Terrible news! I've just received word that a fire has hit the Abbott Mansion. I have yet to find a copy of the Tulsa World with the story, so the amount of damage and cause of fire is unknown... I will update with more information as soon as possible.
What a shocking loss this is...if arson is the cause, hopefully the bastard(s) responsible will be caught and prosecuted quickly.
Hang on a minute... the Mansion is next door to a fire station... what the hell?
Updated: 08/21/04
New information!
According to "Many More Historic Tulsa Homes" by John Brooks Walton, the Abbott Mansion was built by L. E. Abbott, co-founder of the Halliburton-Abbott Dry Goods Store in Tulsa.
Later on:
"In 1943, Luella Fourtner Whitnack purchased the nearby Gus Springer Mansion and opened one of Tulsa's early nursing homes. ... In 1945, Luella's son Carsel and his wife Loretta purchased the Abbott Mansion and opened a similar type of nursing home. The family would continue operating the facility until 1970, when it was sold but continued as a nursing home until 1976. During the 1980's the house served as an Italian Restaurant for a brief period. At that time, several of the second floor partitions were removed, causing severe structural damage. Today, the Abbott Mansion, once the finest house on the block, looks out at the city that grew away from her and surrounded her with expressways and inner dispersal loops."
"Many More Historic Tulsa Homes" is a recently published work of research, the third in a series on interesting Tulsa buildings. Mr. Walton's first book is currently out of print and difficult to find, and his second book is in a similar state. It seems that his third book is only availabe in a small venue, so start searching!
Once again, let me remind you that there is no proof of any murder occuring at Abbott Mansion. However, the figures I have seen over and over again at this location show that *something* happened here... maybe we'll find out someday just what it is.
Updated: 04/03/04
I keep getting e-mail from people quoting my own webpage back to me and calling it their own research... please stop. It's tiresome to hear the same thing repeated ten times a day, and frustrating to have my theories and guesses thrown back to me as "proof and new information."
For example, there is no proof that Warren D. Abbott owned or built the Abbott Mansion - that's only a guess.
Apparently I'm running the only compilation on the Abbott Mansion online...so if you run across a reference to Abbott Mansion that *isn't* hysterical babblings about Aleister Crowley and Satanism, I probably wrote it. I have this information posted in four or five different places, including All About Ghosts and P.I.T.T., so please take a moment to check if it's my work before you claim it as your own and mail it off to me. This has happened so many times it's insulting.
The Abbott Mansion, also known as the Edison house, the Crowley house, or just that big creepy white house on the hill, is well known in Tulsa ghost hunting circles. I am working on a compilation of stories, facts, and related information for Abbott mansion, and hope to have it up in the near future.
In the meantime, please visit the Realtor's webpage for more information on this mansion.
According to members of the Paranormal Investigation Team of Tulsa (P.I.T.T.), some tresspassers have been prosecuted, and plans are in progress for security for this house.
Please be sensible! Do not tresspass, do not vandalize property, and if you're under 18, do not break the curfew. You're not being cool and mysterious, you're being a moron. It's just a haunted house, it'll still be there in the morning. You can look at it from the street, you don't need to climb inside.
The only solid information I have is from the Realtor's webpage, and from "Many More Historic Tulsa Homes" by John Brooks Walton.
Mary's Italian Restaurant (the one on Cherry St.) once operated out of the Mansion, perhaps some of the current staff worked at the old location.
The Mansion also housed the Whitenack Nursing Home around 1965, and a home for "troubled teens" at some other point in it's history, but it has been vacant since 1976.
So far, that is the extent of my doccumented information. I suck! I'm sorry!
However, stories and rumors abound. The most common story associated with the Abbott mansion involves a drunken single father shooting his seven children, then later commiting suicide in prison. I have yet to see any hard information to back this up, however, I have seen seven small figures and one large male figure in this house. I (and others in my group) have heard what sounds like children whispering, coughing, giggling, crying, and once, screaming. We have also heard what sounded like a shotgun firing in the upper rooms...since we ran for the cars at that point, I don't know whether it was a ghostly noise or a real shotgun. It didn't seem safe to investigate. :)
While many sources say that no murders have ever occured on this property, I have heard this basic story not only from other ghost hunters, but from older residents of Tulsa, which leads me to believe there is some truth to it. I have been unable to find names or dates, but I am not an expert in research, nor do I have the money to purchase a land record.
As the Observation Heights/Owen Park/Brady Heights districts are some of the oldest in Tulsa, this area has many stories of ghosts and hauntings. Owen Park, for example, is said to be haunted by the ghost of a workman who foolishly created Owen lake by accidently setting off a shed full of nitroglycerin. Yes, this *is* how Owen Lake was created, and Owen Park *is* haunted... fun, huh?
In 1954, a young boy drowned in a brick pit close to Owen Park...I'm not certain if this land is currently part of the park, but it certainly was before the land was sold to the brick company, and again once after the company closed.
Owen Park also holds Tulsa's oldest surviving place of residence, the house of Rev. Sylvester Morris. The house was moved to Owen Park in 1976 after a fire. That information can be found at the Tulsa Preservation Society.
On Easton Pl., very close to the Abbott Mansion, a young boy in pre-WWII clothing has been seen running down the street, calling for help. He is usually seen in the fall.
I will post new information as I find it, I promise!
