This week we take the show on the road by visiting the Old South Pittsburg Hospital whose manager we met at the Haunted America conference in Alton, Illinois last Summer. After hearing stories of the shadow beings, Electronic Voice Phenomena, and variety of paranormal characters, we knew that we had to go on location and see the hospital itself.
This place doesn’t look spooky at all…
When we got there, we were greeted by the fine people of the Paranormal Free Agents from St. Louis, Missouri and they graciously allowed us to tag along with them on some of their ghost investigation. That’s where we had our first weird encounter of the evening.
After exploring for a bit, we interviewed the delightful Stacey Hayes from Old South Pittsburg Hospital Ghost Hunts. We spent some time talking with her and the history of the place.
Interviewing Stacey Hayes live on location at Old South Pittsburg Hospital
Interesting enough though, once we were done talking with Stacey we started getting stories from Pete and Larry from Starr Mountain Paranormal Research and Investigations. They mentioned that they saw three shadowy figures in the hallway behind us who were interested in what we were talking about. That was a pretty chilling moment (even though we didn’t get to see them for ourselves!)
Preparing to shoot a music performance for the spirits of Old South Pittsburg Hospital
Afterwards, we wandered the halls ourselves, and even shot a music video in the hallway where Larry and Pete have seen the mysterious tall shadow man passing through!
When we were in the hospital, they told us about a Dr. Havron who is rumored to have performed unnecessary surgeries at the hospital. While I couldn’t find anything about that in our research, his first wife was murdered at home in 1964 while he was on duty at the hospital. The police said that it was someone with intimate knowledge of the house and that none of her valuables were missing. The killer was never found and the house where the murder took place was said to be haunted by her spirit as well. While Dr. Havron passed away in 2006 as a fairly beloved member of the community (according to his obituary and some nice things people have said about him online), urban legends have a way of taking root especially when there’s ghost stories involved. And that’s where we took inspiration for this week’s song, “The Evil Doctor H”!
Go ahead and roam the halls a bit
you might feel him at your back
and you will feel a strange spirit
You might scream a little
and you might have to shout
When you’re in the hospital where no one ever checks out
He don’t need insurance
he’s ready to begin
You’ll only wait a minute
Oh my God the Doctor is in
You’ll never get sick again
Electroshocking therapy,
Unnecessary surgery
a full frontal lobotomy
with the Evil Dr. H
a big blood squirter
Your organs into burger
It’s Diagnosis Murder
for the Evil Dr. H
he’s not much for the Hippocratic Oath
But cutting and slicing yeah he’s good at both
Dr. H’s the last physician that you’ll need
He’s already in the morgue and he’s eager to proceed
Allison from Milwaukee Ghosts joined Wendy and I to explore what is reputed to be one of Wisconsin’s most haunted buildings. She put on a presentation about Dairy State weirdness at the beginning of the night and it was fantastic because there were a bunch of stories that I never heard before and she gave us a preview of some of the cool stuff she’ll be doing at this year’s Milwaukee Paranormal Conference.
Here’s Allison presentin’!
Once Allison finished her presentation, we took some time to interview owner B.C. Farr about the place and its history. Built in 1864, the saloon has had several owners over the decades as it shifted from a boarding house to speakeasy to brothel and then just a nice Wisconsin tavern.
B.C. had been a regular there since the 80s and was on a path to become a professional NASCAR race car driver. But the entrepreneurial spirit got the best of him and after a strange fire gutted the place, he got the opportunity to own it for himself. And it only took a short time before he started seeing his tools disappear randomly and shapes out of the corner of his eye. And that was just the beginning…
B.C. Farr from the Old Baraboo Inn – Photo courtesy of Baraboo News Republic
Since it was a live interview, it was even more fun because there were people at the bar who had seen things with B.C. over the years and he calls out a friend who had sat with him at the tavern one night and listened as the jukebox turned off and they could hear old honky tonk piano music wafting through the room for 30-45 seconds before the jukebox kicked back on. Another patron talked about the ghost of a cowboy they both saw one night. And according to this Wisconsin State Journal article, there’s plenty more ghosts there, including a few of the ladies of the night that used to work upstairs in the establishment. Whatever specials they’re offering, the ghosts are taking it, because it seems they’re just as popular with the dead as with the living!
Oh God, they knew that we were coming!
Once we finished interviewing B.C. we talked with Melanie Carroll, who was dressed up like a spirit named Cybil, who’s been seen wandering the tavern in a fancy white dress. Melanie has a team called Date With The Paranormal in the area and has been investigating the Old Baraboo Inn since she moved into the area.
Her team uses what’s called an SLS Camera, which stands for Structured Light Sensor. Its use in ghost hunting has been made popular by Zak Bagans and Ghost Adventures. The camera captures an interesting variety of electromagnetic fields and seems to be able to detect movement that we cannot with our naked eye. In addition to doing photos earlier in the evening as “Cybil”, Mel was gracious enough to take us on a mini-ghost hunt up in the apartment upstairs where the old brothel used to be! My internet cut out after a few minutes, but I was able to capture a little bit of it in our See You On The Other Side Facebook live stream…
Okay, now here’s something weird. For this episode we originally recorded a tribute to Prince, who died this week at his estate and recording complex in Minnesota. So, Wendy and I worked up an acoustic version of “Delirious” and we played it for the crowd right after the podcast.
Who knows, but since we were having a great time at the Old Baraboo Inn, with a few glasses of wine, we decided to make this week’s song, “In Vino Veritas”, about the simple pleasures of having a couple of drinks!
In vino.
In vino.
The drunken man’s words
are the sober thoughts,
little bit of truth
serum in the sauce.
Another round, you’re on a roll,
tell me the secrets of your soul,
Confess your sins, and let go,
I love you more when you lose control.
So you can call me when you’re messed out of your mind,
Now that’s something I can get behind,
You finally say the words you’ve always wanted to,
when you bid sobriety adieu
There’s nothing to tell but the truth.
The words flow fast,
with a wedge of lime,
and moderation’s
just another waste of time.
Another round, you’re on a roll,
tell me the secrets of your soul,
Confess your sins, and let go,
I love you more when you lose control.
So you can call me when you’re messed out of your mind,
Now that’s something I can get behind,
You finally say the words you’ve always wanted to,
You’re so much more fun when you’re crunk,
because you don’t lie to me when you’re drunk.
You’re much more interesting on your third glass of wine,
your honest flavors always come out on the vine,
It’s your boss and his secretary or your friend that popped her cherry,
the truth is you ain’t no girl scout,
when the skeletons come out.
The skeletons come out.
The skeletons come out.
Another round, you’re on a roll,
tell me the secrets of your soul,
Confess your sins, and let go,
I love you more when you lose control.
So you can call me when you’re messed out of your mind,
Now that’s something I can get behind,
You finally say the words you’ve always wanted to,
when you bid sobriety adieu.
And you can call me when you’re messed out of your mind,
Now that’s something I can get behind,
You finally say the words you’ve always wanted to,
You’re so much more fun when you’re sauced,
In vino veritas.
In vino.
In vino.
A rock band's journey into the afterlife, UFOs, entertainment, and weird science.
