Little Bohemia Lodge Investigation
This blog post was written by Whitney Dankemeyer, one half of Two Halves of a Soul.
John Herbert Dillinger was born on Monday, June 22, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indiana to Mary Ellen Lancaster and John Wilson Dillinger. By the time John was three years old, Mary Ellen passed away unexpectedly from a stroke. With the significant loss of a parental figure so young, John Sr. struggled maintaining a healthy relationship with his son. Both Johns refused to respect the other, and Dillinger refused parenting from his stepmother, which led to the physical abuse from his father throughout adolescence. Through this series of unfortunate events, the Dillinger boy had always lived a troubled life.
John Dillinger never finished his education, so when he dropped out of school, he was hired at a local machine shop. His long absences from home and peculiar activities started to worry his father, so he came up with the solution that selling the property and moving to Mooresville, Indiana would correct his behavior. Spoiler alert, it didn’t.
No matter what the Dillinger boy did, he was always found at the root of a problem. When his father couldn’t keep him out of trouble anymore and John was busted for auto theft, he decided it was time his son enlisted in the Navy. Knowing John’s track record, though, you wouldn’t be surprised if I told you he jumped ship when they docked in Boston, would you? Of course not!
John fled and returned to Mooresville, Indiana, in 1924 where he married a young, sixteen-year-old girl by the name of Beryl Hovius. They attempted relocating to Indianapolis to start a better life for themselves, but history began repeating itself when Dillinger couldn’t hold any job he was hired for, let alone find any work he enjoyed. It wasn’t until he came across a man named Ed Singleton that Dillinger thought his life would turn around. Instead, he found himself in even more trouble than he ever had before.
Ed Singleton and John Dillinger were caught red-handed in a grocery store robbery on September 6, 1924. Dillinger struck grocery store owner Frank Morgan with an iron bolt covered in cloth, but Morgan survived his injuries. While Singleton pleaded not guilty, Dillinger took his father’s advice and confessed to the crime. This confession resulted with convictions of assault and battery (with the intent to rob), conspiracy to commit a felony, and two joint sentences of 2-14 years and 10-20 years. Singleton got 2-14 years in the Indiana State Prison, and Dillinger received the 10-20 years sentence.
John ended up serving eight and a half years in the Indiana State Prison and was paroled on May 10, 1933, but his freedom was merely short and sweet. On September 22, 1933, Dillinger was caught and arrested again, but for robbing a bank in Ohio this time. He was transported to Lima, Ohio’s county jail where he was held, but didn’t stay very long. Police discovered what appeared to be a plan for jailbreak, but when Dillinger was confronted, he denied knowing anything about it. Yet, four days later, eight of the prisoners followed procedure and expedited that exact plan successfully. Well, that is if we’re not including the two police officers they shot in the process of their escape.
The gang fled the jail and proceeded to rob many banks and police arsenals until they arrived in Tucson, Arizona on January 23, 1934. While staying in Arizona, a fire was started in the hotel they were staying in. A couple of firemen, who arrived on scene, happened to recognize two of the gang members from photographs. The two men photographed were Clark and Makely, who were arrested alongside Dillinger and another member, Pierpont. From this arrest, they recovered two rifles, three machine guns, five bulletproof vests, and over $25,000 in cash from a previous bank robbery.
Despite Dillinger’s arrest, it’s pretty clear now that this is the life he’s chosen for himself. So, if Dillinger broke out of one jail already, wouldn’t you expect him to attempt to break out of the others?
Exactly. And Dillinger did just that.
This second jailbreak is incredibly comical, though, and let me explain to you why. John Dillinger had a gun held up to a police officer on March 3, 1934, threatening to kill him if he wouldn’t open the cell. Not only did the guard open the cell so he could steal machine guns and lock all guards up to get away, but the gun he held up to the officer’s back was actually a fake, wooden, handmade gun. Iconic.
