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Unsolved Mysteries of the World

The Phantom Stalker - The Cindy James Mystery

On June 8th, 1989 police on route to a scene where a body had been found near an abandoned house in Richmond, British Columbia, already suspected who it may be. As they arrived on scene, their police instincts were correct. The body was that of 44 year old Nurse Cindy James, who had been reported missing since May 25th, 1989.


The same day she had gone missing, police located her automobile in a neighborhood parking lot a short distance from where she had lived. There were groceries in the backseat and a wrapped gift for a friend. Underneath the car were the scattered contents of Cindy's purse. And even more alarming there was blood on the driver's side door. There was no sign of Cindy and a brief search was initiated without results.


On June 8th, when police investigated the scene at the abandoned house, they noted that it appeared Cindy was abducted and brutally murdered. Her hands and feet were tied behind her back and a black nylon stocking was bound tightly around her neck. At first glance it appeared as if she had expired by asphyxiation, but later, during an autopsy, it was determined that she had died from a lethal dose of morphine and other unattributed drugs.


The Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigated extensively and came to the conclusion that Cindy James died of either an accident or suicide. The official cause of death, however, was determined by the coroner who indicated that Cindy was not a victim of a vicious murder, nor accident nor suicide. Officially, the corner ruled that Cindy James' death was a result of an unknown event.


This is Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season XX Episode XX The Phantom Stalker, The Cindy James Mystery.


Otto Hack, Cindy's father stated “The police did not investigate the possibility of homicide, of somebody murdering her, but zeroed in on trying to prove that she committed suicide.”

Cindy once told her mother that she needed help and that she feared, not only for her own life, but that of her mother. But she remained silent about what exactly it was that was so menacing.

Cindy, by all accounts had a good upbringing and graduated nursing school in 1966. At 19, she married Dr. Roy Makepeace, a man 18 years her senior. She worked as a nurse, but loved her second job as a Councillor to children with emotional problems. She enjoyed working with children but had none of her own.

In 1982, however, her life started unraveling. Her marriage to Dr. Makepeace ended in divorce and Cindy found herself alone working longer hours. Four months after her marriage had ended, Cindy reported having had strange phone calls. The phone calls, Cindy claimed were from an unknown person, whispering her name and uttering threats. During one phone call, Cindy hung up and drew the blinds of her front window. The caller rang again and said that there is no use in hiding, that he knows she is in the living room. The calls continued, and the stalking would escalate significantly.

For the next seven years she reported these calls and once encouraged to involve the police, the incidents were more frequent and alarming. Cindy reported over 100 incidents to police including hearing prowlers at night around her house, her porch light smashed and her phone line cut.

mysterious notes would appear on her doorstep. Ones reading “You will die!” and “Cindy I see You”

After dozens upon dozens of visits to the home to investigate, police thought that Cindy was perhaps just seeking attention.

Then one night in January of 1983, things took a darker turn. Agnes Woodcock, Cindy's best friend came over to visit but found that Cindy was not answering the door. As she investigated she found Cindy outside crouched down with a nylon stocking tied around her neck. Cindy said she had went outside to the garage to get a box and someone had grabbed her from behind and attempted to murder her. She claimed all she saw was white sneakers.

Afraid for her life, Cindy moved out, painted her car a different color and changed her last name.

But the phone calls continued. The notes left on the doorstep were ever present and now, they were accompanied by strangled cats.

Police were monitoring Cindy and investigating each time an incident was noted. Frustrated by the lack of police help with the situation, she hired on a private investigator who would act as a personal body guard and who would hopefully find out who the phantom stalker was.

Ozzie Kaban, the private investigator, said he felt Cindy was not telling the whole story and that she was holding something back. He said she would be evasive, would withhold information, and simply would not act as a normal victim would act. When the police gave her a polygraph, the examiner claimed that she was withholding information. Her mother, Tillie Hack, thinks the reason for her daughter's reluctance was that her attacker had threatened her sister and family. By naming him, her family would be killed.

Ozzie Kaban had taken this into consideration and on the night of January 30, 1984, he heard strange sounds coming over a two-way radio he had given Cindy and went straight to her house.

He arrived at her front door, but it was locked. The back door was also locked. Looking through a window, he found her lying on the floor with a paring knife through her hand.

She was taken to the hospital where she later recalled being attacked and a needle going into her arm. She was also treated for superficial cuts all over body, face and head.

Police investigated once again, but found no forced entry, and could not find any other evidence to suggest someone had been at the house, other than Cindy James.

Police tried to trace the ongoing phone calls but they were all too short to be of any value. No suspect description was given by Cindy, but now she claimed that there may be multiple stalkers as she said she had witnessed perhaps two or three during the knife attack. Police now openly admitted that they were questioning Cindy's mental health.

Shortly after, her garage was deliberately set on fire, but after a quick investigation, police indicated they believed Cindy started the fire herself.

Her friend Agnes along with Agnes' husband Tom were asked to spend the night at Cindy's house one evening as she felt particularly paranoid about a call she had received earlier. As they retired for the evening they heard a noise and when Tom went to investigate they found the basement in flames. When Agnes went to call the fire department, the phone line was cut. The three managed to escape the fire, but when Tom went to alert the neighbors he came across a man standing on the sidewalk a short distance away. When Tom asked him if he could call the fire department, he simply turned and ran away.

When the fire was out and investigated, again, police suspected Cindy had set the blaze herself and cut the phone line just prior. They noted that the basement windows were dusty and not disturbed, nor opened and that someone inside the home had most likely been the arsonist.

On December 11, 1985, Cindy was found dazed and semiconscious lying in a ditch six miles from her home. She was wearing a man's work boot and glove, and suffering from hypothermia. Cuts and bruises covered her body and a black nylon stocking had been tied tightly around her neck. She had no memory of what happened.

Cindy's doctor believed she was depressed and suicidal and admitted her into a Vancouver psychiatric hospital for care and observation. In the hospital she wrote herself notes. On one note in read “I still feel as if suicide is my best option in an unbearable situation. As soon as I get out of here, I will carry on my plan.”

She told psychiatrists that she was depressed and angry that no one believed she was being stalked and that someone wanted her dead. When pressed by doctors she indicated she thought her former husband, Dr. Makepeace was the stalker.

After several months, Cindy was released, but the stalking, again, immediately picked up. Police were once alerted and this time a detective took a keen interest into the situation. RCMP Detective Pat McBride moved into Cindy's house to protect her and find out what was really going on. It is also suspected he was romantically involved with Cindy. While Pat was living at the house, no calls were made in his presence. And notes or other strange incidents only occurred when police were not on surveillance duties making some arm-chair detectives doubt Pat McBride's intentions and making some to believe that he was perhaps the stalker and eventually the murderer. It may be far reaching to suspect an RCMP officer of such actions, but, just like police at the time – there were no good suspects, if any at all.

