April Slaughter Read online

  As we made our way to the commissary building, which is still largely intact, I honestly felt as though someone else was following closely behind us. I turned around several times wondering if there were other early morning visitors trailing along, only to find that we were still alone. We had the entire place to ourselves, and we spent a great deal of time just soaking in the environment around us.

  There is an old wagon sitting among a patch of small trees and cactus that adds a bit of charm to the frontier atmosphere. Not much sits between the old commissary and the hospital complex due south of it. We took our time to walk across the property, all the while removing small sticker burrs from around our feet.

  Allen and I discussed what it must have been like, literally stuck out in the middle of nowhere. The isolation from others surely must have had some impact on the soldiers who were stationed at the fort. What would these men have done to occupy their time? Fort Phantom Hill was a solitary and quiet pleasure for us to visit. As my husband and I wandered through the buildings and the brush, we held a silent hope that we too would hear the sound of the soldier’s cadence carried solemnly on the wind.

  Fort Phantom Hill grounds (April Slaughter)

  Spotlight on hosts: Hell’s Gates

  A small piece of land in northwest Texas near the Lubbock Cemetery has earned a reputation over the past three decades for being an area rife with paranormal activity—resulting from years of reported accidental deaths, suicides, murder, and even Satanic worship.

  A wooded area littered with bike and hiking trails, the area has become known as Hell s Gates. Over recent years, it has attracted many people interested in practicing occult rituals. The occurrence of séances and various other attempts at contacting the dead have led many to believe that paranormal activity has been called to Hell’s Gates rather than originating here.

  Locals and ghosthunters alike have dozens of stories they are more than willing to share with anyone interesting in hearing them. Legend has it that a young woman was once hanged from the train trestle that runs through the property, and that she can be heard crying in the night. Some believe they have captured her apparition in photographs during their investigation of Hell’s Gates, often looking as though she were hanging from a rope or simply floating in mid-air just below the trestle. While there is no official record of her existence or death here, her alleged presence continues to attract the curious.

  Psychics have often reported the impression of something dark and sinister lurking about the area, angry and defiant, not at all welcoming of nighttime visitors and investigators looking to capture evidence of its existence. Equipment failure is fairly common due to odd battery drainages and rare malfunctions that are often associated with paranormal activity.

  The area’s atmosphere is said to change almost instantly from calm and serene in the daylight to uncomfortable and frightening at night. While many are attracted to Hell’s Gates when the sun goes down, not many attempt stick around to see the sun come up.

  CHAPTER 4

  Lonesome Dove Inn ARCHER CITY

  Lonesome Dove Inn exterior (Lance Brooks)

  ARCHER CITY WAS BORN IN APRIL 1881 when a dentist named C.B. Hutto relocated from South Carolina to Texas, built himself a log cabin, and began building a town. The town is named after Branch T. Archer, who was Secretary of War in the Republic of Texas and who actively fought for Texas’ independence from Mexico. The population never boomed in Archer City, as it did in other Texas towns, and it has remained a small community.

  In 1927, Archer Hospital was erected on the site now occupied by the Lonesome Dove Inn. Dr. T.C. McCurdy built the hospital to accommodate up to fourteen patients, and he remained in practice there until it was sold to Dr. Ted Alexander and his wife in 1944. Dr. Harold Smitson eventually purchased the hospital in the late 1940s and set up his practice until 1957, when the hospital closed.

  In 1978, Jay and Patsy O’Neal purchased the old hospital building and converted it into a private residence. A fireplace replaced the emergency entrance, and additional renovations were completed when it was once again sold in 1985 to Bertie Kinsey.

  Immediately recognizable, the beautiful Lonesome Dove Inn sits in a quiet residential area of Archer City. A wooden sign posted in the front yard bears the name of the inn with quaint lanterns, reminiscent of Old West ways. A short sidewalk leads visitors to the entrance, where majestic white columns stand on either side of the door, proudly bearing a Texas lone star symbol etched in the glass.

  Mary Slack Webb and Ceil Slack Cleveland have owned the home since 1998 and have opened their doors to anyone interested in experiencing a little Old West charm. Named after the Pulitzer prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove by Archer City native Larry McMurtry, it is beautifully decorated with antiques in every room. McMurtry’s books and characters are the inspiration for each of the guest room names—Comanche Moon, Terms of Endearment, Evening Star, and Cadillac Jack among others. Adorning the main floor fireplace mantel are the author’s Golden Globe and Oscar award statues. It is said that Mr. McMurtry himself visits the inn from time to time.

  Judy McCollough, an associate of mine from Texoma Researchers Investigating Paranormal Phenomena (T.R.I.P.P.), suggested that Allen and I visit the Lonesome Dove Inn after her team had the opportunity to investigate the building on two separate evenings.

