Business Case # 16


Includes 11 photos, 2 images


Date: January 14, 2006

Time: 7:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.



Location: Pythian Castle

             1451 E. Pythian Street

             Springfield, Missouri



Photo taken of the front of the castle as we were arriving.



Investigators on Scene:

Brenda, Dee Ann, Misty, Joyce, Jerry, John, Mark M., Bonnie, Mark T., Stacy and Joe



Attendees on Scene:

Homeowner



Conditions: Fair

Temp: 41 degrees

Barometer: 30.00

Humidity: 49%

Lunar Phase: Full

Solar X-Rays: Normal

Geomagnetic: Quiet

Wind: SSE 13mph



Evidence Collected:

Digital Photos Taken: 164

Positive Digital Photos: 54

35 mm Photos Taken: 48

35 mm Photos Positive: 5

Video: 2 Numerous Orbs (See Reported Findings and Experiences)

EVPs: 10 (See Reported Findings and Experiences & Psychic Readings for details)


                                                                                
                                                       

Brief Property Description & History

The former Pythian Home was built in 1915 by the Grand Lodge of Knights of Pythias as a home for aged members and orphaned children of members of the lodge. The property was sold to the United States Government in 1942 during World War II as only a few people were residing there and they were placed in private institutions. It became part of O'Reilly General Hospital and remained as such until the Hospital was deactivated. It was used a number of years by the Army Reserve. It is now in private ownership. The building is a large and imposing castle-like structure constructed of cut limestone blocks.

The castle is currently privately owned by a mother and daughter who rent the ballroom and theater for numerous parties and activities. They are currently in the process of restoring the castle. You can visit their website at www.pythiancastle.com



Current Reportings:

+ At least 5 people, some who were former employees of the castle, have asked the current homeowners if they have seen the ghost in the basement.

+ The daughter felt as if she touched someone standing behind a tarp during renovations. She thought it was her mother but when she looked, no one was there.

+ The daughter has constant dreams of a voice calling to her. She also often gets nudged in the middle of the night.

+ The homeowners have 3 dogs. One of them runs downstairs in the middle of the night and begins barking at the ballroom. This happens about once a month.

+ Owner hears noises coming from downstairs in the basement when no one else is home.

+ Weddings are often held at the castle and it's been reported back numerous times that orbs have shown up in their photographs. One couple reported that in their photos, a shadowy figure was standing between them while they were taking their vows.

+ The castle is currently being investigated by another paranormal group called Ozark Paranormal Society who have captured numerous EVPs and orb photographs in the castle. They also conduct ghost tours in the castle and during some of those tours they have heard moaning, clanking of chains, a loud slam and a scream.

 


Reported Findings and Experiences:

+ Brenda was alone in the basement searching for team members when an EVP was recorded on the recorder left in the single interrogation room. She hollered Misty's name and was answered by a deep male voice that said, "No One's In...Here". This was not heard audibly but was heard on the playback of the tape.

+ While Misty was giving her reading in the theater, Stacy videotaped an orb which appeared to be dancing in front of the stage. Its movement resembled someone waltzing. Upon reporting this to Dee Ann and Misty, they decided to waltz to encourage further orb activity. When they finished, the orb returned and again appeared to be waltzing in front of the stage. These videos are fascinating. In one of them the orb actually comes near the camera. A still frame of this orb in the video may possibly show that the orb has dimension as it appears spherical in shape.  VIDEO ONE     VIDEO TWO

+ Stacy and Brenda were collecting equipment in the "bullet room" of the basement when they audibly heard a load groan. No one else was in the basement with them at the time. After this incident, Stacy took Misty back downstairs to this same room to see if she could feel anything in the room. Two EVPs were recorded during this visit, one of a male voice saying, "Put It Down". And shortly thereafter a female voice saying what sounds like, "I'm Claire".

+ An EVP was recorded on the landing outside the theater which sounds like a young male voice saying, "Silence". The team members that were upstairs at the time were in the theater and no one was outside the theater on the landing.

+ Another EVP of an adult male voice was recorded at the ticket booth on the theater landing of what sounds like someone saying "Be Calm". No one was upstairs at the time of this recording.

+ As Joyce was trying to open a locked door on the 3rd floor, an EVP of a male voice saying "Ticket" was recorded. This is the same floor which houses the theater.

