Roadhouse Restaurant Investigation

Possibly built in the 1880s, this building was described in an old newspaper in 1921 as being a decrepit old building on the south side of town. It had a General Store where the current bar is located and a garage where the current dining room is located. In the 1920s it became known as Stenhouse where there was gambling that didn’t start until around 3am. Andrew Stenhouse came from a family in Iowa but had a Chicago connection as well.

After the death of Andrew Stenhouse, the roadhouse passed to his daughter who never married. When she died it was taken over by her niece; she married Leland Snota who was a rum-runner. He then sold it to the Wilson’s in the early to mid-1950s. The owner, who was a woman, drowned in a bathtub. It sat vacant for a while before Mike Arians purchased the building in 1993.

June 24, 1948 a couple visited the location; Mary Jane Reed and Stanley Skridla. Both were later found shot and murdered nearby in a field in separate locations. This was when the location was called The Stenhouse. The actual gambling table where Skridla sat around is now located in the main dining room. The couple left the bar on a Thursday night around 6am. Stanley was shot six times in the chest and genitals and his body was drug off into a ditch. His face was badly burned.

He had a date with a girl named Frankie Fontaine and told her to hang loose for a bit because he had to run to Oregon. He went to a little tavern called Starbucks where the Rockford Bank used to be. Mary Jane met there after work. They then went to Alexander’s Red Cabin Bar and finally to the Stenhouse where he had went to settle a score.

According to the book “Mary Jane’s Ghost” by Ted Gregory and conversations with Mike Arians who was a mayor for some time, the real murderer could have been a man with the pseudonym, Vince Farco. Farco had burned his face badly trying to put out a fire and Skridla probably was making fun of him. Perhaps this is why Skirdla’s face was so badly burned.

Mary Jane’s body was probably killed in the basement and then taken to what is now called Devil’s Backbone Road and discarded. She wasn’t discovered immediately so the family hired a psychic to help locate the body in 1948. As the psychic entered the building, she pointed to a bar stool and said, “Who’s Dan?” A regular named Dan (pseudonym) used to come in all the time and sit right at the bar stool that she had pointed to. This guy was the son of the alleged murderer who killed Mary Jane. It is still an unsolved double-murder.

Arians related an interesting story of a 93-year-old man had come in for dinner one evening with his 65-year-old son and eventually Arians asked the older man if he had ever came to the old Stenhouse. He had frequented a number of other bars in the Dixon and Sterling area. His reply was that he was in the bar the night the Reed girl was killed. However County Police deny that she was there that night even though interviews with eye witnesses place her there. The coroner recused himself from the investigation as well.

Located at: 807 S. 7th St., Oregon, Illinois 61061

Telephone: 815-535-7486

Owner: Mike Arians

Website: www.rhouse.org

Hauntings: While walking in the basement Arians claims to have heard someone walking overhead by the bar. When he comes up to investigate, there is no one there. When he is upstairs in his office, he sometimes hears a commotion of people downstairs like the place is open but it’s not. There is a security camera video of a beer bottle falling to the floor with no one around.

Arians and others have seen a lady dressed in black walking down the hallway near the entrance to the building. In either 2011 or 2012, Arians was talking to some guests at the end of the bar when someone walked right past him in the hallway and the dining room was already closed. He went to check it out and there was no one there.

The prominent ghost is an apparition in black that looks remarkably like his wife. She has been seen many times and an older cocktail waitress, Marge, also claimed to have seen the same woman that resembles Arian's wife around the hallway after regular business hours.

Lots of psychics and mediums have visited this location with some fascinating results.

One psychic went to the basement and began grabbing her throat. Nobody knew at the time, but later found out, that Mary Jane’s head had been cut off. When she was later exhumed, it was found that Mary Jane was buried with some oriental skull. Apparently according to later research, a Chinaman witnessed the crime and was dismembered. He was buried in a pauper’s grave near the current-day funeral home. His head was then somehow placed in Mary Jane’s coffin.

She also said that the woman who walks the hallway is on older woman named Ruth.

