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Investigations

Sugar Creek, Missouri Gym & Park: 2014 - Ongoing

(as told by group founder, Hector Lugo) January 2014, we started off with a great location. As a matter of fact, we now do an annual fundraiser for this location and investigate it about every six to seven weeks: the Old Sugar Creek Gym in Sugar Creek, Mo., and sometimes tne hearby Sugar Creek Park as well. This particular case is so interesting that we believe it's just a matter of time before we start seeing some of these spirits, they've done just about everything else. Let's start from the beginning, Diana, one of our members had recently moved to Sugar Creek and had an incident happen with her house and she had to see the city about the problem. While dealing with this issue they somehow got on the subject of ghosts in Sugar Creek and made arrangements to have our group investigate the old gym. We started in the summer of 2014 and continue to this day. So I'll try to get you caught up on what we think we have encountered, what could possibly be there, and we think it's all good. When we present these cases, we want you, the reader to decide on what you think. We have our own opinion, and we will present it, but the final decision is up to you guys. Nothing has been edited or touched up, what we get is what you get. Once in a while you run into a case that is just fun to do and very active, and then there is the side that can raise red flags. Is it mad spirit?  Or does it just want us to leave it alone unless we can focus all of our energy towards it?  And that appears to be the case the more we investigate there. The gym was built back in the early 19th century. It's a red brick two story building with a basement. The gym floor is original, as is the rest of the building. The bleachers are concrete and the basement has storage rooms. The offices are on the main first floor with stairs going up and down and there are some small storage rooms on this level also. The windows behind the bleachers upstairs are awesome. These windows stand about ten feet tall and open by twisting the latches on the inside and pushing the bottom part out about a foot. The bleachers do have wooden benches on the concrete slabs and the floor is concrete. When we first entered this building, Connie, the director of the building, started telling us about some of her encounters with this one elderly spirit that on occasion would touch her. She said someone had taken a picture a few years back and had captured what appeared to be an Indian lady by the railing on the first row of seats. She said that she had a couple of other groups come in but they didn't find anything at the time. We did our greet and meet session and signed the proper forms, and after about an hour we went into the gym. Pam and Diana went in first and they both picked up right away the spirit of a young boy. Diana gave his age which was about nine years old, and Pam said that he had a seat at the top of the bleachers by the stairs, that he had leg braces on and possibly had polio and that was as far as he would go to watch sporting events at the gym,  that his name was Matt. They continued their walk-through and picked up other spirits and thought they were mostly child spirits, but that there may be a few adults as well. Next I went in and right away I ran into a young boy that matched the description they gave, but he was telling me that he died in 1913 not far from there, in a park that has a creek in it, from an accident. He said that in the spring there would be some very heavy rains and the creek would rise and was not passable. So the kids in the neighborhood had picked a tree and tied a rope around a thick branch and they would swing across the creek so they wouldn't have to go all the way around. He said that one day he did it wrong and his hands, which were wet, slipped--causing him to lose his grip in the middle of the creek. He fell into the creek and struck his head, which caused him to drown. His body was discovered later that day about 400 yards up the creek. Connie looked at us like “What the heck!” We continued walking the building and then set up some equipment and discussed how we wanted to approach this location. We all agreed that starting at mid-court of the gym was as good as any spot. We set up our cameras and some trigger objects in there, in a circle,  then we went “lights out.” Now, I want you to understand that we have this member, and everywhere we go she would set up her flashlights (to see if the spirits could turn them on), but they had never come on before. But guess what? They did here--for over an hour and a half straight! For the next thirty or more minutes, she tried to the best of her ability to debunk what was happening. Finally her husband told her to “give it up,” that it was the spirits causing the flashlights to turn on and to just enjoy it. There were two small spirit kids that somehow decided they preferred to speak with Diana (they would answer other investigators from time to time, but they would return to Diana). The two spirits were one boy, Matt, and a small girl, also about nine years old. Her name was Little Eagle, or at least she liked that name and would respond to it. On this night we shut the investigation down around 10 p.m. I spoke with Connie and we agreed that we could come out whenever we wanted, so we decided to pick a weekend once a month and also discussed other options, if things continued like tonight. The next month we returned, Connie had brought in her entire staff and a couple of guests. The guests were three Sugar Creek police officers who were skeptics and wanted to see for themselves and boy, did they ever see! I can honestly say they are not skeptics anymore. After we set up, the flashlight activity started on Diana's request (see video below). She would talk to them and them ask if on the count of three they could turn on a flashlight (we set up at least three in different colors). She would pick a color and ask questions and the flashlight would come on. This went on for a while and one of the male officers stood up, reached into his duty belt and pulled out his large flashlight and set it on the gym floor. He looked at me like okay, have them turn that one on. I looked at him and said all we can do is ask, but before we do are you sure this is what you want? He asked “What do you mean?” I explained “Well, if they turn it on and like it because it's a bigger flashlight, what's not to stop them from attaching themselves to it and following you around and possibly home with you?” I'll ask if you want me to and see what happens, because I'm curious also. He looked at me and then at his flashlight, reached down and picked it up and slid it back into its holder and said "I don't want a ghost following me around!" and sat back down. We've been back about four more times to the gym in 2014 and also to the park once where Matt died. We have some incredible EVPS and videos from the gym.  