The Dead Files (2011) s04e10 Episode Script
Bloodlust- Buffalo, Wyoming
People here Feel watched.
Something's here.
He's sick.
I was pretty scared.
They gang up on people, smother them.
I thought he was having a heart attack.
That was a suicide.
She walked into her bedroom and killed herself.
He is darkness.
He is evil.
Anderson: Is he dangerous? He's a [Bleep.]
lunatic.
He really hates women.
They're being watched.
My name is Amy Allan.
This thing likes death.
I see dead people.
This thing's, like, a monster.
I speak to dead people.
And he's pissed off now.
And they speak to me.
His head was cracked.
But there's only one way to know if my findings are real.
This guy was murdered.
I rely on my partner.
I'm Steve Di Schiavi.
I'm a retired New York City homicide Detective.
I cannot help you unless I know the whole story.
And I know every person, every house has secrets.
You saw her? It's my job to reveal them.
Why would you stay here? But Steve and I never speak We never communicate during an investigation.
Until the very end.
[ Echoing .]
Stop it.
We uncover if it's safe for you to stay Woman: I want to know the truth.
I want to know what's happening.
Or time to get out.
[ Crying .]
I told you there were ghosts in this house.
Di Schiavi: Amy and I conduct our investigations separately.
While she talks to the dead I interview living witnesses who've experienced things they can't explain.
I dig into the property's history, looking for secrets buried in the past.
I'm in Buffalo, Wyoming, a couple hours north of Casper.
I'm heading over to meet with a woman named Dawn.
She's spent the last 15 years and her life savings trying to restore an old hotel in town.
Problem is, her employees are scared to come to work and her guests are being attacked.
She tells me that, if we can't help her, she may have to close the place down.
Anderson: Before Amy arrives, I have to clear the area of anything that could influence her findings.
This hotel is filled with Wild West relics and portraits that have to be covered or removed.
When I'm finished, the property will be ready for tonight's walk.
[ Car door opens .]
Oh, boy.
There's quite a few people.
There's a woman.
She's pretty petite.
She's saying that there has been Foul play.
She keeps saying drugs were involved.
And she's very distressed about this.
She was a manipulated innocent victim.
And she really got the short end of the stick.
- What do you mean? - Well, she ended up dying.
[ S.
U.
V.
door closes .]
[ Door opens, bell jingles .]
Di Schiavi: Dawn, good to meet you finally.
Dawn: Good to meet you.
This place is amazing.
It's like stepping back into the Wild West.
It was the Wild West.
She was built in 1880, right here on the frontier before there was a town.
So, this is the original structure? It was torn down right in 1900, and the big, brick structure you see today was built.
Okay.
Now, has this always been a hotel? Always a hotel, but she was a full-service hotel.
We had a saloon, we had a brothel, even the original Courthouse, took place here before the Courthouse was built.
Okay.
Dawn, when'd you buy this place? Bought the building in 1997, and she was within months of being demolished.
And you run this place by yourself? I do have two partners, David and Jackie.
Okay.
So, I know you got some problems going on.
Why don't you tell me what's happening? We've had footsteps and giggles, apparitions, and people being touched.
Okay.
Now, what's your biggest concern? Safety of our employees, safety of our guests.
Di Schiavi: I could tell Dawn was used to being strong for everyone at the hotel, but I could also see she was about to crack.
Okay, so, now, you have employees and guests having bad experiences.
What about yourself? [ Sobs .]
You all right? [ Crying .]
I had a wonderful life until we moved into this building.
It's been 16 years of hell.
I love this place, but I want out.
You want out, but you can't let go.
I can't.
Something's here.
Okay.
This place has been used for a lot of different things.
There's a lot of residual information But it's very in-your-face.
It's almost like you could interact with it.
Like, people here They feel um Watched.
The living here, they're panicked.
Dawn: This is the oldest wing, and the most active part of the hotel.
During restoration, we elected not to put a bedroom in this room because we felt that our guests simply could not sleep here.
Okay, so what's some of the things that are happening? There's times when things just move on their own Benches, rocking chairs, mirrors.
So, that's hurting your business.
Yeah, we had one customer that picked up the house phone at 3:30 in the morning, screaming that things were flying around his room.
And he was out of here.
I just see this woman.
[ Door creaking .]
She's 60s Short like 5 foot.
She does a lot of activity in this room.
Do you know if anybody sees her? I think people would hear her, because she's very loud.
I don't think she likes this room very much.
Because it's been restructured And she hates it.
So, what does she do in here when she's upset? She moves [Bleep.]
.
[ Door slams .]
This is no good.
Di Schiavi: So, Dave, I was speaking with Dawn, and she's told me about the experiences that employees Guests, and her have had.
How about yourself? On the front staircase in the lobby, there was a gentleman coming up behind his family Big, cumbersome cowboy.
And all of a sudden, he just clutched the handrail there and just turned white.
I thought he was having a heart attack.
And I said, "Sir, are you okay?" And he looked at me, he said, "it was like a light went right through me.
" I said, "would you like to go down and sit down?" And he said, "no.
I need to leave.
" Okay have you ever experienced anything like that? Never.
But I came down here on a Sunday afternoon to change out a smoke-detector battery.
- Okay.
- And this giggling began.
It sounded just like a small child giggling.
That spooked me a little bit.
And I've talked to many guests that tell me they've seen a small girl about 7 years old.
And they always tell me that she's a blonde.
Now, did you believe in any of this stuff before? No, I've been very skeptical.
But I absolutely know that there's something going on.
I'm seeing two young kids, and then there's an older girl.
The two younger ones are Six or seven maybe.
And they're blonde.
[ Giggling .]
Anderson: What sort of things can they do? They try to talk to people.
I would think that people would feel them Because they're very present Uh, solid.
They're very here.
[ Creaking .]
Di Schiavi: Dave told me to get in touch with the guy who works on the hotel's fire-alarm system.
Apparently, he encountered something terrifying while on the job.
Now, what kind of experiences are you having down here? I was working in the basement with my flashlight and bumped into, what I thought was a person.
Began speaking to this person.
Saying, "hey, you know", what are you doing standing down here in the dark?" - Okay.
- No answer.
No nothing.
I continued on my way up the stairs.
You could hear my footsteps.
You could hear footsteps behind me.
