If you haven’t read the story I wrote some years back about my hair-raising experience at Hotel Phillips in Kansas City, MO, and that deathwalking experience, you’ll want to check that out before you go further with the following tidbit.
Since I first published the account of my stay at Hotel Phillips, it has been the most-read post on Intentional Insights. It amuses me, but baffles me, even more, that of all the posts I’ve written, of all the personal things I’ve shared, this encounter gets the most traction. It happened years ago, I’ve not said anything else about it, and the story is in my book, Real Wyrd. As far as I’ve ever known, it’s just another weird story in the life of me.
Except that apparently it’s more than that.
Back in 2012, the hotel Corporate Sales Manager wrote me, to learn if I’d written more about my experiences there. His note read more like damage control on the hotel than actual interest in anything I’ve done. I responded pleasantly that, no, I hadn’t written anything more, and thought nothing more of the exchange.
See, I don’t really enjoy this kind of punch-through other-than-human experience. In fact, I set boundaries, especially in public places like hotels and hospitals, for this sort of exchange not to happen. Sometimes it does, despite my best efforts, and that’s just the life of me. Regardless of whether I enjoy it, sometimes help must be given.
I also will freely admit that I’m the one most shocked when I learn validating details of an other-than-human random encounter. It isn’t that I doubt my own experiences. Rather, I don’t get absorbed in them. I engage in spiritual interactions every day and intuit details of the past, maybe a future. I don’t dwell in them. So when I learn about the history of my wilder experiences or other grounding details around them (like this one, this one, and anything on my site tagged Samhain), it’s always a little freaky.
In March of this year, I was contacted by a woman I will identify as “M.” M informed me that she had read my story, and that her great uncle was a man named Frank Bohatch. She told me that Frank had killed a woman in the Phillips Hotel sometime in the early 1930’s, then killed himself, and that she wanted to know more about my experience there.
After digging around, sure enough, I found Frank, along with the murder weapon [1], [2].
That was plenty to get my attention. My skin was already crawling by that point. However, as it always does, the creep factor only continued to spiral. I began to find newspaper clippings indicating Bohatch made a murder-suicide pact with Iva Mae Stull, who was survived by her ten-year-old daughter, Catherine, who slept in an adjoining room. Newspapers ranging from the Iola Register [3], The Emporia Gazette [4], and many others reported the story.
The press photo that circulated of young Catherine is shown here.
I did reply to M and told her my more personal account of what happened, which doesn’t at all match the tone of what the news articles say happened. Yes, there was a murder, but the woman who came to me was terrified of the man who killed her, and had been long before her murder. Also, the man who visited me wasn’t just some guy down on his luck who got mistakenly fired from his job when his woman did something wrong. He was deeply involved in the criminal element, and she wasn’t his first or only victim.
Maybe it wasn’t Frank and Iva Mae that I encountered. I have no idea, though my intuitive feeling is they were the spirits in my room at Hotel Phillips. Regardless, the knowledge that there are real people attached to the wild encounters that I have with souls of the deceased, remains humbling and centering. It reminds me that sooner or later we all become a story in someone’s memory.
Write your story well.
