ENCOUNTERS WITH FLOYD — The cover of Marjorie Burgess’ 2005 book “Charles ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd: In His Own Words from the Other Side,” now out of print. -- Stephen Huba

ENCOUNTERS WITH FLOYD — The cover of Marjorie Burgess’ 2005 book “Charles ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd: In His Own Words from the Other Side,” now out of print. — Stephen Huba

CHESTER — Marjorie Burgess’ first encounter with Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd was as a 5-year-old girl living in Chester.

Her grandfather had taken her to the old Chester City Hall in 1934, the year Floyd was killed, and while there, she saw the famous outlaw’s death mask. There were men standing around, talking and laughing.

“They wanted me to touch this awful-looking white mask. I was like, ‘No, no, no,'” she said. “It scared me, but yet it left an impression.”

Sixty-six years later, in a rural field north of East Liverpool, Burgess had a paranormal experience in which she believes she met the spirit of “Pretty Boy” Floyd. She recorded the encounter and used it as the basis for a book she published in 2005 — “Charles ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd: In His Own Words from the Other Side.”

Although the book is out of print, copies can still be found on the Internet. Burgess, 87, of Chester, is glad that public interest in the man she calls “Charley” has not waned over the years. One sign of that continuing fascination is the recent completion of the Floyd documentary, “The Last Run of Pretty Boy Floyd.”

The documentary, co-produced by East Liverpool patrolman and police historian Kelsey Hedrick, is scheduled to debut on Oct. 22, the 82nd anniversary of Floyd’s death at the hands of local and federal lawmen.

Burgess, a retired nurse, dog trainer and photographer, plans to see the movie with her daughter, if only to “see if they got it right.”

Although historians and documentarians might bristle at Burgess’ claims, she believes she has a unique perspective into Floyd’s life and the facts of his death. She traces that confidence to her abilities as a paranormal investigator and medium — someone who purports to communicate with the spirits of the dead.

She first began to notice that ability as a girl of 8 years old. “I’ve been this way almost all my life,” she said. “I do feel that I have some sort of a gift, and I’m not sure why.”

Burgess said she “met” Floyd in 2000, when she and her daughter, Alice Ann Burgess Whitehill, visited the Sprucevale Road site where Floyd was gunned down and made a recording of a voice saying, “I am. I am Charles Floyd.”

Since then, Burgess said she has maintained a relationship with Floyd as she has attempted to humanize the man once known as Public Enemy No. 1 and help him find peace in the afterlife.

“I did find a way to help him release himself from that spot (on Sprucevale Road). I was very successful,” she said. “He told me about everything, as much as he ever wanted me to know, most of which I put in my book.”

In the book, Burgess weaves a narrative based on messages she believes she received from the “earth-bound spirit” of Floyd himself. She does not soft-pedal his crimes — he told her he robbed 36 banks over the course of his career — but disputes the popular notion that he was a cold-hearted killer.

The historical marker on Sprucevale Road, which states that Floyd “reputedly committed a dozen murders,” is flat wrong, she insists.

“I really get upset that people say he was a vicious killer. … He did rob banks, but he probably gave away more money than he kept,” she said. “Pretty Boy Floyd was not a killer, but as he always said, ‘If you come after me with a gun, you can be damn sure that I will shoot first.'”

Floyd “confessed” to Burgess the same killing that he confessed to in life — the shooting of former Oklahoma sheriff Erv Kelley, who had been sent to arrest him in April 1932. Other than that, she is not convinced that he was responsible for any other deaths.

The Floyd that Burgess wants people to know about is the man who shared his bank booty with people devastated by the Great Depression. The man who came from a good Christian family in Oklahoma.

“What fascinates me and probably a lot of people — of course he was a bank robber and he had some pretty rough habits, but he was a gentleman,” she said. “When he robbed a bank, nobody was killed, as far as we know.”

Burgess dedicated her book to Floyd, whom she called “America’s #1 Social Bandit, Oklahoma’s Robin Hood of the Sage Brush, and just Charley to those who loved him.”

(Huba can be contacted at shuba@reviewonline.com)