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The Londoner which now
the Churchhill Pub. |
Now, I have been investigating the paranormal for more than 30 years!!!! Yes, I know....I was only 3 when I started....(LOL ok not really) but you get the point that I have done this for many years!!! Long before there was a TV show on every channel, and the media was full of "reportedly" pictures of ghost....I was in my room as a teenager reading everything I could about the paranormal and going alone to cemeteries and haunted locations because if you told ANY of your friends what you were doing they would think you were NUTS!!!!
As you know, ghosts don't JUST APPEAR on command and they don't ALWAYS re-appear as you wish they would, unfortunately some of them seem to have a mind of their own! Over the years, I can say I HAVE seen MANY, MANY strange things.....like...... countless shadows, unexplainable sounds, things moving on their own and SOME THINGS I wished I hadn't seen.....BUT the one thing that I can say for certain is...... I have only seen ONE, yes I said....... "only ONE" ......full bodied apparition!!! It was not transparent.....it was not white or foggy.....nor did it scare me in any way! My apparition was a very beautiful young lady. I will NEVER forget it as long as I live!!!
I had just moved to Lake Dallas, and really didn't have any friends in the area so I looked up a local ghost group to join. I found a group in McKinney and loved them! I started trying to attend their monthly meetings and investigations. I am sorry, I can't remember the group name it was so long ago but I do remember the main leaders name being Windell. Now, from what I could tell, Windell and his wife had been doing this for some time and had even earned a little local notoriety.
It was sometime in early Oct. about 20 years ago and we had been contacted by, the then owner, of the Londoner, a pub/restaurant on the square in McKinney, Tx. From a brothel in the late 1800's to the current day Pub/Restaurant with many twists along the way and full of local history it seemed we couldn't go wrong with this place. The owner had complained of some paranormal activity and a local TV channel had gotten word of it and wanted to do a Halloween story on it. So we were going to go do an investigation while a TV crew filmed us. Sounded fun to me!!!! Get to be on TV!!!! I'm going to be a SUPER STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok.....NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The stairs up to the second floor. Even they
look creepy! |
Windell had tons of really cool equipment. Some things I had never seen nor heard of, so I was sooooo excited about the investigation that I could hardly stand it! So, we loaded up Windell's van and off we go. As we arrive just around dusk....the owner was standing outside the Pub waiting on us. I was on the equipment crew, so my job was to help unload the equipment and set up. Windell and his wife were the lead investigators and they went on into the Pub and started interviewing the owner about his experiences. Some of his reported paranormal activity was...that upstairs in his office(now the ladies restroom) he had a little pug dog that he let wonder around the restaurant after the Pub closed. For whatever reason, this little dog would run and play all around the Pub but would REFUSE to come into the manager's office. The owner said he had tried everything, picking him up and holding him as the owner sat at his desk...but the dog would just go crazy trying to get down and get out of his office!!! The man said that the dog sometimes would even lay just on the outside of the door BUT NEVER came in! hhhuuummmm
He also told about a couple of the bartenders that were getting creeped out because they would put up clean glasses in the wire holder above the bar and all of the sudden.....these glasses would just START FLYING off the wire rack and crash into the floor!!! This happened on more than one occasion! Also, the people that would be staying late cleaning up at night, would say the doors would be locked(so no patriots would come in) and when they would go to leave for the night all the doors would be UNLOCKED!!!! One employee even experienced as she was walking to the door to lock up for the end of the night the door FLEW OPEN all by itself!!! It SCARED her so bad..... she ran out another door leaving the front door wide open, although the next morning, the morning staff said the door was locked and closed as it always was when they came in!
Now, let me tell you............this place is MOST DEFINITELY HAUNTED even today!!!! I just ate there as recent as a couple weeks ago and was talking to the wait staff about the haunts and the young man I was talking with said, "oh yes! We have stuff happen here all the time!" And he proceeded to tell me a couple personal encounters he had had personally with the ghost or at least one of them.
Now, back to my story. The first claim we wanted to check out was the report that the owners little Pug dog wouldn't come into his office. The owner was even willing to give an uncooked STEAK from the kitchen to entice the dog with. Well, right off the bat......the camera crews equipment was failing right and left.....either the batteries would suddenly be dead or their camera's would malfunction. Now, we all know what THAT means!!!! Anyway, the camera crew was really getting frustrated trying to film and having so much trouble. We went upstairs where there is another dinning section, bar, over sized chairs and a pool and dart board area. Windell and his wife placed the steak on the floor right beside the manager's desk and ask the owner to set at the desk and call the dog. Well...........just like the owner had said...........the little dog started barking and jumping around like he REALLY REALLY wanted to go in but just wouldn't!!!! Our EMF meters were going off along with a couple of other pieces of equipment I can't recall, but I remember hearing Windell say......"that was one of the STRANGEST things he had ever seen!! That dog WILL NOT go in!" What could be the reason for that....
