Book Review: The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm by Richard Estep

In 2008, Rob and Vicki Graves and their two sons purchased Fox Hollow Farm a sprawling eighteen-and-a-half-acre horse farm located outside of Indianapolis, Indiana.  The farm seemed the perfect place to raise a family.  The house was built in 1977 and even had an indoor pool.  There was one drawback though--the house and property were stigmatized by the deeds of the previous owner Herb Baumeister. 

To members of the community, Herb Baumeister appeared to be a successful business man and devoted family man.  Under the mild-mannered facade lurked one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.  The discovery of over 5,500 human bones in 1996 on the property of Fox Hollow Farm exposed Herb Baumeister secret life.  Baumeister reign of terror likely started before moving to Fox Hollow Farm.  In the 1980s bodies of young men were discovered on I-70 and many suspect that Baumeister was the I-70 Killer.  After moving to Fox Hollow Farm, Baumeister trolled Indianapolis gay bars luring his victims back to his home where he would strangle them in the indoor pool.  Baumeister then discarded his victims bodies on the farm.  The true number of Baumeister's victims have never been determined and human bone fragments are still occasionally found on the farm.  Baumeister escaped justice by committing suicide in Canada in 1996.

Despite this dark history, the Graves purchased the property and moved in.  The family were skeptical of the paranormal and expected to live a quite life on the farm.  Their peace was quickly shattered by paranormal activity.  Vicki Graves started to see a young man in a red t-shirt walking into the woods that surrounded the home.  This was not a typically trespasser, as the young man had no legs.  Paranormal activity became more intense after a family friend moved into the in-law apartment.

 

Word of the paranormal activity at the house became public when an episode of Ghost Adventures was filmed at Fox Hollow Farm.  Intrigued by the reports, paranormal investigator Richard Estep visited the house in 2016 and 2018 to see if he could capture any activity.  Richard Estep documents his two investigations in his new book The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm published by Llewellyn.  The book is co-authored by Robert Graves and provides a fascinating look into life in a stigmatized house.  This is not The Amityville Horror, another infamous murder house where the alleged paranormal activity was so intense that the family had to flee in terror.  Rather, the Graves family continue to own and live on the farm.  After a period of rather intense paranormal activity, the spirits of Fox Hollow have calmed down and the family has learned to coexist with their spectral housemates.

Richard Estep is a thorough and dedicated paranormal investigator and left no stone unturned in his quest for the truth behind the paranormal activity.  The book chronicles Estep's investigation in 2016 and 2018.  Determined to understand the activity at the farm, Estep interviewed witnesses, physics, and even one of Baumeister's intended victims that escaped from the farm with his life.  The investigation uncovered evidence that not all the spirits were human and raised the provocative question if a spirit can achieve redemption.  At times spine-chilling, The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm is a must read and one of the best paranormal books of 2019.

The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm is available on Amazon.     

For more on Richard Estep visit his website.        

Paranormal Classic: Ghost Hunter by Hans Holzer

When I was in high school, my first exposure to the paranormal was through the books of Hans Holzer.  I found a small selection of his books at my high school library and eagerly checked them out, carefully hiding them in my backpack to insure that my grandmother would not find what I was reading.  At the time I was just starting my museum career by volunteering at the Whaley House in Old Town San Diego and Hans Holzer was a legend at the site for the seances he held in the 1960s at the site with the medium Sybil Leek.  Hans Holzer for better or worse helped make the Whaley House famous.  The house was known locally for its legends and lore, but after appearing in Ghosts of the Golden West (1968) the museum was exposed to a national audience and became a must-see tourist attraction.  There was only one problem--the information Sybil Leek relayed in her trance readings could not be  verified by the historical record.  This proved a very important moment in my development as a historian as I began to critically analyze the works of mediums and paranormal investigators against the historic record.  I stopped reading Holzer's works and turned to other writers to satisfy my interest in the topic.  I recently decided to reassess the works of Hans Holzer who passed away in 2009 after it was announced that the Travel Channel will be airing a new series The Holzer Files based on his case files in October 2019.     

