One of my favorite places to visit is The Crescent Hotel. I absolutely love it there and it has become a great source of peace and inspiration for me. I can't help but find that ironic considering that it was the last stop for many cancer patients who trusted a con-artist to cure their cancer. Norman Baker never cured anyone and his painful injections contained things like ground up watermelon seeds and carbolic acid.
Not too long ago, the guy I have been seeing planned a surprise trip for us to spend a couple of nights in Michael's Room (218). Based on past experiences, that room has never disappointed.
At one point during the night, I woke up to find him sitting on the edge of the bed looking around. He seemed concerned about something, but I chose to mind my own business and went back to sleep. When I woke up again to start the day, he was still sitting on the edge of the bed. I asked him if he was ok and he said "If you want to experience something terrifying, go into that bathroom at night." He seemed like he didn't want to discuss it. I couldn't figure out what would freak him out so bad, considering that he looks like a big NFL linebacker that would never be scared of a ghost, as well as a serious skeptic.
We were at breakfast in the Crystal Dining Room when he finally told me what happened. He said that he got up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom. As soon as he closed the door to the bathroom, he said he could hear the doorknob rattling and thought it was me playing a joke. He asked "What are you doing?" only to hear a voice answer back that was not mine. He heard a male voice with what he thought was a British accent say "Oh, I'm sorry." He then heard heavy footsteps like someone was wearing work boots and quickly opened the door to the bathroom, only to see the door to the hotel room shut. He also saw me clearly snoozing away because I have been known to sleep through a tornado. He immediately went out into the hallway to see if anyone was out there and there was no sign of any guests or employees stirring about. He is one of the most logical people I have ever met and believes that there is a reasonable explanation for everything, so he began to investigate. He went down to the lobby and saw the night auditor at the front desk. He asked him if he had perhaps been doing a room check and did not realize that the most requested room in the hotel was currently occupied. The night auditor told him he had not been upstairs and that he was the only employee there at that hour, ruling out any possibility of housekeeping coming in. What makes things even more disturbing is knowing that I am very particular about safety and the door was double locked before we even went to bed, so the door had to have been opened from the inside.
For the rest of the trip, he refused to go back into that bathroom at night, and instead chose to utilize the facilities in the lobby. To this day, he says he has no desire to ever stay in that room again.
This is one of the many jars with body parts that were discovered by the hotel groundskeeper in early February, shortly after the Ghost Adventures crew did their episode there. I got to hold this on the VIP ghost tour and they believe it to be a part of a heart, liver or kidney. Super cool, right?
Michael in night vision.
There is a reason they call her "The Grand Old Lady Of The Ozarks."
Tools of the trade. (EMF meter, spirit box/EVP recorder, IR/night vision light to go with my full spectrum camera and a motion detector)