Pat McBride moved out of Cindy's house and left her, in her mind, with only one way forward. She was going to confront the stalker and take things into her own hands.

She in turn, started stalking her ex husband, Dr. Makepeace.

Police thoroughly investigated the doctor and found no evidence that he was in any way involved. In the midst of the police investigating the Dr., he presented them with a recording left on his very own answering machine from the stalker allegedly targeting his ex-wife. It was the first time he had ever received such a call. Here is the recording:

Police analyzed the voice and determined it was a women's voice and most likely Cindy herself. Two weeks after they confronted her about the recording they were called to Cindy's house. She unconscious, naked from the waist down in her driver's seat with a black stalking tied around her neck. Another black stalking was loosely tied around her feet and hands and then bound behind her.

In a taped interview about the incident Cindy describes what had happened to her:

Police again suspected that Cindy was suffering from mental health issues and urged her to see her doctor. Cindy indicated she would do so, but according to her employer, Vancouver General Hospital, she took her paycheck and asked for a five day leave to clear her head. Her car was later found in the neighborhood parking lot, near the bank, the check not deposited. Cindy, it appeared was abducted.



But later, Police believed Cindy had accidentally committed suicide. They indicate they believe she had drugged herself, tied herself and stumbled and died near the abandoned house in the yard where she was found.

Ozzie Kaban, the private investigator, however, believes that it was indeed a stalking and a vicious murder. He explains that the amount of drugs found in Cindy's body would have incapacitated her and she would have never had been able to tie to knots around her body, especially tying her arms and legs behind her back. He also indicates that there was no needle on or near Cindy, as would be the case if she self-injected at the site. Further, he states she was found one and half miles from her car, barefoot and there are no witnesses that have come forward to say they saw her walking, or injecting herself, or tying herself up.



Police speculate that Cindy ingested morphine tablets and did not use a needle to inject the drug. The other drug, that was more prevalent in her body was Flurazepam, a drug similar to Valium. It was also a drug Cindy was prescribed to be used to help her with her insomnia. The drug, along with the amount of morphine in her system was enough to kill her, but it would have taken between 15 to 45 minutes for the action to take effect. Police indicate that this would have given her plenty of time to tie herself up.



But what about the knots and the way Cindy was tied up? Surly, one cannot tie their hands and feet behind their backs?

Police also called upon an expert to look into the knots and the way the restraints were bound. He concluded that one could have done exactly the same knots and tie themselves up in a similar matter. In fact, he demonstrated it, in front of police and it took him less than three minutes to complete the task.



Now clearly, this was a case of schizophrenia or some other mental health disorder and clearly a suicide, right?

Not so fast. If we look at where the body was found, that conclusion starts to seed doubt. Cindy's body was found in decomposition. Rigamortus had already set in, and her body produced the sweet, awful smell of rotten flesh. She was found in the front side yard of an abandoned house, but one that was not, really uninhabited. A squatter, living in a van just five metres from the body, never noticed it, for over a week, even though Cindy was wearing a white top and a jogger had spotted her from the roadway. And that jogger said they did that same route twice before and never saw a body in that location.

Furthermore, teens used to use the abandoned house as a hangout spot. They indicated they would knock on the squatters windows and rock his van to get kicks. They also indicated that they had two small parties that week at the abandoned house, yet, despite all the traffic and reveling, had not noticed a body laying in the yard wearing a bright white top and bound up.

Speculation among those that believe Cindy was actually stalked and murdered is that her body was dumped there the same day as the discovery of her corpse.

Further speculation is cast upon evidence gathered by police, but not followed up upon. At two of the attack scenes involving Cindy, a brand of cigarette butts not belonging to her, were collected. In addition, at one scene two grey pubic hairs were extracted from Cindy's pubic area, that did not belong to her. It is uncertain what police did with this evidence.

After Cindy's case was concluded by the coroner and an inquest into her death, her ex husband, Dr. Makepeace and her sister both received odd, threatening phone calls. It is speculated that these were mean tricks pulled by pranksters.

The RCMP refused to offer interviews about the case to the media and have said the case has been concluded.



There are some that believe that perhaps, The RCMP, themselves were somehow involved with the harassment and ultimately the death of Cindy James. And certainly, it is very odd that an RCMP officer would end up being the move-in lover of someone they feel is mentally ill, vulnerable and defenseless. But there were over fourteen officers involved in the case, along with dozens of others on the outside that would have had to keep a secret all these years.



Others point to the fact that the voice messages left were of a female, speculating that Cindy's stalker was a female lover. But, again, there is no evidence of this and it is just wild speculation.



The only viable suspect is the ex-husband, but police had cleared him early on.



So was Cindy harassed, assaulted and ultimately murdered by an unknown person? Or was the stalker a phantom in her unconscious mind? Is there, still a sadistic man, awaiting his next victim? Or is the human brain capable of doing sadistic deeds upon its own body and soul?