The only flaw in this escape plan to Chicago was that Dillinger hopped into the sheriff’s vehicle and took off with it across state lines. Him having crossed the state lines broke the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, which is a federal offense. This situation is what commenced the Federal Bureau of Investigation to state their nationwide search for John Herbert Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1.
After a month of hiding, on March 30, 1934, a tenant reported suspicious activity in the Lincoln Court Apartments in St. Paul, Minnesota about other guests with the name “Mr. and Mrs. Hellman.” When authorities arrived and knocked on the door, Dillinger’s new woman, Evelyn “Billie” Frechette, closed the door in their faces. The FBI began surveilling the apartment building when they noticed a strange man coming down the hall. When confronted, gang member Van Meter opened fire on the agent, and so did the couple who swung the apartment door open and continued shooting while they fled the building. These people were Evelyn and John, who managed to escape out the back door.
Once the group was able to escape the building, they rushed to mobster Eddie Green’s apartment where Dillinger briefly stayed to heal himself from a gunshot wound. After that, Evelyn and John went back to Mooresville, Indiana, until the day Frechette went up to Chicago. There she was arrested, ended up convicted, was fined, and had been sentenced to two years in a prison in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the meantime, Dillinger and Van Meter had robbed a police station and fled to hide out in Upper Michigan. That was when the FBI received a tip of unusual guests at the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin.
The land Little Bohemia Lodge still stands on was purchased by Emil Wanatka in 1926 but built in 1915. At some point in owning this business, Wanatka began to struggle financially and eventually sought out legal counsel. This is when he started working with Louis Piquett. Piquett was also acquainted with Dillinger around this time period, so it was believed that in exchange for generous rent payments to stay in the lodge, Wanatka’s family would house the group of mobsters and keep quiet. Keep in mind that Dillinger’s $500 rent payments are equivalent to about $5,600 present day. So, as a result, the Little Bohemia Lodge was a place Dillinger and his gang would hide out from the feds. (The Illinois Supreme Court did end up disbarring Piquett later for harboring Dillinger’s friend Van Meter, and they revoked his license to practice law, sentenced him to two years in jail, and charged him a $10,000 fine.)
But what caused the Wanatka’s to turn Dillinger and his guests in not even a month later?
There are many reasons why it is said the Wanatka’s contacted the FBI, but one of the main reasons was regarding the safety of their lodge. Some say Mrs. Wanatka discovered that Dillinger was worth $10,000 for his capture, but Emil was also concerned about being charged for harboring a criminal. It actually wasn’t until they were being followed by these mobsters and having their phone calls listened in on when they officially decided to contact authorities.
Henry Voss, Mrs. Wanatka’s brother-in-law, was met up with by Mrs. Wanatka once she was able to speak with him alone. It appeared she struggled that day with getting Nelson off her tail, even after asking Dillinger for permission to leave the lodge.
The day of the raid, however, Mrs. Wanatka was with Mrs. Voss, Henry’s wife, at the lodge when she overheard Dillinger was thinking of fleeing and hiding out somewhere else. Mrs. Voss quickly sped to Henry Voss so he could call the FBI. It is said when Henry Voss contacted the FBI, he went as far as to provide a visual roadmap of the property and the entire layout of the lodge. FBI agent Melvin Purvis had flown into Rhinelander, Wisconsin and was with other agents trying to borrow vehicles from local dealerships (to disguise their arrival), but plans were now rushed. Mrs. Voss quickly called Mrs. Wanatka on the phone to have her leave Little Bohemia immediately.
On Sunday, April 22, 1934, the FBI arrived at the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin around 8:00 pm. Two miles up the road, agents turned their headlights off to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Purvis even went as far to make sure everyone put their cigarette butts out.
One thing the authorities were not warned of upon arrival was that there would be watch dogs outside. They immediately started barking, which surprisingly didn’t catch anyone’s attention enough to be concerned. Rumor has it Dillinger was even downstairs playing cards when he heard the dogs barking, but yet he disregarded it. What did end up catching their attention was when the FBI opened fire on a vehicle outside.
