Old Benton County Jail 2022 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 9-17-22 and the team members included: Charles Williams and Dale Kaczmarek

Equipment setup: Mostly hand-held equipment was used such as 4k camcorder, digital recorders and cameras, REM Epod, green laser grid, Phasma Box, Ovilus V, SB-7 Ghost Box, Melmeter with telescopic probe, ultraviolet light and additional supplemental infrared illumination, Paranormal Music Box and external speakers.

Experiments performed; two Phasma Box sessions, SB-7 Ghost Box and one Ovilus V session were conducted on the 1^st floor cellblock area, another Phasma Box session was conducted in Rod Sallee’s cell where all the drawings of motorcycles was and the final Phasma Box session was upstairs.

Personal experiences:

Dale Kaczmarek: During our first EVP session in the cellblock area, my digital recorder was knocked over. I don’t believe that I caused it to fall over but can’t be 100% certain. I also recorded what looks like a shadow figure on the wall as well as green laser grid disruption on a couple of occasions.

There were some EMF spikes recorded on the Melmeter in Rod Sallee’s Cell beginning with a 1.3 to a 3.0. This was interesting. The only real possible intelligent responses that were received were in the cellblock area. The rest of the locations only random words were collected.

Evidence collected:

Back of room bentonjail.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the cellblock area on the 1^st floor, a question was asked, “I can’t see you. Where you at?” The device responded with, “Back of room.”

Dale bentonjail.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the cellblock area on the 1^st floor, a question was asked, “What’s the warden’s name?” The device responded with, “Dale.”

Get fucked bentonjail.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the cellblock area on the 1^st floor, a question was asked, “Deal me in.” The device said, “Get fucked,”

Laser grid interruption on lower rung of ladder bentonjail.MP4 – the green laser grid focused on the ladder leading to the upper cell blocks was momentarily interrupted at the lower rung.

Laser grid interruption to right bentonjail.MP4 – the green laser grid focused on the ladder leading to the upper cell blocks was momentarily interrupted at the right-hand side of the frame.

Shadow figure bentonjail.MP4 – the 4k camcorder focused on the Paranormal Music Box which was facing the cellblocks suddenly picked up what looks like some shadow play to the left-hand side of the frame.

Terrible it sucks bentonjail.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the cellblock area on the 1^st floor, a question was asked, “How’s the grub here?” The device responded with, “Terrible it sucks.”

Words or phrases spoken by the Phasma Box: Cellblock area: terrible, it sucks, Dale, whisper, Google search, fuck you, no, get fucked, too big to tell, back of room, evil, the evidence; Rod Sallee’s Cell – I don’t see ‘em, question, be right here, murder and I’m sorry; Upstairs – what?, they got shot, sure, go out there and behind me.

Ovilus V Cellblock area: score, here, Ida, heavy, fresh, moss, ledge, terms, Pam, fold, 80, finish, catch, cause, pushed and garden; Phonetic mode – help.

SB-7 Ghost Box Cellblock area: it’s cool and brother.

Conclusions: This was another public event so there was some background jabber and people walking around. We did conduct a Live Facebook session where, among other people who attended, Ron Lovatt and Diane Oksanen from the GRS were on.

There were some words or phrases that could have been relevant to the place we were inside including; get fucked, fuck you, brother, murder, I’m sorry and they got shot. These were just random words but might fit well inside a prison.

This time the area wasn’t quite as active as previous investigations but you never can tell until you begin EVP sessions and attempt some form of communication with the spirits that might be around.