Our haunted vacations

Friday, April 5, 2013

Jefferson Historic Hotel

3/8/2013 to 3/10/2013

The Jefferson Hotel124 W. Austin Street

Jefferson, Texas 75657

903-665-2631866-33HOTEL (866-334-6835)Fax : 903-665-6222124austin@sbcglobal.net

IEF HISTORY OF THE JEFFERSON HOTEL

At a time when steamboats plied the Big Cypress River from New Orleans and true Southern gentility was the order of the day a stately structure, now known as the Jefferson Hotel, was built. Once used as a warehouse to store cotton, this lovely building changed hands numerous times. At the turn of the twentieth century it was transformed into a hotel and has served as a haven for weary travelers since that time.

As you walk down the hallways and peer into each room, you'll get a sense of the comfort afforded Southern Belles and genteel men in days gone by. Close your eyes and you'll hear the rustle of long petticoats, the whistles of steamboats entering port, and riverboat gamblers trying their fortune.

Once known as the Crystal Palace in the 1920's, ragtime music

rang through these halls as couples swirled around the room.

Each room boasts its own theme and decor, all with antique furnishings.

Another addition to this lovely hotel are its local hauntings. Many a guest has regaled the hotel staff with stories of sights and sounds heard and seen in the night.

Whatever your pleasure, be our guest and settle in for a journey through time when 'the living was easy' and the era was golden.

Our evidence

Other Jefferson haunts

The Grove

The Grove (also known as the Stilley-Young House), located in Jefferson, Texas, is an 1861 historic home that is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places, and is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. The house has also been called the most haunted place in Texas. The Grove’s history dates back to the 19th century, when the property was purchased and the house that became known as “The Grove” was built. The Grove has been featured in the television series, "If Walls Could Talk" on the cable channelHGTV^[2] and was chosen “as one of the top twelve most haunted houses in America”^[3] by “This Old House.” The Grove was also named as one of the "eight scariest places in Texas" by "Texas Monthly" magazine.^[4] The house was also shown in "William Shatner's Weird or What?" in 2012.^[5] Additionally, The Grove was featured on "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!"^[6] Texas Highways magazine has featured The Grove several times, including their articles "Haunted Places in Texas" from October 1997^[7] and "Haunted Jefferson" from October 2008.^[8]

One of the things about The Grove is that it has a reputation for being haunted. The ghost stories go back through many owners - Miss Louise Young, who lived in the house from the early 1900s until her death in the 1980s used to tell her friends about the "haints" that occupied the house with her. Somewhere along the way, though, the fun little ghost stories took a dark turn. In her later years, she was terrified of the spirits. She had a security light installed in the garden because she would see people outside walking around, who disappeared when she turned on the porch light. She called the police several times a week in her later years to report that someone was in the house with her, but the officers never found anyone else there. Finally, she moved into just a few rooms of the house, letting the rest of the place start to deteriorate.

Long before then, back in 1882, The Grove was sold to a man named T.C. Burke. He moved his family in, and they moved right back out, with the only explanation being that, "They couldn't live in that house!"

The Grove is featured on the cover of "A Texas Guide To Haunted Restaurants, Taverns, and Inns" by Robert and Anne Wlodarski. There are also stories about The Grove in the books: "Best Tales of Texas Ghosts" by Docia Schultz Williams, "Haunted Texas Vacations : The Complete Ghostly Guide" by Lisa Farwell, "Haunted Encounters: Real-Life Stories of Supernatural Experiences" from Atriad Press, "Ghosts of East Texas and the Pineywoods" by Mitchel Whitington, "A Ghost in My Suitcase: A Guide to Haunted Travel in America" by Mitchel Whitington, and "A Visitor's Guide to Texas" by Connie Sherley.The Grove ghosts have been described in "Texas Highways" magazine, "GMC Magazine", "The Dallas Morning News", "The Fort Worth Star-Telegram", "The Marshall News Messenger", "The Carthaginian", "The Kilgore News Herald", "The Austin-American Statesman", "Discover Texas" magazine, and probably several more that we haven't heard of yet. If you've seen The Grove written up somewhere else, please send us an e-mail!

