© Peace River Ghost TrackerHaunted museum?
Peace River Ghost Tracker has been called in twice to investigate this site - a castle structure that has a very colorful past.
Winter resident William Warden completed castle construction in 1887 for his family of 16. Family members occupied the home until 1926, where it sat vacant until 1941, when Norton Baskin and wife, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlins, created the fashionable Castle Warden Hotel - a nine-year venture that led to the original Ripley museum taking roots there in 1950.
One dark tale about the castle involves an April 1944 fire that was contained to the third and fourth floors - but that took two lives. Betty Richeson and Ruth Pickering both perished from smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is still debated today - a stray cigarette or a fire that was intentionally set to cover up a double murder.
According to the book, Oldest Ghosts by Karen Harvey, Ruth, 49, was a friend of Marjorie's who frequently occupied a suite on the north side of the structure at the fourth floor. Betty, a young woman in her 20s from Jacksonville, occupied the suite directly under Ruth's.
Peace River Ghost Tracker - first investigation - Feb. 17, 2008
Duration: Recorded from 10:20 p.m. untill 3:26 a.m. Present: Scott, Sprout, Lori, Toni, Tom, Craig, Susan and Greg. Meter Readings: Temperature, 65 to 72. EMF:.02mg - 1.m. Tools: 7 IR cameras, 3 Hi-8 video cameras, digital cameras, pyrometer, gauss meter, tri-field meter, audio recorders, ultrasonic listener, dowsing rods, mini dis.
History of Hauntings
* Music has been heard on several occasions and mainly heard in the room that was once the music room. It has also been reported being heard in the lobby as an employee was leaving.
* The gift shop is always left in perfect condition when employees leave at night, but sometimes when employees arrive in the morning, they find many of their items moved around. Example...Clear plastic boxes with toys or candy have been found an unreasonable distance away turned completely upside down.
* A 4-foot-tall stick figure that was sitting on the catwalk was found across the store. There is no way this item could have fallen and landed in the location found.
* A sensitive was going up the stairs from the lobby and she took on the persona of an elderly lady. She was bent over and had difficulty walking up the stairs.
* Several tour guides and guests have reported the feeling of nausea during the ghost tours. The theater is the main room where this happens.
* Sometime in the past, a psychic entered the theater and claimed two spirits occupy the theater - a nice spirit in one corner and a mean one in the other. Our camera was set up in the corner with the mean one.
* A dark shadow is seen in the circus room.
* The most recent occurrence has to do with the Buddha statue in the lobby. It has been found turned to the side or even turned around facing the wall.
* A door that goes from the parlor with a push button locking device tends to open on its own.
Personal Experiences
* Sprout - We did two EVP sessions by the moose on the third floor balcony. At 2:28 a.m. during the first session I saw a three-foot shadow shaped like a dark line tilted at a angle. This line came towards me and through the doorway to my left.
* Sprout - At 3 a.m. during the second sitting, I saw quick shadows darting around the ferris wheel and saw two different black shadow people on either side of the circus room door on the second floor.
* At 2:20 a.m. Sprout smelled smoke near the vending machine after coming down from the penthouse.
* Scott - 12:17 a.m. While sitting in the theater I saw a thin black shadow move into the theater from the exit doorway.
* Scott - 2:23 a.m. During the EVP session at the moose, I felt like something was around me and then felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest. I got up and approached the Bone room and heard Craig say "he felt chills running up his spine and he felt it in his heart." At this point I called everyone outside for a break.
* Scott smelled fire by the elevator on the third floor during the tear down of equipment.
* Lori - While Craig was having an experience in the bone room, I leaned against the display and also feel a prickly, poking sensation on my back and that point I pulled away.
* Toni - In the interactive room at one point Tom, Susan and I heard what sounded like a small explosion and a woman screaming. We quickly went into the room with the "gate" and saw nothing out of the ordinary and could not determine what made the noise. Susan radioed Greg and he said it was probably the "Lightening Machine" in the Gate Room. He also said it should not be activated unless someone puts money in it plus it was turned off. Tom, Susan and I tried activating the machine by touch and nothing happened and Susan reached down and unplugged the machine from the wall. I have no idea if it was turned off before she unplugged it. Also note: we had been down in the interactive area for a good 45 mins and it had not activated once during that time.
