The Rhodes Hotel | America’s Creepiest Doll Room (Ep 368)

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Sex and alcohol always has buyers. Always. No matter the economy.

So she turned it into a speakeasy and brothel. I love her. It's a small two-story hotel in a town of a few hundred people. Oh. And one upstairs room the people deliberately packed with old vintage dolls. We are visiting the Roads Hotel, a real historic building from 1893 that turned it into one of Indiana's most infamous overnight investigations.

[music and singing]

Very spooky. Hi. Hello. Oh, wow. Is anyone there? Can anybody hear us?

Are you listening? Are we dead? Look behind you.

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[laughter]

It's us. Two girls, one ghost.

Two girls, one ghost. And I don't know what that intro was, but hey, that's your ghostess.

things out. You got to wear them to see if you like it.

It's like improv.

Yeah. Guys, we're [laughter] we're an improv troop now. Just a duo.

Just a duo. That's

Who's never taken an improv class ever?

forget our third. And Sven. We're a trio. It's a trio. That's your ghostess, Karen. I'm your ghostess, Sabrina. And

most haunted podcast strikes again

yeah, hi. I have a ghost story for us. How? From our editor and producer, Jamie Ryan.

Jamie. This spooky [ __ ] was holding onto a ghost story that from like us haunting her for months. What the hell? Dating back to it was either the Black Monk of Pontefract episode or

This is a long time.

the bunk bed case. Yeah, it was like something back in October, basically. Jamie at It's Our Podcast. So she is constantly listening to our ghost stories.

Yes. She was editing an episode. In the

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story, there was like a fire downstairs in like the actual pod like the episode. In the context of the researched episode. She's editing this episode while Jamie her she and her partner are visiting her partner's family in I think like a cabin in South Carolina or North Carolina. It's in the Carolinas. It's Appalachian area. We I think we got bits and pieces of this from her before. This is starting to feel familiar. I had never heard this before. Unless I'm somehow tapping into Jamie in my sleep.

be. So, I'm like, didn't we know this? Or like we're mind melding? So, you kind of have heard it.

the information already. So, she's working on this project, editing this episode while staying in this cabin. And like the first night while they're staying there, keep in mind she hasn't told anyone that she's editing this episode specifically. Like they know that she's working, but doesn't know like what the episode's about. The first night they're staying there, her and her partner wake up to feeling like someone's sitting on their bed. No one's there.

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The middle of the night I'm not sure it's it must be like the first or second night Jamie wakes up to something smelling like it's on fire. She wakes everyone up. They get out of the house. Firefighters come. They discovered wires basically like sparked and a fire had started in some equipment. But had she not woken up, it would have turned into an actual fire. And Jamie's like, I mean it's a weird house. Like it probably it could be nothing, but the coincidence and the timing of it is so spooky because that's basically exactly what happened in the episode that she had been editing. That's [ __ ] up. That's a really scary. Yeah. And that also makes you wonder like is that a result of editing and listening to that episode or was there some sort of like weird perfectly timed universe thing where it was like she has to be editing this one in order to save herself from a potential house fire right that's going to happen right if she doesn't act. I don't know but it's

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spooky. Very spooky. Isn't that wild? Yeah. Oh, that reminds me actually. I had a dream a couple nights ago. It wasn't a dream. I was just like awake and it suddenly I was like oh maybe this is an intrusive thought about life. About my house burning down like fully burned down and have to

intrusive thoughts. Okay, but

you differentiate between intrusive thoughts? So in my mind I was like it's cuz everything in our house is breaking and so like my mind is like well if we just got to start over again.

[laughter]

Like and that's what I thought but then yesterday when I was out in the sunroom I noticed that one of the outlets has a big burn mark around one of That's a big deal. Yeah, so I was like oh I need to make note to have someone come look at that.

Have they come to look at it? That was yesterday and I just remembered. Can we pause right now so you can do something about that? Let me text the person who does stuff like that which is my husband. I was going to say. [laughter] Your assistant Brian? That's emergency level things. All right, I put in the request. With management? With my project manager slash boss. Yeah, that's concerning.

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Yeah. Also, I know I have intrusive thoughts but like I know that they're intrusive thoughts. I feel like you with your OCD and your intrusive thoughts It's really hard to differentiate.

for you to differentiate. It used to be easier because there was like a really clear divide in feeling between when I knew I was absorbing someone else's feelings or something that was going to happen to them. Kind of like psychically things.

In the past couple years it's been incredibly difficult.

it's because you're a mom now and you you have that anxiety.

of the like anxiety and intrusive thoughts of of things like that. Like I'm constantly Yeah. playing out scenarios in my mind of Yeah.

something horrible happening and how do I react and how do I Yeah. I have empathy for you. Like there are times where I really feel sad for how plagued you are by [laughter] Which is like it says a lot too because I whatever you see me feel like visibly on the outside is so small cuz I don't ask for help and I had everything in me and I just found out I'm part Irish so I think that that is part of it.

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When [laughter] did you find that out? My 23andMe updated. I thought I was more Scottish.

Congratulations. Guys, I'm Irish. Congrats. Everyone happy belated St. Patrick's Day. Thank you.

As in like a month belated because this episode comes out in April.

[laughter]

But we're pre-recording.

History of the Roads Hotel

Today's not about me. It's always about you. It's your life.

