What: Ashmore Estates, Coles County, Illinois
When: Friday, Sept 23, 9 PM EST,
Where: The Travel Channel (Check your local listings)
Why: They’re baaaack! It’s the Season 5 Premiere and the boys have picked quite a curious place in which to run amok!
I couldn't wait to restart the GA Peek-a-BOO, but before we get into the history, claims, or the episode itself, which, despite what follows, I am most anxiously anticipating, I already have a few red flags about this place that make me a bit more skeptical (ok, suspicious) than I might ordinarily be, so I’m starting not with background, per se, but taking sort of a side trip. (You know me - I can’t help but dig into stuff and try to make connections. Hey, it’s what I do.)
Appetizer for thought: (from Wikipedia) “For the Halloween issue (circa 1987 after the place was abandoned) of the Verge section of the Daily Eastern News, Mike Rice and Matt Fear, the 'Men of Adventure,' wrote a satirical piece on how to make Ashmore Estates into a "highly illegal" Halloween escapade. "No one is really sure what this building once housed," they wrote. "But there are stories. These tales revolve around pagan rituals and dismembered bodies. We aren’t sure if any of them are true or not, but they sure do make for three floors… of unadulterated fun.”
So far I have been unable to find any evidence of such stories.
So firstly, the current expert on Ashmore Estates, Mike Kleen, is also a writer trying to sell books and whose initial claim to fame was a college piece of historical/haunted fiction about Ashmore Estates that was included in “Tales of Coles County, Illinois” dating back to 2004. Nothing untoward about that, to be sure. However, in his own words, he claims it took him years to “piece together a general narrative of its history, from start to finish, and even that was fraught with inaccuracy.” If the place was genuinely so haunted why was it so hard? And why were there no supposed claims of paranormal activity until after the Daily Eastern News article?
Furthermore, Mike’s own bio states that “Mike has been steeped in the occult since birth, and spent most of his life studying the darker side of history. This has been both a help and a hindrance, since he is eager to attribute almost everything to a supernatural origin. The other members of the group often have to steer him back to reality.”
The group in question is made up of Mike, the “fearless leader” and vampire vanquisher, a magician practiced in both the black arts and ass kicking, a UFOologist prone to “debauchery, bouts of drinking, and substance abuse”, an abrasive skeptic who has yet to be convinced by anything his group has found, and a Druid cryptozoologist with a PhD in “sweet lovin’”. The group’s motto: “Leave science to the scientists”.
Secondly, the current owners of the property, Scott and Tanya Kelley, may or may not have ulterior motives in promoting the place as haunted. They are part of a troupe of actors who have run haunted attractions professionally and use the property solely to host creepy flashlight tours, slumber parties, paranormal investigations, Air Soft tournaments, and the annual haunted attraction at Ashmore, as they have done since ‘06 (This year’s theme – Institute of the Undead).
Ok, so here is where the twain meet - and it ends up more than a bit Scooby Doo-ish. Scott hires Mike and his team because he’s missing some props, a ladder fell, and he found oil on the stairs (Possibly paranormal wouldn’t be MY first thought, but…).
Scott to Mike: “They said you’re different from those other paranormal groups. You better be, for as much as I’m paying you” (emphasis, mine) So Mike and his group Fallen go in to investigate. They have an experience with a conveniently bouncing rubber ball, but eventually hear the maniacal laughter of a (close your ears, Zak) clown! Well, they chase this polka dotted interloper down and he jumps to the roof but his baggy pants get caught and he falls three stories to the ground where the gang catches up and surrounds him. “Fred” tells Scott “we’ve found your ghost.” “Shaggy” pulls off the clown mask to reveal Joe, a handyman/yard guy. “Velma” says “he was creating accidents to try to scare you off.” “Probably wanted to take over the place himself.” Joe, the culprit says, and I am not making any of this up – “I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for you freaks”!
Good humor aside I’m not sure this whole gang is really ready to be taken seriously.
Anyway, based on Mike Kleen’s Sept 09 Legends and Lore of Illinois interview with Scott Kelly, the owners have no intention of sticking around once they can no longer host these events. “Right now, the condition of the building perfectly matches the events we use the building for. But, we know that in order for the building to be preserved for the long term, the types of events in the building will change. Once the building is fixed up, it’s not going to be smart to have people running through shooting things up (for Air Soft). That’s when it’ll be time for us to move on. We’re haunters, not hosteliers!" (sp)
So it would seem that Mike and Scott have a mutually beneficial relationship, Even the Ashmore official website doesn’t seem to provide any information or evidence of actual haunting or haunted history, while Mike himself says “I’m grateful for Scott and Tanya’s friendship in the years since they opened the haunted house at Ashmore Estates. Without them, I never would have had the opportunity to make appearances in the several TV shows about the building.”
Does any of the above mean the place isn’t simply crawling with groovy entities or demonic spirits (Zak’s fave)? Of course not. But I haven’t yet found any chain of custody or evidence regarding paranormal claims of activity except, perhaps, recent claims about a dark mist that was seen during the Booth brother’s filming of SyFy’s “Soul Catcher”. (Haven’t tracked down any visual of that yet.)
One of the team members present with the Booth brothers also claimed to see a man in a black suit and top hat. (Coulda been this guy, just sayin’.)
I will keep digging and keep you posted. :)