Читать книгу Ghosthunting Kentucky - Patti Starr - Страница 10

BEREA, MADISON COUNTY

WHEN I FIRST MOVED to Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1995, I met a talented and unique young lady of twelve, Shoshana Gross. I was a member of the Bardstown Community Theater(BCT), and Shoshana’s mom, Tova, was also a member there. Once Shoshana and I met, we became instant friends. Occasionally I would arrange to spend time with her on weekends. She was extremely talented, with her musical skills of writing songs and playing the guitar, which kept me entertained on our weekends together. Shoshana is quite the success now as she lives with her husband in Scotland.

One day Shoshana called me to let me know that she had decided to go to Berea College, located in Berea, Kentucky. I was not familiar with the college until Shoshana shared with me the history. The college was founded about 150 years ago by Reverend John Gregg Fee. He was a strong believer in equality by providing interracial and co-educational advantages for students in the Appalachian area. The town literally developed around the college.

“How will you be able to afford to go there?” I asked. Shoshana replied, “This is the beauty of it. Berea offers a tuitionfree education. The money is provided by donations and other monetary means. Because of my good grades and high scores, I qualify to go there.” I congratulated her, and she said, “I have some more great news. There is an old hotel there called Boone Tavern that is supposed to be haunted.” Okay, now she really had my attention. I asked her, “What do you know about it?” “When I got into town I read about it in a brochure I picked up at the hotel. The Boone Tavern was built in 1909 to provide guests with lodging and meals while they were visiting the president of Berea College. As the number of visitors grew, so did the tavern, and it has been offering lodging ever since. During my short stay in Berea, I did hear stories from the students and locals that the tavern was haunted but didn’t have time to listen to all the stories. I knew I had to call you so you could check it out,” Shoshona replied.

Shortly after getting this lead, I did just as Shoshana had suggested and made arrangements to conduct a ghost investigation. I was the first official ghosthunter to go into Boone Tavern with such a task. I wanted our investigation to be as thorough as possible, so I decided to bring in a psychic/medium, Ginny Drake. She has worked in the field of education for over thirty years and holds a master’s degree in education from Georgetown College, a teaching certificate from Eastern Kentucky University, and a B.S. in social work from Murray State University. Ginny had become my mentor while teaching me to work with energies, so I felt she would be an asset to the investigation. I must say that when we arrived and parked in front of the Boone Tavern, I was impressed with the grandeur and magnificence of the Southern Colonial hotel and restaurant. As I stood looking at all the scrolled details and other features, I was fascinated to learn that the bricks used in the construction of the building in 1909 were made by the students attending Berea College.

Built on a prominent location, the hotel sits where the old Dixie Highway intersected with the campus of Berea College. This highway was planned as one of the first automobile highways in 1914 and was constructed to connect the Midwest to the Southern states. This was also another factor in the growth of Berea and the popularity of the Boone Tavern. Laden with bags of ghosthunting equipment, we made our way into the lobby of the hotel. We approached the front desk to let the staff know that we were ready to start our investigation. The front desk clerk looked at the registry to find where the empty rooms were. She gave us several keys to rooms on the second and third floors for us to enter during our investigation.

While we were standing in front of the registry desk, Ginny asked me to come and stand by her. I walked over to her, and, wham, it hit me. We were standing in what I would refer to as an energy vortex. It felt like there was an oscillating energy field spinning in a spiral motion, making me a little giddy. I enjoy finding these spots that tend to make me rock back and forth when I stand in the middle of one. There is more than one theory about how these vortices evolve, but I feel it may have to do with the energy of the land coming up through the building. Ginny asked the desk clerk what area was immediately below where she was standing. She told us it was the basement. Ginny looked at me and said, “We must go down there before we leave. I think we might get some good evidence there.”

I bent down to retrieve my bags, and Ginny said, “I’m picking up on a young child.” She hesitated and then continued, “It is a young boy. I think he is about nine years old. He likes playing tricks on the staff.” I turned to look at the clerk, and she was smiling. “Yes,” the clerk said. “We have heard of sightings of a little boy from our guests and staff over the years.” At that point Ginny predicted that we might get some more information about the little boy if we went to the basement right away.

We headed to the basement to see what might happen, and we captured a special spirit orb and a child’s voice. We found the energy vortex and stood in that area as we took snapshots with our cameras and performed a couple of EVP sessions. Ginny began to communicate with the playful and happy child. I asked Ginny to hold up her hands as I instructed the little boy to show himself around her hands. As I continued to talk to him, I snapped a shot with my camera and captured a spirit orb close to Ginny. What makes this capture so unique is that the orb is behind an object, which contradicts the theory that all orbs are dust reflecting back as globe-shaped anomalies in the flash of the camera. If that were the case, this orb would be in front of the barrier instead of behind it, revealing only half of its shape. This was a rare and super capture of a spirit orb. We continued to talk to the little boy, and behind us a box scooted across the floor and startled us. We swung around, and no one was there. We laughed and thanked the little boy for causing the commotion. I asked him if he would speak to us, and I captured an EVP of a child’s voice that said, “I can see you.” This spry spirit was having fun with us, and Ginny said she felt he must have lived in the early part of the 1900s. I thought that he might have been a child of one of the earlier staff members when the hotel first opened. It felt to me that he was allowed to play throughout the building while his parents worked. Ginny and I agreed that he was of African American descent. Since this was a place where one could be who they were without the fear of judgment about race or gender, I’m sure the atmosphere here was one of comfort and joy.

