HGB Podcast 14 - Hyde Hall

Moment in Oddity - Missing Brains

Could the University of Texas, Austin have suffered some kind of Zombie Apocalypse?  As any fan of the zombie genre will tell you, zombies love to eat brains and apparently 100 of them have gone missing from the University.  The school uses the brains in scientific research and as teaching tools.  The brains were stored in jars of formaldehyde - I'm having visions of Frankenstein here.  The answer for solving the mystery of the missing brains may be in the fact that the university was initially given 200 brains thirty years ago, but only had room for 100, so the other hundred were stored in the basement.  Imagine rumors flying around the campus that there are brains in the basement.  We imagine some ended up as peculiar decorations for dorm rooms.  Of the brains missing, Charles Whitman's is one of them.  He is the man who climbed the clocktower at the University of Texas and shot and killed 16 people in 1966.  While keeping brains in a jar at a university for teaching may be considered normal, swiping a brain in a jar seems rather odd.

This Day in History - Pride's Purge

On this date, December 6th, in 1648, the most significant event of the Second English Civil War takes place.  Pride's Purge is considered the only coup d'etat in English history and was lead by Colonel Thomas Pride.  The Grandees of the New Model Army planned the purge, which targeted anyone who did not support them.  King Charles I had been imprisoned during the first civil war and negotiated a treaty with the New Model Army and others to end the war.  The King stalled negotiations and escaped impisonment causing the second civil war.  King Charles I was recaptured in November 1648 and offered some answers to demands that were unacceptable, but the House of Commons passed the King's offers anyway.  Pride's Regiment of Foot took up guard on the steps of the House of Commons and arrested anyone whose name appeared on a list he carried.  Forty-five people were arrested with twenty-five being released later before Christmas.  There was now a majority that could form a Republic.  The King was charged with treason and beheaded on January 30, 1649.  The monarchy was abolished, but all this was reversed in 1660 when a new Parliament restored the monarchy and declared Charles II to be king.

Hyde Hall

Located in Glimmerglass State Park, Hyde Hall is a limestone regency era mansion that reminds visitors of a bygone era.  The park is just outside Cooperstown, New York, the birthplace of baseball and home to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Hyde Hall overlooks Otsego Lake, which gives the park its name.  James Fenimore Cooper dubbed Otsego "Glimmerglass" in his novel "The Deerslayer."  In the novel, he describes the lake as such, "On a level with the point lay a broad sheet of water, so placid and limpid, that it resembled a bed of the pure mountain atmosphere, compressed into a setting of hilts and woods.... Of course its margin was irregular, being indented with bays, and broken by many projecting, low points. At its northern or nearest end, it was bounded by an isolated mountain, lower land falling off, east and west, gracefully relieving the sweep of the outline...But the most striking peculiarities of this scene, were its solemn solitude and sweet repose. On all sides, wherever the eye turned, nothing met it, but the mirror-like surface of the lake, the placid void of heaven, and the dense setting of wood...As if vegetation were not satisfied with a triumph so complete, the trees overhung the lake, itself, shooting out towards the light, and there were miles {75} along its eastern shore, where a boat might have pulled beneath the branches, of dark, Rembrandt-looking hemlocks, "quivering aspens," and melancholy pines. In a word, the hand of man had never defaced, or deformed any part of this native scene, which lay bathed in sunlight, a glorious picture of affluent forest grandeur, softened by the balminess of June, and relieved by the beautiful variety afforded by the presence of so broad an expanse of watervel."

George Clarke was born in 1768 to a family that was prominent, rich and honorable.  Well, at least his great grandfather was honorable.  George's dad was considered a villain who racked up debts he would not pay and left his wife with two young sons to run off to Jamaica with a mistress.  George's great grandfather had lived in the New York colony, serving as both Secretary and Lieutenant Governor, and bought nearly 120,000 acres in the Hudson and Mohawk Valley.  He returned to his native England where he died and was honored with a monument.  George inherited his great grandfather's land and decided to move to Albany from England in 1806.  James Fenimore Cooper was the author of "The Last of the Mohicans" and his brother Richard Cooper owned land nearly adjacent to Clarke's property, so Richard had been hired to oversee the Clarke property.  He died, leaving his widow Ann Lowe Cary Cooper to look after things and she and George became friendly with each other, marrying in 1813.  A few years after that, George bought several more acres of land that ended up joining his wife's family property to the Clarke property.

In 1817, construction on a country villa designed by Albany architect Philip Hooker began.  George picked a plot on a hill he had named Mount Wellington, after a school chum, to be the site for the villa's construction.  What was suppose to be a quaint villa grew into a large country mansion complete with servant quarters and a farm complex.  There are fifty rooms in all.  The home was named "Hyde Hall" after the ancient seat the family had held in England.  The home was not complete until 1834 and George sadly died the following year in 1835.

Several types of architectural design and style are represented at Hyde Hall.  The house was built around a central courtyard with the family area being built in a Palladian style, a second area for servants is larger than the family area in a simple style and the third area is an entertainment area done in a Greek style.  The whole home is considered to be a fine representation of romantic classicism.  The family area is called Stone House and includes Tuscan piers on the front porch with the main area being two stories high and one story wings on either side.  There is a Palladian window with oval arch and five other oval windows.  The interior is a smooth ashlar limestone.  The second part was not officially named and has fieldstone on its exterior.  The entertainment area is called the Great House and has Greek Doric Columns and is very angular in shape.  The rooms include a dining room, a drawing room and a billiard room.  To give an idea of size, Mount Vernon would fit completely inside of the Great House.

In all, five generations of the Clarke family have passed through Hyde Hall.  When George died, Hyde Hall passed onto his son, who apparently took after his villainous grandfather, and that son threw his mother Ann out of the house.  According to legend, she cursed the property, promised to haunt the property forever and proclaimed, "May no other woman be happy in this place."  This thankless son went bankrupt in 1886 and at that time his own son bought the property.  Over time the building fell into disrepair and the state of New York took ownership of the building.  Rumors that Hyde Hall was going to be demolished spurred Clarke family members and other concerned citizens to form an organization called Friends of Hyde Hall.  The building has undergone extensive restoration and great efforts have been made to acquire original furnishings of the home.  Some of that restoration includes the lighting, which consists of vapor light chandeliers that are very rare and original to the house.  It is believed they are the only ones in the world that function the way they did in 1833, making them a treasure.

Rumors of Hyde Hall being haunted inspired television's Ghost Hunters to host their Halloween show in 2013 at the location.  They collected many pieces of evidence and had multiple personal experiences, but one piece of evidence stands above the rest and they describe it as thus, "Analysis reveals the strongest evidence of haunting, however. As Jason and Steve are in a bedroom, recorders pick up a voice saying "head to the baby's quarters." At the exact same time, a bright flash of light illuminates the wall behind the bassinette. There's no source for the light! It's one of the most compelling pieces of evidence ever collected." 

Nothing malevolent seems to be in the house.  An older man fitting the description of George Clarke, the original builder of the mansion, has been seen walking the hallways in his multi-colored robe.  During restoration, tools were moved around in a playful way.  Ann Cary Clarke, whom supposedly cursed the property, is thought to be in the home as well.  Her proclamation about the women of Hyde Hall being left miserable seems to have come true because life at Hyde Hall for women was never good.  One visitor to the home claims that he felt the presence of a women and heard the words, "Get out."  Footsteps are heard many times, particularly in the long hallways.  Swirling grey clouds or mists have been seen and photographed and people claim that they have been pushed.  An old AM radio once stopped playing music and a workman heard static and the words, "May day, may day, may day."  Two members of the Clarke family died during World War II.  They had both been pilots and crashed their planes, one of whom was female.  The piano has been heard playing in the Drawing Room when no one is in there.  There is a family crypt on the property as well and apparently it is quite haunted.

James Fenimore Cooper's grandson tells a story about a stay he had at Hyde Hall.  He was in a room on the second floor in the back of the house and he was awakened by the feeling of someone else in the room.  He heard footsteps coming from a corner of the room and the footsteps grew louder as they approached him.  They stopped at the foot of the bed and then his covers were pulled off of him.  He reported the incident to his hostess and she confessed she knew the room was haunted.  It had been George Clarke's dressing room.

Hyde Hall offers daytime tours May through October and during the Halloween season, candlelight tours are offered.  Admission is $10.  The mansion offers plays, musical performances and lectures throughout the year.  And it is a great location for weddings.  If you got married at Hyde Hall, would you have a couple of unseen, uninvited guests?  Do things go bump in the night at Hyde Hall?  That is for you to decide.