Today, we're going to talk about a another place, a hotel. Actually, hold on. Was this for I feel like this was recommended to me by someone. I'll see if I wrote it down. Probably not. All right, then no credit where credit's due. Someone recommended it. Someone did? It came to you not through the universe but through a a human.

this was not a intrusive thought. This was someone's vocalized suggestion at some point and sorry to that person. I didn't write down your name but thank you to whoever that person is. You know who you are. Yeah, you know who you are.

Yeah. Watch it like actually have been no one and it's just [laughter] You know? I I might never know. But

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there is a small two-story hotel in a town of a few hundred people Oh.

and one upstairs room the people deliberately packed with old vintage dolls. They have little cracked faces and their blank eyes just My sister used to have a recurring nightmare about wandering into the woods and finding a house with a room full of dolls and that is all I can picture now. Oh, yeah. Or my mom used to tell us that as a bedtime story. I don't know. Doesn't your mom have a bunch of old vintage dolls? Not to this extent but yeah, she does. They're very creepy. They don't mean to be scary. It's like one of those things where I have that and this is part of like the OCD part coming in where it's like you personify inanimate objects. Like I I used to have to when I used to crayon box, I'd have to use every single color just even a line so that none of them felt left out. But it's like the same for the dolls. Like I I'm so scared of them, but I also am like I'm so sorry to that I'm scared of you. Yeah. I know

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that you just want love and affection.

you such a bad rap, and on behalf of all dolls, we apologize. Yeah. On behalf of all dolls, as if I speak for the dolls. [laughter] She speaks for the dolls.

I am PR for dolls.

Or acts for dolls. Uh, okay, well, these dolls These dolls might be able to speak for themselves. Okay. They seem to be alive. When the door is shut and the peering eyes are no longer looking, sometimes the dolls move. Their speedy little eyes.

Especially when storms roll in, which is so creepy. Isn't that amazing? A big storm comes and suddenly the house is like electric and alive and all the spirits are I moving about.

Yeah, it's very cool. Tonight, we are visiting the Rhoads Hotel, a real historic building from 1893, and a doll room that turned it into one of Indiana's most infamous overnight investigations. Is it R H O D E S or R O A D S? Okay,

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well, so interesting. So, when I first put it in our tracker to do this, I wrote R H O D E S cuz that's how it came up a bunch. But then when you actually look into the historic records, it's R O A D S, and I think it just over time the name has kind of like interchangeably What does it say on the plaque? Like what does it say on the exterior of the building? I don't think there's like a plaque on the outside.

it's Mandela effect? Maybe.

have made us change the perception. Oh, the dolls are doing it. But I guess I'll just say either one works. Cuz it seems like either there was a lot of misspellings or it's just kind of answers to both. Okay. Atlanta,

Answers to both. Indiana. Didn't know there was an Atlanta, Indiana.

But why would you? Cuz it's a small, blink-and-you'll-miss-it little town. And historically, towns like this often grew out of transportation routes and local industry and sometimes like sudden bursts of economic opportunity. And that is exactly what happened to create this little town.

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For Atlanta, Indiana, one of the major eras of this time was the late 1800s when central Indiana saw prosperity tied to the discovery and exploitation of natural gas. So, this one's interesting because like when you Google the Roads Hotel, there you can actually like access they submitted an application to be part of the like national historic whatever. And you can read through it all. I feel like I've never gotten to see that before. Wait, that's so cool.

Yeah, so like I got to and it was obviously like it was handwritten because the person was like putting the form together and like submitting it for the historic places. Did they get approved?

Yes. Yeah.

But like in it, there's a lot of history and kind of like what it was known for. And so there's a lot of reference to this era of like natural gas. And they used the term the the gas boom.

[laughter]

I was like you hear about like the gold rush and all these like economic booms and stuff and I've never heard of the gas boom.

It does make sense. Yeah, it does. But

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yeah, that's this paperwork kept referencing the gas boom.

Basically, what's so important pertaining to this structure and why it should be and is a part of the National Register of Historic Places is that it is one of the last remaining structures like intact from this time period from 1893. Wow. Isn't that old when you like compare it to Europe and But in the context of anywhere else, of America, And context of America, you kind of remember the gas boom. It's very important that gas boom. 1893. Okay. 1893. Yep. So, the structure is a traditional Queen Anne build. It has a very distinctive porch. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see a picture. It actually is surprising to me that it's in Indiana cuz it's like New Orleans. I was just going to say it reminds me of Louisiana.

The original layout of the rooms opening off of the central hall and basically like set up to be an inn. Okay. operated

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as. So, people would pass through. Yep. Same story as so many places that we've covered before. It's like set up for the travelers who are like transient, just passing on in their business, or just like making this place their home temporarily when there's a boom and they have something to do here. Yep. I might be butchering this a little bit cuz I didn't write it down, but in that paperwork that was submitted to become a part of the historic like National Register of Historic Places, the person who prepared it said that there is an original clawfoot tub.

[sighs]

And apparently one of the sinks is still original, too. Are they not made out and made with lead? That's a wonderful question. I don't know. But that is very cool. But yeah, some some of the plumbing is OG. is OG, which is like that's so interesting. Like they did say like in their paperwork it was like apparently this is still original. So, is it actually? I'm not sure. We believe in apparently.

[laughter]

We believe in apparently. That's good enough for us.

the historic tub. The legend of the tub.

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People say that this tub is original.

