Allegan Lodge Investigation

This beautiful Greek revival structure was built in 1909 and began its existence as the John Robinson Hospital in Allegan, Michigan. Al Capone is reported to have used its services. It was used as a psychiatric and TB hospital until its closure in 1948. It changed hands many times and did remain vacant for a time until it was purchased as a lodge for the Elks in 1961 and then bought by Shelia Deever in June 2010. She has been attempting to fix up the place.

There were many deaths while it was a hospital, I was able to come up with two names in my search: Effie Mabel Reynolds (born 30 Mar 1882, Saugatuck, Allegan, MI; died 19 Oct 1913 John Robinson Hospital and Joseph Heisel died 25 May 1910 at the hospital. Mr. Heisel was with Co. E 21^st Michigan Infantry Volunteers and was interred in Oakwood Cemetery.)

Located at 701 Marshall Ave, Allegan, MI. 49010-1635 (Off M-89)

Phone: 269-673-5656

Owner: Shelia Deever, Innkeeper of Allegan Country Inn

Hauntings: For many years, stories of spirits who restlessly roam the building have been told by employees and visitors. Some of the activity experienced here include: cabinets opening up by themselves in the kitchen, sounds of children laughing, photographic anomalies captured throughout the building, shadow figures in the basement where the morgue was located, indiscernible conversations, knocking on the front door and ringing of the doorbell when no one was present, footsteps, sound of hospital activity long after being used as one, full bodied apparitions of children. Shelia was even slapped in the face, and had her ear pinched and glasses displaced on one occasion.

Equipment setup: I simply used handheld equipment on this investigation due to the amount of people that were in the building coupled by the noise of walking up and down stairs and groups talking and conducting EVP sessions.

I took digital pictures, digital trap camera pictures, shot some Nightshot and full spectrum video and employed the Ovilus PX in the basement in conjunction with another groups EVP session. The EM Vortex was also used as an EM Pump. The full spectrum camera with wide spectrum illuminator was used on the main floor area during an EVP session but I wasn’t too impressed by the range of the illuminator. While I was able to see the UV illuminator on the nearby walls, the camera however was unable to focus or pick up the UV light.

I also used my digital tape recorder to record EVP sessions.

The Ghost Research Society investigated Allegan Lodge on March 19, 2011. Team members included: Dale Kaczmarek with help from Kass Hillard.

Personal Experiences: I did begin to get a pounding headache when I walked into the main floor’s kitchen area where a large ice maker was located. I immediately swept the area with the Tri-Field Natural EM Meter and found absolutely no trace of meter fluctuations or anomalous readings that would account for my symptoms. When I left the room, my headache slowly subsided.

Evidence collected: Most of the evidence collected was in the form of responses during the last EVP session in the basement near the bottom of the stairs. I was using the Ovilus PX device and camcorder. Others in the group were using their digital recorders; K-II Meter and a flashlight that they asked the spirit to turn on as a sign of its presence.

At the 1:32:53 mark a question was asked, “Are you trying to find a way home?” A clear response captured both on my digital recorder and camcorder sounds like a female voice responding with “Uh huh.”

1:46:55 a strange light floats from right to left about knee-high and didn’t look like all the dust orbs that I had seen throughout the evening and 1:49:10 comments were made by all in the group that it suddenly got real cold.

1:52:18 the first sounds began emanating from the Ovilus PX device.

1:52:55 the Ovilus PX says, “Happy air.”

1:53:12 a question was asked, “Are you a man?” The Ovilus responds with, “Horrible.”

1:55:16 (I’m not a big believer in the orb phenomena and believe that 99.9% of all orbs are usually caused by dust particles, insects, stray light sources, humidity droplets, etc.) However at the very instant I saw a rather large semi-transparent orb come into frame, hover and go out of frame, the Ovilus responded with one word, “Orb.”

1:56:22 to 1:56:48 a remarkable series of responses and interactions between people and the Ovilus took place beginning with the question, “Are you a patient?” Immediately the Ovilus responded with, “Patient.” It also says “Air and perhaps Ear” several times and one person in the group responds with, “My last name is Ear” to which the Ovilus responds with, “Hi.”

Later on the main floor, first large room as you enter into the building to the left, another EVP session was conducted. A humorous question was asked, “Is there a doctor in the house?” Several people laugh and giggle a bit. A few seconds later, a rather loud, distant disembodied female scream is heard by the group and recorded that says, “Doctor!”

Conclusions: Obviously conditions were not ideal for a thorough investigation of the building due to the number of people involved in the investigation, simultaneous EVP sessions and talking taking place on the various floors and lack of acoustics. I believe though from the couple of hours I was able to interact with several groups, use the Ovilus PX and other devices and pick up not only some disembodies voices, but EVPs and responses on the Ovilus that The Lodge is indeed haunted!

I believe that a more thorough and serious investigation be conducted under more stringent, scientific and controlled conditions where the possibility of contamination is severely limited and the chance for picking up and communicating with spirits greatly increased.

Date: May 12, 2012 revisited

GRS Members present: Kathie Para, Marge Sucha and Dale Kaczmarek with help from Jeff Mudgett.

I took digital pictures, shot some Nightshot and employed the Ovilus X in the basement in conjunction with EVP sessions. I scanned the location with the Melmeter. I also used my digital tape recorder to record EVP sessions.

Personal Experiences: While filming with my IR camcorder down in the basement, I distinctly heard a male exhale. Quickly spinning my camera towards the far back from to film the location where I heard the sound emanate from, there was nothing. The sound did not record on the audio track however.

Evidence collected: I was not able to collect any evidence as far as still pictures, video or EVP. However several times while using the Ovilus X in the basement it said “up” and “hide.”

Conclusions: The location this time wasn’t as active as the previous time I had investigated. Perhaps it was due to the large amount of people constantly walking around and what I believe was “disturbing” the EMF fields in the area that create phenomena. EVP sessions and investigations should be conducted under circumstances where people are more stationary in my opinion especially when the actual experimentation is being performed. We have noticed much better results using such protocol.

The location is still a very interesting place and I wouldn’t hesitate to investigate it again sometime in the future.