S.C. Investigation

2/23/2019

General Information

Investigators: Christy, Ashley, Curtis, Becky, Kathy, Sheila and Mark

Equipment used: DVR, 6 IR video cameras, 1 full spectrum video camera, personal audio recorders, digital camera, geophone, Mel Meter, surface temperature thermometer and 2 KII EMF meters, Rem Pod and other person emf and recording equipment.

Cam 1 – Nursery Room 1

Cam 2 – Kitchen

Cam 3 – Preschool Room

Cam 4 – Back Lobby Entrance

Cam 5 – T-Boone Pickens Rm

Cam 6 – West Hallway 1

Client Claims for the Business:

• Some employees and students have seen a little girl in several parts of the building.

• Employees have noticed things being moved and displaced in different areas of the building.

• Employees and the custodians have heard strange noises in the building, especially late at night.

Historical/Factual/Relevant Info:

Historical Photos taken from the Oklahoma Historical Society.

The Methodist Children’s Home began in 1917 on a site that was meant to become Oklahoma City College (owned by Oklahoma Wesleyan College), but closed due to financial problems. The Methodist Church Organization took over the property and made it into an orphanage. Administrators wanted to be sure the orphanage was referred to as The Children’s Home since the word home was a better representation of what they were providing for the children. The Children’s Home was located just 1.5 miles north of the town center on the northeast corner of what is now 122nd Street and North Western Avenue.

The Children’s Home opened for residents on January 1, 1919. The experiences of the children living in the home were similar to what other children living in Oklahoma at the time would have experienced. All children had chores to tend to; school during the day and The home had its own farm with livestock and produce. The boys in the home primarily attended to the farming chores before and after school while the girls had chores in the dormitories. The older children would often look after younger children and lessons about getting along were learned quickly with so many children living among

each other every day. The children were transported to a local school during the daytime and the home eventually provided its own religious education and services on Sundays. Children of other faiths were welcome to live in the home and were allowed to keep their religion of preference.

Newspaper archives show the children were well taken care of by the community and their caretakers. The head of the home, W. B. Hubbell, would give an allowance to the children at Christmas time and take them to shop for Christmas gifts for their friends or extended family. The kids were even invited as honored guests at an indoor three-ring circus in November of 1941. A former resident, Harry Edward Hicks, wrote about his childhood experiences in The Children’s Home in his book titled, “Mommy, What’s an Orphan?”

Harry wrote mostly about the good times at the Methodist Children’s Home, but did write about the

about the hard times. Harry had mentioned there were five children that had died during the twelve years while he lived at the home. The first to die was his older sister who was only twelve years old when she was ran over by the pick-up truck that drove her to school. The accident happened while she was climbing into the back of the truck as it drove away. She lost her footing and was crushed. An older boy from the home was driving. Harry was not old enough to attend school and therefore was back at the home when the accident occurred. His sister is buried in a small cemetery in Britton, just 1.5 miles down the street from the client’s property. This cemetery is still there today on Western and shown near the bottom edge in this historic old map of the area of Britton:

U.S. Land Patents Homesteads: Oklahoma County Indian Territory Land Run of April 22, 1989 “89ers” as presented to the Oklahoma Genealogical Society by Joe Pitts, County Clerk, Oklahoma County, OK (1961).

Oklahoman shares experiences as an orphan Paul Lehman Published: Sun, January 22, 2006 12:00 AM

Harry Edward Hicks talks about experiences as an orphan in "Mommie What's an Orphan? Stories of What Life Is Like for Kids Growing Up in an Orphanage (Koinonia Press).

This book is about children growing up in an orphanage from 1925-42. In particular, the book is about Hicks, his

siblings and the other children in the orphanage and the Oklahoma Methodist Home for Orphans in Britton, OK. Hicks entered the home at age 6. His mother had died earlier, and his father could not take care of the children.

The book is organized into The Early Years, The Middle Years and The Later Years. Hicks talks about the structure of the orphanage's programs governing the boys and the girls. Each child at the orphanage had specific chores and duties.

For Hicks, the middle years began when he was 8. He relates how the chores and duties changed as the children grew and changes occurred at the orphanage. For example, when an orphan reached age 18, he would no longer live at the orphanage. When someone left, others had take on the chores and other duties.

