It was a rainy weekend in April when my team visited Atlanta, Indiana. This was the first time most of us had been to the Roads Hotel and we were excited for our two night stay. A teammate who had visited a few years earlier had told us of an experience in which a small boy walked in on her in the bathroom and although none of us really wanted a bathroom guest, the idea of seeing a full body apparition had us excited for the possibilities. 

We had decided to go without the DVR this weekend and just set up a few individual cameras while we rotated through the space. Things started off slow with nothing more than the occasional REMpod hit in the front parlor doorway. We were beginning to feel as though no one was interested in speaking with us and started chatting amongst ourselves. Somehow we got on the topic of gambling. We discussed casinos and our personal experiences when suddenly the REMpod in the parlor doorway began sounding more consistently. We tried to convince whoever may have been interacting with the pod to come into the other room to chat with us. Eventually a team member asked “are you excited about us talking about gambling?” and a solid hit on the pod quickly followed. Next the team member stated “we are going to have a poker game tomorrow, do you want to play?” More REMpod hits. Later in the conversation, I noted that since the hotel was rumored to be a speakeasy, we should bring our new friends some whiskey. Once again, the pod appeared to react to this statement. 

The next day, the team went out to get some poker chips and discussed purchasing some whiskey. One team member noted that it seemed unfair to offer a “spirit” a glass of alcohol that he could not actually drink so we didn’t get any. A little before 8:30 that night, the team along with Mike Couch (the caretaker of Roads Hotel) set-up a poke game in the front room. Immediately, the REMpod, now in a different doorway, started to sound. We dealt a few games for just our group and then decided to play a hand for anyone else who may want to join. One of our team members started using a spirit box to see if she could get any response and we were surprised when she started saying things like “they won”, “one” (card), “where’s the whiskey”, “fold”, “good hand”, “stay”, “double down”, and “one more chip”. Many of these responses appeared to be in direct response to what was happening in the game. 

At one point, a team member asks for our new friend’s name and at first there isn’t a response but eventually the name Lester comes out. The interesting thing about Lester, is that there is a story of a Reverend Lester Poor who supposedly hung himself in the attic. As part of my pre-investigation research, I went looking for Lester and I found census records from 1900 showing that Reverend Lester Poor was at Roads Hotel and that his date of birth was November 8, 1872. Using this information, I was able to find an obituary for Lester C. Poor. Lester died January 17, 1967 in Seattle, Washington at the age of 94. At first, you might say “that isn’t the same guy” but when you read the obituary it states that Lester was born in Warsaw, Indiana which is an hour and a half north of Atlanta, Indiana where the Roads Hotel is located. 

The team member using the spirit box is never allowed to do any research before we visit a new location so she (and most of the team) had no idea that there was anyone named Lester associated with the building. So why would this name come up during our poker game? It is possible that people visiting the hotel don’t always do enough research beforehand and use whatever information is quickly found on the internet. In this case, the hanging death of Lester Poor would be referenced by ghost hunters regularly. It is believed that through repetitive use of false stories, we can imprint a story onto a location that is not true. If this is the case, perhaps repeated tellings of the “Lester” story have created something that refers to itself as Lester. Of course, this is all theoretical and based on spirit box/Estes investigation methods which are far from scientific. That doesn’t make them any less interesting. 

If you would like to see a condensed version of our 40 plus minute poker game, you can find it here.

Until next time, keep researching and Happy Hunting!