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Carl Groth, a Linotype operator for the Twin Falls Idaho Evening Times, disarmed Van Vlack, who claimed his name was Jack Burke, and held him at gun point until Sheriff Prater arrived. The prisoner was taken to Twin Falls and lodged in the jail atop the county courthouse. That afternoon, a search party found Van Vlack’s Ford coupe in a dry irrigation ditch on the Salmon Tract, a mile and a half southeast of Berger and about three miles from where he was arrested.Although Van Vlack admitted shooting the two police officers, he insisted Mildred was uninjured and was likely making her way back to Tacoma. He told Sheriff Prater they parted company in the middle of the night because he would have a much better chance of escaping alone. But when Prater found blood and long black hairs stuck to the butt of Van Vlack’s pistol, he worried Hook had been bludgeoned on the head and was lying unconscious somewhere in the freezing cold.On Wednesday, November 27, Twin Falls District Attorney Edward C. Babcock filed a complaint against Van Vlack in probate court before Judge Guy L. Kinney. Van Vlack, who appeared without counsel, waived a preliminary hearing and was bound over for trial. Judge Kinney ordered him to be held without bond in the county jail until the next term of district court, scheduled for January 1937.Scores of volunteers, led by Twin Falls Police Chief Samuel B. Elrod, renewed their efforts to find the missing victim. Search parties picked up the couple’s tracks at the site of Van Vlack’s abandoned car and slowly and methodically began following the footprints. One set led to the top of an irrigation canal, then seemed to disappear. On Thursday, November 28, 1935, in the off-chance that Hook had drowned, water was shut off in the Twin Falls Canal Company irrigation system, allowing 12 hours to search the tract canals for Hook’s body.Chief Elrod and his search team discovered two sets of footprints leading to the Union Pacific Railway tracks and followed. Finally, at 8:45 a.m. on Friday morning, November 29, they found the frozen body of Mildred Hook lodged in a 16-inch galvanized steel culvert underneath the track bed, approximately one-and-a-quarter miles northwest of Berger. The ends of the culvert had been plugged with sagebrush to hide the body. Mildred Hook appeared to have died from a massive head wound and when Chief Elrod removed the body, he found a bullet inside the culvert and an empty .380-caliber cartridge casing on the ground nearby. A single set of male footprints led away from the culvert, down the railroad tracks toward Hollister.Twin Falls County Coroner Harwood L. Stowe was called to the scene of the murder and ordered that Mildred Hook’s body be taken immediately to the White Mortuary in Twin Falls for an autopsy. At the coroner’s inquest, held on Saturday morning, the jury determined that Hook’s death was caused by Douglas Van Vlack, who fractured her skull with a blow to the head and shot her through the left eye. After the inquest, Clyde and Vincent Hook, Mildred’s brothers, arranged to ship her body by train to Tacoma for burial.The body of Idaho Patrolman Fontaine Cooper lay in state for two days at the White Mortuary in Twin Falls, then was taken to his home town of Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, for burial in the community cemetery. A poignant funeral service was held on Friday afternoon, November 29, attended by Idaho Governor Charles Ben Ross and scores of police officers from Idaho and the surrounding states. He had been an Idaho patrolman for 12 years, and left behind a wife and one child.Meanwhile, Van Vlack seemed to be willing to admit his crimes to whomever would listen. On the day of his capture, he gave Prosecutor Babcock a 17-page statement, confessing to shooting the two police officers, but refused to sign it. He said “Kidnapping is a capitol offense in Washington and I thought I might as well burn them up” Van Vlack steadfastly denied harming his ex-wife until Sheriff Prater confronted him with photographs of her body. Then he admitted shooting her.Van Vlack also confessed to Buhl Police Chief Arthur C. Parker, and gave a two-hour interview to Associated Press reporter Walter A. Beasley, during which he admitted hitting Mildred on the head and shooting her as she emerged from the culvert. He claimed his motive was revenge against the Hook family for breaking up his marriage. “If Mildred’s father had kept his nose out of our affairs, all this would not have happened,” he declared. Joseph Hook, however, believed that Mildred knew too much and, in addition to witnessing Cooper’s murder, could link him to other crimes in the Tacoma area.The funeral for Mildred Hook was held at the Buckley-King Funeral Church, 201 S Tacoma Avenue, on Tuesday afternoon, December 2, 1936. The elaborate service, conducted by the Order of the Eastern Star, a large fraternal organization, was attended by family and hundreds of friends, after which her body was entombed in a crypt at the Tacoma Mausoleum.Although Henry Givens appeared to be slowly recovering, his throat wound became infected and he developed pneumonia. He died at the Twin Falls County Hospital at 9:25 p.m. on Sunday, December 8, leaving behind a wife and six children. Givens had been a Twin Falls deputy sheriff for three years.On Tuesday, December 10, District Attorney Babcock filed an information in Idaho District Court, charging Van Vlack with first-degree murder, but only in the death of Fontaine Cooper. The prosecution needed only prove one premeditated death to qualify the defendant for the death penalty. Babcock decided to hold the additional murder charges in abeyance, pending the outcome of the first trial, then file if necessary.The funeral for Henry C. Givens was held on Wednesday afternoon, December 11, in the First Presbyterian Church and he was buried in the Twin Falls Cemetery. The service, conducted by six ministers of the Church of the Nazarene, was attended by hundreds of police officers and friends.Van Vlack pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Idaho District Court on Monday, December 16. He was represented by Embert V. Larson, a former Twin Fall District Attorney, and Leo Teats, an attorney from Tacoma. Judge Adam B. Barclay set the trial date for Monday, January 20, 1936, and ordered Van Vlack held without bail in the Twin Falls County Jail.On Wednesday, January 15, the charge against Van Vlack for the premeditated murder of Fontaine Cooper was dismissed on motion of the prosecution and replaced with the premeditated murder of Mildred Hook. Van Vlack maintained his plea of not guilty.Trial began on schedule in the Twin Falls County Courthouse before Judge Barclay but was slowed by jury selection. In addition to District Attorney Babcock, the prosecution team now included Idaho Attorney General Bert H. Miller and his senior assistant, J. W. Taylor. Questioning of the prospective jurors revolved around their impressions of the crime gained from the news media and their views about an insanity defense and the death penalty. After four days of questioning, a jury of 14 men, including two alternates, was selected.Opening statements and testimony commenced on Friday morning, January 24, 1936. The prosecution stated simply that the defendant killed his ex-wife for reasons of jealousy and revenge. He had declared his murderous intentions to Joseph Hook and others, stolen a firearm for the purpose, killed Mildred and then confessed his crime to several witnesses. The defense maintained that Van Vlack had been temporarily insane when he killed Mildred Hook. He had borrowed the gun to protect a large amount of money he was carrying on his