If you’re not familiar with deathwalking, it’s a shamanic approach to releasing unquiet dead. I teach classes in it, and it’s a big focus of my shamanic work. Learn more about deathwalking:
[1] Frank's Burial
Frank Bohatch
- BIRTH
- Austria
- DEATH
30 Jul 1935 (aged 41)
Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, USA- BURIAL
Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, USA
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/152954036/frank-bohatch
[2] Revolver History from gun-data.com
FRANK BOHATCH
| ||
MODEL | Serial | History |
H& R
| G28146 | Frank Bohatch used this gun to kill Mrs. Ina May Stube in a hotel room in the Phillips Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. It is alleged that Mrs. Stube was a prostitute who worked in the Kansas City area. Mr. Bohatch committed suicide with same gun after the killing in the same hotel. This gun was gifted to ballistics expert Merle Gill by the detective who investigated the murder , suicide. |
* Courtesy of the J . M. Davis Gun Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma where this gun is on display
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*****
Copyright© 2004 Gun-Data.com. All reproduction rights reserved
https://gun-data.com/historicarmsfbohatch3_arms.html
[3] Iola Register, 30 July 1935
Mother and Lover Die as Girl Sleeps Suicide Pact Indicated, in Kansas City Hotel Slayings (By the Aaaociatad Preii) Kansas City, July 30. While her 10-year-old daughter slept in the same room, Mrs. Iva Mae Stull, 30, of Wichita was shot to death late last night or early today, allegedly by Frank Bohatch, 39, Great Bend, who then killed himself. The child, Catherine Mildred Stull, discovered the bodies when she awoke this morning and notified the management of the Hotel Phillips in which the trio had registered late yesterday. Police said they found a note written by Mrs. Stull and signed by both her and Bohatch which said: Dont blame it on Frank. I wanted it this way. I got Frank in trouble and he lost his job. Please send my little girl back to Wichita and bury us in the same grave Mrs. Stull had been shot through the left temple and Bohatch through the right temple. Girl Sleeps Through It. The little girl said she was put to bed shortly after 10 p.m. and did not hear any shots during the night. Police surmised she had been given a sleeping potion. The hotel management said it was unable to locate any guests who had heard the shots. The couple, it reported, registered as Mr. and Mrs. F. T. Brown and daughter late yesterday. The child told police they had come from Wichita on a bus.
Police said they learned Bohatch was formerly a farmer who had been working on a highway Job recently. He was discharged last week, they said they learned. Patrolmen John Quinn and Gilbert Hunt, first to reach the room after the child had reported her mother and Bohatch wounded, said they found Mrs. Stull lying face downward on one bed and Bohatch on his back on another. Divorced Three Years.
The child did not learn until later that her mother was dead. Catherine told the officers her father was Edgar Lawrence Stull of Garden City and that he had been divorced from her mother three years. Her mother and Bohatch, she said, “were In love and planned to marry. Questioned at police headquarters, the girl said Bohatch had told her mother that if she would come to Kansas City with him he would buy her a motor car and Jewelry. They Visited a used car place here, she said, and Bohatch left a check as down payment on a car.
Later he began to worry over whether he had sufficient money in the bank to cover the check, she said. ‘Talks with Mother. Yesterday evening, the child related, Bohatch called his mother twice at St. Marys hospital here and discussed with her the possibility of the check being short. St. Marys hospital said it had no patients or employes named Bohatch. The girl told detectives that Bohatch had been visiting her mother for sometime and had been sending her money for a year. Her mother, she said, was formerly employed as a saleswoman in Wichita. Bohatch, police learned was discharged Saturday by the district highway office at Great Bend. He had been married and divorced, they said they learned.
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/635312809/
[4] Emporia Gazette, 30 July 1935
Iva Mae StuII, of Wichita. Allegedly Was Shot by Frank Bohatch of Great Bend, Who Then Shot Himself. WOMAN LEFT A NOTE Tragedy Apparently Planned and Was Executed White Woman’s Child Slept in Same Room. Kansas City, July 30 10-year-old daughter slept in same room, Mrs. Iva Mae Stull 30, of Wichita was shot to death ate last night or early today, allegedly by Frank Bohatch 39, Great Bend, who then killed himself.
The child, Catherine Mildred Stull. discovered the bodies when she awoke this morning and notified the management of the hotel in which the trio had registered late yesterday. Police said they found a note written by Mrs. Stull and signed by both her and Bohatch which saldt “Don’t blame it on Frank, 1 wanted it this way. I got Frank Into trouble and he lost his job.
Please send my little girl back to Wichita, and bury us in the same grave.” Mrs. Stull had been shot through the left temple and Bohatch through the right temple. The little girl said she was put to bed shortly after 10 p. and did not hear any shots during the night. Police surmised she had been given a sleeping potion.