It's original. All right. So, yeah. This town was basically set up for people to live in between their lives. Like what happens now and then what happens next, but it's not really it wasn't intended to be necessarily like a place for people to stay long-term. Perfect set up for a haunted location. Hotel. An hotel. Built in 1893 by Newton Roads, although some sites said Abraham Kaufman built it and then was later purchased by Newton Roads. Mhm. Who's to say? Not me. The hotel was a beacon for travelers on the railroad line between Chicago and Indianapolis. But not just anyone passing through because this place was also it was like Victorian elegance. This was the fancy hotel that you stay at. So it had the grand porches, it had some fine dining, which Newton's wife Clara Roads, she actually like was in charge of all of the food in the dining experience and she made it like very posh.

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like very bed and breakfast, but yeah, like fancy.

Yes, it was a very notable place to stay when you came through. They lived there with their two children Hazel and Everett.

What a cool way to grow up. Right. Suite Life of Zack and Cody the original Zack and Cody.

[laughter]

So according to the property's own history page cuz you can go on their website, there are three confirmed deaths in the hotel. The first being Newton Roads himself in 1926.

Mhm. Leaving behind his wife Clara and their children right as the Great Depression is happening. So I'm not the exactly sure the date that their son Everett had passed away too. But when he was just 19 years old, he died of tuberculosis and he had been confined in this hotel until his passing. Which we know now that like confinement's like the worst thing you could do for tuberculosis. Like getting outside, getting fresh mountain air.

Yeah, sad. But I also get it. I bed rot when I'm not sick and when I'm sick, so

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Right. It's it's hard Yeah, and like you don't know what to do. You just know it's contagious. So it's like it's a quarantine. Right.

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History of the Roads Hotel cont’d

So then I'm not really sure of the date, so I'm not sure if he died before his dad or after. I think it was after. I think Clara was with her two children after her husband's passing. So during the time of the Great Depression, again, like so many of our episodes, it doesn't matter if you were this like booming fancy hotel, you were booked for 5 years straight, no vacant rooms, everyone came, presidents, famous people, celebrities, whatever. Hotels were closing during the Great Depression. Like no one's spending money on a on a vacation or like a luxury vacation, right? So Clara, she's like, "Okay, well, I have a family to take care of. This is my entire business. This is my only way to make money right now." It's also during a time where women weren't

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traditionally making income. Like it was the man worked, the woman stayed at home with the kids. [clears throat] And they're seeing fewer people come through anyway because this is like a more like pass-through type of town. This isn't like They're not in Chicago. Right. So already there's fewer people traveling because of the Great Depression and so there's fewer people like seeking a place to stay and definitely not shelling out money that they ordinarily would have done here. So, Clara's like,

[snorts]

I got to pivot a little bit.

Yeah. I own this place, we're not leaving this place, but what we do with this place needs to change a little bit. Mhm. So, she turned it into a speakeasy and brothel. I love her. Sex and alcohol always has buyers. Always, no matter the economy, yeah, those you can rely on, which is also [ __ ] up. I know. The brothel part is like alleged. As so many were. Right. So, Clara had some updates made to the structure of the hotel. She had hidden rooms and

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trick doors built because we were entering the Prohibition era. So,

Love her.

her patrons from the Prohibition era raids, she like literally had secret rooms.

secret rooms, like hiding spots for everybody in this hotel. And she was really good at business, too. Local legend suggests that high-profile gangsters like Al Capone and John Dillinger used the hotel as a hideout while traveling the rural underground routes of the Midwest. Where has Al Capone not been?

That's the thing, like he was a busy man and he was all over the place.

Did he Did he have a home? Like where did he Did he stay anywhere longer than a few days?

on the move if you don't want to get caught. Yeah, I guess so. But like all to say, like she was so successful in promoting this and like having a place for to go and like party and feel alive, but also feel protected and safe from the authorities that this became supposedly kind of like a go-to spot for the gangsters of the time.

Yeah. So, while the business pivot kept

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Clara and her family afloat for a little while, it did officially come to an end. The hotel closed in 1937 and I will say a lot of sources didn't include dates. I'm kind of like trying to fudge some things together here. I'm not sure if it closed with Clara's death or not. Uh some sources suggested that Clara and her daughter Hazel had lived there until about 1940, which would suggest that the hotel closed, but then they still lived there as like a private residence for another few years. But it's kind of muddy. Sure. But it closed. It closed. The Rhoads Hotel website says that there are three confirmed deaths at the hotel. So we have Newton, we have Everett Rhoads, their son, and then eventually we have Clara. But another article I saw said that Newton's stepmother also passed here. Mhm. So that would suggest four deaths. But maybe when they say like confirmed deaths, it's like there's only record of three. But maybe there's like a journal entry that suggests that there's the fourth.

I just think about like if this is like a type of place where people are like

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transient and moving coming and going, did people die in their sleep or like and then no one really talked about it because it didn't like Right. reported, but the location's not like stated to be the hotel. I also think about if it is this 1920s speakeasy, who knows what's happening there and they're covering up things that are happening. Oh, totally. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I like that.

doesn't need to happen on a property for it for to be haunted, so.

That That is true. Okay, so we're speculating that there's four, but actually there's conversation around a fifth death, which we'll get to shortly. So three on the record, but potentially two more. Okay. Once the Rhoads Hotel was closed, it largely sat vacant and uh it did serve as a makeshift apartment building until restoration efforts began in the mid-1990s. That'd be really cool.

then they made it an apartment building, and then it shut down again. Mhm. Today, the property is actively operated for investigations and tours with the current site describing ownership that

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and like the funds basically from all of like the ghost hunts and investigations goes towards the upkeep and the restoration of the property.

