Spirits at Sunset Strip - Part IV

Summary

The Night Owl Podcast Episode 57 – Spirits at Sunset Strip Part IV

Date: February 24, 2025

Host: Stephen Belyeu

Guest Investigators: Kate the Brave, Jeffrey, Nicole Ricardo

Location: Sunset Strip Comedy Club & the historic Webb Shaw Building, Austin, TX

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Overview

This episode continues the Night Owl team's paranormal investigation at the Sunset Strip Comedy Club. The focus is on unraveling the mysteries behind recurring ghostly phenomena, particularly the spirit (or spirits) associated with John Waller Stevens Jr., a bookkeeper believed to have died tragically in the 1920s, as well as the emergence of a darker, ominous shadow entity. The episode provides a deep dive into new psychic evidence, staff experiences, and—most significantly—a revelatory phone interview with fellow investigator Nicole Ricardo, who brings a trove of painstaking historical research and alternate theories about the case. This marks a major turning point in separating fact from rumor in the ongoing saga at the Sunset Strip.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recap of the Investigation So Far [00:09–05:20]

• The paranormal activity was previously attributed to John Waller Stevens Jr.’s alleged suicide under the back stairs.
• Earlier sessions with psychics Jeffrey and Kate the Brave uncovered two distinct energies: Stevens and a much darker shadow figure.
• “John Waller Stevens Jr. did in fact seem to be haunting this building. But there was also a much darker presence lurking in the shadows.” — Stephen Belyeu [04:23]
• New evidence and session recaps fuel questions about both the purported suicide and the nature of the unsettling shadow figure.

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2. Final Estes Session with Kate the Brave [05:21–09:55]

• Session attempts to communicate with “the businessman” (thought to be Stevens).
  • Phrases received: "Check the numbers," "Death was sent for me," "Fall," "Proof," "Scream," "Staircase," "He tripped," and "Help a man... that was two separate people."
  • Moments of confusion; male and female presences seem to vie for attention; information appears fragmented.
• Insight: Session hints at financial wrongdoing (“check the numbers”) and possible foul play (“death was sent for me”), resonating with historic rumors around Stevens.
• Notable quote:
  • "He says death was sent for me. Fall. Keep getting a fall." — Kate the Brave [06:13]
  • "Check the numbers. Okay." — Stephen Belyeu [06:11]
  • "He tripped." — Kate the Brave [06:54]

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3. Investigator Debriefs: Energies and Theories [09:55–17:06]

• Kate the Brave:

  • Identifies three presences: “the businessman" (likely Stevens, connected to money/bookkeeping); shadow entity (ominous, feeds off fear, hides by the stairs, “beckoning people”); a confused female spirit possibly seeking attention.
  • Describes shadow figure: “He’s so cloaked that he doesn’t really show more about who he is, but he’s hiding… He is very intimidating… ushers people to the stairs area.” [11:18]
  • Hank—another helpful spirit, dressed modern—emerges as a benign presence, separate from the major hauntings.

• Jeffrey:

  • Most clear connection with Hank (protective, backstage presence).
  • The shadow is “just mean. It's just causing problems. It feeds off of anxiety… not as dangerous as he would like to be, but you have to be careful.” [17:17]
  • Finds the green room and backstage heavy with residual energy—not all spirits active, many echoes of past events.
  • No significant impression of the female presence.

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4. Staff Experiences and The “Shadow Figure” [19:11–25:45]

• Discussion about staff seeing a “demon” in the office/stairwell area.

• Both psychics downplay a literal “demon”—suggest it's the shadow figure playing tricks (“he’s threatening… it’s not demonic”). [24:42]

• Staff often hear their names called in the back area; both psychics attribute this to the intelligent shadow entity.

  • “I think it’s the shadow thing.” — Jeffrey [24:01]
  • “This is intelligent.” — Kate the Brave [24:02]

• Physical manifestations include shadow rushes, strange figures with “bronze heads” (interpreted by psychics as conjured hallucinations).

  • “Something conjured… They don’t feel like actual spirits. They feel created because…” — Kate the Brave [22:47]

• Advice for staff:

  • Set boundaries, do not feed the entity with fear or attention.
  • “You are not… I'm not going to kick you out, but we know you're here. We're not afraid of you anymore. Don't touch the lights. Don't touch the light board.” — Jeffrey [25:15]

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5. Unveiling the True Story: Phone Interview with Nicole Ricardo [37:59–73:55]

Historical Research Revelations ([40:12] onward):

• Multiple conflicting records about Stevens’ death:

  • Official death certificate: Self-administered Lysol poisoning.
  • Two newspaper articles (the day after death): Reported a car accident as the cause.
  • Historical document: Claimed Stevens shot himself under interior stairs after being accused of embezzlement.

• “There is so much more than just that death certificate. This is a huge, convoluted, super confusing case.” — Nicole Ricardo [39:31]

• Suspicious circumstances:

  • Odd transportation after the supposed car accident—bypassing multiple hospitals to bring Stevens back to his workplace.
  • Time and location discrepancies.
  • Evidence of financial wrongdoing; shortly after Stevens' death, the furniture store went out of business.

• Stevens’ family background (prominent, but Stevens was estranged; not buried with family; scandals regarding marriage and embezzlement).

• Seance and psychic insights:

  • The team’s Ouija session indicated Stevens was bookkeeper for both businesses; there was illegal activity in upper floors (including possible sex work), and he was planning to expose this, resulting in his murder (“they found out and had him killed”). [61:41]
  • “We received… that JW had been doing the books for both of the businesses in that building and that they also had been using some of those upper floors illegally for certain activities… and then they found out and had him killed.” — Nicole Ricardo [61:41]
  • Name “Paul” repeatedly came through—potentially a ringleader; “scoundrel” also spelled out.

• Alignment with Night Owl’s independent sessions, particularly constant female voices (possibly sex workers).

Final Theories ([70:54–73:56]):

• Nicole’s conclusion: Stevens did not die by suicide; she suspects he was forced to ingest Lysol due to the criminal dealings he threatened to expose.
  • “Do I think that he drank it willingly? No, I think that he was forced to.” [72:20]

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6. Next Steps for the Investigation [73:56–End]

• Steven Belyeu plans:
  • Deep dive into documents from Nicole’s team.
  • Next investigation to focus on the historically accurate locations (e.g., Voodoo Donuts, matching former furniture store).
  • Bring all investigators (including Nicole) back for a final investigation with full knowledge of the converging evidence and renewed focus on the shadow entity.
  • “Since this investigation has gone on longer than expected, my psychics now will have had access to hear the previous three episodes… I want to bring Nicole and her paranormal partner in crime, Damien… Maybe then we'll be able to get the answers we seek.” [73:56]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He says death was sent for me. Fall. Keep getting a fall.” — Kate the Brave [06:13]
• “Check the numbers.” — Kate the Brave [06:06]
• “He tripped.” — Kate the Brave [06:54]
• “The shadow guy… he's hiding. I see him, like, beckoning people down the stairs… there's a lot of stuff that comes in from upstairs, just like a hustle and a bustle… Also feels like little kids, but they come in from outside…” — Kate the Brave [11:18]
• “The shadow is just mean. It's just causing problems. It feeds off of anxiety… but he's not as dangerous as he would like to be.” — Jeffrey [17:17]
• “It’d be the shadow figure, like making him see that [the bronze heads].” — Jeffrey [22:43]
• “He’s threatening. He wants to scare you and threaten you. It’s not demonic. It’s the shadow figure.” — Kate the Brave [24:42]
• “I think it's the shadow thing.” — Jeffrey [24:01]
• “There is so much more than just that death certificate. This is a huge, convoluted, super confusing case.” — Nicole Ricardo [39:31]
• “I do think the Lysol thing happened… Do I think that he drank it willingly? No, I think that he was forced to.” — Nicole Ricardo [72:20]

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Important Timestamps

• [00:09] – Episode intro and investigation recap
• [05:21] – Kate’s final Estes session
• [10:44] – Psychic recaps and impressions
• [19:11] – Shadow figure focus, staff experiences
• [37:59] – Stephen’s phone call with Nicole Ricardo begins
• [40:12] – Nicole recounts historical research (death certificate, news articles, building history)
• [61:41] – Seance findings and psychic validations
• [70:54] – Nicole’s personal theory about Stevens’ death and the family’s likely cover up
• [73:56] – Plans for next investigation and episode wrap-up

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Conclusion & Tone

This episode delivers a whirlwind of history, psychic impressions, and investigative breakthroughs, each serving to muddy and then clarify the central mystery: Was John Waller Stevens Jr. the tragic victim of murder, suicide, or cover-up in the Webb Shaw building? The team’s dynamic, respectful exploration—blending historical grit, open-minded psychic inquiry, and methodical debunking—anchors the show in both skepticism and empathy.