HGB Podcast 13 - The Queen Mary

Moment in Oddity - The Gumhead Statue

Outside of the Vancouver Art Gallery stands a peculiar piece of well...um...art.  As they say, beauty or art is in the eye of the beholder.  Canadian artist Douglas Coupland created a seven foot fiberglass replica of his own head and colored it black.  But the art did not stop there.  Coupland came up with a sticky idea for the statue.  He decided it would be fabulous to have the people of Vancouver get in on the creation of this art piece and he asked that they start taking their nasty, hard chewed up balls of gum and stick them all over the head statue.  And thus "Gumhead" was born.  Unfortunately, such an idea in the heat of summer is not a good idea and by the time the exhibition was over on September 1st of this year, the gum had become a melted mess that attracted more bees than people.  Coupland declared his masterpiece to be "ugly beautiful" and claimed it to be a total success.  While getting a city to join in on the creation of artwork is great, we think asking people to stick their nasty gum all over a statue is not only revolting, but quite odd.

This Day in History - Negro National Baseball League Disbands

On this date, November 30, in 1948, the Negro National Baseball League disbands.  Starting in the early 1880s, black baseball players began to form their own independent teams when bans against black players were implemented by national teams.  There were nearly 200 teams.  By World War I, black baseball had gained a great following.  Andrew "Rube" Foster decided that the time was perfect to form a Negro National League and the League flourished spreading into Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Birmingham, Nashville, Atlanta and New Orleans among other cities.  The Great Depression affected the Negro National League in a negative way, just as it did everything else in America and the League dissolved in 1931.  In 1933, the Negro National League was reborn and took over where Foster's League had left off until 1948.  On April 18, 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball by signing on with the Dodgers and the flood gates opened for other black players as integration set in.  All the talented black players were leaving for the big leagues.  The Negro National League was no longer financially viable and although the Negro American League continued on into the 50s, black baseball was done.  While blacks have made up 26% of baseball players in past decades, the 2014 season saw only 8.3% of players identified as black.  Here's hoping that more black players make their way onto rosters in the future.

The Queen Mary

The Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner with a rich history spanning from the time of The Great Depression to the present day.  She has been docked for the last 45 years, but she continues to provide hospitality and luxurious accommodations for the living and the...dead.  Commissioned by the Cunard Line, the Queen Mary was designed to become one of two super ocean liners that would leave its predecessors like the Mauretania and Berengaria in the dust.  The Cunard Line has been operating for 175 years and is under the Carnival Corporation today, but it started in 1839 under Nova Scotian Samuel Cunard and his partner, Scottish steamship builder Robert Napier.  The Cunard Line was based in Britain and when it ran into hard times because of the Great Depression while building the Queen Mary, the British government gave Cunard a loan to finish the Queen Mary and build its sister ship, the Queen Elizabeth.  The government also insisted that the Cunard Line merge with the White Star Line, of Titanic fame, at that same time.

John Brown & Company began construction on Hull Number 534, the original name of the Queen Mary, in 1930.  And actually, the Queen Mary was meant to be called the Victoria so that there would be an "ia" at the end of the name like all the other Cunard liners, but when King George V was asked if the ship could be named for Britain's greatest queen, the King said his wife Queen Mary would be delighted, so the Cunard Line was forced to name the ship Queen Mary.  The ship took three and a half years to build at a cost of $3.5 million pounds sterling.  She was 1019 feet long, 181 feet high and could hold 2139 passengers and 1100 crew.  The Queen Mary was a technological achievement with the largest magnetic compass in the world and the ship raised the bar on luxury travel and soon became known as the grandest ocean liner ever built.  Celebrities and royalty loved traveling on the Queen Mary.

The ship began her maiden voyage on May 27, 1936 from Southampton, England.  She had five dining areas and lounges, two cocktail bars and swimming pools, a grand ballroom, a squash court and even a small hospital, which set a new standard in luxury.  She was also the first ship to have a Jewish prayer room.  The main dining room had a type of transatlantic map across one wall and the ship's progress was marked by a motorized model.  The Verandah Grill and Observation Bar also offered smaller dining areas with a la carte menus. 

For three years, the Queen Mary provided opulent accommodations for the well to do, but World War II would change all that when the ship became "The Grey Ghost."  The ship was revamped to carry up to 5,000 troops at one time and by the end of the war she had moved 800,000 troops and participated in the D-Day invasion.  Winston Churchill credited the Queen Mary for shortening the war by a full year because of the ability it gave the Allies to move large numbers of troops.

By 1947, the Queen Mary had been retrofitted to sail the seas as a luxury cruise liner once again.  Sailing the high seas in such fashion would soon lose its luster as the airline industry took hold and people decided flying was easier and faster than sailing.  By the 1960s, cruise lines noticed a sharp decline in passengers and in 1967, the grand Queen Mary made her last voyage to Long Beach, California where she has remained to this day.  She has become an icon of what luxury sailing used to be and now serves as not only an attraction, but as a hotel. Restoration continues to this day and a new future museum is in the works.  RMS Queen Mary has been registered on the National Register of Historic Places.

Time Magazine has voted the Queen Mary as one of the top 10 haunted locations in America.  We have heard that anywhere from 150 to 600 spirits call the ship home.  The Queen Mary hosts a variety of ghost tours both during the day and the night.  The day tour is titled Haunted Encounters and includes a show titled "Ghosts & Legends" and is part of the Haunted First-Class Passport Package, which runs $31 online or $33 at the door and keep in mind that parking cost $15 on top of that.  In the evenings, there are four haunted tours to choose from and here is the link for all the information.

Former crew members haunt the ship.  John Pedder is one of the more well known spirits thought to still be hanging out on the ship.  He was a young sailor who lied about his age in order to get a job on the ship.  Engine Room Door 13 - interesting number - in Shaft Alley was the scene of Pedder's death.  He was crushed to death by the watertight door there during a fire or a routine drill.  The bearded Pedder is said to appear wearing blue coveralls.  Another crewman named John Henry worked in the Boiler Room.  His remains were found in the hull near the Green Room outside the Boiler Room.  Henry usually appears as a black figure and several EVPs have been caught of him.  William Stark, who was a ship's officer, died after drinking a toxic cleaning fluid he had mistaken for gin.  He joked about the mistake with fellow crew members, but it was no joke when he was dead four days later.  Stark is seen near the Captain's Cabin and on the Promenade.  The last captain to pilot the ship, Captain Treasure Jones, reportedly hangs out on the ship still smoking his cigars even though he did not die on the ship.  People claim to smell the cigar smoke on occasion.

The pool areas have been scenes of tragedy numerous times and spirit swimmers have been seen or heard splashing and walking about the area.  Two women drowned in the first class pool, one in the 30s and the other in the 60s.  A little girl was having some fun and thought she would slide down the banister into the pool, but lost her balance and fell, breaking her neck.  Jackie Torin is a little girl of six who drowned in the second class pool.  She wanders the area where the pool used to be, calling out for her parents, giggling and singing.  Under the stairs near the first class pool a mean spirit can sometimes can be heard growling.  A ghost cam is left running live in the pool area.  Some claim that a type of vortex is in this area of the ship.

Every haunting seems to have a Lady in White and the Queen Mary is no exception.  The Lady in White on this ship enjoys music and is seen most times dancing in the Queens Salon.  She is seen going up and down the stairs near the lobby as well.  Other people dressed in clothing from bygone eras are seen in staterooms.  One gentleman appears in 1930s garb in one of the rooms.  Lights turn on and off and the water runs by itself in several rooms.

No one stays in Stateroom B340 anymore because the paranormal activity in that room was so intense.  Very little furniture is kept in the room where sheets use to fly across the room and lights blinked on and off.  A cook on board the ship during World War II was murdered by crew members because his cooking was terrible.  The legend goes that they stuffed him in an oven and burned him to death.  His screams are said to be heard to this day.

Although the Queen Mary's service during World War II was honorable and very helpful, that service was not without tragedy.  HMS Curacoa, a ship named after a Caribbean Island, served in the Royal Navy as a C-class light cruiser that had been called upon to escort the Queen Mary.   The Curacoa was guiding the Queen Mary in a zigzag formation, so that both ships could avoid detection by the enemy.  During one of those zigs, the Queen Mary zagged and plowed right into the Curacoa, splitting it in two and leaving hundreds of men dead when it sank in just six minutes.  Most died in the icy waters when the Queen Mary made no attempt to rescue the men because of fears of U-boat attacks.  Ninety-nine men of the 338 crew were pulled from the water by two other ships.  Cries of these men can be heard sometimes when in the outside forward areas of the ship.

