For some, Halloween is more than costumes, horror stories, and candy, but for others, Halloween is all that and more. On this holiday, people love to seek out frightening activities, stories, costumes, parties, and so on. In honor of Halloween, this story will touch on some of the haunting, mysterious, and spooky stories right here in Enid and Garfield County. And who better to dive into these stories than the authors of Haunted Garfield County, Oklahoma.
Tammy Wilson is a local resident here in Enid, and she’s known by many. For those who don’t know her, she’s a former City Commissioner, and she currently owns and runs Jezebel’s Emporium & Tea Room, which doesn’t mention the many other hats she also wears. In addition to Tammy, Jeff Provine helped tell the haunted stories of Garfield County. Jeff is an author and professor local to Oklahoma, and his previous publishing aren’t limited to just Garfield County. His Haunted series also touches on Oklahoma City, Shawnee, Guthrie, and Norman, and he has other works as well.
When it comes to hauntings, paranormal activity, and the supernatural, many are skeptical while others believe in it wholeheartedly. Tammy has always had a fascination for mystery and anything spooky, and her interests reflected that. Whether reading ghost stories or folktales, she’s always been drawn to stories of the “unknown.” After she was married, she lived in a house where a lot of strange things occurred, and her interest for exploring and investigating haunted places was born. With that being said, it’s important to mention her feelings towards the unknown. She states, “While I do believe there are a lot of unexplainable things that happen, I also have a healthy amount of skepticism.”
As for Jeff and his fascination with the unknown/paranormal, he states, “I’ve always been fascinated by the paranormal and strange… It’s the ‘what if’ that really intrigues me.” As a middle-schooler, he spent a summer reading the Enid Public Library’s collections of fairy tales and fables, which later turned into bigger collections. When it comes to his beliefs, he shares, “I’ve interviewed so many people who have had similar experiences and no reason to lie that there is certainly something going on. My favorites are the people who specifically say, ‘I don’t believe in ghosts, but…’”. After all, any healthy beliefs or fascination come with a decent amount of skepticism.
The Haunted Garfield County, Oklahoma, book covers unusual stories about places in Garfield County, but it also touches on a good deal of history on the area. And the book is backed by a lot of research, in addition to collections of stories and legends Tammy has collected from community members over time. With her collection of stories and his research, Haunted Garfield County, Oklahoma, was created.
For Tammy, the notable stories in the book that are most interesting and active are the ones surrounding the Gaslight Theatre, The Spot, and the Paramount Realty building. For Jeff, the John Wilkes Booth legend, Imo Cemetery, elevator-repairmen at the Knox Building, and Gaslight Theatre are some of the more interesting stories. The book also covers some of Enid’s other notable hauntings, like the Broadway Tower, the Alton Mercantile, and more. The chapters correlating to the photos included in this month’s cover story are Ghost Signs at Alton Mercantile, Broadway Tower of Terror, Dead Man’s Cave, Morbid: The Haunted Museum, Barside Tales, Murder Three Times: The Corner of Grand and Broadway, and Dollie Douthitt.
Gaslight Theatre has undergone many changes, names, and owners, until being bought by Gaslight Theatre in 1989. Originally owned by Walter S. Billings, the building was sold at a sheriff’s sale in November 1921 to his mother, Henrietta. It was ravaged by a fire in November of 1922. After the fire, Henrietta rebuilt the Theatre into a one-story motion picture playhouse with apartments on the second floor. Henrietta lived in the apartments until she passed, and she passed in the building from an illness in November of 1933.
Per the book, “It turns out that almost everyone who has spent any amount of time in the theater has at least one ghost story.” The tech booth has been a place of mystery and dread for many. Some have heard footsteps and talking from voices upstairs, when they knew no one was there, and others have heard knocks from the booth. On two separate occasions, people recall hearing knocks in the tech booth. For one instance, two men, who weren’t likely to be sharing ghost stories, opened the door after hearing the knock to see who was on the other side, only to be greeted by nothing. On another occasion, a set of castmates heard knocks, too, but they stood firm on not wanting to see who was on the other side. According to the book, “Many troupe members have stories of seeing the man in the tech booth, standing there and watching. Everyone describes it as unsettling at best.”
Another mysterious instance that is known to be rather common is hearing a woman singing or music from a piano coming from the stage, which Jeff himself has heard. However, there is no piano in the auditorium. And being that it is a theatre that performs musicals from time to time, singing isn’t out of the ordinary. However, hearing singing when no one else is there with you is out of the ordinary, to say the least. And more than once, cast and crew members have heard the singing only to be stunned when finding out no one was there.
As to why Gaslight Theatre may be so active and mysterious, the book mentions a couple of different theories, including how theatres are considered “liminal spaces.” The book continues with, “Theaters exist between the real world and the world of make-believe…” and goes on to refer to such spaces as “in-between spaces.” Perhaps mixing reality with fiction allows ghosts and other entities to mix their own versions of reality and fiction. Other theories suggest that theatre people are lively and exuberant, and as such, they are just as lively in the afterlife. Theatres are also home to numerous donations and random finds, so perhaps some of the items have spirits or ghosts attached to them. Whatever the reason may be, it’s safe to say that the Gaslight Theatre ghost(s) seem to like to put on a show, too.