+ Two EVPs were recorded in the basement, one of a male voice saying, "I Can Not Swallow", and the other of another male voice saying, "Oh No, We're Back Now". See Psychic Reading for more detail about these 2 EVPs.

+ Another EVP of a male voice was recorded in the interrogation room. Stacy stepped into the room by herself to do some filming when a male voice is captured on video audio saying what sounds like "Buhhhhh". Perhaps he was trying to scare her.

+ An EVP of a female voice or child's voice was recorded in the theater saying what sounds like "Help...Me".

+ Misty was in the interrogation room when she felt as if an entity was on her back. Mark took a 35mm photo of her at the time. Although the photo shows some camera movement, it appears that a dark shadow is indeed on her back. Where Misty's face should be in the photo, a silver looking mask or face-helmet appears instead. Could the helmet be associated with someone from the Pythian organization or if it's a mask, someone from the theater?



                                                       

Psychic Readings:


JOYCE

 

(Kitchen Area & Ballroom/Dining Room)

+ I don't feel like the hospital was in here. I'm feeling more like it was downstairs towards the back.

+ I saw a nurse awhile go. She had on the white hat and coat. She was walking around the dining room. I hope she comes back. She had dark hair pulled back into a bun and was wearing a long white dress with the nurses hat. I got the name Rosalyn.

+ I saw a man walking around outside when we first got here.

+ The storage room in the back feels like it was a surgery room.

+ The dining area feels great.

+ I'm feeling the military, possibly some kind of military hospital. I'm feeling like there were more buildings which have been torn down. The military comes in during WWII.

+ There is a residual here that has to do with some Native Americans. This is something that happened in the 1800's before the castle was here.

+ There is a young boy, about 12 or 13 years old, that plays on the stairway on the right. He's dressed in early 1900's clothes. I think that his mother worked here and brought him to work with her. Then he became ill and died here. I think his name was Thomas. He shows me Thomas Isaac and he's very proud of it. I can't tell if Isaac is his last name or middle name. Thomas Isaac Yearwood. Maybe somebody has something in the records of a young man that died here by that name. He's not earthbound. He comes and goes. He wears a flat cap that has a little bill on it. The cap has a little knob thing on the top. He has on knee-knocker britches. His socks and boots come up high. At first I thought it was a short military man but he's too young to be with the military. For some reason he's really connected to this house. Did they keep children here at one time, like maybe an orphanage? I'm getting the 1920's with the boy. (There is a picture of a young man hanging in the foyer that Joyce identified as being the boy she saw playing on the stairway.)

+ As I go into the 1950's and 60's, I'm not picking up much. Maybe it became a private home or something around that time. There's not much energy from that era here.

+ There's one man that I keep seeing. He's wearing a red coat and dark britches and has on a funny looking hat on his head. He has gold braids and stuff on his jacket. I don't know who he is. The jacket has a strange looking crest. I keep seeing the "all seeing eye" is on this crest.

+ The nurse is the main one that hangs out on this floor. She's tied to her roots here.



(The Tower)

+ There is a vibration coming down from the tower. I see more nurses dressed in white with hats and coats. I feel them going up and down these stairs. There are at least two of them that have remained in the spirit here. This must have been some kind of room that they stayed in. There are very strong vibrations in this room. I don't know if this was a nurses station, a rest area or what.

+ On one of the walls I see a long roster. There are names on it. A column on the left, one in the middle and one on the right. It's a huge roster. It names the men that were here, the men that left and the one's that died here.

+ When we go to the basement we might find a makeshift morgue. I see them carrying in gurneys in through a back door.

+ They had patients even out in the hallway here. This is the first place that I begin to really feel the hospital.

+ There is a lot of military here but the uniforms are different.

+ Most of them that I see are in gowns, white gowns that tie. I'll get sick if I stay up here.



(3rd Floor & Theater)

+ As Joyce attempted to open a locked door on the 3rd floor, an EVP of a male voice was recorded which sounds as if he says "Ticket". Perhaps he was requesting a ticket from Joyce before allowing her into that room.

+ I feel as if somebody has been attacked here. It's a man. He had real, dark, dark black hair and dark black eyes. I can see him and feel him. He was wounded in the back or stabbed in the back.

+ I see lots of dancing and parties in here but I don't want to deal with all those.

+ I see lots of young men, old men, all associated with the military. I now see some uniforms and another big building that was in the back of this place or someplace because I see another building being torn down that was connected with this place.