Three drunk customers were leaving the lodge after hours not too long after the FBI agents arrived. Two of these men were Civilian Conservation Corporation (CCC) workers named John Morris and Eugene Boisneau. The third man was a salesman named John Hoffman. Together they hopped into a vehicle, but they couldn’t hear the orders of FBI agents telling them to halt and stop the car. Because the agents didn’t want to risk letting any of the gang members get away, they started shooting at the vehicle. Hoffman was driving, Morris was in the passenger seat, and Boisneau was seated in the middle. Boisneau did not survive his injuries.
While the FBI opened fire on the car in the lot, Dillinger ran for the second story to grab his money and weapons. He and his friends were rapid shooting from the second story window before sneaking out another window facing the back. The back side of the property was not covered by agents, so that enabled all of these members to escape on foot. But while authorities were being shot at and called for backup, they were informed of another disturbance a few cottages down by the operator. This was where Baby Face Nelson escaped and was holding three local residents at gunpoint before the FBI showed up. Once they got there, he opened fire and killed FBI agent Carter Baum with critical hits to the neck, wounded Jay Newman in the head, and critically wounded Carl Christiansen in his midsection. Nelson stole the FBI’s borrowed Ford and escaped.
One thing that needs to be added here is the portrayal of Nelson in the 2009 movie Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp. Nelson was not actually gunned down by the FBI the night of the shootout at Little Bohemia Lodge. Nelson escaped through a marsh and to a cottage owned by Ollie Catfish, who the following day directed him to a train depot where he rode all the way back to Chicago. Though Nelson didn’t die at Little Bohemia Lodge, he was still caught up with in Barrington, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. On November 27, 1934, Nelson was fatally killed in a gun battle with the FBI. The scenes from Little Bohemia in the movie were altered, and events were changed for exaggerated violence.
Dillinger, on the other hand, was still on the run with Homer Van Meter, Timmy Carroll, John “Red” Hamilton, and Pat Reilly. They made it to the beach and ran along Little Star Lake, but Carroll was separated from the rest of the gang in the woods. He was able to steal a car and flee to St. Paul. The rest of the group found another lodge called Mitchell’s Lake Resort and convinced Mitchell to lend them the carpenter’s car. Once they were all able to find vehicles, they were crossing state lines.
The Little Bohemia shootout was a pretty big deal. And although the Little Bohemia Lodge no longer offers lodging services present day, the supper club is still open from 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm. There you can find mobster memorabilia on site and can still find bullets embedded in the walls from the raid that took place over 80 years ago.
This event was something that covered innumerable newspaper articles worldwide, and FBI agents wouldn’t rest until they’ve captured Dillinger and his gang. It wasn’t until July 21, 1934, when they were given a lead from a mutual friend, Ana, who was introduced to authorities to provide information on John Dillinger. The man who organized this meet-and-greet was Martin Zarkovich, who we will go into later.
Ana Cumpanas (who went by the name Anna Sage) told the police her and her friend Polly Hamilton would be going to a movie with Dillinger the following night to either the Biograph or Marbro Theatre. She told them she’d let them know what theatre they have chosen and what clothes she would be wearing to identify her. Because Anna was from Romania and came to the United States in 1914, she was considered an “alien,” and the police had plans to deport her. She was willing to cooperate with police so long as her deportation was aborted. They would not guarantee her ability to stay in the states, but said as long as she complied, they would do the best on their end to help.
On Sunday, July 22, 1934, Anna Sage called up the police and told them she would be seeing a movie that day but was unsure if it would be at the Biograph or at the Marbro Theatre. The FBI originally split up amongst themselves, half going to the Biograph and half going across the street. Once they discovered that Anna, Polly, and John would be seeing “Manhattan Melodrama” at the Biograph, all the troops at Marbro retreated and headed for the other theatre.
