Ogden Dunes "Diana of the Dunes" Investigation

In the early 1900s local fishermen apparently saw a naked woman swimming in Lake Michigan. She was also sometimes seen running along the beach without any clothes. These sightings were also reported in Chesterton, Miller and Ogden Dunes. She was later discovered to be a hermit living a reclusive and private life on the beach in a run-down shack. Locals named her Diana of the Dunes after a mythical goddess. She was later identified as a 34-year-old woman who left Chicago to live a secret life along the beach.

Her name was Alice Mabel Gray and although where she lived and her lifestyle, she was an educated woman, born in 1881 to a Chicago doctor and his wife. She later earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Chicago in 1903 and also worked for the U.S. Naval Academy. She became disenfranchised due to educated woman being discriminated against in the early part of the 20^th Century. She decided to move away from all of the hustle and bustle of city life and permanently moved to the dunes in 1915. She was approached and interviewed by numerous reporters on her unconventional lifestyle which was uncommon for a single woman.

Steel mills began to pop up near Gary, Indiana and she was sure that they were going to destroy the fragile ecosystem so she used her notoriety to promote the protection of the dunes. She gave a talk at the Chicago Prairie Club’s annual event on April 6, 1917 at the Art Institute which eventually led to the establishment of the Indiana Dunes State Park.

She found some romance with a drifter Paul Wilson in 1920 that moved into her shack and fathered two daughters in what was called Wren’s Nest. He was a violent man however that frequently beat Gray. He had been in trouble with the police on occasion and when a body washed up on the shore, he was a prime suspect, charged for the crime but later acquitted.

In 1925 and just after the birth of their second child, Gray died. She apparently died from uremic poisoning that was probably brought on by repeated punches to her stomach. Paul fled Indiana and their daughters were taken into protective custody. She was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Gary, Indiana.

Address: 156 Shore Dr., Ogden Dunes, Indiana 46368

Hauntings: Since the 1920s, swimmers and beachgoers have reportedly seen the beautiful but naked body of a woman running along the beach only to disappear into the waters of Lake Michigan. People residing in the area today still believe it to be Gray who simply refuses to leave the pristine beauty of the lakeshore.

The GRS visited the site of "Diana of the Dunes" at Ogden Dunes August 22, 2021 and the team included: Chuck Williams, Barbara Meagher and Dale Kaczmarek with help from Michele Reynolds and Diane Oaksenen

Equipment setup: Nightshot camcorders, REM Epod, K-II Meter, Melmeter with proximity probe, digital recorders and cameras, Phasma Box, ParaTek app, SB-11 Ghost Box, Echovox, Paranormal Puck 2b.

Experiments performed: A single EVP session near Wren’s Nest of Ogden Dunes was performed using the SB-11 Ghost Box, ParaTek app, Paranormal Puck 2b and the Echovox.

Personal experiences:

Barbara Meagher:

Charles Williams: Crew: Dale Kaczmarek, Barb Meagher, Michelle Reynolds, Diane Oaksenen, & Myself.

Equipment: 4k Cameras, IR lighting, Zoom Recorder, Rem Pod, Mel Meter, Periscope, FLIR Camera, Tri Field Meter, Full Spectrum Camera

This was not a GRS investigation, even though we had three team members present, this was for a shoot for my new documentary, on Diana of the Dunes. It was a very windy night, with high waves on Lake Michigan, which was really close to where the location was, and added a lot of wind noise. Will have to fine tune audio on editing.

Odd Occurrences/ Malfunctions: During set up I placed the periscope on the trail leading to Ogden Dunes, it went off before cameras were on, and didn’t go off again. One of the 4K cameras didn’t work with three memory cards, Zoom Recorder- one memory card failure. IR Lights- two batteries dead, one completely drained. FLIR- had been charged, read 10%.

Personal Experiences: Dale thought he caught something on camera, but later debunked this as his jacket sleeve which was tied around his waist. Me and Dale thought we saw something on the beach during the night, in the am we noticed a white buoy loose on the lake (?)

At one point during the investigation, Barb had a REM Epod set down a path toward Ogden Dunes, it kept going off. When this happens you think it may need a new battery, she said she had recently replaced it, and moved it closer to her, it stopped going off.

Dale Kaczmarek: This was a very unique opportunity of investigating a location after hours and completely undisturbed except for the howling wind that late night and early morning investigation. I used multiple real-time devices during the single EVP session conducted including: SB-11 Ghost Box, ParaTek app, Paranormal Puck 2b and the Echovox. While quite a few words came through the app including a lot of names; Michael, Ben, Beelzebub, Chloe, Terry, Nick and Elizabeth, none were significant according to the history of this location.

I believe I saw something white along the beach fringing upon the lapping waves on the shore. I believe that we later debunked this as a white buoy in the water.

Evidence collected:

Look diana.MP4 – while conducting an Ovilus session, a question was asked, “Did you like it? Did you think it was funny or ridiculous?” The device said, “Look.”

Mabel diana.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session, just before Williams says Mabel, “Mabel” is heard and recorded.

REM Epod1 diana.MP4 – this was the first REM Epod alert.

REM Epod2 diana.MP4 – this was the second REM Epod alert.

REM Epod3 diana.MP4 – this was the third REM Epod alert. The camera actually faces the device this time.

REM Epod4 diana.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session, a comment was made, “We’re not reporters.” The REM Epod lights up.

REM Epod5 diana.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session, a question was asked, “Is that you Paul?” REM Epod lights up. “Let’s go” REM Epod goes off. “Is your real last name Eisenblatter?” REM Epod lights up. “Let’s go” REM Epod goes off. “Do you have trouble with fish?” REM Epod lights up.

REM Epod6 diana.MP4 – the REM Epod is moved closer to the group near Meagher. A question is asked, “You can light that up if you want.” The REM Epod lights up.

Satan’s box diana.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session, the phrase “Satan’s box” is heard and recorded.

Take some pictures of me diana.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session, the phrase, “Take some pictures of me” was recorded.

Waves diana.MP4 – a short video indicating the strong wind, waves and weather conditions we experienced during our investigation.

Words spoken by the ParaTek app: order, salute, Michael, affair, large, Ben, Beelzebub, score, thick, see, grow, little, diablo, Chole, finally, haste, felt, Terry, instead, 3, scoop, abort, paralysis, tired, modern, ok, opal, object, grow, wait, Nick, while, underline, young, Elizabeth, if, its, weather, ocean, wash, six, radio, nightmare, out, opal, zero, religion, adult, five, 5, wanted, kop, harvest, old, normal and hall.

Words spoken by the Paranormal Puck 2b: close, fine and rays. Echovox: Nothing. Ghost Box: Nothing.

Conclusions: The weather conditions should have probably been checked into prior to the investigation as the wind off the lake made EVP experiments almost impossible. Even the use of windscreens didn’t help much and removing the noise can be difficult at times.

We were in an ideal location as this was the second home of Gray and therefore the location where she died. Under normal circumstances, this would have been a great place to conduct an investigation with the use of more equipment including video, Nightshot, thermal, SLS and infrared binoculars.

I should like to revisit this site again under better conditions with more equipment and a slightly longer time fame.