It is. And you can do like you can do like a public cuz similar to so many other places, you can sign up for like a public tour or you can actually like rent it yourself for an overnight investigation. Wow.

And people certainly

Add it to our list.

go there, people book it. And it's not

Shadows, Murdered Sex Worker, and Ghost Cat

just a rare historic look into the gas boom era, but an actively haunted home. The Rhodes Hotel is definitely not shy about advertising this as a paranormal destination, which I love because I feel like so many places will like lean more on the history and be like, "Oh, look, it's like a time capsule of the era." But they're like, "No, this place is riddled with ghosts and you should come try to communicate with them."

Like that's their business now is ghosts.

Yes, they're like that is the allure to come here. On the Rhodes website it says, quote, "The hotel is now owned by Crystal Couch. Her brother, Mike Couch, is the main tour guide for the hotel." Cool.

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"He is supported by Gina, a paranormal investigator who has a long history with the hotel. Adam, also a paranormal investigator, assists with public investigations." Which I love cuz they're like two people on staff are paranormal investigators. It's fully set up for this.

I mean, I feel like it is the type of place that people who are paranormal enthusiasts would buy. Like I don't think a non-paranormal enthusiast is buying a location and making it a ghost investigation place. You have to have some affinity. Yeah, it it it can't be like a business person to be a hotel again or something. Like it is it's for ghost tours.

Visitors often describe haunting encounters as you may expect. Lights turning on and off when no one's nearby, doors opening and closing inexplicably, footsteps when no one should be moving around. Voices and conversations can be heard in empty rooms and it people say like it sounds so much like a conversation that you like it literally sounds like there's a group of people. Which is very like hidden speakeasy vibes. Yes, it also makes me wonder at

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what point did the hauntings happen? Like did the couches go a visit it? Was it abandoned when they were like growing up and they had gone in with their friends and had haunting experiences so that when they grew up they were like, "Oh my gosh, we have to purchase that place and like yeah

Yeah. actually turn it into a place that people can investigate? Right? Cuz like the history of it isn't even that long. Like if we think about when like in between the time when they bought it, well I guess it's still over 50 years. But yeah, it was apartments in between. Like were the apartments haunted? I'm curious.

What's the lore before it became a place?

I have never heard that last name before, but I appreciate it.

also Crystal Couch, there's something so like magical about that.

The alliteration. Mhm. Okay, so yeah, there's a lot of like the typical hauntings. Movement on the upper floors, footsteps, that sort of thing. But people also get touched. Visitors describe their clothing being tugged, their hair being pulled, their

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arms being grabbed. And the spirit who's doing this? We're not sure. There's some speculation. So our first suspect is a tall, dark figure that some people refer to as being a shadow man or sha- shadow figure. He's frequently seen lurking near the staircase and near the living room area. Why do shadow figures always lurk? There's so much lurking. Yeah. Ugh, but then it's really I feel like they're so still so frequently and then it's really scary when they dart. When anything darts.

Yeah. Yeah, it's scary. I've never seen a shadow figure walk. Yeah, you're right. They either like you blink and then they move closer or yeah, they sprint. They're sprinters or they're totally still. Yeah. Yuck. I hate that. Well anyway, so people aren't necessarily committed to the idea that this is just like a shadow person, but rather some have speculated that this could be the spirit of Newton Rhodes himself.

Sure. So kind of appearing as this sort of shadowy form, this figure has apparently responded to investigators' questions with footsteps, suggesting

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that this is not a residual haunting. This is like an active like tap spirit who yes. Cool. Who can communicate actively, intelligently. And so people are like, well, could this be the hair grabbing ghost? Like this is an active spirit who's like lurking around and following people and like can communicate and understand that people are here. So I

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Shadows, Murdered Sex Worker, and Ghost Cat cont’d

After you purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. But there's another spirit on the property who may have a little more reason to be calling for attention. A tragic legend and possibly a fifth death on the property. Cool. Allegedly, Sarah was a young woman who was working in the brothel. And one night, a client that she was servicing Boo.

attacked and murdered her,

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ending her life in the Road's Hotel.

[ __ ] him. And this is all alleged, right? Because like there's no record of it, but why would there be record of anything illegal and illicit happening here? And alleged or not, that happened happened happens currently still so often. Mhm. Oh my god, I saw the most disturbing statistic and I'm going to butcher the number, but it was like the amount of times that how to kill a woman without getting caught was searched in the last year. The last year? Was like an alarming amount. Yeah. I like it I'm so disturbed by that.

Yeah. We should be. You should be. Everyone who hears that should be disturbed by that fact. Should I look up how many times? Yeah. Sorry for disturbing facts here from me. Okay, the first thing that came up was there's two searches. "I'm going to kill her when she gets home." was searched 178 million times in 2020. Then "How to hit a woman so no one

28:00

knows." was similarly searched 163 million times in 2020. My heart just I think like stopped. You know when it feels like it flutters and disgusting. It's so gross. How you How you How do we even fix that? I mean

Australia, do you still take criminals? Yeah. Do we?

