History
Built in 1893, the Roads Hotel is a two-story, rectangular, Queen Anne style frame building. It measures approximately 36 feet wide by 60 feet deep and features a two-story front porch and cross gable. The porch features a jigsaw cross gable braces and ornate porch turnings and braces.1
Roads Hotel was built by Abraham Kauffman for Newton Roads during the Indiana natural gas boom and run by his wife, Clara, daughter, Hazel, and son, Everett. Everett contracted tuberculosis at 18, was put in isolation in the hotel and later died on the property on April 15, 1909. His funeral was held at the hotel. It is reported that a preacher, Lestor Poor, staying in a room across the hall from where Everett Roads died hung himself in the attic of the hotel. Some think Lester’s death was a murder.2 Clara, Newton and Newton’s second wife, Catherine, all reportedly died in the hotel.3
The hotel was a layover stop for the railroad, so it saw a wide variety of guests, including famous criminals John Dillinger and Al Capone, though evidence to confirm this has yet to be uncovered. It was converted into a brothel and a speakeasy during Prohibition by Clara after Newton’s death. Purportedly one of the prostitutes named Sarah haunts her bedroom that was behind the stairs on the 2nd Floor.2
The hotel closed for business in 1937, but remained in the hands of the Roads’ family until it was auctioned off on June 15, 1968 and sold to Dean Shaffer who converted the hotel into apartments.
In 1987 the hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places and then owner Phillip J Conklin removed a sign at the hotel that read “Rhoads Hotel”. Conklin believed that the sign was incorrect as the transfer papers that Newton Roads used had the name “Roads Hotel”.1 In 1995, Clint and Linda Haley purchased the hotel and restored the building. It was then passed on to a paranormal group, Sixth Sense Indy Paranormal, and eventually became the property of the Lost Limbs Foundation and Mike Couch in 2017.2 Lost Limbs Foundation ceased operations in April of 2023 and the hotel was sold to Crystal Couch, Mike Couch’s sister, who operates the hotel today as location to rent out for paranormal investigations and events.3
Claims
- Everett’s Room, the Pastor’s Room and the Attic are reportedly highly active
- Visitors claim to frequently see apparitions of men, women and children
- Reports of hearing conversations in rooms between “past guests”
- Reported that the Prostitute’s Room produces the most EVPs during investigations
- Camera issues and temperature fluctuations/readings (66.6) reported in Prostitute’s Room
- Reports of lights turning on and doors opening on their own
- Sound of a gun being loaded, shot and shell casing falling to the floor
- Piano reportedly will play on its own
- Reports of footsteps, shadows and people being touched in 2nd Floor Hallway
- Claims that investigators have been scratched while investigating 2nd Floor
- Touch flashlight play in Prostitute’s Room
- EVP of spirit saying, “I’m mad,” in Attic
Arrival
The caretaker arrived at 5:00 pm to let the team into the hotel. The team immediately began setting up Basecamp in a large room off the side entrance of the hotel on the 1st Floor. Since this was PIM’s second investigation at this location, a walkthrough wasn’t needed and the team immediately began placing equipment throughout the hotel at 5:46 pm.
The 1st Floor has minimal claims, the main one being that of a piano playing by itself when no one is in the room. A Zoom H1 digital audio recorders was placed in the room with the piano to catch any potential audio.
Nearly all paranormal claims were reported on the 2nd Floor, so the team focused much of their equipment there. A Sony HDR-CX160 multi-spectrum camera was placed at the end of the 2nd Floor Hallway, outside of the Pastor’s Room, to capture any evidence of shadow figures reportedly passing back and forth between rooms. A single-axis EMF Detector Mel8704REM/SDD was placed halfway down the hallway. This device has a built-in electronic eye that is sensitive to light, including infrared (IR) light. The team used this device as a “shadow detector”, meaning that if something blocked out the IR light that was used as a light source, an audible and visual alarm would be triggered. Also placed in the 2nd Floor Hallway was an EDI+ datalogger.
The EDI+ datalogger is a device that datalogs temperature, EMF, and humidity, and also has a geophone built into it. This device datalogs for the entire investigation, and records the data to an SD card that can be used to generate graphs of each variable over time on a computer after the investigation.