It was between 10:20 pm and 10:30 pm when customers started exiting the Biograph. Melvin Purvis was standing at the entrance and lit a cigar to warn the others when Dillinger was coming out. Dillinger was stepping out of the theatre when he noticed Purvis and quickly figured out what was going on. He grabbed a pistol out of his pocket and headed for an alley when it is stated the FBI fired five shots, three of which hit Dillinger. He was pronounced dead at 10:50 pm at the Alexian Brothers Hospital and buried in Crown Hill National Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
John Dillinger’s prime was September 1933 until July of 1934. During this time, he had killed 10 men (wounded several), robbed banks and police arsenals, and staged three jailbreaks. And while many believe the real Dillinger was gunned down by the FBI and buried in Indiana, Swan, Nicole, and I are amongst the group of others who believe that Dillinger was not the body buried in his home state.
It appears that when Anna went to the cops, it was a crooked police officer named Martin Zarkovich who approached Purvis first. He came to him with the news that he knew an acquaintance named Anna Sage who was associated with Dillinger and would be able to arrange a meeting if he would like. Purvis bought his sob story about Dillinger killing his friend, and Zarkovich said he would only assist if given the opportunity to kill the man himself. If he was allowed to kill the man who murdered his friend in cold blood, then Zarkovich would let the FBI take the credit. Purvis proceeded to meet with Sage days later at Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois.
Melvin Purvis agreed to this plan because he was desperate, but he didn’t keep in mind that he was never meeting or seeing the man he believed to be Dillinger. According to Jay Robert Nash's article on the case:
ONLY Purvis and Zarkovich knew what Anna Sage looked like-Zarkovich had taken pains to make sure that Purvis met with Anna Sage only once and alone in Lincoln Park-and she was the one through which the FBI would make their identification of Public Enemy Number One, since they had never even seen the man she and Polly would be bringing with them to that movie! "All right," Zarkovich told Purvis, "I will go to the Marlboro with some of your agents and wait there. If she shows up, we'll let them go into the theater and call you to come over with your other agents and I will shoot him when he comes out of that theater. You go to the Biograph and if they show up there, you call me and wait until I get there and I will shoot him when he comes out of that theater." The hitch was that Zarkovich knew that Anna Sage, Polly Hamilton and "James Lawrence" were going to the Biograph all along. He wanted Purvis to take responsibility for identifying Anna Sage and the man she would show up with, making it therefore an FBI identification and all responsibility for whatever happened thereafter exclusively that of the FBI and, specifically, Melvin Purvis.
When the night of the shooting happened, Zarkovich approached the man after Purvis’ signal, pushed “Dillinger” down to the ground, fired a couple bullets into the back of his head, and then stepped away. When Purvis and others rushed to identify the body, they were flabbergasted when they turned over a man who did not look like Dillinger. To hide their anxiety over it, they even began to joke about Dillinger having had plastic surgery. Was Purvis scared he had killed another innocent man like Eugene from the Little Bohemia shootout?
For the next 24 hours, John Edgar Hoover (FBI Director) called Purvis off the hook to get the report about Dillinger’s capture and death. Purvis finally told Hoover over the phone that there were serious problems with the case and that he wouldn’t be getting the report over to him how he expected. Now why could that be?
Nash stated in his article that two top pathologists recorded the eyes of the body to be brown, but yet Dillinger had blue eyes. They also couldn’t find the same bullet wounds and scars Dillinger had on the corpse either. When they took out the heart and examined it, they discovered that the body of the deceased had a rheumatic heart condition since childhood and was terminally ill around the time he was gunned down. The body was shorter and also larger than Dillinger’s description. How would John Dillinger have played semi-professional baseball and partake in the hobbies he did if he were heavier with a bad heart?
