PARA: Jefferson Texas hauntings: The Jefferson texas Experience

The Jefferson Texas Experience
By Scott Lenig

Traveling through east Texas as a teenager my dad and I had the pleasure of staying in a small town called Jefferson Texas. At first glance Jefferson is very quaint. It is filled with antique shops, bed and breakfasts and even an old fashioned general store. Everybody knows everybody else, the crime rate is nil and in its own charming way it could be compared to the fictional town of Mayberry.

Many of the buildings in Jefferson have been around and in use since the mid to late 1800’s and that only adds to the charm of this fascinating little town. However, all things considered, looks can truly be deceiving. Most driving through the town of Jefferson Texas would never even suspect that it is widely believed to be the most haunted city in Texas.

Heading down Austin Street, my first destination is the Jefferson Hotel, which is believed to be filled with many ghosts. The Jefferson Hotel was once known as the Crystal Palace where Travelers would stay and gamblers would come to win and often lose a fortune. Today things are quiet though. Our room was Room 18, which we were informed was up stairs and in the back.

Walking up the stairs you get this odd feeling, almost as if you are walking into the past. Old antique chairs and cabinets line the hallways as I walk to my room. I unlocked the door and entered my room. I had this odd feeling as if I was being watched, but I was the only one renting a room, and the employees were downstairs.



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After I got settled I went back down to talk with the employees and ask about the different ghost stories and experiences they have each had. It is clear they each had stories they wanted to share. One told stories of doors opening and closing repeatedly as he was trying to lock up, another told of hearing her name whispered into her ear one night when she was alone.

After swapping stories, I went back up to my room to get ready for a bit of exploring. As I was walking to my room I saw that the room next door, room 19, is wide open. I looked in and no one was there so I decided to go in and look around. This was a very spooky room. I recall that the spooky lamp shade cast a human shaped shadow onto the wall and There was a strong feeling like someone or something did not want me in there.

Eventually I headed back to my room and unpacked my bags. After I was through I went back down stairs and I saw one employee left and he looked as if he was getting ready to leave. He told me that the employees do not stay there at night, then handed me a key to the front door “incase I need to leave in the middle of the night”. After that he left. I was very surprised as I had never been in a hotel where there were no employees. It was going to be just me and just me all alone in what is supposed to be a haunted hotel.

In the lobby to the left was a small restaurant that was closed down for the season although the doors were open. I never did go in there as I had a very strong feeling that if I did, something was going to happen. I never was quite sure what that something was but I knew that I was not about to go in there.

All alone my dad and I decided to roam the halls to see what we could see. All was calm. Spooky, but calm. At about midnight we decided to go to bed. We lay in our separate beds and turned out the lights. Approximately 15 seconds later a woman whispers in my ear “Scott, Scotty!” Instinctively I reach for my camera and snap a picture in the direction the voice was coming from. (After getting the film developed there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary in the picture.)

I asked my dad if he heard it, as he did not seem to react and was wondering why I snapped a picture. He said he had not heard a thing. I told him what I heard but he did not believe me. He was convinced I was just trying to scare him, but I wonder if the one trying to do the scaring was the woman who whispered my name right into my ear.

After that, things were pretty uneventful at the Jefferson hotel, until the day, we checked out to go stay in the hotel across the street. As my dad was paying and getting everything set, he told me to go get the bags and he handed me the key to the room.



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I went up stairs and got to our room. I put the key in the door to unlock it but the key would not turn. We had not had any problems what so ever with the lock before so I took it out thinking maybe I put the key in upside down or something like that. I didn’t. I put it back in and tried to turn it but it just would not budge. I let go of the key with it still in the lock trying to figure out what to do.

I tried one more time. This time as I turned it, the key broke right in two with one part still in the lock and the other part in my hand. I could not believe it. They key bent and broke in half as easily as if it had been a piece of clay!

I had my pocketknife with me. It was one of those that folds out into a pair of pliers. I took them out so I could pull out the broken part of the key still in the lock. I said, Oh come on. And before I could put the knife to the lock I heard a click. The door had unlocked it self. I pulled the broken key out, opened the door and looked in. I did not see a single thing. It was just our room and our bags. Hesitantly I went in, grabbed the bags and left.


After I got back down stairs I told what happened and the cashier, told us that the exact same thing happened to the people who stayed in the room next (room 19) about a week before we got there. So we gathered our things and went on our way to the Excelsior House Hotel across the street.

Upon walking in I noticed something strange about this place. When you walk in there is this weird feeling I got as if I had just stepped back in time. It was almost dizzying. This place was beautiful though. Just like the Jefferson Hotel there was antique furniture galore. The only clue that we were still in modern times was a laptop sitting open on the front desk.