person, had abducted Mildred to save his marriage, had only meant to wound the two Idaho police officers, claimed she was alive when they parted company, and had no memory of her death.The trial testimony lasted two weeks. The prosecution rested its case after three days of direct testimony. The defense called Carl and Edna Van Vlack and Mrs. Ethel Bennett, Edna’s sister, who testified about the family’s alleged history of hereditary insanity and Douglas’s troubled childhood. Douglas Van Vlack took the stand and laid all the blame for the murders on Joseph Hook, who hated him because he was not good enough for his daughter, turned Mildred against him, and wrecked his marriage. He also claimed his confessions had been fabricated by the police. Three expert witnesses, one psychiatrist and two medical doctors with psychiatric training, testified that Douglas suffered from manic depression (now called bipolar disorder). He had been temporarily insane at the time of the killing and therefore was not responsible for his actions.Closing arguments began on Thursday afternoon, February 6. Idaho Attorney General Miller addressed the jury for four hours, outlining the state’s evidence and concluding with a request for a first-degree murder verdict and the death penalty. The defense argued that a series of events, caused mostly by Joseph Hook, combined to unbalance Van Vlack, making him incapable of premeditated murder. Further, the state’s evidence against the defendant for the murdering of Mildred Hook was weak and circumstantial, and his alleged confessions contrived.The trial concluded on Friday night, February 7, and the case went to the jury. At 2:20 p.m. the following day, Judge Barclay reconvened the court and the jury delivered its verdict. Van Vlack was found guilty of first-degree murder and the jury voted to impose the death penalty. Although sequestered for 17 hours, the jury had deliberated for seven hours and 30 minutes.On Tuesday afternoon, February 11, Judge Barclay sentenced Van Vlack “to be hanged by the neck until dead,” set the execution date for Saturday, April 3, 1936, at the Idaho State Penitentiary in Boise and signed the commitment order. On Friday, February 14, Sheriff Prater, accompanied by three deputies, shackled Van Vlack and loaded him into the back seat of a patrol car for the two-and-a-half hour trip from Twin Falls to Boise. Although it would prove be his last ride, Van Vlack appeared happy. It was the first time he had been out of the county courthouse in three months.Van Vlack’s execution date was stayed on March 12, when his attorneys filed notice of intention to appeal the conviction to the Idaho State Supreme Court. His case was argued before the tribunal on November 9 and Van Vlack appeared before the justices asking that his death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment. On December 10, the supreme court upheld his conviction in district court and, on February 9, 1937, affirmed the sentence of death. Van Vlack’s attorneys made two more appeals to the state supreme court for a commutation of his death sentence, but the petitions were denied. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the case. On October 29, Twin Falls District Court Judge James Porter scheduled Van Vlack’s hanging for December 10, 1937.In a last-ditch effort, Van Vlack’s chief counsel, Robert Ailshie Jr., appealed his death sentence to the Idaho board of pardons. A commutation hearing was held on Monday, December 6 to consider documents submitted by Ailshie alleging jury prejudice and misconduct, and affidavits from a psychiatrist stating Van Vlack was hopelessly and incurably insane. The pardons board turned down Van Vlack’s commutation appeal by a vote of two to one and Idaho Governor Barzilla W. Clark chose not to interfere with the execution.Meanwhile, a gallows was constructed in the elevator shaft of the former shirt factory, which operated between 1923 and 1933, at the Idaho State Penitentiary. The previous person to die on the gallows was John Jerko, on July 9, 1926, who was also convicted of murder in Twin Falls. This time, instead of a state executioner, the trapdoor would be sprung electronically by one of four red buttons pushed by Warden William H. Gess and three prison officials. The warden scheduled the execution for 12:10 a.m. on Friday morning so that “things could be cleared up before the inmates at the institution awoke the next morning” (Boise Capital News).At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 9, Reverend Frank A. Rhea, from Saint Marks Episcopal Church in Boise, visited Van Vlack in his cell to administer the last sacraments. A short time later, his parents, Carl and Edna Van Vlack, arrived to visit Douglas at the open door of his cell, under the watchful eye of prison guard Al Baker.At 7:12 p.m., as the Van Vlacks left the cell block, Douglas broke away from Baker, jumped onto a nearby table and scrambled up three tiers of cells into the rafters. He walked on a beam to the opposite side of the cell block, then stayed there, looking at the concrete floor some 30 feet below. Warden Gess ordered him to come down, then sent guards to fetch a fire net. Prison chaplain Reverend Arvid C. Ohrnell and attorney Ailshie begged Van Vlack to come down, but he did not respond.Jumping to His DeathAt 7:42 p.m., just as the guards returned with a fire net, Van Vlack shouted “I have a right to choose the way I die” (Boise Capital News). Then he plunged forward and hit the floor on his head and left shoulder. Dr. George H. Wahle, the prison physician, determined Van Vlack was still alive, rolled him onto a mattress and covered him with a blanket. There was some discussion whether Van Vlack should be hanged if he was still alive at execution time. When Dr. Wahle determined the prisoner’s death was only a matter of time, Warden Gess called off the execution.Van Vlack was pronounced dead at 12:32 a.m., Friday, December 10, having never regained consciousness. “Death was caused by a broken neck, possibly a fractured skull, internal hemorrhages and other injuries,” Dr. Wahle said (Tacoma New Tribune). At 1:30 a.m., an ambulance took Van Vlack’s body to the McBratney Funeral Parlors where Ada County Corner James T. McCann discovered the broken half of a razor blade concealed under his upper lip; the other half was found in his cell. Prison officials surmised he was determined to commit suicide one way or another, but had no idea where the pieces of razor blade came from. Later that morning Van Vlack’s parents made arrangements to ship Douglas’s body by train to Tacoma for burial.On Saturday December 11, the state prison board convened to open an official investigation into the suicide. Idaho Attorney General J. W. Taylor said the suicide was either colossal stupidity or collusion on the part of the warden and state prison officials. Governor Clark said: “Van Vlack is dead. I presume we should let him remain dead. The affair is closed as far as I’m concerned” (Boise Capital News). But after a week-long political battle with the prison board, Warden Gess was discharged for incompetence. Sheriff Prater was offered the position but declined for financial reasons. Gess was replaced in early February 1938 by Pearl C. Meredith, a real-estate developer from Buel, Idaho.Several visitors and museum staff believe they have felt the presence of Van Vlack from sudden drops in temperatures, hearing his voice call out, being touched by a ghostly hand or seeing his spirit manifest on the roof of cell block #4 and grounds alike.Please Join Us for Part III as we cover more of the Old Idaho State Penitentiary on Unsolved Mysteries of the World.
  • 13. The Haunted Old Idaho State Penitentiary Part One