We've had about fifty rolls of toilet paper stacked into a pyramid within minutes of us walking by a room and returning. The same room has had toilet paper scattered all over the room. These rooms are down in the basement. and In that same hallway we have seen strange lights come down the hall, then instantly return and disappear. Flashlights are not only turned on when asked, but have actually been moved a few feet while we all watch in awe. There are actually two more parts to this case, but we'll focus on the part that contains the park across the street and the little boy who lives there now, Matt. A few of the officers mentioned that the park is haunted; some officers won't even make their rounds through the part by the bridge or restrooms at night. Well, that was enough for us to investigate that location. So Connie had a Sugar Creek officer and one of their supervisors meet us at the site and close it down so we could investigate it (see photos below). We started off in the afternoon so we could study the layout of the park, plus there had been some recent documentation of a mountain lion living in that area. We wanted the advantage of daylight to start off with and that really helped. We captured some amazing photos of a figure trying to show itself right next to Connie. Connie kept saying "I'm getting chills and goose bumps all over" and I would snap off a couple of pictures (see photos below). There is also a picture of what appears to be an Indian coming out of the ground with a wolf head on top of his and covering his shoulders. As it got darker we started understanding what the police officers were referring to. As we walked the route with one of them with us, we took pictures and started communicating with two spirits. One was about 19 years old and the other in his early 30s, they were both Confederate soldiers from the Civil War and were still doing their job all these years later. The Confederate soldiers thought the police officers were Union soldiers because they were dressed in blue, so they would challenge them every time they walked by them. Now that the soldiers understand what’s going on, they have been leaving the police officers alone. I don't know what the police officers think, but from what I've heard they are making their rounds now. Here's another part of the gyms haunted history. I see or hear something that is very quick and most of the time I don't realize what it means. But the information on Matt, the little nine year old boy, was too vivid, so I told Connie what I thought had happened and naturally she did some research. Connie asked us to set up a booth at the Wayne Landing Days in Sugar Creek. It's a three day event with all kinds of booths, games, rides-- like a small fair. So we set up and all kinds of people started coming over to talk and tell us their ghost stories; some were really  good. At about this time, I look up and here come three golf carts with police, Connie with an elderly man next to her, and another cart of people I didn't know. They stopped in front of our booth and Connie asked if I have a minute and I said, sure, let me finish with this one lady and I'd be right with them. When I finished a minute or two later, I asked Connie what I could do for her. Connie said she wanted to introduce me to someone (if I remember right, his first name was Charlie and was in his late 80s or early 90s). I shook Charlie's hand and he looked at me and asked if I was the one that had seen Matt, the young spirit in the gym. I replied, "Yes, and I'm sorry if I got that part wrong but that's what Matt told me.” He told me that he was the grandson of the father who had Matt, and that he was one of the few people that knew what happened to Matt. He went on to explain that yes, in 1913 Matt did die from drowning and falling from that swing, but nobody but the immediate family knew anything about it. They were well-to-do and didn't want the news out of what happened in the newspaper,  so it was kept very quiet. He said when he heard what I had said, he wanted to meet me and confirm that it happened exactly as I had described it and that yes, he also had polio and had a hard time getting around. I just sat there and really didn't know what to say. It was kind of way out there what I had seen and said, but to have someone confirm one of your encounters is something you just can't describe, other than to say “thank you.” When they left, I just sat there thinking, wow, can this really be!? But it wasn't the first time this has happened to me and probably won't be the last. We did a fundraiser at the gym for Halloween in 2014 and had a pretty good turn out, and of course the spirits didn't fail us. They treated everyone to their flashlight show and some other activities. As a matter of fact, that was the night we found the toilet paper stacked, so a lot of people saw that. 2015: As in years past we love returning to this location. We seem to get some form of activity present during our sessions. Most of the time it’s in the gym itself, mainly near the center of the basketball court. There have been shadows seen by guests walking around. Connie captured a couple of awesome pictures of what appears to be something moving just inches above the gym floor. We generally do tours at this location so people can experience for themselves what we have for the last couple of years. Most of the spirits at this location appear to be young kids with a few adults present. They sometimes will mess with someone by moving objects. A  good example was when we set up equipment in the gym and I placed a silver flashlight on the opposite side of the gym on the bottom ledge. It was sitting there for over an hour and nobody was even near it when we heard a bang--like something fell. We all started  looking around and  found the flashlight about three feet from where it had been placed, facing the opposite direction. How can a flashlight pick itself up, move backwards about three feet, and face the opposite way? And the ledge is about eight inches wide. These are some of the encounters we have had over this year. We investigated this location twice in 2015, as well as holding our annual Kansas City Paracon here in August 2015. 2016: As in past years, we investigated the gym about three different times this year, and as always very interesting activity took place. We invited a couple of other paranormal groups to join us to see what they could capture. They encountered numerous activity that they tried to debunk: flashlights going on and off at request, shadow figures,  trigger objects being moved or activated, and strange  sounds coming from the cement bleachers. The gym is in the process of being remodeled in 2017. So, we’ll have to see what happens then.
Connie and Hector discussing the investigation
Pathway at Sugar Creek Park
Connie said “Take a pic- they’re touching me!”
Getting goosebumps while investigating!
Connie investigating
Click on each photo for a larger picture
Note the mist on the right side
Next to Connie again...
Time to set up some equipment…
Viv and Connie at the picnic table
Viv with her new toy, but she did an awesome job of getting the spirits to light up the flashlight a few times!
Mental telepathy--did she turn on the flashlight??
Here's a video we took of an experiment we tried while investigating the Sugar Creek gym. We had been trying this at various times but had no luck, until this investigation. This time, when Diana asked the entity to turn on the flashlight, it was promptly turned on. Likewise, when Diana asked for the flashlight to be turned off, the entity once again obliged. We spent about 45 minutes having the flashlight turned on and off, while trying to debunk the experiment. This is a short clip of one of the demonstrations.