A woman named Terri told the website angelghosts.com about an experience she had as follows:

"On our third day on the Queen Mary, I decided (after a night full of horrible and outstanding experiences) to try and find some of the lonely spirits that are claimed to be seen at the first class pool. I was not taking photos, but Tommy was...so I could relax and enjoy the beauty of the ship's pool, and just listen. I was standing at the far right side of the pool (can be seen on the web cam), and I first felt a tug on my blouse. I of course turned around fast to see who was next to me, but no one was there. Tommy was on the other side of the pool taking photos, so I knew it was not him. Again the feeling of not being alone was over powering, and I felt someone touch my left arm. I again turned around and NO ONE was near me! I called for Tommy to come over and take photos, and while I was talking to him, saying that I again have been touched, someone was playing with my purse strings (which was over my shoulder). It felt so weird. I just stood there while this little person was playing with my purse and my blouse. I could feel someone or something touching my back... I told Tommy it keeps touching me and the tour guide said calmly, "Our little girl Jackie is playing with you. Say hello to Jackie." I felt a little weird knowing that someone was touching me and playing with my blouse; but at the same time IT WAS OUTSTANDING!!!! I was not afraid at all."

So is this grand old ocean liner housing the spirits of deceased crew and passengers?  Is this floating hotel truly one of the most haunted locations in America?  That is for you to decide. 

HGB Podcast 12 - The Stanley Hotel

Moment in Oddity - Charles Dummet Gravesite

Douglas Dummett began purchasing land in New Smyrna some time prior to 1844.  He built a house on an Indian mound overlooking the river, set up shop as a sugar merchant, and eventually tried his hand at growing citrus.  He quickly became successful and is credited with starting the strain that led to Florida’s famous Indian River Citrus.  A man of means, he was a natural choice to become the Justice of the Peace for theThis information is from Florida Fringe Tourism*

area.  Douglas married a black slave girl and had three daughters and a son, Charles, who was born in 1844.  On April 23, 1860, 16 year old Charles Dummett was hunting with a friend when he tripped and fell.  His gun discharged, killing him instantly. Distraught over his son’s death, Douglas built a marble tomb and buried Charles on the exact spot where he had died.  Many years later when Douglas was asked to sell some of his land to the city of New Smyrna, he had one stipulation: his son’s grave was to never be moved or disturbed.   The city agreed to his terms, and the deal was made.  In the 1960s, as the town began to grow and developments were being planned, the grave became the center of some controversy. A developer wanted to run a road directly over the final resting place of Douglas Dummett’s son.  After having all of his requests to move the grave site denied, the developer finally gave in and split the road around the tomb.  Today, the grave of Charles Dummett remains in the middle of Canova Drive, and motorists happily navigate around the burial site.  The grave has recently been named a city landmark and locals are happily joining in the effort to help preserve this little piece of Florida history. *

This Moment in History - Kennedy's Burial

On this date, November 25th, in 1963, President John F. Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington national Cemetery.  John F. Kennedy made his first formal visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1961, to place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Eleven days prior to Kennedy's assassination he returned to Arlington for the 1963 Armistice Day services.  On Nov. 22, 1963, while on a campaign trip to Dallas, President Kennedy was shot and killed.  There are only two U.S. presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The other is William Howard Taft, who died in 1930.  Usually presidents are buried in their home states.  Mrs. Kennedy was asked her wishes and she said, "He belongs to the people."  The first formal statement from Mrs. Kennedy concerning the burial was to model her husband's funeral after ceremonies rendered for Abraham Lincoln.  On Nov. 25, 1963, at 3 p.m., the state funeral of President Kennedy began.  Among the mourners at Kennedy's grave site were President Charles de Gaulle of France, Chancellor Ludwig Erhard of the Federal Republic of Germany, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom. Overhead, 50 Navy and Air Force jets flew past the gravesite followed by the president's plane, Air Force One, which dipped its wing in final tribute.  A contingent of the Irish Guard stood opposite the grave, and the Archbishop of Boston, Richard Cardinal Cushing, performed a Roman Catholic committal service. The body bearers folded the interment flag, and the superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery presented it to Mrs. Kennedy. She and Robert Kennedy then used a torch to light the eternal flame. *Some material reprinted from the Arlington website here*

The Stanley Hotel

Today's show is a roundtable discussion with Colorado Historian Annette Student, otherwise known as Mom.  The history of the city of Estes Park is covered as well as the original owner of the land where the Stanley Hotel is built.  The owners of the Stanley Hotel through the years are shared as well as the supposed hauntings at the hotel and how Stephen King's "The Shining" correlates with the Stanley Hotel.  The following links will provide more information on the show:

The ghost of Flora Stanley as seen in a photo can be seen here.  Is this really her?  You decide.

The Stanley Hotel's official website.

The History and Haunting of the Stanley Hotel by Rebecca Pittman is THE definitive book on this historic site!  Check it out here.

HGB Podcast 11 - The 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa

Moment in Oddity - Gef the Talking Mongoose

In the 1930s, a talking mongoose became an international sensation.  The story began on the Isle of Man in the little village of Dalby.  Doarlish Cashen was the name of a farmhouse located there.  James and Margaret Irving lived there with their daughter Voirrey.  Between the walls of the farmhouse was a gap.  The family first saw a weasel like creature in the farm yard.  The mongoose moved into the house and took up residence in the walls.  Shortly thereafter, the animal began to talk, starting with repeating animal noises and then nursery rhymes and finally conversing with the Irvings.  People who heard the mongoose claimed that he spoke with a high pitched squeaky voice.  The mongoose claimed to be an "extra, extra clever mongoose."  James Irving claimed that the mongoose asked to be called Gef and that it could shape-shift.  Gef became violent over time threatening to hurt the daughter leaving the family to lock themselves in a room together at night.  Sometimes Gef would be nice leaving the family dead rabbits as gifts and accepting their gifts of bananas and sausages and other times he would throw stones and curse at the family.  Hairs that Irving sent as samples to a zoo came up as dog hairs and the Irvings did indeed own a dog.  Pictures that Margaret Irving managed to take of Gef do seem to show an animal similar to a cat only smaller with a long tail.  People came to believe that Gef was a hoax, but Voirrey was interviewed 40 years later and she claimed that Gef was detrimental to her life and very real.  People had claimed that she had thrown her voice and pretended to be Gef, but Voirrey said she was not that talented.  One investigator said that he had heard Gef when Voirrey was not in the house and the Irvings were in full view.  Friends of the Irvings claimed to hear Gef and Gef apparently hitched rides on the local bus where he ate stolen sandwiches and harassed people.  So, was Gef the talking mongoose a hoax?  Was he a shared delusion?  Was he a spirit of some sort?  Or was the whole thing the real deal?  Whatever the truth may be, whether fact or fiction, the whole affair is quite odd.

This Day in History - The Temple is Cleansed

On this date, November 21st, in 165 BC, Judah Maccabee orders that the Jewish Temple be cleansed.  Judah was the third son of Mattathias, a Jewish priest.  Antiochus IV Epiphanes was the ruler at that time and he had forbidden any Jewish customs to be practiced.  Mattathias gathered his sons together and they started a revolt against Antiochus in 167 BC.  Mattathias died a year later and Judah took over the mantle of leadership and took on the surname of Maccabee meaning "sledgehammer" in Aramaic.  He was ferocious in battle and lead his men in guerrilla tactics knowing that they were no match for Antiochus' military force in face to face confrontations.  Judah died in 160 BC, but the fighting continued under his other two brothers and independence for the Jewish people was attained several years later.  Judah's cleansing of the Jewish Temple by removing the Hellenistic statues and restoring Jewish worship is celebrated to this day during the holiday we all know as Hanukkah.

The 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa 

Eureka Springs, Arkansas is home to more than 100 Victorian restaurants, galleries and shops.  Near the downtown area are Victorian cottages and the Crescent Hotel and Spa, opened in 1886 and located at 75 Prospect Avenue.  The Crescent has been recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations.  The hotel has endured controversy, fires and extensive renovations while passing through the hands of several owners.  The hotel has retained its 19th century look and is a beautiful structure built from native limestone that attracts visitors from around the world to enjoy its rooms, spa and hospitality.  But deep within those limestone walls lies a history that has lead this hotel to be declared "America's Most Haunted Hotel."

Isaac L. Taylor of Missouri was chosen as architect of the Crescent Hotel by Powell Clayton, former Governor of Arkansas, and other investors and then the site in Eureka Springs that covered twenty-seven acres overlooking a valley was dedicated.  The area was popular as it was located by the waters of the Ozarks that many people believed had healing qualities.  Construction on the Crescent Hotel began in 1884 under a partnership between The Frisco Railroad and the Eureka Springs Improvement Company, a company formed by Clayton.  The building was formed from blocks of White River Limestone that had to be transported by special wagons.  A group of specialists from Ireland had to be brought in to assist with the cutting of the stone because it was so dense and precision was needed with cutting the stone.  The walls were built eighteen inches thick and no mortar was used.  The masons constructed towers, balconies and a large stone fireplace in the lobby.  The leader of the Irish group once told a reporter that he had never encountered such stone in his life.  We will cover the significance of limestone when it comes to hauntings a little later.