The haunting of Sunset Strip is revealed not just as a series of supernatural anecdotes, but as a deeply layered story of power, shame, and the unresolved spectral legacy of Austin’s nightlife—where shadowy presences, both tragic and menacing, linger just out of the light.

Next episode promises a final confrontation with both fact and spirit. Stay restless—Part V lands March 31.

Transcript

[Stephen Ballew]

The Night owl Podcast Episode 57 the Spirits at Sunset Strip Part 4.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Welcome.

[Stephen Ballew]

To the Night Owl Podcast. I'm your host, Stephen Ballew, and this is a place for all you restless spirits out there to tune in and hear true tales of the paranormal. I hunt these stories down, capture them from the mouths of those who've experienced them, and share them with you right here. We're currently looking for more personal ghost stories or haunted locations, so if you or someone you know has one, please submit it to us. For consideration, go to thenight owlpodcast.com Click on the Submit yout Story page and let us hear your ghost story. In the first three parts of this investigation, the Night Owl team uncovered unsettling paranormal activity at the Sunset Strip Comedy Club, particularly around the back stairwell of this building. Staff have long attributed the ominous energy in this area to the mysterious suicide of John Waller Stevens, Jr. Reports of shadowy figures and an overwhelming sense of dread have made this spot a hotspot for eerie encounters. But during our last investigation, working with psychic mediums Jeffrey and Kate the Brave, we made an intriguing discovery. The shadowy presence they both saw appeared to be a completely separate energy from John's spirit, and it was likely the source of the darker activity reported. In this episode, we'll pick up where we left off in the last investigation with Jeffrey and Kate. We'll reflect on what we've uncovered so far, and I'll reveal a fascinating new breakthrough that sheds more light on the mystery of John Waller Stevens, Jr. And his tragic death. Stay tuned. I know this case has been a whirlwind, so before we jump back in where we left off on the previous episode, allow me to try to do a very brief recap of the journey we've been on so far at the Sunset Strip Comedy Club and the Austin, Texas. From disembodied voices, shadow figures, to mysterious foul odors, and an overwhelming presence in the back stairwell, this old building's dark history has only deepened since we've been here. As I've mentioned, the staff have long attributed the ominous energy in the back stairwell to the tragic suicide of John Waller Stevens, Jr. A bookkeeper for a furniture store in the building in the 1920s, who is said to have killed himself by ingesting Lysol in the closet under the back stairs. During our first investigation, psychic medium Jeffrey connected with unknown spirits, including a new entity named Hank, while the team explored advanced techniques like the Estes method and Ganzfeld experiments. But lingering questions remained, especially about the unsettling energy in the back stairwell. And the mystery of John's tragic death. In our second investigation, Jeffrey was joined by psychic Kate the Brave from San Antonio. And the two made an incredible validation. Kate, with no prior knowledge of this case or the location, picked up on the same exact spirit. Jeffrey had identified Hank and even got his exact name. This was a huge breakthrough. However, while Hank's energy was undeniably present, I knew he wasn't the most concerning presence in the building. To help owner Christina and the staff, I pushed the psychics to dive deeper into the space using the advanced techniques like the Estes method and Gansfeld experiments. After hours of investigating, we came to this conclusion. John Waller Stevens Jr. Did in fact seem to be haunting this building. But there was also a much darker presence lurking in the shadows. And this shadow was the reason behind the more unsavory experiences the staff were experiencing, not John. In this episode, we'll reflect on how we uncovered a critical distinction between the energies of John Waller Stevens Jr. And the more ominous shadow figure. But while digging deeper into the building's past, I'll make an unexpected discovery. A fellow paranormal investigator that I know personally apparently conducted a full investigation and even held a seance in the speakeasy below Sunset Strip years ago and come to find out they uncovered a trove of historical documents tied to John's death. Later in this episode, in a recorded phone call with this investigator, they'll reveal never before heard details that could change everything we thought we knew about John's death. But now it's time to jump right back in where we left off in the previous episode, which was at the tail end of the investigation with Kate and Jeffrey on November 10, 2024. If you'll recall, we ended with Kate having undergone her first SD session with us in the green room. Some key things that came through this session were the names John and Steven, which could have been John Waller Stevens trying to come through. The spirit also mentioned business, said he was sorry, and asked us to go to the back stairwell. But Kait eventually stopped this session because a female presence was trying to come through, but kept getting interrupted by a male voice, which was kind of similar to the first SD sessions we did in the first investigation with Jeffrey and many of my team and Christina's staff. Now we're going to pick up where we left off, and Kate is going to be going under a second SD session one more time in the green room. It's very important for me to remind you all that both sidekicks do not have any of the information regarding John's name or. Or how he died. Yet the only things I confirmed with them, as you heard in the previous episode, was how Kate was hitting on this male presence that we wanted to get more information on. And I confirmed that she was hitting on many aspects of the businessman that she was describing, including handling money and writing in books. So let's jump right back in and hear Kate's final SD session in the green room on November 10th.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

I wanted to try to get more from the business person because of the ties that we know here.

[Kate the Brave]

Okay.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

But I don't know if you can. And that's the one that his voice.

[Kate the Brave]

Is like, loud and older.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

And older.

[Kate the Brave]

Okay. Yeah. Okay. I can do that.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

I'm gonna try.

[Stephen Ballew]

Okay. Kate's going back under. I'm gonna talk lightly so she doesn't hear.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

But we're trying to communicate with the male downstairs that comes up this way.

[Stephen Ballew]

That has a history here.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah, we're trying to get to the bottom of your story. Can you tell us who you are.

[Stephen Ballew]

And what happened to you? Like just give us some details.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

I know you can't speak in full sentences sometimes, but give us key words.

[Stephen Ballew]

That let us know.

[Kate the Brave]

Please.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Please.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

What?

[Investigator/Interviewer]

What do you need?

[Kate the Brave]

I need.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

What do you need?

[Kate the Brave]

You to check the numbers.

[Stephen Ballew]

Check the numbers. Okay.

[Kate the Brave]

He says death was sent for me. Fall. Keep getting a fall.

[Stephen Ballew]

Can you tell us where. Where you died? Where did you die?

[Kate the Brave]

Proof. Scream.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Slow down. And try to concentrate on the key.

[Kate the Brave]

Things that we done.

[Stephen Ballew]

We need to know about you.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

What did you do for a living? Your name.

[Kate the Brave]

What was that?

[Jeffrey]

Your name.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

What you did for a living.

[Kate the Brave]

Who's there?

[Stephen Ballew]

My name is Steven.

[Kate the Brave]

It's this guy. He's speaking.

[Stephen Ballew]

Yeah, my name's Steven.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

And we're here to actually help uncover staircase.

[Stephen Ballew]

Okay, so.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Staircase. What about the staircase trip?

[Kate the Brave]

He tripped.

[Stephen Ballew]

Was there anything else about that that.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

We need to know?

[Kate the Brave]

A time waster.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah, Maybe this is.

[Christina (owner/staff)]

Are you the one that was shot in a stairwell?

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Stephen Ballew]

Is this someone else we're talking to?

[Kate the Brave]

Will you stay?

[Stephen Ballew]

As long as we can. But what do you need?

[Investigator/Interviewer]

What do you need from us?

[Kate the Brave]

He takes women.

[Stephen Ballew]

Who takes women?

[Kate the Brave]

What?

[Investigator/Interviewer]

What do you mean?

[Kate the Brave]

Time will tell. It's true. Whatever Me.

[Stephen Ballew]

Why do people feel weird on the staircase?

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Why is everybody afraid of the staircase? We're still trying to connect with John.

[Kate the Brave]

Good.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

And if you're there, we need to know more about how you passed away.

[Stephen Ballew]

What happened to you.

[Kate the Brave]

Also listen.

[Stephen Ballew]

I'm listening.

[Kate the Brave]

He's coming.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Where?

[Kate the Brave]

Right there. It's one person. Guess.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

I guess. John.

[Kate the Brave]

Steven.

[Stephen Ballew]

John's last name is Stevens.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Spelled like my name.

[Kate the Brave]

Is that you Keep going. It's working.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Okay. John Baller Stevens Jr. Did I get it right?

[Kate the Brave]

He had.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Okay, we're gonna wrap up this method. I wanted to try to communicate with whatever spirit needed to get something across. But we're not getting a lot through.

[Stephen Ballew]

Here, so we're gonna end this session.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

We have 30 seconds or more left to get a message across if you have one.

[Kate the Brave]

Waiting on business. Okay. Trouble.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

What kind of trouble?

[Kate the Brave]

Help a man. That's not. That was two separate people.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah, I don't know. It was. It's tough. It's not. Some of it was responsive, but some of it was just kind of all over the place. So I don't know. Couldn't get to the bottom of the. The mill who I was really hoping to get to.

[Kate the Brave]

Yeah, there was a lot of. Felt like people were talking, and then they, like, yanked away at the end of what they were saying is how it felt.

