Est. 1900 · Topeka Police History · Law Enforcement Memorial
Officer Clarence 'Boots' Shields was a Topeka police officer who responded to a call at Moose Lodge 555 on April 11, 1955. He found two burglars on the roof of the building. One of them shot him. He died from the wound.
Shields' death became part of the building's permanent history. The lodge's members eventually dedicated a ballroom and installed a plaque in his memory. When Ghost Tours of Kansas conducted a benefit paranormal investigation at the building some years later, Shields' grandson Joey Little objected — the publicity troubled him. Ghost Tours clarified publicly that they were not claiming Shields himself haunts the lodge, and that he is part of the building's history rather than the cause of its paranormal reputation.
Topeka Moose Lodge 555 used the building at 1901 N Kansas Ave for over 60 years. When the chapter relocated its operations to Kansas City in 2016, the building transitioned to use as The Woodshed Event Center, which continues to operate at the same address.
Sources
- https://www.police1.com/officer-shootings/articles/ghost-hunt-offends-family-of-slain-kan-officer-D4qeC2BBvtdruGJO/
- https://www.odmp.org/officer/12169-patrolman-clarence-l-boots-shields
ApparitionsObject movementPoltergeist activity
The three presences described at Moose Lodge 555 occupy distinct physical spaces: one in the hall, one in the ladies' restroom, and the overarching figure of a police officer who died on the roof. Ghost Tours of Kansas was explicit that the ghost tour's reference to Officer Shields was historical — an acknowledgment of the building's record — rather than a paranormal claim, but the accounts collected from building staff and volunteers describe the poltergeist activity without reference to Shields specifically.
The trash bag incident in the ladies' restroom is the most physically concrete: a cleaning staff member placed a trash bag on the armchair. The bag flew across the room. The staff member had not moved it. There was no open window, no wind source, no adjacent movement. The armchair is described as a location to which a female presence has been tied for as long as the accounts have been collected.
The loveseat in the hall is associated with a second female presence. The building's two chair-tied presences and the association with a violent death on the roof create an unusual spatial distribution of paranormal activity — specific furniture, specific rooms, a specific exterior death site.