A Sony HDR-CX440 multi-spectrum camera was placed in Room #7 on the 2nd Floor along with a grey EDI+ datalogger. It is said that during his stay at the Roads Hotel, a pastor hung himself in the Attic, and claims of voices, shadow figures and footsteps are reported in the room where he slept.
Directly across from the Pastor’s Room is Everett Roads’ Room. At 19, Everett contracted tuberculosis and was quarantined to this room until his untimely passing. A Sony HDR-CX160 multi-spectrum camera and a Zoom H1 digital audio recorder were placed in this room to capture any visual or audio evidence. A Trigger Object Bank was also set up on the dresser which included a confederate Civil War cap, a small bottle of whiskey, a bullet, and a cigarette along with an orange EDI+ datalogger and were in view of the camera. Baseline photos were taken before and after the investigation to document the starting positions of said objects. Trigger objects are miscellaneous items that are strategically chosen in hopes to invoke a response.
Located at the top of the stairs on the 2nd Floor is the Prostitute’s (also known as the Doll) Room. The Prostitute’s Room has claims of voices, dolls and other objects moving and touch flashlight play. A Sony HDR-CX160 multi-spectrum camera was placed in the room along with a Zoom H1 digital audio recorder. A trigger object bank was set up in full view of the camera on one of the twin beds and included a cigar, cigarettes, whiskey, deck of cards with Ace of diamonds facing up, Playboy magazine, Bible, Crucifix, harmonica, holy water, and Touch Flashlight.
The touch flashlight is activated by two contacts being touched, thus completing a circuit and turning the light on. The touch flashlight is used in lieu of a flashlight that has had the battery compartment or on/off switch manipulated to function in a way that is not intended and as a result, can create false positives.
The PIM Platter is a plate with letters (A-Z) and numbers (0-9) around the outer rim of the plate. A metal rod on a swivel in the middle of the plate is positioned in a neutral location of the rim. The premise of the PIM Platter is to allow something to manipulate the metal rod in the direction of a letter or number in response to questions asked by investigators.
A DM X-930 Dark Matter detector was also placed in the room as well. The Dark Matter detector is a device that measures EMF, temperature, barometric pressure and has a high-quality audio recorder. This device also datalogs these measurements for later review should something occur and would need to be referenced.
A Sony FDR-AX100 4K camera was placed to cover the staircase from the 1st Floor to the 2nd Floor.
At 7:30 pm, the team left to eat dinner and left the building empty.
At approximately 9:00 pm, the group re-entered the house and started and time stamped their control recorders. From this point on, PIM members are required to speak in full voice and tag any noise they make.
Tagging is the process of calling out noises investigators make during an investigation. Noises investigators make can be anything from bodily sounds, such as stomach growling or breathing noises, to external noises, like squeaky shoes, shifting or chairs creaking. Tagging is required from the moment a piece of equipment is started until the time it is turned off. This allows for easy identification of noises heard when reviewing evidence. When an investigator makes a noise, it is their responsibility to tag it or say, “that was me.”
At 9:20 pm the group went around the house and began starting and time-stamping their equipment. Time stamps, from a designated atomic watch, are used as a point of reference and make cross referencing easier during evidence review.
Every member of PIM is equipped with a Zoom H1 audio recorder, which is used as their control recorder and an Extech RHT50 or Extech SD700 datalogger. Control recorders are not only used as another recording device, but also to document the sound contamination that an investigator might create during an investigation. Control recorders are started and time stamped first before any other equipment is started and they are turned off last to ensure any anomalous noises can be cross-checked. Control recorders are also placed in a Faraday cage. A Faraday cage is a container that can block EMF frequencies. The construction of the cage will determine how many different EMF frequencies the cage will be able to block. Faraday cages work by generating an external static electrical field which causes the electric charges within the cage’s conducting material to be distributed such that they cancel the field’s effect in the cage’s interior. PIM’s cages are designed to specifically block out FM and some AM radio frequencies from interfering with their audio recorders, thus creating false EVPs.
At 9:42 pm, Noah took outside weather condition readings using a Kestrel 3500 weather station.