+ I see a military Red Cross truck with a canvas over the top of it, coming to a side door downstairs and they are bringing someone in.

+ I see a lady in a beautiful yellow dress. She played here, evidently some kind of entertainment. I don't know if she died here. She had blonde hair.

+ I'm seeing a great big group of men. I'm seeing a meeting of the Pythian Order being held here. Just the residual of that is here. I can hear some of their chants.

+ I see military coming up the stairs and down the stairs. That's just a residual that remains here.



(Basement)

+ I keep seeing lots of cubby holes and rooms downstairs. The surgery room was down there. I thought at first that it was in the back dining area but it wasn't, it was down in the basement. (This reading was before Joyce went to the basement).

+ I've been drawn to the basement since I got here. These rooms down here were used for the hospital. There's a surgical room in the back.

+ There is a man down here named Barnerd. Joseph Barnerd. It's 1946. It's in the Spring and he's kept here because it's cooler than the rest of the house.

+ I'm going back into the latter part of the 1930's and early 1940's. I'm seeing more and more names. Military, military.

+ Joyce came across a man in the kitchen area of the basement who would not give his name. At this time an EVP was recorded of a male voice that said, "I Can Not Swallow". This sounded like the same male voice that was recorded in the interrogation room earlier when Brenda was searching for Misty. An explanation to this EVP was soon to follow.

+ This was a holding room of some kind. This was a place where they held some prisoners, people who were being good, kind of like trustees. They were prisoners of the military who were waiting for an dishonorable discharge.

+ In later years, this room was used as a kitchen but before that, when it was used as a hospital, it was the surgery room.

+ (In the Bullet Room) This was used as a military firing range. They've used it for something else. (Joyce leaned up against the wall to feel the energy when suddenly she was succumbed by a ghost. She could not breathe and felt as if blood was gurgling up in her throat. She had to be helped by team members Brenda and Joe.) They killed him. He choked to death on his blood. He walked into me. These other bullet holes…there may have been more than one, there may have been others. It goes back to a secret order. The man was standing there on the wall was begging them not to do it, but they did it. Several of them shot and nobody knew exactly who got him. One bullet went through his chest, another one went through his neck. He was a thin man. When it went through his neck, it was like it broke his esophagus and I couldn't stop the blood from filling in my mouth. I could taste the blood but I couldn't stop it. He had done something he wasn't suppose to. He might have murdered someone in the military. They felt that he was a traitor. Some of the bullet holes…they would point the gun at him and then move it at the last minute and shoot…for scare tactic. This was associated with a secret order. Some of the other bullet holes were just put there to cover up what happened, to make it appear like it was a firing range. (The EVP of the male voice saying, "I can not swallow" may be confirmation of this incident.)

+ There is a man here who died in this area (single interrogation room) during the construction of the castle. This happened in the fall, maybe in 1901. He thinks it was his heart but he wasn't sure. His name was Edward. I do pick up some tortures in this room. I heard a man say, "They hurt me."

+ Upon entering the double interrogation room, an EVP was recorded of a male voice saying, "Oh No, We're Back Now". There's two spirits in here. He runs in here from somewhere else. There is two spirits here. One of them was black. A big black man. His name was Joshua Kimberlin.

+ This place is so full of spirits running around and around.

+ I feel a lot of men who were very well known, members of the Pythian group and other organizations all coming together here in the early 1900's. There were also military beds lining all these walls.

+ I feel teaching going on. There were classrooms in this area. (Open area on south end of building) I'm feeling some vibrations of deaths here too. This must have something to do with classrooms for children in the 1920's. I see children here. You can hear the kids running up and down. Some of them did die here. I don't feel that the boy upstairs was an orphan. They were not allowed to go upstairs and run the halls. Their play area was down here.



MISTY

 

(Basement, Interrogation Rooms)

+ Lots of males were kept down here, the rebellious ones. A black woman named Lucy May used to come here to see her honey. She would try to sneak him stuff every chance she got but it's like she did it from the outside. There were lots of beatings in these rooms. They were shackled because they acted up or wanted to escape. The black man that was held here is keeping his distance right now.

+ Sammy...Sammy died in here. (double interrogation room) He was a black slave.

I don't want to make him any madder than what he already is.

+ I don't feel much down here. Just the one man and the young woman.



