by Kim Tibbs
The Young Collecotor Is it possible to fall in love with a place at first sight? Yes, I’m quite certain that it happens all the time, and this was not the first nor will it be the last time for me I’m sure. The 1886 Crescent Hotel of Eureka Springs, Ark., was described as a "castle in the air" or a "castle in the Ozarks" when it was erected in 1886. Designed to be one of America’s most luxurious resort hotels, it cost nearly $300,000 to build at the time – the estimated equivalency of $1-2 million today. The magnificent structure was furnished in the most exquisite manner possible, meant to be a showplace of the day’s modern conveniences. It was lit with Edison lamps, furnished with electric bells, heated with steam and open grates and featured a hydraulic elevator – all very cutting-edge technology for its era. The May 20, 1886, edition of Eureka Springs’ The Daily Times-Echo proclaimed, "He (Mr. O’Shawnessey, the spokesperson and leader of the imported construction group from Ireland who did the work on the hotel) predicts it will become a popular building stone in the future and further stated that because of its unique characteristics, the 18in thick walls of the Crescent, fitted without the use of mortar, would withstand the destructive forces of time and retain its original beauty for many years to come." When I visited the historic hotel the weekend of Jan. 11-14 for its second annual ghost seminar and hunt, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew it had a reputation for things that go bump in the night. The ghostly residue of a nurse pushing a gurney with a dead body on it and the spirit of an Irish stonemason who was killed during its construction are but two of its most famous inhabitants. In fact, the Crescent proudly bills itself as "America’s most haunted hotel." Its current owners, Martin and Elise Roenigk, also have a penchant for antiques and run an antique musical instrument business in addition to their operation of two historic hotels in Eureka Springs. That was certainly enough to pique my interest. I also knew this weekend was intended for teaching beginning to advanced students of the metaphysical. A team of resident mediums was conducting the seminar on various topics including meditation, aura/energy readings and investigations in areas of the hotel that are haunted hotspots of activity – many of which are normally roped off to visitors. While the Crescent was a hotel from 1886-1934 and a conservatory for young women during the resort off-season winter months from 1908-34, it was also used as a cancer research hospital from 1937-40. It was a last resort - pun intended - for hundreds of restless souls who were suffering from cancer and had no other hope for a cure other than the one 100 percent guaranteed by "Dr." Norman Baker. The thing most of these patients didn’t know was Baker was not a doctor. He’d barely graduated to the 10th grade and had a background as a circus barker and as part of a vaudeville mind-reading act among other colorful occupations. Baker had already been run out of two other towns that he’d previously opened cancer hospitals in and had an elaborate tunnel system built within the Crescent for an easy escape should it ever prove necessary. Ultimately, it was his guaranteed cure sent through the U.S. postal service that led to Baker’s undoing. He was convicted of mail fraud in 1940, sent to four years of prison in Leavenworth, Kan., and his hospital was shut down. The property sat vacant for another six years before it once again became a hotel, which it has been off and on to the present. During the Baker cancer hospital years, it is said as many as 200-500 people may have died on the premises. With so many restless spirits seemingly floating about, it’s no wonder mediums Ken Fugate and Carroll Heath feel such a connection to the Crescent. The duo regularly conducts ghost tours for visitors to the hotel as well as their annual seminar weekend. While attending their recent seminar, I asked them about the possibility of antiques having residual energy from their previous owners. "Indeed, you can get energy from objects," said Heath. "In fact, in school we had to ’read’ furniture and since we have a lot of antiques in our home (some dating to the 1600s), it was very interesting picking up the energy left in these objects from the past. Energy always survives. The energy of previous owners is quite often still very much with them. "As to how common this is, I am no expert on this and can’t adequately give a judgment. However, if there was a very strong entity who was an owner and had an affinity to a particular object, it seems reasonable to me that the energy would be very strong. Think of something you own and how very close it is to you. One hears stories sometimes about something that is purchased and in searching the provenance of the item find that there is a connection. Seems odd, but maybe not too odd! After all, we are attracted to certain people simply because of their energy among other things." I’m left to the conclusion that perhaps a place’s baggage can make it just as tragically beautiful as a person’s baggage, as is the case with the 1886 Crescent Hotel. Perhaps we all – places included – come with our own restless energies to be worked out if we are willing to let them be. For to quote Albert Einstein, "The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the power of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms – this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness." Contact: (800) 342-9766, www.americasmosthauntedhotel.com; (479) 253-6800, www.eureka-springs-ghost.com
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