I got to the top of the stairs, turned around and shined the flashlight, and there was nothing there.
Could it have been a patron that was down here? Why they would be down in the basement would make absolutely no sense.
And there was no maintenance worker on duty, there was nobody that should have been down in the basement.
Okay, prior to running into this thing, you didn't hear any scuffling around on the floor or anything like that? Nope.
Do other people from your company come here, as well? Yes, and everyone that I have brought down here to work has a little bit of a reluctance to come back.
Okay.
[ Hinges creak .]
There's people down here.
They're trying to look for a way out, and it's really irritating them.
There's maybe 5 to 15 of them at any given time.
And they don't like it when people come down here and are not trying to help them, and they kind of rebel.
Anderson: What do you mean? What do they do? They gang up on people.
Like, they surround them, like, they smother them.
I feel, um Pain.
[ Groans .]
[Bleep.]
It is, like, really painful.
[ Sighs .]
Di Schiavi: I understand that you worked here at one time.
- I did.
- Okay.
For how long? I worked here for six months.
- Okay.
What did you do? - I was the bartender in the saloon.
Okay, so, now, I understand you've had experiences here.
There's something in the basement that's definitely a little unnerving for me.
- I won't go down there.
- Why do you say that? My stomach starts to hurt and I get goose bumps, start to sweat a little bit.
Okay.
Is that the only stuff that happened to you here? No, I've seen some apparitions, as well.
I walked through the saloon door over here And I got halfway through the room before I realized that I felt like somebody was standing behind me, watching me.
And when I turned, there was a gentleman standing in the corner.
Now, was it something you could see through or was he solid? No, he was solid, and that was really scary for me, just the fact that I could feel him before I could see him.
[ Sighs .]
There's a man in here.
He's not nice.
And he does hide in the shadows.
He likes To bother people.
He Is the main bad ass Here.
He's very mean to women.
He likes to hurt women.
- How long did you work here? - For about eight months.
- Eight months.
- Yeah.
Now, I've talked to a few people that have worked here, I assume you've had some experiences.
- I've had a few.
- Okay.
Tell me about them.
I was doing prep in the cafe area.
And I was just standing, you know, just minding my own, listening to the radio.
I started to feel a tickle on my neck.
Then I had my ponytail tugged, kind of jerked my head back a little bit.
I was pretty scared.
I didn't know what to think or what to do, so I just I stood still.
And a deep man's voice whispered my name into my ear.
[ Sniffles .]
It was like "Alissa".
Like it was a deep-enough sound that I would hear it.
I didn't know what to think, you know? And you don't really think something like that's gonna happen.
You hear other people talk about it and you think, you know, it's just a lie.
It's not real.
It's not real.
And then once you experience it, you know, you have to realize, "well, that is real.
" [ Sniffles .]
He likes the neck.
He likes to squeeze the back of the neck, like Come up and squeeze 'em.
You know, touching people, grabbing people, you know, specifically women.
Like, grabbing them, touching them inappropriate.
There's just a big, solid, black mass.
And the reason why he's all, like, black like that and misty like that is, like, he relates darkness to evil.
And he is darkness, he is what he thinks is evil.
And so, that's his soul.
I was gonna ask you, how do you feel being back here? Soon as I came into the hotel, I just felt I just felt weird.
Like, I just felt really emotionally unstable.
Okay, now, have you ever had an experience since you left here? No.
I've never had an experience before until I started working here.
Now, do you think whatever's here is dangerous? Yeah.
He really, really, really hates women.
I don't [Bleep.]
care.
Yell at me all you want.
Anderson: What is he yelling? Well, he just got mad and started to, you know, call me a [Bleep.]
.
Any men who have compassion for women, any men who treat women well, whatever, he perceives as weak.
He's gonna [Bleep.]
with them, Matt, you know, too.
What does he do to the weak men? He just makes them feel very uncomfortable, like somebody's in the room with them And is, like, right up on them.
A very strong presence.
He's a [Bleep.]
lunatic.
Okay.
Would you say that he's dangerous? Yes.
Di Schiavi: I'm at the local library to find out more about the history of the Occidental Hotel.
Digging through the archives, I discover something completely unexpected.
A former owner of the hotel was murdered.
But the headlines don't say who did it or how it went down.
Now that I know one of the hotel owners was murdered in a high-profile case, I need to get the full picture.
I'm headed over to meet with the Johnson County Sheriff.
He tells me that the case has a lot of twists and turns.
Di Schiavi: What do you know about this guy that was murdered? Well, Fred Waegele was a very prominent citizen in Johnson County at this time.
He owned a ranch south of Buffalo.
He owned the Occidental Hotel from 1906 to 1917.
So, you know, he was a very prominent, well-known person in the community.
Steve, how does Fred become a homicide victim? Fred had a son named Max who was 20 years old, and Max ended up marrying a young lady named Marion - Okay.
- Who was 17.
And subsequently Fred, ended up sexually assaulting and raping Marion several different times.
Oh, geez.
All right, so, she's 17.
How old was he? He was 60.
And actually, at one point, she becomes pregnant.
And she's afraid that the child is his.
She ends up having a miscarriage, you know, loses the baby.
This guy he does bad things.
Everything he did in life to women, he tries to do to them, you know, now that he's dead.
This is Western [Bleep.]
.
Like, he's a drinker, he's a gunfighter, he's a rapist.
I don't like him.
He's sick.
So, who ends up killing him? Marion ends up murdering Fred Waegele, her father-in-law.
Okay, and how does she do that? Well, she'd come up with a very ingenious plan of doing that.
Fred was taking medication for rheumatism, and he's getting his medication in the mail.
So, she ended up putting a cyanide tablet in the mail and mailing it to him.
And he takes it, thinking that's his rheumatism medicine.
Okay.
Now, I know a little bit about cyanide.
Does he die instantly or does he linger? No, he lingers for a little period of time.
Cyanide death is a very painful death.
You know, you can't breathe.
- Right.
- It causes excruciating chest pains.
And eventually ends up to cardiac arrest.
It's a very unpleasant way to die.
[ Coughs .]
Something's wrong with his chest.
Like, he has A breathing problem.
He feels very alone.
He does not feel good about his life.
He's so sick.
Ugh, he's a mess.
He's a mess.
What winds up happening with her? Does she get caught? She eventually does get caught.
