Old Benton County Jail 2021 Investigation

Built in 1876 of limestone in the Italianate- style architecture at a cost of around $25,000. It was permanently closed in 1997. As was common in those days, the Sheriff and his family lived in part of the building.

One of the most profound incidents occurred here, a Civil War Veteran, Jacob Nelling, who worked for the Atkinson family broke into the house on September 24, 1883 and murdered 15-year-old Ada Atkinson. She was later found dead, chocked and stabbed 28 times in her bedroom on the family farm which was 1½ miles south of Oxford, Indiana on Pine Village Road.

Nelling was arrested on October 15^th and confessed to the murder. He was jailed in Lafayette, Indiana for his safety and returned to Fowler for trial on November 16^th.

On the night of November 18^th, 59 masked men from Benton and Warren Counties broke through the east door of the jail with sledge hammers and eventually broke into Nelling’s cell. “Goody-by boys! I’m gone now!” he was quoted as saying. He was pulled from his cell and at 1:45am the next day was hanged from a walnut tree 200 yards from the Atkinson home. Nine hour later the corpse was cut down. Over 3000 came to see the spectacle and school was dismissed so students could view it as well.

He was later taken to Oxford’s Town Hall for further display. On Nelling’s coat was a piece of paper with the words, “A Warning to Murderers.” The rope and tree was cut up for souvenirs. He was eventually buried in an unmarked grave in West Cemetery.

The Atkinson farm was razed in 1974.

Address: 708 E. 6^th St., Fowler, Indiana 47944

Hauntings:

Some say that the old Atkinson’s bedroom were the murder took place, the walls ooze blood through the wall paper even though it’s been papered several times since the murder.

There are reports in the old jail of shadow images, strange disembodied voices and sounds as well as numerous EVPs that have been captured here in the past from other investigative teams.

Some believe that the jail is haunted by Jacob Nelling, who was lynched without a fair trial.

The Ghost Research Society investigated the Old Benton County Jail on 9-25-21 and the team members included: Ron Lovatt, Mikey Rosario and Dale Kaczmarek

Equipment setup: Melmeter with telescopic probe, REM Epod, infrared Nightshot camcorders and cell phones, digital recorders and Phasma Box were used.

Experiments performed: Two EVP sessions were conducted; the first using the Phasma Box and ParaTek app in the Recreation Room and the second was a regular EVP with no real-time devices conducted in the Basement. Too much background contamination was present so no evidence was recorded.

Personal experiences:

Ron Lovatt: at the old Benton County Jail we did an EVP session with the Phasma Box and got the following responses to questions asked...

May I say there was a lot of background noise because this was a public investigation so it was hard to hear some of the responses to questions.

The following responses were as followed.

Cassie, try to figure out, Jacob, 19???, Dean, proposal, backroom, suffocation, rape, turkey, residence, what do you want, example, does this suck, knee surgery, monster, please ?????..

We then ran a EVP session using the ParaTek and got the following responses..

Uphold, like, on, once, Emma, opening, there, back, Sophia, often.

During the second session with the ParaTek my K-II kept going off like there was a spirit near me.

Mike Rosario: Equipment and Initial Investigations: We traveled to the Old Benton County Jail in Fowler, Indiana. This took off at approximately 8:30pm with Dale Kaczmarek, Ron Lovatt, and me, Mike Rosario, on Saturday, September 25, 2021. For our second investigation, we took center stage at the Haunted Fowler Theatre at around 10:30pm. Day weather was warm, but was a bit cooler as it led into the evening hours. Equipment used in both investigations were my K-II Meter; a Philips Voice Tracer Digital Voice Recorder; a DVC 4K Ultra HD 48mp Night Shot Digital Video Camcorder; 198 Bulb IR Light, 750 Lumen LED Flashlight, and a Fuji Film FinePix 4.0mp 3x Optical Zoom A-340 Digital Camera for interior HD pictures.

