A INFAMOUS PAST AND PRESENT

 

Crossing the Caney River 

in northern Washington County

 

the Caney is running high from all the snow and rain we have had. The road over the river

will take us into the Northern part of

Osage County, Oklahoma

past the home

of

 

The Historic and equally infamous 


Mullendore Cross Bell Ranch
from which the book was written

about the murder of EC III
in Sept of 1970

A grand jury is looking into the  unsolved murder
 of EC III this month since the capture of 
Damon "Chub" Anderson.

Mullendore Cross Bell Ranch to be featured on RFD TV this next week

further down the road from the ranch is



The Labadie Cemetery
and 

The Infamous Haunted Labadie House 

There are many stories about Frank and Samantha Labadie most which are not true.
I guess makes for a good story and makes them folk legends.  The story is they died in this house but actually they died in a home in the country outside of Ochelata, Oklahoma in Washington County.  The house was not finished yet, it was a cold winter's night and they both were asphyxiated by the natural gas in the house. They found them in front of the fireplace in their  chairs.  My mom calls them Uncle Frank and Aunt Samantha.  They were related to my mother's oldest sister's husband.  They were buried back up there by the original "haunted house" because their family members were buried there and it was the small family cemetery. 

 The Labadie House Revisited on Abandoned Oklahoma

 

Kids have gone up there at night for years and still do.  My brother graduated in the mid 1960's and the house was intact back then.  It was more dangerous to go there then because it was land owned by the Mullendore Ranch.  Back then

the Cross Bell was well patrolled...patrolled by ex-convicts on horseback - and with rifles (the Mullendores maintained an arrangement with the Oklahoma Parole Board to employ ex-cons at the ranch)

 

There are graves that are marked with just a sandstone rock, no name, no dates....

one does have flowers left by someone

It looks quite peaceful and quiet down these roads doesn't it?  Well a lot of nights

it hasn't been so peaceful in these parts.

WINTER WONDERLAND AT WOOLAROC

One of my favorite places is just outside of town

to the southwest just 12 miles. 

It was the ranch of Frank Phillips who was the founder of Phillips Petroleum Company headquartered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.  He built a Museum on the grounds that is full of the most amazing artifacts and art, even shrunken heads!  He collected exotic

animals and there are still plenty of wildlife on the ranch.

We locals grew up loving this place feeling like it is "our own". My mother played here as a child as did her children, grandchildren, and now great grandchildren. 

I do not care how old you are you never grow jaded

to not appreciate the beauty of this place.

I am going to take you on a little tour of our little jewel in the Osage.

 

Site of the Mountain Man Encampment

 

 

 

  

  

  

 

  

  

  

  

The Museum Entrance

  

  

  

  

 

 

  

VISIT WOOLAROC ONLINE!

Fall in the Oklahoma Osage Nation

MISSING TODDLER FROM PAWHUSKA Oklahoma FOUND ALIVE IN POND

Ali Tuller 23 months

Friday October 10, 2008 THE PAWHUSKA JOURNAL CAPITAL
Walking With Jesus: Missing toddler found alive in a pond early Saturday morning By MATT CONLEY J-C COMMUNITY EDITOR
Little Ali Tuller will soon be sporting a bracelet that contains the inscription “Walking With Jesus.”That couldn’t be more appropriate, after the night she had on October 3.Tracy Ali Jo Tuller, who goes by Ali, is the 23-month-old daughter of Shanna and Robert Tuller. She crawled out of her bed and slipped out the sliding glass door of the couple’s home located a few miles south of town. She started her walk sometime between midnight and 1:30 Saturday morning, which was when her mom discovered her missing.“That night was my birthday, and my husband and I put the children to bed and stayed up late in the living room. When I went to check on the kids at 1:30 that morning before we went to bed, Ali wasn’t in bed,” said Shanna. “We have five children, and three of them were at home that night. We woke up the two boys, and frantically searched the house. She just wasn’t anywhere.”
Shanna called 911, and within minutes rescue workers, firefighters, people from the police and sheriff’s office, family and friends were on the scene, combing the area. The search lasted until nearly 4 a.m., when Gibbie Gibson, a rescue worker from Wynona, found little Ali standing in the middle of a pond about a mile from her home.“He walked out to get her, and the water was well up past his waist,” said Shanna. “When he got to her, though, the water wasn’t even up to her waist, and she wasn’t standing on anything. It had to have been God holding her up. Gibbie was in shock when he saw it, and really had no explanation other than a miracle.”The search seemed much more of an ordeal for the family and rescue workers than it was for young Ali. After all, right around the pond where Ali was found, people came across two cougars, a pack of coyotes, and even killed a copper head snake. Everybody was muddy, scratched up, and wet from the big storm that rolled through the area.Not Ali, though, who was unfazed, and practically dry despite walking around in the rain and wading out into the pond. She didn’t have a scratch on her, and her hair wasn’t even messed up.“She went out without her shoes on, walked all that distance, and even had to cross two barbed wire fences to get to where they found her,” said Shanna. “There had to be at least 60 or 70 people out searching for her that night, and after it was all over, they were all in worse shape than Ali. My daughter wasn’t even scared, she was just out for a walk.”Ali wasn’t sure why she went for her late night walk, and really didn’t have much to say later. But Shanna certainly has thought a lot about the ordeal, and she is convinced Ali wasn’t alone during her trek through the woods.
“There is not a doubt in my mind that God was with her, watching over her that night,” said Shanna. “God must have a special purpose for Ali. Our only guess as to why Ali was in the pond is that God must have put her there to keep her away from the cougars. I hope this story touches people, because it has certainly touched our lives. There is a God out there, and he is watching over all of us. God was definitely with Ali that night.”http://pawhuskajournalcapital.com/articles/2008/10/08/news/news01.txt

Don't Spit or it'll cost ya!

This Classical Revival courthouse in Pawhuska, Oklahoma was built in 1914. It has a very commanding position at the top of a high hill where you get a birdseye view of the town. The large grand staircase is its most unusual feature with 64 steps. Osage County is located in north central Oklahoma to the northwest of Tulsa. At 2,250 square miles, it is Oklahoma's largest county by geographical area. Almost 100% of the county, including this courthouse, is located within the Osage Indian Reservation, the only reservation that exists in the state. This is where we went to buy the house for my Mom from the previous owners estate. I saw this sign just as we were leaving the courtroom and headed down the stairs..........




I looked up and saw this and I could not believe my eyes! I guess we aren't civilized in the manner of all things sanitary....I started yelling at my husband, honey did you see this? I had to grab my camera phone to make sure I documented it! I have always romanticized Pawhuska to be part of the "Old West", but this was not what I dreamt about... :) I love going there still and we drive over to eat at Bad Brads , ranchers come in wearing their spurs, I just love the jingle jangle of spurs. I always tripped when I used to try to wear them, but I always was a Klutz! Hey, if you can walk and wear spurs I am impressed! Love them spurs! Osage County Oklahoma is where"Confessions of a Pioneer Woman" lives out on one of the big Drummond ranches west of Pawhuska and the Nature Conservancy Tallgrass Prairie. Check out her blog under my favorites. She is funny and has lots of great recipes, and she is also a great photographer. It gives you a romanticized view of life on a big ranch in Oklahoma

WOOLAROC, OSAGE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA

Mary
Karen

We spent one beautiful summer morning at the Woolaroc Mountain Men encampment and it was a fun and very enlightening experience.
We were able to shoot black powder, throw tomahawks, and get a history lesson on the lives of mountain men in the 1800's United States.

Zane and Jayme

Sarah, Jay, Jayme, & Zane

Longhorns