Regarding the burial at Crown Hill National Cemetery, it is rumored Dillinger didn’t flee right away and stayed to ensure his fake body was buried. It is also said despite being born John Herbert Dillinger by John Wilson Dillinger, he was not a Junior, but there is a Jr. after his name on his headstone. It is believed to be there as an inside joke between those who know of Dillinger’s escape because the person buried is a “Junior” of Dillinger.
Years later, letters and photographs started surfacing in the mail of the real John Dillinger claiming to have not been killed and that the wrong man was murdered outside of the Biograph Theatre. One of these letters got sent to Purvis, to which he made the decision to end his own life. One of these letters falling into Ebert’s hands inspired him to research this case and publish two books on the subject. He believes that Dillinger was alive and left with West Coast bank robber James “Blackie '' Audett to settle down at a reservation in Oregon.
In terms of paranormal activity, the only thing I came across were a few websites stating that some believe one of the civilians killed in the shootout still resides. People will find things moved around, hear strange noises, and will occasionally see an apparition passing by. The main thing we are interested in is verifying the history when we arrive, checking out if any of the mobsters came back to this area, figure out whether or not there is residual energy present, confirm whether or not the civilian is still there, and conjure Dillinger to ask him if he was really killed in front of the Biograph Theatre.
Our paranormal experiences started with Little Bohemia Lodge weeks before we even arrived. On January 5, 2023, Swan and I attempted to make a call to the Lodge and make a reservation for our upcoming visit. The first time I called, the gentleman on the other line couldn’t hear me and hung up. The second time I called, the phone rang for two minutes, randomly beeped, and had weird interference. The third and final time I called, I was finally able to make a reservation with the same gentleman from before. Why the series of phone calls though? Why the weird interference? Were the old mobsters listening in on our phone calls too?
Our reservations were set for January 21, 2023, so we made the trip up to Manitowish Waters that Saturday. We met up with my boss Megan who wanted to see what the experience was all about, so we didn’t waste any time the minute we arrived. As soon as we parked the car at Little Bohemia Restaurant, we ran our first session with the Estes Method.
As I said before, our main focus was to see who was here and if we could get Dillinger involved in a conversation with us. We began by asking if he was present and if we could speak with him. The temp gauge immediately sounded. When I asked if the spirit speaking with us could tell us their name (for confirmation that it was Dillinger) the response was, “I guess.” So once again, we asked what their name was and got no response. Yet as soon as I asked if it was still Dillinger, the temp gauge sounded again.
Since we were communicating with Dillinger, I asked him if he came here often. The response was “Maybe.” I proceeded with asking what it was he liked best about this place, and he answered, “House.” When I asked if it was because he was housed at Little Bohemia, the temp gauge sounded again.
To change the subject and keep conversation with him going, I asked Dillinger what happened the night of the shootout. Dillinger said, “Get him.” We responded by asking, “But you got away, didn’t you?” And the temp gauge cut us off with its piercing alarm. I asked if Nelson was with him, and the only answer we got was “Um.”
This is the part of the investigation that frustrated us the most. We would start off with a solid session, but within minutes we would receive handfuls of random responses. Some almost seemed entirely unrelated to the questions we had already asked, but this was out of our control. This didn’t happen often on an investigation, so we were puzzled why it was occurring now. We didn’t find out right away why all the random words kept coming up, but we will go into that when the time comes.
The random responses we were getting consisted mostly of women, but then there were different men coming through the spirit box and throwing words at Swan. You could tell by the looks on her face that she was also just as confused about the words coming through her headphones. One of the responses she said aloud was, “Just standing” and while we all wanted to assume this was one spirit standing outside of our car, we had an overwhelming feeling that maybe there was more than one present.
I tried to get back into the session that was interrupted by asking Dillinger if he was the man killed outside of the Biograph Theatre. We waited through a moment of silence before I asked if he set up his own death to go to Oregon or California. His response was, “Already there.” We asked if he was buried in Indiana then, and his answer was simply, “Ah.” Nicole and I tried asking him to confirm this was a yes, but we did not receive a response.