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| The bar and bar stools. |
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This is where I walked by the bar stools
and they were all in a roll up against
the bar like they should have been. |
One of the MOST AMAZING experiences I can remember......was that we were all around the manager's office and I needed to go get some more batteries....I know that is hard for you to believe that a ghost hunter would need MORE batteries LOL....but I walked ALONE down to the other end of the bar on the second floor as we had left all our bags on the far end of the bar out of the way. I turned around and walked pass the bar where there wasn't ANYONE but me in this area....and walked pass the bar stools sitting upright nice and neatly up against the bar itself........and in less than 3 minutes literally...........I grabbed a hand full of new batteries and turned around to walk back.................and I COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT I SAW!!!!!
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I tried to draw how the bar stools were
so you guys could understand a little better. |
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The view looking back toward the pool tables,
and where the old manager's office was.
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ALL the bar stools were ON TOP of the bar standing upright!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There probably was 6 to 8 bar stools all nicely sitting on TOP of the bar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THERE WAS NO WAY THIS WAS POSSIBLE!!!!!! I yelled at Windell and said "LOOK at the bar stools! They weren't like that just a few minutes ago and there was NO ONE here but me!!!!!! No one could believe it because they were all on the other end and for someone to do that, first of all..... the chairs are very heavy and it would have taken someone some time to get all of them up on the bar!!! It wouldn't have been easy!!! CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The boots "the lady in blue" had on looked similar
to these. |
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I looked and looked and this was as close
to the dress that "the lady in blue" wore. |
After a long night it was time to pack up and head out so I started caring out the equipment to the van. As I walked out to the van which was parked up the city square a bit.... it was just me and I had my hands full trying to make it to the van without dropping anything! I put everything in the van and turned around and started to walk back to the Pub. As I walked back I looked up and saw this lady, a very pretty lady, sitting on a bench, sitting very straight and very proper with her hands slightly crossed one over the other wearing white gloves with a small beaded bag or purse that had a string that was wrapped around one of her wrist as the purse draped over her dress. Her dress was baby blue with a white panel insert that almost looked like an apron. I could see her shoes sticking out from the bottom of the lace on her dress which looked like a black boot with shoe laces that crisscrossed down the center of the boot. Her hair was very dark and was up in a bun. She NEVER looked at me....she just sat there smiling..............looking across the street. It seemed that she was unaware that anyone or anything was around her. She looked very pretty just sitting there on the bench. I remember STOPPING DEAD IN MY TRACKS because I had been back and forth to the van may times that night and NEVER saw or NOTICED her before!!! Now, it wasn't like a flash.....I was able to STUDY her appearance as I was confused thinking that it was one of those "lifelike" sculptures that you sometimes see made out of concrete that sit on the outside of historical buildings. But the funny thing was..... I JUST didn't remember seeing her before and I think I would have noticed that there was a figure like that on the bench?????
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This is not "the lady in blue". But it kinda
looks like the way I remember her just a little. |
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| The bench where I saw "the lady in blue". |
I probably looked at her for 10-15 seconds thinking HOW lifelike she looked!!! Then I just went on into the Londoner. When I got back inside Windell was standing in the doorway talking to the owner and I said " that sure is a pretty figure of a lady on the bench outside". The OWNER looked at me with such a funny look!!!! He said, "we don't have a figure of a lady sitting on a bench outside". I said, "yes you do........ I just now saw her".
The owner suddenly had a little quirky smile on his face and said, "what color dress did she have on?" and I said "blue why?" He said that was a spirit that is seen quit often sitting on that bench, but we didn't tell you guys about it because we were focusing on the Pub. I couldn't help it!!! I RAN back outside COMPLETELY CONVINCED that I was still going to see a lady in a blue dress sitting quietly on a bench......BUT............... as I looked to the corner..............I saw the bench............BUT NO LADY IN BLUE!!!!!!!!!!! I just couldn't believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| McKinney, Tx |
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The best I can so NO COMMENTS, I tried
to draw how I remember my first experience
with a full bodied apparition. |
The owner told me that "the lady in blue" is believed to be the wife of a cotton farmer that died. They used to bring their cotton crop to town to sell on Sundays. So, is she just picking up where he left off? For whatever reason, she sits quietly on the bench, I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to met her.
The ladies bathroom where they had to screw the picture to the wall because it would fall down all the time all on its own.
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These are the same bar stools that I
saw mysteriously standing on top of the bar!!! |
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The ladies bathroom where reports they
had to screw the picture to the wall because
it would fall down all by itself. This is where
the old manager's office was that we couldn't
get the little dog to come into. |
.JPG) |
| The now Churchhill Pub. |
d be on your bucket list!!!! For sure.....it was on mine!!!! A couple years ago, for my birthday my boyfriend and I went up to see this "unbelievable" place! Ok...I am going to keep it real with you guys....you expect.... or I did anyway.... to drive out away from the city to see the house. Well....it is surrounded with concert parking lots and businesses. So, for me.....I was just a little disappointed about that. 