There was a woman standing in the corner and she was getting ready to give a tour, so we joined the group. First stop was the ballroom. She pointed out a beautiful chandelier that she claimed was originally from the Buckingham Palace.



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She then took us upstairs to have a look at a few of the rooms that a few famous people have stayed in. Most named after the person that stayed there. The Rutherford B. Hayes room, the Ulysses S Grant room and another room was named For Jay Gould, although he never stayed in that room.

Jay Gould is an old railroad tycoon Born in 1836. He had a relationship with a 14-year-old prostitute who went by the nickname Diamond Bessie. Nicknamed so because a few of her clients often gave her diamonds.

When she told Jay that she was pregnant, he allegedly killed her. His jury was held up in what is now known as the Jay Gould room. It is rumored that some money was slipped to them and that is why he was found not guilty of murder.

Today people report seeing the ghost of a young woman sitting in a rocking chair in the room rocking a baby in her arms. It is almost as if Diamond Bessie is hanging out in that room waiting for justice to finally be served.

It is also rumored that while filming “Sugar Land Express” Stephen Spielberg and crew stopped at the Excelsior for the night. Stephen apparently stayed in the Jay Gould room but at around 2:00 am he got up in a panic and made the rest of his crew pack up and they went to stay at Holiday Inn 20 miles down the road. He has never told what happened to him that night but it is believed that his experience in that hotel served as inspiration for his movie Poltergeist.

Considering all that I had heard about the Jay Gould room, naturally I chose that room to rent. On the way to the room there is a hallway filled with very spooky portrait paintings, the kind with the eyes that follow you around the room.

The whole place had a not so friendly feeling that there was something or someone else there and that they were all around. The room it self was quite large. There were two queen-sized beds, large armoires, a giant dresser and plenty of room to move around. The infamous rocking chair, that is supposedly haunted by the ghosts of Diamond Bessie and her child sat to the right of the armoires.



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After unpacking again, I decided to do a little experimenting. I had brought with me a few things that I though a ghost might like to see, play with or look at. I had an old antique book from the late 1800’s, a hot wheels car, a few old coins from 1886 and other things of that nature. I also had my trusty EMF detector with me at all times.

When I had a chance to be alone in the room I would ask questions, or just talk to any ghosts that might be in the room in hopes of getting a response. I would sit on the bed and face the famous rocking chair and just talk. I never got a direct answer though. I watched to see if the rocking chair would rock by itself as so many people reported happening during their stay but again nothing happened, until it was time for bed.

We got changed and talked for a bit before we finally turned out the lights. This place had a much more spooky feel to it so it took me a little while to fall asleep. Sometime during the night I woke up. I was thirsty, so I sat up in bed to head to the bathroom and get some water. What I saw at the foot of my bed has been embedded into my mind ever since. Floating at the foot of my bed was a face. One that I often refer to as a clown face. I call it the clown face because it had those over exaggerated features you would see on a clown, big smile giant nose wide eyebrows, and the entire thing was red, blood red.

I was terrified. I wanted to make a run for it or call out to my dad but I was afraid to do anything that might disturb this…thing. All I could do was slowly layback down and hold very still. Fortunately for myself this thing was low enough that I could not see it when I was lying down. I stayed awake constantly looking down to see if this thing was going to make another appearance and hoping like hell it did not.

Eventually it was morning and this “face” did not make another appearance. I told my dad of what happened but being the skeptic he is, he insisted that either I must have been making it up to play a trick on him. The day was spent sight seeing, going to a couple museums, checking out the local cuisine and just plain exploring.

We got back just in time to catch the cashier before he left. I asked him if he had ever heard reports of clown like faces floating around in any of the rooms. He told me that the owners did not like letting the employees talk about that stuff as they felt it was bad publicity.

My dad and I went back to our room as the cashier locked up and left. Once again we were alone in a hotel widely believed to be haunted. After watching the news in our room we decided to go explore. We walked through the hall with the creepy paintings that love to stare and into the lobby. We sat in there just talking for a bit about all that we had done on our trip. After all we were leaving in the morning and we had a great time for the most part.

While talking, in the direction of the ball room, I saw out of the corner of my eye, what appeared to be a woman wearing a fancy albeit old fashioned dress, similar to one a woman might wear in the mid to late 1800’s. I kept seeing it go past almost as if this thing was stuck repeating this action, like a scratched record skipping on a turntable. It never seemed to react to us or notice us at all; it just kept floating past the entrance of the ballroom.

