Fowler Theater Investigation

The town is named after Moses Fowler who traveled with John Purdue and wanted to go into the mercantile business. Purdue eventually settled in West Lafayette while Fowler founded the town that bears his namesake. He later became the director of the Lafayette Bank and eventually became its largest stock holder. Owing to his financial success in this, his most profitable enterprise, and impressed by the land investment of Henry Ellsworth, former head of U.S. Bureau of Patents, he gradually acquired Benton County land. After Ellsworth's death in the late 1850s, Fowler purchased much land from his estate as well. A 280 acre lake just west of Fowler was drained in the mid to late 1800s. Built in the Art Deco style in 1940 and designed by architect Alexander K. Eugene. Fowler was the son of Samuel and Mary Rogers who hailed from Virginia. Fowler was born near Circleville, Ohio on April 30, 1815. He died August 19, 1889.

Previously on the property was the Fowler Hotel once operated by William Jones and was once connected to the old Fowler Hotel on its eastern boundary. Directly behind the old hotel once stood a bottle factory. One of its past owners was a man named Dick Vlastos. He also once owned the Dreamland Theater as well as the Fowler Theater. He later moved to California where he died. Members of the Potawatomie Indian tribe lived nearby and they still conduct festivals and Indian ceremonies.

In 1968 the manager at that time killed himself but not within the confines of the theater. He shot himself in the right temple at his home. In the 1990s the place became very run down and in 2001 The Prairie Preservation Guild stepped up to buy this building for $30,000 and began to renovate it. The inside lobby was changed as the current men’s restroom used to be the office of the original owner. A funeral was once held inside the theater and there is a picture of that hanging on the projection booth wall.

The theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 6, 2004.

Address: 111 E. 5^th St., Fowler, Indiana 47944

Telephone: 765-884-8191

Owner: The Prairie Preservation Guild with Dwight Snethen as its President

Website: www.fowlertheater.com

Hauntings: In the lobby area an apparition of a man in a trench coat and fedora has been seen probably first by a painter doing some restoration work. He ran out the door! Small shadows have been reported by the women’s restroom. In the men’s restroom Dwight saw the water suddenly come on without the handles being moved. Changing tables crashed down on their own without any human assistance. Past investigators have felt a presence there in the past. There is also the sound of talking that emanates from the room.

Around 11am one morning Dwight was alone and went into the office to count money, shut door and the light fixture to the left of the concession stand just fell out. Just before that happened, the office door began to move by itself. An old fuse box door slammed shut.

Some people near the concession area have heard the sound of applause in the otherwise empty auditorium.

Auditorium: Past owners have claimed to have seen a woman in 1800s garb sweeping the aisles. Moving shadows have been observed in the projection room windows from the auditorium floor. Dick Vlastos had his own favorite seat; right aisle facing the stage, third row and seat number one. During a past investigation, Dwight sat in that seat only to have a Ghost Box spit out his name. Light anomalies are seen near the right exit sign facing the stage and recent videos have also captured some of those light formations. Behind the screen area people have been touched by something unseen. Two side lights to the right of the stage have flashed on and off in the middle of the night.

During a past board meeting near the stage, a member mentioned the movie Die Hard, and a spotlight came on along with two side lights that turned green. Those lights are operated by a remote control unit and a board member said the controller was in another room. The unit must be pointed directly at those lights for them to come on. Most of these strange light phenomenon seem to happen between 11pm and 3am.

This is a report of two older ladies seen way back in the auditorium playing cards. This might be a residual effect from when that area was part of the original Fowler Hotel. Women have felt their hair tugged in this area. People have also reported seeing shadows running up and down the short hallways on the side.

A medium that visited this location spoke of picking up the impressions of bathroom attendants that could again relate back to the old hotel. Shadow figures have also been seen running back and forth on the stage itself. People have smelled the odor of cigar smoke while entering into the auditorium. Dwight smelled it once while sitting in the back of the theater.

One evening while Dwight was making popcorn at the concession stand, he saw a shadow run towards the men’s bathroom when another employee came to the front and Dwight began explaining what he had just seen. Suddenly both of them heard three knocks. This happened a second time to Dwight when he was in the office. He distinctly heard three knocks on the wall.

Executive Director, Jill Byrd had her hair pulled and name called on at least one occasion. She also claimed to have seen people sitting in chairs in the auditorium and had things move in her office. She has felt uncomfortable in the projection booth and she described it as though something was trying to push her out. Her personal computer once started up on its own while she was in her office.

Projection booth: There are multiple reports of people being touched here. An 18-year-old and a 19-year-old boy both visited this area in the past on separate occasions and heard a faint voice whisper, “Kiss me!” These encounters were a full year apart and the young men were unrelated to one another.

