INGALLS HOTEL
6/20/2015
General Information
Investigators: Christy, Curtis, Kathy, Cyrena, and Gary
Equipment used: 4DVR cameras, 1 FullSpectrum
Camera, Motion sensors upstairs/downstairs, geophone, K2, Cell sensor, various audio recorders and digital cameras.
Cam1 - Upstairs SW corner
Cam2 - Stairs
Cam3 - Upstairs (to closet and stairs landing)
Cam4 - Downstairs common area
Cam5 (FS) - Kitchen
Initial Interview:
This building had been unoccupied for several decades and had never been previously investigated before. The only claim of the hotel was that the owners heard strange noises upstairs at times when they were in the building. It is unknown if there have been any deaths in the building.
Historical/Factual/Relevant Info:
No actual historical information could be verified by record other than what was indicated by word of mouth from the current owner. According to the owner, the building was built in the 1920's and was
believed to be used for the oilfield workers that worked in the area for the nearby Magnolia Plant. It is a 2 story building which houses a kitchen, sitting room, and a huge room upstairs. It is believed that the upstairs room was divided by curtains to make bedrooms. The
building was once owned by the Masons and was later renovated to like a replica of the infamous old west hotel and saloon. There were buildings that were
added beside the hotel such as a general store and a saloon, all building which were used in the recreation events of the "Battle of Ingalls." Currently the owners use the old hotel for storage. The current owners have owned the location for the last 7 years.
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Since the 1980's, the people in the town of Ingalls and surrounding areas have been participating in annual reenactments of the shootout.
All significant historical events in Ingalls, OK regarding the shootout and murder of three U.S. Marshalls by the Dalton and Doolin Gangs on September 01, 1893, took place in the original hotel now long gone about two blocks away from the client’s building. Nobody died in that hotel, but one of the outlaws in the shootout was sleeping in the hotel when the shootout started. He shot a fatal shot from the hotel that killed one of the deputies. Two of the local residents were also killed in this shootout as well as several others wounded. There is a stone monument commemorating this event about a block away from the location of the original hotel.
Photo shown caption: Belle Starr, "Queen of the Oklahoma Outlaws" Born Myra Maybelle Shirley February 05, 1848 Carthage, Missouri Died February 03, 1889 (Age 40) near King Creek, Oklahoma.
It is also believed that the ghost of Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr (February 5, 1848 – February 3, 1889), better known as Belle Starr whom was a notorious female outlaw, haunts the town of Ingalls.
Born on her father's farm in Carthage, Missouri, Belle's parents were John Shirley and Eliza Hatfield, whom also was related to the Hatfields from the famous Hatfields family feud.
In the 1880's, Belle married a Cherokee man named Sam Starr and settled in the Indian Territory. She learned ways of organizing, planning and fencing for the rustlers, horse thieves and bootleggers, as well as harboring them from the law. On December 17, 1886, Sam Starr was involved in a gunfight with Marshall Frank West. Both men were killed during this shootout, as well as the death of Belle's life as an outlaw queen. For the last two years of Belle's life after the death of her beloved Sam, her life ranged from gossip and scandal that linked her to several unruly men. But in order to keep her Indian land, she married a relative of Sam, Jim July Starr, whom was some 15 years younger than herself. Legend has it that February 03, 1989, Belle was riding home from the neighboring town of Eufaula, Oklahoma when she was ambushed and killed with her own double barrel shotgun.
Investigation Report
Interview
Our team arrived at the location and began the initial interview with the client/owner. After the interview, the client gave us a tour of the building to show the known areas of activity. At the conclusion of the tour, the client left the building to us while the investigation was being conducted.
While walking through the building during the interview, our team started with the first floor and then made our way to the second floor. Reaching the top of the stairs going into the main entrance of the upstairs, Christy was holding her audio recorder and picked up a woman’s voice in EVP saying, “I see you.” This was not audibly heard while there, even though the EVP is quite loud and clear.
