained Arden’s Dress Shop

1971-1980 – Shoe Land (Shoe store) The building still owned by Satterfield and Squires but leased out.
1981-1983 – The Shoe Rack (Shoe Store) The building still owned by Satterfield and Squires but leased out.

1983-1985 – The Shoe Salon (Shoe Store)

1985–2000 –Satterfield and Squires sold the building to Lloyd Penson who also leased out the building to tenants.

1986- 1991– Art Works (Art Store) The building still owned by Lloyd Penson but leased out.

1992 - Vacant - The building still owned by Lloyd Penson

1993-1995 – House of Health Organic Store - The building still owned by Lloyd Penson but leased out
1996-1997 – The Angel’s Attic (Retail Gift Shop) The building still owned by Lloyd Penson but leased out

2000 – The property and building was again sold by Lloyd Penson to Michael and Joni Little

1998-2001 – Two Old Crows (or Crown) (Hobby & Toy Shop) The building still owned by Michael and Joni Little and leased out
2001-2006 – Quintessence Curious Goods & Gift Shop – Business owned and operator by owners, Michael and Joni Little.

2006 – Sold from Michael and Joni Little to current owners

2006-Present – Sense of Charms (Gift Shop)

Investigation Report

Set Up

We arrived at the location and began getting set up for the investigation. This location seemed very quiet and nothing appeared out of the ordinary. The business owners gave us a walk-through of the building and then our team met up to divide into two teams. We had one team in the building at a time followed by a couple of the business owners who decided to stay with us during our investigation.

While setting up some of the equipment and doing a walk-through of the building, 2 investigators were walking up from the back playroom area and as the 2nd investigator followed the 1st investigator, the door they had just passed through closed shut behind them. This caught both investigators off guard and so they immediately tried to recreate the situation. The door if opened over half way would close on its own but if opened more than half way it would not. When the two investigators passed through the door, it was opened all the way which didn’t explain the logic of the incident that had happened. Due to uncertain circumstances surrounding the door, the incident was notes as unknown.

Team 1 consisted of 4 members all who started their sweeps in the main entry way area. The team didn’t notice anything unusual and all baseline readings were consistent. It was during the last part of the sweep in the upstairs area that Team 1 noticed changes. All of the team members heard various whispering coming from different areas of the upstairs rooms. Also there was a time when 2 of the team members heard rustling coming from the artificial Christmas trees which were being stored upstairs. No team member was near the tree when it omitted the rustling sound. A little boy’s voice was heard saying, “I’m scared.” upstairs as well.

Just as the team was conducting their sweep of the last room, the investigator running the walking cam noticed two light anomalies on the stairs. One of the investigators heard a soft whisper say “Wait” right as the team was getting ready to go downstairs. Then without warning the entire team heard a loud crash and when they looked over, there was a wooden arm of a scarecrow holding a pitchfork and lying on the ground. No one was up against or around the little wooden figure when this happened. The team marked

and documented the arm for reference. Here is the audio clip of this incident: Falling Scarecrow Team 2 stated that their sweeps were quite and they didn’t notice anything unusual.

The sit-down proved to be quite interesting because several group members heard audible voices. One of the voices sounded like a man but it was muffled and off in the distance so he could not be understood clearly. A little boy’s voice was heard as well with what sounded like him saying, “I’m thirsty.” Unfortunately neither of the voices heard were recorded on our audio recorders or on our cams. Stranger yet was the fact that 3 of the group members that were upstairs conducting the sit-down, all witnessed seeing a partial apparition of a little boy sitting by one of the doorways to one of the rooms.

The sighting of him was strange because he appeared in partial forms each time which looked somewhat like a heat vapor. This little boy looked like he was around 5 or 6 years old. He had light brown hair and was wearing a light colored shirt and medium toned pants. He looked as if he were from the time period of the early 1900’s. He seemed very interested in some of the hand held equipment that we were using such as the emf meters with the lights and sounds. He never would come up close to them though because he acted a bit afraid of them. Several pictures were snapped during this time but his image was never captured. We were however

able to capture a couple of recordings of him, especially one while we part of the team was going upstairs to conduct our sit-down in which we think he followed us up too. This evp of his voice is neat because you hear him say, “Kitty, kitty, ahhhh!” We are still puzzled as to why he would be calling a kitty when there were no kittens or cats present in the building during this time.

Conclusion:

Our group feels like this location definitely has some paranormal activity taking place within its walls but we feel that whatever spirits may be present there are not harmful but more so from a time long ago and they still exhibit interest in the old building.

Psychic Investigator’s Comments

When I first walked through the doors of this building I didn’t know what to expect however I didn’t feel anything right away. The building actually felt very peaceful to me and I wasn’t sure if we would find anything paranormal there or not. As I began my walk through of the building and about half way back, I felt the energy start to change in the building. The farther I walked towards the back of the building, the

the stronger the feeling got so I knew the back area was more so a place of interest for any paranormal activity. When I got into one area of the store that had colorful items along with balloons and nick knacks, I happened to catch a little boy acting like he was going to grab an item off the table from out of the corner of my eye. I did not get a great glimpse of him because I saw him so quickly but I got another glimpse of him when I went over by the balloon area. I saw him jump upwards and reach up as if he were trying to grab a balloon. I didn’t know it then but I would encounter this little boy later on in the upstairs part of the building. It was when Team 1 was doing their sweep (which I was a part of) that I happened to see the little boy hiding from behind one of the old Christmas trees. As quick as he was there he was gone again. I felt like this little boy was very curious about us and when I asked him he name, he told me Jeremiah. During the sit-down I saw this little boy again sitting by the doorway to one of the rooms upstairs. He would come in to view and then disappear and at times only parts of him could be seen. He seemed to be interested in the emf meters we had with us but when I offered for him to come play with them, he shied away as if he was unsure and a bit scared of the meters.

I also encountered a woman downstairs in what we called the yellow room. She was over by the corner of the room and she had the little boy by her. She made it known that she was responsible for the little boy and that she really didn’t care to be bothered while we were there. She did show me an old tea kettle that she was fond of and one that she was looking for in the store. This tea kettle was made of a silver tin with a medium sized spout. She had misplaced it and couldn’t find it.

Upstairs I had encountered a man who gave his name as Henry although I am not sure that was his real name. He stated that he took care of the store and that he also lived there and he showed interest in one of the camcorders that we had and he said that he likes clocks and watches and he like to make things with his hands, especially things that were mechanical.

Overall I felt like the spirits present were friendly and meant no harm to the business owners. Their reasons for staying there were their own but I did not feel like they were unhappy at all.

evidence collected

There were 20 EVPs that was recorded during this investigation and 1 sound clips.

There were no positive photos and 1 video clips