During construction, a worker crashes to his death in what is now Room 218.  Undeterred, construction continues and opens under the operation of the Eureka Springs Improvement Company in 1886 with a big grand opening gala ball featuring guest of honor presidential candidate at the time, James Blaine.  Blaine was a well known politician having represented Maine in both the Senate and the House, where he served as Speaker of the House from 1869-1875, and he twice served as Secretary of State.  Blaine lost his bid for president narrowly to Grover Cleveland.  The Eureka Springs Time Echo wrote that the hotel would be "featuring large airy rooms, comfortably furnished, the Crescent Hotel offers the visiting vacationer opulence unmatched in convenience and service." 

After the grand opening, the Crescent Hotel catered to the upper crust of society and what was deemed as the "Carriage Set."  People came to enjoy the trails, riding the beautiful horses kept on the property and to partake in the afternoon tea parties and evening dance parties where the hotel orchestra played.  The hotel also offered rides aboard The Tally Ho, their large open coach that was drawn by teams of horses.  The latest amenities were a part of the hotel including Edison Lamps, electric bells, heating with steam and open grates and there was a hydraulic elevator.  There were tennis courts, croquet and a swimming pool.  The luxury of running water arrived at the Crescent Hotel in 1900.

Winters became a tough time for business and people had realized that the "curative" waters were not really all that healing and they stopped frequenting the hotel, so the Crescent Hotel opened Crescent College and Conservatory for Women in 1908.  The college stays in operation until 1934 when the Great Depression forced the closure of both the college and the hotel.  In 1937, Dr. Norman Baker bought the hotel.  He reopened the Crescent Hotel as a cancer hospital and advertised promises that people who would come to the hospital would leave cured.  Dr. Baker claimed that he could bring healing without painful tests or surgery.  There was a high price for the "cure" and many desperate people came to the hospital.  What those people were unaware of was that Dr. Baker was no doctor.  He had been convicted in Iowa is 1936 of practicing medicine without a license.  Not only was Baker not a doctor, his "cure" and various elixirs were pure scam.  He bilked people out of $4,000,000 before he was arrested for mail fraud in 1940.  Baker was sentenced to four years in Leavenworth, which seems like an easy sentence considering that people's deaths may have been quickened because cancer patients gave up conventional medicine for fake elixirs.

The Crescent sat empty until 1946 when four Chicago business men bought the building and renovated it trying to match its former glory.  In 1967, fire swept through the fourth floor of the south wing, almost completely destroying it.  The hotel continued to switch hands and undergo renovations, but the hotel continued to decline until 1997.  Marty and Elise Roenigk bought the hotel and promised to return the Crescent to its former glory and they actually accomplished that going even beyond the promise.  The couple spent $5 million dollars restoring guest rooms, the landscaping, the electrical and plumbing, lounges, rebuilding the hotel's burned out skyline, renovating the 3,500 square foot penthouse and center observation tower and opening the New Moon Spa with hydrotherapy tub, sauna, Vichy showers, tanning beds and massage tables.  The hotel is open for business with 72 guest rooms and 12 luxury suites you can book today.

Before we discuss the long list of haunting experiences, we want to touch on the significance of limestone in regards to supernatural activity.  Limestone is a sedimentary rock that is formed from several types of minerals and crystals.  Limestone is usually found near water and water tends to conduct supernatural activity as well as it conducts electricity and some believe that is the connection with limestone as well as the idea that minerals and crystals absorb energy.  The quartz found in some limestone is an electromagnetic conductor as well, which is why quartz is used in building radios.  If limestone does indeed seem to be related to hauntings, then it would most likely be connected to residual hauntings and the absorption of energy.

Ghost tours are offered nightly at the Crescent Hotel.  People wind through the halls ending up in the morgue that was once in the hospital.  On any night, people may witness apparitions or catch the scent of a bygone odor.  Perhaps they may run into Michael, an Irish stonemason.  He was the worker that died during construction that we mentioned earlier.  The room he died in, Room 218, is considered the most haunted location in the hotel.  Toilets flush on their own in this room, lights turn on and off and guests have complained of being awakened in the middle of the night after being touched.  Hands have been witnessed coming out of the mirror and people have heard what sounds like someone falling on the ceiling.  Michael was killed when he fell to his death.

In the early years of operation, a young girl had fallen over the fourth floor railing and died.  During a tour of the hotel, the guide stood in the spot where it is thought the girl landed and she suddenly felt an intense chill.  Two women standing next to her both asked the others in the group, "Did you feel that?"  A man in the group took a picture and supposedly a foggy apparition of a little girl can be seen standing near the three women.

The Crystal Dining Room is an elegant room with its own kitchen and apparently its own ghost.  A little boy is thought to haunt the kitchen.  He moves utensils and other items around.  The Crystal Dining Room plays host to several spirits that are usually seen wearing Victorian era clothing.  Many of them dance and one gentleman sits by the window and tells people he is waiting for a beautiful woman he had met the night before.  One Christmas season, the Christmas tree was moved across the dining room along with all the presents underneath it and several chairs were placed in a circle around the tree.

Dr. John Freemont Ellis was the in house doctor at the Crescent in the late nineteenth century.  Dr. Ellis enjoyed smoking his pipe and to this day, people continue to smell his cherry pipe tobacco.  The hotel is a non smoking hotel in the present era, so any pipe tobacco smell is not coming from the present.  Of further interest is that whole groups of people will encounter the smell at the same time and thus it is a shared experience.

There is much activity that seems to originate from the time when the hotel was the cancer hospital.  A nurse has been seen pushing a gurney on the third floor.  She disappears when she reaches the end of the hallway.  Sometimes no ghost is seen, but the sound of squeaking wheels can be heard.  The third floor is where the morgue and walk-in freezer were located.  Dr. Baker's autopsy table and the freezer are still in the hotel.  During tours, people can volunteer to be closed up inside the freezer.  Experiences range from nothing happening to icy chills to orbs of light being seen.  One young man even had an orb pass through him and he became ill.  Dr. Baker himself has been seen in different areas of the hotel, although he died in Florida.

Whether one books a stay at the hotel for the accommodations or for the spirits, they are sure to enjoy the visit.  So is the Crescent Hotel host to more than just the living?  That is for you to decide.

HGB Podcast 10 - The Shanley Hotel in New York

Moment in Oddity - Moeraki Boulders

On the Otago coast of New Zealand's South Island, one can find some of the strangest boulders on the planet that have become tourist attractions.  These very large stones look like alien lifeforms that have been encased in stone.  These boulders can be as large as seven feet in diameter.  These stones are called Moeraki Boulders and they are created on the floor of the sea from sedimentary deposits that continue to gather in layers, much in the same way that a pearl is formed.  The material that makes up the boulders is mud, fine silt and clay that are cemented together by calcite.  Maori - the indigenous people of New Zealand - legend claims that the boulders are storage devices like eel and gourd baskets from the wreck of the Arai-te-uru, while a nearby rocky promontory is said to be the captain of the ill fated vessel.  While the idea that a rocky outcrop is thought to be the remains of a captain is strange, the legend fits well will these giant rocks that certainly are odd.

This Day in History - LSD is Invented

On this day, November 16th, in 1938, the drug Lysergic Acid Diethylamide is invented by chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann of Sweden.  The drug is better known as LSD.  Dr. Hofmann was not meaning to create a hallucinogenic drug.  He was doing research on a fungus that grows on rye named Ergot.  As we all know, penicillian was derived from fungi and the chemist was researching ergot alkaloid derivatives for medicinal uses.  One of the derivatives, Ergoline, is used today in treating migraines and Parkinson's Disease.  Dr. Hofmann did not realize that he had created LSD until five years later when he got some on his fingertips.  Dr. Hofmann described the experience like this:  "I was affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away.”  LSD would go on to be used in psychiatry and by the CIA in mind control projects like MKUltra.  Dr. Hofmann would go on to create Magic Mushrooms and other hallucinogenics.

The Shanley Hotel in New York

The Shanley Hotel is a beautiful inn with a long wrap around porch and a large arching roof that reminds one of a an old fashioned barn.  The hotel is painted in classic white with black shutters.  The hotel boasts 35 rooms with fun names like The Rose Room, The Blue Room, The Marguerite Room and The Silent Room, but there is more to this hotel than just the rooms.  There is a hidden basement room and a former bordello.  The Shanley dates back to the early 1800s and from that time until the early 1900s, the Shanley was a favorite spot for summer vacationers.  The hotel was located near the railroad making it very convenient for travelers and the town enjoyed the hotel for some other types of "entertainment."  The Shanley was not only a place to have a drink for the upper crust, but the "Private Gentleman's Club Quarters" provided companionship for a price.  The Shanley has seen twenty different owners come and go, experienced a variety of name changes and even burned to the ground once.  The charm of the inn is broken only by the countless reports of unexplained happenings that have lead to the declaration that the Shanley is one of the most haunted hotels on the East Coast.