[Stephen Ballew]

We did get some more interesting hits here. The things like check the numbers and death was sent for me were intriguing. Knowing the rumors surrounding John embezzling money and theories suggesting that John did not commit suicide, that he may have actually been murdered. And the names John and Steven returned in this session, which is wild because I had not confirmed these names with either psychic by this point. It's also important to note Jeffrey was not present for any of these sessions with Kate. We isolated him far away so he could not hear me asking questions or mentioning their full names. And Kate, while under, is unable to hear me due to the noise canceling headphones and the loud noise coming through the scanning AM stations blasting in her ears. But now, before the investigation ended, we did want to have Jeffrey squeeze in one more SD session. I'll save us some time here because the session honestly didn't yield anything new, but I'll share a quick recap of what Jeffrey got.

[Jeffrey]

I did hear the same deep man's voice. Not an old man, but the same. In the same woman's. Two women's voices again and again. And the word roof over and over and over. And almost like they were getting cut off. Like, I think I kept hearing. Almost like curtain or somebody. It would. Like it was getting cut off. It's just really hard to. Because it's so fast. If they would slow down, you know, or there were a couple of words when I was repeating what they were saying. Something else happened.

[Nicole Ricardo]

But.

[Jeffrey]

Yeah, but I did hear the same voices.

[Stephen Ballew]

The investigation on this day, sadly, had come to A wrap here. Kate needed to get back to San Antonio, and Christina had events to prepare for tonight, so I decided it would be best to get Kate and Jeffrey back out into the front of house and just get a full recap of what they both were leaving with after their time here.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

I've gotten Jeffrey a lot because he's been here twice now. But what is your full recap of the building that you've walked through so far? Like, what are the key things that you want to take away and people to know about the energies here that you picked up on?

[Kate the Brave]

Well, the man who does like the business, the businessman, as I keep calling him, he is seen a lot. I feel like he's active, but really it's the shadow guy. And he's so cloaked that he doesn't really show more about who he is, but he's hiding. I see him, like, beckoning people down the stairs. I also see, like, this trail of, like, walking down the stairs and then going out the back door. And it's like, sometimes it's like a bolting energy, and sometimes it's like a slower energy. There's a lot of stuff that comes in from upstairs, just like a hustle and a bustle. Also feels like little kids, but they come in from outside and come in and play around. Also just things from Austin area, like the staticy type things I see coming in, and it's almost like things get louder when they shouldn't. Where the volume shouldn't be louder is how it feels. It feels audible more than visual. And also, there's a woman here, and I feel like she's trying to get her. Get attention, get attention, get attention. So especially if you're female and you're more open and sensitive, you'll probably feel her energy, like, coming in and sitting next to you. I really don't feel like she even understands what happened to her. She feels confused. So I think it would be worth having a conversation with her and just letting her know, like, where we're at, what we're doing and things like that. Because she just looks like. I don't think she knows why she's here. She's like, why am I here? Why am I here? Is how it feels.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Going off of the key hit. That was really validating, oddly enough, not for the staff and reports here, but bringing Jeffrey here several weeks back for Hank. Yeah, for the mail. So kind of introduce how you got how you stumbled on the mail, then how the name came to you and all that. I'd like to rehash that just to kind of recapture it.

[Kate the Brave]

Yeah, Well, I didn't feel him when I first walked in. I felt him more on. Well, it's funny I say that when we first came up the stairs, I saw a man holding the door open, like, come in this way, but I didn't know who he was. I just saw a man standing there and I'm like, thank you for welcoming me in. And so then we came in, and then we came to the stage. Then I saw him working. Like, I saw him go to the back, walk down the stairs, walk around. I came back around, came back up. I more of watched him work. He wasn't talking to us really until we stopped on the stage and we're talking about him. And then he came up and he was like, hi, I'm Hank. And that's how it felt. Just like, hi, I'm Hank. And then he was talking to me about the light and it looked loose. He was showing me a loose light and he was telling me that he was trying to get their attention to fix it. I thought that was interesting.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

And I know you don't do well with eras because you've told me that, like time periods. But what is the best kind of like ballpark range that you would imagine hang from.

[Kate the Brave]

Honestly, it feels more modern. It doesn't feel old to me. And if it's. He just feels more modern. Y. I see him wearing a T shirt and jeans. I don't see a suit. I don't see anything like that. And his shirt is tucked in and he's wearing a belt. So maybe like, I don't think this is the time period. I think this is like his age. It feels like mid 50 year old age is how it feels like a little bit older, just friendly guy, likes to be. Likes to help out is how it feels. And. And really that is truly how it feels. It feels like he reaches out your hand. His hand to walk down the stairs so you don't trip and fall and things like that. He's really making sure everybody stays safe. And then he also mentioned something about the bar and keeping up in. In that area too. Just safety. Safe. His concern is safety.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Okay, Cool. Of the man, the businessman. Talk a little bit about your final thoughts on those, like the things he was showing you as far as, like, what he did, the money stuff. Any other final thoughts on his death or anything like that? I know that you were. You picked up a lot on him, but it was kind of, you know.

[Kate the Brave]

Yeah, I don't. I. I still see like, maybe it wasn't his cause of death. Maybe he just had a stroke or something in life. But I still see that energy, and it, like, comes up from his arm and into the heart is how it feels. When we walk to the office in the back, I literally saw him standing above the counter, like, rifling through the papers. I see him writing things down, and it honestly looks like he was in a hurry to write it down before somebody got back there and saw. Also, I keep seeing, like, I see the book open, I see the page, and I see blanks missing, and he's, like, filling in the blanks. He's, like, going in and filling in, like, back dating times, things like that, dates like that. He does not feel related to the shadow person. To me, it's like he was in the office and then around the corner was a shadow person, like, hiding very. I think he's cowardly because I think once we find out who he is, then he's, like, flicked off is how it feels. So he hides a lot with people who can see who he is, but he is very intimidating. I see him, like, coming up to people and making you feel small or scared. I think he's the one who, like, ushers people to the stairs area. Anything else about the business guy? Oh, yeah. And then they had, like, business meetings in the back that were very exclusive.

[Stephen Ballew]

And you're talking about this back or downstairs?

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Back.

[Kate the Brave]

No, the green room.

[Stephen Ballew]

The green room.

[Kate the Brave]

Okay. Yeah, the green room.

[Stephen Ballew]

Okay. Now, I jumped over to get Jeffrey's recap. He's been here two times now, and I was curious what he was feeling about all this at the close of this second investigation.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Jeffrey, do you want to come share your final thoughts on everything? I know you. What. Where are you ending with this place? It's been tough because there's a. I want to share with y', all, and I probably will in a minute, because we won't be back here too much more.

[Jeffrey]

Well, I mean, the main thing I connected with was Hank and the description of the white hair, and he's wearing jeans. Helpful. He's strong. He's not. I see him maybe a little taller. I think he's got blue eyes, the round nose, all that. I still think he has some sort of. It's not a time period, but I still get this image of, like, on the road or traveling, moving, like, being on tour kind of a thing. And maybe that was something that he did, but he enjoys being backstage and doing all that theater stuff and watching over the place, but. And then the other spirit, the shadow thing is just, like I said, it's just mean. It's just causing problems. It just. It feeds off of anxiety and stuff like that. I mean, this is a high energy place, so it's always going to attract, you know, theaters or a place like this always attracts almost like an elemental kind of a thing. But he's. He's not as dangerous as he would like to be. But you have to be careful. Like that one person that he really got a hold of, he could be, you know, so maybe they need to like scoff at him and not, you know, when they feel afraid, they need to tell him to go away, you know, not give him any more energy. I still didn't feel anything really more down on the stairs other than that. It's a creepy old staircase kind of a thing. But I mean, I'm not scared of it, so. And there was something, like I said, shady going on down in that other place downstairs that we went to last time, the little speakeasy area. But as far as this, it's mostly just residuals. The only real intelligent, active spirit that I felt were the shadow guy, the mean shadow and the Hank. Those are the two active things. Otherwise, you know, like, I think the. The guy auditioning people. I think that was a residual from when it was probably something else, that kind of a thing. Lots of residual energy in the green room, in the backstage area.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah. And you never picked up on a female, right?

[Jeffrey]

No, not really.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jeffrey]

Not a woman.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

It's weird because that's kind of the only. That's another thing that's coming through that I forgot to validate with you a little bit. The. A couple of employees, when we were doing interviews, admitted feeling like a comforting female presence in the green room. That's. But that's all we kind of got. And we were like. I was like, where are you getting that from? They're like, we don't know, but we just feel it. So that's just an interesting thing. It might be the female that you might be picking up on. I don't know.

