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Maurice Schwalm was an innovative paranormal investigator based out of Kansas
City in the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's. Its amazing how many investigations Mr. Schwalm organized and led in and
around the Kansas City Metro Area. He was a product of his time...and his investigation style involved seances,
psychics, and other techniques that were the norm at that time.
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MO-KAN Ghosts by Maurice Schwalm is an out-of-print book. You can't order it at Barnes
& Noble or Amazon, but I have found one place you can buy it. Click here to buy it
on-line from Toad Hall Inc. for $14.95.
The material from the book presented below is not presented here for gain or profit, but simply to acknowledge
Mr. Schwalm and promote recognition of his work. Hopefully the attention will help Toad Hall Inc. sell copies of
this interesting book. We'd like to see it back in-print and more widely available. |
Below is a report included in MO-KAN Ghosts about the Strawberry
Hill Museum, and a casual investigation conducted there in 1996. Its interesting to see the results of a paranormal
investigation conducted almost 10 years before ours. Below that, you'll find information about Maurice Schwalm
himself from the Forward to MO-KAN Ghosts. And we close out this section of the report with some observations and
comparisons between Mr. Schwalm's 1996 investigation and our 2006 investigation.....
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THE STRAWBERRY HILL MUSEUM
AN INVESTIGATION REPORT WRITTEN BY MAURICE SCHWALM
FILED IN SEPTEMBER OF 1996
The Kansas City Star
carried an intriguing item regarding a haunting on February 29, 1996 - considering their editorial policy permits
few such items except at Halloween. It was in Hearne Christopher's metro gossip column. He was reporting on the
marriage of Kansas City, Kansas Mayor Carl Marinovitch at the chapel of "The Strawberry Hill Chapel and Museum."
He mentions that it was a good thing that the happy couple did not plan on spending a night in one of the bedrooms
on the premises, as the building is known to be haunted.
A volunteer worker there told Christopher about "The Lady in Red."
She frequently appears out of nowhere and asks, "Where is the priest?" This happens at the front desk.
She has also been seen processing down the aisle of the chapel wearing 1940's style red clothing, possessed of
red hair, and trailing blood. This alone would seem enough to justify her appellation as "The Lady in Red."
A visit to the premisis suggested that The Lady in Red is a frequent guest and
the subject of a neighborhood tradition. An officer of the association showed me around the premisis. Predictably,
a knocking sound was heard in one of the upstairs hallways and not at a point mentioned as the site of other phenomena.
The officer cheerfully responded when the knocking sound was mentioned to him.
"Oh, I hear a voice saying 'Hello there' every now and then, but I have never actually seen her."
I asked her name and date of death. The officer said those details had never
been mentioned to him by anyone in the neighborhood. All that was really known about her was that she was a woman
of the streets who was under the protection of the Franciscan Sisters, who formerly operated an orphanage on the
premises.
I then asked how she got to be known as The Lady in Red. Was she murdered or
what?
The officer looked uncomfortable and said, "Well, the story is she died in
a botched abortion."
Now I understood why no names or dates are mentioned even though the haunting
is known all through the Croatian community that is still centered on Strawberry Hill. It appears that ghosts
are quiet openly discussed and even seances would be tolerated, but abortion remains a taboo subject.
There were other phenomena as well. A caterer on business reported seeing a haloed
form sort of hanging in a closet. It reminded her of a picture she had seen somewhere. Mr. C., the first owner
of the vast but simple stone structure, had some connection with the image - as if she had gone back in time.
Another business visitor, who has vowed not to return, heard the nuns saying their office of prayers upstairs where
they formally lived. Again, a time warp form of experience.
Locking up the building at night is a formidable task as the lights are promptly
on again before the officer can drive away. These would be the lights visible from the street. The officer frequently
hears from a neighbor adjacent to the rear of the building that the rear lights come on after the building is closed
for the night and darkness has set in. The neighbor apparently makes a point of keeping suspicious light bulbs
under surveillance.
That night, after visiting the building, I had what might be termed a lucid dream.
At least, I was able to ask questions of The Lady in Red.
"Why are you there at the chapel? You were not a nun by any means."
"It was the only home I knew. They took care of me when I was down."
"Did you abort?"
"She haunts me. I need a priest."
Perhaps she needs an exorcist to sever the "umbilical cord."
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MAURICE SCHWALM: THE MAN AND HIS METHODS
The following is from the Forward to MO-KAN GHOSTS, and focuses on
Maurice Schwalm, his life, his motivations, and his techniques. Keep in mind that his techniques were very much
the "standard" for his era of paranormal investigations...and some still use these techniques today.
While Ghost Vigil investigators do not use seances, talking-boards, psychics, or other similar methods...we do
respect and admire the wide-body of work that Maurice Schwalm contributed to the world of paranormal investigation....
Maurice Schwalm first became interested in the paranormal at the age of twelve, when
his dog Butchy was accidentally left some seven miles away from home. When Butchy later showed up on the Schwalm
doorstep, Maurice discovered that lost animals are believed to find their way back using extrasensory perception.
Fortunately, Maurice's investigations and childhood experiences with the
paranormal were never discouraged by his family or friends. As a child, he had a severe leg infection which threatened
to turn to gangrene. He decided to try religious meditation. His family belonged to the Unity Church and had a
picture of Jesus "in the garden." Maurice meditated on the picture and his leg healed, leaving only a
normal scar.
After that, whenever he had problems he would meditate. He describes what would happen, upon these meditations,
as Jesus would appear as a picture on the wall that moved. His immediate family found the healing and meditations
quite normal. They encouraged this method, in fact.
His serious investigations into the occult did not begin until 1970, when he was appointed Program Chairman of
a local psychic lecture group. In the beginning of his investigations, Maurice would arrange for a large group
of people, who claimed receptivity to the spirit world, to meet at a "haunted" location. The procedure
was for each person separately to write down his or her impressions while on location. Later, Maurice would correlate
them, looking for a pattern of recognition and an explanation for whatever motivated the entity (or entities) to
haunt the premises.
As time went by, working with a large group became unwieldy. The number was whittled down to a few and eventually
to only one psychic at a time (in the manner of famed psychic investigator Hans Holzer). More recently, Maurice
has worked exclusively with Nita Taske, who wrote the introduction to this book. |
SO WHAT'S IT ALL MEAN?
Its interesting the similarities and the differences between the paranormal stories/legends
related in Mr. Schwalm's in his 1996 report and the paranormal stories/legends related to us by Francie in 2006.
Some of them seem to have morphed and changed over time, with many tellings of the tales. But many of the basic
facts and details remain basically the same.
Mr. Schwalm's investigation was more of a casual visit than a full investigation.
But its interesting how much detailed information Mr. Schwalm was able to gather on The Lady in Red. We can't
be 100% sure how much of it is legend and exaggeration...but its much more information than we received about this
particular legend. The thing he reportely provides is the cause of The Lady in Red (an abortion) and her motivations
(seeking forgiveness.) Again...all of this is legend, some guess-work, and Mr. Schwalm's psychic impressions...but
its interesting all the same.
Well, for the paranormal investigators of Ghost Vigil Investigations, it was an
amazing honor to investigate a location that captured the interest of Maurice Schwalm almost a decade before it
caught ours. If you are interested in paranormal locations in the Kansas City Metro Area, then click here and buy a
copy of Maurice Schwalm's MO-KAN Ghosts!
-Mark Stinson
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