Gitchie Manitou

Gitchie Manitou State Preserve - Larchwood Iowa

Not too many people outside of the Midwest probably know what Gitchie is or what has happened. Unless you are a true crime buff, as the Gitchie Manitou Massacre has been covered in quite a few ID Channel specials and books.

We’ll start with the history.

Gitchie Manitou or Great Spirit

In the far Northwestern corner of Iowa, bordering South Dakota sits the 91 acre preserve. It was named for the creator spirit in Anishinaabe Indian tradition, Gichi-Manidoo (literally "Great Spirit" or "Great Force of Nature"). You can be in three states within the area if you are into hiking and backpacking - Minnesota borders the land to the North.

The state of Iowa bought the first 47 acres in 1916 to use as a quarry, but in 1969 transferred it over to the Board of Conservation to become the Preserve it is today. One of the not as well known facts about the area is that it is home to the OLDEST known pink bedrock in Iowa. It has been authentically dated to 1.6 BILLION years old. Yep - Billion with a B. The quarry was filled in (now called Jasper Pool) Not only is the area OLD AS HECK….it has a great significance to the Native American Tribes that called it home.

There are seventeen low-lying burial mounds located along the Big Sioux River in the southern portion of the preserve. We unfortuneately didn’t have time to walk to find and capture these, and honestly there are not very many pictures of anything at Gitchie outside of the ruins, more than likely due to the main reason Gitchie Manitou is a well-known name in the area. This area displays extensive signs of continuous human inhabitation for 8,500 years. Having people here that long, along with the unlimited supply of quartzite, there’s no wonder there are spirits here outside of what happened in 1973.

1973

In 1973, five teenagers left Sioux Falls, South Dakota for a nice of guitar playing, hanging out and yeah maybe a little weed. Their destination - Gitchie Manitou Preserve, the old community building. This was a popular spot for teens to hang out in those days. It’s only a 15-20 minute drive from Sioux Falls. We urge everyone to check out the series ‘No One Can Hear You Scream’ there is a very good episode on the Gitchie murders. Link Here

To make a VERY long, scary, horrible story short - Four of those teenagers ended up murdered and the lone survivor was kidnapped and raped. Sandra Cheskey, 13 years old at the time managed to talk her captors into letting her go. She is the ONLY reason the perpetrators of this awful crime were caught. The Fryer Brothers came upon the group having a good time, and made the decision to end their lives. The four boys were shot at the site and left. The Fryers posed as ‘law enforcement’ to bust the kids for ‘drugs’. Fortuneately, Sandra was able to identify the farm house she was taken to briefly and even saw the truck while driving out to the site with the police. There are several great True Crime Podcasts and shows you can find out more about the murders. Murder in America covered it very well, and Sandra wrote two books about her ordeal. Both can be purchased on Amazon.

The Investigation - Gitchie Ruins and Pathway

When we arrived at Gitchie, we pretty much went in blind. We knew the story, but neither of us had ever been out to the site. Ridiculously easy to get to from Sioux Falls we were there in around 15 minutes. I’m sure back in the day there weren’t quite the houses and random Event Centers out in the middle of nowhere. Right across the state line is a small (and we mean small - like maybe 6 cars can fit) gravel lot that is marked with a tiny sign, a gate that stays locked so cars can’t go down the path and a huge piece of quartzite that you guessed it - already is graffitied up. There were actually some cars parked there which was surprising, but once we started walking and saw the river and the sandy beaches and beautiful quratz cliffs it made sense. Gitchis is gorgeous. And it’s peaceful, if you don’t think about what happened there. We had great fun talking and apologizing for disturbing the poor millions of grasshoppers that were angry at our walking down the path.

Unfortunately we didn’t know where we were going. (SHOCKER) And we thought we needed to possibly take a beaten down path into the woods to find the ruins, so we veered off and started walking towards the river. It got thick and dark FAST. We both didn’t feel very comfortable so we decided to trek back onto the path (Remember American Werewolf in London??? “STAY ON THE PATH”) It didn’t take us long before we saw the top of the ruins peaking out above the trees.