Here are a few of the ghost stories from The Grove:

When the Grove family owned the property (the name is just a coincidence), Mrs. Grove reportedly brought a Bible to bed with the intention of praying for her and her husband, but she fell asleep. She awakened to a black swirling mass engulfing the bedroom. There were also unexplained voices, disembodied footsteps, sounds of objects being moved by unseen hands, and apparitions.
Sudden odors have appeared in rooms: the scent of a woman's perfume, or the smell of body odor, as if someone hasn't bathed for a long time.
When Patrick Hopkins, the former owner, was getting the restaurant ready to open, a lady dressed in white walked down the hallway, and into the ladies' powder room.
Heavy mirrors have fallen off the wall without explanation, and have landed without breaking or crushing the objects beneath them.
During its restaurant years, a waitress walked out of the kitchen into the hallway and was attacked by a black and white dog that knocked her to the ground. After quickly regaining her composure, she ran back into the kitchen, screaming for help. Patrick Hopkins searched the building and yard - there was no dog to be found. It simply had vanished.
During a Candlelight Tour, a couple visiting from Dallas took a picture of the Christmas lights on the neighbor's house to the east of The Grove. Their photo showed the Christmas lights in the foreground. In the background was a lady in a high-collared, puff sleeved white dressed surrounded by a ring of smoke.
While rehearsing a dinner theater, a light technician was on the front porch looking through the window. Suddenly she felt someone staring at her so she quickly glanced to the right. Standing on the east side of the house by the porch was a lady in white who began walking behind the east side of the house. Chasing the eerie-looking woman, the girl turned the corner of the house, and the woman had vanished. Ironically, at one time there was a door on that side of the house leading into the Blue Room.
On that same rehearsal night, the actress portraying the heroine came down the stairs. When she reached the bottom step she glanced to her right and saw a person in costume she was not familiar with, standing in the corner. When she began to ask the lady something, the woman disappeared.
Wet footprints have appeared in the middle of the hallway, even though it wasn't raining outside and there were no plumbing leaks. Drops of water have been found on the staircase, and on one particular mirror in the house, all when the atmosphere was dry.
A neighbor lady told a former owner, "Let me tell you what my sister and I have seen recently. My sister was standing on our porch one night around 9 o'clock when she called me out to see a glowing white figure across the street. She looked like she was inspecting the renovation of an old building. The figure came from the east side of The Grove!" She and her sister had witnessed this several nights in a row.
A renter lived in the garden cottage at one time, and he looked out its window to see a little girl playing out among the flowers. He went outside, and she looked at him, then disappeared.
A shadow-figure has been seen in the garden many times - striding quickly across it, or simply just hanging around.
Lights go on and off in the house, and the chandeliers have reported to sway, even with the absence of moving air in the room

And if you'd like to read the account of a night spent in The Grove back when it was a restaurant, visit Melodie's "One Haunted Night - A True Story"webpage.

The best way to stay abreast of the latest ghostly-goings on at The Grove is to check our ezine archives, and then sign up for our FREE monthly ezine where we tell the latest tales!

Experience electronic voice phenomena (EVP)recorded at the grove by clicking here!

You won't get the staff to addmint it but this hotel is very

haunted

The Excelsior House welcomes you as it has welcomed travelers since the late 1850's. Famous people registered at the Excelsior House include Ulysses S. Grant, Oscar Wilde, Rutherford B. Hayes and Lady Bird Johnson to name a few.

Southern charm graces this historic hotel with rich rosewood, cherry, and mahogany furnishings, Constructed of brick and timber, with lacy iron work gallery, The Excelsior House has become an antique lover's delight.

Today, with the beautifully appointed ballroom and dining room and the manicured grounds, the hotel excels in elegance and taste, including the well known Orange Blossom Muffins served daily at breakfast.