    13:57||Season 6, Ep. 13
    Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season Six, Episode 13, The Haunted Old Idaho PenitentiaryThis is a Three Part Episode with bonus material added for those interested in taking a deep dive into one of the most active haunted prisons in the world.There is no other word to describe The Old Idaho Penitentiary, other than misery. It is a stark reminder of the brutal, cruel and insanely inhumane life of a prisoner in Idaho's early prison system. And some may argue that Idaho has just reasoning for such conditions with inmates such as the State's first female serial killer to the United State's Jack the Ripper – the Old Idaho Penitentiary in Boise, Idaho saw the worst of humanity.Over 13,000 souls passed through The Old Idaho Penitentiary since the doors opened in 1872 and some say, not all of them left. In fact, there is so much activity within these old walls that occurrences are a daily event.The complex was first constructed in 1870, a full 20 years before Idaho became a state. The Territorial Prison, as it was then known, was first built as a single cell house near the city of Boise with the very walls and building built by the prisoner's themselves. The single cell house was only to be used to house about 20 individuals, but soon, they had nearly 60 individuals imprisoned and needed to expand the grounds.In 1890, the prison was expanded and included a new cell house that housed 42 individual steel-door caged cells. However, even with this new expansion, the prison was still taking in criminals. The individual-sized cells were holding two to three individuals making for very difficult living conditions.The cells did not have washrooms and only a honey-pot was used. Each cell had one honey-pot, or basically a bowl to urinate and defecate in. The honey-pot lay on the ground in the cell and was only cleaned out once per day, in the morning just before breakfast.Now in the sweltering desert heat of summer, the honey-pots made the air thickly sick. In the winter, the urine and feces would freeze making the cleaning even more difficult. Often times, because the cells were so crowded, the honey-pot would be kicked over, or stepped into. Cells were only cleaned once per month.Prisoner's sent to the Idaho Penn, knew that they would suffer through extremely hot conditions in the summer and brutally cold conditions in the winter. The cells had very little ventilation and only one radiator producing heat on the main floor by the guards on duty.The new cell house was divided into three classes. The first floor held the more favorable prisoners, while the second held those more violent or those with longer sentences. The third was reserved for those doing life, or condemned to death. These particular cells had a clear view of the beautiful rose garden.The rose garden also was where the large wooden gallows stood.Without knowing this history, and it not being on the tour, many visitors wondering through this area suddenly find that they have developed a headache, or a neckache. They feel sudden gusts of cold wind and the feeling as if being watched. One particular witness claimed they saw an apparition of a man in striped prison clothing tending to the blooming roses. Others have seen the same man walking about and thinking he is a museum staff member dressed up, they ask to have a photo taken or to ask a question, only to find the man vanishes before their very eyes.The Warden and guards were absolute power-hungry and kept prisoner's in line by exacting beatings that left prisoner's just shy of death.Officials looked to more ways of influencing prisoner's to behave and keep in line and in 1926 they erected a small, low brick building that prisoner's knick-named Siberia – the end of the earth, the loneliest place on earth. It was solitary confinement, an often unbearable punishment for those who crossed the guards.Prisoner's were placed in unlit rooms with no beds that measured 3 feet by 8 feet. Prisoner would be let out once, per week, for one hour, usually for a quick shower and then placed back in, the large steel doors closing behind them. There were three meals provided each day. Breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal, lunch was a bowl of oatmeal and supper, you guest it – a bowl of oatmeal.Inside, prisoner's usually went mad. Some prisoner's just screamed and yelled all day and night.For those prisoner's who kept in line a multipurpose building was constructed which operated many different operations including a shirt factory, a licence plate shop, a laundry, a bakery, and a shoe factory. In the rear of the building larger showers were made for the prisoner's but these were communal and often the location of unsavoury events. In one reported incident, a prisoner was gang raped to death in the shower area.During these early years there were a few female inmates scattered about the yard, but many became pregnant and it is not certain if the women were willing participants, raped by the male inamtes or if the guards themselves were assaulting the women.In 1920 a separate cell block was constructed with a separate wall just outside the main prison walls to house the females separate from the male inmates. The cell block was a lot more comfortable than the men's but that did not mean that the females were any less dangerous. In fact, one of the United State's first female serial killers was housed in the women's cell block.In 1912 Lyda Southard, aged 21, married Robert C. Dooley and moved to a farm in Twin Falls, Idaho. Together they lived with their infant daughter and Robert's brother, Ed Dooley. In 1915, Ed mysteriously died right after taking out a life insurance policy which would be payed to Robert and Lyda. Just a few short months later, Robert died as well. A few months after that her daughter, Lorraine (only two years old), also died. Lyda collected the life insurance money of each person in her family.Two years later, Lyda married William McHaffie and together they moved to Hardin, Montana. William as soon as he settled into his new home died under similar mysterious circumstances. A year after that, Lyda married another man, Harlan Lewis, who died two months later. Lyda collected the insurance money on both husbands before leaving Montana and returning to Twin Falls, Idaho.In Twin Falls, Lyda got a job at a cafe where she met her next husband, Ed Meyer. Ed fell extremely ill and never recovered just months after meeting his new love. His death was the one that prompted suspicion among the community. Nobody could wrap their minds around how a strong and healthy man like Ed would suddenly get sick and die. The exhumation of his body was ordered for further inspection, which ultimately led to the discovery of arsenic in his body.The sheriff assigned to the case, Virgil Ormsby, began tracing Lyda's past whereabouts and ordered the exhumation of the other three husbands' bodies. They all contained traces of arsenic poisoning. Law enforcement immediately began their search for Lyda, who fled Twin Falls when suspicions about her began to arise.Lyda fled to Hawaii where she met another man. But authorities caught up to her and brought her back to Boise, Idaho. Lyda's trial got national recognition and she had now gained the moniker of Lady Bluebeard. She was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 10 years to life in the Idaho Pen.During her time spent in the Women's Ward at the penitentiary, she befriended a fellow prisoner named David Minton while gardening. When Minton was released from prison, he helped Lyda escape on May 4, 1931. The two made their way to Denver, Colorado before splitting up.In Denver, Lyda married another man, Harry Whitlock, and continued to live there until she was eventually recaptured by authorities one year later. Lyda was brought back to the Idaho Pen and remained in prison until she was paroled in 1941. Once out of prison, she married yet again. This man disappeared from records but his disappearance was never proven to be linked to Lyda.Lyda finally settled down in Salt Lake City, Utah, but died of a heart attack in the 1950s. Ironically, her body was brought back to Idaho and buried near her dead husbands, her child and the officer who arrested her.In the 1930s, with the prison population still exploding, the solitary confinement rooms, the ones that were just 3X8, now housed up to six prisoners. Cell house #4 became operational during this time. It was the largest of the cell houses and had large steel doors housing hundreds of prisoners. In front of cell house #4 a reminder to prisoners to keep in line lay on the ground. Huge steel doors revealed a very tiny cage below ground. Those unruly prisoners were thrown into the hole, the doors shut.Cell House #4 is closed to the public, but it appears as if the ghostly remains of one of the prisoner's still makes it out to startle and scare visitors and museum staff alike.Please Join Us in Part II of this episode topic where we showcase the crime, capture, conviction and ultimate slow-death of one Carl C. Van Vlack, notorious murderer.
  • 12. The UFO Incident with Japan Airlines 1628

