These are locations I soloed from 2016-2018. One location was a group hunt that I will include for location reference,
should you decide you might want to solo yourself. I will be updating this page with new locations fairly regularly.
Posting soon: Malvern Manor
The Villisca Ax Murder House
June 1-2, 2018
The house is located on 2nd street in an older but well
maintained neighborhood in Villisca, Iowa. In the early morning hours of June 9th, 1912, neighbors became concerned when they observed that the Moore home was unusually inactive and the animals had not been tended to. They contacted Mr. Moore's brother who entered the home to find his brother's family and two neighbor girls all murdered in their beds. They had all been bludgeoned to death with the blunt side of an ax. To this day, theories about who the murderer was are still of interest to many. The most likely suspect is a man named Paul Mueller, a serial killer who began his killing spree back on January 7th, 1898.
If you'd like to read what I believe is one of the most fascinating books about who the Ax house murderer was, get a copy of the book "The Man From The Train" by Bill James. It is a riveting and fascinating theory and one I believe is most likely correct.
The house itself is quite small, probably not more than 800 square feet. There is no electricity except for two window air conditioners. The house has been restored and remodeled to be as historically accurate as possible, and you will indeed feel as if you were in the house as it most likely looked in the early 1900s.
There is a small barn behind the house that can also be investigated, although you will not have access to the office.
As I mentioned, the house is tiny! The downstairs consists of a rather large kitchen and living room, or parlor room as it would have been called at the time. There is a small bedroom off the parlor room and this is the bedroom where the two neighbor girls, Ina and Lena Stillinger were killed. This bedroom has one of the window AC units.
Upstairs is much smaller but contains the most active rooms in the house. There is a very small bedroom right at the top of the stairs, a small closet and access point to the attic, and the largest bedroom where Moore's 4 children were murdered.
I started my exploration of the house around 10:00 p.m. and had spent a considerable amount of time in each room by 3:00 a.m.
The barn is an interesting space, but I did not spend much time there except to take breaks and have dinner and a snack. The barn does have electricity and a bathroom.
If anything, the house just feels sad. I did not ever get a feeling of the heebie-jeebies, except in the children's bedroom upstairs. I had an interesting experience that I did not share in the video. This happened after I had been in the bedroom for a considerable amount of time. I was sitting quietly on the floor when I began to have intense visions of a man wearing a trapper hat with the ear flaps up. The man was walking up the stairs slowly, carrying an ax. This scene kept repeating in my mind and I couldn't seem to stop it. I also felt intense fear. But I will admit that it is difficult to say what caused this to happen. Was I simply primed to imagine this scene myself, or was there something in that house causing me to have that experience?
I was warned that the children's bedroom had a reputation for causing such experiences and that some previous visitors had been affected to varying degrees. I must say, either way, it was quite unsettling.
Notably, this was the room that produced the best, creepy EVP/audio anomaly on my audio recorder. It is very clearly a man's voice who says "I should go over there!"
But again, I go back to the fact that the house itself had much more of a tragic, sad vibe than anything paranormal. A great deal of time was very quiet, and inactive. While I was in the parlor room, I did begin to see what appeared to be very slight amorphous shadow play.
Sometime near 3:00 a.m., a storm system moved into the area that produced very high winds and thunderstorms. It was after this, that I recorded the most significant audio anomalies.
WHAT TO HIT: Fairly obvious, the whole house because it's exceedingly small. The most active rooms for me appeared to be the parlor room and the children's bedroom upstairs. The next best areas that may become active are the bedroom downstairs and the attic.
THE FOLKLORE: The house is said to be haunted by the spirits of the Moore family and the two Stillinger girls. Other groups have recorded the sounds of children at this location. And sure, it's all fun and interesting but I truly hope this is not the case. This was such a horrific and tragic loss of life. I can't imagine having to be trapped in this house where your life was snuffed out in such a brutal way. If their spirits are still around, I hope they have moved on to a better place somehow. Thankfully, I did not record anything that seemed to indicate that any of the family members were still around. More than anything else, as I have already stated, this house is more tragic and sad than haunted in my very humble opinion. If there are any spirits in the house, maybe they're morbidly curious about what happened here.