(Ballroom)

+ One of the servants here was a young black girl named Sarah Jean. She became pregnant. She has an unhappy energy. Something happened with the baby.

+ I'm picking up a singer named Sarah-lie? She sang real high. (At this time the team members in the ballroom claimed to hear a woman humming. This humming was picked up on video audio.)

+ There is also a woman named LaBelle. She says she was from New York.



(Theater)

+ There was a magician up here. He used to have so much fun. He pops in and out.

+ There is also a maintenance man or curator named Joe. He's still here.



(General)

+ I'm getting two children here, a little boy about 11 years old and a little girl about 7 or 8 years old. They're not haunting the place, they just come and go.

+ There is a male soldier.

+ I'm not getting anything evil here, it's mostly a happy positive energy except for the black man in the basement.


                                                       

MPR SUMMARY

MPR would like to thank the owners of the castle for allowing us access to their beautiful home. We felt very welcome and hope to return in the future for further investigations.

 

MPR feels that the castle is haunted by several spirits: A black man who hangs out in the interrogation rooms, a man who was shot in the basement, a caretaker/curator who oversees the theater, a female nurse and a young boy and girl. There are also several spirits that come and go. We feel that we obtained some very good evidence of paranormal activity.



Photos:




Another photo taken outside in which a bright orb was captured upper left of the doorway.



Photo of the staircase in which Joyce states the young boy plays.  During her reading, Joyce stated "There is a young boy, about 12 or 13 years old, that plays on the stairway on the right. He's dressed in early 1900's clothes.   He wears a flat cap that has a little bill on it. The cap has a little knob thing on the top. He has on knee-knocker britches. His socks and boots come up high."



This is a picture, hanging in the foyer, of a young man that Joyce identified as being the boy she saw playing on the stairway.



Bright orb captured in the Ballroom/Dining Room area of the castle.   This is the area in which Misty stated during her reading "I'm picking up a singer named Sarah-lie? She sang real high." (At this time the team members in the ballroom claimed to hear a woman humming. This humming was picked up on video audio.)



Photo of an orb captured in the theater at the same time Stacy was videotaping.  While Misty was giving her reading in the theater, Stacy videotaped an orb which appeared to be dancing in front of the stage. Its movement resembled someone waltzing. Upon reporting this to Dee Ann and Misty, they decided to waltz to encourage further orb activity. When they finished, the orb returned and again appeared to be waltzing in front of the stage.



Photo of the "Bullet Room" where Joyce leaned up against the wall to feel the energy when suddenly she was succumbed by a ghost. She could not breathe and felt as if blood was gurgling up in her throat.  See Joyce's reading of the "Bullet Room" under Psychic Readings to learn more details of this incident.



Photo of an orb in what is believed to be the classroom area.  During Joyce's reading, she stated "I feel teaching going on. There were classrooms in this area."



An orb captured in one of the dungeon/interrogation rooms in the basement.  During Misty's reading, she stated "Lots of males were kept down here, the rebellious ones. A black woman named Lucy May used to come here to see her honey. She would try to sneak him stuff every chance she got but it's like she did it from the outside. There were lots of beatings in these rooms. They were shackled because they acted up or wanted to escape. The black man that was held here is keeping his distance right now."



Orb captured in the tunnel that runs underneath the castle.



Misty was in the interrogation room when she felt as if an entity was on her back. Mark took a 35mm photo of her at the time. Although the photo shows some camera movement, it appears that a dark shadow is indeed on her back. Where Misty's face should be in the photo, a silver looking mask or face-helmet appears instead. Could the helmet be associated with someone from the Pythian organization (see below) or if it's a mask, someone from the theater? - in either case, there is an anomaly here.



The jewel of the Pythian Order carries the abbreviation the three tenants of Pythianism - FCB: Friendship (blue), Charity (yellow), and Benevolence (red). The most typical emblems associated with the Knights of Pythias are: A sword laid on an open Bible; crossed swords; a skull and cross bones; a sprig of myrtle; spikes; and a knight's helmet with visor, headsman axe, and knight's sword. Birds figure in some emblems: The Knights of Pythias utilizes a falcon which signifies vigilance (the Uniform Rank used the dove as its official bird). Pythian swords sheaths also depict Samson pushing over the pillars of a building, a visible representation of strength and their pommels feature a knights helmet surmounted by a lion, representing full knighthood and leadership.



 

 

 

Torch & Mask graphics courtesy of: Gifs.net