The hotel management said it was unable to locate any guests who had heard the shots. The couple, It reported, registered ac Mr. and Mrs. F. T.
Brown and daughter late yesterday. The child told police they had come from Wichita on a- bus. Police said they learned Bohatch was formerly a farmer who had been working on a highway job recently. He was discharged last week, they said they learned. Police Find Bodies.
Patrolmen John Qulnn and Gilbert Hunt, first to reach the room niter the child had reported her mother and Bohatch wounded, said they found Mrs. Stull lying face downward on one bed and on his back on another. child did not learn until later that her mother was dead. Catherine told officers father WM £dgsr Lawrence Stull of Garden City and that he had been divorced from her mother years. Her mother and Bohatch, she said, were In love and planned to ry.” Girl Is Questioned.
Questioned at police headquarters, the girl said Bohatch had told her mother that If sho would come to Kansas City with him would buy her a motorcar and Jewelry. They visited a used car place here, she said, and Bohatch left a check as flown payment on a car. Later he began to worry over whether he had sufficient money In the bank to cover the check, she said. Yesterday evening, the child related, Bohatch called his mother twice at St. Mary’s hospital here and discussed with her the possibility of the check being short.
St. Mary’s hospital said It had no patients or employes named Bohatch. The girl told detectives that Bohatch had been visiting her mother for sometime and had been sending her money for a year. Her mother, she said, was formerly employed as tt saleswoman in Wichita. Bohatch, pollco learned was discharged Saturday by the district highway office at Great Bend.
He had been married and divorced, they learned. Police found $3 in Bohatch’s billfold and $1.35 in Mrs. Stull’s purse, apparently their only cash. Catherine Mildred was turned over to the department of public welfare. tcft Wichita Sunday.
Wichita, Kan-, July 30 Mrs. Iva Mae Stull. found shot to death In a Kansas City hotel today, left her apartment here Sunday night after announcing she was going to California, the apartment manager said today. The manager, Mrs. Woodward, said Mrs.
Stull visited in Great Bend, last week but returned to Wichita for the week-end. Em- ployes of the apartment said they knew little about the woman and saw her only occasionally because she maintained her own living quarters without any maid service whatever. Mrs. Woodward said the woman engaged the apartment May 1 and that she was unemployed.
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/10227333/
I stayed there last night in room 1413 and totally heard the noises and felt this presence. I did not see if it was male or female bit felt the pressing sensation in my chest while I was semi-asleep.
This was next to impossible to read because the font is so LIGHT! Great story.
I found your articles because I had a strange experience while at the Hotel Phillips this last weekend and was wanting to learn more. The first was when I was getting ready (midday Saturday) and was blow drying my hair, I saw in the mirror a woman walk behind me and then turn around and walk away. I called for my friend and her daughter thinking they were back from their errands. I stepped out of the bathroom and looked around the room, no one was there. That night, we were all getting ready for a gala and my friends daughter mentioned the closet smelled when she pulled her dress out. None of us could smell anything, but after reading about spirits it sounds like there can be a smell? So I’m adding that to the list of odd things that happened. The next morning, we were woken up by a door shutting softly. Two of us heard it and shrugged it off. Later that day, I shared my experience with the woman in the mirror and it sounds like others had heard other noises in the morning. We were staying in room 907. Never did the energy feel off for me. The room was comfortable and even when I saw the figure/woman, it looked very soft/light. Not scary or anything like that. Which again is why I thought it was my friend or her daughter. After leaving the hotel and researching, it sounds like this is common. For sure a neat experience and one that I won’t forget.
Thanks for your comment, and for sharing your experience with me, Jenny. It’s been a long time since I was at Hotel Pillips, though my experience there remains one of the most intense and immersive I’ve had. I deal with spirit engagement a lot, though when they are THAT insistent and involved in the everyday, it’s extra even for me. I hope you are recovered from your travels and doing well!