A gentleman by the name of Wolcott and Joe LaFors Somehow get involved in this investigation and end up getting a confession from this young lady.
And this is her confession.
And she confesses that the reason she does all this Is because of the - Of the rape.
- Yeah.
So, Steve, does she wind up going to jail? No, she never was arrested for this.
She typed this confession in her home - Okay.
- With her father and family, I believe.
And then she walked into her bedroom and took cyanide herself and killed herself.
I'm seeing this grumpy old woman again.
And she says there were some dirty dealings that went on.
There have been things that have happened.
People doing things that weren't good.
There was one death and It was a tragedy.
And this was not good.
It's awful.
It's terrible.
Like, definitely a suicide.
Di Schiavi: Dawn mentioned the hotel used to be a makeshift Courthouse.
If that's true, it could be useful to my case.
I'm heading over to meet the County prosecutor who says a hanging Judge used to operate right out of the hotel.
Di Schiavi: My client said that the Occidental Hotel I'm investigating, used to be a Courthouse.
Yes, around the years 1884 through 1886, the Occidental was sometimes used as a Courthouse, because the current Courthouse was under construction.
Did any noteworthy cases go through the hotel at that time? Yes, one that's still talked about today.
Around 1884, there was a murder of a Jacob Schmerer.
- He was a cook at the Occidental.
- Okay.
Now, this is a sketch of his killer, Bill Booth.
Booth was going to provide venison to Jacob Schmerer.
Booth didn't, and a fight ensued between the two, and Booth bludgeoned him with an ax.
He gets caught, and in At that trial, he's convicted of first-degree murder.
Then he also confessed to murdering his wife, two small children, and at least about 12 other people he knew.
Oh, geez.
Is he eventually hanged? Yes.
They hang him in the back of the Occidental Hotel.
This is a newspaper article from the time.
So, this appears to be the biggest story of its time.
It was.
Allan: I'm getting that there's another suicide here.
Seems like some boy, young man, hung himself.
Where'd he [Bleep.]
die? Well, I kind of felt it was further down.
I'm looking for where I feel another man hanged himself But this grumpy old lady keeps telling me there's only one suicide here.
And she says there's something important there That I'm not quite getting.
It's really bothering me, too.
I just I don't know where he is.
Di Schiavi: This area really was the Wild West.
I keep uncovering more and more violence surrounding this location.
During my research, I discovered that the Johnson County War was one of the biggest events in Buffalo, Wyoming, history.
So, I called a local historian.
She says the Occidental Hotel was right in the middle of the conflict.
Di Schiavi: During my research, I came across probably one of the biggest events that happened in Buffalo's history.
What can you tell me? Well, in 1892, there were a lot of large cattle operations over the whole state.
And homesteaders started to move in, and those homesteaders were disrupting these large cattle operations.
And the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, they actually created a hit list, and they actually hired these men About 50 gunmen to come through, and murder these people and clear them out of the land.
- And they became known as the Invaders.
- So, these guys were like mercenaries.
- Exactly.
- So, what happens then? The townspeople learned what was going on, and they actually met at the Occidental Saloon And came to arms, came together as a force.
And moved south out of town and met them here at this ranch.
There's a lot of movement of people.
They're talking about a threat.
There's another place that they have to go.
I want to say they're, like um In the military.
So, how does this whole mess end? It culminated in a three-day standoff.
There were around 3,000 rounds exchanged and nobody was actually killed.
You're kidding.
The cavalry actually rode in and saved the day.
Well, they must have been annoyed by that.
This is a police action.
This is not a military thing.
Exactly.
But when the cavalry rode in, everything just stopped.
Even the townspeople must have said, "we, better back off.
" I would think so.
I know I would.
They're looking for, like, men.
I think they're supposed to arrest them or something like that.
It's a dangerous mission.
They're all pretty equally pissed about being assigned to this.
- You know, this is beneath them.
- Okay.
Do you know when this was? There's yelling.
There's panic.
Ugh, geez.
I don't feel good.
Di Schiavi: Now that Amy and I have completed our investigations, we're ready to reveal our findings to each other and our clients for the first time.
Amy, I'd like you to meet Dawn and Dave.
They are the owners of this hotel.
Dawn's put her blood and sweat into this place.
There's always been activity here, but it's picked up a lot lately.
Their employees are scared to work here and their guests are having issues.
Some of them are even running out of here.
They're barely getting by as it is, and they really need our help, to find out what's going on here to try to save the business.
So, with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Amy and have her start telling us about her walk.
Allan: Where I started my walk, I met this really grumpy old lady.
There's one room that she hates, which is the kitchen upstairs.
Sometimes she gets confused and gets really upset and kind of, like, flips out.
She moves a lot of things around.
Basically, she wants to kind of make a point.
Makes sense.
I mean, the housekeeping is always finding things moved to different, areas, so that makes sense.
Oh, furniture's moved and mirrors are moved.
And you'll find pictures tipped when nobody's been in there.
I purposely did not restore that room as a bedroom, or a guest room because the activity was so strong, I felt my guests could not sleep there.
Interesting.
Wow.
Because I think she wants things, you know, completely the way they were.
So, it just irritates her that it's not Being used the way that it was.
Di Schiavi: Well, what else did you see? I saw This really interesting residual incident.
A residual haunting is something that is captured by the environment and played back like a movie.
So, there were these men.
They were arguing about this mission they were on.
I thought that they were in government or military, something of that nature.
And their mission was to find a group of men.
They were supposed to arrest them.
Huh.
The other thing that was really Upsetting to them was that this particular mission was way beneath their job titles.
Because they were prestigious men.
I got this was between the 1880s or 1890s.
That's incredible.
The reason I say that is because, this was one of the biggest events in Buffalo, Wyoming, history.
I'm talking about the Johnson County War.
You had wealthy cattle ranchers here who were upset that people were settling on their land.
So, what they did go and do is they hired a bunch of mercenaries Known as the Invaders.
They hired these guys to get rid of and kill the people that were settling here.
And then the cavalry was brought in by the government to arrest the Invaders.
So, they surround these guys on a ranch.
But believe it or not, nobody gets killed.
- Oh, my gosh! - Yeah.
It's amazing.
What year was that? These guys were from the 6th Cavalry from what I understand, which was a prestigious unit.