  “We conducted two investigations at the Lonesome Dove Inn and even spent a night as guests to work in a little photography and EVP work,” Judy said. “I had a very strange experience where I felt as though there was a young male spirit trying to communicate with me telepathically. I had never had anything happen to me like that before. I reached my hand out a couple of times where I thought this boy might have been and I actually felt an odd tingling sensation.”

  Judy also described the images and information she was being given by the boy.

  “He said he had died from egg allergies. He had gotten ill, and the first visit he made to the doctor didn’t help much as he returned a second time and apparently did not make it. He told me he was eight years old. It was a very bizarre incident. Nothing was captured on recorders we had set up in the room, but just as I stood up from sitting on the sofa, a team member of mine snapped a photograph and a fluid-looking orb was seen in the chair where I thought his spirit might be.”

  Judy went on to describe several other instances where her team members experienced strange things at the inn.

  “One of our team’s sensitives, Suni Hoffman, explained that she believed she too was communicating with the spirit of a little boy and that it might have been the same one I had encountered earlier. She felt as though he had been repeatedly kicking her leg in the Desert Rose room.”

  Paranormal experiences are not limited to ghosthunters at the Lonesome Dove Inn. One guest reported that he had woken late one night to see a woman dressed as a nurse standing beside the bed holding a pillow. When he asked her what she wanted, she offered to provide him with another pillow. When he declined, she left the room.

  A family spending the night in the Cadillac Jack room set up a video camera and talked about how they had made their trip to the inn because they had heard it was haunted. When they returned home from their stay at the inn, they reviewed the footage and could clearly hear an unfamiliar and eerie voice order them to “get out.”

  The beauty and welcoming atmosphere of the Lonesome Dove Inn is enough to attract anyone, but a ghostly encounter is always a draw for Allen and me as we find new places to visit. When we arrived late one Saturday evening, Mary Webb graciously welcomed us in and offered us a tour of the home. As we made our way upstairs, I commented to Mary about the exceptionally wide the staircase.

  “During its years as a hospital, they had to carry people in on stretchers with someone holding either side. It had to be wide enough to accommodate that,” Mary explained.

  After having a quick look at all of the guest rooms on the upstairs floor, I asked Mary if she had ever experienced strange things i
n the inn.

  “One day in particular, I was downstairs in my room at the end of the hall,” she said. “I was the only one in the house that day when I heard what I knew were footsteps right above me on the upstairs floor. My son was next door at the time, and I quickly called him over to come and look around the house to see if anyone else was in here. We looked and looked all through the house and couldn’t find anyone. That was a little eerie to me. I am familiar with the creaks and noises this house makes, but those footsteps weren’t something I could mistake for an old house just making noises.”

  “I wonder who the spirits are that haunt your inn, Mary,” I replied.

  “I don’t know who they are, but I know that they’re nice!” she replied. “They don’t bother me at all. As long as they behave themselves, they are more than welcome to stay.”

  When it was about time for Allen and me to leave, she offered to show us the photographs that the members of T.R.I.P.P. had taken during their investigations. Several photos plainly show a large, illuminated orb that was reportedly captured during coinciding times of activity. Judy McCollough and her team believe that these orbs were a sign that a spirit may have been near them and interacting with them.

  While a lot of paranormal researchers disagree on the subject of orbs, it is interesting to note that, in this case, the activity the investigators were experiencing seemed to coincide with when these anomalies showed up in photographs and in correlating locations. Anyone interested in seeing the photos is welcome to do so when they visit the inn.

  The house has seen its share of joys and sorrows. When it served as a hospital, it was visited by many people in the midst of trauma or tragedy; but plenty of Archer City residents were also born there. The Lonesome Dove Inn continues to gain popularity among those with a curiosity for the paranormal, and it is sure to generate more experiences in the years to come.

  “We have a fun little thing we offer here,” said Mary. “Anyone who was born in the house is welcome to come and stay with us on the night of their birthday, free of charge. We’ve had people take us up on it, too, which we have thoroughly enjoyed! They find it a treat to come and stay in their birthing room.”

  Allen and I had such a pleasant visit with Mary, exploring the old hospital-turned-inn. So many people have come and gone through the years, it was obvious to me that a little bit of each of them is still very much a part of the inn today. With such a warm and inviting atmosphere, it is no wonder that spirits may call this beautiful place home.

  CHAPTER 5

  Hill House Manor GAINESVILLE

  Hill House Manor exterior (Linda Hill)

  I AM ALWAYS A BIT SKEPTICAL when I hear about new places that have gained a reputation for being haunted. The more stories I hear about any particular place, the more I want to see for myself that its claims of paranormal activity are legitimate.

  Victoria DuPree, one of our field investigators with The Paranormal Source, Inc., began telling Allen and me about Hill House Manor over a year ago. She and her boyfriend Chris had made the trip to Gainesville from the Dallas area several times to stay overnight in the house, and they truly believed something paranormal was occurring on a regular basis within its walls.