Eventually this figure faded away and there was no more happening so we went to bed. I was very nervous about sleeping as I was expecting to get another visit from my clown face friend. I was glad to make it through the night with out seeing it anymore, as that thing was so scary.

In the morning the room felt especially light as we packed up to head home. We took one last look at the room and at the rocking chair. I said goodbye to anybody who might be watching or listening and once again got no response. I guess ghosts are not always very talkative. I experienced quite a few things during my trip to Jefferson. I saw a scary clown face, the figure of a woman floating by over and over, I had a woman whisper my name and even had a key snap in half like a piece of clay.

Those are some really amazing things that most people never have a chance to see even once in their lifetime and I am grateful that I got to see them. However the one thing that I saw that I found the most interesting was in the car as we were about to drive off.

In the car that we had not been in since we arrived in Jefferson was a key. A single key resting right on the console in between the driver and passenger seat. We looked all around to see if a key had fallen off one of our key chains and even went back to each hotel to make sure that we turned in all of our keys. We had. To this day I do not know where the key came from however I always felt that it was meant to be a replacement for the key that was broken by one of my new friends.



[edit on 21-7-2009 by gimme_some_truth]

Awesome story! I love a good spook tale. I have to admit that if I had seen a clown face floating at the end of my bed, I would have went out the window.

reply to post by mrwupy


Thank you. I too love a good scary story.. But at the same time it is one thing to hear about it... It is a whole other thing to experience it!

The Jefferson Texas Experience is one that I am so glad I had. I am honored to be able to share it with everybody here!

Great Story, Scott!

Growing up in a small town right outside of Jefferson, my family and I would often visit the historical town for a nice walk through the old antique shops. I had always heard the stories but never thought much of them.

I'll be headed that way again, for sure, so that I may experience Jefferson like never before. I would suggest a road trip and a night stay at the hotel, however, I would piss my pants staying in one of those rooms for any length of time with the lights off. I'll sleep in the car, my friend.

I'm looking forward to more of your work.

-Dev

[edit on 22-7-2009 by DevolutionEvolvd]

reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd


Thanks buddy. I forgot that you are from around there.

I have been trying to talk my Mom into going since she likes to discuss paranormal things as much as I do. However she is just like you in the respect that she is more than willing to go for a day trip, but staying over night is out of the question for her.

Yet here I am thinking, Why even go if you are not going to stay at least one night? Well, To be honest I can understand where you and her are coming from, I just have always enjoyed getting right in there and investigating, even if it means I might piss myself.

Anyway, Thanks for reading and I am glad you enjoyed it.

I cannot wait to read what everyone else has written for their first articles.

Thanks for the great story man

I too would freeze and hide under the sheets if I saw the clown face, sounds terrifying. Although it would have been good if you'd managed to snap a pic like you did with the voice. The key thing is freaky too did you not satisfy your curiosity and go see if the key opened the room ? Do you still have the key ? If you do, you've got the perfect excuse to go back and see if it fits!

Yeah man great story and spooky place. I've been there multiple times. Between the town its self an the creepiness of Caddo Lake it's a real treat.

Originally posted by conofhumans
Yeah man great story and spooky place. I've been there multiple times. Between the town its self an the creepiness of Caddo Lake it's a real treat.

Oh yes, Caddo lake is so creepy isn't it? I have been on a steam boat tour of it. I did not mention it in the story because it was not directly related to the ghostly experience however, It is the creepiest lake I have ever been to.

On the boat tour I remember all these eerie trees growing tall straight up out of the water surrounded by lots of moss. When I was on the tour there was even fog rolling off the water.... it may not sound all that creepy just describing it, but as you and I know, you have to see it to believe it.

Originally posted by Discotech
Thanks for the great story man

I too would freeze and hide under the sheets if I saw the clown face, sounds terrifying. Although it would have been good if you'd managed to snap a pic like you did with the voice. The key thing is freaky too did you not satisfy your curiosity and go see if the key opened the room ? Do you still have the key ? If you do, you've got the perfect excuse to go back and see if it fits!

Hi, thanks for reading and enjoying. I do wish I had managed to snap a picture of the clown face as well, however It truly scared me and I did not even want to move.

We did not go back to see if the key fit although I wish we had. The key was eventually thrown out by my dad. That made me so angry. I wanted to keep it my whole life and show people the ghostly key, but being the non believer he is.... well he thought it was stupid to keep it.

That is not to say that my dad is a bad person or anything. He is actually my best friend. Sometimes I wonder if deep down his real reason for throwing it out was that it scared him to think about how the key got into his car.

reply to post by gimme_some_truth


Amazing experience, well told, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Add Jefferson, Texas to my list of "must visit"s

Thank-you for sharing!

