after getting this lead, I did just as Shoshana had suggested and made arrangements to conduct a ghost investigation. I was the first official ghosthunter to go into Boone Tavern with such a task. I wanted our investigation to be as thorough as possible, so I decided to bring in a psychic/medium, Ginny Drake. She has worked in the field of education for over thirty years and holds a master’s degree in education from Georgetown College, a teaching certificate from Eastern Kentucky University, and a B.S. in social work from Murray State University. Ginny had become my mentor while teaching me to work with energies, so I felt she would be an asset to the investigation. I must say that when we arrived and parked in front of the Boone Tavern, I was impressed with the grandeur and magnificence of the Southern Colonial hotel and restaurant. As I stood looking at all the scrolled details and other features, I was fascinated to learn that the bricks used in the construction of the building in 1909 were made by the students attending Berea College.
Built on a prominent location, the hotel sits where the old Dixie Highway intersected with the campus of Berea College. This highway was planned as one of the first automobile highways in 1914 and was constructed to connect the Midwest to the Southern states. This was also another factor in the growth of Berea and the popularity of the Boone Tavern. Laden with bags of ghosthunting equipment, we made our way into the lobby of the hotel. We approached the front desk to let the staff know that we were ready to start our investigation. The front desk clerk looked at the registry to find where the empty rooms were. She gave us several keys to rooms on the second and third floors for us to enter during our investigation.
While we were standing in front of the registry desk, Ginny asked me to come and stand by her. I walked over to her, and, wham, it hit me. We were standing in what I would refer to as an energy vortex. It felt like there was an oscillating energy field spinning in a spiral motion, making me a little giddy. I enjoy finding these spots that tend to make me rock back and forth when I stand in the middle of one. There is more than one theory about how these vortices evolve, but I feel it may have to do with the energy of the land coming up through the building. Ginny asked the desk clerk what area was immediately below where she was standing. She told us it was the basement. Ginny looked at me and said, “We must go down there before we leave. I think we might get some good evidence there.”
I bent down to retrieve my bags, and Ginny said, “I’m picking up on a young child.” She hesitated and then continued, “It is a young boy. I think he is about nine years old. He likes playing tricks on the staff.” I turned to look at the clerk, and she was smiling. “Yes,” the clerk said. “We have heard of sightings of a little boy from our guests and staff over the years.” At that point Ginny predicted that we might get some more information about the little boy if we went to the basement right away.
We headed to the basement to see what might happen, and we captured a special spirit orb and a child’s voice. We found the energy vortex and stood in that area as we took snapshots with our cameras and performed a couple of EVP sessions. Ginny began to communicate with the playful and happy child. I asked Ginny to hold up her hands as I instructed the little boy to show himself around her hands. As I continued to talk to him, I snapped a shot with my camera and captured a spirit orb close to Ginny. What makes this capture so unique is that the orb is behind an object, which contradicts the theory that all orbs are dust reflecting back as globe-shaped anomalies in the flash of the camera. If that were the case, this orb would be in front of the barrier instead of behind it, revealing only half of its shape. This was a rare and super capture of a spirit orb. We continued to talk to the little boy, and behind us a box scooted across the floor and startled us. We swung around, and no one was there. We laughed and thanked the little boy for causing the commotion. I asked him if he would speak to us, and I captured an EVP of a child’s voice that said, “I can see you.” This spry spirit was having fun with us, and Ginny said she felt he must have lived in the early part of the 1900s. I thought that he might have been a child of one of the earlier staff members when the hotel first opened. It felt to me that he was allowed to play throughout the building while his parents worked. Ginny and I agreed that he was of African American descent. Since this was a place where one could be who they were without the fear of judgment about race or gender, I’m sure the atmosphere here was one of comfort and joy.
We didn’t want to spend our entire two hours in the basement, so we ventured to the second and third floors to check out the other rooms. We stepped into the elevator and started our journey to the top. As the elevator was moving, I said, “Did you know that I was in a falling elevator once?” Just as I said that the elevator stopped abruptly between two floors and started to jerk as if it were going to fall. Everyone gasped and looked at me. The elevator made another attempt to readjust itself to the next floor and jerked again. I said, “When I get off this elevator, I’m taking the stairs down.” It finally leveled with the third floor as the doors opened to let us out. When we returned to the front desk, I asked the clerk if there had been reports that the elevator dropped or jerked before getting to the top floor. She looked puzzled and said, “Not since I’ve been here, and I’ve been here for over four years.”
The rest of our investigation continued on the second floor, as we entered the different rooms to see what we could find. After about four rooms, we went into one where I picked up on a male ghost through my dowsing rods. He didn’t know he had died and seemed to be confused as I continued to ask yes and no questions. Ginny was standing by the bed and noticed an indention, as if someone had been lying on the bed. She told us that the ghost just sat up in bed and asked her, “What are you doing here?” She continued to communicate with him until he was calmer, and then he left the room. We concluded our investigation and took the stairs to go back to the lobby. The staff was interested in knowing if we had gotten any results from our equipment. I shared with them the EVP I had gotten of the little boy who said, “I can see you.” They were thrilled to hear it.
In 2010, I thought it would be nice to do a follow-up on the hauntings at Boone Tavern. I learned that a few months earlier, a renovation of Boone Hall was completed to preserve and enhance the historic character of the hotel. The Boone Tavern has earned the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. I couldn’t help but wonder if the paranormal activity increased during this time and thought an investigation would be in order.
The spirit orb of the little boy hiding behind a barrier was photographed near Ginny as she called him forward.
I called the manager, Gary McCormick, and he was open to having me do another ghost investigation. I arrived at 9:30 on a blistering cold and snowy morning. As I opened the entryway door to the tavern, I could see the wonderful new decor and colors that complimented the expansive lobby. The deep gem colors of blue and gold were rich, warm, and inviting. I loved all the changes and could hardly wait for lunch to check out the menu.
We were greeted by a wonderful staff, and I was impressed to see the bellman dressed in a sharp, top-notch, white uniform that made him look distinctive and proud. His name was Fred Baker. He informed us that Gary was running late because he was held up by the snow. Two other employees, Anita Ridgeway and Tucker Collins, were standing next to Fred. Anita was gracious and offered us coffee while we waited for Gary. While we were drinking our coffee, I explained to them that I had completed a ghost investigation in 2005 and wanted to check to see if the same type of activity was still present. I asked Anita, “Do you have any knowledge of strange activity that might be the result of a haunting?” She answered, “I have witnessed a few things that I can’t explain how or why they happened. There is a common occurrence in the dining room that has us baffled. Several servers will be setting up the tables with napkins and silverware when the silverware will start to drop onto the floor in a domino effect as it goes from one server to another. It’s as if a small child is having fun by running from one server to the other and knocking off the silverware.”“Have you ever heard of a guest having an experience?” I asked. “Yes, I have,” she answered. “I was standing by the front desk one morning when a woman came down dressed
