Narrator:
Welcome to EMTalk. These are the true stories of saving lives from those who saved them. This
episode, Haunted Happenings, through scary stories of falls. Here to discuss saving lives is licensed paramedic, your host, Judson Smith.
Juddson:
Hello, this is Judd Smith, and welcome to this spooky episode of EMTalk. As you know, it is my favorite month of October, and we have focused our October episode to all things creepy. We had that episode with our horror expert, Zackary Keene, talking about the gore in horror and analyzing whether or not these things are realistic or just fun to talk about is really what they were. Today, we are in a very special location. You’ll notice this isn’t our usual backdrop. Today we are in the Swenson House, which if you look it up in Abilene, Texas, you’ll find out more about it.
But we’ll tell you more about this house later. But it is all decked out for Halloween. They have this huge Halloween party here, and it’s on this tour of haunted Abilene. And it just looks great. And I can’t wait to show you guys this house later. But, today we are going to be telling spooky stories, and I’m going to be telling spooky stories to my guest, who is Brooklyn Rhodes. And I’ll let you, introduce yourself and tell them who you are.
Brooklyn:
Yeah. So, I’m Brooke, and, I work at Exxon, and I’m the clinical coordinator. I’ve been in EMS for little over four years, and I’ve lived here for about five years or so. So I’ve never been here before. So it’s pretty cool.
And I’ve lived here like 35 years and I’ve never been here. And if I have, it certainly didn’t look like this. So it’s not sparking any memory for me. So Brooke and I met, I worked a random shift on an ambulance one day, and we ended up. We. All we did was work a football game, and we went the whole football game. We had one little incident where we had to, like, check on a kid in the band, and. And then we thought it was all done. And then we ended up being there for another hour dealing with the kid from the band. And then we were at the E.R., and they didn’t end up taking the whole night. So it was a fun shift. And after that, I decided I was going to hire Brooklyn and take her away from this world of pain and put her at X or an education at Texas EMS school.
And Brooke has been with us ever since. So, Brooke, first off, I’m going to give you a scale from 1 to 5, and I’m going to tell these stories, and then you are going to rate them on that scale. Five being the scariest thing you’ve ever heard in your life. Well, let’s say five being very scary as some of them could be.
You could have multiple fives. And I don’t want you to be like, oh, I can’t name this little five because it’s the next one’s worse. Or they may all be ones I don’t know. I don’t know what your tolerance for scary is, so we’ll see. My kids thought they were pretty scary. That’s all I know. And so I’ve gathered all these different stories, some different things that have happened all over the U.S.
Some of them are considered to be true. Some of them are just considered to be stories that people came up with. But all of them are pretty short. They won’t take very long. And then I have some information about haunted Abilene, about the things in Abilene that we would say are haunted. So if you live in Abilene, this is a very special episode because there are things that are super relevant to you here in Abilene.
So we’re going to get started, with this episode by talking about, have you ever encountered anything that you would say is haunted?
Brooklyn:
Not really. I’ve heard stories, but I’ve never seen anything to convince me. Okay. So, when you say that you’ve heard stories, like, just heard stories about a, there’s a ghost at this place or things like that. Yeah. Like, you know, you know, different EMS. Oh, this certain station is haunted or something like that.
Juddson:
I feel like in EMS, we’re around enough death. But if there’s something haunted, we would be aware of it now. Yeah, I then heard other EMS people like, at some of the stations, you know, and it’s interesting.
Brooklyn:
They’re like, oh, we had blankets ripped off or something. And I mean, I haven’t gone and stayed there, but what stations are you talking about? He said there’s one in Brownwood. That is one of the EMS stations there. Tell you what, next year I’ll spend the night at that station and we’ll record it. We’ll call it 12 hours in the haunted station or something.
Juddson:
I ain’t scared no ghost. I’m not afraid of no ghosts. Is that how it goes? The Ghostbusters? I ain’t afraid of no ghosts. That’s what it is. There it is. You’ve seen the Ghostbusters.
Brooklyn:
I mean, as I’ve seen. Like, was it the first? I need to remember how many there are, but what? The first 1 or 2. Like or like OG ones.
Juddson:
Five of them.
Brooklyn:
Now, I haven’t seen any of the new ones. Well, they’re okay. It feels different, though. It doesn’t feel like the old school Ghostbusters movies, but I guess it’s because it’s really not. So my brother was obsessed with the Ghostbusters growing up. He, he had, like, the fire house and the Ecto. What is it?
Juddson:
What was it called? Ecto One or whatever. Was the car that they were in and all this other stuff. And, he just kept that stuff forever. Every time I’d go in the attic. Because just all this Ghostbusters stuff up there. So it was popular before you were born. See, that was one of the movies.
Brooklyn:
My dad was just like, you know, I watch because my dad made us, you know, it’s like, was it, the different John Wayne movies and everything?
Juddson:
You know, it was always something. I’m just so glad my dad didn’t make me watch the John Wayne movies. Not gonna lie. And that’s a really unpopular opinion. Probably. But I just know they’re not for me now anyways. Okay, so you’ve never experienced anything that you would say is haunted? I, I can’t say that I really have either.
Brooklyn:
I want it to be real. It sounds really cool, and I like spooky stuff, so it sounds something like right up my alley, but I’ve never I can’t say that I’ve ever experienced anything that I would say is haunted, but it’s one of those things where it’s like, I want it to happen so bad. Yeah, because it’d be cool.
Yeah. Where’s the ghost that I want to see? A ghost, like, haunt me? I house in the haunt me, I Deery. Let’s go. We could be friends. Yeah, I don’t know that that works out that way very often. Oh, well, I mean, I guess I, I don’t believe it. It didn’t work out at all, does it? So after these spooky stories, you will be a believer.
Juddson:
Have you, you ever been camping up? And do you ever, like, tell ghost stories around the campfire?
Brooklyn:
He’s done that before. I was in Girl Scouts and everything. Yeah, we went camping all the time. I was in, Boy Scouts. Way dorky. Your version of Girl Scouts? I actually, I don’t know. Well, my brother was Boy Scouts, so I went on both.
Juddson:
Okay, good, good, good. So I’m going to start with a true story. That happened to me. I told this story. I called in and told this story on Hip Hop Nation, which is a satellite radio hip-hop station. And it was on Sway in the Morning, and I was on my way back from an ambulance shift, and they were asking for ghost stories and scary stories.
So I called in to talk about this scary story. And when I was, when I was doing this, it was just pretty creepy. It made the hairs stand up on my arms. But here’s the story. Okay? So I like to go hiking, or I used to, when I was less fat and more athletic, and, I like to take pictures.
So one time I went hiking and I’d taken all by myself. I took all these pictures, and, everything is good. And, that I found a place to camp, decided to go to sleep. I had taken, I don’t know, like, hundreds of pictures, maybe a thousand pictures. I don’t know, there’s a lot of pictures. And so, I go in there, all my.
It goes in the tent with me because I don’t know if it’s going to rain or anything. And so I go to sleep. I wake up the next morning and, I, pack up my stuff and, and head back down to my car and then pack up and leave. And I sit in the car for a minute and I start looking through the pictures.
