Grandview Tribune Article
On the evening of January 8th, the Stockyard Paranormal Investigation's team became guests of Grandview. This unique group specializes in examining paranormal sites. According to their website ( www.stockyardsparanormal.com), since 2006 the company has completed over 40 investigations with their beginnings being in the Fort Worth Stockyards area from which they took their name."SPI" became interested in pursuing Grandview's 'Whitten building' after reading a recent article about the structure in the Cleburne Times Review. According to it's history, the original owner Robert Whitten completed this 12,500 sq ft building in 1924, after capitalizing on the cotton industry in the early 20's. He along with his partners took office in the rear of the building becoming successful in real estate among other enterprises. The frontage's earliest tenant was a hardware store, while over the past 75 years other tenants have included a car dealership, furniture store, antique shop, a bank and the infamous mortuary.
Robert Whitten passed on ownership to his son, Elmer George. Elmer, who did not have children of his own, handed down the property to his nephew, Grandview resident John Buck. In 2001, Mr. Buck sold the property to current owners Bart and Linda Clark. The Clarks have invested into the Grandview community by remodeling this 87 year old building extensively. Bart and Linda's vision is to provide Grandview residents aerobic exercise accommodations along with a coffee shop, physical and massage therapy offices. The second floor houses four stunning loft apartments. All of these facilities are in the works for a grand opening at the end of this month.
The team of five individuals who planned to spend the night at the historic building were Kevin Casey, John Welch, Monica Bober, Cheryl Vann and Shirley Hurst. Kevin Casey, for the past 25 years has been a criminal investigator for Federal Law Enforcement. He describes himself as a skeptic but open to possibilities. According to their website, as a career law enforcement officer, Mr. Casey looks at these observations the same manner he investigates every day. He researches, develops intelligence on the subject, collects concrete evidence and then makes logical conclusions based on that evidence.
In visiting with the team prior to their investigation that evening, Mr. Casey demonstrated the equipment they would use to gather information. An EMF detector is an instrument that measures the electro- magnetic fields of a building. Temperature sensors are used as apparently a drop in temperature or 'cold spots' are a manifestation of the depletion of energy by paranormal events. A EVP, an electronic voice phenomena recorder along with motion detectors and video cameras were also set up within the building.
During our interview, Mr. Casey expanded on his interest of the Whitten building. "A friend of mine sent me the article from Cleburne, and I thought we'd take a look and see what it was all about." We've talked to several people who have had unexplained experiences in the building, and did some research." The stories of the past that have surfaced have been that footsteps can be heard when no one else is known to be in the building, unusual noises, doors opening on their own, objects moved from one place to another, and the original freight elevator dislodging and returning on it's own accord. When talking with current owner Bart Clark, he did state "yes, the elevator has gone up and down on it's own, but I believe really there is a logical reason, it's an old system" among other possible technical rationalizations.
An opportunity arose for a conversation with Mr. Buck along with his son Travis about about the folklore that seems to surround this aged structure. Travis and his father were able to give some history to building. Travis, who is Grandview's current mayor is enthused about the remodel and the fact that the Clark's investment is a true asset to Grandview. Travis states " I honestly don't believe in all this stuff, I think it's just urban legend and imagination." John, who visited the building often as a child and later lived there on occasion with is wife Kathy stated "yes, we've heard noises sometimes, but I just related it to the sounds of an old building." The Buck family is pleased with their decision to entrust the historic building to the Clarks who have made it a point to preserve it's integrity.
In talking with Kevin Casey last week about their findings from January 8th. Kevin explained that they are still reviewing evidence. He went on to explain that the group did have several what they called 'sessions' starting at around 9 p.m. These sessions are when the group splits up and walks the building or sits still and listens, recording any events. Kevin stated that the team felt that they had observed several EVP recordings but are continuing to dissiver the data. Mr. Casey did state " we did use a twist flashlight, and the light went on and off by it's self." When asked about his experience with the Whitten building, he replied "well, out of the 40 investigations we've done, this is one of the most active."
This community takes pride in the majority of it's residents being conservative Christian, therefore they are concrete in their belief of one spirit, the Holy Spirit. To our recollection, He has not dislodged any elevators in the last decade unless maybe trying to get the lost to see the truth. However, we all could use a little "scare tactic" to get on that treadmill at the Grandview Fitness club in the near future!