Ever wonder how a story comes together? Well, first of all, it helps to have a slightly demented mind (like mine). In my world, you never know when, or where, a story idea will pop up. It’s Halloween, so I always try to keep it spooky. I use anniversaries as a motivator and I love to sit around playing with old paper. This week, I found an old 1960s Era brochure from the Indianapolis Airport Hotel. As I looked at the sparsely populated landscape that used to surround the old Indianapolis Municipal Airport and flipped through the folded pages containing great old interior views of the “modern” hotel, my mind automatically went back to an event from the pages of Indy history. The Ramada Airport hotel plane crash.
I Googled it and realized that the crash took place 26 years ago this week. Then to top it all off, at last weekend’s ghost tours, I recalled a conversation with paranormal enthusiast Tim Poynter about a recent investigation that his Spirit Paranormal group performed that touched on the sad incident as well. Just like that, a story was born.
The Ramada Inn air crash and resulting fire occurred when a United States Air Force pilot failed to reach the runway and the plane crashed into a nearby Ramada Inn. On Tuesday morning, October 20, 1987 35-year-old Major Bruce L. Teagarden flew his US Air Force A-7D-4-CV Corsair II, serial 69-6207 airplane over the city of Indianapolis. Down below, at the Indianapolis Airport Ramada Inn, the housekeeping staff was busily preparing for the guests to check out. A salesman had stopped at the hotel in search of a pay phone. In short, it was a routine day.
At 9:10 a.m., Teagarden’s instrument panel went dark. The 12-year-veteran pilot notified controllers at Indianapolis International Airport that his aircraft was experiencing engine failure 15 miles southwest of the city at 31,000 feet. He requested to return for an emergency landing. Controllers directed the pilot to Runway 5L, but due to the low cloud ceiling and poor visibility, Teagarden was at 3,100 feet as he passed over the runway and he attempted to land on Runway 32 instead. The crippled Corsair’s engine stalled, the joystick locked up and the plane had the aerodynamics of a brick.
Teagarden made a right turn eastward away from the airport and dropped to 2,000 feet just east of Interstate I-465 when he disappeared from the radar. At 500 feet, the aircraft made a slight right turn towards the Park Fletcher complex. The pilot looked out at the open farm fields ahead, hoping his $7.9 million jet would crash harmlessly there. He hit the eject button and moments later, Teagarden hung helplessly from his parachute and looked on in horror as the plane headed towards the hotel. It bounced off the roof of the Bank One branch in the 5600 block of Bradbury Avenue and flew across the street before hitting an embankment. The hobbled missile now hit the berm like an Evel Knievel ramp, rocketing 25 feet through the air before crashing into the front of the Ramada Inn.
The plane’s cockpit and engine went careening into the lobby, killing nine people. Another person suffered severe burns and died a week later. The wings and fuselage flew into the upper floors and carport of the hotel. The jet fuel on board ignited on impact, causing a massive fireball that engulfed the entire front of the hotel up to the fourth floor. Indianapolis Airport crash trucks, which had been following the plane from runway to runway, arrived on the scene a minute after impact and immediately started to use foam to extinguish the fire, which was under control within four minutes. Airport fire and rescue team members, assisted by the Indianapolis Fire Department, Wishard Ambulance Service, Wayne Township Fire Department and the Decatur Township Fire Department, searched the building for survivors.
After making his call, Thomas D. Murray of Carmel stepped out into the parking lot just in time to see the plane barreling down towards him. The 37-year-old salesman watched the plane slide on its belly past him pushing cars out of the way as it passed before crashing through the lobby entrance. Murray avoided contact, but he was quickly enveloped in the resulting fireball. He suffered third-degree burns over 95 percent of his body. He held on for nine days at Wishard Memorial Hospital’s burn unit and died on Oct. 29. A handful of other employees and guests were slightly injured, but most of those present that day made it out relatively unscathed and stood in the parking lot watching helplessly as the hotel burned.