I start noticing some pictures that I don’t remember taking, and I’m like, this is weird. These are all at night. Like, I don’t remember taking any pictures at night. And all of a sudden there’s a picture of me sleeping on the camera. That’s weird. Yeah. Isn’t it? So either, somebody was going to murder me and chose not to.
Brooklyn:
Or ghost were, you know, a logical, just somebody just think about doing that just for fun. That’s a pretty big risk to take this one. I mean, if I woke up, I mean, how do you explain yourself in that situation? It would be so pretty freaking you like, regardless of, like, why they did it. Like, if it was a person, like, still really freaky.
Juddson:
It is pretty creepy. None of that’s true, but it is really creepy. So. But, sway in the morning thinks it was true, so don’t tell, because now I’m a member of sway. Sway Nation or Hip Hop Nation. All right, so I’ve got these stories, and, the water research went into this, so. But they’re not my stories.
I didn’t write them. If when I can, I’ll give credit where credit’s due, but most likely I won’t give credit where credit’s due. So, you’re going to listen, and then we’ll talk about it, and you tell me what you think of the story, okay? All right, so this one’s called the ax murder house. The Alaska ax murder house in Alaska, Iowa is a well known tourist attraction for ghost hunters and horror lovers alike.
The site of a gruesome, unsolved 1912 murder in which six children and two adults had their skulls completely crushed by the ax of an unknown perpetrator, was purchased in 1994, restored to its 1912 condition, and converted into a tourist destination. It costs $428 a night to stay at the old haunted home. No visitors always report strange port paranormal experiences such as visions of a man with an ax roaming the halls or the faint screams of children.
But in November of 2014, The haunting took a darker turn. Robert Stephen Lawrence Junior, 37, of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, was on a regular recreational paranormal visit with friends when true horror struck. His companions found him stabbed in the chest, an apparently self-inflicted wound called 911, and Lauren was brought to a nearby hospital before being helicopter to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said Lawrence and suffered the self-inflicted injury at about 12:45 a.m., which is around the same time the 1912 ax murders in the house began.
Lawrence had recovered from his injuries, but has never spoken publicly about what occurred that day. For Martha Lynn, the owner of the house, the incident was very upsetting. It’s publicity, but it’s not the kind of publicity you desire to have. I don’t want people thinking that when they come to the village to ax murder house, something’s going to happen.
It’s going to make them do something like that. The house remains open for tourist visits and overnight stays. Today. Creepy. Not creepy.
Brooklyn:
But maybe like a two out of five. Yeah. I mean, I don’t think that one’s very creepy. It’s almost. You consider like, okay, where’s the pattern to it? Yeah, it only happened once. And. And it’s dependent on like, the ghost is.
Can ghosts actually, like, move things and touch things and hurt people, or you think they’re just there? I mean, if ghosts, if we’re going to say that ghosts are real, I guess we can say that ghosts can do whatever they want, right? But like, you’re stabbing you with the, like, the knife or whatever. Just, like, real. Yeah. Okay.
Why couldn’t they grab a knife? Oh, no. I mean, it was a ghost made of nothing. Oh, I think like watching Casper somebody, you know, like they fly through walls. Or do they get to choose when they, like, makes pancakes? Yeah, but, like, do they choose when they get to, like, interact with solid items, I guess. I don’t know what that might be in a ghost.
Juddson:
I think it’s a lot better than being a human. I think there’s a lot of practicalities that would need to be worked out for that one. I’ve never heard somebody try to logically break down how this works. I’ve thought about these, you know, and, and and the whole acts. I yeah, I don’t think it’s a very efficient way to this is what I wanted to talk about.
You told me earlier that you don’t feel like an act is an efficient way to kill people. Why is it not? I just feel like it’s.
Brooklyn:
It’s a lot of work. You know, I went ax throwing, and it was a workout. You know, it’s. I get that’s throwing, but, you know, still the movement. And depending on the size, the weight behind it, I feel like, you know, chopping a tree, it takes a little bit.
I just, I feel like I could run a little bit quicker than someone carrying an ax trying to swing it, because you have to have some stability to swing an ax. I mean, if I knocked you over and then just chop you once in the head, you’re probably going to be dead. I mean, yeah, but yes, you’re having to think whether or not that would kill you.
I think like, a gun would be pretty efficient. Okay. I don’t know if I could say that on here, but, Yeah, you can. I guess that makes sense. Okay, so the gun is the most efficient weapon to kill. Yes.
Juddson:
Got it. Now that we have that on record, you’re in trouble one day. All right, moving on, moving on, moving on.
I haven’t thought about it. You know? Just. Oh, okay. You came up with that answer pretty quick. I don’t know, I mean, maybe poison. How about that? You know, throw a little bit of. That’s not efficient. What if you don’t get enough poison. Oh I think you I guess you could go overboard and. Yeah, a lot of it.
There’s a story in here about poisoning. Oh, it’s going to be great. Okay. This one’s called the Deadly Exorcism. It’s it’s pretty short. In August 2016, in north London, 26 year old Kennedy IV began acting strange and aggressive. Following a pain in his throat. He reportedly bit his father, threatened to cut off his own arm and complained of a python or snake inside of him before his family restrained him to the bed with table ties and excessive force.
BBC reported that the family then set about attempting to cure Kennedy through restraint and prayer. Over the next three days, the court was told his brother Colin, I’ve told police it’s clear that thing was in him what we believed was a demon, because it was not natural. It was clearly trying to kill him, he said. We had to restrain him for himself.
It was clear if we didn’t restrain him, he could have tried to harm people in our family. Kennedy had been bound to his bed for three days without medical attention. When his brother called emergency services, explaining that kidney Kennedy I was complaining of dehydration. Then he appeared to have developed breathing issues and was pronounced dead at 10:17 a.m..
While police were at the house call, an IV allegedly carried out an attempted resurrection by chanting and praying for Mr. IV. All seven of Kennedy IV’s family members were accused of manslaughter, false imprisonment and causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult. A postmortem examination revealed over 60 wounds, including a possible bite on Kennedy, his body and his father, Kenneth IV, along with four of his brothers, sustained injuries as well. Kenneth, I’ve told jurors he ordered his sons to take shifts and use overwhelming force, but denied that an association with cults, occult and secret societies played any part in the death. They were found not guilty and released on March 14th, 2019. So pretty. Not Bethesda started at, let’s say, not creepy like I feel like, you know, towards one.
Brooklyn:
So the family’s the one that had the wounds. He did the dead body. Okay. So some like to do just needed some help. Probably so. And they just like, tied them down and, you know, just left them. Yeah. So there’s a, you know, there’s a dangerous line where we assume that everything bad happening with somebody has something to do with a demon.
It seems like it happens in like, every movie. Oh, they’re acting crazy. Must have a demon. Some people just crazy. Yeah. Or, you know, zingers, like a baby or something. You know, like when they cry, like, sometimes, like, that’s just how they express themselves, you know? They don’t know how to deal with their emotions. Like, it sounds very much like you’re comparing a demon possessed human to a baby.
Juddson:
I just say it like there’s he could have acted out for a reason. Like if he had a reason to bite somebody, you know, probably because they tied him up. Yeah, I’d probably bite somebody, too, if they try to cable tie me like so. That one was a true story. So that one really happened. They really did that.
