The Sooner Corral

GHOULI has heard many stories over the years about this particular location. We received many leads and emails about the alleged plethora of paranormal phenomena occurring here. Finally one of our new researchers Julie W. stepped in and began the research and interview process as this was a place she was very interested in. GHOULI did a preliminary investigation accompanied by a film crew from Oklahoma City University. To our surprise we found some interesting things at this location. Following is the initial report filed by Julie W. along with some data we collected. We plan to return at least twice more to this place Spring 2005. We would like to thank the owners and staff of The Sooner Corral, the OCU film crew and Julie for all her hard work .

The Sooner Corral is a bustling nightclub featuring diverse music and entertainment. At one time it was known as the Westerneer Ballroom. Owned by Bill A. Mays and his wife. There is argument as to when the exact date it was built, but between 1948-1952 is when it was constructed. There is also debate as to whether or not an airplane hanger existed in the location before the Westerneer. Many famous names
have come and gone from the Westerneer, but most notably, the rumor that Al Capone liked to hang out at this location, however no historical evidence has yet to be found linking him to this location. It was mainly country and western entertainment, dancing, and beer. They featured the likes of Elvis, Dolly Parton, Toby Keith, Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, etc. pre-stardom. The Westerneer was featured in 3 movies and 7 television shows over the years. At some point in the early 90's the
Westerneer was bought and changed its name to the Silver Dollar Saloon. Things were rough around this time, drugs and crime were running rampant and the bar was also busted for Meth Labs several times. Eventually the Silver Dollar changed over to the Sooner Corral.

The Sooner Corral reportedly has many ghosts coming and going. Richard, the current owner, and his employees have nicknamed some of these spirits. He's also seen a full blown apparition go to flesh and blood. Gris is the name of the ghostly bouncer, who stands and watches over the bar. He can be
aggressive towards people who need attitude adjustments. Richard tells me of a story involving an employee. As it goes, the employee saw a very large man just standing in the mends restroom, never budging. The employee even hit the man, but he never moved. The employee left, frightened out of his mind! Richard also tells a story of his former partner who worked at the bar. Apparently his partner had gotten drunk and decided to sleep, so he started a fire in the fireplace and lined up a few chairs and slept on them. Richard meanwhile cleaned up and vacuumed and decided to leave for the night since his partner wasn't waking up. At some point the partner felt someone touch him right between the eyes and say "How dare you sleep in my house!" Needless to say, that sobered him up really quick!

Tammy is the manager of the Sooner Corral, she has spent time alone there. There are two upstairs areas, one is a private lounge on the West end, and one is the "Red Room" or office on the East end. She and another person stayed the night once in this red room, the other person got up to use the restroom and came back to lay down. As they laid there they both heard what can only be described as a man peeing into the toilet, then attempting to flush it. Tammy is also aware of Yosemite Sam
aka Taz by Richard. He gets his name because he's a cowboy, he wears spurs that can be heard when he walks across the dance floor. He also wears a wide brim hat, and has been known to wear a trench coat. He likes to hang around the bar area, and the storage room has to be neat the way he likes it or things will be thrown around. People have seen his shadow pass by the storage room many times. It is also rumored that the spirit of a little girl exists in the bar. A former employee's daughter had "played" with the little girl once. She doesn't seem to be as active as the others. The employees likes to leave out 2 to 3 beers for Sam and Gris, they have never gone 3 days without leaving beers otherwise the
ghosts will act out. Same goes for when they close for the night, the employee closing has to announce who's opening the next day. There are many spirits here according to employees, only two have names so far, there are also some very affectionate female spirits. In the upstairs lounge a woman has been heard crying. This has also been captured on EVP. The downstairs bathroom also has a woman, I have heard her whispering personally! Also just a list of the paranormal things that happen often: shadow walkers and apparitions can be seen out of the corner of your eye if you know what to look for, stuff falling, group of people talking upstairs, dartboards stay lit after turned off, bottle caps thrown on the floor, footsteps, etc. There are so many things going on at the Sooner Corral it would take a years to collect all the stories, and happenings here.

This photo was later ruled out as reflection from the white board in the background.	This is a lightened version of the same pic if you look closely on the right you will se what at first appears to be a ghostly apparition	Close up. Russell returned to the location and discovered a reach-in freezer behind the back wall of the bar causing this false positive.
The Sooner main stage area many people report this end of the building as being "heavy". Reactive SSP was recorded in the "Red Room" above the stage.		Unknown anomaly top right.