This was the second time we were interrupted by a female rambling, and we never did officially get an answer about who she was or what she wanted to express. It was as if we were picking up on residual energy because the questions we asked were not lining up with the words coming out of Swan’s mouth. Swan took off the headphones and briefly noted that it sounded like residual energy of the tip off. This would then explain the lack of response to our questions.
I tried asking for Purvis next to see if he was around or would answer any questions regarding the event. I asked him if any part of him was still attached to this place, and his response was “Practice.” Before we could ask another question, we got, “I said come out,” so we decided to say, “What do you think, Purvis?” And the answer was, “It was from the inside.” We were curious if this meant an inside job (which would correlate to Swan’s commentary on hearing residual energy of people turning the cops in) and Purvis said, “Retaliation” and “Your order.” When I asked what happened to FBI agent Carter Baum, Purvis’ last words to us were, “Of our destruction.” What we got from this was that he’s still having a hard time accepting the turn of events and Dillinger getting away that night with innocent men being killed.
Random words started coming through the device again, and it was beginning to trigger us. While Nicole, Megan, and I discussed this, Swan said, “There are a lot of us,” which would explain why we not only felt multiple presences outside of the car but also why our sessions with others kept getting cut short. We were simply being interrupted by other spirits wanting to talk. This isn’t the first time this has occurred on an investigation and this definitely won’t be the last, so we coped with it by ignoring them and continuing to set our boundaries out loud. We told them we would only allow the requested spirits to come forward and they were only allowed to speak one at a time. The others had to leave.
It was by this time we also noticed the iOvilus wasn’t producing any words this investigation. In fact, it didn’t give us words the entire time. We decided to not use it in our other sessions due to inactivity and rely solely on the Estes Method instead.
Our brief discussion about all the responses was interrupted when a spirit asked, “Are you a cop?” We all realized after the investigation that this was most likely why they were using the temp gauge to confirm their identities: they didn’t want to give out their name. We clarified that we weren’t cops and the reason why we were asking so many questions was because we were fans.
At the time of this occurrence, though, we didn’t know this was why they weren’t sharing names, so we were joking about them forgetting them. I had even brought up Dillinger’s name specifically and said, “How can you forget your name when you’re so popular?” and his response was, “Thanks for having me.” We were all graciously thankful for his kindness, and I had muttered, “I did hear he was a nice guy” before Dillinger responded again, “I’ve been good.”
While we finally had Dillinger’s attention again, we chose to ask him if he and his crew would be joining us for dinner. We all thought this response was really unique because not only did Swan shout out, “Think back,” but while we explained our 1930’s themed outfits for our reservations, Swan said she heard old-timey music come through the radio frequencies.
Unfortunately, a group of snowmobiles pulling into the driveway got in the way of our session next, so we started using these moments for reflection. We’d discuss the answers we received and check in with everyone to see how they were all processing the session. We waited a minute or so before trying to ask questions again, but we had a surprise visitor come through the spirit box: Baby Face Nelson.
This smart aleck asked us, “Looking for lethal?” and when I told him no his response was, “Too late.” I asked if it was Nelson and the temp gauge went off, but because we didn’t get a name over the spirit box, I explained to Megan and Nicole why I was certain he was who we were speaking to. This is when Swan said, “Haha! Okay!”
To keep the conversation going as long as I could, Nicole asked him what his favorite part about robbing a bank was. His answer? “Shoot.”
However, another spirit chimed in moments later saying, “He left.” Because we were getting tired of the continuous back and forth from mobster to rando, we decided to ask Dillinger one last question.
I said, “Dillinger, will you have a drink with us and be our plus one?” and Nicole chimed in that it would be an honor. Now, you can think all that you want about Dillinger and his reputation when he was alive but believe us when we say this famous mobster responded, “If only.”
