My name is Michael Todd and I am writing to you from Muldrow, Oklahoma. Following up on your June 14, 2024 post inviting people on your mailing list to submit “horror stories,” I thought I would send you a compact but pretty scary story that I experienced a few years ago.
I am the founder and principal investigator of Spook Earth Paranormal, based in Muldrow, Oklahoma. I have been investigating and analyzing paranormal phenomena for over 16 years. In that time, I have been scratched, bruised, pushed through doors, had my hair pulled, and witnessed more “shadow” incidents than I have ever known. I have been to various locations such as Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, the Waverly Hills Sanitarium in Kentucky, and the historic War Eagle Mill east of Bentonville, Arkansas. My encounters have been documented through audio and video recordings, scientific instruments such as K2 meters, infrared cameras, and photography. I have physically heard disembodied voices in the hallways of elderly tuberculosis sanitariums, concealed forces have turned the doorknob while I stand on the other side and coax them to open the door. And shadow figures are just a few of the many apparitions, spirits, and otherworldly beings I have witnessed. Throughout this time I managed to stay composed, stand my ground, and gather the best evidence I could.
Except for one place that completely surprised me.
There was a place in Charleston, Arkansas that scared the hell out of me.
And there was one place in this place that made me uneasy. Room 52.
Long story compact, in July 2013 I had the opportunity to investigate a facility in Charleston, Arkansas called Green Hurst Nursing Home. The facility had closed the previous year because a recent facility had been built a few miles away. I met the owner (who was a friend of my father's) and he gave the “green light” for my group and I to investigate.
Since the investigation was scheduled for the following weekend, I wanted to be able to “look around” beforehand and determine where night vision cameras would be best used, etc. So on Saturday, July 13, I drove to Charleston with a few pieces of equipment to check out the building.
I dropped by the owner’s house and found the “keys” to the nursing home hidden in his mailbox by the road. The nursing home, which had once housed over 60 elderly and mentally challenged patients, was a silent, abandoned, and dead building. It was in a silent residential area near a fairly busy road. I pulled into the parking lot, got out of the car, picked up my bag of gear, and headed for the front door. It was getting tardy, and a sultry wind was rattling the elderly chain of the flagpole. I managed to insert the key into the elderly, worn lock and entered what had once been the main hall. I put my bag on the couch and looked around.
There was still delicate in the building, so I turned on the hallway lights. A single fluorescent delicate came on, providing some delicate into the otherwise gloomy, dim hallway. The interior resembled any hospital nursing facility. The hallway had a few remaining pieces of furniture, an abandoned nurse’s station (papers were strewn across the floor), and an elderly coffee maker on a shelf that had certainly made many cups during long nights of work. I noticed the kitchen/breakroom behind the nurse’s station. It looked completely empty and very dusty. The last thing I noticed was the patient hallways running from west to east. The west hallway had one delicate at the end, and the hallway itself was pitch black. The east hallway, however, was an unsettling sight. I found it “odd” that the doors leading into the hallway were chained together. I immediately thought of the TV show “The Walking Dead.” If you watched the show, the sheriff was warned not to open one door in the hallway, and the warning was intense: “Don't open it. Dead inside.” Somehow I knew I had to go there.
I grabbed a mini-mag flashlight and my diminutive Sony camera from my gear bag. I went to the “secured” door and was surprised to see that it wasn’t locked, but rather simply wrapped around the door handles to prevent anyone on the other side from opening the door. “Strange,” I thought. The owner had mentioned that intruders had recently stolen a few TVs and I had been told to report any open windows or doors.
I opened the right door and with an ominous “creak” it opened and I immediately found myself in a “pitch black” hallway. The hallway led to what looked like another nursing station. There was literally stuff strewn everywhere. Wheelchairs, TVs, baskets of clothes, toiletries, and the like. It made walking a little hard, but I managed. I heard a “scratching” sound and saw a mouse flying around a nearby door frame. I made my way to the nursing station and took a few pictures in the darkness. I was at the intersection where the “new” hallway led north and the other south. I passed the room the owner had told me was the ICU room. I peeked in and took a few pictures. I was greeted by a bed, various cabinets with bedding still waiting to be laid out, and I couldn’t lend a hand but shiver a little as I imagined the destitute guy spending the last few minutes of his life there.