IF YOU GO: Villisca is, not unlike any other small mid-west town, quite small and the amenities are far and few between. I based out of Council Bluffs, Iowa because the hotel rates were cheaper and there was a very good choice of eateries. In Villisca, which is about an hour away from Council Bluffs, you will need something to eat and the good news is there is an excellent place called Casey's just down the road from the Ax House. Yes, it is a gas station/convenience store, and anyone who knows me would never believe I actually ordered food there and actually ate it. (I am a notoriously picky and fussy eater.) The pizza and sandwiches at Casey's are outstandingly good! Fear not, you will not be disappointed.
The Ax house is, not to beat this point to oblivion, itsy bitsy. I cannot fathom a group, let alone a production crew in such a small space. So take that into consideration. For me, I found the experience unfulfilling because there just isn't a whole lot to do and it is such a small space.
IN MY VERY HUMBLED OPINION: I have vowed to stay away from this type of location in the future for a couple of reasons. First, it's just too small. It's too personal. I know everyone wants their location to be "the most haunted" location. But in the end, I regretted having chosen this location. This was the site of an unimaginable, tragic, and horrific loss of life for an innocent family. I just couldn't help feel, in retrospect, as if I was being exploitive by being there. Yes, this makes me a hypocrite, and at the time I was. But I will no longer explore places where children and families were violently murdered. It's a completely personal decision. I will not preach here. If anything, it is a very well maintained historic location that had a history after the tragic events that happened in 1912.
Yoakum Community Hospital
April 25-26, 2017
The hospital is located in an older residential area of
Yoakum, Texas, about 79 miles southeast of San Antonio.
The original structure was built in 1922. Later renovations and add-ons were made through the years.
It's not a big hospital, but there are a lot of rooms and areas of interest to keep you busy till morning. There is a
basement but it is only accessible from an exterior door
around the back of the hospital. I skipped the basement
because I didn't want to leave the only entrance unlocked.
The sad thing is I had a spare lock in my house but I didn't
think to bring it with me. So if you'd like to spend a little
time in the basement, bring a good padlock and key with
you so you can lock the only door in and you can go poke
around the basement. You won't need much time because
it's a rather small space.
When I soloed the hospital in 2017 it had been the second
time I had been in that hospital. I briefly soloed it about a
month sooner but I was invited by a local ghost hunters
group. This is a fairly new location that I haven't seen
mentioned on TV. It has only been in operation as a
paranormal location since 2012. I am proud to state that I
was the first to solo this hospital!
There are 3 levels to explore and I could easily spend around 3 hours per floor. The 1st floor consists of the kitchen, the chapel, operating rooms, x-ray, and administration offices. The second floor has patient rooms, nurses' stations, and the ICU. The Yoakum Community Hospital group has done an amazing job of
cleaning up the location. Some of the rooms are immaculate and are in great shape. However, there is a
considerable amount of mold in some areas and the hospital has a noticeable kinda mildew odor.
The third floor is the most weathered and moldy area. It is made up entirely of patient rooms and the floor felt a
bit squishy in some areas. Again, plan accordingly and
always play it safe.
And now for the gravy. I had an extraordinary experience
at this hospital on the second floor that started in ICU. Something or someone was either upset I was there or just wanted to get under my skin. As I was filming around
the nurses' station I heard loud rustling sounds followed
by a glass crashing sound, followed by a metal pipe hitting
another metal surface. It took me five seconds to walk
to ICU to find no one there. A few minutes later the same
thing, only louder crashing sounds, happened near the
nurse's station. A few more minutes and it was now happening down the hall in the patient rooms. I never heard the sound of another living being walking or running away. (You can find this short video on the video page.)
Another thing about this hospital. I felt a great deal of dread the whole time I was there. Throughout the night I
heard knocking sounds and footsteps. Sometimes it would be rather loud. Clearly there is something going on in this hospital.
I got a few good EVPs too.
WHAT TO HIT: Fairly obvious here but you want to spend
some time around the nurse's station on the second floor
and the ICU, which is just about 15 feet away. You also want to stick to the same area directly below and above.
