FORT SILL, Okla. -- Back in October, when I was trying to find a "haunted" place to write about, someone told me the Old Plantation Restaurant in Medicine Park might be something to check out. According to the restaurant's website (and again printed on their menus), the Old Plantation was built in 1910 as a hotel and during its life was called "The Outside Inn," the Grand Hotel" and "The Medicine Park Hotel." The hotel became a fixture during the Roaring 20s when Medicine Park became a favorite getaway for the upper echelon of society. Senator Elmer Thomas owned the hotel and helped to establish the town of Medicine Park which drew in nearby families, Soldiers stationed at Fort Sill along with celebrities ranging from Will Rogers to Al Capone and Bonnie and Clyde.
The website continued stating after Thomas sold the hotel the building went from providing lodging to vacationers to concealing a whiskey still and gambling room in the basement, and a brothel on the second floor. The third floor, it is rumored, to be "where dirty movies were shown." In the late 1940s a fire burned the hotel and in 1966 Ruby "Granma" Leath and her husband, Rex, reopened the building as a less provocative establishment, a restaurant, and renamed it the Old Plantation.
News articles I read boasted of massive steaks, chicken-fried steak and of the rolls made by Ruby Leath each day. (Ruby passed away in 2007 and her husband passed in 1998). From what I read, she would regale guests with stories of the building and of the town. I would have loved to have met her.
The restaurant closed nearly 35 years after the Leaths reopened the Old Plantation due to declining health (so said the website). It then opened again in March 2008 after nearly two years of restoration.
Entering the building a co-worker of mine told me stories he heard about the building namely about the questionable business practices of the women who used to live on the second floor and about rumors of tunnels under and passageways throughout the building. My curiosity peaked. In an article written by Ron Jackson of "The Oklahoman," Ruby Leath said she had an informant (she wouldn't give up the name) who said he was instructed by federal agents to seal up the entrances of the tunnels with concrete and gravel. Is that true? Are there tunnels? Oh I want to know! What do they use the basement floor for these days I wondered?
Well I called and asked (because I was too silly to remember to ask someone while I was at the restaurant). The upper two floors are used for storage but the basement is empty. Or so I was told. Dun dun dun! Who knows! Maybe there are relics from the days of booze and women!
Or maybe just cobwebs. A girl can imagine though.
I took my seat at the back of the dining hall near a fireplace and two rocking chairs. Another co-worker told me that particular area is haunted. I took some photos and then replayed them on the digital screen to see if there were any strange faces or lights the camera picked up that my eye couldn't see. You want to know what I saw when I played those images back?
I bet you do.
Bwaa hahahaha!
I ordered the chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes and extra gravy (side note I really enjoy country gravy. I'm pretty sure, as sick as it sounds, I could eat it straight. Gross, I know -- but delicious). It came with a side salad and two rolls with sweet butter. We had a large party so it took a little while to get our food but when it came out I was impressed.
The salad came first (with honey mustard). I'm not crazy about salads but this was fine. The bread came next, and I rationed it. Like a prisoner, small bites, small portions of butter (so I would have enough for every bite). I'm sure I could have asked for more butter but I didn't want to be a bother. Luckily, someone else didn't use theirs -- cha ching! It was mine!
The chicken-fried steak was actually TWO chicken-fried steaks, and I didn't eat it all. That is a feat for me as I can pack away food like a high school football player (one day my metabolism will fade -- but today was not that day!). It was great.
After eating I wandered through the building looking at old photos of the people who came to Medicine Park and of the evolution of the building. With its location on the banks of the Medicine Creek, I can see how it would be a beautiful destination for anyone, rich and famous or otherwise. Its stories of crime and scandal (and a few rumored murders) make me curious to know more and to find that unnamed informant who knows the location of the tunnels.
If you know where they are, let me know. I'd love to see them for myself.
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