There is an incredible video of the door leading to the landing, opening very slowly. The last person in the projection room can clearly be seen tugging on the door to secure it before leaving the room. No one else was around and the handle did not move! There is a very tiny closet that nobody seems to like. That same psychic who has visited the theater on multiple occasions said that she felt that there was an elemental inhabiting the closet area. There seems to be much more activity during private investigations versus public investigations.

Lots of Ghost Box responses and personal encounters in this area.

The Ghost Research Society investigated the Fowler Theater on December 15, 2018. Team members included: Kathie Para, Marge Sucha, Michael Rosario, Greg Kos, Michael Wright, Katherine Meagher, Charles Williams and Dale Kaczmarek.

Equipment setup: Static cameras were placed throughout the auditorium area facing the stage. Most everything else that we employed that evening was handheld equipment and deployed at each location we investigated. We used a digital trap camera, digital recorders and camcorders, Melmeters, X-Cam SLS device, GoPro camera, Phasma Box app, Ovilus X, IR illuminators, non-contact thermometers, digital cameras, K-II meters, laser grid, REM Epod, motion-activated ball and a Tri-Field Natural EM Meter.

Experiments performed: Ovilus X, Phasma Box and dowsing rod sessions were performed in the lobby, main auditorium and projection room. An additional Quiet Time session was performed in the main auditorium.

Personal experiences:

Kathi Para: Members of GRS for the Fowler Theater investigation were: Dale, Chuck, Mike Wright, Kat, Marge, Mikey Rosario and me. We were also joined that night by three men associated with the theater.

The building is small but in very good shape. I, personally, used a digital recorder, digital camera, a REM pod and K-II meter. I participated in three lengthy EVP sessions, one in the lobby and two in the theater. Due to a foot injury I didn’t get up to the projection room.

In the lobby and men’s bathroom our team used the Ovilus X, Phasma Box, K-II and other EMF meters, dowsing rods, REM Epod, a trigger ball along with video and audio recorders. We had very good, relevant responses from the Phasma Box (asked how many were in the room it answered “ten”. There were ten of us.) We also had K-II activity, dowsing rod responses and at one point the trigger ball lit up.

During quiet time in the theater I heard footsteps in the aisle by me while no one was walking. However, I didn’t capture anything on my audio recorder. I also thought I saw shadows but can’t be sure they were paranormal.

I believe there were too many in the building during the investigation to eliminate contamination. However, this is a location I would like to return to at some point with less people. Dwight couldn’t have been more hospitable!

Mike Rosario: Introduction - The Fowler Theatre (ca. 1940): This was such an exciting investigation! Investigating an old theatre out in America's Heartland. There have been many interesting occurrences at this location. Amongst them are sightings of a troubled projectionist/manager named Danny Killman who took his own life; two deceased older women (in 1800's clothing) have been seen sweeping the right side aisle of the auditorium; dark shadows have been seen in the front foyer vestibule; male apparitions in the men's restroom (also water from the faucet has been known to turn on and off. The baby changing table has also been reported to be open even though staff members have closed it. Voices also have been reported here as well). There also have been human-like figures seen in the front area of the auditorium near the stage (and even the back stage areas), and the projection booth on the balcony way. An old hotel established in the 1800's was adjacent to the theatre was torn down. A very large vacant lot only remains. It is said that whatever happened inside hotel might've carried along that residual energy here at the theatre, hence creating strange occurrences and other paranormal phenomena. Around the hours of 11pm to about 3am is where activity tends to be more prevalent in the theatre. Women have been touched; their hair pulled every now and then. Also people have been experiencing soft whispers in their ears at times. It is also been rumored that the original owner, Dick Vlastos, a Greek immigrant from his native country, has been known to haunt the theatre. It's been said he likes to haunt the first seat in the fourth row of the front-right side aisle in the auditorium. In the past, it is said that he and his family always chose that row as their favorite when they watched any kind of performance.