[Stephen Ballew]

As he mentioned, Jeffrey still never picked up on the businessman spirit, whom we were believing was John Waller Stevens Jr. By this point. So I wanted to ask Kate a little more about him. I still have not revealed to either of these psychics his name or how he died yet.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

The male down there last time, you don't. I don't want to. I really don't want to force this. So if it's. Nothing else has come to you but Was there another name that's come. That feels more fitting for. Not yet?

[Kate the Brave]

No. I don't. I don't know who Jim is, but that came through clearly on the thing. It didn't come through psychically, but I kept hearing Jim, and then I heard a very strong John. That's what I heard.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

I'm going to do that research before I share with y' all what I know about that. The male that's possibly tied to the business, bookkeeping, money stuff. I know you didn't pick up much on him, but that's the one that has been. It's interesting, though, that I think a lot of the people here believe that presence might have been the. They feel really uneasy in the stairwell.

[Kate the Brave]

Yeah.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

And. But y' all are saying that you feel that's more of that shadow presence, Not. Not that male, right?

[Kate the Brave]

No.

[Stephen Ballew]

Okay, so.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

So I can at least confirm or let them know that we don't think it's that person. And then we might have to address the shadow person for the staff to feel safe here. Is there anything that we can do for them? Because I will share with you because you had a story that lined up really well, Jeffrey. You were saying that that shadow would come up to people. You said you couldn't tell if it was male or female. But this was a male employee opening up the bar, and he had to open by himself all the time. And his experience was so, like, frightening to him because he was here by himself. And it came from right here. A shadow figure rushed him, rushed toward him at the bar. And there's footage of him losing it, like, freaking out. And you can see him, but he doesn't know what's going on. And then. This is weird. I have to ask you this, because I've never heard this in any of my work. He said after that shadow went by, he was kind of, like, rattled. He went back behind the bar and thought maybe I was just seeing things. And then when he was working the bar, he just kept, like. The footage shows him. He's just, like, constantly looking. Apparently, I never got to see it because the footage is gone, but all the employees that saw it reported back to me. And he kept, like. He was just shaking. He couldn't open the bar. So he ended up waiting for the. One of the other managers or owners to get here. And he apologized. He's like, I swear to God, I wasn't, like, not ignoring. I just couldn't work because this happened to me. But what happened was while. While he was still trying to do the Work. Two figures appeared, and they did the same thing, but he said the first one was more of a shadow figure that scared him. The last two were more clearly visible, but he said that they had no features and that they each had the weirdest head. And I was like, I've never heard this in any of my research. They had bronze heads. I've never heard of that in my life. What the hell is that? If y' all have any ideas about that. I've been trying to figure that out for a little while.

[Jeffrey]

It'd be the shadow figure, like making him see that.

[Kate the Brave]

Yeah. Something conjured. So I think it's playing on his. It's like a hallucination is how it feels. If they feel conjured, they don't feel like actual spirits. They feel created because.

[Jeffrey]

Yeah, it really got. It got to him.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey]

And so.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Oh, he couldn't open anymore. Right.

[Stephen Ballew]

You said.

[Jeffrey]

And so, I mean, that's, you know, the stronger God.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Following this, I wanted to inform them.

[Stephen Ballew]

About the common reports of staff hearing their names called. That was something we never fully resolved or had answers for yet.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

The most common thing. Jeffrey got this. I don't know if you did. So many people I interviewed, they hear their name called. I don't know if y' all can attribute that to which energy this might be, but they hear their name called. And it typically comes from this area right here. This is where a lot of people. A lot of people are most uncomfortable here. Because it also leads to that. In that back stairwell area that's the most uncomfortable.

[Jeffrey]

It's weird that it's such.

[Kate the Brave]

I kept hearing my name on the spirit box being said.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Kate the Brave]

But I haven't heard it audibly, but in the spirit box. And that felt like.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Kate the Brave]

Somebody messing around.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah. The stories are so crazy because so many people have heard their name here and they hear it and they know that they're the only one here. I was just curious about the name calling.

[Jeffrey]

I think it's the shadow thing.

[Kate the Brave]

I agree. This is intelligent.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

It's intelligent.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

But.

[Jeffrey]

And it's. It's just weird. Of all the places, the nooks and crannies in this place, it's this busy pass through area that is like.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah, got that.

[Jeffrey]

But that's where people are preoccupied. And you can jump out and jump.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Scare. Yeah. Another thing that you picked up on, which was pretty interesting, is that, you know where those. Back in the back office where the liquor shelf is.

[Kate the Brave]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

You were seeing a shadow figure there. Yeah.

[Kate the Brave]

He was hiding behind there Was it.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

The same shadow figure? Okay. Christina and a lot of her staff. Again, you can. You can rule this out or tell her so she might feel better, too. They all believe that a demon was back there, like a demonic presence.

[Kate the Brave]

Oh, it's because of. That's how that guy makes you feel. He's threatening. He wants to scare you and threaten you. It's not demonic. It's the shadow figure.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah. So anything else that you have questions for them about? Because we might want to help her with the darker presence, other than, like, I don't know what else we could.

[Christina (owner/staff)]

Do, but I just don't know. Like, is there anything that we can kind of help, coexist and not have them mess with the lights, with the shows, or, like, have them respect, like, what we're doing here instead of playing.

[Jeffrey]

Around to tell them to set the boundaries? You are not. I'm not going to kick you out, but we know you're here. We're not afraid of you anymore. Don't touch the lights. Don't touch the light board.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Don't mess with the stuff.

[Jeffrey]

Leave the stuff. Leave us and the stuff alone.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey]

And if you don't like it, then you can leave, but we're not going to feed you anymore.

[Christina (owner/staff)]

Right.

[Kate the Brave]

You know, I feel the same. It's about setting boundaries. And also, he knows. Knows I feel like it's okay to make it clear that if he doesn't respect boundaries, then he will have to leave. Yeah. And that's a whole.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

And we can help you if that comes to that place with Alexis and the other team members that practice those spiritual practices. And we typically don't like to do that because it's like forcing someone out. But if you are in a space where it's getting worse or they're not listening to those boundaries, you can always reach out to us and we can come and do some work with you and teach you how to cleanse the spaces yourself and things like that. Yeah, there was a couple things I didn't confirm with you, and maybe I should let you know, too, is there.

[Stephen Ballew]

Was a lot of deaths in the stairwell.

[Kate the Brave]

Apparently somebody fall down the stairs and shot. Oh.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

That was a male, right? Was that just a customer?

[Christina (owner/staff)]

And I think he, like, walked out into the alley and died in the alley.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

That might be what you're feeling.

[Kate the Brave]

That is exactly.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

She kept wanting to go out that door.

[Kate the Brave]

Yeah. And I think that's who was coming through here, because I wanted to ask, outside of what I was hearing, did somebody fall down the stairs? That felt like it was him, and I think he was trying to show us.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Like, I wonder if his name. We kept getting a gym for that type of. Every time we were talking about the fall, Jim kept coming through. Now, I will confirm John is the name of the man who was. Okay, so I feel like that might.

[Kate the Brave]

Yeah.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

You were also saying Steve. Now, I don't know if you were getting. So his name was John Stevens.

[Kate the Brave]

Oh, wow.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

And you were saying John not together, but you were saying Stephen a lot. And John, when we were trying to.

[Stephen Ballew]

Connect with him, it was the same voice.

[Kate the Brave]

I will say that.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

That's what I did. Want to confirm. John Stevens was the guy who we believe actually died down there. And also. And also he was the bookkeeper who was believed to have been fudging the books and then keeping money himself.

[Kate the Brave]

Okay. Well, when John came through, it was very clear, direct. No words in front of it, no words after it. John and Jim felt separate. So that makes sense to me.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

And I don't know if Jim was the one tied to the fall, but that's what that. That's what it was. When you remember. I'll have to re. Listen, but. But Jim, I have to look and see. I don't know who. Y' all don't have any records of the man who was shot and killed here, huh? Was that when it was in the parish? When it was the parish?

[Stephen Ballew]

No. If you can recall, there was a brief mention in one of our earlier interviews of a man getting shot in the back stairwell and dying in the alleyway. Sadly, I had tried to research this with what information I was given, but I was unable to verify this. But Kate had some more she wanted to share about the spirit we believe to be John in this moment.

[Kate the Brave]

Also with John, when you're asking questions on the spirit box, you could tell he was answering you. It was like, what? Like, it was very clear, him answering, but he feels like he can't be bothered. It's like he doesn't want to talk. It's. What? What do you want to know? What's happening? He's very like the one that asked.

[Christina (owner/staff)]

That death was coming for him. Or was it the one that was falling?

[Kate the Brave]

No, that was John.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Okay, so John's death certificate says he ingested Lysol in the bathroom downstairs.

[Kate the Brave]

Did I say suicide?

[Investigator/Interviewer]

So that's where we're like, what the fuck? That's why I was like, the death is so fucking weird. Like, that is weird.

[Jeffrey]

He didn't do anything.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

So say it again.

