Shout Out to a Friend!

Duchess & Oakie's NW Corner

Vol 6, Iss 43 Colorado -

With Halloween just around the bend, have you decided what your costume will be to greet the ghosts, goblins and spirits that come calling this year? We would love to know and need some suggestions for ourselves! Duchess and I thought about switching skins -- BUT... that would get a little messy! Anyone have any other ideas for Halloween costumes?

Speaking of Spirits & Halloween... One of our readers suggested for this Halloween season that we might keep the "Spirit" alive and highlight some of the ghost towns of Oklahoma (or ghost towns in your area). If the spirits of our ancestors and small ghost towns could tell us something about their past today, what would they be saying? Would the spirits give us some insights into the mysteries that they left behind? Would Mabel Oakes spirit of 1910 give us all another side to the Old Opera House Murder in Alva, Oklahoma? Would the 1956 spirit of Mildred Ann Reynolds that lingers, haunts the Old Avard Gym, in Avard, Oklahoma give us some clue as to who her killer might have been? OR... will we have to wait until some witness on their deathbed leaves us a clue in future years?

Then there is the mysterious glowing tombstone and flashing red light that Alva teenagers use to view from the vantage point on the east side of the Alva swimming pool. We would love to know if today's kids still know about this tradition.

AND... What about the man that attended a Saturday night party in Avard in 1920's or 1930's and became quite inebriated. When he left the party he headed west and ended up in the Avard Lake without anyone knowing his whereabouts for awhile until they found his body and car at the bottom of the lake. Is his spirit one of those that haunts the Old Avard Gym, in northwest Oklahoma?

If you have a particular ghost town that you would like to see highlighted, please send it along. Thanks for all your help and suggestions! Meanwhile... checkout the Mailbag Corner for these and other ghostly spirits, glowing tombstones and spooklights. Especially, about the mysterious spooklight (also known as Devil's Promenade) that has a nomadic history that may go back over 100 years in an area on either side of the Missouri-Oklahoma line, about three miles west of Hornet, a small community south of Joplin.

Oakie's NW Corner

Vol 5, Iss 16 OKC, Oklahoma -

Do you believe in Ghosts? There are a few ghosts that haunt a certain location in Avard, Oklahoma. Some say the Old Avard Gym is a portal for those ghosts that haunt that area.

I am not sure what all buildings have occupied that place where the Old Avard Gym is now. Vina Rae's Grill & Graze Cafe occupies a part of the Old Gym at the present. If you are ever in the Avard area, stop by and chat with Nan while you graze during your lunch hour. There resides some interesting stories and ghosts with unfinished, unsettling business.

One of those ghosts is the charred, smell of the young lady that was charred to death in a fiery car incident on a lonely country road (Old Avard road) one mile south of Hopeton and 2.7 miles west of highway 281, about 1.25 miles from Mildred Ann Reynold's home near Avard. One of her legs was completely burnt off at the knee.

Mildred Ann (Newlin) Reynolds, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Newlin, Lambert, Oklahoma, was born December 25, 1933 and died 13 March 1956, 1:40 p.m. at the age of 22. Mildred Ann was a petite (5' 2", 100 lb.) nice looking, young lady and a senior attending Northwestern State College. College faculty described her as "rather shy" and a good student.

Mildred Ann Newlin married R. D. "Dee" Reynolds nine months before her violent , fiery death. Dee Reynolds was a basketball coach and teacher at the Avard High School and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Homer Reynolds of Freedom, Oklahoma. Mildred had a brother, Eddie Newlin. Mildred's body was burned beyond recognition inside a 1949 Chevrolet Tudor Sedan. Her body was lying across the frontseat with her head away from the steering wheel. The question is Why and Was it Murder or an accident?

I would like to thank all of you who have come to my assistance and helped supply me with death dates, and other information. I have started a Cast of Characters, News Clippings on the Unsolved Mystery of Ann Reynolds' Death. As you read through it, if you know of something, someone who might have some factual clues and would like to help the ghost of Mildred Ann Reynolds find the answers to this unsolved crime, I would love to hear from you. I want to assure you that if you would prefer to remain anonymous, I will protect your confidentiality. Just let me know.

I am going to leave you here to view the Readers Mailbag and contemplate some of the evidence as reported in the local Newspapers of 1956 and Steve Gilbert's Study of the case. Was this an accident or murder? There have been lots of rumors, gossip about this case, but nothing that can be published -- An intriguing, suspicous, fiery death of a young lady, married for nine months and a Northwestern College senior on her way back home to Avard about 13 miles SW of Alva. Some reported that she left Alva around 12:30 p.m. after having lunch with her 18 year-old nephew, Jim Hucklebee.

Thanks for helping us with our 1956 Unsolved Mystery. Here is hoping you have a Good Friday and Happy Easter! This is also the 8th Anniversary Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building Bombing (19 April 1995) in Oklahoma City and a Memorial to those who died.

Have a great Easter weekend. See you all next weekend. Thanks for your help this week.

