My first ghost hunt: The Palmer House

Sometimes life throws you something so cool you just can't turn it down.
I, through a totally strange set of synchronisities,
(it could be a thread all to itself)
got a chance to visit The Palmer House in Central Minnesota.
It has been on Ghost Adventures a couple of times, although I had never heard of it before.

It is a historic Hotel located in Sauk Centre MN.

The history is strange, as it was the old Sauk Centre House hotel, but it burned down in 1900, and then they rebuilt it in 1901 as a luxury hotel.
Taken from their website it says:

The Palmer House Hotel is one of Minnesota's finest ghost experiences. Guests of the hotel report many strange occurrences such as a young boy bouncing a ball down a hallway, eerie feelings in the basement area, disembodied voices, and one entity throws glasses around the bar area.

The hotel even claims residence to a celebrity ghost! The spirit of Lewis Sinclair, a famous local author for which the town takes pride in, is said to haunt the very hotel that he was employed as a bell boy at. Sauk Centre, Minnesota is also the childhood home of Sinclair. The history of the Palmer House Hotel is quite an intersting one with many tales.

www.thepalmerhousehotel.com...
There is a rich history to the place and it is old but beautiful in it's own way.
That link should lead you to everything you need to know about the place including some of the ghost stories going back to the 1950's.

Ok,so onto my experience there!

I was not sure what to expect. Before going I had asked around to some of my more psychic friends and was told not to expect anything to out of place, but to go and have fun, so I kept that in mind as my entire crew from work headed down there for a weekend. I have lived in places before that I believe were haunted, but they were not quite on the level that this place was supposed to be.

When we got there it was cloudy and cold and kind of stormy, just what you would expect..


We checked into our rooms and got a bite to eat at their restaurant/bar, which was pretty good really, and then got ready for the paranormal tour.
The owner, Kelley Freese talked to the group of about 15 people, our group of 6, and another group of paranormal hunters, not sure what they called themselves, for about an hour, filling us in on the history of the hotel and the stories of ghosts and spirits that are there.
She really cares about her place, and after my experience there I have a few thoughts about that, but I will save that for later.

After the talk and offering us some mints if we start to get nervous,
we all headed down into the basement where a lot of the action takes place.

It was an old basement, very old. Some of the original stonework is still there from before the fire, and you can see still the heated rocks and soot after over 100 years.

We all entered a room and sat in chairs in a circle while a prayer was said and the spirits invited to come out and play.
Almost immediately we got knocks on the wall right behind my wife. It just so happens she was sitting in front of a snowman that was mentioned in ghost adventures as the creepy snowman, and after the knocks started up, I agree, that snowman is creepy.
I snapped a picture in her direction while the knocks were going off.

Everyone was looking at her because of the knocks.
They were directly behind her, and not all that soft, there was no mistaking them.
If she had not of been there I would of thought someone else was doing it,
and I know she is not one to fake these things, we were learning together.

The knocks responded to a few questions before going silent again,
but they responded.
And there was no one else back there.


We moved to another part of the basement and repeated the process of sitting in a circle and then waiting to see what happens.
I saw something moving in the dark at this point, and whether people believe me or not, I don't care.
It was there, and it reminded me of a large ferret and it moved across the floor in the dark and seemed to go person to person touching them and then moving on. I thought my mind was playing with me in the dark.
During this, my boss snapped a picture and later I found out she was seeing something moving as well.

When we saw the picture later on, she became concerned, as it reminded her of something she had seen before at home.
I enhance the contrast on the photo trying to see what the shadow was, and this is what I got:

Hmmm, that is interesting!
I was thinking fingers in the camera lens, but we checked that later, and nope, it is not fingers. I don't know what it is, but it made her not want to go again the next time we went there.

We actually got lots of pictures of orbs, but most people rule them as dustballs, and it is ok with me,
I am just showing what I got.
You don't have to believe orbs are anything but dust if you so chose.

It was fun getting pictures, no matter what these things are. I had a good time checking out a haunted place and trying to catch something on camera or tape recorder, I had both going the entire time, well tape recorder anyways.

I even got an EVP but I messed it up trying to process it and now you can't really tell in the video I made without thinking it is a part of other people talking, even though I know it isn't.

If you could of heard how it hissed out and said "a hole" right before I said something was a hole in the floor, maybe I will work on seeing if I can fix it some time. Anyways, here is the EVP attempt, and it was the only one I got through several hours of recording.

Live and learn, I have never tried any of this before, so the first time is always going to be messy...lol

Finally, I want to offer one more photo.

This is where my wife and I found ourselves while trying to tune into whatever was down there.
There is an orb in the upper mid left part of the picture.
Here is a closer look:

Now that is kind of interesting, at least I thought.

They say the ghost of Lewis Sinclair hangs out around the Palmer house, and someone suggested to me that maybe it was him.
I'm not going that far, but I am willing to make a comparison!


I had a really great time there!
Regardless of what people think, for or against spirits and ghosts,
it was a priceless chance to see and experience something I never thought I would,
and to compare it to what I experience myself,
invaluable in my own understandings of spirit matters.

I've been back there since, but not to do the paranormal tour,
but even then, things happened.
But that is not what this thread is about,
this is about my first ghost hunting experience,
and I thoroughly enjoyed it and the Palmer house!