[Christina (owner/staff)]

He didn't do it.

[Jeffrey]

No, he didn't do that to himself.

[Christina (owner/staff)]

I don't think so either, because it would be so painful.

[Jeffrey]

I told you when we went downstairs that first time we were here, that shady stuff was going on down there. You know, people moving. Remember, they were moving stuff back and forth. Well, I don't know if it was a body. There was something that the workers didn't even know what it was. They were just told to move. There was some shadiness going on. It reminded me a lot of the Havana, the shady deals going down there, you know? But he.

[Kate the Brave]

See, I don't even think he knows he died like that, because every time I asked him, I just felt my chest. Like a pain in my chest.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

What if they gave it to him in a drink or something?

[Jeffrey]

I didn't pick up on this young guy at all. But when you said that, I heard.

[Christina (owner/staff)]

No, I mean, when I first heard the story about how he ingested Lysol, it's just like, how do you ingest so much that you would die from it? And, like, also, it would just.

[Nicole Ricardo]

That would suck.

[Jeffrey]

That's some. That's very painful. It's like swallowing bleach or something. Somebody wanted him to die of pain. So, yeah, it wasn't suicide.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

And that's why we were just curious if his energy was left feeling negative here or, you know, if that was the shadow figure. But it looks like Kate was getting a different.

[Jeffrey]

I don't know. Yeah, sometimes I just don't pick up on certain things, so I just didn't pick up on all the dramatic stuff for some reason. I mean, I guess I was co enamored of Hank, and all of a sudden that was going on, but that was the energy that was highlighted to me, you know? So.

[Kate the Brave]

Okay.

[Jeffrey]

But I'm not surprised to find out stuff like that went on when I got that creepy vibe down there. It just wasn't that specific, so.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah. Well, cool.

[Jeffrey]

Okay.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Awesome. As we packed up and needed to.

[Stephen Ballew]

Leave Christina to prepare for the evening events at her venue, she actually stopped to share how she wasn't feeling good about staying.

[Christina (owner/staff)]

I don't know why. I feel, like, rushed out. I feel like I shouldn't be here. I, like, have this weird feeling.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Christina (owner/staff)]

And it's weird because I have two shows tonight, but I think that he. I don't know. I just feel like an energy just being like, all right, get out of here.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Christina (owner/staff)]

I don't know why.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Maybe just because we called it out, maybe. Yeah. Is there anything she can do to not feel so rushed out? By this thing or unwanted here.

[Jeffrey]

It's your place. You make that clear. This is my place. If you're going to stay here, then leave me alone. I'm not having it anymore. And just don't.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Alexis was busy today, so he couldn't come, but he's the person that can help you with more practical, like anything you need to do, like for cleansings and things like that. For, like, just making sure the space has positive energy and the negative energy is, like, subdued. I do my own things, but I'd rather him tell you what he recommends as opposed to me. My own thing.

[Nicole Ricardo]

Yeah.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Stephen Ballew]

Our spiritual leader on this team, Alexis, was not able to join us today, so I was going to plan a visit for him to return and further help Christina feel safer in her space. In the meantime, Jeffrey and Kate left her with some advice and we let her know I was a phone call away if she needed us in an emergency. I left this second investigation feeling slightly better that we'd gotten a lot of information that I felt confident was pointing to John Waller Stevens Jr. However, we now had a mysterious shadow figure that I was going to have to try to further investigate in order to truly help Christina and her staff with their more concerning experiences that continue to plague the establishment. But I wouldn't be able to get any more information on the shadow figure until I could return. So I wanted to turn my attention to finally digging into the building's history and all I could find on John Waller Stevens Jr. Thankfully, before I began this long, grueling task with my father and I remembered from my initial interview with Tasha, a manager of Happy Chicks in Eden, that she'd mentioned a paranormal investigator and medium had visited the speakeasy when it was called Jay Stevens. I followed up on this little detail and was very excited to hear the name that she gave me for this paranormal investigator. It was Nicole Ricardo of the Real Ghost of podcast. She's actually a friend of mine in the show and recently was a panelist and guest speaker at our Spirit Social event last October.

[Investigator/Interviewer]

I knew if I let her know.

[Stephen Ballew]

I was on this case that she'd probably be more than willing to disclose all that she'd found and save me the hassle of trying to re uncover everything that she might have already found. Thankfully, after a brief text to Nicole, I got an ecstatic response saying she'd be happy to. When we get back from this short sponsor break, Nicole is not only going to reveal to us all the perplexing pieces of the convoluted puzzle surrounding John's mysterious death, but she'll also share intriguing discoveries and theories about John's life and and this historic building. Stay tuned. I'm really excited to welcome back Factor as a sponsor for the Night Owl Podcast. Get started@factor meals.com Factor podcast and use code Factor podcast to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping as I've mentioned before, I'm extremely focused right now on creating a newer, healthier version of me in 2025. I am basically working two full time jobs and trying to make time for afternoon runs or trips to the gym to try and achieve these personal goals. This certainly does not leave much time for food planning, shopping and preparation, but nutrition is also a very important part of the equation when it comes to health and fitness. Not only that, but my particular workout regimen requires that I consume high protein meals to optimize the effects of the exercises I do. This is where Factor Meals come to the rescue. Factor happens to be the number one ready to eat meal delivery service in America. With 40 meal options spread across eight dietary preferences, it's incredibly easy to select meals tailored to my specific needs. I personally choose from the Protein plus category, but there are also meals for those preferring calorie smart keto, vegan, carb conscious and they even offer breakfasts, smoothies and desserts. 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That's code Factor [e-mail] Factorpodcast to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. All right night owls, I have to take a moment to give a huge thank you to the longest running sponsor of our show, AG1. Their continued support makes it possible for me to keep bringing you these interesting stories and investigations that we go on on this show. So please show your support by checking out drink ag1.com Night Owl currently it's wintertime here in South Texas and for me I find myself a little down in the dumps this time of year. One of the things I enjoy the most is being able to get out in the sun and run on the trails here in Austin, but winter weather sometimes makes that nearly impossible. The cold, windy and wet conditions certainly make it harder for me to get the outdoor exercise I crave, but I can still hit the gym and I can hit many of my health goals simply by drinking AG1 for my daily nutritional foundational needs. Before breakfast, before coffee even, it AG1 is my go to morning ritual to ensure that my bases are covered for nutritional support throughout my busy day. It's an easy habit to maintain as well. One scoop once a day, every day is all it takes for me to get all the vitamins, minerals, pro and prebiotics, and necessary nutrients I need to keep going healthy and strong. Although Valentine's Day has just passed, it's always a great idea to keep the love flowing right? And what better way to say I love you to a significant other than than to give them the gift of health? How about committing to your health and your partners together? Research actually shows that having a partner to help push each other toward health goals significantly increases the likelihood of success. Both of you can begin this journey together by making AG1 your daily ritual for nutritional support. And AG1 is offering new subscribers a free $76 gift. When you sign up, you'll get a welcome kit, a bottle of D3K2, and five free travel packs in your first box. So make sure to check out drinkag1.com nightowl to get this offer. That's drinkag1.com nightowl to start your new year on a healthier note. Following that second investigation at the Sunset Strip Comedy Club, I was able to get a call scheduled with fellow paranormal investigator and friend of the show, Nicole Ricardo.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

Hey Nicole. So I just got back from a current case that I'm on, but in this particular instance, I learned that you actually did a seance at this particular location, and it was a location that's below where I'm actually investigating. So I'm investigating a place called Sunset Strip. It's a comedy club that's in an old building on East 6th street that formerly housed the Parish Music Venue and the second subfloor of that Building is a speakeasy that is called Eden, but it used to be called, I think J. Stevens. And that particular name came from a person that I was told committed suicide in the closet under the stairs, which is the stairwell that leads up to the Sunset Strip, which is the place I'm investigating. And I'm learning that you had some part in investigating that particular suicide, that particular person, and you might even done a seance there. The only thing I've been able to find, but I haven't been able to dive in fully yet because I've been really busy on the case, but I haven't got into the full historical research part of it yet. But the thing I did find was his death certificate and it did confirm that his death was self induced Lysol poisoning. So that shocked me that that actually was true because that's a horrible way to go. But I'll stop talking and I just want to hear how were you involved there and then what all did you uncover? Because I heard that there was more to his death than might have been in just in that death certificate. There might have been some cover ups, there might have been some other things, but I wasn't sure where that information was coming from.

[Nicole Ricardo]

Oh my God. So we definitely have investigated there. It was at what is now Eden, which you said before was J.W. stevens speakeasy. And there is so much more than just that death certificate. This is a huge, convoluted, super confusing case. Honestly, it's probably still to this day one of my favorite ones that we've ever done, just because of how many twists and turns there are here. There's a lot of like really conflicting information. But I can definitely go through all of that with you, give you all the details, everything that, that we found in our research, because it was a lot.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

What I'm curious and I heard about was that there were articles that outlined his death as a car accident. Although I, I physically have seen his death certificate online. I mean, and I'm wondering, is that true? Like were there things that you found that actually listed his full name and in an actual newspaper article that said he was in a car accident that led to his death?