~~ Linda "oaKie" ~~

Oakie's NW Corner

Vol 5, Iss 15 Alva, Oklahoma - Besides history breaking Wednesday of this week, I have been busy training, caring for my new Li'l Pug puppy (Duchess) who turned 8 weeks this weekend. It's kind of like taking care of a new born infant. She eats, sleeps, plays and wakes me up about every 3 or 4 hours at night time to go outside and take care of business. We fixed up a dog crate for her sleeping area. She has taken to it quite nicely.

She seems like a playful, curious, nosy and quick learner that wants to please most of the time. We have become quite attached to each other. She is a sweetie! I have been doing some reading. Did you know that puppies do not get control of their bladders until around 10 weeks of age?

Enough about that, though! Brrrrrr... But it was chilly here in Oklahoma on Monday and Tuesday of this week with temperatures in the freezing range and parts of Northern Oklahoma saw a few small snow flakes. By Wednesday the temperatures rose back into the 50s, though. Thursday and Friday we were back in the mid-70s and low 80s.

Are you ready for an unsolved mystery? I have another NW Oklahoma Mystery for you all. This one takes place in the mid-1950s. Perhaps anywhere around 1955 to 1957 or later. It concerns a suspicious, fiery car incident that burned a young woman to death on an Avard road. I do not have all the facts yet, BUT... the young lady (Ann Newlin Reynolds) was from Lambert, Oklahoma, in Alfalfa County and attending college at Northwestern. Ann was married at the time.

A friend and devoted reader of The Okie Legacy told me that Ann Newlin Reynolds died sometime around 1957 or so in a suspicious car fire near the small, rural community of Avard. I was also told that Ann was a sister to Ed Newlin and daughter of A. B. Newlin from the Lambert, Oklahoma area in Alfalfa county. I do not know how true this next bit of info is, BUT... someone told me that Ann could be one of the ghosts that haunts the Old Gym in Avard, Oklahoma.

No arrests were ever made in the case. At one time her husband was a prime suspect. BUT... we do NOT know that for a fact. I hope you are ready for another NW OK Unsolved Mystery? I need your help in this one. I am searching right now for the death date of Ann Newlin Reynolds and news clippings, obits, etc... to shed some light on this over 40 year old unsolved mystery.

If any of this information jogs any of your memory cells and if you could help us piece together this NW OK Unsolved Mystery, drop me an email at paristimes@earthlink.net. If Ann is one of the ghosts that haunts the Avard area, maybe we can help her spirit find a resting place on the other side. Thanks for any help, research you can pass along this way.

Before I head out of here and let you browse The Okie Legacy site, a reader sent me the following quote that I find quite interesting. I don't know exactly if it is a quote by John F. Kennedy, but... to me -- the words, meaning rings true about our United States and its destiny.

"We in this country, in this generation, are by destiny rather than choice the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, goodwill toward men." -- John F. Kennedy (from a speech that was never delivered, due to Kennedy's death)

Here's wishing you have a great weekend of rest. I am going to be out in the pasture with my horses this sunny, Spring weekend. See you next week -- Same time or maybe earlier!

~~ Linda "oaKie" ~~

Weather Dog Report...

Vol 6, Iss 18

"Wait three days and the weather will eventually change. That is what it did this week. AND... we have been having our April Showers plus our sunny days. It was a beautiful Monday afternoon for the Alva Mural Society's hamburger fry & ice cream social last Monday, April 26th, 2004.

Yes!... You all can view all the photos that I managed to snap of those who came out to watch the artist, Don Gray, paint on Alva's new mural on the Professional building. We have placed those snapshots on our NW OkieLegacy webshots. Just click on "Share Bros. Mural - Profession bldg." Check it out and glimpse of few of those helping out and those that stopped by to taste the goodies and view the artist at work. Want to see it as a Slideshow? You might catch a glimpse of Fred Neuman, Jim Richey, Don Gray, Dan Shorter, Jack Moore, and many other Alva citizens. There are also some pictures in there of the Runnymede Hotel that is in the process of being renovated. The homemade ice cream was delicious. The hamburgers looked meaty, delicious... but I passed on those.

We have been hearing more about K101 Radio morning show and the talk of the Ann Reynolds Mystery. I have not had a chance to tune in yet, but I have heard from a few people that have told me that the K101 DJ's have been talking about it for the last few days. Have you heard it yet? It sounds like they have talked to someone who was a neighbor of Ann's. They have even talked to a man whose father was undersheriff of Woods County at the time (March, 1956). What was most on their mind was... Was it Murder? What really happened that day? Don't forget some of NW Oklahoma's other Mystery - Old Opera House Murder. Strange things can happen everyday in this "neck of the Woods."

This writer would like to know if this "cold" case (Ann Reynolds murder) was a cover-up or just a flubbed investigation by officials in this NW Oklahoma county. Was there a conspiracy of some sort? I am assuming that the Statute of Limitations does not run out in a murder trial. Will it ever be solved? Will the ghost of Ann Reynolds ever be at rest... or.... will it haunt the Avard, Woods county area until the last old timers take the truth to their graves? I would like to read their memoirs!

