Historic Route 66 Gas Station
East of Edmond & West of Luther on 2nd Street
Reports of Paranormal Activity
• None
History
Due to the
fact that C.O.P.S. is very interested in the history of
Oklahoma, and the desire to find sites that are rich with
historical stories, the team felt it necessary to
investigate a site that appears to have the possibility
of residual paranormal activity.
The site has
a sign posted out front of the stone building with an
explanation of the history of the building. To quote the
sign;
Historic Route 66 Site
This is one
of the last old gasoline filling stations still standing
in this part of the country. No one knows for sure, but
it is thought to have been built in the late teens or
early twenties. It had two pumps, one for regular gas and
one for ethyl, which was a little higher octane. Oil was
dispensed from a 50 gallon drum, which was laid down on
its side on a wooden frame. A spigot was put in the end
of the drum, under which you put a quart can, then taken
to your car and put in the motor.
Seeing there
was no electricity out here at that time, most homes and
building were lighted by kerosene lamps or lanterns.
Kerosene was dispensed the same way oil was from a metal
drum, put in your container and taken home.
Cold soda
pop was sold only on days when the ice man made it by.
The pop was put in a large metal box with chipped ice
over it. Hard candy was sold most of the time, chocolate
was sold only in the winter because in the summer it
would melt - since there were no refrigerators.
Back then,
times were very hard and it was difficult to make a
living. One day, about the time Al Capone was terrorizing
the City of Chicago, a so-called salesman came by the
station, offering to sell the owner a way to make a lot
of money, literally, for he had a set of plates for a
counterfeit ten-dollar bill. The story goes that the
people yielded to temptation with the thought of being
able to get rich quick.
A small room
was constructed on the back of the old station for the
purpose of hiding the printing materials and a place to
work. The only entrance was through the window you see on
the back wall of the station. The window had a solid
wooden door, which was kept closed most of the time.
People didn't even know that there was a room back
there.
The way the
counterfeiting was done was that they would press one of
the plates on a piece of paper with the green ink on it,
then let that side dry 24 hours, and print the black side
of the bill the next day. Things went along just fine for
a time, but while passing one of the fake ten-dollar
bills, one of the persons was arrested, and with the
identification on him where he lived, he was traced to
the old station. While searching the building, the
counterfeit plates were found. So ended this crime spree,
like so many others. The person being taken to jail was
overheard to say, "It wasn't worth it!"
The old
station was closed, never to open again. Many years
later, which had nothing to do with the counterfeiting, a
murder victim was found in the old abandoned building.
Police were unable to determine whether he was killed
here or the body just dumped. The victim was never
identified, for he had no identification on him and no
one seemed to know him.
Please be careful entering this fragile old building.
The Owners
Rock of Ages Farm
Investigation
C.O.P.S. members present: Tony, Russell, Mike & John
C.O.P.S.
investigated the site on July 08, 2007 a little after
midnight. The weather was warm and humid. There were many
tree frogs and insects making noises in the nearby tree
line as well as traffic noise from the roadway that was
about 30 feet away from the building. There were no odd
feelings, unusual kinetic disturbances, or unexplained
equipment activations. The team observed nothing that
could be construed as paranormal.
It is the
pleasure of C.O.P.S. to simply experience the rich
history of our great state, with or without paranormal
activity. The team wishes to thank the keepers of this
site for the opportunity to visit.
Equipment
• Sony digital voice recorders
• Sony Handicam video recorder with nightshot
• Kodak EasyShare C643 digital camera
• K-II EMF detector
• IR Thermometers