Makes sense that they would think it would be beneath them to do this.
Is this who you think you saw? Possibly.
Allan: All I know is, I saw a group of men in uniform who resented the mission they were sent to complete.
They wanted to be someplace else.
Di Schiavi: So, what else is going on? The grumpy old lady told me that there was only one suicide here.
And she said that it was really sad and tragic But also a real inconvenience for a lot of people.
It was a girl and there were drugs involved.
The confusing thing was, then I came up here.
There were people running and they said that a young man had hung himself in one of the rooms or something.
It didn't make sense, because she said there was only one suicide, and so that kind of meant to me there were two.
I might be able to clear up.
She may have been right about the suicide.
- Okay.
- But it didn't actually happen here.
So I'm gonna hold off on that until I hear a little bit more about your walk.
Now, there was a hanging here, but it wasn't a suicide.
It wasn't? - Wasn't a suicide.
- Okay.
Now, the hotel was a temporary Courthouse from 1884 to 1886.
Before it was torn down and rebuilt in A guy by the name of Bill Booth murdered a person that actually was the cook here.
The cook had enlisted him to provide him with venison meat.
They got into an argument, and then he bludgeoned him to death with an ax.
Oh, my gosh! He was sentenced to death.
But this is the kicker this is him.
Right before he dies, he admits to killing his wife and two kids Wow.
And killing at least 12 other people that he could remember.
Oh, my gosh! He was hung right here behind the hotel.
Wow.
So, how'd the rest of your walk go? When I came in this room, I saw this really Creepy-looking Guy.
Very tall, all in shadow, but very solid.
And I think that he's the main issue here.
He's very negative.
He is a very, very strong presence here.
Once of his biggest things is he absolutely hates women.
Hates them with a passion.
He also grabbed me by the back of the neck and was squeezing really hard.
And this is something he likes to do to kind of assert dominance, like an animal.
He bullies people by grabbing them, trying to strangle them.
And he also tries to chase people out of the hotel.
Dave: On the front staircase here, there was a gentleman coming up the stairs.
As I approached him coming down the stairs, he just froze solid.
And was just literally white.
He said to me, "you did not see that?" - I said, "what?" - He said, "it passed right through me.
" And I said, "what passed through you?" And he said, "it was a light passed right through me.
" And he said, "I need to leave.
" Dawn: We had a guest that checked in, and at 3:30 in the morning he picked up our house phone and he was screaming that things were flying around his room, things were falling off the walls.
And he was out of here.
I interviewed two former employees from here that were pretty young girls.
And talking to them, I felt like, you know, like, something's picking on these kids.
That's not good.
It's like he's all about creeping up on people, catching them off guard.
So, I did do a sketch of, like, kind of a situation That I perceived of him kind of intimidating a male.
[ Echoing .]
He's wearing a cowboy hat, jeans, and cowboy boots.
He's And he's tall.
Wow.
Take a look at that.
[ Gasps .]
Oh, wow.
So, I did do a sketch of a situation Um, that I perceived of him intimidating a male.
Wow.
Take a look at that.
[ Gasps .]
Oh, wow.
I'd like him to go away.
I just can't give up, because this is such a special place.
[ Sniffles .]
Now, seeing that sketch, I mean, how's that make you feel? Frightened.
I felt very drawn to this building the moment I walked into it.
But it's been so hard for me.
Yeah, you even said that to me, that your life's been like hell since you started here.
Yeah.
Now, did you get a sense of who this guy might have been? He obviously liked to hurt women when he was alive.
He likes to try as much as he can to hurt them now.
He was completely out of his mind, had no sense of wrong or right, and I definitely felt that he was a rapist of women.
[ Chuckles .]
One of the former owners of this hotel - He was a rapist.
- Oh.
His name was Fred Waegele, and he owned this place from 1906 to 1917.
He was about 60 years old and he had a son around 20, 21, who married a girl named Marion who was 17.
He repeatedly raped his daughter-in-law over and over again.
But she got revenge.
Oh, boy.
He had rheumatism, and he was getting mail-away medicine for it.
So, she decided she was gonna mail him some medicine, and she did.
She mailed him some cyanide.
Oh, my.
- And he took it.
- Oh.
And he died a nice, slow, painful death, which he deserved.
Now, about a year later, authorities questioned her about it.
And she confesses to the whole thing.
Wow.
- Now, you had mentioned suicide.
- Mm-hmm.
This confession took place at her home.
She excused herself for a few minutes as the detectives were there, and she went in the next room and she killed herself in the same manner Oh, no.
Using cyanide.
- That's just awful.
- It is.
Now, do you think this could be the rapist? Yeah, more than likely that may be our culprit.
So, he's still hating women.
Oh, yeah.
I mean he still wants to do what he was doing.
He'd like to be raping them, not just fondling, touching, or grabbing.
Best to get rid of him before he figures it out.
Will he be able to soon? Well, I mean, he's definitely working on it.
- He's working on it? - Yeah.
He's evolving.
We laid a lot of information down for you.
Big question is, are you guys gonna be able to run this hotel in a safe manner for yourselves, your employees Most importantly, for your guests? With that, I'm gonna turn it over to Amy to get an answer.
Because of the amount of residual energy I think it would be best if you get a residual cleansing.
So, you need to find a psychic or a Shaman or a Wiccan.
The second thing you need to do is have that same individual Do a protection ceremony for you.
What is that? Well, once you're done cleansing this place, you have a clean slate.
You want to kind of keep it clean.
Okay.
Then, to get rid of the rapist You need to find a male medium A strong Alpha male, definitely.
Why an Alpha male? A lot of men who bully women are usually cowards at heart.
- Mm-hmm.
- And weak.
And if you get a real man in here He's gonna bow down.
And as far as the grumpy old lady I think just taking that room and putting it back to a guest room, will make her a lot less noisy.
Now the big question.
Are you gonna listen to what Amy says? I am concerned about Dawn.
But this is overwhelming to me, for sure.
So, I'm still absorbing it, and I have to think through this.
Di Schiavi: Okay.
I like your honest answer.
Now, Dawn, you're gonna follow through with this? - I am.
- Okay.
It's time.
- I'd like my life back.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
Allan: The evil man who attacked me is extremely dangerous.
Even if Dave chooses not to help, Dawn should really follow my advice, or he could do a lot of damage.
