The Grand Hotel

The Grand Hotel embodies all of the beauty and histroy that begins in the Victorian era for Mackinac Island.   In a sense, the island is trapped in this time.  It clings to the old things and puts them on a pedastle making them great.  The hotel is the center of everything beautiful and historic on the island.   It's long, white walls can be seen from the water on the ferry ride to the island.  It sits away from the rest of the chaos of the island, amidst green gardens.  There are no cars on the island and during my many visits to the island, I have travelled to the old hotel using many modes of transportation.  Whether you approach by horse and buggy, bicycle, horseback, or on foot, the elegant porch gleams in the sunlight as the first part of the hotel you see.  The hotel is a piece of my history as much as it is the island's.  My great grandfather worked at the hotel and his father before him.  My great grandfather proposed to my great grandmother in the old hotel.  I still have the ring he proposed her with. 

The land for the hotel was bought in 1886.  During this time the popularity of the island for a summer get away was exploding.  Tourists were coming from as far as Chicago to see the scenic beauty of this quiet island.  The Grand Hotel was built to cater to the wealthier tourists that came from afar to relax in peace.  It was during the construction of the hotel that an untold number of bones were unearthed.  Most of the bones were relocated, but it is said that some of these old skeletons still remain beneath the foundation of this luxourious hotel. 

In 1887 the hotel opened and it was a success from the beginning.  During the long summers every room was filled.  Of course during the winter, when the bitter Northern Michingan wind freezes the lake and burries the hotel in snow, the hotel was still mostly empty.  In the 1890's, the hotel's owners proudly announced that they had built the longest porch in the world around the beautiful hotel.   In 1895, Mark Twain came for a reading in the Hotel's grand salon.   The Hotel was often host to famous people and  a couple of movies were shot at the hotel.  The most recent film shot there was made in the 1980's and stared Christopher Reeves as a love struck playwright.  The film was called Somewhere in Time.

Despite all this activity,  the hotel has continuously been a source of paranormal activity.  As the hotel expanded, the orignal Fort Mackinac Island cemetery was moved to make room for the horse stables.  So the stables now stand on yet another collection of old bones. Those that have worked at the Grand report phantom footsteps and doors opening and shutting.  Guests staying at the hotel have reported feeling ill at ease, as if there is something else in the room with them from time to time.   The hotel groans at night and, although all old things groan, the noises from this hotel seem loader that they should.

The Ghosts of the Rawls Hotel

The Rawls Hotel is in the Southern most part of Alabama.   It is located in Enterprise, Alabama far from the larger cities like Birmingham or Mobile.   Its history doesn't seem to be marred by murder or tragedy.   Its story is the story of a normal historic, small town hotel.   Japheth Rawls was a developer who had made some profit from turpentine plants.  He decided to invest his money in a small hotel.   He and his wife built the Rawls Hotel in 1903 and named it the McGee Hotel.  It was a small building in the Spanish Mission style.  In 1928, when Japheth passed away,  Jesse Rawls took over the hotel and began remodeling it.  He added two three-story wings to the structure and the Rawls Hotel evolved into a town center.  It was elegant and pretty and  many gatherings and meetings were held in the building.  The Hotel was conveniently placed next to the railroad so travelers to Enterprise could enjoy a pleasant night in a luxurious hotel.  In the 1970s, the hotel fell into disrepair and may have been forgotten if it weren't for Hayden Pursley.  Pursley purchased the building and renovated it.  The Rawls is now a bed and breakfast that is famous for its hauntings and ghosts.

It is my hope to travel down to the Rawls some time in the next several months to learn more about the ghosts that are said to linger in its halls.   The stories say that there are many children ghosts in the old hotel, but I don't know where they come from.  None of the stories seem to explain the presence of so many children ghosts in the hotel.  There is a little girl who has been seen by many visitors and the voices of children are said to come from the wine cellar.  Orbs are frequently seen in photographs and visitors describe feeling a presence in the hotel.  