I had been in many obscure places and usually walked without a problem. But when I came out of the “intensive” therapy room, I had a terrible feeling that something was watching me. I turned around, shining my mini-magazine in all directions. Lots of junk; the only discovery was the obscure hallways at midnight. I listened quietly and did not move for a minute or two. I decided it was just my imagination. I turned the delicate south and decided to investigate this particular hallway. I was peering into the room when I heard a sound from behind me.
I froze.
I had heard a car speeding up at the intersection near the object earlier and had written it off. I thought about going back to the lobby and getting my camera, but as I was walking to the west hall I heard the “strange” sound again. There was no denying it.
Someone was snoring in a room in the north wing.
I quietly walked down the hallway and as I was about halfway to the exit door, I heard the sound of “snoring” and weighty breathing coming from a nearby room. I noted the room number. Room 52. Hoping it wasn’t some stranger who had broken in, I peeked in the door. To my horror, it was almost empty and completely mute. The snoring/breathing sound stopped the moment I stepped through the door. I shined a delicate into the room. Nothing stood out. No person, no food; clothes lying on the unmade bed…nothing.
I turned on the camera and asked, “Is anyone here?”
Complete silence.
I admit that something was bothering me, because the feeling of “someone watching me” was stronger now, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I heard movement to my left again and saw another mouse hurrying somewhere. As an investigator, I tried to communicate, but the only response I got was silence. I noticed that it was getting darker outside and decided it would be best to go back to the lobby. I turned and headed back toward the main intersection. However, I froze in the blink of an eye and went no further.
Behind me, the bed in room 52 sounded as if someone had just sat down in it. Heavy breathing and footsteps were heading towards the door of the room. I turned the delicate towards room 52 and expected to see a “smiling” apparition staring back at me.
My nerves snapped and I hurried back to the lobby. I put the chain back on the door and tried to shake off the strange event. Outside, as the sun slowly disappeared, the streetlights were coming on. I started to get ready to leave and turned off the delicate. The mystery of room 52 would have to wait for the full investigation. Honestly, I was enraged with myself for not being able to follow up on this incident and get some answers. I was almost ready to leave, for the lobby was now in deep shadow and an unsettling, growing sense of dread permeated the building. I turned my back on the station and started to walk to the front door. I didn’t get far.
The sound of snoring/weighty breathing came from the far corner of the hallway. This time it didn't stop. I turned on the flashlight on my cell phone and aimed it at the couch in the far corner. There was nothing there.
I upset someone (or something much darker) and they followed me.
I admit that at this point I was afraid. I was alone with something or someone who wanted to show me who was boss. I did one thing; I knew I had to do it. I called out loudly on the name of the Son of God and commanded the spirit to leave my presence and return to their room. They could not follow me home or harass me any further. I said this in a commanding voice and commanded them to leave.
The room fell mute as if it were a tomb, and I left.
The following Saturday my group and I explored the Nursing Home. We managed to capture several EVPs and one “strange” photo of an elderly man with a gray beard. My snoring/weighty breathing spirit never showed up. The tests didn’t show anything unusual. The owner checked the records but couldn’t confirm that anyone had died in the room. I’m not certain, but I considered that the encounter may have been caused by a wandering spirit (possibly demonic) finding a place to live.
I hope this story has interested you. I have a few other audio clips from the site, as well as a compact video clip from that day. Green Hurst was donated to the state of Arkansas in 2014, and after several months of renovation, it is now called “Maggie House.” It serves the needs of homeless children and is run by DHS
Yours faithfully,
Michael Todd
Founder and Principal Investigator of “Spook Earth Paranormal”
6-17-2024
Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/groups/2023274361094529/