These are the oldest parts of the hospital and they tend to be the most active. This where I will be concentrating on when I return in late 2018. Operating rooms have always
been lucky for me with EVPs and disembodied voices. However, this time, they were fairly quiet.
THE FOLKLORE: The hauntings here are attributed to a nurse who was shot to death by her angry husband, and the chapels' father Charles Kram. Both happen to be true.
Nurse Laura Lynn Hights was murdered in the waiting room for the ICU just outside the nurses' station on the second floor. This happened on March 6, 1990. Father Kram was well known and liked by the staff and was remembered for his wheelchair races down the halls of the hospital.
IF YOU GO: UPDATE: The hospital is no longer open for paranormal investigations. I would base out of San Antonio because I live here and there is a lot to do here on your off-time. We have a pretty cool zoo, theme parks, beautiful parks, the Alamo, 5 awesome haunted hotels downtown, and the best damned Tex-Mex food in the state. Plus, we're super friendly to all of our visitors. Drop me an email and I'll give you the low-down on where to stay and eat, you know, where the locals go, not those high-priced tourist trap places ;) Yoakum is about a 90-minute drive from S.A. There is limited power and no running water, so no there are no bathrooms. Plan accordingly. Drop me an email for
extra advice concerning this issue.
The Sallie House June 4-5, 2018
The Sallie House is located at 508 N 2nd street in Atchinson, Kansas. It is a modestly sized home with three small bedrooms and one and a half baths. It has a spacious kitchen and a small basement. It was built in 1867 for Michael Finney. The family lived in the house until the mid-1940s. The location came into the national spotlight in the early to mid-1990s when the Pickmans began to experience paranormal activity. The activity seemed to begin rather benevolently but in time became more troublesome for the family. After several television show appearances, the activity really ramped up to the point where spontaneous fires and violent physical attacks became unbearable for the family and they left the property. The family attributed the hauntings to the spirit of a young girl named Sallie. Tony Pickman is the only witness who claims to have actually seen the apparition of the little girl. The couple believed that Sallie and a more sinister, possibly demonic presence, were responsible for the activity that drove them from the house.
The house is on a rather busy street in an older neighborhood and has retained its notoriety in Atchinson and the paranormal world.
The house has three levels including a very small basement, a living room, dining, half bathroom, and kitchen on the first floor, and three bedrooms, and a full bathroom on the second floor. It is a good-sized home that should take a considerable amount of time to cover.
Just a word of caution, the stairs are steep and the steps are very short. It would be easy to miss a step, either way, luckily they are thickly carpeted.
I didn't immediately feel anything off about the house until I spent some time in the basement. So again, another word of caution, I did become a little, disoriented, and queasy in the basement and I'm not entirely sure why. But the house is just a bit off somehow. Occasionally, I would get this feeling that I was either being observed or that there was a benevolent presence nearby. I did not, at any time, feel anything negative, and certainly nothing demonic in nature.
Every room, except the middle bedroom upstairs, produce one or more audio anomalies on my audio recorders. At one point, after midnight, a blood curdling shrieking sound happened right outside the front door. This was not an EVP or audio anomaly, I actually heard this while I was there.
Surprisingly, the most active room for audio was the kitchen. I captured the creepiest sounding EVPs and audio anomalies on my audio recorders. It was also in the kitchen that I recorded, on all devices, a very unusual sounding crying sound. But I am very certain this was either a nearby neighbor's dog or a bird.
The most significant paranormal activity happened upstairs in the master bedroom.
I was sitting in a chair close to the doorway when I noticed a shadow near the floor move quickly beside the bed. I noted it on video, then immediately felt a tug on one of my shoelaces. It was enough to get my attention to where it stopped me mid-sentence. When I examined my shoes, I noticed that upon moving my feet, the shoelaces did not move at all. (You can see this in the video.)
It is difficult to say exactly how or why this happened but I did not feel it was malevolent but rather playful. The small bedroom (nursery) at the top of the stairs also produced an interesting audio anomaly. There are two, loud, distinct tapping sounds that were recorded on all my devices, however, I cannot tell where they originated. The sounds were loudest on the audio recorder I had on the floor in the middle of the room.