Equipment Used, and Initial Investigation: With a wonderful walk-through by manager, Dwight Snethen, and his crew, our investigation took off at approximately 10:15pm on Saturday, December 15, 2018. Weather was clear and cold, and got colder throughout the night. Being out in the middle of nowhere in a very small town, I did record a temperature of around 34° that night, a slight breeze (wind chill of about 30-25°, with a half-moon being present). Equipment used was my K-II meter, a Philips Digital Voice Recorder, a Sony Super Night Shot HandyCam DCR-TRV13 NTSC 560 Digital Hi-8 20X Optical Zoom video camcorder, a Police Security Elite Blackout 615 Lumen Hands-free Heavy Duty Flashlight, and a handheld green laser grid device. Also, for this investigation, I wanted, for the very first time, to try out a brand new piece of equipment I had recently bought: The CMVision IR130-198 LED Indoor/Outdoor Long Range IR Illuminator. Who inspired me to obtain this kind of equipment was actually my fellow GRS colleague, Charles 'Chuck' Williams. After he described something similar to what he had, I took it upon myself to do some research in finding an IR illuminator to help me along whilst investigating. This new device includes 198 IR LED lights, supports a 12v DC voltage, has an IP66 hard sealed watertight case, can be rotated 360 degrees, has an infrared range of up to 400 feet, a light beam angle of about 45-60 degree maximum angle of tilt, a wave length of about 850nm, has an auto photo sensor on/off switch for when the light is under around 10lux, and includes a 3Amp, 12vDC power adapter cord. I am happy to report that this device did, indeed, perform well over expected that night, and I encourage all investigators of the field to consider getting something like this to have in their arsenal. It truly works wonders in very little to no light conditions, and I do highly recommend it. Our investigation began in the front foyer/vestibule near the men's restroom. I did a few EMF sweeps, and did get a few spikes ranging from 1.9-10.2mG. We later did an EVP session in and around this location. Afterwards, we then moved to the atrium/auditorium. Since many phenomena occurs inside this room, I decided to film the hall with my night shot camera, aided by the light of my new CMVision IR illuminator. I experimented with my green Laser grid device, concentrating at the right front entrance areas to see if there were any disruptions of light to indicate any type of presence. EMF sweeps were also conducted, and also spiked in the same range just as in and around the restroom areas. We also had an EVP as well as a Phasma Box session there. Later in the investigation, we moved to the balcony area (the projection room). Spikes on the K-II meter were not as high, only around 6-8mG at the max. I also brought my night shot camera here as well while trying to communicate with the late projectionist/manager, Danny Killman through a Phasma Box session. To say the least, we did get some interesting responses up in that booth! One of Dwight's crew members had a personal experience in there that did startle him a bit.

Investigation Wrap-Up: The investigation ended at approximately 2:30a.m on Sunday, December 16, 2018.

Evidence: Upon reviewing all of my evidence, it is sad to note that I did not pick up any evidence photography/video-wise. However, the night shot camera kept moving in and out of focus for nearly the entire length of the investigation. There were no obstructions of any kind in the way of the camera; no significant movement by anyone in front of the camera, and very little light (luminous) attractions to physically cause the camera to constantly keep refocusing itself. It was very puzzling, to say the least.

Conclusion/Overall: Again, I completely enjoyed this entire investigation, and I was so glad to come to this location! Many thanks to Mr. Dwight Snethen and his crew for allowing us the opportunity to investigate a great building with such a past behind it. I would truly love to come back again!

Marge Sucha: Equipment I used: Digital Voice Recorder, K-II meter, FLIR Camera, & EDI+

First we were given a quick tour and history of the theater. We did four EVP sessions that night. Our first session was in the lobby. Our second session was in the theater / auditorium. In this area one of the guys sitting in the auditorium did report a cold spot on/around his left arm. My FLIR camera did pick up a temperature difference in that area. Third session was upstairs around the projection area. Our last session was back in the theater / auditorium where we did 15 minutes of complete silence.

Chuck Williams: Hauntings: Lobby- Shadow Person, shadows, doors close and water turns on in men’s room. Theatre- The 1^st owner is seen walking in a trench coat, or sitting in his favorite seat. Voices are heard. Projection booth- young men are touched inappropriately. Behind screen- voices, touching.

Equipment- I kept it light this time- Zoom recorder, GoPro camera with IR light.

Experiments: Lobby was 1^st, Phasma Box, and Spirit Box was used. Random words were spit out; Phasma Box was hard to understand. Theatre was next, same experiments. A few people went behind screen, since I have a broken leg, I limited my movement. After a break, we tried quiet time in auditorium. At the end of the night, a few of the group went to the projectionist booth; Dale stated more positive Phasma Box results were had there.

Personal Experiences: None

Conclusion: None of the claims were easily backed up on initial investigation. Am looking forward to evidence review. The theatre was beautifully restored, and I am looking forward to coming there to see a film. The quiet time was nice, but I feel we should do that 1^st in an area, as a way to acclimate ourselves. Then maybe do an EVP session, and then break out the tools, just my thought.

Mike Wright: After arriving at the theater we were given a walk-through of the theater and a history of various activities and occurrences that have transpired over the years.

The whole group conducted an EVP session in the lobby and also in the theater, I used dowsing rods, digital recorder, Ovilus and K-II meter, I had brought my computer with the Phasma Box but did not use it because other members were using the program and I did not want to contribute to cross contamination. Broke off from the main group briefly and went with Kat up to the projection room to do an EVP session, also went to the back of the theater alone to see if I could pick up any activity. Did not have any experiences or have anything out of the ordinary, really appreciated the hospitality of the managers and the efforts made to restore this historical landmark.

