Ghosthunting Texas. April Slaughter
had several people come in looking for ghosts, though most of their attention is focused on the ballroom.”
Branden Mann currently leases and manages the Nat Ballroom, which is accessed through the back of the bookstore, and is all too familiar with the spirits that make themselves known in the building. He was gracious enough to allow my husband and I in one Saturday afternoon to see and experience the ballroom for ourselves. I asked him to share with us what phenomena he had encountered in his time at the Nat.
“I have heard so many noises with such consistency over the past five years that I honestly don’t even hear or pay attention to them anymore. On one particular occasion, I heard what I thought was the sound of a woman speaking in the same mumbling-type voice you would hear on a Charlie Brown cartoon. I couldn’t understand what was being said, but I definitely knew that someone was speaking close by.”
Branden is often in the ballroom area working when the sound of footsteps on the upper level can be heard without anyone else being present in the building. While he has no idea who may be visiting or why, he has accepted their presence and continues on with his work despite the sometimes unexpected distraction. He is not at all frightened by the activity and believes that whoever is spiritually roaming the building must be there because it continues to mean something to them.
Allen and I walked around the ballroom to gain a sense of what it must have been like all those years ago when patrons came to the Nat for a swim or for an enthusiastic night of dancing. The ballroom floor is immense, the ceiling high, and there is a slight chill that comes and goes without an obvious source. I walked from one end of the ballroom to the other in silence, all the while feeling as though someone were watching—just as curious about me as I was about them.
The Nat has been visited several times by paranormal enthusiasts in search of validation that it is indeed a haunted piece of history still very active today. Are those who once enjoyed the boisterous music and nights filled with dancing and laughter still drawn to the Nat? Eerie recordings known as electronic voice phenomena (EVP) have captured the sounds of a solitary drum playing quietly as well as the distant melodic singing of an unknown woman. These recordings can be a bit unnerving at first, as it dawns on you that someone may be speaking to you. EVPs are some of the most commonly captured pieces of paranormal “evidence” obtained by ghosthunters. Sometimes these audio clips are recorded in places of ghostly interest, such as the Nat, while others are recorded entirely by chance.
Branden has often allowed ghosthunting investigative teams and individuals into the building, and spoke with us about the most common phenomena they have reported during their visits. Sudden fluctuations in temperature have been among the most common experiences reported to occur on the upper floor as people have felt cold spots move around them with no apparent explanation.
Investigators have attempted to capture the various reported anomalies and have often found it difficult to keep their video equipment up and running. Sudden and inexplicable battery drainages have puzzled many investigators as they have struggled to conduct the most thorough investigation possible. Whatever is responsible for the strange equipment failure still remains to be seen, but several people suspect it is largely due to the fluctuating energetic environment often experienced when paranormal phenomena occurs.
After spending some time in the ballroom, Branden escorted Allen and me to a section of the bookstore also believed to have activity, where investigators had recorded a disembodied voice on their audio recording devices. We stood where a couple of these recordings had taken place, with a recorder of our own in hand. While we were unable to capture anything that day, it can certainly be said that the entire building has an undeniable nostalgic energy about it. I half-expected to turn around and see someone following closely behind us, listening to us as we discussed the ghostly experiences had by so many in the building.
Natatorium Bookstore on the Route 66 side (April Slaughter)
It is no wonder that the Amarillo Natatorium has garnered so much attention from paranormal enthusiasts and curious locals, as stories of ghostly couples dancing to unheard music on the large wooden dance floor are sure to be a draw for anyone interested in experiencing the unknown. Should you ever have the opportunity to visit the Nat, take the time to enjoy a good book, a good story, and perhaps have a ghostly encounter of your own.
CHAPTER 2
Motley County Jail
MATADOR
Motley County Jail exterior (April Slaughter)
IN 1876, MOTLEY COUNTY WAS ESTABLISHED in the Texas Panhandle following a steep decline in the area’s buffalo population and after the Indians who once called this region home had been relocated to reservations. Signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, J.W. Mottley became the county’s namesake, though the spelling of his name was slightly changed in the process. Originally, Matador was not an actual town, but was a working ranch in the county created and managed by Henry H. Campbell. When organizing the county in 1891, the General Land Office required that there be at least twenty commercial enterprises in Matador before designating it the county seat. Campbell encouraged several local men to set up one-day businesses to fulfill the requirement, and the town of Matador was officially born. He also became the town’s first elected judge.
A growing number of outlaws became such a problem in the area, that in 1891 the Motley County Jail was erected to help keep offenders under control. The jail construction provided a much needed resource for men to generate a small income to support their families, as business and money-making opportunities were scarce at the time. The building’s sandstone was manually hauled in by workers from Salt Creek, about five miles west of Matador; it was no easy task to complete. Upon completion, the top floor of the two-story structure housed the cells, while the lower level was made into living quarters for the jailer.
Tom Fulcher, a handsome local, was one of the first people to occupy space in the new jail after he was arrested for the murder of a man by the name of Mr. Beamer. The community of Matador was shocked by the arrest, but not nearly as shocked as they would be when Fulcher somehow quickly managed to break free. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the offense, but never spent any additional time in prison.
A cowboy named Joe Beckham was appointed to become the town’s first sheriff, though his service to Matador was less of a priority for him than his outlaw ways. During the Oklahoma Land Giveaway, Beckham left the state of Texas to stake a claim of his own and was replaced as sheriff by a man who eventually arrested Beckham for fraud upon his return to Matador. District Judge Billy McGill ruled that the current sheriff had been illegally appointed, and chose to replace him with someone new rather than restoring Beckham’s title. Needless to say, Beckham was not pleased with the situation and decided instead to exact his own justice by arresting the new sheriff along with his deputies and hauling them off to jail himself. As a result, the governor of Texas sent Texas Rangers in to deal with the issue. They eventually caught up with Beckham in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma and shot him to death.
In the decades that have since passed, the Motley County Jail housed a fair amount of offenders until it closed in 1982. Earlier, in 1976, the jail had been recognized as a Texas Historic Landmark and remains today as a reminder of the frontier history of the state.
On my way out to Matador with Allen, I enjoyed driving through what seemed like dozens of sparsely populated towns. Matador itself has a population of less than one thousand people—three hundred shy of its high in 1940. The buildings downtown sit alongside typical old-town roads, with wider than normal streets and businesses lined up right next to one another. The Motley County Jail sits just beyond the downtown strip, disconnected and solitary.
I can only imagine what life would have been like for those spending any amount of time behind bars in the jail, as they awaited their sentences and served their time for whatever crimes they may have committed. It is quite possible that the wide range of emotions flowing in and out of the jail during