[Nicole Ricardo]

Yeah. There are actually two separate news articles on his death and neither of them say anything about suicide or the Lysol. Both of these other newspaper articles published the day after he died actually both say he was in a car accident. And both of those articles. I'll go, I can go more in detail with you, but even the information within those is just really suspicious.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

The last little thing too, that's kind of hanging in the air because psychic mediums that I've brought were picking up a man who dealt with money and also books regarding money. And they kept getting the word embezzlement. And without any information to this place. And I learned from the staff and from some interviews, they threw out a little bit that J. Waller Stevens Jr. Was a bookkeeper for a furniture store in that same building. And that may be the reason why he either committed suicide or was killed. If that's a theory that it's going around because of these new articles. They say that he was the reason that happened was because of him embezzling money or putting money for himself or something like that. And I was curious if that was something that is also something y' all uncovered in Yalls investigation.

[Nicole Ricardo]

Yes, we definitely found information in historical documents that indicates he was in fact embezzling money from the furniture store that he was working at, and that that was also tied to his passing.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

Y' all did the research, y' all found this stuff, and I'd love to share y' all side of it. What you walked away with regarding J. Waller Stevens Jr. And that particular building.

[Nicole Ricardo]

At the end of 2021, we did an investigation at the Webb Shaw building down on 6th street, which obviously houses a business you are now investigating as well.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

It.

[Nicole Ricardo]

It is located just a few buildings away from the Driscoll, and it's the building that now houses Voodoo Donuts, BBGs, Happy Chicks, Eden. And when we conducted our investigation, the third floor was still vacant. And it was about to be renovated into what is now Sunset Strip, which is where y' all are investigating. The building obviously has a very long history and plenty of ghost stories, but obviously the one story that stands out the most is the mysterious death of John Waller Stevens Jr. Back in 2019. Doug, who's the owner of BBGS and Happy Chicks, he opened the speakeasy called J. Stevens, which was named after this man. As we were told when we started our investigation, Stevens was a bookkeeper for a furniture store in the building during the 1920s, and he allegedly committed suicide by drinking Lysol after being accused of embezzlement. And the bar did even display his death certificate and a photo of him in the bar to honor him. The speakeasy eventually closed and later reopened at Eden, which is what is there today. Obviously, we wanted to learn the truth behind Steven's story. So we ended up going down the rabbit hole on this and doing what ultimately ended up being months of painstaking research. And so I just have to say huge shout out to my friend Taylor Renaud. She was our researcher on the Real Go sub podcast at the time and she really spearheaded all of this. It was not just a simple Google search. We spent countless hours at the local history center downtown combing through old census records, city directories, maps, most of which are not digitized. It was an exhaustive effort to say the least. But it definitely paid off because we were able to uncover some incredibly compelling details which obviously are now directly relevant to your investigation as well. So before we get into the details that we found on J.W. stevens himself, I first wanted to give some background information on the building as well, because it is relevant to some of the information that is shared in the stories that the the staff and you know, the building will tell you about this case.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

The W.E.B.

[Nicole Ricardo]

Shaw building was constructed by John A. Webb, who with his brother moved to Austin in 1872. Hardware business. Initially it was located on the south side of 6. They built a larger space across the street after 1877, expanding to sell agricultural supplies, carriages, bicycles, other things. Now today the building is actually two connected sections. We have the west side of the building, which is where Voodoo Donuts is, and we have the east side of the building which is where BBGs and happy chicks is now. Because the east side has that prominent cornice with the name J A Web and brother, most people don't know know that these two sides were actually the same building. However, the original maps of the city show that these two sections were once one large store connected by archways, which actually if you go in there today and you know to look for these, you can still see the now bricked in archways inside of Voodoo Donuts that connected these two sections of the building together. So the hardware store operated until about 1914, after which the building hosted various businesses including a furniture store, auto repair shop, feed stores and restaurants. And the name Webb Shaw comes from the Shaw Furniture store, which operated in the west side of the building from 1931 to 1953. By 1926, the building was split between O.W. wilson Furniture, which again was on the west side, which is now voodoo donuts, and C.J. martin & Sons, which was a dry goods store selling seeds, tools, feed. That was on the east side of the building, which is where BBG's, Happy Chicks, Eaton, Sunset Strip are now. So JW Stevens Jr comes into play here because he was in fact working as a bookkeeper for the Wilson Furniture Store. And remember, this is a store that was housed on the west side of the building, which is where Voodoo Donuts is now located. So we also know that on the afternoon of July 23, 1926, something awful happened. There's a lot of conflicting stories about what happened that day, but whatever actually occurred, Stevens was left dead. The official death certificate, as you know, states that Stevens died at the Emergency Hospital at 4:15pm the official cause of death written on the death certificate was self administered Lysol poisoning. According to the death certificate, Stevens had symptoms consistent with Lysol poisoning and Lysol was found when doctors pumped his stomach. But here's where it gets interesting when you start looking into this. The newspaper articles describing his death actually tell a completely different story. On July 24, the day after he died, the Austin American ran a story titled Austin Man Dies Suddenly. And here's the wild part. The article says he died in a car accident at the emergency hospital. There was no mention of Lysol or suicide at all. So the story says that Stevens crashed his car at the 4300 block of Alice Avenue, which is now Medical Parkway, near Central market. Back in 1926, this was the edge of town with not much around. And we found this out by looking up the original Sanborn map of the city. So we're on the edge of town. And according to this article, a motorcycle officer, E.M. freund, showed up to find Stevens in the wrecked car. The engine was sitting on an axle and a spring was broken. Freund said that Stevens looked dazed and asked him to get out. But when Stevens tried, he collapsed. Now, for some reason, instead of rushing him to a hospital, the officer decides to flag down a passing truck and tells the driver to take Stevens. Not to a doctor, not to a hospital, okay, but to Wilson Furniture Store, his workplace, which was four miles away. So instead of getting medical care, he got a ride to work. So the article then says that Stevens was met at the furniture store by doctors who'd been called to examine him. Once they realized he was actually sick, they rushed him to the emergency hospital, which by the way, was only one block away. And then the paper reports he died at 4:35. But his actual time of death was 4:15, which was 20 minutes earlier. But just in case all of that wasn't confusing enough, the doctors told the newspaper that Stevens had low blood pressure and that he died of paralysis of the heart. Basically that his heart stops. So no mention of suicide, no mention of Lysol. So that was the first newspaper article. Now, the second article was also published on July 24. This one is the in the Austin American Statesman, it was much shorter and it had two key differences. First, it claimed that he died shortly after 4pm versus the Austin American recorded 435. So of course it's not unheard of, especially given what word of mouth relaying of information, that there could be discrepancies here. However, combined with the differences like say he died in a car accident versus Bron Lysol poisoning, it's just strange. Now, the safeman also named Dr. Will Watt as the physician who treated Stevens at the furniture store before sending him to the emergency hospital where he died minutes later. Dr. Watt was a respected local doctor with a practice inside of the little field building, which is just a block away from the Furnit furniture store. But the question that kept coming up for me is if this is also true and he got into a car accident the day he died, why was he sent to his workplace after the crash? So when Taylor and I went down to the research center, we were actually able to pull out the original Sanborn maps of the city. And we mapped out the exact route that they were reporting. And that truck passed at least two hospitals on the way to the furniture store. It passed Seaton Hospital Hospital, which was only two miles away from where the crash reportedly happened. And they also passed the Physicians and Surgeons hospital, which was 2.8 miles away. The furniture store, which is where they took him to, was four miles away, so double the distance. Even the city hospital, which was three miles northeast, was closer than taking him the furniture store. So that already just is not adding up and seems really off. And then when we combine that with the fact that none of the newspaper articles mention anything about Lysol poisoning or suicide, it's pretty obvious that something weird is going on here. Our personal opinion was that something was being covered up either because a somebody just didn't want people to know that Stevens had committed suicide or baby, and we're going to get juicy here, was that somebody didn't want people to know that Stevens was murdered, which might seem like a huge leap. However, there's another piece of information here. Something that makes something like murder seem within the realm of possibility, especially when we're taking this time period into account. So there is a historical document written about the Webshaw building by A. Benny Hoffman. And this document was compiled from various sources of information found in the Travis county archives and was included in the zoning change application from 2012. But this document states that back in the 1920s, the owner of the Wilson furniture store, O.W. wilson had accused a manager of his store named Stevenson of embezzling from him. And as a result, the article states that Stevens shot himself under the interior stairs of the store. Then only three months after he dies, the Wilson Furniture store announced they were going out of business. So if this is accurate, if you remember from the beginning when I mentioned the Wilson Furniture store is actually on the west side of the building where Voodoo Donuts is. Now, that means that that is actually where his death would have taken place. Which is important to note because I know the story that has developed is that it was in that bathroom under the stairs in Eden. However, when I personally went in there and did my walk of the location, I didn't feel anything there. And I know that when you took Jeffrey and Alexis there, they also didn't feel anything under there. So that would probably be why. Because if this under the stairs story is actually true, it would have happened in the space that Voodoo Donuts now occupies. So now we have articles saying he died from a car accident. We have a death certificate that states he died from Lysol poisoning. Now we have this historical document stating he was embezzling and then he shot himself under the stairs of the furniture store. But just in case we weren't all confused enough already, I'm going to add another layer to this that we discovered when we were looking at the original maps and directories of the city. So if he actually did get into a car accident and the addresses we were given in the newspaper articles were accurate, he was a mile and a half south of his house when he crashed his car, south and on the outskirts of the city, which at that time, you're not really going to be going that far unless you are literally leaving town. So again, if those addresses are correct, that could be indicative of. Of he was trying to leave town. So seeing this on the map brought up so many more questions for me, like, was he trying to get away from someone? And the more that we dug into this, we were getting way more questions than answers that we, we researched more into John Waller Stevens Jr. Story to see if that would give any more clues. So when you look into who he actually was, he was born into a really wealthy and well connected Texas family. And, and his father, John Stevens senior, was actually the state comptroller in the early 1900s. So that family was really active in social circles and they were often featured in the local newspapers. JW was the oldest of six siblings, but he seemed to be kind of the black sheep of the family. Unlike his brother, he didn't attend a university. He stayed single until he was 33, which back at that time was. That was really old to still be single. And he also lived with his parents until he finally married beulah Wilcox in 1922. Now, the reason that I say black sheep is because there are signs that JW Was estranged from his family. For example, he wasn't mentioned in his sister Sydney's 1913 wedding announcement, even though the rest of his family was and played prominent roles. And then another piece of damning evidence is when Stevens died in 1926, he was not even buried in the family plot in Limestone county where his parents and all the rest of his siblings were. Instead, he was buried alone in Austin. And then when we look into Stephen's marriage to Beulah, it also raises questions. So when we started digging into Beulah, we found out that she actually had a previous marriage. She was previously married to Fred L. Horner, with whom she had three children. The census and marriage records suggest that Beulah left Fred around 1922, taking her daughters Mazzella and Barbara to Austin, but leaving her son Jack with Fred. Now, while Beulah and Stevens married in 1922, there is no evidence that we could find that she ever got divorced from Fred. So after Stephen's death in 1926, Beulah actually ended up moving to San Jose with her daughter Barbara, possibly to be back near Fred and her son Jack, who had actually relocated to San Jose as well just a few years earlier. Earlier. Now, back in that time, getting divorced on its own was shameful enough, let alone getting divorced and also having children, let alone being someone from a very prominent family who then marries a divorce, say, who also has three kids. Right. So this is something that absolutely would have brought a lot of shame upon the family at that time. And him being left out of the articles when the entire rest of his family was mentioned to me indicates that his. His family likely essentially cut him off in order to save their own reputations and not kind of be involved with that scandal. Obviously, the circumstances of this death are extremely suspicious. And the historical records leave us with way more questions than answers about what truly happened to J.W. stevens on 7-23-19. And obviously, the likelihood of us ever getting a definitive answer about what happened is next to impossible. So you can come up with your own opinion as to what you believe happened. I mean, I certainly have mine, but I am really interested to see if you are able to dig anything else up on this.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