    37:19||Season 6, Ep. 12
    Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season Six Episode 12 Japan Airlines Flight 1608.It was November 17, 1986 and a huge Japanese Boeing 747-200F cargo aircraft was en route from Paris France to Narita International Airport near Tokyo Japan. It was an uneventful flight until the aircraft was above Alaska, near Anchorage. At 17:11 hours crew noted specifically that they observed two strange objects coming up to the left side of their aircraft. They rose from below and proceeded to maintain a similar speed and appeared to be escorting the cargo jet. All three crew members: Captain Kenju Terauchi an ex-fighter pilot with more than 10,000 hours flight experience,in the cockpit's left-hand seat; co-pilot Takanori Tamefuji n the right-hand seat; and flight engineer Yoshio Tsukuba all witnessed the objects approach and flight.As the objects got closer they noted each had two rectangular arrays of what appeared to be glowing nozzles or thrusters, though their main frames remained obscured by darkness. The Captain believed they were some sort of military aircraft and were simply identifying the flight, but their maneuverability was mind boggling. "The thing was flying as if there was no such thing as gravity. It sped up, then stopped, then flew at our speed, in our direction, so that to us it [appeared to be] standing still. The next instant it changed course. ... In other words, the flying object had overcome gravity." recalls the Captain.Then, suddenly, the two objects came closer and illuminated the entire cabin and produced and intense heat. Air traffic control was notified at this point, who could not confirm any traffic in the indicated position. After three to five minutes the objects assumed a side-to-side configuration, which they maintained for another 10 minutes. Each object had a square shape, consisting of two rectangular arrays of what appeared to be glowing nozzles or thrusters, separated by a dark central section. Captain Terauchi speculated in his drawings, that the objects would appear cylindrical if viewed from another angle, and that the observed movement of the nozzles could be ascribed to the cylinders' rotation. Then the two craft then departed as quickly as they had come, but then the crew noticed something even more strange. A much larger craft was no tailing them. This time, they could identify its shape and each of the crew detailed a disc shaped flying craft was behind them.Captain Terauchi now noticed a pale band of light that mirrored their altitude, speed and direction. Setting their onboard radar scope to a 25 nautical miles (46km) range, he confirmed an object in the expected 10 o'clock direction at about 7.5nmi (13.9km) distance, and informed ATC of its presence. Anchorage found nothing on their radar, but Elmendorf's NORAD Regional Operations Control Center (ROCC), directly in his flight path, reported a "surge primary return" after some minutes.As the city lights of Fairbanks began to illuminate the object, captain Terauchi believed to perceive the outline of a gigantic spaceship on his port side that was "twice the size of an aircraft carrier". The object followed "in formation", or in the same relative position throughout the 45 degree turn, a descent from 35,000 to 31,000ft, and a 360 degree turn. The short-range radar at Fairbanks airport failed, however, to register the object.Anchorage ATC offered military intervention, which was declined by the pilot, due to his knowledge of the Mantell incident. The object was not noted by any of two planes which approached JAL 1628 to confirm its presence, by which time JAL 1628 had also lost sight of it.Captain Terauchi cited in the official Federal Aviation Administration report that the object was a UFO. In December 1986, Terauchi gave an interview to two Kyodo News journalists. Japan Airlines soon grounded him for talking to the press, and moved him to a desk job. He was only reinstated as a pilot years afterwards, and retired eventually in north Kanto, Japan.Kyodo News contacted Paul Steucke, the FAA public information officer in Anchorage on December 24, and received confirmation of the incident. The FAA's Alaskan Region consulted John Callahan, the FAA Division Chief of the Accidents and Investigations branch, as they wanted to know what to tell the media about the UFO. John Callahan was unaware of any such incident, considering it a likely early flight of a stealth bomber, then in development. He asked the Alaskan Region to forward the relevant data to their technical center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he and his superior played back the radar data and tied it in with the voice tapes by videotaping the concurrent playbacks.A day later at FAA headquarters they briefed Vice Admiral Donald D. Engen, who watched the whole video of over half an hour, and asked them not to talk to anybody until they were given the OK, and to prepare an encompassing presentation of the data for a group of government officials the next day.The meeting was attended by representatives of the FBI, CIA and President Reagan’s Scientific Study Team, among others. Upon completion of the presentation, all present were told that the incident was secret and that their meeting "never took place". According to Callahan, the officials considered the data to represent the first instance of recorded radar data on a UFO, and they took possession of all the presented data.John Callahan however managed to retain the original video, the pilot's report and the FAA's first report in his office. The forgotten target print-outs of the computer data were also rediscovered, from which all targets can be reproduced that were in the sky at the time.After a three-month investigation, the FAA formally released their results at a press conference held on March 5, 1987. Here Paul Steucke retracted earlier FAA suggestions that their controllers confirmed a UFO, and ascribed it to a "split radar image" which appeared with unfortunate timing. He clarified that "the FAA [did] not have enough material to confirm that something was there", and though they were "accepting the descriptions by the crew" they were "unable to support what they saw".The sighting received special attention from the media, as a supposed instance of the tracking of UFOs on both ground and airborne radar, while being observed by experienced airline pilots, with subsequent confirmation by an FAA Division Chief.It would have been the end of the UFO story but for an extraordinary observation by a military aircraft just a short time after the Japan Airlines incident. On January 30, 1987, a US Air Force KC-135 was flying from Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska, to Eielson AFB near Fairbanks. The crew of the KC-135 reported a large, silent, disc-shaped UFO at about 20,000 feet altitude. At this time, Anchorage radar control showed nothing unusual. In a moment, radar control asked the pilot of the plane if they still had the unknown object in sight. The frightened pilot replied yes, and added that the UFO was only 40 feet from the plane. The cockpit recording referenced the JAL - 1628 incident, which had occurred only a month earlier. The pilots of the military aircraft were startled as they observed what they believed was a similar shaped object, flying in the same manner and maneuvering just the same as the one previously reported by the Japanese Airlines flight. About 30 minutes later, Anchorage Control Tower relayed a message from the FAA, informing the pilot to contact them upon landing. The FAA wanted a full report on the UFO seen by the crew. The very next day, on January 31, another similar sighting occurred over Alaskan skies. Alaska Airline's Flight 53 reported enormous, disc-like objects flying near their aircraft.These UFOs, according to the pilot's report, were "tracking" Flight 53. The Control Tower operator related to the pilot that they did not show anything unusual on their radar. The pilot of Flight 53 was very concerned, stating that the UFO was moving at a mile/per/second, which would be about 3,600 m/p/h. The pilot also stated that the UFO had almost immediately disappeared after flying under Flight 53. Neither of the these two encounters were adequately explained by any conventional flying objects, or atmospheric anomalies, and remain a mystery. The reports requested never surfaced.In 2006 John Callahan gave his eye-witness testimony about his official investigation into the Japanese Airline Incident:So what can we make out of these sightings made by credible witnesses including air force pilots, flight engineers, experienced pilots, air traffic controllers and aviation investigators? It is obvious that something was witnessed, independently verified over the course of three separate encounters by both aircraft and ground crews – but what was it? And more importantly – why was it seemingly tracking and observing these three aircraft? Is it the occupants on the aircraft that held interest? Or the cargo they were carrying?
  • 11. The Historic & Haunted Dumas Brothel in Butte, Montana