At some point during the evening, I decided to take a little break and lied down on the sofa in the living room. I had the table lamp on while I was scrolling through my phone when I saw a very faint shadow out of the corner of my eye. It just sort of fluttered by me quickly.
Finally, I spent some time in the basement and after being down there just a few minutes, began to feel rather dizzy and a bit nauseated. This was quite sometime after midnight. As with any basement, I imagine, it felt clammy, claustrophobic and I got a very bad case of the willies. Seriously, it is a foreboding little basement that I was not exactly looking forward to being alone.
And here is where being completely solo can really eff with your head. I couldn't help but feel a considerable amount of dread going down those stairs. This is a situation that might be a challenge for solos because you just can't help but feel extremely vulnerable in such a tight, pitch-black space that is a challenge to get out of quickly should things get too intense for whatever reason. As always, I did spend just a little extra time just getting centered and clearing my head of any noise or interference connected to the history of the house or the folklore and legend of the archetypal basement horror scenario.
I decided that this would be the right place and time to conduct a quick, simple sensory deprivation experiment. I was a spur of the moment decision to cover my eyes with gaffer's tape to intentionally blind myself. To be quite honest, I had not intended to do this at this location, but I felt that nothing truly out of the ordinary was happening and I thought this might trigger some activity.
Sadly after about 20 minutes, nothing appeared to happen. However, I did find a rather odd sounding growl recorded on the audio recorder that I did not hear at any time while I was in the basement. The Sallie House was relatively inactive while I was there, but I did manage to capture some very interesting audio evidence.
WHAT TO HIT: You can hit every room in the house and probably come away with some audio evidence. But while I was there the kitchen seemed to be the most active room. The master bedroom is another room I might spend a good deal of time in. Anytime you have access to a basement, you should plan to spend some time there.
THE FOLKLORE: Once again we find a location that has been propelled into legendary status by the countless television shows that have perpetuated the "demonic presence" that allegedly occupies this location. And once again I must emphatically state that I did not ever feel such a presence. If there was a demonic or negative presence in the home at one time I truly believe it is no longer there.
But I will say this however, the power of suggestion can be a force to be reckoned with. If you truly believe in demonic entities and you go into this home with that mindset, proceed with extreme caution because you might just get your worst nightmare answered. I say this only because I have recently read a few personal experiences of people who thought they could handle soloing a location and who then had very negative or frightening experiences. If you are afraid of demonic forces, you should probably not solo at all.
The Sallie story, in which a young girl with appendicitis was brought to the house in the late 1800s and died in the house, has never been substantiated. In fact, there is no historical record indicating anyone named Sallie died in the house. Three or four members of the Finney family did die in the house, and perhaps some of them are still there.
IN MY VERY HUMBLED OPINION: As my good friend, Mike said, this is a home you could probably take a nap in. There isn't anything outwardly unusual about this house except that it does feel a little off somehow. Lately, I've been getting a little flak about not really being able to get a good sense of a place without having to spend multiple days/nights at the location. And in a perfect world, I agree. But I am but a humbled, poor, mildly talented filmmaker. I simply can't afford it. Multiple days/nights =$$$ I just don't have. Sure, nearby me, there is a couple of locations I have been to multiple times, and every time has been a bit different, but I still don't have any real conclusive answers. Hell, I don't think any of us will ever really truly figure it out until we're actually ghosts ourselves.
Is the Sallie House haunted?, probably, but I truly believe every place is haunted to some degree. I don't believe in anything being paranormal, I think it's all normal. I think we've all been living in a world that has always been and will forever be haunted. Just like in "Star Wars", nobody is ever really gone. We simply don't just end. All any of us will ever figure out about these haunted places is that something is definitely going on but what the hell it is, is something we will just have to wait and see for ourselves. If you go, take it easy on the hood, I'm sure the neighbors have had it with all of us a-holes poking around with cameras trying to prove what we already know is true. I got a pizza from Gambinos, which was pretty good.