Prior to setting up the equipment and after the owner left us the building, the team made the decision to take a short trip down the road to the original location of the hotel. Unable to find the exact location, we turned around and stopped at a historical marker describing the shootout of the US Marshalls and a local gang.
During this time, Cyrena had left her audio recorder sitting on a table near the kitchen area in the hotel. The next door neighbors were mowing their yard, but it is clearly heard some type of movement almost like footsteps going on within the building right after everyone left the building and drove away. A few minutes later, an EVP saying "help" was captured on her recorder.
Setup
When we returned, the team began setting up the equipment. A few of the team members were upstairs walking around. Cyrena's audio recorder which was sitting on a table near the kitchen area captured an EVP which sounds like someone asking, "what was that?" Just a few minutes later, other team members were downstairs setting up cameras when her recorder captured a whispered EVP that sounds like it is asking,"what you want?" At this time, we can not tellif this is the same voice asking these questions.
Once the setup was complete, Gary and Cyrena were walking outside from the first floor sitting room. Cyrena's audio recorder, which was still sitting on the table near the kitchen area captured a male voice in which whispered "wait."
After the setup was complete, the team began the sweeps phase. The sweeps phase of the investigation is where the team collects environmental data such as temperature and electromagnetic field (EMF) baseline values and/or fluctuations along with photographs of the environment. Christy, Curtis and Kathy were taking baseline readings in the main room downstairs
and began to notice strange EMF fluxuations. Curtis had mentioned feeling cold chills so Christy began taking pictures. Christy’s audio recorder was also on a table along the side wall of the same room. The three team members heard what sounded like footsteps or some sort of knocking coming from upstairs. Christy’s audio recorder picked up this knocking 1. During this same time, Cyrena's audio recorder captured separate knockings that sounded like they were right next to her recorder.
Christy, Curtis and Kathy all went upstairs to see if they could figure out what was causing the knocking sound. Standing in the middle of the main room upstairs, all three team members heard the knocking 2 sound again. It appeared
to be coming from the back corner of the room closest to the entryway area. Christy went over by a boarded up window to see if she could recreate the sound. She knocked on the wood and was able to recreate the sound. The next question for
the team was who or what caused the knocking. Outside the hotel and close to the boarded up window was an old light that would sway back and forth in the wind and if the wind picked up strong enough, it was able to touch the wood. Our
team felt like this could possibly be the cause of the knocking sound but a conclusion was never reached.
Group Break Outside with Audio Baiting
Our group did several audio-baiting sessions downstairs in the main part of the building. Each time the group would remain outside until the session ended. The first session was an audio recording of a shootout and the second session was an audio recording of 1920s "saloon" piano music.
After one of the audio baiting sessions and while our group was outside talking, Christy’s audio recorder picked up on an EVP of a male’s voice saying “get out Kathy.” Kathy's audio recorder which was also on the table captured a male voice whispering, "hey" near this same time.
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Gary was still monitoring at base outside from the back of his truck when he suddenly noticed a "v-shaped" light anomaly floating across the screen. We expect there to be all sorts of contamination from an old building of this sorts, but the thing that was interesting is that the entire night Gary was watching the cams, he saw the basic dust orbs, etc. but there was nothing like this anomaly that had shown up on the cams. Our group discussed this anomaly but could not agree on the same explanation. We have included it in with this report as a possibility of it being paranormal.
Sit-down
After the sweeps and audio baiting sessions were over, our team discussed and decided to complete a sit-down on the first floor in the middle of the room. During the sit-down, Christy tried to communicate with the female and male spirits she said she felt was present. The other team members were sitting around her and observed. During the sit-down, several members kept seeing a dark human shaped shadow move back and forth in the stairway leading to the upstairs sleeping rooms. As well during this time, Cyrena's audio record captured some knocking sounds. The first one almost sounds like footsteps. The second one sounds like a response to Christy's question of how many spirits were present. Four knocks
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Wrap Up
While our team was about 25 minutes into wrapping up our investigation and taking down equipment, Christy’s audio recorder picked up an EVP of a male’s voice that said, “holler.” Shortly after this, Christy’s audio recorder also picked up another EVP of a male voice that said, “unknown and hey.”