That’s crazy. Yeah. I’m ashamed they tried that. I’d bite them hard. Yeah. They’d never do it again. I’ll tell you that much. Okay. Next one. Yeah I agree that one’s not very creepy. Okay. The ghost of the Stanley Hotel. So, the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, has been around for more than 100 years and was built as a posh getaway for the wealthy seeking solitude in the mountains.
As the years passed, however, occupancy declined, and by the 1970s, the Grand Hotel had fallen into disrepair. It was around that time that famed author Stephen King spent the night there and was inspired to write the book The Shining. The book and blockbuster film helped return The Stanley to its former glory. Now, guests come in droves to see the hotel that inspired one of the scariest horror movies of all time.
Yeah, given its history, it should come as no surprise that many visitors report strange happenings. Aware of the ghostly rumors, Texas resident Henry Yaffe booked a last minute getaway in April of 2016 to check it out after arriving. Yeah, I had dinner, then wandered around the Stanley to take photos. Stopping at the staircase, he waited for people to clear the area, then took a picture thinking nothing of it.
Later that night, however, we all fell seriously ill. I felt really sick. I had the shivers. I was like, something’s really wrong here, he tells today to calm his companions, suggested he go to the emergency room, but yeah, I refused. On the trip home, I began swiping through the photos he’d taken when he discovered what he said was a really, really strange image of someone standing on the stairs, except no one had been there.
The next day, he posted the photo on Instagram, half joking that he’d captured a ghost and the world to look. Took notice almost overnight. Yeah, found himself in the limelight with the ghost picture, warranting attention from global media and paranormal experts who wanted to examine the photo. Some experts say that there’s two ghosts, and other people said that the reason I got sick is because the ghost was trying to materialize, taking energy out of me, he said.
There’s so many theories about this. Okay, creepy. Not creepy.
Brooklyn:
It’s a little creepy. I know you’re not getting any kind of creepy out of you. I mean, I’d say like three, three and a half. Like, I think it’d be pretty weird. Like, you swear it’s not there. I feel like it more make me feel like I’m going crazy.
Yeah. You think if I look at the picture I took of this staircase later on and there’s, like, a figure on it, that’d be pretty creepy.
Juddson:
Yeah. Very weird. Have you seen The Shining? I have not, okay. It would be best if you watched it. It’s a good movie. I don’t have the scariest of all time. Is it the one with the two?
Brooklyn:
Like, twin girls? Okay. Yeah. I’ve seen, like, bits and parts.
Juddson:
Oh, everybody seemed like pieces of it because it’s used all over the place. But it’s pretty good.
The story’s really cool. So. Yeah. Jack Nicholas. That isn’t it? Is it Nicholas or Nicholson?
Nicholson. Yeah. Jack Nicholson. I was getting confused with the golfer. He’s pretty crazy in that
movie. It’s pretty bad. All right, moving on. We gotta find something creepy for you. Lizzie Borden. I’m
sorry we’re not reading you.
Brooklyn:
You have clown stories. Those are creepy.
Juddson:
You like I don’t like clowns. Oh, I don’t have any clown stories. I wish I’d known that before we came. I got chased by a clown before, it was like a real clown. I was at a festival, and he was trying to give me a sticker. I was like, oh, no. Then he kept following me, and I was just really. I was, like, six. And yeah, I don’t do clowns.
Juddson:
I’ve seen some scary clown movies, like, Halloween is going to suck this year for you.
Brooklyn:
Just so you know, I shouldn’t have said anything. Nope. I might be sick that day. You know you will not. That’s KB’s birthday. Oh. All right. This one is called Who’s in My Bed? A father went to say goodnight to his seven year old son. Very well, knowing that if he didn’t, his son would have trouble sleeping. It was a nightly routine between them.
The father chuckled a bit before getting on his knees to check, only to satisfy his son. They’re under the bed, pale and afraid. Was his son his real son, he whispered. Daddy, there’s someone on my bed to have heard this one, and that one’s creepy. I give that one like a four. Yeah, there we go. Okay, so there we go.
That’s, it’s a real life. Scary things, not scary.
Brooklyn:
Fake things. Very scary. Well, like, what do you do? You kill both of them? A little extreme, but, like. Yeah, you’re sitting there, like, looking under the bed, like. Well, like, I don’t know, that’s. That’s a weird situation, I guess. What would. What is the thing in the bed?
Yeah. And why do you tell you to look under the bed if you like, want to throw you off. And then he’s going to kill you both, like. Yeah. Why would he give himself away? I mean, I’d be pretty freaked out, like, if I had, but my kid was under the bed or something and looked up and it’s like, oh, we’re done.
We’re both dead. That’s it. I would just go under the bed, too. Yeah, like that’s it. I’ll just lay down there. You were safe and you’re not sliding. Get under the bed. Please don’t come under here. Like next. The mom comes in and she’s under the bed like I live here now. Yeah, this is my home. He’s great.
Juddson:
Okay, good. I’m glad that was creepy. Here we go. This one’s called The Cabin. A hiker decided to go on a hike by himself. Something he was not very used to. The whole day was normal. Trees and bushes engulfed his surroundings. He enjoyed being outdoors in the mountains. Nothing seemed strange to him. That was until he was making his way back to his car.
He figured an eight hour hike was good enough. The sky was already getting dark and he needed to get back fast. What was hard was how much he didn’t recognize the trail back. He began to panic. Night had already taken over and all he had was a flashlight and no clue on how to get back. He knew it was already too late and too dangerous to keep going through the perilous forest.
He began to worry that he would have no shelter for the night when, almost luckily enough, he stumbled across a broken-down cabin. It was dark and seemed like no one had visited in years. But he knew it was the only place where he could rest until daylight, especially since his flashlight was running out of battery. He knocked on the door a few times, but no one answered, so he let himself in.
It sent chills up his spine. Not too long after his exhaustion from the height got the best of him, he could ignore the faces and fall asleep. The next morning, he got up early and was shocked to see no paintings around the room, only windows.
Do you get it? I do, that’s creepy.
Brooklyn:
That would be pretty weird. Yeah, because then it means everybody’s watching you. Yeah, and it’s like, who were they? Like the fact that they looked like paintings, you know? Well, I mean, like, you have to think you’re in the dark, and you’ve never been in this place, and, you just look around, and you see what looks like paintings because windows are just square frames.
And then all of a sudden it’s like, oh, is this weird? Just a bunch of faces painted and smiling and looking. Yeah, this is where does it sounds like even trying to find, like the logic in it. It’s like it’s like a group of people just go stare at people through a window, like, that’s that. That’s weird.
Juddson:
That is creepy. That did nothing else but watching it. I think that’s the worst part. You know, it’s like some of those stories where it’s like, oh, like someone gets like stabbed or anything, but it’s like the ones that just sit and watch. I think that’s just his at any point. Like if you just fell where it’s like, someone’s watching me, but there’s no one else with you.