Mr. Rawls is also said to haunt this old hotel and many have described seeing him in the halls.  He is said to stand by and watch decoration and renovation of the building and his spirit is thought to be interested in the well being of the hotel.   Many of the apparitions of the Rawls are said to linger on the third and forth floor.   The Rawls is listed as one of the most haunted hotels in Alabama.   Hopefully, I will discover why some day in the near future.

Bloody Murders and Tortured Ghosts

The Story behind the Rocky Top Village Inn captivated me from the very beginning.  It had everything dark and sinister imaginable in a ghost story.  The story began with a group of four men planning a robbery.  They broke into the old office at the Rocky Top Village Inn and held the night clerk and the night watchman at gun point and stole all the money from the inn, but that wasn't enough.   The men saw their weeping victims and wanted more and they took what they wanted in such a violent and perverse fashion that I have been unable to find any descriptions of what they did. It was too horrible to describe.  It is known that the bodies were taken to room 1 and dumped and that the officer in charge found the bodies covered in gunshot wounds and knife wounds.   One of the murderers fled from the crime.  He had only agreed to participate in the robbery.   He left a note and a knife behind him in a nearby phone booth.  In the note,  he apologized for his crimes and said he never wanted to be part of the murders.   A man named tattoo Eddy was the ring leader of this brutal crime and he still sits on death row today.

I went to the Rocky Top Village Inn not knowing what to expect. Exploring haunted places is unpredictable.  Places that should feel terribly haunted seem vacant and places that should seem calm seem like you've stepped into Shirley Jackson's Hillhouse.  I went with some of my girlfriends.  One of my friends is psychic.  She doesn't tell many people this and she would never advertise it, but if you give her a few glasses of wine she opens up about it.  She agreed to go with me and help me explore my haunted locations.  I can sense some things, but I am no where near as gifted as she is.  With a glass of wine in hand, she once predicted my mother-in-laws death.

 When we pulled into the back parking lot of the inn, my friend didn't want to get out of the car.  She hesitated.   It wasn't just the ghosts.  The Rocky Top Village Inn is a pretty low brow motel and seedy people eyed us from their perches on the banisters above us as we crept out of our car, but even if the motel had been empty, she would have hesitated. The ghostly presence at this haunted motel was tangible.  Finally, we all got out of the car and explored the dingy, old motel.

The motel looked like it had been built over several decades and the two halves of the motel didn't match at all.  There was a newer portion with a more modern office and a pool.  It was still green and off putting, but in a general motel sort of way.  The other half of the motel was much older and made from stone.   It was in the old office here that the murders were committed.   My friends and I wandered the grounds of the motel and I took pictures of the office and room number one.  My psychic friend shifted uncomfortably and described the feeling coming from the building as beyond bleak.  She wouldn't stay long.  We left as soon as the pictures were taken.   It began to rain as we fled the scene and lightning painted the blackening sky.  My friend broke into a jog and we fled so quickly I felt like we were being pursued by something I couldn't see.

The Haunted Huntsville Depot

I had a marvelous day today.  My boys and I went on a ghost hunting adventure that was more fun than we had planned on.  We went to one of the most haunted places in North Alabama to take pictures for the new book.  I have been warned by my publisher not to give everything that is going to be in the book away in the blog, so I won't say much.  But I will say that the ghost stories at Huntsville Depot are thick.  It has been investigated by psychics and ghost hunters and many others who have found it to be crowded with ghosts.  I was able to interview an employee there who told me the most haunted location at the depot is the vault.  My boys and I explored the vault and the ghost stories and although I can't say too much,  here are some photographs of our wonderful adventure.  The last picture was taken from the vault.

Sleeping with Jesse James' Ghost

For the last few nights my family and I have been traveling off the beaten path looking at strange haunted places that we might normally miss.  We've thrown ourselves into the middle of things and slept with ghosts and found ourselves in places without internet and places that my GPS can't find.   Our first stop on our travels was the historic St. James Hotel in Selma, Alabama.

The St. James Hotel in Selma Alabama seems haunted before you even pull up to it. Just driving through downtown Selma to the steps of the hotel makes you feel as if you are driving through a ghost town. The once splendid down town speaks of better times, but has been mostly abandoned so that as you pull up to the St. James, you feel like the only person on earth.