Approximately 3-4 weeks later a package arrived in the mail from a historian who was helping Arians with history. A picture was in the package that showed a woman dressed in black named Ruth; Mary Jane’s mother exiting from a funeral home and she looks exactly like Arian’s wife.

Another time, a couple who came in one day and was very interested in the history and murder conversed with Arians and he shared some information and showed them some pictures. He played a song on the jukebox and then walked away. He then heard them both scream very loudly. The couple both claimed that they saw one of theater seats in the dining room move by itself. Those seats are from the Egyptian Theater in DeKalb, Illinois and date back to the 1920s. They have also recently been refurbished. Almost immediately, the gentleman’s phone rang and it was notices from the Egyptian Theater about all their upcoming events.

Faint music has been heard emanating from the dining room. The song, “After Sunrise” by Sergio Mendes would come on by itself from the old jukebox which has seen been removed. One day, Mary Jane’s brother called the owner and the faint sound of that song was heard.

A séance was held and at the conclusion, the entire room got freezing cold and then the song was heard again. Arians says that 6-8 times a day customers would sometimes talk about Mary Jane and the song was heard during their conversation.

Another psychic who visited the location and wasn’t familiar with the murder claimed that Mary Jane was brought in through the old garage (where the dining room is today), down the trap door behind the bar and murdered in the basement.

During out visit, the surveillance cameras recorded a tremendous amount of “orbs” flying around the original poker table in the dining room. Arians claims that he has never seen that much activity in the past. Kaczmarek was not that convinced of their validity.

The Ghost Research Society investigated the Roadhouse Restaurant on March 28, 2018. Team members included: Kathie Para, Marge Sucha, Jim Piscopo, Michael Wright, Angelyce Marcano and Dale Kaczmarek.

Equipment setup: Piscopo set up an IR camcorder and IR illuminator facing down the hallway where the woman in black had been reported in the past. Besides that only hand-held devices were used during EVP sessions such at the Tri-Field Natural EM Meter, Melmeter with proximity probe, REM Epod, X-Cam SLS device, digital recorders, Ovilus X, Radio Specter, dowsing rods, laser grids, Mini-Portal and a digital IR camera.

Personal experiences:

Angelyce Marcano: The Roadhouse is a venue with a great deal of history behind it. The owner was a gracious host who gave a thorough tour, explaining the layout and various activities that had occurred. As I made my way through to each room, I took photographs and asked questions as the EVP recorder rolled. I didn't notice anything unusual. There were no visual sightings, or anything strange heard. I did not personally experience any feelings of a presence. There were some words said on the Ovilus that were later deemed to be relevant to a police investigation from years ago that were slightly intriguing, as well as orbs observed through the owners security camera that was streaming in real time.

Kathie Para: GRS members present for this investigation were Dale, Jim, Mike, Marge, Angelyce and me. This location has a long and fascinating history which includes the unsolved murders of two of its patrons in 1948. Although never proven, evidence points to involvement and a cover up of the crimes by authorities.

After a walk through and history of the building by its owner, Mike Arians, we set up and began. During the night we spent time in the dining room, basement, bar, pool table room and the upstairs office.

We definitely concentrated on the dining room where we sat around the poker table that one of the victims spent part of his last night alive sitting at gambling. Here we had many relevant responses from both the Ovilus X and the Mini-Portal. My K-II meter was very active in this area. We came back to this room near the end of the night to investigate further since we had so much activity there the first time. We were joined by Mike, the owner when he returned to the building. Sitting around the table he brought up the security camera from that room on his phone. We were amazed to see orbs all around us real time. There were no fans; furnace or any of us moving around yet these orbs kept darting from all directions, some even shooting down from the ceiling. This went on for 15 minutes or so. Mike has posted this video on the Roadhouse website.

We also had quite a bit of relevant responses in the bar, both from the Mini-Portal and Ovilus X. I also had some K-II activity there. We had what sounded like gun shots from the Mini-Portal (this also happened in the basement) and so many words from the Ovilus X including shot (twice in the bar and once in the dining room), kill and running. At one point there were sounds of gunshots from the Mini-Portal followed by at least two of us hearing running footsteps. Upon listening to my audio, following the gunshots and running I heard a whispered “Stanley”. Stanley was one of the victims who died from gunshot wounds. We also heard other noises coming from the next room while we were all seated at the bar.