Not only to the hotel, but also to its employees and guests.
Something's here.
He's sick.
I was pretty scared.
They gang up on people, smother them.
I thought he was having a heart attack.
That was a suicide.
She walked into her bedroom and killed herself.
He is darkness.
He is evil.
Anderson: Is he dangerous? He's a [Bleep.]
lunatic.
He really hates women.
They're being watched.
My name is Amy Allan.
This thing likes death.
I see dead people.
This thing's, like, a monster.
I speak to dead people.
And he's pissed off now.
And they speak to me.
His head was cracked.
But there's only one way to know if my findings are real.
This guy was murdered.
I rely on my partner.
I'm Steve Di Schiavi.
I'm a retired New York City homicide Detective.
I cannot help you unless I know the whole story.
And I know every person, every house has secrets.
You saw her? It's my job to reveal them.
Why would you stay here? But Steve and I never speak We never communicate during an investigation.
Until the very end.
[ Echoing .]
Stop it.
We uncover if it's safe for you to stay Woman: I want to know the truth.
I want to know what's happening.
Or time to get out.
[ Crying .]
I told you there were ghosts in this house.
Di Schiavi: Amy and I conduct our investigations separately.
While she talks to the dead I interview living witnesses who've experienced things they can't explain.
I dig into the property's history, looking for secrets buried in the past.
I'm in Buffalo, Wyoming, a couple hours north of Casper.
I'm heading over to meet with a woman named Dawn.
She's spent the last 15 years and her life savings trying to restore an old hotel in town.
Problem is, her employees are scared to come to work and her guests are being attacked.
She tells me that, if we can't help her, she may have to close the place down.
Anderson: Before Amy arrives, I have to clear the area of anything that could influence her findings.
This hotel is filled with Wild West relics and portraits that have to be covered or removed.
When I'm finished, the property will be ready for tonight's walk.
[ Car door opens .]
Oh, boy.
There's quite a few people.
There's a woman.
She's pretty petite.
She's saying that there has been Foul play.
She keeps saying drugs were involved.
And she's very distressed about this.
She was a manipulated innocent victim.
And she really got the short end of the stick.
- What do you mean? - Well, she ended up dying.
[ S.
U.
V.
door closes .]
[ Door opens, bell jingles .]
Di Schiavi: Dawn, good to meet you finally.
Dawn: Good to meet you.
This place is amazing.
It's like stepping back into the Wild West.
It was the Wild West.
She was built in 1880, right here on the frontier before there was a town.
So, this is the original structure? It was torn down right in 1900, and the big, brick structure you see today was built.
Okay.
Now, has this always been a hotel? Always a hotel, but she was a full-service hotel.
We had a saloon, we had a brothel, even the original Courthouse, took place here before the Courthouse was built.
Okay.
Dawn, when'd you buy this place? Bought the building in 1997, and she was within months of being demolished.
And you run this place by yourself? I do have two partners, David and Jackie.
Okay.
So, I know you got some problems going on.
Why don't you tell me what's happening? We've had footsteps and giggles, apparitions, and people being touched.
Okay.
Now, what's your biggest concern? Safety of our employees, safety of our guests.
Di Schiavi: I could tell Dawn was used to being strong for everyone at the hotel, but I could also see she was about to crack.
Okay, so, now, you have employees and guests having bad experiences.
What about yourself? [ Sobs .]
You all right? [ Crying .]
I had a wonderful life until we moved into this building.
It's been 16 years of hell.
I love this place, but I want out.
You want out, but you can't let go.
I can't.
Something's here.
Okay.
This place has been used for a lot of different things.
There's a lot of residual information But it's very in-your-face.
It's almost like you could interact with it.
Like, people here They feel um Watched.
The living here, they're panicked.
Dawn: This is the oldest wing, and the most active part of the hotel.
During restoration, we elected not to put a bedroom in this room because we felt that our guests simply could not sleep here.
Okay, so what's some of the things that are happening? There's times when things just move on their own Benches, rocking chairs, mirrors.
So, that's hurting your business.
Yeah, we had one customer that picked up the house phone at 3:30 in the morning, screaming that things were flying around his room.
And he was out of here.
I just see this woman.
[ Door creaking .]
She's 60s Short like 5 foot.
She does a lot of activity in this room.
Do you know if anybody sees her? I think people would hear her, because she's very loud.
I don't think she likes this room very much.
Because it's been restructured And she hates it.
So, what does she do in here when she's upset? She moves [Bleep.]
.
[ Door slams .]
This is no good.
Di Schiavi: So, Dave, I was speaking with Dawn, and she's told me about the experiences that employees Guests, and her have had.
How about yourself? On the front staircase in the lobby, there was a gentleman coming up behind his family Big, cumbersome cowboy.
And all of a sudden, he just clutched the handrail there and just turned white.
I thought he was having a heart attack.
And I said, "Sir, are you okay?" And he looked at me, he said, "it was like a light went right through me.
" I said, "would you like to go down and sit down?" And he said, "no.
I need to leave.
" Okay have you ever experienced anything like that? Never.
But I came down here on a Sunday afternoon to change out a smoke-detector battery.
- Okay.
- And this giggling began.
It sounded just like a small child giggling.
That spooked me a little bit.
And I've talked to many guests that tell me they've seen a small girl about 7 years old.
And they always tell me that she's a blonde.
Now, did you believe in any of this stuff before? No, I've been very skeptical.
But I absolutely know that there's something going on.
I'm seeing two young kids, and then there's an older girl.
The two younger ones are Six or seven maybe.
And they're blonde.
[ Giggling .]
Anderson: What sort of things can they do? They try to talk to people.
I would think that people would feel them Because they're very present Uh, solid.
They're very here.
[ Creaking .]
Di Schiavi: Dave told me to get in touch with the guy who works on the hotel's fire-alarm system.
Apparently, he encountered something terrifying while on the job.
Now, what kind of experiences are you having down here? I was working in the basement with my flashlight and bumped into, what I thought was a person.
Began speaking to this person.
Saying, "hey, you know", what are you doing standing down here in the dark?" - Okay.
- No answer.
No nothing.
I continued on my way up the stairs.
You could hear my footsteps.
You could hear footsteps behind me.
I got to the top of the stairs, turned around and shined the flashlight, and there was nothing there.