We got out our Home Comfort Cookbook this week and scanned more of it's pages to our NW OkieLegacy Webshots. You can now read about How to Construct, Hook-up the Home Comfort Range -- read some Home Comfort Recipes that came with the book. Next week I plan to scan some Home Comfort Hints. The Home Comfort Cookbook says the secret of good cooking is to be a critical judge -- know excellent cooking from poor cooking; find a fascination in the science, and become thoroughly familiar with "what, and what not to do;" find a genuine pleasure in the practice -- mastering the basic recipes and the operation and control of your Range -- and above all, "Think."

Northwest Oklahoma & Fowitz Mortuary of 1929... Does anyone out there have any knowledge of the Fowitz Mortuary that was in the Alva area around 1929? Someone in the Mailbag Corner is looking for some funeral records of her great-grandfather, William Washington Gilbert, who died around 1929.

Vol 7, Iss 43 This being the last weekend of October 2005 -- The weekend that most of us fall back an hour (time-wise) -- AND... a weekend that the orbs, spirits will be making the rounds haunting their old stomping grounds, we decided to drive up Middle Mountain here in SW Colorado and catch these golden Aspens we found as we look towards Vallecito Lake.

Speaking of Spirits... Do you believe in ghosts? If you are near Avard, Oklahoma this Saturday, October 29, around 9:00 p.m., stop by Vina Rae's Cafe at the old Gym to participate in a haunting tour. AND... IF you happen to come in contact with the ghost of Ann Reynolds that died in a mysterious, fiery death, ask her who caused her death on that dreadful day in March of 1956.

IF you happen to tune into OETA (PBS station) on October 25th or 30th (11:30a.m.), catch their Stateline article of "Things That Go Thump In Oklahoma." We do not get OETA's PBS channel here in SW Colorado, so we are having a friend tape the show for us. Thanks!

If you venture to Avard this Saturday, October 29th, ask the Wheatley's about the ghosts that haunt the old gym and use it as a safe portal until they cross to the other side. Also, you might hear how Ann Reynold's ghost was seen and described as coming through the south doors of the Avard Cafe (Old Gym) in Avard, Oklahoma one day and pausing momentarily before floating through the opposite wall, leaving behind a stinch of something burning.

Ann Reynolds was a young woman who died under mysterious circumstances on March 13, 1956. The case has since gone cold, except for a few hauntings at the old Avard Gymnasium. It (the murder) has been listed as "unsolved" and placed in the "Cold Case" files of this northwest community. Ann's full names was "Mildred Ann Newlin Reynolds." She was 22 years old and a student at Northwestern Oklahoma State College at the time of her death. Her husband of nine months was R.D. "Dee" Reynolds, a teacher/coach at the Avard schools and was coaching a game at the gymnasium at the time of Ann's death. Dee was also a good friend of the Wheatley family who owns the Avard Cafe located in the Old Gym. It has been stated several times that Ann was on her way home from college when her death occurred. Also... It has been told that Mrs. Reynolds suffered blunt trauma to the head, and her car burned so ferociously that one of her legs burned off. You can read what the local NW Oklahoma paper wrote about the Avard Ghost Tour, October 29, 2005 at this Link: Alva Review Courier, written by Helen Barrett. Our OkieLegacy website has more information gathered concerning Mildred Ann Newlin Reynolds Mysterious Death. Will we ever learn the truth about this young women's death in March, 1956? View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

NW Oklahoma Ghostly Spirits

Vol 9, Iss 43 Do you believe in ghosts and haunting spirits of the past? Are they for real... or can they be explained away?

With the Full Moon, October 26, 2007 (Hunter's Moon), and Halloween just around the corner our minds roam to the ghostly spirits that allegedly roam the northwest Oklahoma communities.

There is the ghostly, burnt spirit on Mildred Ann (Newlin) Reynolds who haunts the old gymnasium in Avard, Oklahoma. Mildred Ann died in a fiery car crash on a dirt road leading towards Avard in 1956. For more information on that mysterious death, check out our Okielegacy Mysteries.

I wonder if the 1910 ghostly spirit of Mabel Oakes still haunts the area around the Alva downtown square.

Then... there is the ghostly spirits (or vandals) of Alva's Old hospital. We did a search online of the Oklahoman newspaper archives and found more information about those spirits that may or may not haunt the Old Alva Hospital. Some of you might remember Ben Buckland and Dennis Brown who came to be the caretakers of the old hospital in 1971 when vandals or ghostly spirits began to take their toll on the old hospital in northwest Oklahoma.

In 1971, Buckland was part owner of a restaurant catering to college students and a consulting manager of an Oklahoma City FM radio station. Buckland was also a DJ for a local radio station. Brown was the job foreman for his father's lumber company in Alva, Oklahoma.

For two and a half months they occupied the old hospital and experienced numerous strange sounds, unexplained happenings which left them both on edge and about to move out. Brown and Buckland occupied eight of the 96 rooms in the old hospital starting back to October, 1971. They used the lobby as a game room with pool and ping pong tables. Buckland used a small office off the game room and Brown had a former surgery room for a bedroom suite.

