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Dear lovely Death that taketh all things under wing--Never to kill--Only to change Into some other thing...Langston Hughes
Thunderbird Lodge Investigation
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 On Thursday Nov 6th my friends Tom and Lisa Butler, Directors of AAEVP, and I were joined by two members of the AP-Investigatiors group for an investigation of the Thunderbird Lodge (the George Whittell Estate) at Incline Village Nevada. A snowstorm was predicted to hit the Sierras later in the evening so it was with much trepidation we headed up the Mount Rose Highway. |
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Janice's Field Notes
November 6 2003. Thunderbird Lodge (Whittell Estate) Incline Village. The weather is clear and cold; temperatures are in the low 40's, snow is in the forecast, and the moon is full.
History of the buildings/grounds: Hundreds of years before the wealthy, the casino owners, and the developers, discovered Lake Tahoe, Native Americans lived on its shores. In the early part of the 20th century reclusive millionaire George Whittell owned over 40,0000 acres of land that included 24 miles of Nevada shoreline on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe. The lake was where many of San Franisco's wealthiest were building their summer homes. And George Whittell, not to be outdone, decided that he too would have a summer cottage. He knew what he wanted, and it wasn't a rustic log cabin. To achieve his goal he commissioned noted Nevada architect Frederic J. DeLongchamps to design the estate in 1932 that was built in 1936. Complete with secret tunnel, the six stone building compound is a masterpiece.
Stories are still told in the Lake Tahoe area concerning the wild parties, and high stakes card games that Whittell held on the property. Whittell, who preferred the moniker "Captain", was rumored to have occasionally driven to the Cal-Neva Lodge for a night of partying and gambling. Sometimes he brought the party back to his place. George Whittell was an interesting, if eccentric, man who enjoyed dabbling with the latest technology. He kept a pet lion named Bill on the estate, and supposedly wanted to keep an elephant here as well. At least one death is said to have occured on the property while Whittell was in residence. This is the accidental death of a workman who fell from his ladder while converting the old boathouse to an indoor pool. This man's name remains a mystery. After George Whittell's death in 1969 a new owner purchase the property and commissioned additions to the building. Today the lodge is owned and managed by the not for profit, Thunderbird Preservation Society.
The following equipment will be used during this investigation: digital cameras, nightvision video cameras, dowsing rods, electro magnetic field detectors, voice activated recorders. Five investigators are taking part in this investigation. Two observers and one dog are present.
As the investigation begins an observer mentions that some people sense the spirit of George Whittell on the property. We begin in the main hall/living room area. Lisa senses strong activity near the old vault area; her feelings are confirmed by AP-investigators. At the elevator the dog wanders in. At least one camera fails to photograph the elevator. During an earlier investigation of the lodge I'd formed some opinions as to the resident ghosts' identities and was curious to see what others would find. Some of their findings coincide with mine, some do not.
The first time I visited Thunderbird Lodge I felt the someone named David had some significance here. I asked if anyone knew of a David who was connected with the lodge. No one knew of any such connection. However, now that Lisa has received EVP with the name David I am convinced that my feelings were right.
May Mollhagan was George Whittell's housekeeper/nurse and mistress. For some reason, I am very fascinated by May and believe she is a key figure in the George Whittell/Thunderbird Lodge story. I felt that there had been a very loud argument between May and someone (possibly George Whittell) on the stairs that lead to the bedrooms at one time. People like Ty Cobb and Jack Dempsey played cards in cardhouse. It is the site of George Whittell's notorious all night, high-stakes card games, there didn't appear to be any activity on this particular night.
Much of the activity seems to be centered in the boathouse. Tonight one member of the investigative group "sees" a drunken woman fall in the water and drown. Lisa is recording EVP througout. The dowsing rods confirm high Electro Magnetic Field Detector readings. There is a strong sense of something in the tunnel, the boathouse and the poolhouse.
Janice's conclusion; The Thunderbird Lodge is an enchanting place; yes there seems to be a few ghosts on the premises, hopefully we can we solve some of the mysteries that surround the man George Whittell and his home, Thunderbird Lodge.
Lisa's Report
The first energy that I actually felt was upstairs in the area of the small closet that held the vault. It felt like a field of static electricity. In an EVP recorded there, we found a mail voice saying, "Destructive gambling." Tom came up the stairs and stepped into the vault closet. A woman's voice was recorded saying, "Not invite in." Another EVP was recorded in this area saying, "David and _ _ _ live here." The second name sounds unusual and also starts with a "D," but we just could not make it out.
In Elia's room several EVP containing the word "Shot" were recorded and we wondered if someone could have been shot in the house. You will see that we learned more about these messages as the investigation progressed.
As I walked into George's bedroom, I recorded my voice saying, "I'm in George Whittell's bedroom." After this on the recording, you can hear a woman yell, "Get out of it!" A man's whisper was also recorded in this room. You will hear a noise and then the whisper EVP, "He hated me."
As we headed down the stairs into the servants quarters, later analysis of my recordings seemed to show that the woman who had wanted me out of George's bedroom was following us. The recorder once more picked up her voice angrily telling us with foul language what George had done with lots of woman that she called whores.
In the hallway in front of the kitchen we picked up a different woman's voice commenting that a Miss (question on name) had "not wanted us to be here." Is this EVP telling us that a prior owner had not liked the ghosts? This EVP was recorded right after the angry woman had talked about George and his woman. Was this the voice of a prostitute?
Even more unexpected and the most evidential EVP that was recorded during this trip was one recorded in a storage area that is off limits to the public. The room is at the bottom of the stairs. The EVP is a woman's voice clearly saying, "Hidden Morphine." I did not know until after I asked about this message, but George W. was indeed, perhaps addicted to Morphine and was given Morphine shots by his girlfriend May. Is there Morphine hidden in the basement? Or did they once hide it there? Remember EVP were recorded in May's room that referred to shots.
One of the big questions about the Thunderbird Lodge is the name of the man who died while working on an area that George was converting from a boat house to a swimming pool. The man fell off a ladder and was killed. The story is that the room was immediately sealed-up and no one entered the room until just recently. I was allowed into the pool room. The pool is deep, without water, and the walkways are very narrow. It was a scary place just for those reasons. You will hear me ask, "Can you tell us your name?" You will then hear a man reply, "Jason." This utterance had to be amplified in order to hear it and that is why you will hear a lot of hissing noise in the sound track. Is Jason the name of the man who died in a fall from a ladder?
To see the photographs that were taken during the Thunderbird investigation go here
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