We received a report from an owner of a building in Mexico, MO (name and location withheld upon request).  The building is close to downtown and constructed in the early 1920’s.  The area the building is located is primarily occupied by commercial business offices.  The building investigated has been vacant for a long period of time due to the need to remodel. 

The owner of building was tearing out old metal ceiling tiles in the basement when as he was ripping out a section of basement ceiling an envelope fell out next to his feet.  The letter had apparently been hidden in the ceiling since the sixties.  The letter was in a wax paper envelope wrapped in old newspaper clippings enabling the owner to approximate age of the letter.  The clippings dated to the late sixties and the letter was hand written in red ink on drug store letterhead.  The owner showed a picture of the letter to Rusty and me while questioning him before the investigation.  Dwayne was unable to attend.  The owner seemed to think the letter was the source of the haunting.

The letter seems to have been written by women to some significant other.  The letter doesn't give a name of the person for which it was written, just begins with “Darling”.  It closes with a women’s name that I was ask not to mention at the owner’s request.  The first page of the letter and envelope it was found are pictured below.

The owner believed the disturbances began when the letter was discovered. 

Renovation of the vacant building had slowly been progressing for two years prior to the owner finding the letter.  The owner had been making gradual improvements to the building as surplus funds became available.  When the owner found the letter, he showed it to his wife and friends thinking it to be an interesting novelty.  A “conversation piece” was how it was described to Rusty and me.  

In the mean time, the renovation continued to encounter ever increasing difficulties as it progressed.  It began with the owner sometimes leaving tools and materials in the building overnight which he would discover missing when he came back to the building the next day.  He attributed the missing items to individuals somehow getting into the building and stealing them.  Although, the doors or windows never appeared be disturbed when something was discovered missing.  As a result, the owner began to take the tools and material with him as he would leave for the day.

The owner reported lights would go out and breakers would “throw” while he was trying to work or operate power tools.  He thought it was strange because an electrician replaced most of electrical wiring in the building, so there should not have been a problem.  The electrician was called back to check the wiring and reported nothing was wrong, but the electrical problems continued. 

Then he started receiving the phone calls.  The businesses and apartments adjacent to the owner’s building began calling to complain about the excessive noise at night.  They would complain the noise was bad enough during the day, but explained it seemed to be worse at night and ask the owner to please quiet down.  The owner would tell them there shouldn't be anyone in the building working at night. He would rush down to investigate thinking it was the same individuals stealing tools and materials only to find the lights out and the building vacant.  The idea the building was haunted started to take root in his mind.

The neighbors began to complain about hammering at night so often the owner considered spending the night in the old building to see what was going on.  But by this time, the owner had started becoming more and more uneasy while working in the building alone.  At times, he would feel like he was being watched to point where the hairs on the back of his neck would stick up.  The lights were still flickering and going out while he was working, and it was all he could do to keep from running out of building when they did. 

The owner and wife would discuss what they should do about these spiritual disturbances.  At this point, ghosts were a common topic of conversation in their household.   They were a religious couple and considered requesting their reverend to bless the building.  Rusty and I were told they had trouble approaching their reverend because he was a friend of the family and were embarrassed at making such a strange request.  Even though, they thought he would be more than willing to help. 

It was the owner’s wife who made the connection between the letter and the disturbances.  She believed the spirit’s peace was upset when the letter was revealed.  If they put the letter back in its original resting place, maybe the spirit would be put at ease. 

The building owner thought it was worth a try.  He went back to the basement of the building, took measurements, bought the appropriate materials, and built a little box in the ceiling of the basement.  He then took the letter, wrapped it in the newspaper it came in, and closed the letter in the box he had built.  Before the letter was sealed in, he took the picture shown above.  After the letter was hidden again, the disturbances slowed and then stopped.  The noise complaints stopped.  The owner felt he could start leaving tools overnight in the building again.  Although he still felt a tinge of uneasiness while working in the building, but the fear would not grip him like it had before.

Because of the recent disturbances, his wife had become interested in the paranormal and had stumbled upon our web site while doing research on ghosts and haunting phenomena.  Since Boone County Ghost Hunters are the only paranormal investigation organization in central Missouri, she contacted our web site, www.bcghosthunters.com.  Her and her husband both thought it would be interesting to have us do an anonymous investigation of the property. 

The owner let us into the building and showed us the box he had built in the basement ceiling the letter was sealed.   It was an odd feeling actually seeing the source of all the trouble.  We were told we could investigate the building but to not disturb the box. 

BCGH began the investigation with some trepidation after hearing the story and seeing the box the letter was kept.  We set up 4 cameras and took turns walking through the building with digital voice recorders, EMF Detectors, and digital video devices.  We started the investigation at 8:00 pm and started packing up equipment around 1:00 am.

The building had three stories which were somewhat difficult to wire because of the size. Rusty and I used two way radios to stay in contact while performing investigations, but we both felt uncomfortable the entire time we were in the building and therefore kept in constant contact.  We both heard intermittent scrapping sounds in the basement which could be attributed to rodents.  It was hard not to let our imagination’s get the best of us while in proximity to the box built into the ceiling of the basement.  We had no problems with any of the equipment, but did pick up a couple of orbs in the videos.  No EVP’s (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) was recorded during our time in the building.

 We were definitely glad to get out of the building when the investigation was over.   Rusty and I felt uncomfortable the entire time.  It was like a weight had been lifted.

The building owners ask us to remain in contact, and he would let us know if any new activity begins.

George,
Case Manager
Boone County Ghost Hunters

e that I was ask not to mention at the owner’s request.  The first page of the letter and envelope it was found are pictured below.