I'm excited and I'm super impressed with Yalls work. I mean, that is. That's the historical research. And I'm really impressed with everything that you all were able to do. And then I like to also try to stay on the fence. But all the points that you're making are very valid. And again, they're all assumptions. That's the way we always have to go sometimes with this going down a rabbit hole and solving crimes that are dealing with the dead. But it is very. All those things are plausible avenues that this could have gone. And so I'm going to do my best to try to pick up where you all left off. I don't know if I can go any deeper because you all did a really, really good job. But I also now have the clue to maybe try and take my psychics to Voodoo Donuts. I have not done that. And I'd be interested to see if there's a possibility to go there, even if it's just to go have some donuts. That's. I don't need any excuse to go have donuts, but I'll definitely use this as one and see what I can have them pick up their. Granted they have gone there multiple times and now they will have already known this story. So what I'm going to approach it as is just trying to see if they can pick up anything further and see what else we can go from there. But sadly, with going on investigations, the length of time that I've been going on this one, it's been way longer than I wanted. And so they're going to have the opportunity to have listened to the first episode or two episodes. And so I don't want to go in there thinking that they're blind anymore. But I definitely will say, like, let's focus on Jay Waller. Do you pick them up anywhere? They won't have heard this part of it. They won't know these details. So maybe we can get a little.

[Nicole Ricardo]

Further with it based on the maps and everything that we were able to find. When you are in Voodoo Donuts and you're standing by the cashier, if you look on the brick wall to the right of it, you will actually see the outline of a staircase. And that is where we think likely it would have happened if. If that story in that document, the historical document is accurate, where it was, you know, happened under the stairs. That is the staircase that we believe it would have happened based on the maps that we found.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

I'm curious about this. I don't know if you caught this. The building that was, I believe, in the right side of the building sold seed farming stuff, but it also lists household cleaners and chemicals.

[Nicole Ricardo]

Mm.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

I mean, you can get Lysol anywhere, I guess, back then. But I'm really curious if that has something to do with why it happened on that side of the building. Maybe that's just a little theory that's come to me recently. Because if that particular part of the building was where the chemicals were, and depending on whether he knew to go there and get it and actually self administer that, or if he was taken there and something was done to him on that side of the building, because if the buildings were connected possibly in some way, and there wasn't, there was doorways to open each and they weren't closed off entirely. I wonder if that. Because it was all one building at one point in time, I'm really curious if there was a way, when he was working in the furniture store, if there was easy ways to just go back and forth between the two sides.

[Nicole Ricardo]

Yeah. And that was. I mean, you can confirm this with the. The owners and the employees there, but based on what we were told, one of the nights that we were there, one of the owners ended up being there. And from my memory, which again is, you know, tends to not be the best, but I. I'm pretty sure I recall him saying that at one point the upper floors were all connected and there were ways to, like, walk through to each of them. And Tasha may even know this as well. If there's a way to get back and forth between the two, I know there for sure is a way in Eden that goes back and forth, I believe, to the BBG side. But I'm pretty sure that those upper floors connect them. And actually when you're there, when we were doing the investigation, I think it's the. The building that's like right next to Voodoo Donut, like a co working space or something. We were able to get access in there because it's like. Like up there, like their upper floors also, like, had access to it somehow. Again, my. This was so long ago at this point. Like, I may not be remembering 100%, but something worth checking out because I know when we were there, we randomly saw somebody going into that building where and were able to, like, get access to go up there. But yeah, all of those, especially the upper floors, which I know that's where y' all are investigating, is that top floor. I believe they all used to be, like, connected in some way. We did do a seance because for me, like, I already kind of had an idea with the history. And I ended up helping with the research because it was so convoluted. So I didn't do my typical, you know, walk of the location, since I already kind of knew. So we decided to do a seance. We used a Ouija board. We had people on the board that did not know the history of this location. They didn't know any of the names, they didn't know anything. So when we were doing that, what it ended up indicating to us, just gonna throw this out there in case y' all happen to get anything that is similar or if you potentially are able to uncover anything that gives actual credibility to any of this. What we received was along the lines of that JW had been doing the books for both of the businesses in that building and that they also had been using some of those upper floors illegally for certain activities. And that he essentially had, like, made some sort of threat that he was going to expose them if they didn't start giving him more money. Hence why he began just embezzling the money. Then they found out and had him killed. Again, obviously that is, you know, not backed by anything whatsoever. But that was the information that ended up coming through to us when we did the seance. We also did get a name that came through. I would have to go back and listen, but I wasn't able personally to find anything to corroborate any of that. And, you know, especially with it being so long ago, any sort of illegal activities or anything like that. I mean, yeah, you're not going to find records of that. You know, however, it is in the area of town where we do know things like that were occurring. So it's not out of the realm of possibility. But that was the essential information that kind of came through to us when we did the seance.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

No, I'm glad you said that. And I'm going to share some things with you that I think might be. I'd like to hear your side of it now. But the times that I went, we did a hybrid of the Ganzfeld and the Estes with the goggles, but was also using the spirit box with noise canceling headphones. And we did it on multiple people. Even did it on an employee there that had a very significant experience. His name was Philip. And what's wild is we did them in different rooms and we did them with different people each time. And every time, we rarely got stuff with. We were trying so hard with John Waller, but it's like we couldn't pick him up every now and then we did get the name John, and we did get the name Steven, but we were thinking he was talking to me because I would introduce myself and say, I'm Steven. Steven. And then the name Stephen would come out a lot. But then I realized, oh, could have been referring to John Waller Stevens. I don't know. But. Well, oddly enough, they don't get a lot of female presences there, except for one. But the female just seems kind of nice and not very active, but they just feel her there in the green room area. But when we did the Estes, every person that was the control that was in it and doing it, they were hearing lots of women screaming, asking for help, and they were being oppressed by a male presence while they were trying to talk. And there was numerous female presences doing that. And then on the last time we did it, Philip was the employee there. He had to take the headphones off because he got so unnerved by the female voices. And the only thing is, there's no story there with the staff or nothing that deals with brothels or sex work that came through. And it was a theory that was thrown out by several of the people that were there that night. And the two nights that we went there, it's been a theory floating around that there was shady business being done, and there's a lot of men handling those dealings in the upstairs areas. That is something that I am curious about. Now that you said that John Waller Stevens Jr. Might have been doing books for other things and things like that. I'm curious if that may be something that could be. We needed that. We need to focus on a little bit more the next time we go.

