April 23, 2012

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Next up will be a quick trip to San Antonio. The Emily Morgan Hotel and the Alamo

Back to San Antonio for a stay at the Emily Morgan Hotel on April 20-22.  The in-Laws are having a get together of sorts so we will try out the hotel overlooking the Alamo in light of our evidence captured at the famous battle site.

The Emily Morgan Hotel

-A couples' experiences at the Emily Morgan Hotel that took place December 8 through the 10th, 2011.

The Elevator Ride-Going Up

My husband and I checked into the Emily Morgan Hotel around 9:45 pm on December 8th. The hotel lobby was beautifully decorated with a Christmas tree in the front corner and the gas fireplace made the space warm and inviting.

We pushed the button to grab the next elevator. As we entered and pressed the button for the 14th floor we realized it was the top floor and effectively the 13th floor since hotels typically skip naming the 13thfloor. We giggled at this discovery as the doors closed behind us. My husband commented on how quickly the elevator seemed to rise and almost as soon as the words left his mouth we abruptly stopped. It was clear that the stop wasn’t a normal stop. We looked at each other wide-eyed. The doors didn’t open and even after pushing the “doors open” button, the doors still wouldn’t open. We stood there stationary for only a minute and then the elevator started going back down. I began pushing “14” again. What seemed like in mid-stream, it lit up “12”, but then began to go back up to 14. This time it didn’t stop abruptly and the doors opened fine. We quickly exited, anxious to get off before it kept us hostage.  Over the remainder of our stay, we rode in all of the available elevators numerous times and we never again experienced anything like that first time.

14th Floor  The thing I noticed most about the 14th floor was the smell. It reminded me of some childhood memory of medicine. It was not offensive, pungent or overbearing, but it did stand out. Having researched the hotel a bit, I knew it had previously been a hospital and perhaps that tainted my impression of the smell. It did not have a clean clinical smell like hospitals or dentists' offices today.

As we opened the door to our room 14 foot ceilings and tall paned windows made the room seem small and narrow. However, it was spacious enough to accommodate a king-size bed with two nightstands, a built-in desk with rolling chair, a sofa, side chair, coffee table and dresser with a large (probably 40”) flat screen TV.

The colors of the décor were best described by my husband as “tired”. The room was not warm and cheery. I would not say that I got a sense of sadness there, nor was I uncomfortable there. It just seemed tired and perhaps a bit lonely. We opted to leave our luggage to unpack later and headed out to explore the Alamo and downtown San Antonio that was brightly lit for Christmas.

My husband wears contacts and utilizes an ultrasonic cleaning machine to clean them. We’ve had the machine awhile and have never experienced any problems with it. On our first morning in the room, my husband plugged it in where the coffee pot had been plugged in and it wouldn’t work even though the coffee pot had worked fine in that same plug. His first thought was that we had somehow broken the machine in the journey. I laughingly told him it was the ghosts playing with him and to try it again. This time it worked fine.

Clearing Throat/Growl

On our second day there, we went out on the town and came back to the room to rest before going out for the evening. I decided to lie on the bed and rest my eyes and feet. My husband opted for a nice soak in the large bath tub. As my husband sat in the tub, he left the door to the bathroom open and I was on the other side of the wall from him, with only enough room for one of the nightstands. Suddenly, and very clearly, I heard a male voice clear his throat, almost like a growl, and I opened my eyes fully expecting to see my husband standing directly over me. However, he was still in the tub. I asked him if he had just cleared his throat. He said he hadn't. I asked him if he had made any noises at all. He hadn't. He also hadn't heard what I heard. This is 4 pm in the afternoon and I was not asleep when it happened. I simply had my eyes closed. There had been no sounds coming from the room next to us during the entire stay, so I don’t believe it was from another room. It also was not a muffled sound at all. It sounded like it was directly next to me. I still have no idea what it was that I heard.

Thermostat and Light

We had agreed to leave a specific light on each night because it lit up the entry to the room while at the same time it put a small amount of light directly over the bed. When I went to bed on the second night that light was on. I went to bed before my husband did. I also woke before he did and noticed that the room seemed particularly hot. I went to check the thermostat which was by the swing bar lock on the front door. I noticed the light was off and had to turn it on to read the thermostat. The reading on the thermostat showed it was 70.5 in the room. That couldn't be possible. I get cold at 75 degrees. I also noticed that the vent wasn't rattling, which it had been any time the air conditioner or heat was on. That’s when I realized the unit was off. As I turned it on, the vent began to rattle and it showed 72 on the thermostat. When I cut it off again, it showed nothing on the display and vent was again quiet.