Another noteworthy experience we had there were names Norman and Jo. When Mike, the owner, returned we asked him if those were relevant to the building or the crime. He told us that the sheriff at the time was Joe Maas (pronounced moss). Amazingly, we not only got the name Jo come through twice but we also got the word “moss”.

While doing an EVP session if the office with the Ovilus X, the word Jo came through, once again. There is a large cut out of a chicken in the office. It has a cowboy hat, a badge and spurs, a chicken dressed as a sheriff. When I asked if I could take a picture of it the Ovilus said “leave”. Interesting.

This location was one of the most interesting I’ve been at. I would like to thank the owner, Mike for being so gracious and informative. It’s obvious he cares a great deal about the history and has so much respect and compassion for the couple that got murdered near there so many years ago.

I would love to go back again and again!

Jim Piscopo: We arrived at the Roadhouse about 5pm, unloaded our equipment and got a very extensive walk through by Mike .After this we set up our equipment. I set up my Sony camcorder with night vision in the pool table room along with extra IR lights. I focused my camera on the hall where a lady in black has been seen and the bar next to it. After that we did a number of EVP sessions. When we did the EVP in the pool table room we played the song After Sunrise which has been reported playing in the room many times from a jukebox.

I also was using a pyrometer during the night to keep tract of temperature but did not have much temperature change.

After we packed up we were sitting in the main dining room with Mike and the security cameras were on us, he pulled up the live feed on his cell phone and we were surrounded by orbs. This went on for about 20 minutes.

Before I arrived I was able to stop by the cemetery and take some pictures of Mary Jane Reed’s headstone.

Marge Sucha: Equipment I used: Digital Camera, FLIR, Rook EMF meter, Olympus Digital Recorder.

We arrived at this location around 5:30 pm. Shortly after arriving the owner gave a tour of restaurant and told us about previous activity in the restaurant.

We decided to do our first EVP session in the main dining room. The K-II meter lit up after several names were mentioned. We had some interesting words come through the Ovilus in reply to some of our questions. Norman, muscle, skip, shot, law, follow, burning, September, computer, applet, energy.

Mike Wright and I did an EVP session in the basement in what used to be a slaughter room. That room for the most part was quiet for us.

The bar area was interesting. On the portal several times we heard what sounded like gun shots. Several investigators heard a commotion outside the bar area. Also while sitting at the bar one of the investigators saw a person or shadow of a person go by just outside the bar area.

Later that night the owner turned on the live feeds and we watched what appeared to look like orbs around us. This was very interesting because we had so much activity around the area earlier that night.

This was a very interesting place to investigate. I would love to go back and do a follow up investigation.

Mike Wright: The evening started off with a walk through and a history of the restaurant.

We conducted EVP sessions in the bar area, the dining room, the games room and the basement.

During the EVP session in the bar area there were several bangs that sounded like gun shots coming from the Mini-Portal that Dale was using.

During our investigation of the dining area there were quite a few orbs that were showing up in the security camera system, the orbs did not appear to be dust particles because of the movements they were making; it was the most compelling event of the evening.

Dale Kaczmarek: The Ovilus X had a lot of relevant words that were associated with the murders and this building. The most interesting ones were: shot, kill, law, running, Jo, moss, burning and bush. Arians said that he once worked in the White House under President Bush. Two other interesting words were huge and recuse. The coroner did recuse himself from the autopsy and huge sounds a lot like Hughes which was somehow also connected to this area’s past.

I picked up a couple of stick figures with the X-Cam SLS device in the hallway where the lady in black has been seen in the past.

As far as the “orbs” captured and seen in real time via Arian’s cell phone, I was not convinced that they were paranormal. The floor was dusty and if you watch the video carefully, as each person gets up from their chair to have a look at the alleged phenomena, additional “orbs” were picked up probably due to their movement and stirring up more dust particles. There are just too many natural explanations for orbs and I usually totally discount them unless they are visible to the naked eye, cast a glow in the environment or otherwise display some form of intelligence.