Hans Holzer was born in Austria in 1920.  His interest in the paranormal was sparked as a child.  Though at first he did not foresee that he would turn his interest into a successful career.  Holzer studied archaeology and ancient history at the University of Vienna.  His studies were interrupted by the fear of  Nazi Germany's interest in Austria and the Holzer family immigrated to the United States in 1938 escaping the horrors of World War II.  Settling in New York City, Hans Holzer made his living as a free-lance writer which allowed him to travel extensively after World War II.  As a free-lance writer, Holzer started to write on paranormal topics.  He became perhaps one of the first modern professional paranormal investigators, working with a group of trance mediums and psychics.  As a self proclaimed "artistic person," Holzer mingled with artists, writers, and the social elite, many of them interested in the paranormal.  In 1963, Holzer published his first book Ghost Hunter detailing his investigations.

Hans Holzer in the 1960s (Image courtesy of  Wikipedia Media )

Ghost Hunter was a groundbreaking book and introduced ghost hunting to middle-America.  The book is as a crackling good read.  Holzer was a very talented writer and knew how to tell a good story.  Through the pages of Ghost Hunter, Hans Holzer takes his reader through swanky New York apartments and secluded country homes in search of restless spirits.  In suite and tie, Holzer hunted the ghosts of artists, Colonial soldiers, and murdered playboys.  Ghost hunting has never been as cool or sophisticated as it was in Holzer's era.  I can't help feeling that Holzer would be appalled by today's ghost hunters attired in matching team t-shirts, baggy jeans, with pockets bulging with electronic equipment and e-cigarettes.
 
Holzer admits that he was an impatient ghost hunter and did not like to sit in a darkened room trying to contact ghosts, rather he preferred action and enlisted mediums to speak to the ghosts.  And that was one of Holzer's major failings as a ghost hunter.  He relied too much on the word of physics over the historic record.  Throughout Ghost Hunter, Holzer unquestioningly relied on the readings of physic Ethel Johnson-Meyers, bending the historic record to match her readings.  The best example being "The Fifth Avenue Ghost" investigation where Holzer asserted that Confederate General Samuel McGowan was murdered in New York City and that his death was covered up for years by his family before his "official" death was announced in 1897.  The claim strains credibility.

Hans Holzer is also a product of his era and as a result exhibits the prejudices of his timeperiod.  He looked down on everyone that was not part of his social set.  "Fortunately, I have a low opinion of police intelligence," Holzer declared while writing about his search for an illusive location (pg. 105).  People of color are not represented in his cases, the ghosts and clients are all lily-white and belong to the upper class.  In one egregious example, Holzer forces himself into an apartment without being invited by the current occupants because of a story he received from a prior tenant.  "Finally, I decided to send a letter announcing my forthcoming visit three days hence at one thirty in the afternoon, and would they please be in, as I had the permission of their landlord to see them," Holzer wrote (pg. 81).  Needless to say, Holzer was allowed in the apartment.  The current tenants, a working-class Puerto Rican family had never experienced anything paranormal in their apartment.  Holzer's behaviour and his attitude while recounting his exploits in this case are simply cringe worthy. 

While parts of Ghost Hunter are painfully marred by the authors prejudices, the book is an important work in paranormal literature and should be read by every investigator and writer.  Without the work of Holzer and other early pioneers of paranormal research and investigation, ghost hunting would not have become the pop culture phenomena that it is today.  Holzer had a profound impact on my interest in the paranormal and for that I will always be grateful. 

Ghost Hunter: The Groundbreaking Classic of Paranormal Investigation is available for purchase from Amazon             
   

Civil War Ghosts

My new book Civil War Ghosts is available in paperback and ebook from Haunted Road Media.  From the publisher:

While the War Between The States raged, the country’s spirits were restless... Civil War Ghosts takes a look inside real ghost stories reported at the time of the Civil War. Covering each year from 1860 - 1865, explore real newspaper articles that weren't afraid to write about paranormal activity happening throughout the country during a time of national upheaval. Civil War Ghosts is a unique supernatural look at America while the states battled each other.

Civil War Ghosts is available for purchase at Amazon.