[Nicole Ricardo]

Yeah, that sounds 100% aligned with the information that came through to us when we were doing the seance. I think you should definitely go back and listen to that audio. I think you'd find it really interesting because that's exactly what had come through to us, was that it was. They were having sex workers up there and, you know, illegal activity. And. And it's interesting that you say it sounded like there was a male presence trying to kind of keep them quiet. Because I will say, like, I've been investigating and doing, you know, the beer box sessions, which, by the way, I'm so glad that you got those. But spirit box sessions and seances and all of these things for so long now. It's very rare that we will get actual names come through on those things. But I will say the name that we had come through when we were doing the seance again, I want to say it was Paul, but we got a last name as well. Who was. What it indicated to us was he was the one that was essentially like in charge and kind of running things. And he knew, you know, the furniture store owner and the, the other owner, but that JW was running the books for all of them. But it indicated that this Paul guy, whoever he is, was the one in charge. And I think we even got at one point, I think it spelled out scoundrel, which if you look up the defin for scoundrel, you know, back in that day, it's just, it's very appropriate and fitting. So that is 100% aligned with what we got. And when we did the seance, by the way, this is, you know, just to further illustrate this is not stuff that could have been front loaded at all. Like we had Taylor's daughter and one of her friends. So like 16 year olds, okay, who. They have no clue about the history of Austin or you know, brothels or, you know, like they don't know any of that. They didn't even know the location. And they were two of the people on the board that this information was coming through to. You know, they had no clue about any of this history. So it was just, yeah, really shocking.

[Stephen Ballew (phone call interviewer)]

The last thing I wanted to say and ask, looking at a death certificate, to me that's the most truthful document I feel like, because it's like what they put on his actual death record. It's what they even say. They, I believe it was pumped out of his stomach, you know, on the death record. And so Lysol poisoning was true. Obviously they say self administered on there too. But in those articles with the car accident, there's a lot of ways you can go with that. I think one of the simple answers that is not so dark and mysterious is that, you know, his family came from money. They, they already did not like to include him in things. They buried him separately. They could have just been embarrassed that he killed himself. And they used a lot of the stuff to make it just look like, yeah, the accident was the reason. The car accident was the reason. We don't need to put the suicide in any of the articles. You know, so that's another. That's a very reasonable answer. But then you have all those really mysterious elements that you called out about him being called out for embezzling money and the, the odd way in which he died. Like the odd way in which there's the, the driving. Why would he be driving if he drank? Lysol I'm curious where you landed with the actual death, like in your mind or what you found and what you believe to be true. To you, obviously, we don't know the answer 100%, but to you, what do you feel is the most plausible answer to his death in your mind?

[Nicole Ricardo]

Yeah, I mean, that's a big question. You know, I feel like being removed from doing all of the research and having had, you know, a good amount of time to sit with everything, digest it, mull it over in my brain, combing through, obviously, what we got through the seance and, you know, what we were receiving from the spirits of that location as well. Personally, I feel that it's a. Both and situation. I think that the newspaper articles are a product of his family trying to cover things up. I feel at this point, he had already been kind of estranged from his family. However, he still has that family name. Family, you know, his. His dad was the state comptroller. They certainly had the money, the resources, the connections to put in a couple calls and, you know, get that covered up. Do I think the Lysol thing also happened? I do. I don't think the family had any knowledge of, you know, that whole situation. I. I feel what occurred is they probably just got the notice of, hey, your son committed suicide. He drank Lysol. And they were like, oh, shit, you know, and then did what they had to do to make sure that that wasn't public knowledge with the actual Lysol poisoning component of it. I am same as you. I believe. I'm inclined to believe the death certificate on that one. And especially since they even took the step of giving the details of, you know, his stomach was pumped and it had that in his stomach content. Do I think that he drank it willingly? No, I think that he was forced to. And something that kind of lends to my belief in that is they had pretty recently had a new home built, he and his wife Beulah, and then they have the two kids as well, you know, and so I just don't think that that's something. Somebody who was, you know, they're. They just had this beautiful new home built there. They have their family relationship, you know. Do I think there was shady shit going on? Yeah. Do I think it's entirely possible that he had threatened to be like, oh, I'm going to expose all of this if you don't start giving me more money, and then they didn't like that and just decided to, you know, kill him? Yeah, I think that's absolutely possible. I Think that's a very likely possibility for what actually occurred here. You know, do I think that he did it himself? I mean, sure, that's also possible. Because on the flip side of that, you know, yes, he did just have this nice new home, Bill. He has this wife and to daughter that he's trying to take care of. He already is estranged from his family because he apparently was, you know, bringing shame upon them. Does he want to do that to another family? No. So, I mean, there's so many possibilities here, but for me personally, I don't believe he drank that Lysol himself.

[Stephen Ballew]

This call was incredibly helpful and I have to thank Nicole and her team for all the hard work work they put into this research on their investigation. Following this call, I went directly to Nicole's podcast episodes that were pertaining to this case that she was referring to. I highly recommend you give those a listen to as well. The podcast is called the Real Ghosts of and the episodes are named after the speakeasy Eden. Nicole was also kind enough to send me all these documents and I was dying to dive in and comb through all of it myself so I could validate all that she just revealed to me. Now keep in mind, there are still a lot of theories and allegations regarding this mystery, but my hope now is to separate fact from theory and make my own conclusion following my deep dive into this research. But knowing where we left off on our second investigation and now all this that was revealed to me on this call, I couldn't just finish this case here. I was going to need to return to Sunset Strip Comedy Club for one last investigation. But this time I had a plan. Since this investigation has gone on longer than expected, my psychics now will have had access to hear the previous three episodes. But keep in mind, not this one. So for our final investigation, I want to bring back both Jeffrey and Kate and give them the knowledge I have on John's mysterious suicide and have them also focus heavily on the shadow figure as it was still a huge part of this unsolved case. But for this final visit, I had one other idea brewing. I wanted to bring Nicole and her paranormal partner in crime, Damien, who specialize in the Estes method and other innovative technologies around the paranormal and have them lend their expertise to this case. Maybe then we'll be able to get the answers we seek. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Night Owl podcast. Be sure to join us as this case concludes in Part 5 on March 31. Also, Jeffrey has been reading tarot cards for over 40 years. He's available for in person readings on Sundays from noon to 6pm at City Alchemist. That's our team member Alexis's witch shop in Austin. Or if you'd like an online reading with him, you can DM him on Instagram othademic13 that's G O T H A D e m I c 13 and if you're interested in connecting with Kate the Brave, you can find her on Instagram @Kate. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter on our website thenight owlpodcast.com follow us on Instagram or Facebook the Night Owl Podcast and consider becoming a patron and supporting our show on patreon.com thenight owl podcast to stay up to date with our show's news and events. Stay restless out there. I'd like to thank my investigative team, Alexis, Franklin and Jeffrey for going on these crazy adventures with me Nicholas Fair for his talented musical contributions to this show my dad Sam for his incredible historical research Mikey for his assistance editing Beau, Tristan and Devin for their help with our Night Owl events and tours Sandra for keeping us all on schedule and on budget and last but not least, David Dalton of Driftworks Sound for mastering every single episode on the tight turnarounds I give him. Please support their works by visiting our website thenight owlpodcast.com and clicking on the about tab. There you can find links to all their individual works and websites. This podcast was mastered by David Dalton of Driftworks Sound. Do you have a song that could use a professional touch to get it across the finish line? Do you wish you could remove the sound of a loud air conditioner or distracting mouth noises from your podcast recording? Whatever your issue, David can repair and enhance your audio and help you achieve rich, full professional sound at industry standard loudness levels. Quit struggling with audio engineering and get back to creating. To discuss your options, reach out to [e-mail] that's-r I f t worksound.com and set your creative self free.