We were the only people staying at the St. James the night we arrived. It was cold outside and the legendary courtyard fountain outside was frozen. The painting of Jesse James’ mistress seemed to follow us with her eyes as we entered. The young man who stood alone behind the desk, Josh, happily pulled out the pictures of ghosts that had been taken throughout the hotel. He also took us on a tour through the elegant dinning room and historically perfect saloon. You could almost imagine yourself stepping backwards in time and seeing Jesse James himself seated in the back corner with his gang.

The St. James was once owned by a slave who became the first black congressman. Many of the white locals avoided the hotel because they were racists, but this didn’t stop Jesse James who made the hotel his headquarters in the 1880’s.Since that time, the hotel has been sitting empty.  The hotel was abandoned for over a hundred years and has only recently been rennovated and returned to it's original state.  Many visitors have seen Jesse and his mistress wandering the corridors of the St. James. Others have heard Jesse’s dog barking. A group of psychics reported seeing an entire group of ghosts in the courtyard.

Our stay at the St. James was unnervingly quiet. The hotel groans at night and the doors open and close on their own, but we saw nothing else of the multitude of ghosts that haunt this hotel. Since the hotel was empty, we were able to roam about the place freely and explore every nook and cranny of it. Except for Josh up front, it was just us and the ghosts.

As we wandered the old hotel, we took dozens of pictures, did EMF readings, and asked questions using the EVP recorder. There was no evidence of ghosts in any of this. However, my son’s photos were again filled with orbs and odd shapes.

We slept in Jesse James’ room. Josh explained to us that it was the only room in the hotel with a window in the closet because the famous outlaw needed to have a view from all angles. Josh also told us how Jesse checked out of the hotel. He slid out the window in our room and jumped in the river just behind the hotel fleeing from the law. We slept well in his old bed, but we were all awakened on a few occasions by what sounded like a dog. We checked out early after we ate our continental breakfast at Jesse James’ old table and I must say that this old hotel was definitely one the creepiest places I’ve ever slept.

The Tutwiler Hotel

The Tutwiler is one of the rare haunted hotels in Alabama.  It is located in Birmingham and was originally named the Ridgely.  Robert Jemison opened The Tutwiler in 1914 to convince the American Iron and Steel Institute to have its annual convention in Birmingham.  He built the hotel to be luxurious and inviting.  He wanted people to come from all over to stay in the overabundant luxury of the hotel.  Mr. Jemison's plan worked and for a long time the hotel was the premier location for conventions and meetings in the South.

But time takes it's toll on all things and the glory of the beautiful hotel faded as the years pressed down on her. By the 1960's, she was a faded reminder of what she had once been.    The owners attempted to give the hotel a facelift, but with skyscrapers and luxury high rises taking over, she seemed like a pale comparison.  In 1986, Mr. Tutwiler purchased the building and began a complete renovation of the hotel.  He stripped it and rebuilt it.  He took the old historic hotel and gave it all the modern conveniences and extras that would bring tourists to visit and stay in the once run down hotel.

It is after these renovations that the ghosts appeared, or maybe that the ghosts were noticed.  The story began with the bartender who was in charge of closing up the kitchen every night.   Every night he would turn off all the lights before he left.  He began to notice that the lights would turn right back on.  One night he turned the lights off five times and finally gave up and went home.  His supervisor yelled at him the next day for leaving all the lights on and the bartender explained the situation.  The supervisor stayed late and found the same things with the lights.  Both employees went home and in the morning the lights were all on, the dishes were all out, the stove was on, and food had been prepared.  The next night the bar tender tried a new tact.  He turned off all the lights and said good night to the ghost and asked it to please leave the lights and stove off and clean up after himself.   He never had the problem again.

The bartender wasn't the only one to report odd occurences.  Throughout the old hotel there have been reports of lights flickering, tunring off and on, and doors opening and shutting.  In my attempt to see as many haunted locations as possible, I have booked a room in this lovely hotel next weekend.  I'm taking my boys and we are going to stay in this elegant hotel for one night and see what we can find when the lights go out (or come back on)  More to come once I visit the hotel!