Yeah, I felt that way before. Like now. I think that’s just, like, more unsettling is just like, not knowing that, being in the forest and walking around by yourself, it’s creepy enough. All all on its own, especially if you’re somewhere you’ve never been before. But then you find this one who goes in a random cabin they find out in the middle of the woods.
Brooklyn:
Anyways, yeah, I feel like, why do you put yourself in that position first off? Yeah, and you surely know that some kind of crazy something is going to happen at that. There’s Airbnbs everywhere. Like you couldn’t book something that was totally random jumps on his phone. And that’s an Airbnb right there. I mean, oh shoot, here it is.
It’s right around this tree. I mean, check out the reviews. You know, make sure they’re super hosts. Be careful. The paintings are not paintings. They’re windows. You see, that would have been helpful.
Juddson:
A doctor was working at a hospital. A hospital where the patients were tagged with colored bands. Green alive, red deceased. One night, the doctor was instructed to get a few supplies from the basement of the hospital. And so he headed to the lift. Lift? There’s an elevator? Yeah, it’s fancy the lift. The lift doors open, and there was a patient inside minding her own business.
Patients were allowed to roam around the hospital to stretch, especially those who were been staying long. The rule was to go back to the rooms before ten. The doctor smiled at the patient before pressing the number for the basement. He found it unusual that the woman didn’t have a button already pressed. He wondered if she was heading to the basement to the lift.
Finally reached the floor where the doors opened. In the distance, a man was limping towards the elevator and in a panic, the doctor slammed the elevator button to close. It finally did, and the lift began to ascend back up, the doctor’s heart pounding. Why did you do that? He was trying to use the lift, the woman stated, annoyed.
Did you see his wrist? The doctor asked. It was red. He died last night. I would know I did his surgery. The woman lifted her wrist. He saw red. She smiled like this one.
Brooklyn:
Looks a little creepy. I mean. I would not want to work at that hospital. It the fact that you have to label alive or dead patients, like I’ve never had to do that. I feel like it’s pretty obvious usually, but I think expecting the obvious and standing there and it’s like, oh, I have a red wristband. Like a little bit weird.
I think, like the the fact that he knew the other guy, that’s that’s pretty creepy. I would have no done. So turn in my badge. Does that mean that the, the lady and the other guy were ghosts? Those zombies. And it’s like the communist zombies. Either way, they were. Either way, they shouldn’t be there.
Juddson:
Yeah, it’s probably true, I think. Regardless, I’m not going to ask for identification at that point. That’s just gonna, you know, go and put my badge down and see myself out. Ma’am, can you tell me who you are, please?
Well, this one’s not creepy, but it’s interesting. The old man in the. Well, he was 12 the first time he found the old man in the well, and he spoke to him. Keith was out playing after dark in the family’s small farm near the well. The old well had been supporting a rope and pulley with a bucket attached, even though Keith was told that well ran dry before he was born.
Suddenly he heard someone say his name. In a slow, raspy voice. Keith whirled around and saw no one. A look of confusion spread across his face as he heard it again. He this time it was said with more voice and a bit louder. The voice sounded like one of the old farmers who like to smoke, thought Keith, looking down the well.
He heard the same voice asking, have you got anything tasty? Keith couldn’t see anything past the first 12 or so feet down the well, even though it was a full moon. Who are you? How did you get down there? Keith asked. If you give me something tasty, I’ll reward you, replied the voice. All Keith had were some cookies he had stuffed in his pocket as he left the play.
He put those in the bucket and it was lowered it. He put those in the bucket and lowered it. He had lowered it nearly 40ft and was literally at the end of his rope, when he had no longer felt the weight of the bucket on the rope, 20s passed, and he felt the weight of the bucket again and began to pull it up.
As he finished pulling the bucket up to the top, he heard the voice say, no. Nice! He saw a reflection in the bucket and saw a rectangular piece of silver medal about the size of an army dog tag on, about the size of an army dog tag. It was completely flat and smooth. One dress, the voice said, even though Keith tried to talk the old man again, there was no response.
Keith made up a story about where he found the medal and took it to his father, who took it into town and confirmed it was an ounce of pure silver. After that, Keith kept it a secret. It took a while to discover that the old man was only there the night of full moons. Keith quickly learned that only live things he put in the well would be rewarded, but only once for each item, and once every full moon.
So one of each colonel animal was lowered down the well and rewarded. Keith now had a cigar box, mostly full of silver pieces by the time he was 16, but had run out of different animals to get rewarded for. It was around this time that a local farmhand went missing. It was also at the same time that Keith was rewarded with gold pieces for the first time. Once Keith took over the farm, ten workers seemed to vanish.
Every now and then, without explanation from the farm, the old man had finally found something tasty enough to always reward. So the old man in the will turn Keith into a murderer? Yes. Yeah. I think a hitman is a really creepy one. Yeah, yeah. I mean, if someone talked to me from a well, I.
Brooklyn:
I don’t think I would entertain that. Yeah, I don’t feel like I would be like, oh, yeah. Let me throw something down there, buddy. I mean, but I’ve also been broke before, so I mean.
A little bit of murder. No big deal. I mean, but the old the well is doing it. What is the old man doing in the murder? Does it get crowded in there? All the dead in the movies. So I assume he’s eating the dead animals and the bones. He’s living in a well. What else is he got to do? Why only full moons? It’s a werewolf kind of blood. How is he still alive? I don’t know that. We’re meant to analyze this, to this, to me, I think. I think that kind of makes it hard to understand. I think I think Keith is more creepy than the old man in the. Well, yeah, I would, I would think so, too.
Like, he’s just. Okay. I can ignore the. Well, we can board that up. But Keith has a problem. He’s just like, you know what? Sure, I’ll start putting why then? The guy never told them to do that. No. He just. It was a trial and error. He’s like, let’s see what happens. And then one day he was like, let’s see what happens when I put a human down here.
Juddson:
Yeah. Why not? That is pretty creepy. Yeah. This should be labeled Keith the Great. All right, on to the next one. This one’s called the farmhouse. When my sister Betsy and I were kids, our family lived for a while in a charming old farmhouse. We loved exploring this dusty corners and climbing the apple tree in the backyard. But our favorite thing was the ghost.
We called her mother because she seemed so kind and nurturing. Some mornings, Betsy and I would wake up on each of our nightstands. We’d find a cup that hadn’t been there the night before. Mother had left them there, worried that we’d get thirsty during the night. She just wanted to take care of us among the house is original furniture and furnishings was an antique wooden chair, just like this one, which we kept against the back wall of the living room whenever we were preoccupied watching TV or playing a game, mother would inch the chair forward across the room toward us.
Sometimes she’d manage to move it to the center of the room. We always felt sad putting it back against the wall. Mother just wanted to be near us. Years later, long after we’d moved out, I found an old newspaper article about the farmhouses original occupant, a widow. She’d murdered her two children by giving them each a cup of poisoned milk before bed.
Then she’d hanged herself. The article included a photo of the farmhouse living room with a woman’s body hanging from a beam beneath her. Knocked over was the old wooden chair placed exactly in the center of the room. Creepy or not creepy.
Brooklyn:
That one’s creepy. No one’s think you know, like, you hear stories of, you know, hauntings and stuff, and it’s, you know, like, animals can sense them or like, kids.
