The Lonesome Dove Inn is located in Archer City, Texas, on the edge of the Great Plains. The area, settled in 1878, has historically been known for its rich land, its cattle and oil, its big ranches, and lonesome cowboys and their cattle calls.

The men did not settle this area alone, however. Pioneer women helped clear land and build homes as well, and brought to Archer County the music, art and literature of cultures in the border states and the South. It has been said that the area is characterized by rough men and genteel women. Both were tough. They survived and thrived in a land of drought and sandstorms, heat, cactus and mesquite.

The lonesome call of the cowboy was later replaced by the pumping sounds of oil rigs, which allowed many landowners lavish lives.

Today the combination of cultures - cowboy, rancher, driller and farmer - is laced with entrepreneurs, and art patrons. The old Royal Theatre, which burned down fifty years ago and was revived in memory by the town's most prominent native, Larry McMurtry, in his novel, "The Last Picture Show", has been rebuilt as a theatre for live performances.

McMurtry himself is rapidly turning the cowboy town into a Mecca for book lovers, bringing literary people from all over the country to browse his bookstores.

The Lonesome Dove Inn, named for McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the old West, is owned and managed by descendants of pioneer ranchers, teachers, and artists. Sisters, Mary Slack Webb (inn host) and Ceil Slack Cleveland (partner), understand the legacies of both cowboys and ladies, farming and finery, hard work and good taste. They welcome rodeo fans and sportsmen as well as book lovers and artists.

For peace and quiet, or a warm family gathering, The Lonesome Dove Inn is the place to be.

We first came to know and investigate this unique Inn when we had heard from a friend it was supposedly haunted. We contacted the owner and asked permission to investigate and she agreed to let us come. We did 2 investigations there and then several of us went back one night and actually stayed as guests at the Inn and worked in a little recording and picture taking then too.

We had the most personal experiences there at that time than we had anywhere else up to then. Of course, most personal experiences are not caught on tape or film because they happen so fast or you just do not have your equipment with you. This Inn is full of antiques from all over, and we suspect that is why we had so many experiences. Possibly spirits attached to the items and came along with them when they were purchased, and it was at one time a small country hospital.

A personal experience of investigator Judy:
"While there at the Inn, I had one of my first real experiences when a spirit was communicating with me telepathically. That is the only way I know how to explain this. Two voice recorders that were running in the room at the time as well as a video camera did not pick up this voice, so that is my only explanation. I did not know there was a team member listening in on some of my conversation, and when I got up from the sofa I was setting on to go check to see if the recorders were still running, the team member took a picture of me, and in the chair next to the sofa, you see what appears to be a liquid looking type of orb sitting in that chair. I did not see this as I was talking to the spirit. All I know was that I heard and felt him close to me as he was communicating.
At two different times on the video running, you can see me hold my hand out to that chair and tell him it was ok to touch me even though I did not know where he might be. One of these times I did get a tingling sensation, so felt like it must be by the chair. Sure enough, when the picture was taken after I got up; you see the anomaly sitting on the chair. I was blown away. I was truly getting communication from this spirit child and there is a picture to show something sitting in that chair where I held my hand out to.
He was 8 years old and that his name was Jonathon. He said he died from egg allergies. First time he got sick and went to the doctor, they did not know what was wrong, and he was ok in a few days. Later he got sick again and they took him back again and he did not make it. He said he had always eaten eggs and did not have problems before. They suspected that an earlier illness he had months back may have done something to him to cause him to develop this allergy. He said there was a mean nurse there (spirit) with them and another small child (girl) and they would hide from this nurse when she would be around. He said he liked hanging out in that room known as the Texasville room now and he hides behind the tree.

Suni Hoffman, one of the sensitives on our team, said that a young boy entity kept kicking her on the leg in the Desert Rose room. We suspect it to be the same one that was giving me information in the Texasville room. Mandy Ray said the boy had told her that at first they did not know how he passed, but it had something to do with his head. That falls right into the information he gave me about how they did not know what he died from at first. We felt that when he said it was because of his head, maybe he said that because he could not breathe."

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Newspaper reporter stated she was touched by entity, as did several other team members.

Young boy entity kept kicking one of the investigators on the leg.  Young boy entity says there is a nurse that roams the hall and she is not to nice to him, so he hides from her.

One of the entities enjoys mocking some of the investigators.

Temperature change under bed in Comanche Moon room. Was a cold spot one night that chilled investigators toes. Also an elderly woman whom seems a little distraught, and this sounds weird, but she is  upset that the bed is not in the right position.

In the Cadillac Jack room, 2 investigators got really strange impressions from the mirror on the wall. In the rocking chair, one investigator said when she sat in it and leaned back, it was like she was taken to another time back to a turn of the century schoolhouse.

Several investigators experienced cold air rush through them. Also the intense feeling that someone is watching you.

There seems to be a friendly energy orb there that we have nicknamed Casper.  Apparently Casper the friendly orb liked following us all around. We have pictures taken with several different cameras that appeared to have caught this same small orb following us, even when we went outside. Check the Lonesome Dove photo album to see Casper's adventures following us around. We feel it may be one of the children spirits.

Desert Rose room is quite interesting and active, same as the main room, the Texasville room.

Some of the names picked up were Jonathan, Caleb, Rose or Rosa, Samuel and Eliza.

CONCLUSION

When T.R.I.P.P. went to investigate the Lonesome Dove Inn, they were not the first team to do so. Another paranormal team had been to investigate as well and told Mary their findings. There are also numerous newspaper articles on display at the Inn that speaks about guest and family experiencing paranormal activity. We were appreciative that Mary let our team intrude, not just once, but three times. One of the times a few members just went for the experience of staying at the Inn.

Many of the team members had their own personal paranormal experiences while at the Inn, as well as did the Times Record News reporter that was covering the investigation for the newspaper. Unfortunately many experiences happen while there are no cameras or recorders to document it. The pictures below as well as the Evp recordings are just a small amount of what we experienced. Some of the evps are very clear, and some are faint, but you can tell something is trying to communicate. It is our conclusion after investigating the Inn several times, that it is indeed "Haunted" as Mary herself is already very well aware of. She has had other guests staying there that have picked up voices on their video cameras while just taking video of family, not knowing they were getting a little extra. If you want a wonderful place to lay your head for the evening and you are not afraid of things that go bump in the night, the Lonesome Dove Inn may be able to serve up more than just a bed and breakfast.

 

UPDATE

After our second trip, the Inn owner contacted us and told us that there had been a family that stayed there not long after we investigated. They were in the Cadillac Jack room and they were talking about hearing the placed was supposedly haunted. They were taking video of family and there was a child there with them. The child was bouncing on one of the beds and one of her relatives told her to stop. Once they got back home and was watching the video, they heard a voice on their camcorder that said “Get Out”. They were stunned. None of them had said that and the voice sounded eerie. That validated our evp we captured where a voice told us to get out.

 

PHOTOS

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I know people have opinions of orbs and such, but if you look closely at the picture in the hallway where it appears there is a streak coming out of the ceiling, if you will notice, the streak forks off about half way down, and in blowing this picture up, we noticed that there is an orb at the bottom end of the streak that forked off to the left over by the wall.

 

EVPS

 

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