Could it have been a patron that was down here? Why they would be down in the basement would make absolutely no sense.
And there was no maintenance worker on duty, there was nobody that should have been down in the basement.
Okay, prior to running into this thing, you didn't hear any scuffling around on the floor or anything like that? Nope.
Do other people from your company come here, as well? Yes, and everyone that I have brought down here to work has a little bit of a reluctance to come back.
Okay.
[ Hinges creak .]
There's people down here.
They're trying to look for a way out, and it's really irritating them.
There's maybe 5 to 15 of them at any given time.
And they don't like it when people come down here and are not trying to help them, and they kind of rebel.
Anderson: What do you mean? What do they do? They gang up on people.
Like, they surround them, like, they smother them.
I feel, um Pain.
[ Groans .]
[Bleep.]
It is, like, really painful.
[ Sighs .]
Di Schiavi: I understand that you worked here at one time.
- I did.
- Okay.
For how long? I worked here for six months.
- Okay.
What did you do? - I was the bartender in the saloon.
Okay, so, now, I understand you've had experiences here.
There's something in the basement that's definitely a little unnerving for me.
- I won't go down there.
- Why do you say that? My stomach starts to hurt and I get goose bumps, start to sweat a little bit.
Okay.
Is that the only stuff that happened to you here? No, I've seen some apparitions, as well.
I walked through the saloon door over here And I got halfway through the room before I realized that I felt like somebody was standing behind me, watching me.
And when I turned, there was a gentleman standing in the corner.
Now, was it something you could see through or was he solid? No, he was solid, and that was really scary for me, just the fact that I could feel him before I could see him.
[ Sighs .]
There's a man in here.
He's not nice.
And he does hide in the shadows.
He likes To bother people.
He Is the main bad ass Here.
He's very mean to women.
He likes to hurt women.
- How long did you work here? - For about eight months.
- Eight months.
- Yeah.
Now, I've talked to a few people that have worked here, I assume you've had some experiences.
- I've had a few.
- Okay.
Tell me about them.
I was doing prep in the cafe area.
And I was just standing, you know, just minding my own, listening to the radio.
I started to feel a tickle on my neck.
Then I had my ponytail tugged, kind of jerked my head back a little bit.
I was pretty scared.
I didn't know what to think or what to do, so I just I stood still.
And a deep man's voice whispered my name into my ear.
[ Sniffles .]
It was like "Alissa".
Like it was a deep-enough sound that I would hear it.
I didn't know what to think, you know? And you don't really think something like that's gonna happen.
You hear other people talk about it and you think, you know, it's just a lie.
It's not real.
It's not real.
And then once you experience it, you know, you have to realize, "well, that is real.
" [ Sniffles .]
He likes the neck.
He likes to squeeze the back of the neck, like Come up and squeeze 'em.
You know, touching people, grabbing people, you know, specifically women.
Like, grabbing them, touching them inappropriate.
There's just a big, solid, black mass.
And the reason why he's all, like, black like that and misty like that is, like, he relates darkness to evil.
And he is darkness, he is what he thinks is evil.
And so, that's his soul.
I was gonna ask you, how do you feel being back here? Soon as I came into the hotel, I just felt I just felt weird.
Like, I just felt really emotionally unstable.
Okay, now, have you ever had an experience since you left here? No.
I've never had an experience before until I started working here.
Now, do you think whatever's here is dangerous? Yeah.
He really, really, really hates women.
I don't [Bleep.]
care.
Yell at me all you want.
Anderson: What is he yelling? Well, he just got mad and started to, you know, call me a [Bleep.]
.
Any men who have compassion for women, any men who treat women well, whatever, he perceives as weak.
He's gonna [Bleep.]
with them, Matt, you know, too.
What does he do to the weak men? He just makes them feel very uncomfortable, like somebody's in the room with them And is, like, right up on them.
A very strong presence.
He's a [Bleep.]
lunatic.
Okay.
Would you say that he's dangerous? Yes.
Di Schiavi: I'm at the local library to find out more about the history of the Occidental Hotel.
Digging through the archives, I discover something completely unexpected.
A former owner of the hotel was murdered.
But the headlines don't say who did it or how it went down.
Now that I know one of the hotel owners was murdered in a high-profile case, I need to get the full picture.
I'm headed over to meet with the Johnson County Sheriff.
He tells me that the case has a lot of twists and turns.
Di Schiavi: What do you know about this guy that was murdered? Well, Fred Waegele was a very prominent citizen in Johnson County at this time.
He owned a ranch south of Buffalo.
He owned the Occidental Hotel from 1906 to 1917.
So, you know, he was a very prominent, well-known person in the community.
Steve, how does Fred become a homicide victim? Fred had a son named Max who was 20 years old, and Max ended up marrying a young lady named Marion - Okay.
- Who was 17.
And subsequently Fred, ended up sexually assaulting and raping Marion several different times.
Oh, geez.
All right, so, she's 17.
How old was he? He was 60.
And actually, at one point, she becomes pregnant.
And she's afraid that the child is his.
She ends up having a miscarriage, you know, loses the baby.
This guy he does bad things.
Everything he did in life to women, he tries to do to them, you know, now that he's dead.
This is Western [Bleep.]
.
Like, he's a drinker, he's a gunfighter, he's a rapist.
I don't like him.
He's sick.
So, who ends up killing him? Marion ends up murdering Fred Waegele, her father-in-law.
Okay, and how does she do that? Well, she'd come up with a very ingenious plan of doing that.
Fred was taking medication for rheumatism, and he's getting his medication in the mail.
So, she ended up putting a cyanide tablet in the mail and mailing it to him.
And he takes it, thinking that's his rheumatism medicine.
Okay.
Now, I know a little bit about cyanide.
Does he die instantly or does he linger? No, he lingers for a little period of time.
Cyanide death is a very painful death.
You know, you can't breathe.
- Right.
- It causes excruciating chest pains.
And eventually ends up to cardiac arrest.
It's a very unpleasant way to die.
[ Coughs .]
Something's wrong with his chest.
Like, he has A breathing problem.
He feels very alone.
He does not feel good about his life.
He's so sick.
Ugh, he's a mess.
He's a mess.
What winds up happening with her? Does she get caught? She eventually does get caught.