The Shanley Hotel is located in the city of Napanoch in New York, nestled in the beautiful woods of the Shawangunk Mountains in the historic Hudson Valley.  A man named Thomas Ritch built the inn in 1845 and originally named the place after the city of Napanoch.  His goal was to provide accommodations that had the best food and lodging and he filled the place with the best amenities and furnishings for the time.  The first name change came in 1851 when the hotel was renamed "Hungerford's Hotel" and then in 1887 Adolph Wagner bought the place and the hotel flourished under his guidance, but in 1895 the hotel burned completely to the ground after a nearby house fire spread.  Not one to be discouraged, Wagner rebuilt the hotel in eight short months, but quickly sold it again and the hotel exchanged hands repeatedly until 1906.

In 1906, the Shanley Hotel would take on the owner for whom it has been named until the present day.  James Louis Shanley was born in Ireland on Halloween in the year 1874.  He had moved to the Hudson Valley for health reasons and was living at the hotel.  He was a successful entrepreneur and he decided he wanted to own the hotel and he made some changes that caused the town to adore the man.  The hotel became known for social gatherings that included card and domino tournaments and he installed a bowling alley, billiards room and a barber shop.  The rich and famous visited the Shanley as well.  Guests included Thomas Edison and Eleanor Roosevelt.

In 1910, James married Beatrice Rowley and when the couple returned from their honeymoon, the town threw them a parade.  James and Beatrice decided to start a family, but tragedy struck three times for them as all three children Beatrice gave birth to died within their first year of life.  The couple were heartbroken, but when Beatrice's sister, Esther Faughman, died after giving birth to her third child, the couple were given custody of her children.  High teas and card parties continued until August 26th, 1937 when James Shanley died from a heart attack.

Beatrice held onto the hotel until 1944 and then she sold it to Al Hazen so she could move to New York City where she died in 1961.  Hazen ran the hotel successfully until his death in 1971 and then a string of ownership left the hotel closed by 1991 and it stood vacant for a number of years leaving it in ruins.  In 2005, Salvatore Nicosia bought the building, refurbished it and the Shanley opened once again in 2007.

Sal originally moved to Napanoch so that he could restore a different historic building that was the homestead of Abraham Bevier, a project that took six years.  The Shanley came up for sale at that time and Sal decided he would like the new challenge.  The hotel has blossomed under Sal and become a mecca for paranormal investigation.

Before getting into the extensive documentation of supernatural experiences at the hotel, we should touch on some of the sordid past of the hotel.  James Shanley was a good man, but he also was a businessman and Prohibition brought opportunity.  We mentioned that the hotel had a secret basement room and that room was used by James and his business partner John Powers to make, store and sell bootleg liquor.  The room was accessible through a trap door in a hall closet.  Authorities raided the hotel in 1932 to put an end to the operation.   There is not much information about the bordello in regards to how long it was in business or how many owners kept up that side of the business, but bordellos always seem to have hauntings connected to them.  Based on evidence collected through the years by paranormal investigators and historians, the Shanley has been the site of much death through accidents, murder and natural causes.

No one seemed to know, or at least it was never recorded before, that the Shanley was haunted before Sal bought the place.  Sal and historian Doug Hart were celebrating the closing on the second floor of the hotel one night when they heard footsteps coming up the main stairway.  They were a bit worried that police or a neighbor were investigating why there was candlelight coming from the building.  Upon investigation, they discovered no one on the stairs and Sal checked the door and it was still locked.  Like most people, they didn't want to believe the place was haunted, so they started taking pictures and bought a video camera.  Through the pictures and EVPs they captured, the men realized that there were many spirits in the place.  Some were from the Victorian era, others were from the 60s and some were downright spooky.  We want to share a few of these spirits with you and then you decide if they are the product of overactive imaginations.

James Shanley had built a barber shop into the hotel and he hired a barber by the name of Peter Granger who had a three year old daughter named Rosie.  Rosie was playing across the road at the Hoornbeek Farm when she fell into a well there, hitting her head and drowning.  The frantic search for her took two hours before she was found.  The distraught barber moved to Brooklyn with the rest of his family shortly after that tragedy.  Rosie is said to haunt the hotel and has been caught on tape laughing and speaking softly in the bordello area.  Her bedroom had been on the second floor of where the bordello had previously been.  The well has been sealed by a heavy concrete slab.

In 1915, a six year old boy who lived in the house next to the hotel was hit by a car that was backing out of the alley between the house and hotel.  A spirit named Jonathan that haunts the third floor claims to be this boy.

We mentioned earlier that Beatrice Shanley's sister, Esther, had died.  She had lived at the hotel and died from influenza in 1918.  Her spirit is said to hang out on the second floor where her room had been along with the Sunroom that is adjacent to that room.  She had been a very lonely and depressed woman when she had been alive.

Many people have been through the doors of the Shanley and thus many different presences have made themselves known by opening and shutting doors, poking or pushing people, talking on tape and appearing as weird light anomalies in pictures, which can be viewed at the Shanley Hotel's official website.  Music from a bygone era can be heard in the rooms as well as disembodied footsteps.  The hotel has been investigated by many paranormal teams including TV's "Ghost Hunters" and "Ghost Lab" and was featured on "My Ghost Story."  Our friend paranormal investigator Linda Zimmermann has been to the hotel and written about it in her books as well.  Entering the bordello area leaves people feeling light-headed with overwhelming feelings of sadness.  Some guests have complained of being held down in their beds.

James Shanley was born on Halloween, so the hotel hosts a birthday bash every Halloween.  Although renovations continue, the Shanley Hotel is open for business and overnight stays include breakfast.  The beauty of the area and the quaint historic hotel are very inviting.  So would you want to book your stay at the Shanley?  Might you get awakened from your sleep by something going bump in the night?  Is the Shanley Hotel haunted?  That is for you to decide.

HGB Podcast 9 - Haunted Marietta, Georgia

Moment in Oddity - The Greenbriar Ghost

The case of the Greenbriar Ghost is not only unique in the supernatural world, but it is a one of a kind tale in the annals of the American Justice System.  Imagine if you were able to testify against your murderer after you were dead.  In 1873, Elva Zona Heaster was born in Greenbriar County, West Virginia.  In 1896, she met and fell in love with a drifter who was passing through Greenbriar named Erasmus and they married soon after.  A young boy running an errand for Erasmus to the home that Zona and Erasmus shared, found Zona dead at the bottom of the stairs.  The local doctor gave the body of Zona a cursory examination after Erasmus had already moved the body to the bedroom and dressed Zona in her finest dress.  The doctor made the exam brief, as Erasmus seemed very overcome by grief and the doctor decided that Zona had fainted and fallen down the stairs.  During the wake and before burial, Erasmus was very watchful of the body, concealing Zona's neck and keeping people away from the body.  After the burial, Zona's mother attempted to return the sheet that had been in the coffin back to Erasmus, but he refused to take the sheet.  Zona's mother decided to keep it and she washed it because it seemed to have a strange odor.  The minute the material hit the water, the water turned red and then the sheet turned pink.  Try as she might, Zona's mother could not remove the stain and she took it as a sign that her suspicions about Erasmus were true: her daughter had been murdered!  For four nights after this, the ghost of Zona appeared to her mother.  The ghost would explain that Erasmus had been cruel and beaten her many times.  On this final beating, the ghost claimed that Erasmus had broken her neck and she turned her head almost completely around to show her mother.  Zona's mother went to the Prosecutor and Zona's body was exhumed after the doctor admitted he had not done a thorough examination.  It was proven that Zona's neck was broken and even more incriminating, her windpipe had been crushed.  Erasmus went to trial and his defense tried to make Zona's mother appear crazy by asking her about the ghostly visits, something the prosecution had avoided.  Zona's mother was unwavering and the people of the town believed her, so the plan of the defense backfired.  Erasmus was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, where he died three years later.  Zona's ghost was never seen again and a plaque on Route 60 commemorates her witness with these words: "Interred in nearby cemetery is Zona Heaster Shue. Her death in 1897 was presumed natural until her spirit appeared to her mother to describe how she was killed by her husband Edward. Autopsy on the exhumed body verified the apparition’s account. Edward, found guilty of murder, was sentenced to the state prison. Only known case in which testimony from ghost helped convict a murderer."  A ghost serving as her own witness to the crime is not only unique, but quite odd.

This Day in History - Sherman's March to the Sea

On this day, November 10th, in 1864, General William Sherman began his March to the Sea from Atlanta, Georgia.  There are many references to other dates in November being the official start of the March, but Sherman himself claimed the date of November 10th being the start in his memoirs.  Atlanta had been captured by Sherman and the Union Army and they decided to press across Georgia all the way to Savannah and they reached that goal on December 21st having gone 300 miles from start to finish.  Sherman burned the path as his troops went and unfortunately many historical buildings were destroyed during this time.  Sherman's strategy had not been used before and was brave because it occurred deep behind enemy lines and Sherman had no direct supply lines coming to himself.  The plan was revolutionary and unique in the annals of war and solidified Sherman's place in history!