[laughter]

Literally. Find a new island. I don't know. Yeah. I have I mean thoughts, but they're not real ones that could actually happen. No, I wish. Dude, if I had magic powers, well, I guess it would depend on what my magic [laughter] powers are. Like wow. I can eat chips twice as speed as anyone else.

[laughter]

And that's my magic power. That is a quite a magic power.

Yeah. I already can, so.

[laughter]

You are magical. Congratulations.

Thank you. Anyway, the point being what you're saying, whether it's a legend or real, fake, not, like that happens.

So, people will definitely think that this did happen and that this could be a

29:00

fifth death on the property. Visitors have reported hearing a woman's sob and then soon after feeling their hair or their clothing being tugged. Which to me suggests like this is her being like someone help me, someone

Yeah. do something. Like I'm here, I need help.

Aw. Well, that breaks my heart tragic, yeah. It feels like they're actively stuck in that, too. Right. Ugh. Yeah, she's gotten no recognition. I don't know if anything has come up on like EVPs or anything with I'm curious.

her saying anything, but this is This is why I do think it might be the spirit of this woman who's tugging people's hair and clothing more than the idea that this like shadow figure could be who might be Newton.

[clears throat]

Mr. Newton Rhodes. Yes. Yeah. Is that culprit, yeah. That's sad. There are a few other spirits seen on the property as well. So, Newton Rhodes is suspected to be there. So are Clara and Everett. So, all three of the Rhodes family members who passed on the property, Hazel, the daughter, not seen in spirit form there. Interesting. I'm just trying

30:00

to do math. I assume she's passed? For sure. They lived there in the early 1900s. She well, she lived there until with her mom until 1940

40-ish, but what if she was only like eight?

But wasn't it open far before that? Like it was a hotel in the like 1890s. Yeah, but I don't know when they had kids. There's a lot of dates missing from this.

Sure. That's why I'm like I'm assuming she's passed.

guess that she has passed. Yeah. Okay, one thing uplifting, there's a ghost cat. Love it. Multiple investigators have reported that there is a small dark shape darting between their legs in the hallways. The The why they think it's a cat is because it's often accompanied by the distinct sound of purring or a meow. Meow. Oh, it's so cute.

Yeah, and there are no animals on the property. Well, there is. Yes, in ghost form there totally are. So, this place is certainly active with paranormal activity, we know that. And the site Midwest Living actually

31:00

interviewed the property manager, Mike Couch, the brother of the owner, who said about storms that storms, quote, seem to energize the atmosphere. And when a storm rolls in, the spirits become more active. Which in theory it makes sense, but I feel like we've never heard that before. Yeah, it makes sense because like that seem it like feels like that's what happens in television and film. But also just the energy that happens during storms, like lightning, like that is electric energy in the sky.

Right. And

up.

physics, Which

know a lot about. So, yeah, science. Facts. One room in particular gets active. Probably the last room you would want to be in. The doll room. Why [clears throat] did

The Doll Room

it become the doll room? Cuz there's no connection to the past. No, there's not. It's stuffed with old dolls. Apparently, some of the dolls might be leftover from like previous owners and tenants and stuff, but largely they have been donated by locals. So, somehow this just

32:00

like became a thing. I don't know how. Once you start collecting haunted dolls, you can't stop.

Yeah, and again, like for this property, like even though there was so much record in terms of like the history of the physical structure because of the submission that submission that they had made, there's not a ton of exact dates and information going through history or like how things came to be. I'm sure a lot of that gets told when you go on tour, But they have to keep some of it secret Yeah. specific for the tour. Right. Yeah. And I was like going into reviews and stuff with people on the tours and and whatnot, and I just like couldn't find Right.

exactly what I was looking for. Yeah. So I don't know exactly how the doll room came to be.

and it now it is. But the dolls seem to be alive. Well then my question too is at what point was the doll room a place? And when did they first start hearing these reports of like the woman crying and the tugging because I'm going to guess that a lot of these dolls are alive or haunted in some way. Like is there some spirit that came with one of

33:00

the dolls that has this energy? Yeah. Yeah, so it's interesting. So like the the dolls when people are in the room, they say that it the dolls will stare at you and follow you with their little like glass eyes throughout the room. So it feels like they're alive. And then they'll move. So if you leave the room and you come back in, they'll be in a different place. But sometimes it's clear that they've been like thrown. So there's also the question of is there someone playing with the dolls specifically? Hm. Um they have had cameras set up that have captured the dolls tipping over, rotating their heads when the room is empty, and like doing that sort of stuff that dolls do that's terrifying. But in the room, recorders often pick up the voice of a little girl. So this is why they're like, "Oh, could this little girl be the one like doing this and playing with the dolls?"

And there's apparently some famous recording which I could not find. But they have if you go on their website, they have like a promo video for like visiting there.

34:00

Yeah. And they have a voice saying this which I'm like, I think that this is a voice actor saying it. But there's a famous recording of a voice saying "Goody" which is either a name or expression. And it's been "Goody." Or like is that the little girl's name? Goody. Cuz it is a name, yeah.

name. Huh. So that's been captured multiple times by multiple investigators apparently. So Goody definitely seems to be I would say the identity of a spirit right haunting here. Wow. So despite the idea that like maybe there's this little girl playing with the dolls and having a good time. People have said that this room feels really oppressive. So, I do wonder what has happened in this room in the past.