Monday, February 18, 2013

New Ideas in the works

Lets get some suggestions for a low budget documentary I have an experienced camera guy and some great Hollywood connections. Love to invite plenty of newbys and experienced as well . This would not be a convention just a some fun hunting. I would prob be alone as narration and or guide. Family is getting a little tired of the scene. except for Chloe my youngest. Any Thoughts? Money is getting to be an issue.

Here is some of our equipt in the meantime.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Direct feedback from our 'My Ghost Story' show

Here is an Published article I was sent regarding our story(s) from the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Celebrity Ghost Discovered In
“America’s Most Haunted Hotel”

The 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa in Eureka Springs, Arkansas has been investigated by several of the top paranormal TV shows in America. They have “discovered” several “guests who checked out but never left”. One such recent discovery was noted 20th century celebrity Irene Castle

(EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS) -- Spirits from various places and various eras make up the “guest register” of those “guests who checked out but never left” what many consider America’s most haunted hotel”, the 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa. This five-story mountaintop spa resort each year seems to discover yet another one of those famous “guests” by name. This year it was dancing legend of the early to mid twentieth century, Irene Castle.
“We were thrilled to find out that Ms. Castle still visits the hotel as she did during her final years here as a resident of Eureka Springs (AR),” stated Bill Ott, marketing director of this Historic Hotel of America, “and it was only as we linked casual references of a young girl describing a paranormal encounter were we able to piece together that her encounter was with someone who once frequented our property.”
Irene Castle and husband Vernon were the best-known ballroom dancers of the early twentieth century. They operated ballroom dancing clubs and would travel the country charging as much as a thousand dollars an hour for lessons. She appeared in a Broadway show and several movies. Her popularization of social dancing with her husband was portrayed in a movie starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire entitled “The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle”.
“It was after the death of her fourth husband when Irene moved to Eureka Springs in 1959 to be near her son from her third marriage,” Ott explained. “She bought a house on a small parcel of land just blocks from the Crescent, a place she called Destiny Farm. She died in 1969 while living here in Eureka.”
Ott said that locals have told him that it was her love of the social life in her latter years that brought her to the Crescent on numerous occasions. It is said of Irene that even in her sixties that she was still “trim, lovely and fashionable lady with nothing to do but embrace the social scene of Eureka Springs” for whom the Crescent was the epicenter.
“It was a family that vacations annually at the Crescent who were part of the encounter where links to Irene came to the fore,” Ott said. “This story, which was recounted on a recent episode of the Biography’s Channel My Ghost Story, takes place when the mother was giving her daughter a bath in their room and the young girl began talking as if she was having a conversation with someone.
“The young girl said there was a princess standing right behind her mother but the mother saw no one. The mother thought it was unusual because her daughter was using such words as pirouette, ballerina, tango, princess, castle and bob.

“It wasn’t until the girl’s father read about Irene Castle’s connection to the Crescent on our hotel blog was he able to put the puzzle pieces of that encounter together. He writes, ‘the strange words my daughter had said that we had made note of began to make sense. The princess was someone in a costume. That princess did not live in a castle; she was Castle. The Bob was a hairstyle popularized by Ms. Castle. Those dancing terms were words commonly used by a professional dancer. It was clear, my daughter had been talking to Irene Castle.’”
Ms. Castle is only one of many paranormal guests who have been named at the Crescent. “Two of the better-known spirits are Michael, the Irish stonemason who fell to his death during construction of the hotel in the footprint of Room 218; and Theodora, the cancer patient who fumbles for her key outside Room 419,” Ott noted.
Whether named or nameless the 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa has become a haven for those wanting to encounter the shadow, the whisper, the tingling touch of someone, something who stealthily walks the halls of the hotel proper. Nightly ghost tours have been selling out for years. In fact, hotel management now encourages guests and visitors to purchase ghost tour tickets in advance to ensure their opportunity to walk with these Ozark specters on the night they desire.
“October sees the interest grow exponentially in the paranormal aspect of our hotel,” Ott concluded, “however the frenzied interest is year ‘round. It has escalated so much that later this fall we will be introducing ‘Midnight In The Morgue: A Portrait of Norman Baker’. This exciting new, multi-media theatrical presentation will give our guests and visitors a chance to ‘meet the man’ who purchased the Crescent and operated the hotel in the late ‘30s as a cancer curing hospital.”

