Effie and Bill Simmons
It looks like a popular ESPN columnist stayed at the Skirvin recently and he says he had an encounter with Effie.
“I woke up at 4:30 with my heart pounding. I swear on Tom Brady’s ACLs that the following happened: At first, I heard a baby crying and realized that was why I woke up. I thought it was one of my own kids before remembering that my kids weren’t babies anymore, then remembering that I was in Oklahoma City and not Los Angeles. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I wasn’t alone. I had an overpowering sensation that someone else was in the room. Until you’ve experienced that feeling, you can’t understand what it’s like. Your blood is swishing through your veins at 200 miles an hour, only you don’t understand why — your body reacts a few seconds before your brain does.”
To read his entire account, go here.
Now here’s the thing; Jack Money and I did exhaustive research on the hotel for our book “Skirvin.” We wrote a section on the ghost stories. W.B. Skirvin was a womanizer. He was quite the likable scoundrel. He had fights with his family. There were loose women, beer parties, fixed roulette wheels and shootings on the 10th floor that is supposedly haunted. We know the name of the hotel employee who Skirvin had a long-time affair with. Her name wasn’t Effie. And there was no tragic death or a scandal involving a crying baby.
The Effie fable is just that – a fable. Now, have I seen a couple of things that could be interpreted as proof of the hotel being haunted? Maybe. But there are likely sane explanations. And for what it’s worth, there are just as many variations of the Effie tale that involve a more sensual, erotic if not odd haunting involving Effie compared to the one relayed by Mr. Simmons.
Mr. Simmons, I’m calling you out. You’re dabbling in fiction writing with your latest BS report.
Best regards, Steve Lackmeyer
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Comments
simmons has just done the skirvin an unbelievable favor. do you know how much more business a hotel will get (and free publicity) when people claim it’s “haunted?” maybe he’s trying to make up for being such a jackass in the past.
when the urban legend started about the woman being murdered during the recording of “love rollercoaster”, the ohio players wisely took a vow of silence, as they knew it would sell far more records. likewise with alice cooper and the infamous “chicken” incident (frank zappa actually called him on the phone to check out the story, and then told him “whatever you do, don’t deny it.”)
[...] Lackmeyer had an entertaining OKC Central blog post about Effie, The Skirvin and ESPN’s Bill Simmons. It’s worth a read, especially since Steve calls out Bill and openly questions his report. [...]
Can’t stand Simmons. Calls the Thunder “Zombies” because OKC stole the Sonics. He’s a tool.