Haunted Marietta, Georgia - Marietta Square, Kennesaw House & Haunted Restaurants

The city of Marietta in Georgia is a beautiful, quaint town rich in history that was established in 1834.  The city was founded by Thomas Cobb and named after his wife Mary.  Many of the original buildings still stand in Marietta despite the fires started by General Sherman because he spared the churches and buildings used as hospitals or Union headquarters.  Like the city of Savannah, Georgia, which inspired the building of Marietta Square, Marietta is a haunted city due to the fact that the center of the old downtown area is built above a graveyard.  As is the case for so many cities during the Civil War, Marietta was the site of many deaths and the heart of the city, Marietta Square, was one area of the city where the bodies were brought until they could be buried.  The shops and restaurants that line the downtown area have many reports of hauntings by various people and for various reasons.  We decided to take a ghost tour hosted by Ghosts of Marietta and we had a wonderful time and highly recommend this tour!  Our tour guide Charlotte was very knowledgeable and a wonderful story teller.  We heard stories of murders, accidental deaths and hangings and we want to share some of these with you.

We traveled along the railroad tracks and as if on cue, the train came roaring by bringing with it the haunting echo of a train whistle.  Down from the tracks stood a modest home once owned by the Root family, which is the Root Museum today.  The home is in the style of Greek Revival and was built in 1845.  William Root was a merchant and Marietta's first druggist.  The family's young son died in an upstairs room.  He continues to stay in the home leaving an indentation on the bed.

We heard about the ghost who is a shadowy man with a tall hat that likes to hang out near the tracks.  As we made our way towards the end of the path we stopped outside of a restaurant called Thaicoon, which serves Thai food, but it had once been a cotton mill and apparently the owner is still believed to be hanging out at the place.  Turpentine was stored in the mill and caused a fire that killed the owner.  He is heard pacing to and fro as he seems to worry about the running of his business.  The original cotton weigh scale is still inside the restaurant.  The unique thing they do at this restaurant is that they leave a plate of food and a drink on a tray right outside the door.

At the end of the path, we arrived at Kennesaw House.  This building was formerly called the Fletcher House for the family that once owned the building and ran the inn that was there.  The building was originally four stories tall, but a fire that started in the corner of the building on the fourth story burned the entire floor and the building is now only three stories.  Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher bought the building from Marietta's Mayor John Glover in 1855 and turned it into a hotel.  The house originally was a cotton warehouse that had been built in the 1840s and then a restaurant for some time.  The Fletcher House was popular and became infamous for something that occurred during the Civil War.  James Andrews was a Union spy and he recruited a group of men to help him with a plot against the railroad.  The Fletcher House was the perfect location since it stood right next to the tracks.  The plot became known as the Great Locomotive Chase and took place in 1862.  Andrews and around twenty other men dressed in plain clothes and boarded a train called "The General" as it stopped in Marietta.  The General pulled into the town of Big Shanty and the Chase was underway!  The men jumped into action, detaching all the rail cars from the engine and they threw the throttle forward.  As the Confederates gave chase, Andrews and his men cut telegraph wires and used crowbars to tear up the track.  They used some of the rails to wind around poles forming them into a bowtie shape and calling them Sherman Bows.  The Confederates finally managed to catch Andrews and most of his raiders and they were hung in Marietta.  Other raiders received the first Medals of Honor from President Lincoln.  The Fletcher House then became a hospital and morgue and later Sherman's headquarters after the Union captured Marietta.  Today, the building houses the Marietta Museum of History.

Hauntings at Kennesaw House include people seeing full body apparitions of Mrs. Fletcher and Dr. Wilder, one of the doctors who had served at the hospital.  We were shown pictures from security cameras that appeared to have full bodied apparitions of both the doctor and Mrs. Fletcher.  The current owner of the building hears footsteps on the third floor even though no one is on that floor.  Cigar smoke has also been smelled in different areas of the building.  Residual scenes of doctors and patients have been witnessed as well.  Charlotte enthusiastically explained the process of amputation in those days.

We walked around to a parking lot that was lined on one side with a stone wall that appeared to us to be some kind of wall for protection.  Recessed into the wall were four archways that no one has been able to figure out the purpose of, but the theory that many believe is best is that these are tunnels that lead to Marietta Square and could have been either supply lines, routes for escape or catacombs for storing bodies.  The city will not excavate the tunnels out of respect, so we may never know what lies in those tunnels, but they run under the city for several blocks.

Some of the locations that are above these tunnels are restaurants and shops.  We ate at one of the restaurants named "Hemingways" that apparently was a morgue at one time and many employees have complained of the spectral scent of formaldehyde.  Diane had gone down to the basement to use the bathroom and although the walls leading down the stairs were creepy because they appeared to be the original stone, Diane didn't feel anything weird.   Down from Hemingways is The Vineyard Cafe, which plays host to a ghost nicknamed The Colonel.  He hangs out at the back of the building.

An Irish bar and grill named Johnnie MacCrackens after a group of firemen killed in the Cardage Factory Fire in Glasgow, Ireland used to be the original fire department for Cobb County and then it became a bank.  Two working vaults from the bank are still located in the building near the bar. It is believed that the banker, Sessions, is still hanging out at the bar and he has been known to move money from the upstairs area into the vaults.

Earlier we had mentioned that Andrews and his Union spies were hung in Marietta.  The area where many of the hangings took place in Marietta is now just a narrow alleyway that we walked down called Hangmans Alley.  People claim that this alley is colder than the ambient temperature, but on the night of our tour it was so chilly we don't think that even ghosts could have made the area colder.

We made a pass of a shop called "Eddie's Trick Shop" and it was pretty creepy to peer through the windows at night.  Plastic skeletons peer down from the ceiling and costumes line the walls along with trick gags and such.  Hauntings of this shop usually occur around the costumes and involve people seeing feet move about.  There is a trap door near the fourth display case that leads down into the infamous tunnels, but the tunnels are blocked just like the archways we mentioned earlier.

The Strand Theater sits at the corner of Marietta Square and is hard to miss with its flashing display screen and lights of the marquee.  The Theater was built in 1935 and is Art Deco in design.  The Strand was the most modern theater outside of Atlanta and it featured air conditioning, heating, an acoustic sound system and seating for 1,000.  Our guide Charlotte informed us that the actress Joanne Woodward had grown up in Marietta and that her visits to the Strand Theater inspired her to become an actress.  Woodward donated money to renovate the classic theater that now plays host to theatrical productions and movies.  As is the case with most theaters, the Strand is haunted.

The movie "Gone with the Wind" has its own museum in Marietta complete with original dresses from the production.  The ghost that resides in the museum is a poltergeist of sorts and enjoys locking and unlocking doors and moving books around in display cases or even taking the books out of the cases.

One of the stops with the most interesting and scandalous stories was the Museum of Art, a restored Classical Revival building.  This building once housed the Marietta Post Office run by a postmaster, DeWitt Cole, doing more than overseeing the delivery of mail.  He had a mistress named Katherine.   She disappeared one day, but it probably was not by her choice because she reportedly haunts the building.  She is a poltergeist who likes to play with the elevator and move things about.  An upstairs room is also a favorite spot for her and the staff leaves a light on for her.  Charlotte told us a chilling tale about an experience some people had at the museum one night.

This was a wonderful tour and the city of Marietta is a must see in Georgia.  Is this historic city haunted?   That is for you to decide.

HGB Podcast 7 - The Villisca Axe Murder House

Moment in Oddity -Fecal Transplants

There is a deadly Superbug by the name of Clostridium difficile or C. difficile.  The infection causes cramps, fever, diarrhea and swelling of the bowel.  It kills 14,000 Americans a year and has infected up to 500,000 people.  A doctor in the UK discovered a way to treat the disease and the treatment is quite odd and a tad disgusting.  The treatment is a fecal transplant.  That's right, poo is the cure.  Stool banks like OpenBiome of Massachusetts asks healthy people to donate their stool, paying them $40 per deposit and that stool is then used to treat C. difficile. The transplant is performed via a duodenal tube, a rectal tube or colonoscopy.  The healthy stool contains beneficial gut microorganisms and it fills up the unhealthy intestines of the sick patient with healthy flora.  The C. difficile is overwhelmed.  The patient is healed.  Sending bacteria to fight bacteria makes sense, but it is rather disgusting and well, odd.