Then there was this mysterious, unexplained phenomenon of a reddish-brown stain that measured four inches or so in diameter and located three feet from a floor drain in the sloping surgery floor, near the surgery room adjoining Brown's bedroom. Even if they mopped the floor to clean the stain, it would come back again within a week.

Another news article, dated February 28, 1972, written by Tom Boone for The Oklahoman mentioned Ben Buckland and two other young men occuppying the old abandoned Alva General Hospital in October, 1971 as caretakers to keep vandals away. BUT... were they vandals or ghostly spirits?

You can read those 1971 & 1972 news articles in the "Mailbag" section below.
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Indians, Ghosts & A Haunted Mountain

Vol 6, Iss 44 "If you look in the Musings of the Pilgrim Bard on pages 253-302, Scott Cummins wrote about Indians, ghosts and a haunted mountain.  Also, the pictures you took of all the deer are wonderful!  Thank you for sharing them." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Vina Rae's Cafe - Avard, OK

Vol 10, Iss 19 With the rising of gas prices, groceries, medical and other life necessities, it seems like hard times are hitting our small towns & businesses -- making it hard to make ends meet and bills barely paid month to month.

One of those businesses (the only Cafe in Avard, Oklahoma) is feeling the effects of the economic woes of today.

Have you heard of the "haunted old gym" in Avard, OK? Do you need an excursion to hear about the ghosts of Avard Gym? Do you want to see and hear some history of Avard, Oklahoma?

Then stop by Vina Rae's Cafe in Avard, Oklahoma, in the old gym in the South part of this Northwest community. If you are in the area between Alva and Waynoka, Oklahoma any time soon -- during lunch time, stop in and patronize "Vina Rae's Cafe." AND... give her a big monetary tip for being the only eating establishment in Avard, OK. It's hard to get those old ghosts to pay and leave tips ... LOL!

Speaking of the "haunted ghosts"... we found some online links through the Google search engine concerning the hauntings around the community of Avard and the old gym. One of those ghosts is allegedly the ghost of Mildred Ann (Newlin) Reynolds.

Mildred Ann Reynolds was a young woman who died under mysterious circumstances on March 13, 1956, 1:40 p.m.

The case has since gone cold, except for a few hauntings at the old Avard Gymnasium. It (the murder) has been listed as "unsolved" and placed in the "Cold Case" files of this northwest community. Ann's full names was "Mildred Ann Newlin Reynolds." She was 22 years old, a petite (5' 2", 100 lb.), and a student at Northwestern Oklahoma State College at the time of her death.

Her husband of nine months was R.D. "Dee" Reynolds, a teacher/coach at the Avard schools and was coaching a game at the gymnasium at the time of Ann's death. Dee was also a good friend of the Wheatley family who owns the Avard Cafe located in the Old Gym. It has been stated several times that Ann was on her way home from college when her death occurred. Also... It has been told that Mrs. Reynolds suffered blunt trauma to the head, and her car burned so ferociously that one of her legs burned off. Her husband's 1949 Chevrolet Tudor Sedan was set afire on the Old Avard road, about a mile or so Southeast of Avard. Mildred's body was found lying across the front seat with her head away from the steering wheel.

Why did this newly married young lady have to perish in this way? Was it Murder? Or... an accident? Who was the mysterious man with the 9mm semi-automatic pistol at the scene of the crime? If anyone has heard anything more of the 1956 death of Mildred Ann (Newlin) Reynolds, we would love to hear your story and share it with our readers.

Google Search: Vina Rae's Cafe & Old Gym Ghosts...
Investigation conducted, Feb. 22, 2003.
Avard, OK - Haunted Gymnasium & Cafe.
Avard Cafe, February 22, 2003
Tulsa Ghost Investigators
Oklahoma Ghosts in Avard: Vina Rae's Grill & Graze
Halloween "Ghost Hunt" Avard, OK, October, 2006
Vina Rae's ghosts & hauntings - Avard
Oct. 29, 2004, Vina Rae's Grill & Graze, Avard
Trippin' to Glass/Gloss Mountain, Feb. 19, 2007
The Okie Legacy
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Ghostly Spirits of Alva's Old Hospital

Vol 9, Iss 42 With Halloween just a few weeks, days away, we thought we would throw in some mention of possible ghostly spirits that may, may not roam the halls of the Old Alva General Hospital.

One of Alva's most famous ghostly, haunts of ghostly spirits is the Old Alva General Hospital that sets at the top of Fourteenth & Maple Street, looking East down Maple Street. Actually, it is about three blocks up the hill from my house.

Is it haunted? The old hospital, that is? How did the red spot get on the old hospital's hall black & white tiled floor? How come it keeps coming back after they clean it? What is the story of how it got there?

I don't have those answers, BUT... I do know that the old Alva hospital was built in 1932, Alva, Oklahoma. It was used as a hospital until.... I'm not sure exactly what year they built the new hospital in the South part of town, South of the University Campus.

I've never experienced any ghosts up at the old hospital, but I hear others have felt the cold, leery stares of the ghosts from the past.