Inside the hotel, nine employees died almost instantly. Dawn Shelly Martin was the front desk clerk. Allen Dale Mantor, 18, and Chris Evans, 21, were bellboys. Brenda Joyce Henry, 26, and Emma Jean Brownlee, 37, were housekeepers. Katherine Cox, 33, managed the dining room. Mary Stuart Marsh, 29, and Beth Louise Goldberg, 30, were in charge of sales and Narinder S. Kanwar, 41, was the top financial officer. Their bodies were so badly burned that it would take several days to identify them through dental records.
Family members of the missing arrived on scene and the long, agonizing vigil for news of their loved ones began. The parents of Chris Evans told an Indianapolis Star reporter that they had gotten a phone call from their son that morning and were sure it happened after the crash. Their hopes were dashed when they realized the call had been made just moments before the disaster.
Pilot Teagarden landed safely in the parking lot of the Ace Supply Company four blocks away with only minor injuries. The cause of the crash, as revealed in the Air Force’s January 1988 final report, was a defective gear in the accessory gearbox. It sheared, causing the driveshaft to rip open the lubricating oil system, and the engine then seized up soon afterward. The Air Force paid out $50,427 in property damage claims on October 26. Major Teagarden remained grounded until a flight evaluation board investigated the incident. Ultimately, Teagarden was found blameless in the tragedy.
Over the years, Teagarden suffered the ire of family members and was often blamed for the tragedy. Many felt that he should have initially ditched the plane in the countryside, rather than heading back towards the airport. Wild rumors persisted that Teagarden had been drinking rum and cokes heavily the night before after attending a friend’s funeral in Pittsburgh. On that fateful day, he was headed back home to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. He told investigators that he couldn’t see the ground because of poor weather conditions, and therefore couldn’t pick a place to safely eject until he was below the clouds. In the transcript of his conversation with the air controllers, Teagarden twice asked to be guided away from population centers. He never spoke publicly about the crash nor gave any media interviews.
For more than two years, the charred building stood as a sad reminder of the tragedy. The hotel owners never rebuilt because they were unable to decide on an appropriate design. Today a parking lot stands on the site. The bank branch building damaged by the plane is still standing but has since been converted into a hospice.
Tim Poynter and his Spirit Paranormal team were called to a home on the city’s near west side to investigate a ghost. “After arriving we could tell this was much more than a simple home haunting. The home seems to be surrounded by spirits. Much more activity than any normal home haunting.” said Tim. Cindy Adkins and Sharon Matney from Spiritual Journey assisted on what the team termed to be an emergency house clearing.
Although the home owner was reporting incidents inside the house, the intuitives immediately picked up on activity outside of the house. Cindy and Sharon “saw” a young man looking into the window of the home from the back yard. After entering the area the group was barraged by so many spirits wandering aimlessly around the back yard that they were driven back into the home. Not knowing the history of the property or its environs, Tim asked the home owner if there was a funeral home or graveyard close by. The homeowners answered no but did reference a plane crash nearby.
It was at that moment that Tim realized where he was and that realization hit him like a lightning bolt. The property they were investigating backs up to the site where the Airport Ramada Inn once stood. Tim, who has a well-documented personal connection to another tragic plane crash (Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 in Fairland) realized these disjointed spirits were not connected to the house; they were connected to the plane crash.
The trio revisited the backyard to help identify and “clear” the spirits remaining there. Inexplicably, intuitive Cindy kept seeing images of pro wrestler “Goldberg” flash through her mind. Tim encountered the confused spirit of a young female who was badly burnt. This sad spirit had no idea of what was going on or why she was there. “This often happens from quick transitions or traumatic events,” Tim reported. “Another young male flashed a picture of a plane in front of me that reminded me of the 1987 U.S. Air Force fighter jet crash at the Ramada Inn.”
Tim and his team helped the spirits “cross over” by clearing the area to the relief of the homeowners. And Goldberg? Why was that specific image resonating in Cindy’s mind? After leaving the property and researching the incident, they learned of 30-year-old assistant sales director Beth Louise Goldberg; a victim of the Ramada Inn plane crash. Happy Halloween folks!
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