A gentleman by the name of Wolcott and Joe LaFors Somehow get involved in this investigation and end up getting a confession from this young lady.
And this is her confession.
And she confesses that the reason she does all this Is because of the - Of the rape.
- Yeah.
So, Steve, does she wind up going to jail? No, she never was arrested for this.
She typed this confession in her home - Okay.
- With her father and family, I believe.
And then she walked into her bedroom and took cyanide herself and killed herself.
I'm seeing this grumpy old woman again.
And she says there were some dirty dealings that went on.
There have been things that have happened.
People doing things that weren't good.
There was one death and It was a tragedy.
And this was not good.
It's awful.
It's terrible.
Like, definitely a suicide.
Di Schiavi: Dawn mentioned the hotel used to be a makeshift Courthouse.
If that's true, it could be useful to my case.
I'm heading over to meet the County prosecutor who says a hanging Judge used to operate right out of the hotel.
Di Schiavi: My client said that the Occidental Hotel I'm investigating, used to be a Courthouse.
Yes, around the years 1884 through 1886, the Occidental was sometimes used as a Courthouse, because the current Courthouse was under construction.
Did any noteworthy cases go through the hotel at that time? Yes, one that's still talked about today.
Around 1884, there was a murder of a Jacob Schmerer.
- He was a cook at the Occidental.
- Okay.
Now, this is a sketch of his killer, Bill Booth.
Booth was going to provide venison to Jacob Schmerer.
Booth didn't, and a fight ensued between the two, and Booth bludgeoned him with an ax.
He gets caught, and in At that trial, he's convicted of first-degree murder.
Then he also confessed to murdering his wife, two small children, and at least about 12 other people he knew.
Oh, geez.
Is he eventually hanged? Yes.
They hang him in the back of the Occidental Hotel.
This is a newspaper article from the time.
So, this appears to be the biggest story of its time.
It was.
Allan: I'm getting that there's another suicide here.
Seems like some boy, young man, hung himself.
Where'd he [Bleep.]
die? Well, I kind of felt it was further down.
I'm looking for where I feel another man hanged himself But this grumpy old lady keeps telling me there's only one suicide here.
And she says there's something important there That I'm not quite getting.
It's really bothering me, too.
I just I don't know where he is.
Di Schiavi: This area really was the Wild West.
I keep uncovering more and more violence surrounding this location.
During my research, I discovered that the Johnson County War was one of the biggest events in Buffalo, Wyoming, history.
So, I called a local historian.
She says the Occidental Hotel was right in the middle of the conflict.
Di Schiavi: During my research, I came across probably one of the biggest events that happened in Buffalo's history.
What can you tell me? Well, in 1892, there were a lot of large cattle operations over the whole state.
And homesteaders started to move in, and those homesteaders were disrupting these large cattle operations.
And the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, they actually created a hit list, and they actually hired these men About 50 gunmen to come through, and murder these people and clear them out of the land.
- And they became known as the Invaders.
- So, these guys were like mercenaries.
- Exactly.
- So, what happens then? The townspeople learned what was going on, and they actually met at the Occidental Saloon And came to arms, came together as a force.
And moved south out of town and met them here at this ranch.
There's a lot of movement of people.
They're talking about a threat.
There's another place that they have to go.
I want to say they're, like um In the military.
So, how does this whole mess end? It culminated in a three-day standoff.
There were around 3,000 rounds exchanged and nobody was actually killed.
You're kidding.
The cavalry actually rode in and saved the day.
Well, they must have been annoyed by that.
This is a police action.
This is not a military thing.
Exactly.
But when the cavalry rode in, everything just stopped.
Even the townspeople must have said, "we, better back off.
" I would think so.
I know I would.
They're looking for, like, men.
I think they're supposed to arrest them or something like that.
It's a dangerous mission.
They're all pretty equally pissed about being assigned to this.
- You know, this is beneath them.
- Okay.
Do you know when this was? There's yelling.
There's panic.
Ugh, geez.
I don't feel good.
Di Schiavi: Now that Amy and I have completed our investigations, we're ready to reveal our findings to each other and our clients for the first time.
Amy, I'd like you to meet Dawn and Dave.
They are the owners of this hotel.
Dawn's put her blood and sweat into this place.
There's always been activity here, but it's picked up a lot lately.
Their employees are scared to work here and their guests are having issues.
Some of them are even running out of here.
They're barely getting by as it is, and they really need our help, to find out what's going on here to try to save the business.
So, with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Amy and have her start telling us about her walk.
Allan: Where I started my walk, I met this really grumpy old lady.
There's one room that she hates, which is the kitchen upstairs.
Sometimes she gets confused and gets really upset and kind of, like, flips out.
She moves a lot of things around.
Basically, she wants to kind of make a point.
Makes sense.
I mean, the housekeeping is always finding things moved to different, areas, so that makes sense.
Oh, furniture's moved and mirrors are moved.
And you'll find pictures tipped when nobody's been in there.
I purposely did not restore that room as a bedroom, or a guest room because the activity was so strong, I felt my guests could not sleep there.
Interesting.
Wow.
Because I think she wants things, you know, completely the way they were.
So, it just irritates her that it's not Being used the way that it was.
Di Schiavi: Well, what else did you see? I saw This really interesting residual incident.
A residual haunting is something that is captured by the environment and played back like a movie.
So, there were these men.
They were arguing about this mission they were on.
I thought that they were in government or military, something of that nature.
And their mission was to find a group of men.
They were supposed to arrest them.
Huh.
The other thing that was really Upsetting to them was that this particular mission was way beneath their job titles.
Because they were prestigious men.
I got this was between the 1880s or 1890s.
That's incredible.
The reason I say that is because, this was one of the biggest events in Buffalo, Wyoming, history.
I'm talking about the Johnson County War.
You had wealthy cattle ranchers here who were upset that people were settling on their land.
So, what they did go and do is they hired a bunch of mercenaries Known as the Invaders.
They hired these guys to get rid of and kill the people that were settling here.
And then the cavalry was brought in by the government to arrest the Invaders.
So, they surround these guys on a ranch.
But believe it or not, nobody gets killed.
- Oh, my gosh! - Yeah.
It's amazing.
What year was that? These guys were from the 6th Cavalry from what I understand, which was a prestigious unit.
Makes sense that they would think it would be beneath them to do this.