    40:55||Season 6, Ep. 11
    Please visit our show sponsor the Sip & Shine Podcast - www.sipandshinepodcast.comThe Haunted Dumas Brothel, Butte MontanaIn 1888 French Canadian brothers Joseph and Arthur Nadeau invested in developing a large brick hotel on Butte Montana's East Mercury St. – the booming mining town's entertainment district. The investment would pay off as the hotel was a glamorous front for housing women of ill repute.In the 1870's ladies would sell sexual services on the main thoroughfare through town and eventually would erect tents and false front buildings to ply there trade. As Butte grew, so did other businesses and eventually the ladies of Park Street, as they have become known, transferred their work to the south side of town. Butte was notoriously dangerously wild and gambling houses, saloons and brothels sprung up to serve the thousands of miners working nearly 18 hours a day in the copper, silver and gold mines.The Dumas Brother's purchased a plot of land on one of the busiest streets that entertained the miners, but their goal was to attract not only the hard working miners, but also the bourgeoisie of Butte and so a red brick hotel, with all modern fixings was erected on East Galena Street, among the hundreds of other Brothel's that made up what locals called “The Twilight Zone”Joseph Dumas named the business after his wife, Delia Dumas and registered the hotel with city officials as The Dumas Hotel. And with a wink, the hotel madam, Delia Dumas, was noted as madam. The following month they purchased hand made furniture and fixings for the hotel. The Dumas' frequented other dancing halls in the Montana territory and brought in a number of working girls.In 1890, the Dumas Brothel, err umm, hotel, was officially opened for business. The opening night was a success and guests marvelled at the grand design and architecture noting its two story level, with large skylights and wooden spiral staircase. Drinks flowed freely and music played as guests were entertained by a number of high-class and unique looking ladies including one black prostitute who, at the time, was a rarity in Montana.The Dumas Hotel was connected to other businesses via underground tunnels so that high-end clientele, such as city officials, lawyers, reverends and those about to commit adultery (a crime punishable for up to 2 years in prison) could visit the high-end brothel without notice.But the hand carved furniture, the amazing architecture and well-paying clients could not hide the fact that the hotel held much misery. The girls, often as young as 15, would work in shifts serving sexual favors of all deviant kinds to dirty miners and sadistic city officials alike. The average pay for the girls was less than a living wage, and part of their pay was room and board. Many girls did not have enough for a stage coach or train ride out of town, if they wanted to leave. They were, once in the business, trapped.Drug and alcohol addiction was prevalent as was disease. Girls would works hours upon hours turning tricks every eight minutes. They would finish with one, wash their privates in the low hanging sinks in the room and invite another guest in – hour after hour.Pregnancy was also an issue, as no, or very little birth control would have been used. Girls that did discovery they were pregnant were ordered to have an abortion with the procedure usually performed by another experienced prostitute or madam. The cruel and unusual methods of abortion usually resulted in a lot of harm done to the mother, not only physically, but mentally as well. The unborn babies were dumped into shallow graves or mining pits just outside of town. Due to the barbaric procedures, many women who became pregnant bled out and died days later.In these working conditions it is no doubt that many suicides also took place as the women felt it was their only escape.It is not known what happened to the Dumas brothers, but it appears they sold the venture to another owner ten years later or perhaps they were simply silent partners. Some speculate they were ran out of town by other brothel owners, including one that would later be a State Senator.In 1900, the Dumas Hotel was ran by Madam Grace McGinnis who had a servant and four full-time prostitutes occupying the cribs or rooms in the hotel. Other prostitutes could rent out rooms on a as-needed basis. The cost for a deluxe poke was 0.50 with the prostitute making a mere .20 as the Madam would take the majority of the money. In today's money, that is about $7 for the working girl.As the mining operations increased and as patrons were typically miners this low fare was attractive and the Dumas Hotel needed to expand to accommodate its clientele. The basement, that was used mainly for storage was now retrofitted with a number of small cribs or rooms. In these rooms were the lower-priced girls, those less desirable, and those that would take abuse from the men that frequented the establishment. The Dumas basically had a class system, with the lower class in the basement, the and the high-end girls working high-class men on the upper floor.The low-end offering were popular by the low paid miners and in 1912 the Dumas was expanded again to serve this vary clientele. A back addition was added that would allow easy passage from what was known as Venus Alley, were street prostitutes offered sexual services. The main floor that was a large parlour was divided up into cribs to serve middle-class men. Again, the Dumas invited these working girls to use the new addition, the basement and the ease of access to attract and serve clients.The Dumas's business and those like it were criticized by a number of people who sought to reform the red light district. Reverend William Biederwolf condemned Butte as "the lowest sinkhole of vice in the west," and that he saw "enough legitimate vice in Butte to damn the souls of every young man and young woman in it."Biederwolf held revival services for residents which attracted "rounders, gamblers and habitués of the red light district".However, the local business benefited and even depended on the support of the sex workers at the Dumas and other establishments like it. The prostitutes would buy their dresses at local clothiers, frequent the city's dry cleaners and would patronize Chinese herbalists, looking for birth control potions and venereal disease remedies. To ensure that their operations were unhampered, the girls at the Dumas would pay the city's police and governance five dollar "fines".Instead of the closing or relocating the red light district, the mayor and police of Butte ordered that the women wear longer skirts and high-necked blouses and that they "refrain from any indecent exposures." After these ordinances were put in place, the Butte Miner reported that "nothing was seen in the district except long dresses and long faces. What the women say about the matter is not fit for publication." By 1910 the people were petitioning Mayor Charles Nevin to shut down the district; with the district contributing two thousand dollars to the city's coffers every month, the efforts eventually died. Many of the city officials, including mayors, police chiefs and law makers were also clients.World War I and the Prohibition impelled local lawmakers to initiate a crackdown on Butte's red light district and by 1917 the district was effectively closed.Signs saying "Men Under 21 Keep Out" were commonplace and in the next census, prostitution had completely disappeared as a declared profession in Butte.The Dumas, however, remained in operation. In 1925 Anne Vallet began overseeing the Dumas for the Nadeau family, and in the 1930s, operations had passed to Madam Rose Davis. In 1940 Lillian Walden and her husband Dick began running the brothel,raising the price of sex at the brothel to $2.Federal law makers ordered all brothels shut down during WW2 to help prevent death and disease to young soldiers about to fight. The Dumas remained opened, however, changing its business listing as a boarding house. Two large steel doors were added with a sliding peep hole so that no one would gain entry without being identified first. It was now a semi-private club.In the 1950s rates went up to a staggering $5 with a series of madams in charge. The Nadeau Brothers finally sold the operation at this time and Elinore Knott became owner and Madam.But her time at the Dumas was short. Her husband had died of a heart attack and with a history of depression, she overdosed on a host of drugs and committed suicide in the basement leaving the Dumas vacant. Police at the time took this as an easy way of finally shutting down the business and they worked on raiding The Windsor, Hotel Victoria and the Dumas. Girls would be fined and Madams and owners jailed. The raids were irrelevant as girls were tipped off by police and payoffs were made. It was all theatre and a way to put a little more money into corrupt officials hands.Ruby Garret, a local resident of Butte for some thirty years, had purchased the Dumas. Ruby was not only a local celebrity, but she was known federally as well. In 1959, she walked into a Butte Bar with a handgun, pointed it at her husband and shot him five times as he gambled killing him instantly. But those in attendance did not who was pulling the trigger, as Ruby was so badly beaten by her common law husband they could not recognize her.Garrett faced a first-degree murder charge but the jury convicted her of manslaughter. She was sentenced to four years, but served only nine months.Yet people familiar with the case say Garrett was the victim of severe spousal abuse and that pent-up frustration had reached a boiling point.Garret would pay local police officers and officials $200 to $300 a month in return for their silence about the Dumas's activities. Under Garrett, the cost of a prostitute was $20 but she would come upon financial difficulties and had not paid taxes in several years. She was charged with tax evasion in 1981 and in 1982 the Dumas Brothel was finally closed.In 1982 Ruby Garrett, the last madam of the Dumas, was convicted of federal tax evasion and served six months in prison. The brothel was closed soon after, but not before a robbery took place there.When it closed, it was the longest operating brothel in the United States, having operated for 92 years, long after prostitution was outlawed.The Dumas was then sold to antique dealers and then to a couple who wanted to open a museum. The museum opened but the owners were operating it with great difficulties having using the premises as a hoarding operation.Stories about the Dumas Brothel began circulating as these owners heard disembodied voices, saw furniture move on its own accord, felt cold spots and apparitions throughout the three floors. Soon paranormal celebrities and ghost hunters started flocking to the derelict building.During the years that followed, many visitors to the museum also witnessed paranormal activity, from cold spots to hearing ghostly voices from the cribs.The previous owners had, like previous operators failed to pay taxes on the property and city officials were demanding payment. One of the owners had a criminal past involving drugs and was clearly suffering from mental health issues and drug abuse or a combination of both. On the Ghost Adventure show this particular individual was noted by viewers tweeking out on drugs, but of course, Zak Baggans does not acknowledge this – but instead blames the ghosts for these strange interactions.Sadly, Michael Piche died in 2018 leaving his business partner to hand over the building to city officials who put the building and its contents up for auction.You can visit the Historic Dumas Brothel in Butte Montana both day and night and take an indepth tour with the new owners who are currently cleaning up, repairing and maintaining the building. And it appears it is in good hands as they are focusing in on making the building historically accurate.On our tour in the upstairs left bedroom I heard a distinctive female voice say “Can I help you?” There is a great deal of emotion, sadness, contempt, and wonder one feels when walking through these old hallways and peering into the cribs. It was both exciting and horrifying for those who once lived and visited the Dumas Brothel and clearly, both those emotions are felt by visitors today.The Museum is located at 45 E Mercury St. In Butte, Montana and tours are available for those interested in the historical or paranormal aspect of the old building. Tours range from $5 to $10 and last between 45 minutes to over and hour.Because the Dumas Brother has changed hands much of the contact information, web sites and social media pages are outdated and have been abandoned. Please use the current information below to retrieve information and schedule tours.Website: www.dumas-brothel.comPhone: 1-406-351-9922
  • 10. Haunted Athelhampton House