Kids are real creepy with it. Okay? Kids just creepy all together. Yeah. Or like, you’re having conversation with the kid, and they’re like, look at the corner. There’s nothing in the corner. Oh, yes, there is. There’s a ghost in here, but we don’t see that. Yeah, no, kids are creepy. And the fact that they’re just, like, so casual, like, oh, I got a glass of water and that the chair moves that like.
Juddson:
Yeah, not a big deal. Yeah, this happens to me all the time. Like, how is that a normal thing? That’s probably, again, another instance where maybe the people in the story or creepier than the actual nose. Yeah. I mean, the ghost has problems to it on this one. Yeah. I mean, she killed her kids and then herself, and then she kept moving the chair back, like, you know, there’s like, there’s, one scary movie and it they call the ghost.
What? Mother? And you finally see, like, her at the end, and she’s trying to convince the kids to jump off a cliff with her and, like. And then the real mom steps in and, like, tries to save them and shoves mother off because she didn’t believe the kids that there is this those. That’s what it kind of reminds me of.
It’s like almost like that power battle of like she won a new kid to come with her. That’s pretty great. Like, what is this movie called? I have to say, her mother. I don’t think it is. I don’t think so. I’d have to look it up. You’re gonna find this because I’m creeped out, Yeah, it’s pretty good.
Juddson:
That’s what that reminds me of. And. Yeah, it’s. That sounds like a better story than the one I just read. It’s like a it’s like a multiple two hour movie, but I’ll watch it. Oh, yeah, I got you. I mean, it has more detailed in mind, but no, that that it is, it is pretty creepy, I think. Like, it’s still just still the unknown of, like, not being able to see something or just something’s watching you.
I don’t like that in that makes you feel now I’m worried that something’s a watch. Oh no. No. He look over your shoulder. You’re like, wait a minute. This this is getting scary. I’m just scared being here, okay? This one’s called under the bed. This air conditioner turns on. Nuh. If it gets old and goes around okay. Under the bed.
A young boy sleeping in his bed on a usual night. He hears footsteps outside his door and peeks out of his eyes to see what is happening. His door swings open quietly to reveal a murderer tearing the corpses as corpses of his parents. After silently propping them up on a chair, he writes something on the wall in the blood of the dead bodies and then hides under the child’s bed.
The child is scared beyond belief. He can’t read the writing on the wall, and he knows the man is under his bed. Like any child, he pretends that he slept through the whole thing and hasn’t awoken yet. He lay still as the body is quietly hearing. He lay still as the bodies, quietly hearing the breaths, breaths from under his bed.
An hour passes and his eyes are adjusting more and more to the darkness. He tries to make out the words, but it’s a struggle, he guess when he finally makes out the sentence, I know you’re awake, he feels something shift under the bed. That was creepy. That was. Yeah, again, just like sitting there knowing like you’re being even if you’re not, like, necessarily being watched.
Like he just knows it’s. And it’s been like waiting. It’s like the waiting game. Like he could have, you know, hurt the kid or anything before. But no, it’s just that torment. It’s kind of like the one of the earlier stories. It’s like now you’re just stuck under the bed. But this kid, he’s just stuck in his bed.
Brooklyn:
Yeah. What do you do you can’t get up on? What is he going to do? Like scream? There’s nobody else. And when does he go? Like, okay, so this guy knows that I’m. I’m here and he knows I’m awake. He knows I know what happened. What do I do next? Yeah. You just lay there or do you just kind of just like, alright, here we go.
Step off the bed, let it happen. Like, just try to jump really hard and make the bag collapse onto the guy. And then when he’s trying to get up, then you run. That’s when you hope for, like, a really poorly made bed. Yeah. It depends on, if your parents are poor or not. So it sounds like bed frames, like, sound like overrated.
Juddson:
At this point. I just need, like, a mattress on the ground. Now, I don’t think I need any room underneath my bed. Too many options for creepy things to happen. Okay, so this is the last of the, like, creepy stories that aren’t about Abilene. And this is one that I had, ChatGPT create about Bloody Mary. Okay, you’ve heard the legend of Bloody Mary say Bloody Mary in the mirror three times or whatever in the dark, and something happens.
So this is the story of Bloody Mary. Gather around everyone and let me take you on a spine chilling journey into the legend of Bloody Mary. It’s a tale passed down through generations, whispered in hushed tones around campfire ears or stairwells like this one. Once upon a time, in a small, fog laden village, there lived a young woman named Mary.
She was known far and wide for her beauty and grace, with long, flowing hair and a smile that could light up the darkest the days. But beauty often brings envy, and Mary was no exception. The other villagers, particularly the women, grew increasingly jealous of her charm. One fateful autumn evening during the village’s harvest festival, a terrible storm swept through.
The villagers sought shelter, but not before they noticed Mary standing alone, seemingly unbothered by the raging winds. That’s when the whispers began. Some claimed she was a witch, using dark magic to draw the storm upon them. Fueled by fear and jealousy, a group of villagers confronted her. They accused her of witchcraft, claiming she had cursed the village and summoned to the storm.
Mary horrified and bewildered, pleaded for her innocence, but the villagers were blinded by rage. They dragged her to the edge of the woods, where an ancient oak stood. Its gnarled branches reaching out like skeletal fingers and the heart of the night under the eerie glow of the moon. They pronounced her guilty with tears streaming down her face. Mary cried out for mercy, but it fell on deaf ears as they executed her.
She vowed revenge, swearing that anyone who dared to summon her name would face her wrath. From that night on, whispers of her spirit began to circulate. It was said that Mary returned to her ghost haunting mirrors, seeking those who would dare to call her the tale morphed into a ritual. If you wanted to summon her, you had to stand alone in a dark room, facing a mirror.
One night, a group of friends decided to put the legend to the test. Armed with only a flashlight and their bravado, they ventured into an old, decrepit home rumored to be Mary’s last resting place. The air was thick with anticipation as they made their way to the bathroom, the walls creaking around them, the moonlight barely illuminated the dust covered mirror.
As they gathered around. They exchanged nervous glances, the privado quickly, quickly fading. Are we really doing this? One of the asked. It’s just a story, right? But they all knew deep down that something dark lurked in the shadows with a shaky voice. The bravest of them again. Bloody Mary, bloody Mary, Bloody Mary. They held their breath, waiting for something to happen.
The air grew colder in. The silence was palpable. Then suddenly a chilling gust of wind swept through the room, extinguishing their flashlight. In the darkness, panic set in. They stumbled to turn the lights back on. But when they finally did, they saw the shadowy figure standing in the mirror, her face gaunt and twisted, eyes filled with rage and sorrow.
They screamed and stumbled back, tripping over each other in their hassled to escape. But it wasn’t over.
As they fled the house, one of their friends, who had been the first to call her name, felt an icy grip on her arm. It pulled her back and she turned to see Mary’s face, now inches away, whispering secrets of despair.
You summoned me? The spirit hissed, her voice echoing in the night. Desperate, the friends pulled her friend free and they ran into the night, never looking back. They never spoke of what happened that night, but from then on they were haunted by Mary’s whispers. Some nights they would hear her name carried on the wind, a reminder of the price they paid for their bravery or foolishness.