Is this who you think you saw? Possibly.
Allan: All I know is, I saw a group of men in uniform who resented the mission they were sent to complete.
They wanted to be someplace else.
Di Schiavi: So, what else is going on? The grumpy old lady told me that there was only one suicide here.
And she said that it was really sad and tragic But also a real inconvenience for a lot of people.
It was a girl and there were drugs involved.
The confusing thing was, then I came up here.
There were people running and they said that a young man had hung himself in one of the rooms or something.
It didn't make sense, because she said there was only one suicide, and so that kind of meant to me there were two.
I might be able to clear up.
She may have been right about the suicide.
- Okay.
- But it didn't actually happen here.
So I'm gonna hold off on that until I hear a little bit more about your walk.
Now, there was a hanging here, but it wasn't a suicide.
It wasn't? - Wasn't a suicide.
- Okay.
Now, the hotel was a temporary Courthouse from 1884 to 1886.
Before it was torn down and rebuilt in A guy by the name of Bill Booth murdered a person that actually was the cook here.
The cook had enlisted him to provide him with venison meat.
They got into an argument, and then he bludgeoned him to death with an ax.
Oh, my gosh! He was sentenced to death.
But this is the kicker this is him.
Right before he dies, he admits to killing his wife and two kids Wow.
And killing at least 12 other people that he could remember.
Oh, my gosh! He was hung right here behind the hotel.
Wow.
So, how'd the rest of your walk go? When I came in this room, I saw this really Creepy-looking Guy.
Very tall, all in shadow, but very solid.
And I think that he's the main issue here.
He's very negative.
He is a very, very strong presence here.
Once of his biggest things is he absolutely hates women.
Hates them with a passion.
He also grabbed me by the back of the neck and was squeezing really hard.
And this is something he likes to do to kind of assert dominance, like an animal.
He bullies people by grabbing them, trying to strangle them.
And he also tries to chase people out of the hotel.
Dave: On the front staircase here, there was a gentleman coming up the stairs.
As I approached him coming down the stairs, he just froze solid.
And was just literally white.
He said to me, "you did not see that?" - I said, "what?" - He said, "it passed right through me.
" And I said, "what passed through you?" And he said, "it was a light passed right through me.
" And he said, "I need to leave.
" Dawn: We had a guest that checked in, and at 3:30 in the morning he picked up our house phone and he was screaming that things were flying around his room, things were falling off the walls.
And he was out of here.
I interviewed two former employees from here that were pretty young girls.
And talking to them, I felt like, you know, like, something's picking on these kids.
That's not good.
It's like he's all about creeping up on people, catching them off guard.
So, I did do a sketch of, like, kind of a situation That I perceived of him kind of intimidating a male.
[ Echoing .]
He's wearing a cowboy hat, jeans, and cowboy boots.
He's And he's tall.
Wow.
Take a look at that.
[ Gasps .]
Oh, wow.
So, I did do a sketch of a situation Um, that I perceived of him intimidating a male.
Wow.
Take a look at that.
[ Gasps .]
Oh, wow.
I'd like him to go away.
I just can't give up, because this is such a special place.
[ Sniffles .]
Now, seeing that sketch, I mean, how's that make you feel? Frightened.
I felt very drawn to this building the moment I walked into it.
But it's been so hard for me.
Yeah, you even said that to me, that your life's been like hell since you started here.
Yeah.
Now, did you get a sense of who this guy might have been? He obviously liked to hurt women when he was alive.
He likes to try as much as he can to hurt them now.
He was completely out of his mind, had no sense of wrong or right, and I definitely felt that he was a rapist of women.
[ Chuckles .]
One of the former owners of this hotel - He was a rapist.
- Oh.
His name was Fred Waegele, and he owned this place from 1906 to 1917.
He was about 60 years old and he had a son around 20, 21, who married a girl named Marion who was 17.
He repeatedly raped his daughter-in-law over and over again.
But she got revenge.
Oh, boy.
He had rheumatism, and he was getting mail-away medicine for it.
So, she decided she was gonna mail him some medicine, and she did.
She mailed him some cyanide.
Oh, my.
- And he took it.
- Oh.
And he died a nice, slow, painful death, which he deserved.
Now, about a year later, authorities questioned her about it.
And she confesses to the whole thing.
Wow.
- Now, you had mentioned suicide.
- Mm-hmm.
This confession took place at her home.
She excused herself for a few minutes as the detectives were there, and she went in the next room and she killed herself in the same manner Oh, no.
Using cyanide.
- That's just awful.
- It is.
Now, do you think this could be the rapist? Yeah, more than likely that may be our culprit.
So, he's still hating women.
Oh, yeah.
I mean he still wants to do what he was doing.
He'd like to be raping them, not just fondling, touching, or grabbing.
Best to get rid of him before he figures it out.
Will he be able to soon? Well, I mean, he's definitely working on it.
- He's working on it? - Yeah.
He's evolving.
We laid a lot of information down for you.
Big question is, are you guys gonna be able to run this hotel in a safe manner for yourselves, your employees Most importantly, for your guests? With that, I'm gonna turn it over to Amy to get an answer.
Because of the amount of residual energy I think it would be best if you get a residual cleansing.
So, you need to find a psychic or a Shaman or a Wiccan.
The second thing you need to do is have that same individual Do a protection ceremony for you.
What is that? Well, once you're done cleansing this place, you have a clean slate.
You want to kind of keep it clean.
Okay.
Then, to get rid of the rapist You need to find a male medium A strong Alpha male, definitely.
Why an Alpha male? A lot of men who bully women are usually cowards at heart.
- Mm-hmm.
- And weak.
And if you get a real man in here He's gonna bow down.
And as far as the grumpy old lady I think just taking that room and putting it back to a guest room, will make her a lot less noisy.
Now the big question.
Are you gonna listen to what Amy says? I am concerned about Dawn.
But this is overwhelming to me, for sure.
So, I'm still absorbing it, and I have to think through this.
Di Schiavi: Okay.
I like your honest answer.
Now, Dawn, you're gonna follow through with this? - I am.
- Okay.
It's time.
- I'd like my life back.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
Allan: The evil man who attacked me is extremely dangerous.
Even if Dave chooses not to help, Dawn should really follow my advice, or he could do a lot of damage.
Not only to the hotel, but also to its employees and guests.