The Many Spirits of the VWF

Date: November 7, 2014

Location: VFW Post 2399, Mineral Wells, Texas

We first learned about the VFW from a friend in Texas, and after contacting the Post Commander, Jim Branson, we discovered that the building has a long and mostly undiscovered history. What is known is that the structure was originally opened as the New Milling Sanitorium pre-1920. The building was later purchased by a different doctor and renamed the Irvine Sanitarium. The hospital treated a variety of ailments and mental disorders with the healing mineral waters from the local springs. VFW Post 2399 purchased the building in the 1970s and have utilized the building ever since.

On our visit to the VFW we were shown around by Commander Branson, who told us many of the paranormal encounters that have occurred in the building, including a female spirit known as Florence who hangs out in the bingo hall, a young boy named Michael who often plays upstairs, a chef who watches over the kitchen, and many other spirits that roam the halls at all hours. Other VFW patrons such as the very friendly and informative Mr. Walter Choate, welcomed us to the Post and told us their personal encounters with the spirits as well, many of which focused on hearing footsteps in the halls, mysterious voices, and feelings of being watched.

An orb along with a creepy mannequin in the upstairs storage room.

After touring the facility and setting up our infrared cameras to monitor the upstairs, which still closely resembles the original hospital setup in half of the building (and was still partially set up for the annual haunted house in the other half), John had the first of many personal experiences for the night. Around 10:30 pm he was alone watching the infrared cameras at our monitor. We had the monitor set up in the chapel room upstairs, so he sat with his back towards the long wing lined with small hospital rooms. The rest of us were downstairs with the Commander waiting for Mitch and Samantha to arrive, and John first noticed his water bottle shaking, soon followed by the sound of footsteps walking the length of the hallway towards him. Of course no one was there when he turned to see who was coming, but he did have the feeling that someone was standing nearby. Beverly had a similar experience while watching the monitor about a half our later, except the approaching footsteps culminated with someone touching her hair.

Around this same time, my mom and I decided to check out the Bingo Hall while we waited. After entering the Hall we heard a noise coming from some tables on the far side of the room to the right of the stage. We sat down and started asking questions and monitoring for energy with the K-2 meter. Base readings were low on the meter, with only the green light being on, but we soon had several small spikes towards the yellow light. The meter had its highest readings (the red light) after we asked “Are you a woman?” and “Is your name Florence?” My dad joined us in the Bingo hall and we decided to play Patsy Cline music (which Commander Branson said Florence seems to enjoy) to see if Florence would dance with my dad. I played the song “Crazy” and the K-2 immediately flashed over to red. My dad soon felt a presence near him where he stood on the stage. During this episode, our audio recorder picked up a very audible female voice humming and singing along when I played the song a second time. While my mom and I were in the room, we can be heard whispering in the background during the singing, and neither of us are capable of singing as high as this voice is. Audio of this EVP is included in the video below. Later in the night Mitch played a different Patsy Cline song while he was in the Bingo Room with my dad, and the audio recorder again picked up a brief instance of a female humming along with the song.

 

Orb following my mom at the end of the night. 

Later in the investigation (around 12:40 am), my mom and I decided to go sit in one of the hospital rooms that is particularly active according to the local stories. The young boy named Michael, who is most frequently encountered in the large open room on the other side of the building, has been known to visit the old hospital rooms as well. We began asking questions with both a flashlight and the K-2 laying across the room from us in a doorway where Mr. Branson said other visitors had been touched or had seen a shadowy figure. While the K-2 never lit up, something began answering questions with the flashlight laying in doorway. Through approximately 30 minutes of questioning we learned that the spirit claimed to be Michael and said that his age is around 12 years, that he was a patient at the hospital, and that he liked to play stickball (It took going through a long list of sports to get a response for that one). During this session we also picked up an EVP of a small voice saying something similar to “wow” after I said that I put the flashlight back down for him. Both the EVP and video of a couple of the flashlight questions is below. We spoke to Michael again later using the flashlight in what is said to be a very high-energy corner of the upstairs storage room.

Blue haze over the Bingo Room

The night also yielded several odd photos. After telling Michael that we were leaving, I captured an orb floating near my mom’s back. Mitch captured several strange lights in his photos, including one taken in the Bingo Room that shows a blue haze over the room. The photo was one of many taken in a row in the room, but only the one had blue light or haze in it. The infrared camera in the upstairs storage room also caught an odd oblong orb or light moving quickly across the screen. We saw no insects in the building that night, and the movement pattern of the light/orb didn’t resemble bugs we’ve caught flying past the cameras before— It did not flutter or move erratically at all; it just glides across. What is more strange about this is that my dad, Mitch, and Samantha were at the other end of the room at the time the light/orb is seen, and just before it came into view they heard a sound of glass shattering at the other end of the room where the camera was. They found no evidence of anything being broken and nothing was caught on camera other than the odd light. At the same time, Mitch snapped a picture and captured the above photo of an orb floating near where they heard the noise. The brief video clip of light/orb is featured at the end of the clip below. 

Overall the Mineral Wells VFW Post 2399 turned out to be pretty exciting, and we are positive that we captured our first instance of a singing EVP. This is certainly on our list of places worth a return visit.

Hayley.