Wright did claim to have seen a human-like form or shadow pass quickly in the haunted hallway from left to right. I did not feel anything out of the ordinary but Piscopo documented a number of interesting sounds and noises.

This was a very interesting place that was featured on a Travel Channel episode of Dead Files.

Evidence collected:

1948 roadhouse.MPG – while conducting a Radio Specter session by the bar, the device says what sounds like, “1948.”

Bar shots running whisper Stanley roadhouse.MPG - while conducting a Mini-Portal session by the bar, the sound of gunshots were followed by running, a whisper that sounds like it says Stanley.

Chuck roadhouse.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session in the main dining room, the device says the name, “Chuck.”

Clearing their throat roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up a noise that sounds like someone clearing their throat.

Dining room grunt roadhouse.MPG – while using the Mini-Portal in the dining room, a comment was made, “You got to talk real loud so that we can hear you.” The device emits what sounds like a grunt.

Dining room I can yes roadhouse.MPG – while using the Mini-Portal in the dining room, a question was asked, “Can you hear us? Can you see us?” The device says what sounds like, “I can, yes.”

Dining room pardon roadhouse.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session in the dining room, a question was asked, “Can you tell us the room we should go to?” The device says a loud, “Pardon?”

Dining room sigh or breath roadhouse.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session in the dining room, a question was asked, “Should we go to the bar?” The device emits what sounds like a sigh or a breath.

Footsteps roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up the sound of footsteps.

Harmonica roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up what sounds like a brief harmonica sound.

Harmonic2 roadhouse.MPG - Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up another brief sound of a harmonica.

I do roadhouse.MPG – while conducting a Radio Specter session near the bar, a question was asked, “Anyone at the bar right now that needs a drink?” The response was, “I do.”

Jo roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up the Ovilus X saying, “Jo”.

Leave roadhouse.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session in the upstairs office, a question was asked, “There’s a picture of a chicken. I’m going to take a picture of it. Is that okay?” The Ovilus responded with, “Leave.”

Loud noise roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up a loud noise.

Loud noises by camera roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up another loud noise.

Moss roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up the Ovilus X saying, “Moss.”

Noise or voice bang roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up what either sounds like a noise or a voice followed by a bang.

Noise roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up a noise.

Old roadhouse.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session in the main dining room, a question was asked, “What did you do to my batteries?” The Ovilus responded with, “Old.”

One roadhouse.MPG – while walking down the hallway with the X-Cam SLS device Kaczmarek picked up a stick figure momentarily before disappearing.

Second floor office jo roadhouse.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session in the second floor office, a question was asked, “Who lives up here?” The Ovilus responded with, “Jo.”

Shot roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up a word spoken by the Ovilus X, “Shot.”

Shot sound and voice roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up the sound of a shot going off from the Radio Specter, followed by a faint voice.

Shot sounds roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked the sounds of gunshots coming from the Radio Specter.

Thump roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway picked up a loud thump in the background.

Two roadhouse.MPG – while walking down the hallway with the X=Cam SLS device a stick figure was observed.

Voice roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway with After Sunrise playing in the background picked up a voice that sounds like it says, “Can you help me?”

Voice2 roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway with After Sunrise playing in the background picked up another female voice or wail.

Voice3 roadhouse.MPG – Piscopo’s static IR camcorder facing down the hallway with After Sunrise playing in the background picked up that same female voice that sounds like it says, “Can you help me?”

Conclusions: The Ovilus X was by far the most interesting piece of equipment that was deployed that evening due to all the “spot on” responses and words that definitely connected to the past events which happened in this building. The K-II meter went completely in the red in the main dining room after the Ovilus X said, “Race.” Could that be related to Chinaman that was murdered and dismembered?

The sounds of gunshots on the Mini-Portal were also very interesting. Perhaps I need to count how gunshot sounds there were and compare them to the number of bullets in the victim’s body?

If you ever wish to investigate this location be prepared for a good time especially if you have any real-time EVP devices like an Ovilus. Also bring some trigger music of After Sunrise by Sergio Mendes. Perhaps you too will hear a female voice in the background when you review your sessions.