Well, you have a whole lot of courage my friend, hats off to you and your Dad for sharing this incredible experience with us.

I have to say that the key was the clencher for me as to the paranormal events unfolding and the seeming request by the spirit occupants to have you stay.

I found this simple google search about keys very interesting. Seems in olden times the key was the symbol for hearth and home as well as relationships and spirit attachments depending on the direction you seek to discover about old keys the skeleton type in particular.

books.google.com... SXP8c&hl=en&ei=6p1nSsX9GYOktgeI6635Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5

reply to post by antar


That is interesting. I never thought of looking into possible symbolism regarding keys... But now you have me wondering.... Thanks.

I am glad you enjoyed my article!

reply to post by gimme_some_truth


Thanks for the reply, was it an old key or a newer one?

Also did you sense that they spirits wanted some help or perhaps to be assisted to the light?

And did you continue to feel their presence even after you moved across the street to the other hotel?

I find it interesting how spirits seem to be stuck in the place of their death even after the building is long gone, wonder why?

Originally posted by antar


[quoteThanks for the reply, was it an old key or a newer one?

You are quite welcome. It was a newer key. There was nothing special about it other than we have no idea where it came from.

Also did you sense that they spirits wanted some help or perhaps to be assisted to the light?

No, I could just some how feel that they were there, but I sensed no want for help. I sensed no real purpose, I just could feel that they were there.

It may sound odd to people to say that I could just feel them, but there is something about those two hotels. You walk in and this bizzare feeling surrounds you. It is almost as if you are standing in a weak spot between our world and theirs...almost as if you have stepped into a window of some kind that offers a glimpse of the other side...

And did you continue to feel their presence even after you moved across the street to the other hotel?

I felt A presence, but not the same as I felt at the Jefferson Hotel. You walk into the Excelsior and you get a similar feeling to the one I described above only much stronger and I could not help but notice a more... creepy feel... almost as if something knew we were there and was watching us the whole time.

I find it interesting how spirits seem to be stuck in the place of their death even after the building is long gone, wonder why?

I really do too. I am not sure why... In fact anyone who says they do, is lying. The subject is such a mysterious one, we can really only speculate.

I have wondered sometimes about what would keep a spirit here on earth? Why, if there is such a great place waiting for us when we die, would we want to hang out around earth?

I have wondered before about the possibility of people/spirits not knowing that they have died. Perhaps they died quickly and not realizing it, "stood up" and went about there everyday business?

If you have ever watched the movie "The Others" it proposes a similar scenario for the ghost family in the movie...

I am sure everybody has heard the one about these spirits having unfinished business.... I can not imagine what could be so important that you would hang around trying to finish something after you died... Perhaps there is some force keeping them here untill they finish it?

I have also heard about the possibility of different land and minerals being able to hold onto energy for thousands of years, and the idea of it even being able to some how record all that happens around it... This theory states that when this land ( or what have you) releases some of the energy it releases a sort of... memory, if you will of a past event and what you see is not actually a living thing... More like a movie from the past...

Whatever the answer is, one thing is for sure to me, there is something to these sightings. Something worth investigating and learning about. What ever these ghosts are... they are "real"... Not just figments of our imagination... That is my opinion anyway.

[edit on 23-7-2009 by gimme_some_truth]

amazing and interesting experience for you. I loved reading all about it.

I have just realized a minor inaccuracy in my story that I wish to correct. In this article I write that Jay Gould, a railroad tycoon had a relationship with a 14 year old prostitute and was accused of murdering her only to be acquitted.

I have been told and led to believe this was the case, however upon doing a small bit of research, it appears that Gould was not the one who had a relationship with one, Bessie More. AKA Diamond Bessie.

It was a man by the name of Abraham Rothschild. A traveling salesman who was the son of a Jeweler. Bessie, posed as his wife until she was found dead in the woods.

Rothschild was acquitted after a two year trial. As I stated in the article, the jury was hung up in what is now the Jay Gould room, and this is supposedly where Bessie's ghost resides, almost as if she is waiting for justice to be served.

So to sum up this little edit, Jay Gould who was a railroad tycoon, was not accused of the murder of Diamond Bessie and did not have a relationship with her. Abraham Rothschild did.

Here is a link for more info on the Diamond Bessie Murder case.

www.tshaonline.org...


[edit on 15-8-2010 by gimme_some_truth]

Mhmmm pretty good story. still... your clown face doesn't sound as scary as my mystery decaying woman >,> The one that says my name like she is dying X-x