Amanda Hankinson
Autumn brings a nip in the air, shorter daylight hours and, in preparation for Halloween, frightful stories. To coincide with spirit of the season, an exhibit based on spooky happenings and tales opens this month at Maysville’s Kentucky Gateway Museum Center.
Titled Haunting Histories, the exhibit complements a community reading event, Maysville’s Endowment for the Arts Big Read program. The book selected for the Sept. 26-Nov. 30 reading is Kelly Link’s Pretty Monsters, a collection of short stories that encompass aliens, zombies, magic, the paranormal and more.
Once the book was chosen, museum education curator Tandy Nash and I set out to research some of the most haunted destinations in the southern United States to find items for the exhibit.
Our pinnacle destination was New Orleans—after all, we were looking for ghosts. On the way to the Crescent City, we stopped in Memphis for the evening, going directly to the Woodruff Fontaine House, a beautiful circa-1871 Victorian mansion. Arriving less than an hour before closing, we photographed the premises and gathered information quickly. Even so, the docents there cut no corners: They gave us the grand tour, complete with the history and hauntings, while including their own ghostly tales.
We had two other Memphis sites on our “must-see” list during our whirlwind stay. Earnestine and Hazel’s, which locals claimed had the best burgers in town, was our dinner destination. Once the site of a brothel, the bar and grill boasts a welcoming staff who were willing to tell us about the establishment’s storied past as well as the tragedies that have haunted the business in recent years. We learned that this location has not only a haunting history, but a famous one as well, with music greats who have played at and visited the establishment.
Our other must-see location was the historic Orpheum Theatre, which we visited with Vincent Astor, who for years has given tours there—both historic and otherworldly. He showed us around the beautiful building, relating its history and the story of a little girl who has been seen there and has a seat that is always reserved just for her.
Amanda Hankinson
We departed Memphis, journeying south to St. Francisville, Louisiana and Myrtles Plantation, said to be one of the most haunted places in the world. It dates back to 1796 and has a long history of tragedy. There are so many stories, photos and tragedies that surround the Myrtles that we weren’t sure what was fact, what was fiction, and what lay somewhere in between.
We arrived at the plantation late in the evening. After we checked in, Lyn, who was working that night, kindly opened the house so we could snap photos while no one else was there. Tandy and I witnessed a few strange happenings in real time during what seemed like hours in the sprawling home.
After photographing the house and grounds under moonlight, we went up to our room, having planned to take the official tour of the plantation the next day. I didn’t get much rest that night. By the time the sun breached the centuries-old oak trees the next morning, I had been awakened by disembodied footsteps running up to the bed, strange noises I couldn’t identify, and other distant sounds that made me aware something was amiss. The plantation certainly did not disappoint, and once we got home and reviewed the voice recorder, we had more evidence than we’d ever dreamed. Myrtles Plantation is by far one of the most active places we visited, as well as one of the most serene settings, filled with the most welcoming people. No wonder the spirits want to stay.
Amanda Hankinson
We then headed southeast to the Big Easy, where we had selected two hotels, had an appointment with destiny (actually a tarot card reader and a voodoo priestess, but hey, that’s close), and would visit the dead at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.
Our first stop was the Hotel Monteleone, a stunning, family-owned hotel in the heart of the French Quarter that dates back to 1886. When we checked in, the front desk clerk asked, “Did you request this room?” Tandy and I looked at each other and laughed, and I replied, “Um, we sure did!”
Our room had a beautiful view of the Mississippi River, and we hadn’t been in it 10 minutes before the phone rang. Tiffany had called to welcome us and set up a time for us to meet with the hotel historian, Mr. Charlie, a most amazing 88-year-old man with an incredible knack for storytelling. We listened and watched as he relived each story he told—laughing, crying and even singing. He told us about the hotel history, the family who started and still runs the hotel, the tragedies that have struck some of those visiting, and the guests who live at the Monteleone eternally.
Our stay there was rather uneventful until the last evening. We went out for a day of sightseeing before rushing back to the French Quarter for a ghost tour at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, another revered and luxurious hotel, as well as one of the most haunted. It would be our next stop for overnight accommodations. There are several tales of haunts at the Bourbon Orleans, including that of a Confederate soldier, a suicidal nun (we’ll take that room) and a dancer who still floats across the ballroom floor. The hotel is said to be so haunted, it keeps an Official Bourbon Orleans Ghost Sightings Log, where guests record their experiences.