Investigation
9:52 pm – 2nd Floor Hallway
The group spread out on the 2nd Floor with Noah sitting in front of the Pastor’s Room and began the investigation by observing control silence starting at 9:54 pm.
Control silence is the practice of sitting quietly and getting accustomed to the normal sounds of the building. It allows for investigators to get a baseline of normal building sounds. The team spread out along the hallway. Noted during control silence was the crickets, stomach noises, and an air conditioner.
Gravy began the EVP session at 9:57 pm. An EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) session is the practice of asking questions and leaving ten seconds of silence in between in hopes of capturing a response via an audio recording device. Rarely is a response heard by the investigator’s ears and when a response is heard by human ears it is called a disembodied voice.
Gravy used his tablet with a marquee app on it to try and communicate with anything that might be there. This is done in case whatever is there cannot hear or understand verbal questions but is able to read English. Gravy posed several questions via the marquee as well as asking something to knock twice.
At 10:04 pm, Gravy reported hearing a whistle sound that was two-toned. Gravy was unsure which direction the noise came from. No one else heard the noise and it was not captured on any audio recording devices.
At 10:05 pm, the EDI+ located in the 2nd Floor Hallway had the pressure sensor alarm. This was not uncommon as the pressure can change in a multi-story building over the course of several hours.
At 10:09 pm, Noah thought he saw a shadow block out the light in the Pastor’s Room where he was sitting in the doorway. No one else on the team witnessed this, and unfortunately, there was no camera setup in this room.
No additional activity occurred and the group decided to head down to the 1st Floor at 10:18 pm.
10:19 pm – 1st Floor
The team spread out on the 1st Floor. Gravy was between the Dining Room and the Piano Room, Noah sat in front of the Basement stairs, Marilsa sat between the Kitchen and the Dining Room, and Tom was in the Piano Room.
Control silence was started at 10:24 pm with the same noises reported as on the 2nd Floor, crickets, stomach noises, and an air conditioner.
Tom began the EVP session at 10:26 pm.
At 10:38 pm, the EDI+ on the 2nd Floor went off, blinking red and yellow three times and then red, yellow, and blue. These were the temperature (increasing) and pressure (changing) going off with the second time including an EMF increase. It is possible the EMF change was due to poor shielding in the device so that when the red and yellow LEDs were activated, it accidentally activated the EMF sensor.
After asking multiple questions, no responses were captured. This EVP session was concluded and the team decided to take a break at 10:44 pm.
Break: 10:44 pm – 11:35 pm
11:35 pm – 2nd Floor
The group spread themselves throughout the 2nd Floor.
No control silence was observed as it has been previously done. The team started and EVP session and attempted to communicate to anything that might be present.
No responses were heard and the EVP session was concluded, and the team headed back down to the 1st Floor at 11:53 pm.
11:54 pm – 1st Floor
The team resumed investigating on the 1st Floor. Tom was sitting in Basecamp, Marilda was sitting between Tom and Gravy, Gravy was at the bottom of the Staircase and Noah was in the Sitting Room. Gravy started an EVP session at 11:55 pm.
No events occurred during the EVP session and the team decided to end the investigation at 12:11 am.
The team began breaking down and putting away their equipment. Once breakdown was complete, the team had the opportunity to sleep in the hotel. No events were noted while the team slept.
Conclusion
This was PIM’s second time investigating the Roads Hotel. This investigation was a little quieter than the team’s first investigation of this location, but it was still very enjoyable. We would like to thank the caretakers for the accommodations. The hotel and the town where it’s located carry a rich and interesting history. Although PIM did not capture any evidence of the paranormal during our investigation, we hope to return to continue our study of this historic site.
References
- Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Roads Hotel. In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 9, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roads_Hotel
- Nelson, S. (2021, October 27). Most haunted places in Indiana: Roads Hotel, Atlanta, and other scary stories. The Indianapolis Star. https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2021/10/27/most-haunted-places-indiana-locations-roads-hotel-atlanta-scary-stories-ghosts/6110818001/. Accessed 10/9/2026.
- Roads Hotel. (n.d.). History of Roads Hotel. https://roadshotel.com/history. Accessed 10/9/2026.
