14: Ghost Hunting 101
2004
In the summer of 2004, we wanted to go somewhere different for our family vacation. We decided on Eureka Springs, Arkansas. This booming little town survived on tourism and seemed to offer a wide variety of things to do.
In Eureka, we hit all of the family “hot spots” as we filled our days with hiking, shopping, and sightseeing. Almost everywhere we went had a display of brochures of more things to do. One brochure in particular stood out to me. It advertised ghost tours. Typically, convincing Wes and Troy to go on something like this would’ve been next to impossible. However, this tour went through the famed Crescent Hotel, built in 1886. Wes was a fan of old architecture, so he agreed to go even though that meant having to “suffer” through the tour.
On our way to the hotel, we drove up a steep and winding road with breathtaking scenery. Reaching the top of West Mountain, we saw the Crescent Hotel. I was in awe! Now I understood why the hotel was so popular and why it was referred to as The Grand Old Lady of the Ozarks.
Walking into the hotel, I got a little nervous. None of us had ever been on a ghost tour before and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I hoped it wasn’t going to be like a fun house Halloween tour with “ghosts” jumping out from around corners and chasing us down the hall. Living with ghosts had made me uncomfortable with those who made a mockery of their existence.
Clairvoyants Carroll Heath and Ken Fugate own and operate The Eureka Springs Ghost Tours. At the time, they were the ones who ran these tours at the Crescent. On this particular night, Carroll was leading the tour and he told the group that we should try to take pictures because many people reported capturing ghostly images on film while taking the tour. He suggested using a digital camera, but said that any camera would work. I’d never tried to take a picture of a ghost before, but I had my 35 mm and was anxious to try.
Soon after the tour started, I saw that my earlier concerns about the tour had been pointless. Carroll led the tour with such integrity and respect that not even Wes or Troy could find room to complain. The tour consisted of the rich history about the hotel and, of course, we heard the stories about the ghosts that allegedly roamed the halls.
We learned that over the years the hotel had served as many different businesses, and it seemed as though each had left its mark. Almost assuredly, the deepest mark left on the hotel occurred from 1937-1940. During this time, the Crescent Hotel served as a “cancer hospital.”
A man by the name of Norman Baker bought the hotel and transformed it into the Baker Hospital and Health Resort. Baker claimed to be able to cure cancer without the use of surgery, radium, or X-ray. The problem was Norman Baker didn’t have one day of medical training. His “cancer cure” consisted of a mix of watermelon seed, brown corn silk, alcohol, and carbolic acid. Some believe that many of the ghosts from the Crescent Hotel are former patients of “Dr.” Baker.
Hearing the ghost stories and seeing the reactions of the other tour goers helped me realize just how much things had changed over the years. When Wes and I had bought our house twenty years earlier, I couldn’t find any information that dealt with ghosts. Now it seemed as though people were much more open to the possibility of their existence and I had a stronger desire than ever to learn more about them—and that was exactly what I planned to do.
The first thing on my agenda was to learn about capturing ghostly images on film as Carroll had talked about. I was intrigued with this possibility, so as soon as we got home from our vacation, I sent my rolls of film off to be developed. I was surprised to find that, like me, Wes was anxious to get our ghost tour pictures back. For the first time since the encounter with the young Indian ghost, he was showing some interest in the subject.
When I got the pictures back, I flipped through them to find the ones I had taken during the tour. My initial response was one of disappointment. I’m not sure what I was expecting, maybe an apparition holding up a sign that said, “Yes, I’m a ghost.” Since that hadn’t happened, I took a closer look at the pictures and I noticed many of them contained orbs.
Because of the now-popular ghost-hunting shows, I knew some things about these orbs and Carroll had told us that he, like many others, felt they were the energy of ghosts. Noticing that quite a few of my pictures had orbs, I was a little more impressed. I decided to try to find out more about these orbs.
After doing some research, I found there were two prevailing thoughts. One, orbs are proof of paranormal activity. Two, they are no more than dust particles, raindrops, or bugs. I knew it wasn’t raining inside the hotel, so as far as these pictures were concerned, I could check that one off. As for the dust particles and bugs, I just wasn’t sure. I hadn’t seen any bugs, and the hotel appeared to be too clean for there to have been that much dust floating around. I decided to try a little experiment on my own. I purchased a digital camera and took it outside. Every time I saw a flying bug, I’d take a picture. None of these pictures resembled an orb. They were either missing the bug altogether or they looked like … well … bugs.
Now, on to the dust particles, I took a rug from the hall into the bathroom, and shook it. I snapped a few pictures and I got very similar-looking orbs in these pictures.
After my experiment, I still didn’t know what to think of orbs. While reading different opinions about them, I ran across an article that claimed dust particles and paranormal orbs differ in appearance. Some believe dust particles have a dark ring around them while the orbs caused by the energy of an entity do not. I put the pictures—the one from the Crescent Hotel and the one taken in my bathroom—on my computer and enlarged them. All of the known dust orbs had rings around them. The orbs from the Crescent were about half-and-half with some having rings while the others didn’t.
Still not sure how I felt about orbs, but now knowing that it was possible to capture ghostly images on film, I kept my camera close by in hopes of capturing something paranormal in my own home. The next time I experienced the familiar sensation of a ghost coming into the room, I was ready. I picked up my camera and announced, “If there’s anyone in here, please sit in this chair and let me take your picture.” I took several pictures of the chair. Each picture, except for one, showed only the image of the chair.
The picture may have been coincidental, but looking at the chair there was a bright orb that appeared to be in motion and seemed to be emitting its own light. Even after enlarging it by 400%, I couldn’t see a ring around it (if you would like to see this photo, it can be found at http://authorlisarogers.weebly.com under the Haunting Images tab).
It seemed as though the more I tried to find out about orbs, the more confused I became. What I did know was that an orb can be produced on film with dust, and an orb can be produced on film by taking a picture outside while it’s raining. These are facts I was able to prove to myself, but I still didn’t know if an orb ever signified the presence of a ghost.