I remember when I was just a young girl, say about 5 or 6 years old, and had my tonsils out. At least I think it was around that age. That's been over 50 years ago. What I do remember those infamous backless gowns that loosely tie in the back at the neck and somewhere else down the back. Instead of rolling down the hall to the surgery room on a rolling bed cart, Dr. Travis gave me a piggy back ride on his back. Of course, you probably all expected that this five year-olds tiny bare backside was showing, mooning all those we passed in the hospital hall on the way to the surgery room! BUT... being only five years old, what did I know of being embarrassed! I was just thrilled with the piggy back ride. What a treat for a five-year-old!

I another memory I have about the old hospital was around February, 1954, when my Uncle Bob McGill was in the hospital and Dad took all of us up to visit Uncle Bob in this small, dark room. That was the last time I saw my Uncle Bob McGill alive. He died shortly afterwards of lung cancer. I never really got to know my Uncle Bob, but from reading some of his old letters to family members and his WWII memorabilia that Grandma Constance McGill saved, I got a special glimpse of this good looking gentleman, WWII Major and soldier.

Another old hospital memory I have takes us back to August, 1968, when my grandmother Constance Warwick McGill died.

All these memories of visiting the old hospital to visit dying relatives seems kind of morbid, doesn't it? Are they some of those spirits souls that haunt the old hospital? Do you have any memories or heard any ghostly talk about the "Old Alva Hospital?"
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WWII Nazi POW Camp of Broken Arrow...

Vol 6, Iss 14

In the Mailbag Corner there is someone looking for information on an old WWII Nazi POW Camp in the Broken Arrow area of Oklahoma. If anyone out there has any information or history, photos, you might contact us. I did a little search of my own on-line and found where the Nazi POW Camp of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma may have some ghosts haunting it. This is what I found at - The Shadowlands - Ghost & Huntings... "Broken Arrow Nazi POW Camp is just north of the Arkansas River, south of a neighborhood there is an old military installation that has been shut off for years. Supposedly it used to hold Nazi POWs from WWII. If one goes there late at night you get a bad feeling from the place, and sometimes you can hear things from behind the locked gate."

Old Avard Road Unsolved Mystery of 1956

Vol 11, Iss 42 Some say about 1956 in Northwest Oklahoma, "This was an innocent time in an unsophisticated community. Death happened, but only by accident or disease. Murder was not known, and really no one knew how to cope with it."

BUT … the Old Avard Road Fiery Death of Mildred Ann Newlin Reynolds was not the only murder mystery in this northwest community. If we look back to 1910 we can find another mysterious death of a young women, which occurred in the Old Opera House on the southeast corner of the square, in Alva, Oklahoma. BUT … That is another story for another OkieLegacy Issue.

Our 1956 Unsolved mystery had lots of Cast of Characters. Just to name a few: Mildren Ann Newlin Reynolds (22, victim), R. D. "Dee" Reynokds (26, husband of victim, teacher & coach at Avard High School), Earnest F. Newlin (father of victim), Marie Schroder Newlin (mother of victim), Eddie Newlin (brother of victim), Jim Hucklebee (18, nephew of Dee & Ann Reynolds), I. R. Boyce (county coroner), Ed Doctor (Sheriff of Woods County), Loren Goucher (farmer in Avard who reported crime scene), H. D. Potts (Woods county attorney), Leroy Lancaster (farmer who sighted fire), Atlee Delaney (employee of Alva Review Courier who took pictures of crime scene), Kyle Morehead (Deputy Assistant State Fire Marshall), G. R. Brown (State Highway Trooper), 125-150 students at NSC (Northwestern State College), Ralph Duroy (State Fire Marshall), Elvin White (Undersheriff of Woods county 1955-60), R. Doss Gourley (deputy of Woods county (1955-60) and Vernie Hackney (resigned as deputy sheriff of Woods county, March 15, 1956).

It was on a Tuesday, 13 March 1956, around 1:40 p.m. that Mildred Ann (Newlin) Reynolds met a violent, fiery death along the Old Avard road as she was headed home after classes at Northwestern State College in Alva, Oklahoma in a 1949 Chevrolet Tudor Sedan. Was she alone at the time? OR … Was someone waiting for her at the scene of the crime along the Old Avard road?

Mildred Ann Newlin was born December 25, 1933 and died 13 March 1956, at the age of 22. Ann was a petite 5' 2", 100Lb, nice looking, young lady and a senior attending Northwestern State College in Alva, Oklahoma. THE College faculty described her as rather shy and a good student. Mildred Ann was the daughter of Ernest & Marie (Schroder) Newlin of Lambert, Oklahoma, and had a younger brother, Eddie Newlin.

Mildred Ann had only been married nine months to Coach R. D. "Dee" Reynolds, the basketball coach and teacher at the Avard High School and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Homer Reynolds of Freedom, Oklahoma. Coach R. D. Reynolds was a NSC (Northwestern State College) graduate student, age 26 years, at the time of his Wife's death. It was reported that after his wife Ann's death he moved away from Avard, remarried and lived in the Bartlesville, Oklahoma area until his death.