We didn’t want to spend our entire two hours in the basement, so we ventured to the second and third floors to check out the other rooms. We stepped into the elevator and started our journey to the top. As the elevator was moving, I said, “Did you know that I was in a falling elevator once?” Just as I said that the elevator stopped abruptly between two floors and started to jerk as if it were going to fall. Everyone gasped and looked at me. The elevator made another attempt to readjust itself to the next floor and jerked again. I said, “When I get off this elevator, I’m taking the stairs down.” It finally leveled with the third floor as the doors opened to let us out. When we returned to the front desk, I asked the clerk if there had been reports that the elevator dropped or jerked before getting to the top floor. She looked puzzled and said, “Not since I’ve been here, and I’ve been here for over four years.”

The rest of our investigation continued on the second floor, as we entered the different rooms to see what we could find. After about four rooms, we went into one where I picked up on a male ghost through my dowsing rods. He didn’t know he had died and seemed to be confused as I continued to ask yes and no questions. Ginny was standing by the bed and noticed an indention, as if someone had been lying on the bed. She told us that the ghost just sat up in bed and asked her, “What are you doing here?” She continued to communicate with him until he was calmer, and then he left the room. We concluded our investigation and took the stairs to go back to the lobby. The staff was interested in knowing if we had gotten any results from our equipment. I shared with them the EVP I had gotten of the little boy who said, “I can see you.” They were thrilled to hear it.

In 2010, I thought it would be nice to do a follow-up on the hauntings at Boone Tavern. I learned that a few months earlier, a renovation of Boone Hall was completed to preserve and enhance the historic character of the hotel. The Boone Tavern has earned the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. I couldn’t help but wonder if the paranormal activity increased during this time and thought an investigation would be in order.

The spirit orb of the little boy hiding behind a barrier was photographed near Ginny as she called him forward.

I called the manager, Gary McCormick, and he was open to having me do another ghost investigation. I arrived at 9:30 on a blistering cold and snowy morning. As I opened the entryway door to the tavern, I could see the wonderful new decor and colors that complimented the expansive lobby. The deep gem colors of blue and gold were rich, warm, and inviting. I loved all the changes and could hardly wait for lunch to check out the menu.

We were greeted by a wonderful staff, and I was impressed to see the bellman dressed in a sharp, top-notch, white uniform that made him look distinctive and proud. His name was Fred Baker. He informed us that Gary was running late because he was held up by the snow. Two other employees, Anita Ridgeway and Tucker Collins, were standing next to Fred. Anita was gracious and offered us coffee while we waited for Gary. While we were drinking our coffee, I explained to them that I had completed a ghost investigation in 2005 and wanted to check to see if the same type of activity was still present. I asked Anita, “Do you have any knowledge of strange activity that might be the result of a haunting?” She answered, “I have witnessed a few things that I can’t explain how or why they happened. There is a common occurrence in the dining room that has us baffled. Several servers will be setting up the tables with napkins and silverware when the silverware will start to drop onto the floor in a domino effect as it goes from one server to another. It’s as if a small child is having fun by running from one server to the other and knocking off the silverware.”“Have you ever heard of a guest having an experience?” I asked. “Yes, I have,” she answered. “I was standing by the front desk one morning when a woman came down dressed and ready to check out. It was early, around 5:00, and we thought it was strange to have someone checking out so early. The lady explained to us that while she was asleep, she was awakened by a touch on the hand. When she sat up in her bed, there was a man in her room. As she focused on him, he disappeared. That’s when she got up, got dressed, and got out of the room. She was a bit shaken. I believe the woman was in Room 206.”

When I heard about this account, I thought that Ginny was going to be thrilled to hear this story since we were in Room 206 when we found the male ghost that didn’t know he had passed away. I thanked everyone for their stories and walked over to the front desk. I asked a pretty young lady, with a big smile, if she would be willing to do an interview about the hauntings of the hotel. She told me that she was the desk clerk and her name was Jordan Perry. “Jordan, can you tell me what you have observed while working at the Boone Tavern?” I asked. “Well,” she started with hesitation, “on my third night of training, I was sitting here at the desk by myself. It was around 2:00 in the early morning when I heard a crash coming from the Skylight Room. Since the hotel was so quiet, it really startled me. I wanted to find out what made the sound, so I went into the room to see what had happened. As I looked around, there was no one in the room, but I did see the big black ice scooper lying on the floor. The scooper is kept on top of the ice-maker machine. I know it causes a vibration when it is running, but the scooper had landed all the way across the room from where the ice machine was. When I asked the other kitchen staff if this had happened before, they laughed and said that it happens a lot. That’s when I started to suspect this place of being haunted.” I asked Jordan, “Have you ever seen or heard what you thought might be a ghost?” “Yes,” she quickly answered. “One morning while standing at the desk and checking on room availability, I heard a little boy laugh. I looked up to see if a child had come into the lobby, but there was no little boy. I looked back down at my computer to start my search and heard the sound of a little boy laughing again. This time I noticed that the sound came from the Skylight Room, where the ice machine is. I guess that room gets a lot of activity. There have been other times during the day and night that I’ve heard him laughing in the lobby. Several times I’ve heard the sound of someone running back and forth in front of the desk and on those stairs, “she said, pointing to the stairs behind me. Jordan added, “Everyone who works here seems to know of the little boy. They think he’s around nine or ten years old. He seems to be happy and very mischievous.”