This Day in History - The Creation of Double Stranded Barb Wire

On this day in 1873, a revolutionary new form of fencing is registered with the patent office by a farmer named Joseph Glidden.  Glidden had gotten the idea for his design after seeing a similar form of fencing made by Henry Rose.  The fencing was barbed wire.  Rose's version was single strand while Glidden's was double stranded and the improvement was significant.  The wire was more easily produced and resulted in 80 million tons being produced by 1880.  Glidden's wire was the most popular in the nation.  Before Glidden's barbed wire, farmers had to use expensive wood to build fences when trees were unavailable and his invention made fence building easy, cheap and durable.  Life on the plains changed drastically.  Farmers could protect their land from open range animals like cattle and cattle ranchers had to change their operations.  No longer could their cattle graze openly, but cattle drives could no longer run over unfenced land to rail depots.  In later history, barbed wire was used extensively during World War I to protect trenches and the wire is used to keep prisoners inside jails.  Joseph Glidden probably had no idea just how useful his barbed wire would eventually become.

The Villisca Axe Murder House

The subject of today's podcast is far more than just a haunted historic location.  The story of this old white

frame house in a field in Villisca, Iowa is at the heart of an unsolved true crime that is tragic in every sense of the word.  An entire family, along with two other children, lost their lives in one evening.  We invite you to take a trip with us, back to 1912, back to a small flourishing rural Iowa town.

The town of Villisca is in Montgomery County in Iowa.  Today, the city has few residents, but Villisca was a town with a bustling train depot in the early 1900s.  D.N. Smith had planned a rail line for the Burlington and Missouri Railraod in 1859 that lead to the creation of the town.  The Civil War slowed down the building of the railway, but when it was finally built, the depot made the city a center for business and shops began to line the main street.   In 1912, Villisca had the only publicly funded armory in the state of Iowa lending to a rich military history up through the World Wars.  The name Villisca means "Pleasant Place" and it was a nice small town where neighbors all knew each other and Sunday socials were important events.  Some claim that the town was actually named for the Native American term "Wallisca," which means "evil place," and after hearing the tale that has made Villisca famous, listeners might agree that Wallisca fits better.

Josiah B. Moore and Sarah Montgomery were married on December 6th 1899 at the home of Sarah's parents.  Josiah had lived in Villisca for several years and he and Sarah settled there.  They were well known, well liked and affluent members of the city and Sarah was very involved with the Presbyterian Church there.  They lived on their farm with their four children: eleven year old Herman Montgomery, ten year old Mary Katherine, seven year old Arthur Boyd and five year old Paul Vernon.

On the morning of June 9th, Josiah Moore phoned the home of Joseph and Sara Stillinger to inquire if their daughters, Lena and Ina, could come to stay the night that evening at the request of his daughter Katherine.  The Stillinger girls left for church that morning and met up with the Moore family at the annual Children's Day Program at the Presbyterian Church.  The Stillinger girls and the Moore children all participated in the program that was directed by Sarah Moore and we imagine that everyone had a grand time.  We envision the Moore family at home sharing tales of the day's events and laughing heartily as they set up an area for the Stillinger girls to sleep that evening when they returned a little before 10pm.  No one had a clue what evil was lurking near or in the home.  By morning, the entire Moore family and the two Stillinger girls would be dead in a crime that would horrify the nation.

Mary Peckman was a good neighbor.  Like every good neighbor, she watched over the Moore family.  We've had our neighbor across the street come over and let us know that we had left our garage door up one evening.  Good neighbors do that.  Mary was gathering up her laundry when she noticed how still the Moore home was and she could see that no one was working on the chores for the day like milking the cows.  She approached the door and knocked.  No one answered.  She tried to open the door, but found it locked.  She returned home and telephoned Josiah's brother Ross who hurried to the homestead.

 Ross Moore glanced through a window and knocked on the door.  He fumbled with his keys and found the one that fit the lock of his brother's door.  He opened the door to the downstairs bedroom and immediately returned to the porch, greatly troubled by the brief vision he had of the room.  There were two small bodies in the bed and dark blood was soaked into everything.  Mrs. Peckman called the sheriff and City Marshall Hank Horton was first on the scene.  He had been the primary peace officer for the town for only a year.  He found everyone dead where they slept, all having suffered multiple blows to the head.  Dark material covered the mirror in the room where the Stillinger girls slept and an axe rested against a wall.  The family's doctor was called to the scene as well as the county coroner.  While trying to identify the two girls in the downstairs bedroom, they determined that one of the Stillinger girls appeared to have been molested.  Identification was impossible because of the damage to the skulls, but a nearby Bible revealed the girls' identity.

It was determined that the axe that was found in the house was the murder weapon and based on marks made by the sharp end of the axe on the ceiling in several places, it was hypothesized that the dull side of the axe was the weapon.  As detailed in the book, "On the Road to Villisca: The Hunt for the Midwest Axeman" by Hank Brewster, axe murders during these years in America's history were not entirely unusual.  A family of four was murdered in Portland, Oregon, the Coble couple was murdered in Washington state and six were murdered in Colorado Springs to name a few.  And who can forget Lizzie Borden who was acquitted in 1892 of the axe murder of her parents?

Solving crimes at this time was tough, especially in a small town where police had no real experience with processing crime scenes.  There was no DNA analysis until recent history and fingerprint evidence was just getting its start.  It was possible that nearly 100 people tramped through the murder scene, many just curious townspeople.  The main evidence left behind was a slab of raw bacon wrapped in cloth near the axe, food was prepared and left uneaten on the kitchen table along with a bowl of bloody water, the killer had wiped his hands on several items and a heel mark was left on a magazine.  The police were perplexed as to how one killer could have dispatched the entire family without waking anyone.  The victims all had coverings placed over their heads after they were killed, so it was surmised that the killer knew his victims.

Several people became suspects in the crime, though no one would ever pay for the murders.  Frank Jones had once been Josiah's employer.  The two men had parted ways on bad terms after nine years and when Josiah opened up a rival company, taking business from Jones, the bitter rivalry grew.  Jones had money, enough to hire someone to do some killing for him and that lead to a second suspect: William Mansfield, an alleged serial killer.  Two years after the Villisca murders, Mansfield killed his wife, infant child, father-in law and mother in law in Blue Island, Illinois with an axe and before the Villisca murders he is believed to have committed the Axe Murders in Paola, Kansas and the murders of Jennie Peterson and Jennie Miller in Aurora, Colorado.  (Reminds me of the Hammer Man killings in Aurora when I was a child living in Aurora in the 80s.)  Mansfield was arrested, but later let off when employment records gave him an alibi.

Reverend George Kelly was also considered a suspect.  The good reverend was a traveling preacher who was in town for the Presbyterian Church's Children Day and left quickly the following morning.  When he was brought in, he confessed to the crime after coercion and the confession was thrown out before he was tried.  An initial trial ended with a hung jury and he was acquitted during the second trial.

Another serial killer was suspected of being at work.  Earlier, we mentioned the book about the Midwest Axeman.  Henry Lee Moore was believed to be that man and he was convicted of the murders of his mother and grandmother after the Villisca murders occurred.  They were killed like the Moore family.  Henry Lee Moore is a study all to himself and an infamous killer.

Andy Sawyer was a drifter and he claimed that he passed through Villisca at the same time the murders occurred.  He was never arrested because a sheriff in a nearby town had arrested Sawyer for vagrancy the night of the murders.

So who murdered the family?  We will never know and perhaps that is why the Moore home is believed to be one of the most haunted locations in America.  The home has gone through eight owners since the Moores were murdered.  Darwin and Martha Linn bought the home finally in 1994 and restored it to the way it had been when the Moore family lived there.  The home is on the National Register of Historic Places and is open for tours and overnight paranormal investigations. Tours and overnights have yielded claims of unexplained occurrences from children's disembodied voices to objects falling over to oil lamps blowing out to people being touched.

The woman who suggested this location to us has stayed overnight in the home and she not only expressed having feelings of sadness, but she also heard scratching on the walls and something touched her husband's ear, waking him from sleep.  Their fully charged lights flickered and an interesting point she expressed to us was the absence of bugs, both outside and inside the house during the summer in Iowa.

Well known paranormal investigator Troy Taylor investigated the house in 2005 and he and his team documented the closing of a door several times when candy was offered as enticement.  They tried to debunk the movement of the door in every way and found no explanation.

