Prairie Ghosts
THE STONE LION INN - GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA
by Troy Taylor
In 1986, the house was purchased by Becky Luker, who with the help of her two sons, converted the house into an inn. Soon after moving in, the family began hearing the sounds of feet padding up and down a stairway at night and the sound of a door being somehow opened and closed. After calling the police several times and finding nothing, the family began to realize that the answer to what was going on was a little stranger than they first imagined.The most haunted areas of the house, or at least the ones which seemed to be affected the most, were the back staircase of the house, where the footsteps were heard between the hours of ten and midnight, and the large closet on the third floor, where Mrs. Luker's youngest son stored his toys. The toys and games would be neatly put away each night and the door locked, then the next morning, they would be found scattered all over the floor.
After living in the house for some time, the Lukers were visited by some former occupants of the house. Their father, F.E. Houghton, had built the place in 1907 and had lived there with his family. Although they had many good memories of the house, they had also had a sister who had died there. Augusta Houghton had been 8 years old and had contracted whooping cough. Apparently, a maid had given her the wrong kind of medicine and she had died.The elderly Houghton siblings believed the ghost in the house could be that of their sister. Could the sound of the footsteps going up the back stairs to the third floor toy room be those of Augusta? They explained that the toy chest in the closet had been the same one they had used many years ago and before Augusta had become ill, they had had climbed the back stairs to play, between ten and midnight, after the grown-ups had fallen asleep.
The Stone Lion Inn is located in Guthrie, Oklahoma, which is in the central part of the state and about thirty minutes north of Oklahoma City.