So if you ever find yourself alone in front of the mirror, remember Mary’s tale. Just three simple words. Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary. And you might just find out what awaits on the other side. But beware, once you call her, there’s no turning back. That’s pretty good for an I like. Yeah, I think we should just let it out, write our books.
What’s interesting is that the true, like, origin of Bloody Mary.
Brooklyn:
Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think it just elaborated on the story a little bit like, almost like kind of went Salem witch trials. We’re saying Bloody Mary in this house in a mirror. Okay. So that was one thing when I said earlier like, you know, haunt me, I want it to happen.
This is one thing I tried so many times as a kid because I wanted to see what Bloody Mary was, is you realize that was still you, right? I mean, what if it was real? What is he screwed up. He’s still here, so I guess I’m still here. So. But, like, you know, I think back in elementary, junior high and stuff, like, when I first heard it, it was like, oh, you’re going to get, like, scratches on your back or something.
Yeah. I think I still need to hear. Yeah. It was like the scratches and you know, people come to school or you know, oh well, I have scratches on my back and I’m like, that’s a problem that that’s a problem. You also have a cat. Yeah. And I’m like, oh, it’s all like, I would sit in the bathroom like I did it with friends.
I did it alone. I was like, Bloody Mary because I wanted to see something cool. Like seven year old. Yeah, yeah. Just like I hope she haunts me. Well, I just wanted to see what had happened. Like, scratches will heal, right? You know, like, that was my mentality. You’re crazy, I like it. But she was going to do that.
It was one of those things, you know, I just thought it’d be cool. Like, I could say that I got haunted. I got haunted by Bloody Mary. Like I’ve never broken a bone. Like I want to just say I have, you know, I’ve done it. And I mean and say I have, and it doesn’t make me any better.
No, I don’t think it’s like, necessarily cool, but, you know, like, it’s just that curiosity. Let’s see if we can summon her tonight.
Juddson:
Okay. These are a couple of stories just from the local, legends here. About 5 or 6 stories. Very short. And then we are going to take a quick tour around the house. All right, so this one is about the Hotel Wooten. Have you heard of hotel? You don’t know what that is. It’s a hotel downtown. It’s an apartment building now, the Hotel Wooten was built in 1931 and known for many years as the tallest building between El Paso and Fort Worth. They closed in 1960. Reopening three years later is the Abilene Towers Apartments. Since then, many residents and visitors at the Abilene Towers Apartments have reported paranormal encounters.
One such story is of a woman dressed in the 1930s fashions who wanders the halls. Others say they heard voices, whispers or saw a bellhop standing by the front door late at night. And no, I’m not getting a creepy scale on these. These are just interesting things about Abilene. The Paramount Theater. You’ve been to the Paramount. The Paramount Theater was constructed in 1930 as a part of the H.O. Wooten Empire.
Right around the corner from the Hotel Wooten Room. Murder story named it. They named it the Paramount to liken it to the famous motion picture studios. It is said that three ghosts are living within the theater one an elderly gentleman smoking a cigar, one an usher who worked in the theater, and one a woman dressed in white. Have you ever seen any ghosts?
Brooklyn:
It’s the Paramount. I have not. I’ve never looked either. Yeah, I don’t think I’ve really looked around. I think I’m going to have to. Maybe we need to do a paranormal investigation and Paramount ring Ghostbusters now. Yeah, I think that’s what we’re going to start doing on the side. We’re going to get cool jackets and everything. Yeah. Yep. We’ll start a new project.
Oh, load. The buster heads, the ghost finders the ghost. I know we’re not busting them or anything. We’re just going to find them and leave him alone. The ghost identifiers. Yeah, I’m just like, oh. Yep. There they are. They’re here. We found you. Okay, this is Minter mansion. The Minter mansion was built by Will and Mabel Minter in the early 1900s at 340 Beech Street.
Will started his Minter Dry goods store in downtown Abilene. And Mabel was a school teacher or was a schoolteacher. Sorry. The home remained in the family until the mid 1960s. In 1974, when the building was being remodeled to accommodate an architectural firm, the first reports of paranormal activity came in. A couple of workers working late into the night reported seeing a ghostly woman on the second floor.
The two men fled and vowed never to return. I don’t even know where this is. I mean, I know where Beach Street is, I know where a you dismissal does Minter cross wood beach where there’s just they’re just mentioning the name of it because there’s Minter Street here too. Yeah, there’s Minter Lane. Yeah. With Honors Beach. Yeah, I don’t know.
I might have to drive by. Yeah. See if we can see the ghost. Okay. The Weather Bureau building, 1482 North first Street, a former chief meteorologist fell down the stairs and died one stormy night. Employees now reported hearing someone falling in. This activity increases during severe weather.
Brooklyn:
That’s pretty creepy. I feel like got to be embarrassed. Is that ghost like?
Can you imagine, like your worst moments just being replayed, right? I have to fall down forever and make this stupid sound, right? Like, just like, oh, here we go again. It’s the storm. It’s 7:34. You know, that would be funny.
Producer Brian Michaelz:
So allegedly, the door is outside, actually, to get down to the basement. And that’s how he had to go. So hence the weather made it treacherous for him to even go outside. But as the weather bureau, he had to. And when he went downstairs, of course, it was also like and left in the rain. And that’s what the legend says.
Juddson:
That’s pretty cool. That’s pretty interesting. All right. We’ve got lots of buildings to explore because I only put half of these in here. Okay, this is interesting. This is the last one. And this is our, I don’t want to say never mind. I really screwed it up. Okay. Ghost of Phantom Hill. It’s all right. There’s lots of houses. That’s true. 30 years before the city was founded, an apparition was said to have appeared to soldiers stationed at a new fort just north of present day Abilene.
When legend holds that while soldiers were sitting around a campfire one night, they saw a tall white figure, a phantom on the hill, one yelled out, A legend! And a name for the new fort was born. Even today, the remains of Fort Phantom and the lake and cemetery that bird’s name are said to be haunted by the lady of the lake, who searches for the shoreline for her long lost love.
A team of ghost hunters from Central Texas ghost Search. They try to cut in on our territory, even set up their ghost detecting equipment at the fort. On Halloween 2008, they were certain their reporters captured an otherworldly sound of a man grumbling, get out of here! And a woman asking, why did you say that? That story. So that’s Fort Phantom Hill, the Phantom of Fort till it’s kind of creepy out there.
Like, honestly. Yeah. These random days, like you’ve been driving in this morning, like, there is fog and like it out of nowhere. Maybe, probably just because of the water, right? I mean, yeah, because it, like, it’ll come across like the bridges and stuff. Kind of like out towards the cow pastures and it’s, it’s kind of interesting, like where they accumulate weird.
Well, so, we could go on and on. I mean, I found thousands of stories, this, couple dozen stories just about things in Abilene. It sounds like we need to do a haunted tour of Abilene, because that sounds awesome. I’d be pretty cool.
Brooklyn:
I think we’re going to have to do that someday. Those sliders. Because there’s a lot of the lame, like, like a group of people.
We’re the ghost finders. I can make t-shirts. Or is it just going to be regular bold print that just says ghost finders? I mean, not anymore.