The website Haunting Villisca has the following testimonial:

"On April 29, 2006 four members of PRISM (Paranormal Research & Investigative Studies Midwest) and three guest investigaters spent the night in the Villisca Axe Murder house.  The following is an account of some of their experiences.
Several times some of the team members felt their hair being tugged and one of us felt a tugging on the chain necklace he was wearing.
The team was all gathered in the parlor room downstairs and while there they heard noises from the upstairs;thuds and bumps like someone was jumping off of the bed or children rough-housing.
At about 2:45 AM, the closet door in the children's room upstairs opened and closed by itself.  There was a candy necklace hanging on the closet door handle and it would move and rattle against the door and then the door would either open or close.  This happened several times and was witnessed by the team and also was caught on film.
Also in the bedroom, the women of the team witnessed what appeared to be tiny pale fingers from the inside of the closet door.  Waving from underneath the door and touching the inside of the door.  Also witnessed was an intermittent  faint glow coming from the inside of the closet.
Throughout the night, the team recorded audio and took many digital pictures.  Some EVPs and spirit orbs and  spirit anomalies were captured.  Some of these can be viewed on www.doyouseedeadpeople.org.
This is an experience that none of us will soon forget and all look forward to going to the house again.
Carl and Dottie Norgard"

The strange thing about the hauntings is that no one who lived in the houses prior to the Linns purchasing the house ever reported paranormal activity.  It seems to have only started after renovations were implemented.  And one has to ask the question, how much affect could all these paranormal groups going through the house have on the house?  Have they brought something with them?  Have they conjured something?  Is the Moore home in Villisca, Iowa haunted?  That is for you to decide.

For more information check out the best website on the murders:  http://villiscaiowa.com

HGB Podcast 5 - The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

This Moment in Oddity - Dr. John Osborne's Skin Shoes

Outlaws and the Old West go hand in hand.  One such outlaw could be found in the Wyoming territory and he went by the name Big Nose George Parrett because he had...well...a big nose.  So large in fact, that when it came time to bury him in his coffin he wouldn't fit until several men pushed down upon the pine lid.  Dr. John Osborne claimed the body of Big Nose George and decided to use his body for study, particularly his brain since he thought that George was criminally insane.  The good doctor's wife had been committed for being criminally insane and he thought studying Big Nose George's brain would help him find a cure.  In the end, many people might consider Dr. Osborne the insane one because of what he did with George's body.  The doctor removed skin from George's chest and legs and then had it sent to a tannery with orders to create a pair of shoes from the skin.  Dr. Osborne wore his shoes proudly.  As a matter of fact, they were on his feet at his Inaugural Ball in 1893 when he became governor of the state of Wyoming.  The good doctor also went on to become assistant Secretary of State under President Wilson.  The shoes still exist to this day and can be seen in their new home at the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins, Wyoming.  Shoes made from the skin of an outlaw certainly strikes me as quite odd.

This Day in History - Nuremberg Trials Begin

On this day, October 18th, in 1945 the trials against World War II war criminals begin in Nuremberg, Germany.  Nuremberg was chosen as the site for the trials because it was considered the birthplace of the Nazi Party since it held propaganda rallies there and the Reichstag Nuremberg Laws were passed there.  Those laws were the anti-semitic laws that led to the destruction of Jewish businesses and finally the round up of Jewish people.  The trials were conducted before an International Military Tribunal and by October 1st, 1946, twenty-two war criminals had been tried.  Twelve of those convicted were sentenced to death, among them were Reich Marshall Hermann Göring, Julius Streicher, Hans Frank and Alfred Rosenberg. Three others that were convicted were sentenced to life imprisonment and four other convictions led to prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years. Three men were acquitted.  The war crimes they were accused of ranged from enslavement to persecution to murder and to extermination.  One other man was tried in absentia and that was Martin Bormann.  Other war criminals who were not tried because they had committed suicide before the trials were Robert Ley, Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels and, of course, Adolph Hitler.

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is located in downtown Hollywood at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.  The architecture of the hotel is in the Spanish Colonial Revival Style featuring rounded Moorish windows and wrought iron chandelier and lights with a giant lighted sign atop the edifice.  The architects were Fisher, Lake & Traver, a short-lived architectural firm that also designed the Stillwell Apartments in Long Beach and the Phoenix Westward Ho Hotel.  If the name of the hotel makes you think of a president, that would make sense because the hotel is named for President Teddy Roosevelt.  Stalwarts of the Hollywood community financed the building of the hotel and included Mary Pickford, Louis B. Mayer, Sid Grauman and Douglas Fairbanks.  The hotel climbed to twelve stories and featured 300 rooms when it was finished and it officially opened on May 15th, 1927.  The Grand Opening was celebrated with several celebrities from Charlie Chaplin to Will Rogers to Greta Garbo.

The Roosevelt fell into decline in the 1950s and a new owner remodelled, painting the hotel a horrid seafoam green and demolishing the historic archways.  The beautiful painted ceilings were also covered.  The wrecking ball came calling in the 1980s, but the Radisson bought the building and attempted to restore the Roosevelt to its former glory using historic photographs for guidance and they did a good job.  Thompson Hotels later bought the Roosevelt and they manage it to this day.  Parts of the Walk of Fame line the outside of the hotel and the building beckons visitors to enter and transport back to the Golden Age of Hollywood.  The hotel features vintage bowling lanes, an Olympic size pool with a David Hockney mural painted on the bottom, live theatre and the Tropicana Bar.  Unfortunately, the hotel has been extensively renovated and modernized by Thompson Hotels, which makes it perfectly comfortable for the modern era, but most certainly has lost a bit of its glitzy charm.  Despite the interior renovations, the Roosevelt Hotel is one of the few historic treasures remaining in this area, along with the Chinese Theater that is a block to the east and the El Capitan Theater that stands on Hollywood Boulevard as well. 

The grand Blossom Ballroom of the Roosevelt hosted the very first Academy Awards in 1929 and it was banquet style.  Thirteen statuettes were handed out by Al Jolson and Douglas Fairbanks and the entire ceremony lasted a mere five minutes.  This was the only time the Oscars were hosted at the hotel because it was not large enough for later ceremonies.

One of the hotel's most famous guests practically made the Roosevelt Hotel her home.  Marilyn

Monroe lived in a poolside suite for two years after her star began to rise.  She had begun as a model and that career started to take off just as she found herself newly single having gone through her first divorce of...well...many.  Thus she made the hotel home and enjoyed sitting in a dark corner booth at the Cinegrill, which is named Teddy's today. The room was the largest and best in the hotel and that suite is now named for her.  Marilyn also posed for her first ad ever - an ad for suntan lotion - on the hotel pool's diving board.

Other famous people would make the Roosevelt Hotel home as well.  Clark Gable and Carole Lombard lived in a penthouse there and that penthouse is now named for them.  Along with the name change came a price change.  A penthouse that Gable paid $5 a night for now runs a whopping $3,500 a night!  Montgomery Clift lived at the Roosevelt during the filming of "From Here to Eternity" and paced the hallways of the ninth floor as he memorized his lines.

You may know Errol Flynn as Robin Hood, but did you know him as a bathtub ginner as well?  The Roosevelt had a barber shop and Flynn used a back room there to brew his famous gin recipe.  And if you have seen The Little Colonel starring Shirley Temple, you may recall the fabulous tap dancing routine she does with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in the film.  They practiced that routine in the Roosevelt Hotel on the stairs between the ballroom and the lobby.

With so much activity and so many famous people coming and going throughout the years, one would imagine that the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is haunted and it reportedly does host a few specters.  As mentioned before, Montgomery Clift had stayed on the ninth floor and paced the hallways.  Apparently, his spirit liked the hotel so much, that he has returned and can be seen pacing the floor and also practicing his trumpet.  Room 928 had been his room and people report feeling cold spots in the room and both maids and guests have been touched in that room.

A mirror that had once been in Marilyn Monroe's Suite was moved to a wall in the lower elevator foyer.  People claimed to see the reflection of Monroe in the mirror.  Recently, the mirror was moved into storage.  Monroe is not stuck to just haunting her old mirror though.  She has been seen and felt in her suite, which was room 246.  She also has appeared in the Cine Grill and the scent of her perfume lingers.

Carole Lombarde has been seen hanging around the penthouse she once shared with Clark Gable.

A couple of non celebrity ghosts hang out in the Blossom Room.  Psychics claim a nervous man in a tuxedo resides in there on occasion and also another man in a white suit has been seen near and playing the piano.  Piano music has been heard coming from the room when no one is there as well.

Unseen entities occasionally take a dip in the pool.  The website http://haunted houses.com reports: "Security guards have seen ghosts take a late night, early morning swim in the pool. One such ghostly resident decided to do so at 3 AM in the morning, to beat the crowds. While the security cameras picked up his image in the pool, when a security guard went down to investigate, he communicated through walkie-talkie that no one was there. Waving his hands at the camera. However, on the security camera, the guard was waving his hands right through the apparition's head!"

Poltergeist activity abounds with mysterious calls coming into the switchboard in the lobby from empty rooms.  Rooms are locked and unlocked on guests.  Disembodied voices are heard in various rooms as well.  A ghost that takes on the appearance of a little girl calling herself "Caroline" has been seen by hotel staff skipping about the lobby and some guests have seen her in hallways.

So is the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel still playing home to celebrity guests who died long ago?  Are ghosts creeping around the place?  That is for you to decide.

Cult of Weird provided the skin shoe story on today's episode and you can find more details on that here:   http://www.cultofweird.com/death/human-skin-shoes/