I can't wait to go back again!

a reply to: Darkblade71

That's awesome I miss doing stuff like this.
When I was younger, before I had kids, I used to sneak up to abandon hospitals in NJ with my friends.
There was one in Watching that was off the grid and terrifying, another in Basking Ridge and my last 'adventure' was Essex County Hospital. That was a big place.
You seem to have caught the usual anomilies found in these places, I wish we had better equipment at the time but advancements have grown exponentially since then.
What kind of feel did you get from being there?

a reply to: AnteBellum

It was very neutral feeling.
I got goosebumps a few times,
but I never did get any bad feelings from the place
although I did get scratched, but it didn't bother me at all.

Personally, and this is my own opinion,
I think the spirits there are actually working for the owner.
Sort of like paying rent although they call them unregistered guests.

But that was just my take on it.

I should also add that when we sat down, there was a table in the middle of both rooms that we set the k2 meter down on and would watch it spike once and a while, especially while the knocks were occurring and in that room.
It was also spiking when asking questions.

This picture was just for fun, but shows the room number/key and the coffee the next morning

Certain rooms there are rumored to be haunted.
I don't think ours was, at least not this time.

Sensational write up

The dark smudge is bizarre.
Is there any changes made to the images with filters?

That's awesome! You wouldn't get me in there though, if I was a Scooby Doo character I'd be Shaggy. lol
Good on ya for getting out there and doing some investigating.

Thanks much sharing! I'm not very familiar with the Palmer House Hotel, always looking for new info on places.

I "ghost hunt" from time to time, orbs I'm probably most critical of when debunking. That one is interesting however.

a reply to: zazzafrazz
No, it went from her camera to facebook.
I did an enhanced contrast on it to see if any other details showed up, which is the 2nd one, but she didn't change it in any way other than upload to facebook. I saw it on her camera a few hours after she took it, and it is the same.

a reply to: weirdguy

You know, when I was standing outside of the place having a cig,
I was talking to a couple sitting on a bench there,
and the guy was making fun of his girlfriend because she was terrified of the place and would never go in although she lived there her entire life.

Some people have that reaction.
It doesn't scare me at all, in fact I was smiling the whole time.
I really enjoyed it and I think I enjoyed watching other people freak out more so sometimes..
There really was something down there...
haha.

a reply to: dreamingawake

Yeah, I thought so as well.

The thing is, I knew something was there.
We followed it when we separated from the rest of the group in the basement and went off on our own.
I have to thank the wife for that one,
she caught where it was at.

Right after that is when we found the hole in the floor where I got that EVP.
It was covered with a wooden trap door,and I had knocked my foot on it a couple of times going by and when we came back around I started talking about the hole and the EVP popped up. Then this psychic lady who was with us all down there came over and told me I could lift it up and take a look. That is the picture in the video, of the hole with her and I standing there while she held the k2 over it and checked it out. She said they didn't know what it was for,
and the EVP says a "hole for me",
like it got answered before she even came over and right before I said it was a hole...
lol

I just took one look at that picture, didn't even read past the first couple sentences, yet. But I promise I will. However, why would you go there? No one in their right facilities goes into that kind of place. I'd put my sneakers on to sprint on by if it was near me.

Heavy stuff, and I would say reptilian actually, not just ghosts, 4D reptilians hissing. Also, you could probably take a longer evp down there. Just need some white noise from youtube, possibly downloaded. 1 hour long, and tesla coil set to repeat, and then turn volume down but put a mike near the speakers, on a lap top. And you'd get stuff that could be worked on to bring out conversations on audacity, varying pitch. But, that guy that hissed seems to be trying to reach out through that video and he can stay away from me. No permissions given. In fact, picture big doors and slam them shut. Lock them. Then picture a light barrier and either spontaneously you may see, or perhaps picture, 2 angels guarding. It was spontaneous image that came. Thank You!

a reply to: Darkblade71

Hey, I'm related to some Palmers in Oklahom. You should come to Ohio. There's an institution outside of Canton named Molly Stark. Let's just say that there should be horror stories written about that place. It stands abandoned today and there are lots of myths surrounding its haunted status.

a reply to: Unity_99

LOL!

Yeah, you would not do well down there...

lolol


That is what they gave us the mints for.
If people started to get nervous or if things went wrong or bad,
you were to pop a mint to keep your mind off of it,
and then ask to go back up stairs.

She had it set up so that if she felt uncomfortable she could call the whole thing off as well.
I guess it has happened before down there
even on the Ghost Adventures episode.

I felt no threat though, just a serious curiosity for what was there.

We also went over to where the psychic said there was a vortex, and I felt something off a little from where she was saying it was, but there was something there.

It was not for those that are easily spooked.
No one in the group left, but I did hear a few people gasp a few times.

a reply to: Darkblade71

I've seen a dark shadow like that as well. Daytime. No clue what it was and was kind of perturbing. If it's any consolation, I believe you. Before seeing something like that myself, I might not have but as it is...lol.

a reply to: Nechash

You mean this place?
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I see someone has a thread on it!

a reply to: WhiteAlice

I've seen shadowy things before, but not like that.
That was way closer up than I was expecting.

The boss however has woken up with something like that looking her in the face, more than once,
so it really spooked her.

It is amusing reading about christian's playing "scary" with their beliefs...

Why don't you ever hear of an atheist complaining that their house is haunted?...

Do they just put up with it?...

Just being "devil's" advocate...lol!

a reply to: coastlinekid

I'm an atheist, and I've been haunted. so err.....confused yes.