Once the tour was over, we went back to Hotel Monteleone for our final night there. While getting ready for bed, I ran across evidence of a haunting at the Monteleone, and what evidence it was! While some might have been spooked to receive such a direct sign from a spirit, it made me smile.
During our time in New Orleans, we spoke to psychics and a voodoo priestess, toured museums, learned about Creole voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau (fact and fiction), visited Bourbon Street, and learned a great deal about those at the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, including the fact that Nicolas Cage has a pyramid-shaped crypt there, and he’s not even dead.
Amanda Hankinson
We departed the Bourbon Orleans Hotel for Atlanta and the humble Ellis Hotel, which saw much success in the early 20th century, when it was known as the Winecoff Hotel. That success ended on Dec. 7, 1946, when the hotel caught fire, killing 119 people and injuring at least 90 others. That tragedy spurred new regulations for fire codes across the country and still holds the unfortunate title of worst hotel fire in U.S. history.
When we booked our room there, we spoke to several agents who refused to talk about any hauntings or “remnants” from the fire. While we aren’t ghost hunters, we knew that a location tainted with such tragedy could be prime territory for hauntings. But if we were to gather information there, we would have to discover it ourselves.
For this escapade, we used an Ovilus device, an electronic mechanism that shows words of what spirits are trying to communicate on a screen. On our first night, we sat in our dark room after midnight, asking questions: “What is your name?” “Why were you here?” “Can you see us?” and receiving responses that didn’t seem relevant. As Tandy continued to interact with the device, I pulled out my phone and did some research. What I found sent chills up my spine—the names of the people who had died in our room that fateful night.
Before we checked out, I stood at the window of our 11th-floor room, looking down on the street below as Florance Allen Baggett and his cousins, Sara Baggett Miller and Catherine McLaughlin, might have on that cold December night. Of the three, only McLaughlin survived. My heart was heavy as I realized those three people probably looked out this same window. Upon checkout, we realized that the haunting history of the Ellis Hotel is more than just spirits; it is the tragic fire that continues to haunt the building.
Amanda Hankinson
We spent the rest of the summer visiting locations closer to home and discovering that our area has quite a few colorful ghosts. My first rendezvous with one was at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza Hotel. I spent my weekend at the lovely French Art Deco structure in the stunning Winston Churchill suite. I walked the floors of the hotel, photographing everything from the amazing ceiling murals to the incredible Rookwood fountain.
While exploring this hotel, I had a sense I wasn’t alone. The Netherland Plaza has another guest who wanders the hotel day and night, sometimes on the mezzanine level and sometimes in the Hall of Mirrors. She isn’t a normal guest, but she is a regular and is referred to as The Lady in Green. I learned about her heartbreaking story and of the encounters people have had with her. While I didn’t have any direct contact with this beautiful soul, I believe she could not have found a finer establishment to patronize.
Hotels play a key role in our exhibit, which wouldn’t be complete without bringing it home to the Bluegrass. Our final spirited stop was one that includes another colorful ghost: The Lady in Blue at the Seelbach Hilton in Louisville. When making reservations, I asked for the haunted room or floor, as usual. The reservations specialist granted the request and offered to set up a midnight tour with Patrick, the head of security, and a meeting with Larry, the hotel historian.
Patrick has walked the floors of the hotel for years, and if anyone has met the spirits or heard the tales, it would be him. We spent hours talking with him, photographing the facility and exploring the ballrooms and hallways. We heard tales of former guests Al Capone and F. Scott Fitzgerald and of the tunnels under the hotel, and spent time taking in the unique Rathskeller, a basement bar made entirely of Rookwood Pottery tile.
Discovering the Rest of the Story
The Haunting Histories exhibit at the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center opens Oct. 2 and runs through Nov. 10. It includes our firsthand experiences, only a few of which are featured here, and completes the stories in this article that were left unfinished. Haunting Histories also has displays from Maysville’s Hayswood Hospital and Phillips Folly, Bobby Mackey’s in Wilder and more.
There will be spirited events, guest speakers, forums and movies throughout October. Please follow the museum on Facebook, visit the website at kygmc.org, and make plans to see all the wonders at the museum.