Crocker Optimistic Paranormal Society, COPS

19/02/2024

30/10/2023

Fr. Dan Reehil, a priest of the Diocese of Nashville and the diocesan exorcist, discussed the dangers connected to Ouija boards and other occult-adjacent activities.

28/10/2023

October 14, 2011

As for a little bit of history:

THE AREA: The town of Newburg itself is considered a special kind of phenomenon that occurred during the Steam Age. It was a town that didn’t exist until the Frisco Railroad bought the area and built it from the ground up. So essentially Newburg was built “For the Railroad, By the Railroad.” As a result, the people of the town reflected that demographic and the town was a little rough and tumble no matter how many years passed.

The area itself is parallel to the “Trail of Tears” which ran right alongside the Little Piney River which is within yelling distance of the front doors to the Houston House. During the Civil War the area was contested and several skirmishes were fought between north and south over the area. There were troops camped up and down the length of the Little Piney in the Newburg/Mill Creek Area (A trading post was located at Mill Creek).

THE FAMILY: The Houston House itself was one of the very first buildings, along with its family residence (called the Annex, now known as the Newburg Children’s Museum of Natural History) to be built in Newburg. It was built by William “Pa” Harris who was a bit of a hotel mogul during that time. He was a savvy business man who owned a hotels/diners in several other railroad towns along the Frisco line. When he heard the railroad was building a town just for its purposes, he immediately headed from the Dixon area to Newburg and bought up a huge tract of land just opposite of the tracks and right across from where the depot was to be built. He build a family home and a Hotel/Diner. The “Railroad Hotel Eating House” as it was originally called opened its doors in January of 1884 the same day that the Railroad Roundhouse became Functional. When he passed away, his daughter Martha “Matt” and her husband Jerry Houston took over. The place was then renamed “Houston House.” When Matt passed away, management was taken over by her twin children: Homer and Helen Houston. Homer pre-deceased Helen by many years and Helen operated the Houston House with her Friend Ruth Noland ( a Widowed mother of one son) and the help of a male friend who served as caretaker/groundskeeper.

During the 70’s the hotel portion of the Houston house was closed down and only the front rooms of the first floor were operational as a diner. It was during this time that a vagrant broke into the establishment and accidentally set fire to the third floor. The House lost almost 90% of its roof in the blaze but no deaths were reported in connection to the fire.

Houston house operated successfully for a long span of years, owned exclusively by the Harris Family and it’s direct descendants until the death of Helen Houston in the early 1980’s.

The house has been both hotel and diner for more years than it has stood empty. It changed hands several times after Helen’s death and passed out of the family’s hands to several different owners until it ended up the private property of the Newburg Community Revitalization Program Group (NCRPG) who continues to work toward a full restoration of this grand old establishment as one of its many community projects designed to revitalize the community of Newburg and bring some semblance of its past glory back to life. In its heyday, Newburg was a flourishing, boomtown, full to capacity with all the most modern facilities and the railroad kept business coming and going 24 hours a day right up until the Frisco railroad shut down, Diesel became king and then, the town became obsolete.

The town is now almost literally a “ghost town” in the purest historical sense but it is still saturated with 100 plus years of living, dying and undying history.

Lisa Ours
Director: Paranormal Committee NCRPG
Team Leader: Nevermore Paranormal Investigations
http://www.nevermorepara.com
573-308-9475

11/08/2023

09/03/2023

They’re not in good spirits.

10/11/2022

Are "cold spots" in rooms caused by paranormal activity?

29/10/2022

As the veil thins and All Hallows Eve approach's, look for these signs from loved ones.

When our loved ones pass, do they communicate that they are still with us? Here are the 6 most common signs that may hold the answer.

24/10/2022

In honor of this special time of the year, here are five stories of hauntings in the United States, from the northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest, and Mid

14/10/2022

These Halloween legends and superstitions are frightfully fascinating!

11/09/2022

10/09/2022

Today we want to hit up a few places in particular that are supposedly...no POSSIBLY...no MORE THAN LIKELY haunted! With stories that could make the hairs on...

09/09/2022

Do you dare visit these places yourself?

07/09/2022

So, you just realized you are sharing space with a ghost; now what? If you find yourself sharing space regularly with a ghost, A Witch's Guide to the Paranormal author J. Allen ...

24/07/2022

Some people dream of building a time machine. One Missouri man really did it and did one thing very few can claim. He disappeared.

16/07/2022

What is your opinion? Comment below!

Ever have a bad dream when you were a kid or be convinced there was something in a nearby closet or under a bed? There's a new security cam video from a Missouri family's toddler room which shows there may be something strange like that going on.

01/02/2022

In the woods of the Missouri Ozarks near Branson, three men share the story of a flying humanoid encounter.

13/01/2022

You can laugh, but ask just about anyone who's lived in Pike County, Missouri for a good amount of time and they will tell you that there is a Mo-Mo that lives in that part of the state. There is evidence that what they believe may very well be true.

11/01/2022

This is a Missouri legend that dates back over 200 years. It's a beast known as the Ozark Howler and the stories that locals tell vary but all point to something dark and loud hiding in the Missouri Ozarks.

01/01/2022

There are few buildings in Missouri with a more twisted history than the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis. According to multiple investigations over the decades, there is a belief that it is haunted by at least 9 ghosts.