We know that Jim Hucklebee, an 18 year-old nephew of the Reynolds, was living with Dee & Ann Reynolds while attending Northwestern State College in Alva. Jim was one of the last ones to see Mildred Ann alive in Alva around noon. Jim would usually drive/ride home to Avard with Ann, but did not on this particular day because he testified that he stayed behind for a class at NSC at 1:00p.m.

Was it an accident? Was it murder? Was someone waiting, knowing Ann would be on her way home; knew her normally traveled route; OR … Did someone follow behind her to a point, then passed and overtook her? Did the perpetrator/s then proceeding on to the next section line after turning around, coming back toward her and blocking the road so she could not proceed further -- at this point causing the chain of events that eventually resulted in Mildred Ann Newlin Reynold's death.

They reported that Mildred's body was burned beyond recognition and one leg was burned completely off at the knee. Was her husband's 1949 Chevrolet Tudor Sedan set afire?

Mildred's body was found lying across the front seat with her head away from the steering wheel.

There are lots of unanswered questions in this "Cold Case" of March 1956 in Northwest Oklahoma. Some of those questions are:

* Who was present at the scene and expended the 9mm shells?
* Why was a weapon fired at the scene?
* Who fired it?
* What is plausible reason for this?
* Why was there no further information divulged as to the owner of the shell casings as per information presented in the internet article?
* Was she shot prior to vehicle burning?
* Why was gas tank plug loose enough to dislodge from tank?
* Or was it removed at the scene?
* Or intentionally loosened earlier?
* Was the plug recovered at the scene?
* Was she enroute to rendezvous with another party?
* Was this route, her normally traveled route?
* Had she received phone call to meet with someone?
* Did she have a boyfriend ... or did someone think she did?
* Was it proven she was alone and that she was the actual driver of the vehicle at time of incident?
* Was she pregnant or did somebody believe her to be?
* Did her husband have a girlfriend? If so, who was she and was she pregnant?
* What was her husband's occupation?
* Were personal friends of husband interviewed extensively?
* Did Anne have a part time job?
* Was she a full-time or part-time student?
* Were her classmates interviewed and what was her schedule for that day?
* Did she in fact attend "all" scheduled classes that day?
* Where was she "enroute to and from" at the time of incident?
* Did her family privately pursue answers to the incident?

On 23 March 1956 only 10 days after the car fire according to [Woodward News] – Victim’s Father told reporters, he thought his daughter's death was accidental …… WHY? The inquest jurors had just determined they did not believe the death was accidental and recommended further investigation.

This statement made by the victim’s father seems somewhat out in left field so early in the investigation … doesn’t it? Why was his opinion so convincingly established in such short order? Why were all the evidentiary facts being overlooked, so early on in the investigation?

Is there still viable DNA that could be used to solve this crime? OR … did it get violated, contaminated with the passers-by that drove out to see the scene of the crime?

Al says, "I went to Lambert High School with Ann, I was a couple of grades behind. We lived about a mile and a quarter west of her home. When I heard of her murder, it was the most frightening thing I had experienced. It still seems the most senseless. This was an innocent time in an unsophisticated community. Death happened, but only by accident or disease. Murder was not known, and really no one knew how to cope with it."

Doug says, "As a young child I use to help ann do her chores after she would come home from school. I went to her house which was across the road from where we lived … three times that day. I told my mother Ann has not come home from school. I told mom I wonder were she could be? Then a fellow neighbor came by an told us she was murdered. We lived only one an half miles from the murder seen. My mom told me to stay in the car. Well! That didn't work. Down the hill I ran and I saw her in the front seat, one leg was burned into and on the ground. I had nightmares for a long time. The next year we moved to Alva. I was very good friends of the family. I have always been so sad about what had happen to her. She was my buddy and we had so much fun. I justed wanted to share this with everyone."

Natalie says, "You know, my mom STILL talks about this - a very haunting case."

This is/was a haunting case and I understand the ghost of Ann Reynolds and other Avard ghosts have allegedly been known to be one of many haunting souls that inhabits the "Old Avard Gym," leaving the smell of burnt flesh behind.

Perhaps Mildred Ann is looking for her husband who was a teacher and basketball coach at Avard Gym during the time of Ann's fiery death on the Old Avard road, just a few miles East of Avard, 13 March 1956, at 1:40 p.m.

With Halloween just a couple of weeks away, will the Reynold's ghosts be haunting the Old Avard gymnasium?

If you have heard stories of this haunting "Cold Case Unsolved Fiery Death that occurred, March 13, 1956, in Northwest Oklahoma on the Old Avard Road, one mile South of Hopeton and two miles West, we would love to hear from you.

These questions are presented now, in hopes that someone would remember a particular person or persons mentioned herein. BUT … Then again … Maybe it is best that we let dead bones and their unanswered questions stay buried! Huh!
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Topeka (Kansas) & Albino Lady Haunts Rochester Cemetery

Vol 6, Iss 43 Kansas - "I love ghost story because they usually have some truth in them. I have two I'd like to share. However, they are from Kansas but they are good.

The first has many versions. It's the story of the Albino Lady who haunts Rochester cemetery in Topeka, Kansas.