When asked about the scariest thing she’s seen or heard of in Enid, Tammy refers to a story called ‘Granny’s House’ in the book. She used to live in a big house on Broadway that was built in 1910. The house had a few different owners before the Johnson family acquired it in 1956. Dr. and Mrs. Johnson lived in the home with one of their daughters. Their daughters were identical twins, but only one of them lived at home as the other had a home and family of her own. The family knew the house as “Granny’s House,” and over time, Dr. Johnson, Mrs. Johnson, and their daughter passed away. Jayne, the twin with her own family, was the only survivor from their immediate family for some time. Over the years, several members of their family have claimed to have heard and seen things they can’t explain.
In 1996, Tammy and her husband moved into the home after Jayne had inherited it – Jayne was Tammy’s step-grandmother. Whilst living at ‘Granny’s House,’ Tammy and her husband welcomed two children. When her second daughter was born, they moved her first daughter into Jeanne’s old room, Jayne’s twin who had passed away. Tammy’s daughter spent a good amount of time with her “Nana Jayne,” as she called her. According to the book, “One summer day when the baby was about eighteen months old, she was sitting on the bed in her room. The child looked up at the doorway as if someone had just walked into the room and said, ‘Hi. Hi, Nana Jayne.’” However, no one was there. Years later, that same child woke up one night, and she stated that someone had come in and sat on her bed and woke her up. She began to have bad dreams and no longer wanted to sleep in there, but all she’d mention about her dreams was that there was a scary man at the bottom of the stairs.
Time went on, and one night, Tammy woke in the middle of the night to the sounds of sobbing. After investigating the house and waking her husband, they found nothing and returned to bed. The next morning she’d asked her family about the sobs, to which they responded that Jeanne had a fiancé who’d been killed in a car accident, and she spent quite a bit of time crying over him. Time went on, and their family sold the house, which meant they had to move. Her daughter’s bad dreams stopped, and the house remained unoccupied for about a year. They eventually offered to buy the house and decided to remodel it before moving back in. While it was unoccupied, Tammy’s friends and family had frequented the house for odds and ends here and there, and they all had their own experiences and stories to tell. Eventually, Tammy had an experience of her own that involved overpowering feelings of unease. As a result, she hired a paranormal investigation team.
When the investigators conducted their investigation, they recorded a women saying, “Hello,” the same way Jayne had said it. And while the house had been unoccupied, Jayne had passed away. The recording resembled her voice so much it brought family members to tears. The team was able to verify their claims that the house was possibly haunted, but they didn’t feel as if there was anything threatening to it. Years later, the house was sold to family friends, and they still experience ghosts at ‘Granny’s House.’
When asked about the scariest thing Jeff had heard of in Enid/Garfield County, he mentions the chapter titled, ‘Black Bear’s Dark Figures.’ In 1893, more than 100 towns were founded on a single day. As time progressed, more and more of the towns became ghost towns. Today, there is a cemetery named Baldwin Cemetery northeast of Covington, although it is most commonly known as “Black Bear Cemetery” due to the creek that runs near it. A deserted church is located across the road, although it may not be as deserted as it appears.
Over time, an interest in different religions grew, and people began experimenting with darker arts. One of the darker arts that was practiced included performing rites in places that were once-consecrated. Some mention rumors that the church was shut down due to choices and paths they took, but one thing that isn’t up for debate is what continues to be found at the church. According to the book, “To this day at this old church, animal bones are said to be found in the midst of freshly blackened spots on pillars and concrete where sacrifices took place.” Said rituals are alleged to have invited “something dark” to the area. The site has become quite interesting to those interested in the paranormal and unknown. The book goes on to state, “Numerous paranormal investigators, including researchers and authors Cathy Nance, Logan Corelli and Mike Ricksecker, have been to the site collecting photographs, video and audio recordings and chilling personal experiences.” From faces in the windows in photos and orbs to EVPs from the basement catching a whispered, “You shouldn’t be here,” some things truly can’t be explained. The book continues and mentions that in the basement, some have been touched, scratched, and even struck. One person even claimed to have been pushed, and he was pushed hard enough to have fallen feet from where he was standing.
However, those instances aren’t even what the church is most famous for. It is most famous for the dark figures that loom over the area. Some have seen figures that resemble humans, but the most frightening figure mentioned is called a “crawler,” which, according to the book, is “a term used by investigators for a human-sized visible entity that scampers low on long limbs.” Jeff states, “The spooky stories at the old Black Bear Church certainly make me break out in goosebumps. Creepy crawlers, shadows, unseen forces knocking people over… yikes!” The book continues with, “Beyond straying on their own, the spirits can follow those who visit. Visitors who have gotten terrible feelings, even crying and vomiting from the stress, said that the invading darkness continued even elsewhere until they underwent cleansing…” From investigators to visitors, those who visit this area don’t seem to be alone.
Haunted Garfield County, Oklahoma, is a book full of stories about the mysterious and unknown surrounding Enid and Garfield County. If you want to learn more about the mysteries surrounding our town, it’s a great place to start! With Halloween right around the corner, Haunted Garfield County, Oklahoma, is sure to make you feel in the spooky season!