Juddson:
It’s going to be black print on a white t shirt. Ghost riders oh, work a new idea. In fact, you should make it really small. Tailored like small as you can.
It’s theirs. Anyway, it’s we’re we’re going to workshop the name for sure, but I think, Yeah, we might have to start a new paranormal investigation team. I think that’ll be a fun podcast. Like Travel the City with us. Like as we find ghost. It’s a mobile podcast. It would be cool. We’d have to come up with a pretty good set up, and then we can, like, turn.
The screen’s like a weird greenish gray color to make it really spooky. Don’t tell the secret that only happens in the ghost. Okay, so, I think it’s time for us to get set for our, tour of the Swenson house. So we’re going to break right here. Hey, guys, today on EMTalk, we’re at the Swenson house, and I’m with Brooke, and we’re going to go in and we’re going to get a tour of this historic swing and have us.
Tour Guide:
Hello. Hi. Welcome to the Swinson House and talk. Thank you for joining us.
Juddson:
So this is the Swenson House. As you can see, they’re all decorated up. And Tina. Correct? Yes. I will let Tina explain what’s going on. And she shows us around.
Tour Guide:
We’re going to start in the library. This was Mr. Swenson’s office and as you can see, were decorated for Halloween purposes and stairs. And in this room right here behind the skeleton, is a reading nook. Oh, wow. It has a lot of artifacts from all over the world that Mr.Swenson collected.
Juddson:
I thought this is a window back behind here.
Tour Guide:
There are mission store windows behind that. Awesome. Helpful. And the theme is obviously Tim Burton’s Tim Burton movies. And then we come in here and of course we have the mud room. When you walk in, it will pull up under the portico and then you would come in through this way into the house. And that’s the side door.
Oh, next to the screen door. Yes. The front screen. This is the dining room. Yeah. This room is really a lot different than you are going to be in nowadays. If you’re on one side of the main, like right here, I’ve been talking a little bit on this, and you can hear me on the other side of the room because of the way it’s shaped.
Yes. Oh, okay. And then, he had, the, I can’t think of it. Well, it has double-framed and glass windows similar to the house. And the radiators were custom-made so that the beach stays warm. And in the winter, the family gets their Christmas tree here, and the kids could sit right there on that and then stay warm during the winter.
All that down there is radiator hose already. I guess this is the north wall, so it’s going to be cold. Wow. But it would stay warm. This is a restaurant. This is an absolute candy display. A lot of the turn of the, from their home. There is a massive cookie jar made from the 18th century that will usually have on display right here on the table that we’re seeing.
Right? Right. I think it was. And Miss Simpson did a lot of, painting, and we have all that put away. She put it on porcelain. He would sink or something, and, pass, and then she would pay card again. Oh. And this is the butler’s pantry. Okay. And then if you come in here, this would be the kitchen.
This this stove was put in in 1941. So it’s newer, but it’s very similar. It has one of the original pop pots in it. And, we use this the pantry is here. We can’t get through to it. And this is a laundry chute. And. Oh, wow. And it goes all the way down. And I’ll show you when we go upstairs.
The rest are just the other. Close down their linens and and things like that. They. You just drop them. Wow. This goes to the basement. Why? That’s not pretty. And the original boiler is still down here. If you would like to go down in the basement and see if it’s bursting, do you want to risk the basement?
I wouldn’t think so. That’s be hard room humor. Yeah, but that is really creepy and original. Icebox. Yes, yes, I saw outside when we pulled it up was the little box icebox. Wow. Right here. So that’s what they would use. And so. Yes. And the door for the ice is right outside there. And they would just drop it in.
Wow. That’s very good. This thing that is storage for storage. That’s easy because there’s a lot of storage. Mr. Swenson was really clever when he made this house that he designed the whole thing. He did. And, Preston, is the man that, built it. And 19. It was finished in 1910, 1910. Okay, cool. So it’s actually only if you look up and say, I’ll show you outside.
It’s listed in the Register of 1910. Inventions. Oh, so, like he got it as soon as it came out. That’s awesome. And this was the breakfast here. Here. That right here. He brought the Texas utilities to Abilene. And this is not connected, but this is the sucker or ice breaker that he had installed. Wow. And he was, Citizens National Bank with Texas Utilities, Saint Paul, you know, the Methodist church, electric rail cars.
He was quite a progressive man. Yeah, there was electricity in the house, so. He he did all of that. He also this was the, breakfast nook at the time. It’s an awful sound, but we feel like it was probably just screamed all the way around. And then they enclosed it in 1928 when they remodeled the house.
Okay, they just sit out here and feel the air and and the breakfast would be put up there, and then they could sit here and they look and say, wow, I and of course storage under the stairs. And then this was the Swenson’s phone right here that is not hooked up. It is not hooked up, but it has rang before.
And this is that’s cool. That’s an old granary. Some, this I used to say that that works a very short ceiling. Yes. So you’re right. You could barely go in there. Sure. Yeah. Right here. And the staircase goes up.
Looks like it was right. Is this, like old furniture? Yeah. Most of the furniture in the house. It’s original. The radiator, of course, it’s in all the rooms is radiators. And we usually have a different display here, but this is how they were decorated in the night before Christmas. Awesome.
Wallpaper. You see all the things over? Shiplap. Oh, wow. I bet that looks cool. Mean they look for the seats and then we go to the living room. Oh, awesome. Okay, this tree this year this one was added on in 1948. In the room that renovation Mr. Thompson had cost for his four kids and himself and his wife.
room.
Juddson:
When was heating and air added? Well, the heat’s been here all along with the boiler room. Then it was cold, and then it was natural gas, and then it was air conditioning. I’m not sure if it was here in 1981, when the house was given to the preservation lady.
This is Mr. Swenson’s room. Of course, Mrs. Swenson and his rooms adjoin, and we display replicas, usually in this cabinet of preservation, like historic buildings like the Paramount Theater and the TNP building, where the visitor center is. We usually have those lit up in that one. Well, so they had adjoining room, so they did not sleep in the same room.
It doesn’t look at these pictures on the wall are from Mr. Swenson to have while he was on vacation. They, got in their car. They went to Yellowstone and they would camp out on a farmer’s property. And the next day that farmer would cook them breakfast and they would be on their way. No motels never met.
These were like these. These are corporations. Yeah. Yes. Is is safe on your property? It’s. Yes. I love that it will light up and at night you can see it right here. It’s really pretty. But during the day it doesn’t show it’s much. It is really nice. So it’s covered though it is okay. And when the bulbs allow they actually like it looks like they go in the attic and change the bulbs.
That’s there guys, you see that here? You can see it. It falls is really admired there. So it’s a replica of the walls at the courthouse Palace in Denver, Colorado. Okay, so it’s a small miniature of it, but when you walk on the ground, tell us on. And so we thank them closely enough. So if you’re something else, you can pray without using.
Oh, it was just it was, this is the Amish herd now. Carl, his, Mr. Swenson son. This was his bedroom, and it’s pretty dark in here right now, but he came to live in the house. He never did marry. He was, the junior. The older one was not junior. He married, Cox into the Cox department store in Fort Worth area.