The Gitchie Ruins

As soon as we arrived, after walking around the site and being disturbed by the liter and junk left there by people we just stood in the middle of the ruins and were quiet. There was no sound, no birds, one lone bee buzzing about a makeshift fire ring. The graffiti is both sad but strangely beautiful in a way. Like bringing color to a sadness there that sits very heavy on your mind. There are very few actual crime scene photos to know where people were found or anything, and if there were we wouldn’t post them here - pretty sure Murder in America has some on their YouTube video.

We set up the K2 and before we could even start filming it started pinging all the way up to red multiple times. We made sure there were no other devices around it at all and it still spiked. It didn’t stop bouncing at least up to yellow the entire time we were there until we had some unexpected guests.

With that happening, we started filming on the phone (no way you are doing a live broadcast out that way….we were lucky to have random spots to be able to text friends and family that we were indeed safe) The SpiritChat was VERY chatty, and as most people know you have to take the random what the heck words (bacon is one we get a lot) and the ones that do honestly make sense. We did get the word ‘Groundsman so we asked if this was a protector spirit that was setting off the K2, which we got a K2 hit again. It also claimed to be an Elemental, which with the Native American tie in to this land (as is MOST land) an Elemental makes total sense. About 10 minutes into our K2/SpiritChat a large murder of crows appeared out of nowhere and said hello. Seemed odd all of a sudden to see and hear crows when we honestly had not seen anything except grasshoppers (and mosquitos).

The best capture between the Necrophonic and SpiritChat was the following interaction:

Necrophic: Killed; GWP: Were you killed here? Nec: Yes, Listen! After that Michelle very clearly heard a guitar pick, a note of music. SPIRITCHAT: Picked. GWP - yes we heard you thank you! The next set of words that came out of the SpiritChat and Necrophonic gave us chickenskin….. SET UP; LISTEN TO ME; SURPRISED; TURN AROUND; I DIED THERE. This was pretty much exactly what happened to the kids there that night, they were most certainly setup and surprised. From where I was standing, I had my back turned to the place where one of the boys was shot and died. The YouTube Video shows the full interaction.

Right after this happened, we had visitors. Kind of disarming to have random people show up and of course we immediately got our bearings and were aware of surroundings. Three young teenagers appeared and immediately saw our equipment. From there it was a great interaction with three boys that were absolutely enthralled with the paranormal, cryptids and the metaphysical. They gave us some ideas to go look at, told us some stories of things that had happened. As they talked the SpiritChat even talked back. One said he came out here frequently and picked up trash as best as he could - the SpiritChat said “helpful” and “thank you” (No kidding) He was bowled over on that one. Hopefully we have inspired another generation to get out there and ask questions!

The remainder of the time spent there was mostly walking. We hit the path, let the boys have the ruins to hang at and shoot air guns at water bottles. We came to a strange clearing the guys had told us about. The trees all grew in a circle wrap at the top, creating a circle when you looked up. The ground was mostly clear here, few bushes and downed tree limbs. We conducted a quick session, didn’t get much but the feeling of definitely being watched and that something was done in this circle. Was this the area the 3 brothers hung out at before walking up on the unsuspecting kids? Sandra said they came out of the woods, and by going up the rock wall it would take you right down to the main ruins area. We may not have gotten a lot of responses but it certainly felt like this place was ‘important’

We walked down the dark creepy path till we finally came out to a clearing, which was also holding a rave for mosquitos. Note - take bug spray and don’t just spray your bare skin, they bite through EVERYTHING. When we finally got a signal and could look on GPS we were close to the main road we came in on so we just kept walking till the road appeared. We walked a good 4 miles then had to walk back to the car. That was the creepiest part of the night to be honest, us walking down a 2-lane road at dusk carrying equipment. Just felt very exposed and vulnerable (but we were totally ready to take someone out with the 10lb camera stand!)

We are planning to go back before it gets too cold, stay out there at night now that we know where to go and that we can very easily get out if needed, quickly. And we would love to be there to see the mounds and take in a little river time. Being able to blend together history, nature and the paranormal in one setting is a great way to spend some time.