  Del and Linda Hill purchased the house in May 2004 as a triplex rental property along with several other homes in Gainesville, but they have no record of who originally built the house. In her research to learn more about the house’s history, Linda located a bird’s eye view map with a copyright date of 1883, leading her to believe the house was originally built as a small private residence. Several additions have been made throughout the years, and today it’s what the locals refer to as the “spooky old house on the corner.”

  My team and I decided that we would like to book an evening at Hill House Manor to see if any of the supposed ghostly residents would show themselves or communicate with us. We recently had that opportunity, and upon Victoria’s recommendation we reserved an entire night at the house. Thirteen of us met in front of Hill House Manor just before sundown, and Linda Hill greeted us all on the front porch. The team waited outside as Linda graciously escorted me on a tour through the house, explaining to me what she believed we might encounter during our time there.

  “We have reason to believe that prior to the late 1960s, this home might have been a speakeasy and quite possibly a cat-house,” said Linda. “It has become very well known for its EVPs. Our non-corporeal residents are more likely to be heard and not as often seen, but there are times when an apparition appears to visitors in person or on film.”

  “Has anyone ever died in the house?” I asked.

  “I know of one,” she replied. “A woman who previously owned the property several years back died here, but there might be more than that. We just don’t know. Finding records is complicated, as the street name and house numbering have changed several times in the past.”

  As we continued the tour, Linda mentioned that she and her husband couldn’t seem to keep tenants in two of the house’s three livable units for any lengthy period of time.

  “We rented the units on a twelve-month basis,” Linda explained. “No one ever stayed in the upstairs unit for more than two months, and residents often left the downstairs unit after having lived there no longer than six months. It went on that way for over three years.”

  The house is now exclusively used for paranormal teams and enthusiasts to investigate, and is no longer used as a triplex. So who is haunting Hill House Manor, and are they responsible for scaring tenants away? We didn’t know, but we were sure going to try and find out!

  Investigator Victoria Dupree has investigated the home more than half a dozen times, and she contends that something paranormal has occurred on each and every visit.

  “I believe there are at least three spirits in the house,” she began. “There is a man, a woman, and a little girl. The gentleman seems to be the most interactive. He provides direct answers to questions asked on audio recordings, and I have multiple EVPs of his voice. He speaks with a distinct southern dialect that is consistent throughout all of the recordings. The woman’s voice, however, does not turn up on my audio as often. She seems very soft-spoken and not as aggressive as the man.”

  “Have you ever captured anything anomalous in the pictures you’ve taken at Hill House?” I asked.

  “No, although Linda has a few pictures of what looks like a little girl in the house,” Victoria answered. “I have recorded the peculiar sound of a child cooing, almost like whispering, but have never caught an apparition on film.”

  Victoria went on to describe an incident where she and others had heard the singing of a small child, but upon review of their recordings they did not find any evidence that it had actually occurred.

  On the night of our investigation, thirteen of us split up and dispersed throughout the house directly after my tour had ended. Because the home was most famous for its EVPs, we set a block of time to remain still and ask questions in each section in hopes of capturing any resulting responses on our recorders.

  Investigator Adam Norton reported that he had put fresh batteries in his recorder, as well as his fiancé Gabriela’s, just prior to going in.

  “By the time we got to the upstairs bedroom, the battery in my recorder was half-dead,” he said. “The batteries in both of our recorders were completely drained before the night was over.”

  It is a popular theory in the paranormal community that spirits need a source of energy to manifest themselves to the living, often taking that energy from batteries and causing strange drainages. What I find most odd is that even after the batteries placed in various pieces of equipment seem to indicate that this is happening, a short while later their power will be restored as if nothing had ever happened to lower it. While I believe something paranormal may indeed be occurring in an instance like this, I am not convinced that it is a spirit trying to use the energy of a battery to communicate in some way.

  As my husband likes to say, “If ghosts act
ually needed the power from batteries, the Duracell and Energizer manufacturing plants would be the most haunted places on the planet!”

  Allen and I also made note of slight variations in battery power throughout the evening, which on occasion coincided with the recording of an EVP.

  Around 8:30 in the evening, Adam and Gabriela entered what is known as the “fireplace room,” and Gabriela noted feeling an overwhelming sense of love.

  “Love you,” said a disembodied voice on their recorder.

  “We are not scared,” said Gabriela. “And we do not want you to be scared.”

  “I love you. I’m not scared,” answered the whispery voice.

  Adam thought the voice sounded childlike.

  “I always find EVPs creepy when they sound like children,” he said.

  Chad and Wendy Wilson, a married couple that had just joined the team, accompanied us to Hill House for their very first paranormal investigation. While in the “window room” upstairs, Allen was providing some instruction when he began to feel something touching his right leg near his ankle. He described to Chad and Wendy what he was experiencing and asked them to begin taking pictures of his ankle. No apparent cause for the sensation was evident in the resulting photographs, but Allen noted that it lasted for a good fifteen to twenty seconds. We didn’t know it at the time we went in to investigate the house, but previous visitors had actually seen and photographed what looked like a cat’s tail in this very room.