Dale Kaczmarek: During our investigation of the auditorium both Sucha and I heard a rather loud noise emanate from behind the screen area. I send Rosario back to investigate but he found nothing amiss. In between responses from the Phasma Box, I heard a rather loud whispering that also seemed to come from behind the curtain. Again it was looked into with no positive results. During a few visits back there with my X-Cam SLS device I did pick up some stick figures including one standing on top of one of the speakers and then, suddenly, the device shut itself off. Three other times it did the same thing however when using the same device in the auditorium, it ran perfectly! Wright’s dowsing rods were spinning wildly in a circle.

Brett said that his left arm was freezing so we rushed over to investigate. I gave him a non-contact thermometer to pick up readings of the environment and himself. At one point the temperature went down to 44.5 degrees which is much colder than the air conditioner should have made it. Immediately after that, I picked up a stick figure lying across the front row, right aisle when facing the stage which quickly dissipated. A few seconds later two stick figures were seen and recorded; one sitting in the middle section of seats and another in the aisle itself!

During our EVP session I did notice and pick up quite a lot of background talk from others during the session. People need to be absolutely quiet unless they encounter something or are shouting out what they believe they hear coming from communication devices.

The last EVP session was in the Projection Room which was extremely noisy due to the cooling units having to run constantly. Still we picked up some interesting responses and words.

I wish to thank Dwight, Brett and Kent for being so helpful and providing us with a lot of useful information. They also joined us during our EVP sessions.

Evidence collected:

Always fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Lobby, a question was asked, “So are you interested in Brett?” The device responded with, “Always.”

Black boxes folwer.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Lobby, a question was asked, “There’s a red light in the bathroom. Can you go in there and touch that red light?” The device responded with, “Black boxes.”

Control room fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Projection Room, a question was asked, “What was your job?” The device responded with, “Control room.”

Don’t touch it fowler.MPG - while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Auditorium, a comment was made, “We’re gonna call the session. Can you say goodbye? Goodbye.” The device responded with, “Don’t touch it.” (Maybe referring to us not turning off the device?)

Elaina Quincy fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Auditorium, a question was asked, “Who are you?” The device responded with what sounds like, “Elaina” and follows with “Quincy.”

Four fowler.MPG – while using the X-Cam SLS device and while investigating a cold spot, a stick figure suddenly appeared lying across several seats in the front row. After that one disappeared, two separate stick figures appeared seated in a chair and in the aisle.

Fuck you1 fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Lobby, the device blurts out, “Fuck you.”

Fuck you2 fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Projection Booth, a question was asked, “Can you touch one of us?” The device responded with, “Fuck you!”

Go lay down fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Projection Booth, the device said, “Go lay down.” (There is a cot in the room.)

I do not fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Auditorium, a question was asked, “Do you like performing on the stage?” The device responded with, “I do not.”

It’s impossible fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Projection Booth, a comment was made, “They said they found you in your home with a bullet wound in your right temple.” The device said, “It’s impossible.”

Lobby ten fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Lobby, a question was asked, “How many people are in this room?” The device responded with, “Ten.”

My name’s Emma fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Auditorium, a comment was made, “Use this little toy here. Come through here.” The device said, “My name’s Emma.”

One fowler.MPG – while using the X-Cam SLS device behind the screen, a stick figure was picked up standing on one of the speakers.

Should we start that fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Auditorium, the device softly said, “Should we start that.”

Thank you fowler.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Projection Booth, a question was asked, “Do you want to say goodbye? Goodbye.” The device responded with, “Thank you!”

Three fowler.MPG – while using the X-Cam SLS device behind the curtain, it shut off for a second time for no good reason. The device worked perfectly well in other regions but was constantly being shut off when investigating behind the curtain.

Two fowler.MPG – while using the X-Cam SLS device, both Sucha and I heard a noise that seemed to come from behind the curtain. I went to investigate and the SLS inexplicably shut down.

Surveillance camera evidence: The following two videos were provided by Dwight Snethen:

Booth door opens fowler.MP4 - while nobody was in the theater, the Projection Booth door swings open by itself.

There is four people fowler.MP4 - while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Projection Booth, a question was asked, "How many people are in this room?" The device responds with, "There is four people."

Conclusions: This was a small but interesting theater in a remote town in Indiana. The staff was very nice and popped some popcorn for us which hit the spot! There were only a few places to investigate but each location did provide some interesting direct responses or personal experiences.

Not much at all was encountered during our Quiet Time session. Some did hear some footsteps and possible shadow figures but nothing was documented on cameras or digital recordings.

Many responses were directly in response to questions asked while others did relate to the subject matter or general surroundings.

Overall a great location with plenty of surveillance videos to back up some of the staffs claims and personal encounters.