Hicks graduated from high school in 1937, but the orphanage remained open until 1942. Hicks was born in Healdton in 1918 and attended Central State College and the University of Oklahoma. After serving in World War II, he received his bachelor of science degree in 1946 and became an educator.

"Mommie What's an Orphan? is full of childhood memories and experiences that were an important part of the author's life. Many are humorous, but some are sad. Paul Lehman Archive ID: 2924515

Investigation

Set Up

Our team began set up at approximately 7:40 p.m.

We finished the set up up and was ready to begin our investigation around 9pm. During our set up time, there were no personal experiences recorded and no positive evidence recorded.

knocks were tried and while able to get close to the sound through the recreations, an exact match couldn’t be found. Our team also tried to find where the source of the sound could have come from, but this also was not able to be determined. These 4 loud knocks were also recorded on audio and video. Our team finished our sweep of both rooms and continued our investigation.

Our team moved to the preschool room 2 and upon entrance into the room, our team noticed a pink backpack in the middle of the floor. The backpack was not on the floor previously when our team did our walk through of the building with the client and it also wasn’t on the floor during our set up. The client also told us that the backpack should have not been in the floor because they are all hung up at the end of the day if they were not taken home. The client also stated that the custodial staff also would have also hung the backpack back up if they had found it on the floor. Our team also noticed there was a plastic seat on the play rug and the play rug

had also been moved from its original placement. The plastic seat was not on the play rug during our initial client walk through or during our set up. We discovered the movement of the rug by reviewing back. While we were investigating the room, several of us heard a strange beeping sound coming from outside the hallway. This strange beeping sound was recorded on Christy’s audio recorder.

Our team moved from the preschool 2 room, to the preschool 1 room when at approximately 10:13 p.m. Christy and Becky heard a growl type sound in the small gallery kitchen area. Both went to go inspect the source of the sound, but they could not find where the growl type sound had come from. This growl was not captured on any video or audio. While also in this room, Christy and Becky heard two breathy sounds. Upon review of our audio and video, this was not any of the team members.

Our group then moved to the infant room 3 and proceeded to do our sweeps and take baseline readings. At approximately 10:40 p.m., a soft thud was heard coming from the connecting hallway/kitchen area. Christy went back in to try to recreate the sound. It did sound as if the highchair in that area had been softly kicked.

Our group finished our investigation of the West side and proceeded to go to the East side of the building. After we conducted our sweeps of the T-Boon Pickens room, we decided to do a sit-down in the

room since there had been a sighting of a little ghost girl in the room. Also while we were doing a sit-down in the safe room, one of the client’s were talking about how the water in the showers had been turned off on her and her friends. Christy’s audio recorder picked up an evp that said, “Stop it.” During our sit-down several of us heard loud whispering right outside the room. This happened around 11:18 p.m. Our team went out into the hallway to see if we could hear the voice again. We also took a few pieces of equipment with us to see if there were any changes in the baseline readings in the hallway. We began taking the temperature in the hallway when a few seconds later, a whispery voice was recorded on our audio saying, “damn.” Then off in the distance the team heard the sound of something dropping on the floor. This happened at approximately 11:20 p.m.

Three of our investigators, Becky, Ashley and Kathy went down the hallway a little bit and heard a ”whistle type sound”. This was around 11:33 p.m. and it was also captured on Christy’s audio recorded. One of the last rooms that we investigated was the After School Room 1. We were conducting our sweeps in the room and as Christy walked over by the side window areas, she made a comment to Becky about the room being pretty sound proof. Christy’s audio recorder then picked up an evp of a female’s voice saying, “hey.”

We also investigated the theater and theater entrance area. We conducted a sit-down in both areas as well but experienced no activity. While we were in the theater entrance area on the backside of the building, the building owner was giving a description of the land as it once was. It was during this time that Christy’s audio recorder picked up a voice saying, “truck.” We do not know what this was in reference to unless they were reminding the owner about a “truck” that was commonly used on the property during the time the location was an orphanage.

Sit-Down

Our team decided to break up in smaller teams and split up throughout the building. Ashley, Becky, Mark and Shelia were all on a team and went back into the preschool room 2 building and decided to investigate it further. They decided to do some audio baiting with some children’s music since it was rumored that ghostly children had been seen in the building. They played the song,

“Wheels on the Bus” and right after the song ended, Sheila heard a light whisper and then Becky heard a small and quick hum. They described both the whisper and the hum as sounding childlike. Small tapping was also heard. Upon review of their audio review, Becky noticed that her audio had recorded some of the children’s “toys going off” and what appears to be a baby doll talking along with another toy activating. None of our group members were near the toys, nor did they cause any of the toys to activate. Younger children in this room report to see small children and the toys are also known to activate on their own from time to time. Our group’s experiences would confirm this same activity.