Before any more spontaneous responses could come through again, we said we were going to close the session and go inside if they would like to join us. They answered, “Yeah,” so we told them we would meet them in there and were giving Swan her body back (to which they answered, “Okay”). This is where we concluded our first session and took a break to check in for our reservations. We decided not to conduct a session of any sorts while inside the establishment because the restaurant was filled with customers and snowmobilers for a race in town that weekend. The next time we would be conducting a session was 8:00 pm, the time the shootout occurred on Sunday, April 22, 1934.
When the night fell and our bellies were full, we walked back out to the car and prepared for our final session. With all the random voices, brief sessions, and residual energy present, this one was going to be a doozy.
we conjured Dillinger by asking if he was with us, and like every other time, the temp gauge sounded. We asked for confirmation, and it went off again. Swan said not too long after, “I’m working.” I apologized, thanked him for responding, and then asked if he would provide us with a word that could explain who he was. This was so we could determine when we were speaking to him or not. We never did get a response, but the temp gauge started going crazy. And by crazy, I mean CRAZY. It was making noises and sounding off in patterns none of us had ever heard before. We were quite amazed by it, actually.
Swan mentioned a few times during our sessions that she could feel someone touching her leg. Every time she brought this to our attention, she had no idea the temp gauge was going off because of the headphones she was wearing. It helped confirm for us that spirits were actually present when we thought they were.
We tried asking for Purvis at this time, and we didn’t get any direct responses that would indicate he was with us at all. Instead, we received a series of words and phrases: “Disturbed,” “Warning,” “He’s around,” “Oh, look!” and “Distances”. The more questions we asked, the less they lined up with the answers. It wasn’t until a fourth of the way through when we had a revelation: this was the residual energy of the shootout.
Although we didn’t get to ask any questions during the shootout, listening to the words was incredibly impressive. Whenever a residual energy occurs, those spirits are stuck on a loop and are unable to answer. We, as investigators, however, had the right equipment that was able to pick up on the playback of the event so we could hear it. We all knew the timeline of the Little Bohemia raid, and the series of words we received within those 20 minutes explained from beginning to end how Dillinger and his gang escaped. The words were as follows:
READY OR NOT, THAT ONE, GET DOWN, RUN, MEET ME, DOOR, DOWN, I’M UP, HOLD ON I CAN’T, WOAH, NATURAL LIGHT, THE MOON, BODIES (Noting here that the temp gauge started sounding at this point, and the speed of the temp gauge sensor sounded like a machine gun firing bullets), COME GET ME, I’M RUNNIN’, WE DID IT (Also noting here that Swan said while she was hearing the words, she could see images in her mind of people running through trees alongside the water)
Once the shootout was over, we asked for permission to speak with Dillinger again. The temp gauge sounded on cue, followed by a “Hello!” so we jumped right back in. Before we could ask any questions, though, Swan said, “Bat,” “Timecard,” and “Right.” Dillinger used to play semi professional baseball and the gang used to also play ball outside in the yard of Little Bohemia. This would mean that Dillinger heard us earlier asking him to provide words that explained himself so we could tell when it was him. And he listened! So I said, “Just to make sure this isn’t random can you say another word?” But he didn’t say anything right away.
We got discouraged that Dillinger left again so soon, but then Swan said, “I’m right here.” Not only that, but Swan actually said, “John. Where you from?” Incredibly impressed by this, we told him we were from Wisconsin and knew that he was from Indiana. This was our segway into asking him again if he was the body buried at Crown Hill National Cemetery in Indianapolis. His answer was “Water, down there.” This led us to believe no, so we followed up by asking him if the buried body was the wrong one, and his response was “Cry” and “Bigger”. This was compelling evidence to receive, considering the fact that the autopsy showed the body of “Dillinger” was shorter but weighed more. I turned around to the girls so I could explain to them the theory of the fake body: how Dillinger was rumored to stick around until his father buried the fake body, how the autopsy report didn’t match Dillinger’s physical description, and that he was rumored to flee to the West Coast and live out his life on a reserve. Not even a moment later, the spirit box said, “You got it” and “That was right there”. This was absolutely incredible.