Okay. But the, younger one was Earl Swenson junior, and this was his room. We call it the pink flamingo bathroom. And what’s really neat is the, fixtures in the shower. Well, there’s five different frames. And for 1910, when they put those in, that was a mason because it cost $700 to put it in and in that time period.
So you can imagine what that would cost. And that’s amazing. And then is what is this is this was well, this is, loose, this is, ceramic. So this is Lucite, and it had just been invented, and Mr. Clinton had a toilet seat and this slide, it’s made out like that. This is a Spanish mission truck for windows, but in here and it’s original in the wallpaper.
You gotta wonder if when people are designing bathrooms with this kind of wallpaper, whether what they’re thinking about. I would put this wallpaper in. I mean, I’m not saying it’s bad. It’s a nice color. And then you ever, he and his two younger sisters used his bedroom for a time, and after he moved out and then came back, and then down here, we have another bedroom on Auckland.
One of the sisters lived in it. And as we walk by, I want you to notice this wallpaper. Its original to the house. It has a foundation on it. You can touch it. You see that?
And this room is all decorated. Would you want to turn the light on? Yeah, I think actually we’ve got. And everyone needs this bedroom. It has a built in, and it is something you might have noticed when we were, going upstairs and right around the, To look out the back patio, there were these six bedroom windows.
There’s a long bench seat under that one also, and a built in bookcase. Mr. Swenson has lots and lots of storage built in this house where he did it, which I assume wasn’t really something that happened a way it wasn’t common. And the closets are large and down here you would think a broom closet, 1 or 2 sets of clothes.
But the closets are large and they have hangings for both sides. Oh wow. Exactly. That’s the bookcase. To hide some other place, of course. And then, of course, we have linen storage. Here is the linen closet.
This is the laundry shoot I was showing you. He goes all the way to the basement.
To get it open, they would drop the laundry down from upstairs, from the kitchen, and it would all go into the basement. And let’s keep going. It was a long ways down. It was a long way. I could see down here this is the night room or the sewing room? The attic of the man came in to change.
The filter is up there. So he was climbing in and out of that. He climbed up. Oh, well. This is his ship. But this one’s going to show you. It’s in the living room. Because we were having the wallpaper reproduced in the living room. It’s really beautiful. This wallpaper. Start in the. Then this is the shiplap and they just put the paper on it.
They did the same with the ceiling. So we’ve had some of the tiles redone in the entryway in the foyer, because it was just paper that had gotten wet and it was attached to the shiplap when it’s been redone. That’s awesome. That look that in that. What’s go back to this is to get to the bathtub, the plumbing in this bathroom right over here.
Oh, wow. So that you don’t have to put a hole in the wall to put a door. That was probably a good idea. Mr. Swenson was really smart guy.
And I’ll show you this bathroom. This is, the yellow that, you know, and we had a problem getting, plumbers. We can’t get one to repair it because the plumbing mechanism to flush that is usually at the bottom, and these are inside. And so the water comes through the in the top of it instead of the bottom.
So we can’t find the correct pieces and everything to get repairs that they do work so that the office open again. He has another reason. Oh, and this is another one where to find all the shower shower heads was well. And this is where in the laughter in this here. So to warm the bathroom in the winter.
And we’re going to go to our left so we can go down the grand staircase.
This little lady right here and the fun, fun. But we didn’t want anything to happen to her, so we brought her inside. So she said she was in that pond. Was it? Is it runs or it’s. Wow. It’s awesome. Right?
These are original recipe. I don’t think there is really no problem. So let’s keep walking all over. This is all the same.
And this is the internal. It’s a piano room. Our living room is a baby grand piano right here. And this is just the wallpaper has been pulled down. It is on border. It came in. It was too feet and it has been sent back. But it has a beautiful opening on the tree. So that leaves you,
It’s open. We have to make logs in our place with this button. It is interesting that Mr. Clinton is bringing electricity. Most of the light switches in this house—if they haven’t been redone—he had these pushbutton takes. This. And he has installed copper plates all through the house.
And that this part over here before the house was built that it was a nursery. And then the next you can see the wallpaper was kind of back there. You can see the nursery rhyme and they’re all playing, a merry go round. If you had, you not seen that and announced that glass example house one, I believe it is because it matches the front windows, which you can’t really see right now, but.
And this is the last frame in the house. I’ll show you this one. This was the patio. And what I did was I close and when I did the remodel in 2012, the, the house was re, inspected and leveled and made sure that everything was. Now it’s in about 2009 to 2007. But you can have this right here when you look at this place down.
But it is level now. So it’s a curious thing to look at, but you may not notice it unless you know, it’s pointed out to you. And again, you have a storage in here. This is right on the east. We have more storage and then we have another front door. And we have storage here.
This is a problem. This. Is the file for housing that there was. No that’s okay. So, part of you said
people can rent the Swanson house for a month. And how does that work? Okay, we have
contracts. You can rent it. It’s a $250 deposit, 120 half an hour. We have someone that will come
in and do the dishes and clean it up and everything.
When you’re finished, there’s an attendant here the whole time during the party that you have. We do weddings, baby showers, gravel showers, sorority events, office and club parties, and club parties. We do all kinds of things outside and inside the house.
Juddson:
That’s awesome. And you guys do regular tours like the one you just gave us?
Tour Guide:
We do tours. Our tours are $15 a person also, and some tours lasts an hour and something lasts a little bit longer. Depends on how much information you want to learn. Why you just keep all that up here? A lot of it is all up here. We do have a video that you can watch when you get here that takes about 5 to 10 minutes and has a lot of the history.
Juddson:
That’s awesome. So, a lot of times these historical places are a part of, like, a group of historical things. Or is it this one on its own or.
Tour Guide:
In 2018, it was separated from the Preservation League. We now have our own charter to be the historical society. So we have a lot of events each year. We just had one for, I’m trying to think it was in September. This year, we had three murder mystery dinners, a token party, and a cat that’s in the spring and the token party in the cat that are free to the public.
They’re open to the public. And we have vendors here. We have open hand. Our house is open at Christmas. You can pay to come in and tour it. We have Christmas trees in every room. They’re all decorated differently. And we have a really tall one that’s at least 12ft tall. That goes right here. And then, we’ve done some hot dog socials for the community, and we just, we try to do a lot of community activities.
Juddson:
It sounds like it. Yes. We like schools to come see us, too. I know, so I, you know, I’ve never been here. But then as we started to walk around, I started to get this memory of when I was in elementary school, I think our school came here because I remember the ice door.
And so, I, I remember doing that and, it’s just been a long time since I’ve seen it really cool. So it brought back memories. It was fun. Well, we appreciate you letting us use this. And if they wanted, if anybody wanted to get ahold of you, how would they do that? To be able to rent it.
We have a website under Swenson House, and we also have phone numbers on the website at the front door. It’s posted.
We do not usually have someone here during the day, but they can call that number or visit the website or Facebook. We also have an Instagram account.
Juddson:
Well, thank you so much.
Narrator:
True stories about saving lives from the people that save them. This is EMTalk. EMTalk is sponsored by Texas EMS School. Join Judson Smith again next time because the life he’s saving, could be yours.