Well, I also think about the beef between dolls. Like, just because they're a doll doesn't mean they're all going to get along with each other. Like, I think about Greg and Dana. I think about Greg and Dana all the time. But, I I also love how many people have been like, "Oh, I feel like we get so many emails and comments about people being like, thank you so much. You you exposed me to Greg and Dana." And it's like, Yeah, they're

35:00

cuz they're amazing. But, I feel like that's our one claim to fame is getting people just siphoning people over to them. I love that.

for it. But, I feel like they've talked about interaction between different objects and like having [clears throat] to figure out like maybe they don't put their certain things next to each other. Yeah. And I feel like this doll room, granted I'm not there and I have not been there, but yeah, you there might be beef between dolls. True. And it's not like they're just displaying dolls in other rooms. Like, if there's this specific room for all the dolls to be in. Yeah. So, it does seem like there's no separation. It's just like the doll room is the doll room. Right.

HelloFresh

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What's for dinner? it's HelloFresh quite often.

Mhm. It's our staple. I started using it when we were fresh out of college and it was so helpful to like learn how to cook. And also, I would share it with my roommates. So, we would all just buy like a four-person [laughter] It's the best.

boxes and it's so great. It's so fresh. You can choose from 80 plus global recipes every month including

36:00

Vietnamese, Moroccan, Caribbean, and more. They're so good. I also just love that it really does transition through life phases with you. Yes. making HelloFresh with your roommates, but now it's like a perfect thing to make for your family. And it's also great for you to make if you live by yourself and then have leftovers for the next day. Or maybe you eat all of it cuz the jalapeno broccoli cheddar macaroni is absolutely to die for. [laughter] And with HelloFresh, savoring new flavors from around the world isn't just delicious, it's simple and it's wholesome. Go to hellofresh.com/tgog10fm now to get 10 free meals plus a free NutriBullet Ultra Plus and a two-in-one compact kitchen system, which together that's a $189.99 value.

That is a deal. So you get that on your third box. Free meals applied as discount on the first box. New subscribers only, varies by plan. Disclaimer, must order the third box by May 31st, 2026. So

The Doll Room cont’d

I don't know. [clears throat]

37:00

But I'll say there were so many references to the amount of EVPs captured, the amount of paranormal evidence, the amount of videos, the amount that's on camera that people have set up over the years and and caught. Yet I couldn't find anything or it's like really challenging to find evidence online or evidence that was like clear evidence cuz there were some people that you know had set up whatever and like published their YouTube video and then I'm watching it and I'm not actually hearing anything. So I guess that is my call to action that if you've been if you have evidence if you're crystal crystal or Mike or Mike and you want to share like a couple of the things that have been discovered through your own cameras or from your tours

Yeah, we will take it because they really was like hyping it up and yet I didn't get to see anything.

to think about when we went to the Lizzie Borden house and they had this like whole book Mhm. like binder of photos and evidence and different things and like a YouTube link that was a

38:00

private video Yeah. of compiled things that they have collected from people who've gone there that you can't get access to unless you go do a tour do an investigation of the place which I get and then also Yeah, oh it's like going on just like a walking ghost tour. Like there's so many things where it's like oh a group of like 3 months ago captured this photo and you're looking at your your tour guide's iPhone. Right. Like you're never going to see that picture again.

Right. And I also think about if there are videos on YouTube, the likely there's not a time code specifically like, "Oh, EVP thing happens here or photo here." And it's unfortunately hard to like to go through and come through the hours of YouTube videos to find the specific evidence.

like really relying on some of those reviews for people to be like, "Oh, I found this or that." And I just couldn't really It's hard. find anything in the allotted amount of time that I had to do this research. So, if I had 100 hours, maybe I would have been able to present a couple things here. If we had all the time in the world,

[laughter]

you bet we'd have

There's no chance there'd be a skeptic out there.

No. Yeah. We promise you we'd find

39:00

everything.

[laughter]

If we had the time.

Yeah. But, what you know, friends, is the Roads Hotel, a time capsule from the gas boom era of Indiana with confirmed deaths on site on the property. So cool.

And a reputation that centers on footsteps, voices, electrifying storms, and an upstairs doll room. It is haunted, and you can experience it for yourself. Damn. That's so cool. It is. I also just like I know that it's alleged that Clara had turned it into a brothel and speak easy, but I love that. I love that story of like her being like, "No, I'm not going to go under. I'm just going to Reminds me of the woman in St. Augustine, the one that you did. Oh, and she shines the her ghost shines the lantern to like tell bootleggers it's time to bring the alcohol

Yes. Oh my gosh, I can't remember, but it's in St. Augustine and it's like not on the

We walked past it. Yeah. It's like not perfectly on the main drag. It's like a little bit further on the road. But yeah, very cool. Yeah.

40:00

Damn.

listener story

Okay, I have I cuz I wasn't sure. All I saw was like Roads Hotel and doll room, so I picked something doll related perfect from a listener. I'm not going to read the subject line. It's from our listener Becks. Hi Sabrina. Hi Karen. Becks here. So, a few years ago, I wanted a name. I know. B E X. I think X in a name is like so cool. Mhm. My sister's Lex. Becks and Lex. Also, sorry. I just realized I had kept up the National Register of Historic Places document

document. And it's an old kitchen sink with iron hand pumps on the first story, Oh.

which is the original It says, "Which may have been the original kitchen sink."

And one bathroom has retained an apparently original marble sink, while the other still has an antique claw-footed tub. Do they still work? Like running water?

no idea.