At this point, we had gotten all the answers we needed out of Dillinger, but we wanted to keep a conversation going to get to know him better. We asked how he felt about Nelson, to which he responded family. We also asked for clarification if the West Coast is where he fled to once everything was said and done. He responded, “It happens,” And when we asked if he’s the reason Purvis died by his own hand, Dillinger responded, “You’re onto something.”
We did go a little further into Purvis, asking Dillinger what he thought about Hoover, and the only word he brought to our attention was the word, “Pharmaceuticals”. Megan brought up Louis Piquett at this time (legal counsel for Dillinger who was later charged for harboring Van Meter) and was curious if it was related to that because he helped with narcotics. In the middle of discussing this, Swan shouted, “In fact they lured him”.
To ensure we were still talking with Dillinger, we mutually decided to periodically ask if we were still talking to the same person due to the random spirits popping in earlier in the day. This didn’t seem to be too much of a problem now, but we did still ask who was present for our session. The answer was “Number one,” and “I’m right here.” Dillinger? Present! Swan noted immediately after this that she was seeing a man in a suit with a grey hat on.
We did get a few more random words towards the end of this session, but we believe they were still from Dillinger. He brought up the number 200 before he said, “From where?” and “All this space”. We asked what it meant, and he said, “He’s catching jobs”. We tried looking into these responses and can only assume this was him discussing a job and money. I even looked into research following the investigation to see if the 200 was significant, such as a dollar amount ($200 or $200,000). I couldn’t find anything significant about the 200, but I did discover that Dillinger had stolen a total of about $300,000 when he was alive. $300,000 in 1934 is equivalent to $6,665,171.64. Our only assumption now is that the 200 was a representation of $200,000.
The only other thing we asked Dillinger was if he liked the original owners of Little Bohemia. He didn’t say words at first, but rather set the temperature gauge off instead. It wasn’t until we thanked him for coming forward and sharing facts about his life when John said, “Like a lot.”
Concluding our evidence from the investigation, it’s unclear who all the random spirits were at Little Bohemia. If we had a whole weekend to investigate, we may have been able to communicate with them a little bit more, but we had a time crunch and specific spirits we were looking to communicate with for this trip. If the CCC worker is still on the grounds, we didn’t encounter him. And even though we were able to communicate with Dillinger, Nelson, and Purvis for a short amount of time throughout the evening, we don’t believe they stay solely at Little Bohemia. This well-known event is imprinted in time, and while we think they have better places to be than where they were all shot at, we do think a part of them will always be with this lodge. Aside from the shooting, these mobsters enjoyed the time they did spend here, and they don’t seem to be holding any grudges about the owners tipping off the FBI. We are very fortunate to have been able to make contact with them at all, and we are thankful for all the clarifying answers we received to support our evidence. Not only that, but we believe we’ve made a friend. (I’ll give you a hint: it wasn’t Nelson.)
Our Dillinger investigations do not stop here though. We will be investigating other locations in the future to confirm whether or not the answers stay the same, but as of right now, we are firm in our beliefs. We presume Dillinger was not killed outside the Biograph Theatre, he was not buried in Crown Hill National Cemetery, and he lived out the rest of his life on the West Coast. Public Enemy Number One was never captured.
Supporting Links:
At Little Bohemia, getaways aren't just for gangsters anymore (jsonline.com)
Little Bohemia Lodge - Dillinger's Escape | Dillinger Escape (liquisearch.com)
MLA. Mann, Michael. Public Enemies. Universal Pictures, 2009.
https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/public-enemies/
https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/film-wrong-dillinger-not-killed-by-fbi-fact-hoover-coverup
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