* Toni - While setting up my Hi-8 in the "Music" room, it appeared that my night shot was not working. A "torch light" was brought in for light to record by when it was plugged in it no longer worked. At this point I decided to use the spot light built into the Hi-8 on. I made a comment about if their were any orchestra players in the room then They should prove it by striking up the band. At this point the light on the Hi-8 went out. I can not say it is paranormal of course simply because I was having so many problems with the camera to begin with. So I left the camera recording in darkness thinking audio was better than nothing. NOTE: Upon returning home the torch light worked and also my Hi-8 and the night shot was once again working almost perfect as well as the spot light built into the camera.
* Toni - 12:23 a.m. While Lori, Sprout, Greg and myself was in the Bone room doing an EVP session I had a moment of severe dizziness and anxiety. I felt as though I was being approached from behind, which was impossible since I was sitting with my back to the wall. It lasted maybe a minute at best. After that the room felt empty.
* Toni - At one point, everyone had left the building except for Tom and I. Tom was at the monitor and I was sitting on the stairs with my back to the third floor. Several times I thought I heard foot steps coming from the Bone Room, which was the next floor up and felt like I was being watched. Susan also experienced this at a earlier time that night.
* Toni - 2:30 a.m. I went to sit with Scott by the moose on the third floor and I immediately began to see shadows moving all about and started to feel very dizzy. I felt like the room was spinning and I was being "pulled" down into the floor beneath me. This was also accompanied by an extreme sense of nausea.
* Toni - 3 a.m. During the second EVP session on the third floor, Scott began his question and answer session and I began to see shadows moving around again. I got this very random and angry thought in my head to tell Scott, "You don't know." I turned my head to speak these words and recognized that these were not my words or thoughts and opened my eyes and saw a low dark shadow swirling in front of me pretty much at my feet. I heard something mechanical come on downstairs. It sounded like maybe a TV had turned on and was playing music and was accompanied by what I perceived as a feminine laugh. I saw a shadow moving back and forth on the lower landing, this had no real shape and was very fluid in motion. At one point I did witness the lower landing illuminate as well and sense we were all on the third floor and not using flashlights I can safely say it was not caused by anyone in the building.
* Tom - 3 a.m. I was able to see shadows moving around us while doing the second EVP session by the moose. I also smelled fire on the third floor after we called the investigation.
* Craig - 2:26 a.m. Tom, Lori, Susan and myself were in the bone room. I asked couple questions when I began to feel a chill in my lower spine this is like at 2:29 I asked Susan if she felt anything since she was closet to me, she respond no, at the time the chill that was in my lower spine was moving up to my shoulders I then asked Susan to come lean by me and she did so but moved away instantly I asked her what was wrong does she feel something? she replied with yes. Then the chill went away, I paused for a few moments and then asked another question the chill came back to my shoulders then it begun to tingle. Lori got up and came by me and stated it was cold in the area. The tingle I was feeling in my shoulders was now in my chest around my heart area. This experience was not frightening, it was cool and I am glad I got to experience it.
The Evidence - watch this video that shows two anomalies caught on video, and five EVP recordings.
Second investigation - Nov. 22, 2008
Duration: 11 p.m. - 6 a.m. Present: Scott, Sprout, Lori, Toni, Tom, Craig also guests Ralf, Todd and Andrea. Meter Readerings: Temp: 62 to 6. EMF: varied. Tools: 6 IR cameras, 3 Hi-8 video cameras, digital cameras, pyrometer gauss meter, tri-field meter, audio recorders, thermal imaging camera .
Current history of hauntings since last visit
* Employee Colleen, said that one night in March, several things happened in the gift shop. In the front corner next to the door a book hit a woman in the eye which caused it to become red and swollen. In the same a while later another book fell off the shelf onto the floor.
* In the gift shop there are two cash registers. One of the registers popped open by itself while customers were waiting inline.
* Recently in the Ripley's lobby, near closing time, the manager Roberta heard a woman's crying or moaning voice faintly behind her. Later that evening, while a ticket seller was tallying her money drawer, she told Roberta how she had a "weird thing" happen to her earlier in the day. It seems she had heard what she thought was a woman whimpering or crying in the lobby, but no one was anywhere to be seen. She said it happened twice.
* Roberta had also been doing her regular rounds of the building shortly after her own experience with the whimpering woman when she saw a strange light in the right rear of the Theater Room. Roberta said she at first thought the humidifier in the room had shorted or sparked, but said the light was more hazy than a spark or flash. She said it rose slowly before disappearing, but couldn't fully describe it, except that it was almost like a strange reflection of moonlight. PRGT note: there are no windows and no outside light can penetrate this room.
