Visitors Still Encountering Mystery at Marland Home

The Marland Grand Home was the residence of early Oklahoman and one time Governor  Ernest Whitworth Marland, tenth Governor of Oklahoma.  The man had come to Ponca City to visit the nearby 101 Ranch.   He remained to build a vast oil empire. He was the founder and president of Marland Oil Company, now Conoco/Phillips Inc.  (Ponca City http://www.poncacity.com/marland_grand_home.htm)

The 22-room mansion was built in 1916 and included architectural features of a hanging staircase, an indoor pool, and many innovations.  The style of the house is part Italian, part Prairie, and part Edwardian and all impressive.  At its peak as a stylish private residence it covered eight acres which included designer gardens and an 8 hole golf course.

Today, it houses a museum and space rented for special events. Recently, at one of those special events, there were clues that perhaps past residents or visitors returned to attend another day of entertainment in the old house. 

While attending the Northern Oklahoma Literary Arts Book Festival, two authors reported they shared similar, and unexpected, experiences.   Taking photos to promote their books and the event, they discovered their digital cameras draining of power, taking extra long time to function and being non-responsive.  Having fresh batteries in the equipment one author offered his camera for use and the very same thing happened: camera drained of power and became strangely unresponsive.  Soon, another person, a visitor, offered to take photos and email them to the others. Smiling the authors agreed.  In minutes, however, the smiles were perplexed looks as they all looked at their new cameras and phones wondering why they had all ceased to function correctly.  Others attending the event also noted patches of hazy fog in the pictures and similar anomalies from previous occasion