Now I'm sure she's dead ... and gone but her legacy lives on as she scared the daylights out of many teenagers who dared tried to park in Rochester cemetery. She is said to have long white hair, and long fingernails, but I think she was probably just someone who didn't like the teens hanging around the cemetery at night.

The other is a little different. My uncle was named Willard Catron whom disappeared in December, 1949. He owned a cafe in or around Ft. Riley. He was a kind man and often gave credit to many a soldier 'till payday.

One December morning my mother, Evelyn, came to work and found the back door open, cash drawer open, and all the receipts gone. That was last time our family saw Willard alive.

His car was found in Junction City in front of the Post Office. It has the empty moneybag in it, blood, and pieces of red hair.

Many times my Grandparents would go looking for Willard, because someone had said they'd seen him. Grandma always thought he was in the river. Not true.

About 2 months ago I received a phone call from my cousin in Arizona. She had information that proved that for some unknown reason Willard was not dead. He had been living in Louisiana for the past 50 yrs. He'd used the name William Carter.

Only when he became ill and Veterans Services were needed did his second family find the problem. His military number didn't match the name. The number they were told belonged to a Willard Catron, my Uncle. He told them that his father had killed his wife and daughter and he feared for his life. NOT, true!...

Uncle Willard apparently left behind a wife and 2 daughters for a reason that still today we are not sure of, but hope he had a happy life.

Just wanted to share something, cause I miss Oklahoma so much. Take care and have a great holiday. We'd love to see pic's of everyone's Halloween costumes. Take care, a transplanted Okie." -- Nancy View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Sod Town, Beaver Co., OK

Vol 10, Iss 19 Some NW Oklahoma ghost towns can have wild, interesting legacies that still haunt parts of "No Man's Land (Oklahoma Panhandle)." One of those ghost towns is Sod Town, in Beaver County, the first county you come to when you enter the Oklahoma Panhandle from the East.

Sod Town is located in Sec. 22-1N-26E, Cimarron Meridian, 19 miles south, 15 miles East of Beaver. Sod Town was unique among the early settlements of the Panhandle. It was the first town to be built in the eastern part of "No Man's Land," and all of the buildings were constructed of blue creek sod.

The village was described as "standing irregularly and nakedly on the prairie." It had one store, Blacksmith shop, two saloons with pool halls, restaurant, a shack that served as a school. Doors and windowsills were unpainted and often broken, refuse littered the space between buildings, and building interiors were little more than dark, bad-smelling rooms.

The town was noted for the characters -- horse theives and badmen -- who loafed around the saloons. Most of the Chitwood gang, notorious horse thieves who lived nearby and frequented the saloons and were eventually hanged by vigilantes. However, the thieves would not steal from neighbors who treated them in a friendly manner.

Harry Parker, who as a pioneer youngster attended school in Sod Town, once said, "I do not recall the name of my first teacher in No Man's Land, but I do remember that two or three of the older students carried six-shooters to school. They would remove them and hang them on the wall by their hats."

Sod Town, spawned in poverty and crime, has passed into oblivion leaving only the ghosts and haunts of the past as its legacy. The land where the town stood has been cultivated for a number of years, but the ruins of old sod buildings have left ridges that can still be seen from the road east of it." -- Ghosttowns of Oklahoma, by John W. Morris, page 180.
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Oklahoma - Indian Territory Legends...

Vol 8, Iss 27 Legends of Indian Territory -- If you roam the hills of Oklahoma you might find remnants of the following histories: Afton - Fading Into History; Arapaho - Great Buffalo Hunters of the Plains; Bass Reeves - Black Hero Marshal NEW; Belle Starr - Oklahoma Bandit Queen; Beyond Vinita, Oklahoma on Route 66; Calumet to Hydro- An Old Stretch of the Mother Road; Catoosa and the Blue Whale; Chandler - Last Gunfight of the Old West; Claremore - Home of Will Rogers; Clinton - Hub City of Western Oklahoma; The Comanche Indians - Horsemen of the Plains; Elk City - A Step Back In Time; El Reno -Home of the Oklahoma Land Rush; Entering Oklahoma on Route 66; Erick and Texola - Gateways to Oklahoma; Foss & Canute - Beyond Glory Days; Haunted Oklahoma; Heck Thomas - Tough Law in Indian Territory NEW; Hell Raising Stroud, Oklahoma; Henry Starr - Cherokee Bad Boy; Judge Isaac Parker - Hanging Judge of Indian Territory; The Lee Gang - Murder and Thievery on the Texas Border NEW; Miami - Culture on Route 66; Oklahoma City - An Overnight Success; Oklahoma City Route 66 Photo Gallery; Oklahoma Fun Facts & Trivia; Oklahoma Links; Oklahoma Postcards; The Pawnee Indians - Farmers on the Plains; Quirky Oklahoma; Tattoo Man of Oklahoma; Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park; Tattoo Man of Bartlesville; Route 66 - Oklahoma Mother Road; Oklahoma's Ribbon of the Mother Road; Sapulpa to Depew, Oklahoma - Small Town America on Route 66; Santa Fe Trail - Highway to the Southwest; Sayre - Entering Cowboy Country; Shamrock - Oil Boom & Bust; Tulsa - Oil Capital of the World; Ghosts of the Tulsa Little Theatre; History and Haunting of the Gilcrease Museum; Tulsa Route 66 Photo Gallery; Treasure Hunting in Oklahoma; Vinita - Crossroads of America; Warwick to Arcadia - Historic Stretch of 66; Weatherford Big City Amenities With Small Town Charm.
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Spectre of Old Alva Hospital Being Haunted Rattles Nerves of Caretakers

Vol 9, Iss 43 [The Daily Oklahoman, dated 14 Dec. 1971, pg. 38]

Alva, OK -- "Everyone's heard of a haunted house, but just how many people have come across a haunted hospital?

