The History
Built in 1851, this beautiful old building was once used as a cotton gin and then the Crystal Palace ballroom only to be transformed into the Jefferson Hotel. Over the years many stories and reports have circulated involving ghosts and paranormal activity by guests and staff alike.
The Setting
East Texas, Jefferson
This trip actually took place by coincidence. We were set up to do another investigation in Missouri, but do to last minute problems, we had to cancel and we decided to proceed with the full investigation at the Jefferson Hotel instead. Now, keep in mind, when we were scheduled to leave early that Saturday morning, there was sleet and ice everywhere. Leaving Oklahoma City was a challenge in itself. As we were driving on the interstate, we witnessed many accidents and vehicles torn to shreds on the highways. In one instance, when we approached Paul’s Valley, we had to exit I-40 and take a 9 mile detour because of fatality accident. We ensued, however, and after 11 hours and a stop to Dairy Queen, we made our destination late that night.
Upon arrival we soon learned that there were quite a few guests staying in the hotel that night and almost all of them had an interest in the Paranormal. We quickly caught the attention of the guests and we were invited to sweep the rooms they were staying in. After the sweeps and many conversations we decided to conduct a sitdown in each room. While sweeping Room 24, The door decided to close itself while Erik was standing in the way. Attempted recreation of the event failed.
We started sitdown in Room 19 (our room on the preliminary trip) and witnessed a few strange events. We then moved on to Room 1 (a guest’s room) and witnessed much more. This is the first time we had witnessed an array activation in several months. Not to mention several array activations in the same room. This room was very active.
Afterwards, we decided to do one more final sitdown in Room 5 (our room this time) and very little happened. We decided to go to bed and wait for the next day for more activity. We awoke the next day to shoot some interviews and sweep the rooms for activity. Also we were invited to go across the street to the Coffee House for an investigation. (See page for Coffee House). Afterwards we headed to Shreveport for Copeland’s and some other entertainment.
During our mini-trip, the roads froze and eventually became impassable. As we got on I-20, we slid on the on ramp proving just how slick it really was. We learned soon after nearly escaping Louisiana that they shut down the highways including I-20 due to bad weather and accidents. We also learned that 2 people died on the roads as we were leaving. Kinda gave us a real refreshing feeling to be alive.
We arrived back at the Hotel and started our sweep of the hallways and did a short sitdown in the lobby as well. We heard several noises and saw moving shadows coming from inside the restaurant only to learn later that it would be false positive due to someone was in the restaurant at the time. I was so tired from all of the “wow we almost died” excitement that I decided to retire for the night. I knew everyone else had interviews to do and other things so I went to bed.
During the interviews, several interesting things happened. While Erik and Brandon were standing outside, Brandon saw a figure walking on the sidewalk near the Excelsior Hotel. On second glance, the figure was gone. They headed back into the Jefferson, and Laura asked if they had laughed. They responded no as it was late and all was quiet. Laura explained that she had been started awake by a female laugh near her. Unfortunately the camera wasn't running at this time. We decided to head to bed and pick up where we let off in the morning. As we were loading equipment into the room, Erik heard a female laugh come from the hallway. The area was checked, and no guests were out. We made a mental note of the correlation, and headed to bed. As we were trying to drift off to sleep, several metallic taps were heard on the light fixtures above us. We were all tired and quite close to falling asleep when a very strange mechanical voice was heard. Again it was female. Brandon shot up in bed an asked if we had heard it. Erik confirmed, and they decided to setup the video camera in hopes of catching some activity.
In the morning we got our things together and headed back on the much safer roads to Oklahoma to review all of the data for the anomalies.
The Team
Erik
Laura
Logan
Brandon
The Equipment
DCR-TRV520 Sony Digital Nightshot camcorder
Sony Digital Nightshot camcorder
Sony Digital Nightshot camcorder
Digital audio recorders
Analog audio recorders
Hp935 Digital Still camera
Digital Still cameras
2 Gaussmaster EMF meters
2 IR non contact Thermal
Data
Room 1
61-66 F
0 EMF
Room 11
58-67 F
0 EMF
Room 19
56-63 F
0 EMF
Coldspot noted in center of wall, later determined to be covered over window.
Room 2
60-65 F
0 EMF
Room 3
65-70 F
0.5 mg Spike on gaussmaster
0.9 mg Fluctuations on gaussmaster
Room 4
62-72 62-67 F
0 EMF
Room 16
62-71 F
0 EMF
Room 15
56-69 F
Several 0.4 to 0.5 mg spikes on gaussmaster
Room 14
61-70 F
0 EMF
Room 5
70-73 F
Sporadic EMF near Wall due to electrical closet
Sitdowns:
Room 19
Red LED light followed by knock above TV
Knock response to knock test by thump above Brandon
Peripheral shadows seen in several different areas of room
Room 1
Array activation at 12:44am to 3 mil repeated activation to 5 mil
Response to location question was tap on wall above bed
Tap near window was heard
Array activation at 12:56am at 1 mil then 5 mil then 7 mil
Video camera battery dropped to 40 minutes then went back to normal
Array activation at 1:03am following 1,5,7 pattern above
Room 5
Taps noted in several locations around the room
Movies
Jefferson Hotel Investigation Trailer
Photos
Jefferson Team
Jefferson Hotel
Lobby
Schluter Relative
Staircase
Frozen Fountain
Room #5
Haunted Headboard
Visual Anomalies
Data Being Analyzed
EVP's
Data Being Analyzed
Data Being Analyzed