While Jordan was telling her accounts of the activity, Fred walked up behind us. He informed us that he would be joining us when we went upstairs into the guest rooms. We were delighted to have his assistance. He also asked us if we would mind doing him a favor. “What do you want us to do?” I asked. Fred said, “Please stand right here and tell me what you feel.” Fred had Chuck stand in an area in front of the desk. As Chuck stepped into the spot, Fred noticed that he started to rock back and forth. “Do you see Chuck rocking?” he asked. This brought back memories of my first visit to Boone Tavern when Ginny had discovered the energy as a vortex. I asked Fred how long he had been employed at the Boone Tavern, and he said about two years. That told me that he did not learn about the vortex from us, since he wasn’t there the first time we came. I asked Fred, “How did you find out about the vortex?” He said, “I discovered the energy by walking through the area and noticing the pull it had on my body.”

Fred Baker standing in the middle of the vortex near the front desk

By now Gary had arrived, and after our introductions, I was able to continue my interview with him in the comfort of a big, padded chair in the lobby. I said to Gary, “Tell me what you have experienced since you became the general manager of the Boone Tavern.” Gary began, “When I came here in 2007, many of the employees told me about hearing the little boy laugh and seeing him standing behind them in the freight elevator. At first I was a skeptic and didn’t pay much attention to their stories. My office was on the second floor before the renovation, and sometimes at night I did hear footsteps outside my office door. When I would go to see who was walking around, there would be no one there. Sometimes, while sitting in my office, I would hear paper shuffling or rustling, and when I would turn to see what was making that sound, there would be nothing there, and the paper was not moving either.”

Gary asked us if we wanted to go up to the second floor where he could show us where he had his experiences. We picked up our equipment bags and headed for the second floor. When we got there Gary pointed down the hall and said, “Before the renovation started, we had the furniture removed from the rooms. I went down this hall to the room at the end to check on things after the movers left, and I could hear the boards in the floor squeak. I didn’t hear footsteps, but instead I heard the sound that the boards would make if someone were walking on them. I turned and said out loud, ‘I guess it’s you and me. I know this place is going through some changes, but we promise to keep its charm.’ I thought that if anyone could hear me talking to these unseen figures, they would think I was crazy.”

As we walked toward the stairs, Gary asked if we would mind taking the stairs back down. Later, at home, when I played back my recorder to listen to my interviews, I picked up an EVP of the little boy. After I say that we have no problem taking the stairs, the little boy’s voice can be heard saying, “No problem.” I was extremely pleased to have captured the unexpected EVP of him.

Gary took us down into the basement so he could show me where he had a bold encounter with the little ghost boy. He said, “I was standing here in front of the caged area when I heard the loud laughter of a small boy behind me. The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up, and I swung around quickly, expecting to see a little boy, and, of course, there was nothing there. Feeling a little unnerved, I went upstairs to the kitchen, and as I entered the room, the ice scooper that was sitting on top of the ice maker came flying across at me and barely missed my head. I walked up to one of the kitchen staff and told them about the little boy laughing, and she said, ‘Wait until the ice scooper hits you in the head.’ Then I immediately told them that I had just witnessed the ice scoop flying over my head a moment ago.”

By now it was getting close to lunch time, so we decided to finish our investigation and have lunch at the restaurant. The food was a delicious Southern style, and I had the fried green tomato salad. It was truly yummy. Of course, the biggest treat was the spoon bread that they brought out in a basket and served by dipping a big spoon into a soft cornbread pie and placing it on your plate. It has a great history and has been served as part of the meal since Boone Tavern opened in 1909.

Before we finished our lunch, I looked up and there stood the chef beside our table. He had seen us come in and recognized us from long ago. I was shocked to see that it was Jeff Newman, who was now the executive chef. For years he had been the chef at another haunted establishment known as the Mansion at Griffin Gate in Lexington, Kentucky. We began to compare notes about the different hauntings, and I thought it was weird that he would end up in both places as the chef. You might call our meeting a coincidence, but since this type of thing happens to me so often, I no longer believe in coincidence. It was also a wonderful conclusion to a successful day of ghosthunting at the Boone Tavern.