Interesting. We got to go. It says, "It's probably original." Very cool.

41:00

There's a lot of apparently and probably in this uh They're being

responsible and saying, like, without definitive fact,

Yes. this might be. Whereas,

Yes. Rumor has it.

you and I are like, "100%. It must be."

Yeah. It must be. Okay. So, a few years ago, I want to say, maybe 9 years ago, I was still in high school at the time. Something strange happened to my little sister who was around 12 or 13 at the time. So, I had a friend in school who I'd grown very close to, and I used to sleep over at her house pretty much every weekend. Her dad was a single dad and pretty strict, but he was cool. And he liked that she hung out with me because I was very motivated with school work. And I was one of her only English friends, and she helped me with my Afrikaans, which is spoken here in South Africa, and I helped her with English. So, she had a room in her house that always felt very off. Whenever I slept there, it felt like something heavy was on my chest. We would mostly sleep in her room, but sometimes we used to sleep in the spare room that had these thick,

42:00

heavy curtains that made the bedroom so dark you couldn't even see your hand. And she used to joke or say that her house was haunted, and her dad told us stories of a little girl with a white dress that used to walk around. And we would look at the cameras to double-check because something had happened with her dog, and we saw these white orbs float around, and then a few weird faint glowing things in the footage. I'm not sure if this ghost girl was nice or not, but I never thought much of it after that as she never made contact, and the dad said she was nice and meant no harm. So, really, we didn't think about it. We used to hang around her Wendy house, which we looked up. I guess it's like an additional building on the property that like staff would live in. And her dad had built this when she was younger. And it still had all of her toys from when she was little, and that day we had to clean it out. We chilled inside listening to music, eating snacks. We spoke about school and laughed at a few things that we found in the shed.

Oh, so maybe it's a shed. It must be.

43:00

Yeah. Guys, Google's tough. It's You don't always find the right answer. Right. Because it also sounds like this is a place that like she hung out with as a kid. Like almost like a tree house, but Okay, so it's like a playhouse.

structure on the property.

Yeah. Yeah. We laughed at a few things that we found in the shed, which reminds you like when you go through all your kids' stuff, you know.

[clears throat]

Journals. One item we found was a small pink cushion with a princess doll on it. It was kind of cute, and I kept finding myself putting it in my lap while we were chatting. Then it got dark outside, and we were called inside. A friend looked at me and said, "You can have that if you want." Knowing I had a little sister who was like 12-ish at the time and was still into stuff like that. And I said, "Thanks." I thought maybe my sister would like to put it on her bed. I'm not sure why I wanted to take this pillow home, but it felt like I needed to. Like I really badly wanted to take it home. So, when I got home, I gave it to my sister. My sister put it on her bed and even slept with it. One night, I bunked with my sister cuz we used to have lots of sleepovers when we were younger. And I want to point out that our house was very, very old. And this night was

44:00

Halloween. I slept well that night, but my sister started talking in her sleep. She was saying something like, "No. No." But I couldn't really remember. I turned over and fell back asleep. The next day, my sister told me she had a dream about a little girl in a white dress with light hair trying to talk to her. I thought it was weird, but I didn't think anything of it. The next night she had another dream. This dream was more interactive, and she looked scared. So, the next night I told her, "Why don't you leave your pillow on the chair in the room and sleep in your bedroom?" So, like, not sleeping in the same room. She had no dreams that night. The following night, we made her sleep with this pillow to test out a theory. Was it the pillow causing these dreams? Sure enough, that night, while sleeping with the pillow, she had dreams of this little girl. This little girl in the dream asked where our little brother was and where the knives were because she wanted to play doctor with my brother with the knives. What the [ __ ]

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45:00

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listener story cont’d

Oh my god, my sister woke up in the middle of the night crying to tell my parents. Isn't that horrifying? So scary. I'm glad that her sister like is understanding that this is wrong and is so scared by it instead of being like Oh, that's a fun game. I've never thought of that. My dad used to be a practicing pagan and my mom was also spiritual. So when they heard about this, they took it very seriously. My mother cleansed the house, washed my sister's bedding, and my sister's clothes. And my dad and older brother took the pillow someplace very far away. They didn't tell us where, but they got rid of it. And they came home and we cleansed them, too. My dad said a protective prayer over the house and told any leftover energy that it was not welcome and to please leave. Before we told my parents, the corner where the chair had been had seemed very, very dark. But now that the pillow was gone and now

47:00

that we had cleansed, the room was a lot lighter again. My sister never had another dream about this girl. And I learned a lesson to not bring strange objects from a haunted house into ours. I find it very creepy how this little girl was able to enter my sister's dream. Yeah. See you on the other side, Becks. Dang. You know what? I'm so glad that it did present itself as quickly as it did.

And that her little sister was vocal about what she was experiencing cuz I feel like this could have been like one of those slow rules where it's just like play with a two cool There's an imaginary friend for a couple years and then it gets worse and worse and worse.

find her sister playing with knives in her bedroom. Right. And then it becomes harder to identify like what the cause is, but it was like so clear.

with her holding a knife at your bedside. [gasps] Oh my god. I want to play doctor, Mommy.

And right behind her is the doll. Just standing there.