    50:27||Season 6, Ep. 10
    Historic houses are a common sight in the English county of Dorset. One in particular situated near the picturesque town of Dorchester is among the best preserved medieval houses in all of England, and reportedly the most haunted.House is a perfect example of an English manor house built in the early Tudor architectural style. Its construction was begun by Sir William Martyn in 1485. Pieces of the original medieval furniture can still be seen in the interior today - Elizabethan carved panels, ornate ceilings, and impressive artwork decorate the rooms, as in Tudor times.In 1891, Alfred Cart de Lafontaine purchased and restored the manor house. However, he is most remembered for creating the beautiful gardens around the house, influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement of the time.Throughout the years the house has had many hands and in 1957 the manor house was purchased by Robert Victor Cooke and today it is in the ownership of his grandson.Athelhampton House was said to be haunted as far back as the 1850s and is considered among the most haunted houses in England. People have reported seeing a ghost of a woman nicknamed the Grey Lady, a dark silhouette of what is believed to be the ghost of a monk, and the most famous ghost: a pet ape. There are dozens of reported sightings of each of these ghosts as well as many other strange phenomenon.One report that stands out at this location is the pair of duelists in the Great Chamber. One day a woman was trying to relax and read a book in the Great Hall when two unknown men burst into the chamber in the middle of a sword fight. The woman continually pulled on the bell rope for the servants but nobody arrived. She turned to her side and carried on reading while the fight continued until one of the men were cut on the arm and left the room.Later that day the woman reported the incident to the owner and he replied puzzled at the whole thing. He stated, “I can’t understand who the men were you had seen, as all the guests of the hotel were here at tea, so you would have seen them”. Still to this day the two men have never been identified, although the house is believed to have had connections to the Royalists during the Civil War.The wine cellar adjoins the Great Hall and is said to experience tapping from a ghost known as ‘Cooper’. There is not much known about this particular entity or why Cooper is haunting this particular location.Various owners, staff and guests of Athelhampton House have all seen what can only be described as a Grey Lady. The current owner of Athelhampton Mr Robert Cooke, has reported seeing her in the early hours passing through the walls in the bedrooms.A dark apparition that looked like a monk was seen by one of the housemaids in broad daylight. The woman became aware of footsteps behind her in one of the corridors. She quickly turned to see the monk standing outside the bathroom door. It is believed that this person was the Catholic priest to the Martyn family. Other witnesses have seen this monk-like apparition on the property and in the garden.But the most talked about ghost of this old manor is that of the pet ape that is said to have been entombed, accidentally within the walls of the building. Today, witnesses claim to hear the pet ape scratching and clawing his way to try to escape.But headlines in the Sunday papers have runaway with the story. One of the Sun's headlines reads: The ghost of a masturbating ape haunts the hallways of a grand country estate in DorsetThe article continues to say The ghost of a randy monkey haunts the halls of a grand English country estate – where romantic spook-hunters flock to tie the knot.Titillated tourists can often hear the saucy spectre laughing while masturbating in Athelhampton Hall in Dorset, near Dorchester.One tourist, dad-of-three John Morrison, 41 from Derby, who took his entire family to the estate, spoke excitedly about the spanking spookHe said "We heard that Martyn the monkey who haunts the house loves to scratch his privates while swinging around."We didn't see him, which is a shame, because it would have been a real sight."Apparently he's not terrifying - quite friendly is what we heard.According to the local legend, the unconventional Martyn family did have a pet ape which was free to wander the halls.And when one of the Martyn daughters had an unhappy love affair and decided to kill herself, the compassionate monkey began following her around.When she climbed a set of hidden stairs to a secret room, the ape trailed behind, and watched as she took her own life with the door bolted.By the time the family's search of the house and grounds eventually located the room, the ape had starved to death next to her body.Now its ghost haunts the hall, often scratching at the panelling of the secret room and staircase in an eternal, frantic attempt to escape.Athelhampton reputation as a haunted house date back centuries and the curious have ventured into the house to seek the spirits there. In 2002, the show Most Haunted featured the manor in one of their earliest investigations – their first season and their first taped episode. This was at a time when there was less drama, less screaming and less fakery. But keep in mind as you listen that Darek Acorah, the supposed psychic, is in this episode grunting like a great ape. To our relief he does not masturbate.