It’s Halloween once again, and that means it’s time for ghosts and ghost stories! Oklahoma has gathered its fair share of ghost stories and allegedly haunted locations. Sites all over the internet describe its various haunts of old hotels, old theaters, abandoned buildings, and more. Some of these spooky rumors draw on the state’s rich history (and some appear to be entirely fabricated). Described below are three of the most famous places in Oklahoma where people have claimed to see, hear, or feel ghosts. One of them is right here in our town!
Stone Lion Inn Bed & Breakfast
Appearing on many lists of Oklahoma’s haunted places, this bed and breakfast in Guthrie (Figure 1) advertises its alleged haunting as a tourist attraction. It was once the home of Mr. and Mrs. Houghton and their twelve children. However, one of the Houghton children, Augusta, became ill and died of whooping cough after the nurse gave her the wrong medicine
(Haunted Rooms, n.d.). Supposedly, the ghost of Augusta opposed the renovation of the building in the 1980s and continues to pester guests at night.
In keeping with the theme of hauntings, the Stone Lion Inn hosts an interactive murder mystery play on Friday and Saturday nights, along with a seven-course dinner (Tripadvisor, n.d.).
Saint Vincent’s Mental Asylum
Some particularly morbid historical events are associated with Saint Vincent’s Mental Asylum in Oklahoma City (Figure 2). This mental asylum was founded in by a religious order called the Brothers of Mercy. In 1962, a nurse suffocated two patients to death, after which the asylum closed down (Ashley, ).
In , Reverend Richard Frank Dolan turned the building into a rehabilitation center for recovering alcoholics, called The Main Artery. In , as reported in The Oklahoman, Fr. Dolan was found beaten to death in his apartment, though by that time, the Main Artery had already closed and Dolan was no longer an active priest (Minty, ).
In the 1980s, St. Vincent’s building served as a haunted house attraction (Cowan, ), which might be the main reason it appears in lists of haunted locations. It is not currently open to the public.
The Cherokee Strip Museum
Right here in Alva, our own Cherokee Strip Museum (Figure 3) is supposedly haunted and has been a popular site for ghost hunters. Formerly, the museum building was a hospital. As is often the case with old hospitals, people have claimed to see evidence of hauntings.
Since the Cherokee Strip Museum is housed in an old hospital, it has seen its share of death and is reported to be haunted by patients of botched surgeries. Several people have reported strange lights and shadows moving around in the building at night, and the second and third floors have been bricked up.
Around Halloween, the museum typically offers ghost-themed tours.