- Haunted - sticviews.com
There is certainly a great deal of mystery about the Stone Lion Inn. We know the house was built between 1906 and 1907 by F. E. Houghton to house his growing family. The four story house gave 8000 sq. feet to the Houghtons, their 12 children and servants. Legend tells of the eight year old Augusta Houghton being given too much cough syrup by a maid, and then dying of an overdose of opium. Although family members are reputed to have confirmed this story, there is no record of Augusta dying in this house. A group of Oklahoma paranormal investigators believe that a child called Irene died here, and this little girl never really left.
Taking care of the dead
The Houghtons sold their home and, after a brief period as a boarding house, it was leased in 1929 by the local funeral director, Ray Smith, and his partner, although the partnership broken up after four months. For seven years the house was used as a funeral home with Ray and his wife Rachel living upstairs and the embalming, laying out and visits being carried out on the lower floors. In 1936 the funereal family moved to a more central location, where they are still in business today.
Entertaining the living
In 1986 Becky Luker bought the house and converted it into the Haunted Stone Lion Inn Bed and Breakfast. Luker and her two sons lived on the third floor and were often surprised to find that the younger son's toys had been taken from the cupboard and were spread about on the floor. Footsteps on the back staircase prompted several calls to the local police, who found no trace of an intruder. No living intruder, that is. Today the Inn is a perfect venue for murder mystery evenings and weekends. Guests are sent a package telling them who they are to represent, and what time period they should dress for, and groups of between 20 and 40 have dinner and an evening of mystery. Those who stay at the Inn mostly enjoy their experience, though some are not suited to the historic setting, or the entertainment. Others wonder if noises and movements in their peripheral vision are imagined, or if former residents are trying to get their attention.
Mingling with both dead and alive
Guests' reviews tell of objects falling to the floor during the night, but not being found in the morning. A phantom ball rolls across the floor and a child is heard laughing. In the basement a man sits, smoking his pipe, but if disturbed will walk out, often through the wall. The Inn has been the subject of several paranormal investigations and been featured in television shows. According to investigators there are several spirits in the house, although none can actually be identified. As many bodies were prepared for their eternal rest in the kitchen and basement any number of restless dead could mount the creaking stairs, open or shut doors, and move items in cabinets. It wouldn’t be surprising if they gathered around the old porcelain embalming table, now used for the buffet. While the living help themselves to cold meats, the dead remember lying there, just cold.
Sally Anne Lewis - Sally has master's degrees in science and journalism, is fascinated to a degree in most things. Always something to learn.