[laughter]

Okay, to play with Barbies. Devil's advocate here. It's creepy.

advocate? Yeah, the doll's advocate here. It's creepy. Mhm. But also what if

48:00

this little girl grew up in a time where playing with knives and cutting open bodies is okay? Like and they performed surgeries and stuff at home. Like seeing the scalpels and the knives and things like that. Or maybe she was watching her dad and her dad was like telling her how to do things growing up. Okay. I think that is literally the only thing that would make this somewhat okay. Yeah, good suggestion. I was like, "Wow, what is the spin going to be that makes playing with knives on a person?" But like that one that one could make a little more sense. Right. Because like the at the previous house the dad said like she means no harm. Doesn't mean

that's what the doll tells him? I don't know. It's gone, so

harm. probably for the best. Although I if it isn't an innocent spirit I do feel bad now and this poor spirit is alone who knows where. It's like AI. That movie where they put him in the woods. What? Did you ever watch AI? Artificial

49:00

Intelligence that movie? No.

[gasps]

What? It's so devastating. Oh, they basically adopt this like robot child and when they like decide they like don't want him anymore and this like robot child loves the like the family so much.

a child.

It's a child. They literally go put him in the woods. Abandon him in the woods. What is wrong with people? That's so sad.

That is so sad. I can't take You would you would die. You could never watch this movie.

No, [clears throat] I can't handle punches. I can't handle anything right now. No.

[laughter] [gasps]

Anyway, we can handle ghost stories. That we can handle.

So, please send us your really on Tik Tok my like for you page is like paranormal. And then if you go to Instagram my only suggested if I if I pulled it up right now

gardening? Every single one is just a gardening bed. There's not even like a celebrity somewhere or like a dog. It's just plants.

Oh my gosh. Those are the two things my heart can handle.

You're a witch. Yeah.

in hand. We're witches. We're witches.

50:00

We're witches. We're witches.

You're a witch. You're a witch. Speaking of, if you're a witch, please email us. We want to hear your ghost stories. Um email us at twogirlsoneghostpodcast@gmail.com. And then, if you haven't heard us already talk about this, we have Patreon. And we've had Patreon for a long time. It is my favorite community. We keep adding perks. We keep adding perks, but we keep also collecting the coolest members, and I feel like it's it's a family. Every Tuesday,

Yeah. we have campfire stories, which is basically like we have a Zoom link. You can join us live, and we chit chat. It's like we eat lunch,

Mhm. and you all tell us your ghost stories.

on, which I love, because we get to see people like at work

But they're cows. or knitting, or Yeah, but they're cows, or like doing their makeup routine. Like we're all just hanging out like friends. And it has been nice, cuz we can actually like get to know people and get to know their life stories, too, along with the paranormal. Right. Yeah, people come on, share their haunted tales, which is really fun. And then we also have book

51:00

club, which is like the same sort of vibe.

Mhm. Witch class, too.

Witch class has been amazing, especially because now we live near Salem, so we are tapping into that community.

Yeah, we're making some like actual witchy, spooky, talented friends.

And like learn things within Yeah. the craft, and people can take what they want or or not, but that's been so great and fascinating. In April, we're having Lytha, who is a member of our Patreon, teach our witch class. Mhm. And we have like a plethora of ideas, but I think she's going to help talk us through understanding like your big three when in it when it comes to astrology.

Ooh. And like understanding how like what represents your sun sign versus your ascending versus your moon. Yeah. Cuz I feel like it be confusing. And when you're a patron member who has access to the witch classes, you also get to rewatch it. So like if you miss a class, they're available for replay. So like the last one we had was all about color magic,

52:00

which is so incredible.

so magical, literally.

It's magical. So patrons are a great place. And then beyond all of the like additional perks that we have like that within the platform, there's also on Patreon and then if you're an Apple Plus subscriber, you get episodes ad-free and one week early plus a bonus episode. Mhm. But if you're a Patreon member, you also get two extra Encounters stories a month. Yeah. And so much more. So yeah, check that out on Patreon. It's all linked in the show notes if you're like, "Ooh, I like it, but how do I find it?" Linked in the show notes. Or you can go to our website twogirlsoneghost.com. It has everything on there. You also get a discount on merch. Oh yeah, and new merch is coming soon, if not out already. Yep. I'm excited.

pre-sale access whenever we do any sort of like live event, which you know, last time when we did something in Salem, it sold out just only on Patreon. But then like seconds. So. Anyway, join us over there. It's really, really fun. Um otherwise, you can watch us on YouTube.

53:00

Please rate and review us on iTunes. Also, please, please, please tell your friends, your family, your ghosts about us. Spread the word because this is a pyramid scheme and if you tell two people and they have to tell two people, next thing you know, it's world domination. Yeah. And then we get a ghost car. We get the hot Why can't I think of the the SpongeBob? Mermaid and Barnacle Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. Batmobile? No, that's the mermaid-o-bile? Oh my gosh, what is it called?

Yeah, something mobile. Barnacle No. [ __ ] Now I want to find it.

we every single time we bring this up, we have to Google it. It's the invisible the invisible boatmobile. Boatmobile. Boatmobile. Okay. Join us on those things. We love you all and oh yeah, and Jamie. And Karen. You say Jamie but Hey Jamie. [laughter] Thank you for editing and producing our podcast. We so appreciate you. And thanks for sharing your haunted experience that you had while editing. We're sorry to sorry to haunt you. Thank you for not quitting on us.

54:00

Seriously. [laughter] We love you all. And we will see you on the other side. Very spooky.