For the Benton County Jail investigation, I was accompanied by Dale and Ron, and we pretty much stuck together as one group for this investigation. I began by doing my usual K-II sweeps in and around the jail cell areas. I kept getting a steady 1.6-1.8mG reading. But, around 15 minutes later, this reading spiked to around 15.8-23.2mG! This was witnessed by all of us there in the cell area. With that incident, I began taking some pictures and shooting some night-shot videos in that area in hopes of capturing some good visual and audio evidence whilst we were there, accompanied by our EVP session.

Evidence: Upon reviewing all of my evidence, I didn’t have any visual evidence on my DVC Night-Shot Camcorder; however, I did pick up plenty of audible evidence from my Digital Voice Recorder. The evidence is as follows:

Benton County Jail:

~”Do you recommend?”

~ “I Can’t Figure Out...”

~ “Worst of Its Time.” (Regarding the Titanic tragedy).

~ “It Was Jacob.”

~ “Demon.”

~ “JoAnn.” (It actually was Ada Atkinson, aged just 15 yrs.; stabbed 28 times, and then choked in 1883).

~ “Bathroom;” “Reputation” or “Suffocation?”

~ “Rape.”

Dale Kaczmarek: Being that this was another public session, contamination was repent throughout our EVP sessions. A couple of years ago, it was much better organized with people conducting EVP sessions with our people and not just wandering around aimlessly.

During our second ordinary EVP session in the basement there was a lot of mumbled background voices from others in the building and the sound of crickets. Ron and I both saw something visual go along the floor through an open doorway. It appeared to be a white blur however it did not record on the camcorders facing in that direction.

We were able to pick up some very good evidence with the Phasma Box in the Recreation Room as that device is quite loud and does drown out background noises and talking. This wasn’t the idea circumstances for conducting an investigation due to the group size and almost constant talking and noises in the background.

Evidence collected:

Bathroom benton.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Recreation Room, a question was asked, “Are you in the Basement, are you up here or are you upstairs?” The device responded with, “Bathroom.”

Demon benton.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Recreation Room, “Demon” came through the device.

Emma benton.MP4 – while conducting a ParaTek app session in the Recreation Room, a question was asked, “Can you tell us your name?” The instant response was, “Emma.”

Herbie benton.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Recreation Room, a question was asked, “Can you tell us your name?” The device responded at once with, “Herbie,”

It was Jacob benton.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Recreation Room, a question was asked, “Can you tell us the gentleman’s name that was broken out of prison and hung…?” The device replied with what sounds like, “It was Jacob.” (Jacob Nelling was the name of the man who was hung by a vigilante group.)

JoAnn benton.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Recreation Room, a question was asked, “What the first name of the women murdered by Jacob Nelling?” The device responded with, “JoAnn.” (This response was incorrect as the victim’s first name was Ada,)

Rape benton.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Recreation Room, a question was asked, “Can you tell me what you did to get in here?” The response was, “Rape.”

State residence benton.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Recreation Room, a question was asked, “Was this a residence or a prison?” The immediate response was, “State residence.”

Suffocation benton.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Recreation Room, the device blurted out the single word, “Suffocation.” (Is this referring to the vigilante hanging of Jacob Nelling?)

Words spoken by the Phasma Box: search engine, proposal, bathroom, suffocation, Herbie, state residence.

ParaTek app: beg, uphold, light, upon, once, Emma, opening, there, Sofia, throw.

Conclusions: Again the conditions were not ideal for a serious investigation of this location. It would prove fruitful, I believe, to come back here with a small team and be allowed to investigate without all the contamination. On a return trip more cameras and equipment could be set up without the fear of it being knocked over by other participants of a public event.

The first session using the Phasma Box in the Recreation Room did yield some very interesting results and direct responses. Other locations to investigate that could be eventful for additional paranormal evidence would be the site of the hanging tree, if known, and the former site of the Atkinson House.

All in all however, it proved to be another interesting trip to this very haunted jail!