Two young Alva men think they are living in one - the old Alva General hospital which closed last July to make way for the new Share Memorial Hospital.

Ben Buckland and Dennis Brown came by their unusual home after vandals began to take their toll on the outskirts of this northwest Oklahoma community.

Buckland, part owner of a restaurant catering to college students and consulting manager of an Oklahoma City FM radio station, and Brown, job foreman for his father's lumber company here, serve as caretakers for the old hospital.

In the 2 1/2 months they've occupied the place numerous strange sounds and unexplained happenings have occurred which have sometimes left them on edge. Word of the mysterious goings-on has gotten out to their friends. They still have the friends, buy they'd rather not come calling at the pair's "haunted" residence.

"At first we were afraid of an overstock of company here -- but we've never had that problem," Buckland quipped.

The two men occupy eight of the 96 rooms of the old structure. The lobby is now a game room with pool and ping pong tables. An eight bed ward is now their living room. Buckland uses a small office off the game room and Brown has a former surgery room for a bedroom suite.

Brown has numerous stereo tapes which he enjoys listening to for relaxation. At least he used to like to relax with them.

"The first day we moved in, we were sitting in my bedroom listening to my tapes when a tape broke," Brown said, adding, "I've never had a tape break. Well, we fixed it and turned it on again. The tape broke again. That tape broke three times while we were watching it."

"If you're looking for an explanation," Buckland said, "after the tape broke three times is a row ... one of the guys helping us move said 'Maybe it's too loud; maybe you're offending them (the ghosts).' So Dennis turned it down and the tape didn't break anymore."

Other things have happened since then.

"Sometimes we'll be sitting there listening to the stereo and one side of the stereo will quit playing for no reason," observed Brown. Both men have checked the wires numerous times and found nothing amiss.

A stain in the surgery room adjoining Brown's bedroom is another unexplained phenomenon. The reddish-brown stain measures about four inches in diameter and is located three feet from a floor drain set in the sloping surgery floor.

When they mop the floor the stain disappears, but is back again within a week.

Brown tells of having a childhood fear of shower baths after having been trapped inside a shower by a sliding door and nearly being scalded as a youngster.

Recently he went to his room for a record album. The former surgery room's door closed and the shower came on. This sent Brown hurrying back to the game room without the record.

Despite these and other strange events the men have no plans for moving from their "haunted" hospital home.

"It's been a really good experience. I'd like to live here until forced to move out," Brown said.

Buckland observed, "It's been most interesting. I'll live here as long as the administrators need me."
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Haunted Hotel In Guthrie, OK

Vol 9, Iss 44 "The Stone Lion Inn, Guthrie, Oklahoma was built in 1907 by F.E. Houghton, the founder of Cotton Oil Company and owner of the first car dealership in Oklahoma.

The Houghtons started out in a little house that once was located on the lot next door on the east side of the Inn.,br>
The Houghtons had 12 children, and all survived childhood except for one daughter, who died before the family moved into the Stone Lion Inn.

Becky Luker purchased the Stone Lion Inn in 1986 and converted the house into the first bed-and-breakfast in Oklahoma.

Back in the 1920s, the house was leased to Smith's Funeral Home and was used as a mortuary. Can you imagine what comes next? The Smith's lived upstairs and the embalming was done in what is now the Inn's kitchen.

Today, the owner uses the beautiful porcelain embalming table as a hallway buffet where guests can help themselves to refreshments throughout the day.

Supposedly, the Houghton daughter haunts the Inn. The girl was 8 years old when she died of whooping cough. It is believed that the maid overmedicated her with cough syrup. The medication had codeine and opium, which was once common.

Guests have reported being awakened at night between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m., when a small child comes into the room and pats them on the cheek, but when they are fully awake, no one is there.

Another ghost is an older gentleman who is recognized by the scent of his cigar smoke. He wears a suit and a derby-like hat.

A ghost woman haunts the wedding suite, and laughter sometimes can be heard around 4 a.m. on a regular basis. For more interesting details and rates see Stone Lion Inn." -- Dale Talkington
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Great Overviews of Oklahoma's Ghost Towns'

Vol 6, Iss 33 "Thanks for the great overviews of Oklahoma's 'Ghost Towns'. As a retiree and a long time photographer I hope to soon visit these places. We lived in Denver for twenty years and haunted the ghost towns in the "hills" and are just discovering the wonderful opportunities that exist here in Oklahoma." -- Darryl Cox - Email: durl@earthlink.net View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe