Return to the Slippery Noodle Inn Investigation
This blog post was written by Whitney Dankemeyer.
The Slippery Noodle Inn (formerly known as the Tremont House and other names) is the oldest bar in Indiana residing in downtown Indianapolis. This building was first open for business in 1850 and is still an iconic bar and restaurant, with fundraising events by day and live blues music by night. In addition to its historic age, this building comes with a hefty past. The Dillinger and Brady gangs not only had target practice in this establishment, but it was open during the prohibition, ran as a brothel in the 40s, and had a basement way station for the Underground Railroad during the Civil War.
If you were around for our first Slippery Noodle Investigation last year, you know this place is crawling with paranormal activity. Aside from a roaming caretaker, customers have mentioned seeing phantom slaves, sex workers, and a cowboy on the property. During our last investigation in September 2022, we encountered a cowboy, a civil war soldier, and one of the former slaves. So why wouldn’t we come back to visit some old friends? The only additional box to check off our to-do list was to reach John Dillinger. We wanted to discover if he hung around or if he didn’t visit at all.
We arrived at the Slippery Noodle Inn the afternoon of April 27, 2023, just after we had left Crown Hill National Cemetery. We expected to sit at the bar for a meal, exchange words with employees, do a walk around of the building, and then perform an Estes Method outside. What really happened was a firefighter event which resulted in a bar filled to the brim with people. The bar was so full we couldn’t sit, and the employees were so wrapped up in their work they only got to us once for a round of drinks. We weren’t upset at all; the place was busy. We just took it as a sign to finish our beverages and head outside for an Estes session.
The session started with Swan wearing the headphones and Nicole and I asking all the questions. We began our EVP recording, followed by introductions, and said hello. We asked if any one of the spirits remembered us from our last visit and had silence for an answer. We waited, got discouraged, said hello again, and after another few moments of silence, we finally received, “We’re homeboys, stop it.”
We asked the spirit if they could tell us who we were speaking with, and Swan answered, “How you doin’? John… John.” Well, I guess that answered our question!
We had been following John Dillinger around for quite some time now, but it wasn’t until our Little Bohemia Investigation in January 2023 when we really bonded with the late gangster. Still, we couldn’t believe it!
We tried asking John if he only came here because we were visiting, and he answered, “Table with.” We asked if he hung out here sometimes and who he was sitting with. His responses in order were, “Yeah, John, Bosom, First girl.” We took this as him saying yeah to hanging out here, confirming again that he was John, and insinuating that he’s at a table with his first girl. Was this his first wife? Or Billie, his #1 girl after he became a gangster?
Unfortunately, John didn’t stay to chat much longer than that before the next spirit began to talk. At the Slippery Noodle, this is very common. They all seemed to take turns. But the next spirit to appear came through and introduced himself right away. He came forward and said, “My name is David.”
We introduced ourselves to David and asked him if he’s someone we’ve spoken with before. David said, “Yeah.” We asked him if he was the cowboy, and we got an interesting response. He replied, “Don’t freak out.”
We were unsure why this would unsettle us, so we guessed if he was the soldier. When we didn’t get an answer, I asked if he was a former slave. His answer was, “That’s what I’m dealing with. Good morning, oooo.” We made sure to tell David that this didn’t freak us out and the times have changed. He said in response, “Home.” We asked if this was his home and he said, “Yeah.”
There was another response that came through a few minutes after that said, “Guns raided.” Nicole and I discussed this potentially being about target practice, but later realized it could’ve even been related to the prohibition, Civil War, or the cowboy. We never asked for more clarification on those words or if we were still speaking with the same person.
Another response came through which said, “Estes.” We were ecstatic because this was the method we were using to communicate with them. We shouted, “Yeah! That’s what we’re doing!”
Not too long after that experience, Nicole and I noticed that the car was pulsating. The vehicle wasn’t running the whole duration of the Estes Method session because we wanted to keep all the car noises out of the recording. So why was the car vibrating? While Nicole and I were briefing about this, Swan said, “Exactly” over the Estes. Then she said, “My home.” I told the spirit (whomever we were talking to at this moment) that their home was charged, and they responded, “Yeah.”
When the temp gauge sounded again, the word Swan said was, “War.” Our minds immediately went to the soldier, which may or may not be the same one we visited with the last time we came to Indiana. I asked if the soldier was with us, and his response was, “Hey, I’m not playing” and, “They won’t leave town.” They did tell us who they were referring to, but to keep things civil, we made the decision to keep this part of the investigation to ourselves.
When we moved on in conversation, Swan said she heard her name come over the Estes. We asked if they knew the rest of our names and Swan said she heard someone make a fart noise. Now, this HAD to be the cowboy. The cowboy was our funniest guest last time we were at Slippery Noodle, so who else would it be otherwise? I asked if it was him, and he responded, “In fact.” When we asked if he remembered Nicole, he said, “Lady.”
We only had the cowboy for a brief moment as well, but we tried joking around with him like we did last time. I asked him if this town was big enough for the both of them. He first responded with, “Power” but then quickly said, “It's not.”
Overall, our return back to the Slippery Noodle Inn was deemed successful. We ran into some old friends and even caught ourselves a few names. Our buddy John may have only chatted with us for a few minutes too, but we did get confirmation that he occasionally finds himself a table and stays for a drink. So, if you’re ever in the area and want to have a drink with a gangster (maybe even square up with a cowboy), then the Slippery Noodle Inn is the place to do it!
Supporting links:
Comments