For more information, one may go to americasmosthauntedhotel.com.

From their website http://www.eurekaghosttours.com/index.htm
here is the history of the hotel:

Eureka Springs was born on July 4th, 1879…offspring of the many legends and stories of the MAGIC HEALING SPRING of the Osage Indians. These legends and tales were spread word of mouth from Indian to traders and trappers and explorers who spanned the region from the Great Lakes to Southern Florida. The Osage Indians were hunters and this area made an ideal habitat for their lifestyle. The heavily wooded Ozark Mountains were rich with wildlife for hunting and trapping… and the Osage made the ideal “Guardians” for the Magic Healing Spring. They permitted anyone to come to the spring to drink and bathe and heal - even the white man. The area was considered by the Osage to be SACRED GROUND because of the healing quality of the waters. As such, no form of hostility was acceptable and weapons were not permitted in the area of the springs. Fear of antagonizing the SPIRIT OF THE SPRING was a strong incentive for hospitable behavior by all who visited the area.

In 1854, a doctor named Alva Jackson came to the area on a hunting trip. He had long heard of the healing waters and, although he lived in a neighboring community, had never really believed the tales. He was hunting in the area with his son who suffered with a chronic eye infection. Dr. Jackson sent the son down the mountain to wash his eyes in the spring and, within three days, the eye infection had been cured. Dr. Jackson began bottling the water as “Dr. Jackson’s Elixir”.

By the 1870’s, the region was well known by the white man and small groups of health seekers came to the area in search of whatever cures were needed. At that time, a group of approximately 400 settlers had gathered around what we now know as Basin Spring. The Osage Indians had hewn the basin out of a large rock ages ago and the spring flowed freely into that basin. The community was a ramshackle assortment of tents, lean-to’s and shanties. During an Independence Day celebration, the idea was proposed to formalize the settlement. A group of seven wealthy businessmen, including Alva Jackson, calling themselves the “Eureka Improvement Company” took it upon themselves to see to the development of this “Health Resort”. By the next year, the city charter had been formalized and the population had grown to 15,000. By the turn of the century, our full time population had grown to more than 20,000 permanent residents.

By 1880 an elegant, 4-story hotel known as the Perry House was built on the site of the healing spring. Like most other buildings in Eureka at that time, the Perry House was built completely out of wood and by 1890 it had fallen victim to one of the four fires that completely leveled Eureka Springs to the ground. By 1895, William Duncan organized the capital stock necessary to build the Basin Park Hotel on the site of the former Perry House. Following the lead of the Crescent Hotel, it was decided to use our local limestone to build the hotel. In the ten years it took to build the property, Duncan overextended his interest in the project and bankrupt the Citizens Bank and almost every other investor in the Syndicate. The hotel finally opened in 1905. William Duncan died in 1907 but it is believed that he continues to roam the hotel in his trademark brown suit and derby..........

Eureka Springs was born on July 4th, 1879…offspring of the many legends and stories of the MAGIC HEALING SPRING of the Osage Indians. These legends and tales were spread word of mouth from Indian to traders and trappers and explorers who spanned the region from the Great Lakes to Southern Florida. The Osage Indians were hunters and this area made an ideal habitat for their lifestyle. The heavily wooded Ozark Mountains were rich with wildlife for hunting and trapping… and the Osage made the ideal “Guardians” for the Magic Healing Spring. They permitted anyone to come to the spring to drink and bathe and heal - even the white man. The area was considered by the Osage to be SACRED GROUND because of the healing quality of the waters. As such, no form of hostility was acceptable and weapons were not permitted in the area of the springs. Fear of antagonizing the SPIRIT OF THE SPRING was a strong incentive for hospitable behavior by all who visited the area.