My husband woke up and I asked him if he had left the light on like we had been and asked him what he had set the thermostat on. He said the light was on when he went to bed and the air was set to 72 and was running when he went to bed. I have no explanation for how the air conditioning unit and light were both off when he is positive he left them both on before coming to bed. There is no way anyone could have entered the room because we had the swing bar door lock on.

Contact Lens Day 2

On the second morning of our stay, my husband again unplugged the coffee pot and plugged in the machine to clean his contact lens. The machine came on fine this time. We went about packing and getting ready to leave. The machine ordinarily runs for 8 minutes and cuts off. This time the machine had continued to run and the liquid in the machine was boiling hot. He had to let it sit before determining if it had ruined his lens and for them to be cool enough to put them in his eyes. The machine has never done this.

The Emily Morgan Hotel is impressive, a Gothic Revival that overlooks the Alamo and its courtyard. This is one way to spot a ghost at the Emily Morgan Hotel.  The basement of the Emily Morgan was once used as the city's Medical Arts Building (it was built by John Nix, who went on to found several hospitals in San Antonio) and alleged spirit activity is strong in the basement.Those hoping for something supernatural might want to request a room on the 7th floor, where there have been many reports over the years of apparitions, temperature anomolies and unexplained noises.

Is the Emily Morgan hotel haunted?
If you are into haunted hotels then one you have to put on your list is The Emily Morgan located in San Antonio, Texas. The Emily Morgan is a gorgeous gothic style revival that overlooks the Alamo and its courtyard.  When you check into this popular hotel, make sure you ask to be placed in a room on the 9th floor. Reports of high paranormal activity is said to occur here.

A few more experiences...
-My mom said on her honey moon she staid in the hotel emily morgan and staid in that very room where it is haunted she thinks its not true but I do.
-I have worked there for a year and i am now going back work.. I have heard stuff about it being haunted and stuff so i wanted to see for my self and some people get really fast well i dont and yes some thing freak me out about that place but i love working here and i think some people just get a different expericance when they go..
-My two sons and I stayed there at the end of July 2009. We also were on the 3rd floor, toward the end of the hall. That night I could not get to sleep. Both boys were asleep in the bed next to the bathroom. I had heard people checking in late, talking and closing doors in the hallway. But, it had been quiet for quite some time when I heard a young girl start singing. It did not seem to be coming from the hallway....it was different. It was a soft, pretty voice that sounded like it was echoing in the bathroom area. The feminine singing quickly dropped to a lower octave humming like moan that also seemed to quickly move over us, my eyes were still closed and it only lasted a few seconds when suddenly it stopped when my 10 yo, startled, sat up in bed and said "what the heck". He had also heard it. It really scared us and we had a difficult time going back to sleep. Needless to say we slept we the lights on that night.

A family on vacation reported staying on the 9th floor of the hotel, they recall not sleeping well, they heard continuous sounds of slamming doors. The sound of a toilet seat slamming up and down repeatedly. During their stay, a coffee pot and a bottle of wine fell off of the counter during separate occasions. The next day, the father of course angry at all the commotion from near-by neighbors complained to the hotel staff , they were told that they were the only ones that occupied a room on the ninth floor during their stay.

The 9th floor of the hotel is the sight of the most activity, but the rest of the hotel has its share for sure, on the 7th floor witnesses claim to have seen apparitions walking around and then disappearing into the walls or doors. One family staying on the 7th floor reported having everything blast on in their room at 2:30 a.m. Then they saw a shape move through the room and through the wall.

If you walk up the beautiful staircase, if you are lucky you will see the apparition of a woman standing at the top, some say it is the spirit of a lady waiting on her love that will never return, others say it is the spirit of Emily Morgan herself, watching over the building now named after her.

The basement had been used as a morgue and crematory.  Employees have heard voices, footsteps, and seen orbs of light down in this area.  

Other guests that stay at The Emily Morgan claim to see ghostly figures walking the grounds of the Alamo at night, after The Alamo has been closed for the day.
Like us...

Or maybe the Hotel will just be having a not so paranormal beauty contest and my son and I will just have to suffer through the distractions under the mindful eye of my wife.

We will see.