Sit downs were done in many of the other rooms but there was nothing else that was recorded during this time.

Wrap-up

The night was getting pretty late so our team decided to pack up our equipment and head home. During our wrap up time, no evidence was recorded.

Conclusion

Our team feels like this location has a few spirits present in the location, but we do not feel like they are a threat to anyone in the location. We feel there are some who are protectors and some who are playful in nature.

Psychic Investigator's Comments

I had to wait outside while my team interviewed with the client. While I was waiting outside, I was drawn to the Southern part of the property. I saw a little dog (in spirit) funning along the front side of the building. As the dog got closer to me, it disappeared. Then I suddenly received a vision of a barn on fire. I wasn’t aware of any fires on the

property but later on after our investigation was concluded, the client told us about a barn fire that had happened on the property when it was an orphanage.

As the investigation continued, I made contact with an older boy who had drowned. He seemed liked the ringleader of the place there and he admitted to me that sometimes he liked to play jokes on people there.

I also encountered an older man who said he was there to take care of the building. He said there was a lady there with him who helped him out with things around the building. He and the woman felt an obligation to the children there.

I did encounter a girl there in the building. I first encountered her in the T. Boone Pickens room. She was around the age of 7, wearing a long nightgown and had long blondy-brown hair. She told me she had gotten sick and had a high fever and that caused her death. She didn’t confirm with me if she was one of the orphans who had once lived there, but did say that she liked it there in the building because there were many children to play with.

Client Interview

Our team arrived on location at approximately 7:00 p.m. and began conducting an interview with the client. The client toured us around her business that was located on 4.4 acres of land. She showed the team all of the areas in the building where activity had previously happened. The team also took a video record of the claims. No evidence was recorded during this time.

The group began sweeps and the investigation at around 9pm. We made our way down the East hallway and started at the far south end of the hallway. As we were walking, Christy’s audio recorder picked up an evp of a female voice saying, “That’s it, we have to go now.” Just a few moments later, another evp was recorded of a female voice, but it was an “unknown female whisper.” We went into nursery room #1 and began taking baseline readings. This was a very large room that was divided by a ¾ wall. We were close to finishing our sweeps on the hall side of the room when our team heard 4 loud knocks at approximately 9:38 p.m. Recreations of these

The Cemetery Visit

A few months after our initial investigation, we were contacted by a reporter for the Oklahoman who wanted to do a story on our group and some of the things we had uncovered during our investigation there at this location. The history of this location and the children who lived and died there fascinated the Oklahoman reporter. In addition to this, we also wanted to do further research on the children who had died there during the time it was an orphanage. We found out where the children were buried and

decided to visit the cemetery. We know there were 5 children who had passed, and there were 5 that were buried, but only one that did not have a headstone. The names and dates on the children’s graves and their cause of death are as follows.

Carl Spiva:

Born: Sept. 15, 1918,

Died: March 3, 1934 – Death caused by flying a kite using copper wire that touched a high voltage line.

Cecil Hunt:

Born: 1924

Died: March 3, 1934 – Aged 10 years - Death caused by flying a kite using a copper wire that touched a high voltage line.

Note: Cecil’s headstone is missing from the cemetery. To our knowledge, his grave is still there, however the headstone with his D.O.B. and D.O.D is missing. A newspaper article from the Oklahoman dated March 5, 1934 mentions both Carl and Cecil’s deaths due to electrocution when their kite which had a copper string, touched a high voltage electrical line.

George Humphrey:

Born: Sept. 25, 2912,

Died: July 12, 1931 – Death caused by drowning in a swimming pond on the property.

Mildred Puckett:

Born: Sept. 22, 1912,

Died: June 4, 1930 – Death unknown (still under research)

Ethylene Hicks:

Born: Oct. 8, 1914,

Died: Dec. 10, 1926 – Death caused by accidentally being ran over by the orphanage truck that was transporting children to the school. Ethylene lost her footing and was crushed under the wheel of the truck.