* Ralf (ghost tour manager) said. "The evening the Space Shuttle was about to launch, I was going to go up on the roof of the building to get a really good look. Upon stepping into the fourth floor "Penthouse" room (which I had never been in until that moment) in order to access the roof, I felt a sudden "heavy" feeling just in front of the stairs to the roof. My thoughts were totally focused on the impending launch and whether the cloud cover had cleared, but the feeling of doom and despair was instant when I stepped in that area. And it suddenly occurred to me that this was the room where Ruth Pickering had been found dead on that April day of 1944.
Personal Experiences
* While Toni was setting up a camera in the Cemetery Hallway, She heard voices approaching. She said it sounded like two woman talking very low and that they were getting closer. She thought maybe it was Lori and Sprout coming to look for her. When she stepped around the corner onto the moose landing to tell them she was in the hall way, there was no one there. She then thought she heard the voices behind her in the cemetery hallway. So she, stepped back into the cemetery hall to see who was there and again found no one. Upon further investigation, she found no females on the floor with her at that point.
* At 1:57 a.m. Lori, Tom, Toni and Scott were walking from the third floor stairs to the second floor landing when Scott and Toni both stated they smelled fire and that the smell was moving. It was the smell of burning wood and not cigarettes smoke.
* At one point when Scott, Todd, Tom, and Toni were walking through the Vortex room, Todd said he felt an electrical current go through his body.
* Tom, Scott, and Toni were in the gift shop and Toni walked into an extreme cold spot near the register area. Also by this point the air conditioner was turned off in the entire building. This was also noted by Tom.
* Tom, Scott and Toni were walking through the interactive room to go to the gift shop and we all three smelled a very musty, moldy smell that followed them to the gift shop and then dissipated.
* Tom, Scott, and Toni were walking though the cemetery hallway towards the theater room when Toni felt like She was hit with something heavy and sharp in the right shoulder region. Upon further investigation later that night, no marks were found on Toni.
* Tom, Scott, Sprout, Lori, Craig, Todd, Andrea, Ralph and Toni were all sitting on the moose landing trying to recreate an occurrence from the last investigation. Several things happened at this point: On two separate occasions Toni saw what appeared to be red and yellow streaks of light moving on the ceiling. Scott noted that he saw a pink light as well.
* While sitting on the Moose landing, Toni became very nauseous, disoriented, and extremely cold. Lori and Sprout noted the cold as well as being nauseated . At one point Toni thought She saw someone moving on the second landing. Several others thought they heard movement on the second landing.
* Scott, Sprout, Tom, Lori, Craig and Toni entered the Bone room to do an EVP Session. Toni was again hit with extreme nausea and dizziness. Sprout also became even more ill as well. When Scott began to try and communicate with any possible spirits in the room the feelings became even worse. At one point Tom and Craig thought they saw someone standing on the foot of the stairs coming from the second to the third floor. While it was a dark shadow, it did appear to be a female. Tom was able to see the figure from the knees up and said he stared at it for approx. 2 to 3 seconds before he made any comment about it. Once he made a comment is when Craig looked up and saw it as well.
* At the end of the night when we began to tear down the equipment, Toni felt like someone was approaching her from behind on three different occasions while walking around the third floor. Each time she turned to look and no one was there.
* Several times throughout the night Toni thought she could her music playing somewhere in the building very faintly, but could never determine a cause.
* Lori sensed that there was this male entity and was a bully to women and perhaps "imprisoning" or hindering a female Spirit there. She cannot explain her feelings of bravery or anger after encountering this Spirit. Shortly after 3am, while Lori was doing some EVP work with Ralf in the Vortex Room, She started to see movement in front of her. It was a visual distortion, much like one that occurs when heat rises off of hot pavement.
* While the group was all together conducting a EVP session by the moose, Lori felt a weird feeling in the right side of the back of her head.
* Lori said- as we were taking down the equipment on the second floor landing, I heard a distant, clear female voice call out, "Lori".
* Sprout said she heard her name called at two different times that night. Once on the staircase and once while entering the theater.
About Peace Rover Ghost Tracker
Mission Statement: We are a very professional minded and experienced paranormal investigation group in South West Florida. When we started the group back in 2000. We read books, and studied others and their ideas before we went on our first investigation. Our main goal is to help people understand and co-habitate with what we cannot see. We are as thorough as humanly possible with our evidence. We are here to help. As our motto states - When we have an experience we learn all we can from it and then teach to all.
Contact Sprout and Scott at peaceriverghosttracker@comcast.net.
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