Personal Experiences
Gary:
During setup and investigation, I had several experiences to include chills while walking downstairs and stairwell areas and hearing footsteps while upstairs in the sleeping area. No audio evidence from my recorder was collected however while monitoring base I did see a "V" shaped light anomaly on Cam1 (upstairs sleeping area) lower screen area floating from right to left.
Cyrena:
For the audio baiting sessions, I used my phone to play gunfight sounds that I found off YouTube to recreate a shootout. As I was walking into the building, I felt an emotion wave over me, in which I later realized was anger. During the sit-down, Christy was telling me that the male spirit present was really angry at me for some reason. We then realized that he was mad because I had "woke" him up by playing the audios. Several times during the sit-down, Gary and myself would be looking towards the stairway and could see a person like shadow moving slightly back and forth.
Conclusion:
Our group feels like this old historical hotel has 2 spirits present in it. One is that of a troubled young female whom had a baby who is from the 1800’s time period and doesn’t know how to leave the hotel and move on. The other is that of a older man whom we believe might be connected to the hotel when it was in operation. We don’t feel like either spirit is harmful to the location or to those who enter the building.
Psychic Investigator's Comments:
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When I first entered this building I was amazed at how well preserved this old building was despite its age. It wasn’t until we started to set up equipment that I felt the presence of a female spirit. She felt quite young, around the age of 19. She told me her name was Claudia Jean Bristow. She followed us around for a while out of curiosity just to see what we were doing.
After our group set up our equipment, we decided to do a short audio baiting session. Since this hotel was in connection to a historical event, I suggested that that we use a recorded gunfight audio clip for our audio baiting session. The clip was around 3 minutes long and we played it twice. After the second time ended, we went in to restart it again. A couple of us stayed inside for a moment to see if we noticed a different in the room’s energy. We definitely felt goose bumps and the hair on arms stand up. We knew the room’s energy had changed. It was during this time that I heard the female begging us to stop the gunfight sounds. I saw her with her hands over her ears saying, “Please stop that shooting.” Per her request, we stopped the audio clip. I asked her if why she wanted us to stop. She said that she hated it and that it reminded her of what happened to her and her baby. She showed me an image of her young child in a white christening gown. The baby appeared to be around 10 months old. From her story, apparently she and her child were victims of a shooting that took place in their home back in the mid 1800’s when they lived. Claudia told me she missed her husband and felt all alone and she wanted to go back home to her parent’s house until she could find her husband. During our sit-down I did try to get Claudia to cross and leave the old building but she still had a lot of fear and doubt about crossing over.
After our gunfight audio baiting session and connection with the female spirit, three of us were still in the main downstairs room when we heard the knocking sounds. We all went upstairs to see what was causing the knocking. When we got upstairs, we could feel that the atmosphere felt agitated. I picked up on the spirit of a male named Delbert. He was upset at us because we had “woke him up” with the gunfight audio baiting session. He wanted to know who we were and why we were there. After explaining it to him, I asked him to tell us a bit about himself. He wasn’t interested in “chatting” with us and just stayed in the shadows for the rest of the evening. I couldn’t help but feel he was perhaps connected to the hotel when it served as boarding for the oilfield workers stationed nearby.
The Ingalls Cemetery
After our investigation of the Ingalls Hotel, our group ventured out to the Ingalls Cemetery to see if we could find any correlation with any deaths from the shoot out. We also wanted to check out the cemetery to see if it was possibly an active one. Our group spent approximately an hour in the cemetery and split up to be able to cover more group since the cemetery was quite large. During our investigation however, our team never had any personal experiences and our hand held equipment showed nothing after review.
evidence collected
There were 9 EVPs that was recorded during this investigation and 6 audio clips.
There were no positive photo and 1 positive video clip.