out so early. The lady explained to us that while she was asleep, she was awakened by a touch on the hand. When she sat up in her bed, there was a man in her room. As she focused on him, he disappeared. That’s when she got up, got dressed, and got out of the room. She was a bit shaken. I believe the woman was in Room 206.”
When I heard about this account, I thought that Ginny was going to be thrilled to hear this story since we were in Room 206 when we found the male ghost that didn’t know he had passed away. I thanked everyone for their stories and walked over to the front desk. I asked a pretty young lady, with a big smile, if she would be willing to do an interview about the hauntings of the hotel. She told me that she was the desk clerk and her name was Jordan Perry. “Jordan, can you tell me what you have observed while working at the Boone Tavern?” I asked. “Well,” she started with hesitation, “on my third night of training, I was sitting here at the desk by myself. It was around 2:00 in the early morning when I heard a crash coming from the Skylight Room. Since the hotel was so quiet, it really startled me. I wanted to find out what made the sound, so I went into the room to see what had happened. As I looked around, there was no one in the room, but I did see the big black ice scooper lying on the floor. The scooper is kept on top of the ice-maker machine. I know it causes a vibration when it is running, but the scooper had landed all the way across the room from where the ice machine was. When I asked the other kitchen staff if this had happened before, they laughed and said that it happens a lot. That’s when I started to suspect this place of being haunted.” I asked Jordan, “Have you ever seen or heard what you thought might be a ghost?” “Yes,” she quickly answered. “One morning while standing at the desk and checking on room availability, I heard a little boy laugh. I looked up to see if a child had come into the lobby, but there was no little boy. I looked back down at my computer to start my search and heard the sound of a little boy laughing again. This time I noticed that the sound came from the Skylight Room, where the ice machine is. I guess that room gets a lot of activity. There have been other times during the day and night that I’ve heard him laughing in the lobby. Several times I’ve heard the sound of someone running back and forth in front of the desk and on those stairs, “she said, pointing to the stairs behind me. Jordan added, “Everyone who works here seems to know of the little boy. They think he’s around nine or ten years old. He seems to be happy and very mischievous.”
While Jordan was telling her accounts of the activity, Fred walked up behind us. He informed us that he would be joining us when we went upstairs into the guest rooms. We were delighted to have his assistance. He also asked us if we would mind doing him a favor. “What do you want us to do?” I asked. Fred said, “Please stand right here and tell me what you feel.” Fred had Chuck stand in an area in front of the desk. As Chuck stepped into the spot, Fred noticed that he started to rock back and forth. “Do you see Chuck rocking?” he asked. This brought back memories of my first visit to Boone Tavern when Ginny had discovered the energy as a vortex. I asked Fred how long he had been employed at the Boone Tavern, and he said about two years. That told me that he did not learn about the vortex from us, since he wasn’t there the first time we came. I asked Fred, “How did you find out about the vortex?” He said, “I discovered the energy by walking through the area and noticing the pull it had on my body.”
Fred Baker standing in the middle of the vortex near the front desk
By now Gary had arrived, and after our introductions, I was able to continue my interview with him in the comfort of a big, padded chair in the lobby. I said to Gary, “Tell me what you have experienced since you became the general manager of the Boone Tavern.” Gary began, “When I came here in 2007, many of the employees told me about hearing the little boy laugh and seeing him standing behind them in the freight elevator. At first I was a skeptic and didn’t pay much attention to their stories. My office was on the second floor before the renovation, and sometimes at night I did hear footsteps outside my office door. When I would go to see who was walking around, there would be no one there. Sometimes, while sitting in my office, I would hear paper shuffling or rustling, and when I would turn to see what was making that sound, there would be nothing there, and the paper was not moving either.”
Gary asked us if we wanted to go up to the second floor where he could show us where he had his experiences. We picked up our equipment bags and headed for the second floor. When we got there Gary pointed down the hall and said, “Before the renovation started, we had the furniture removed from the rooms. I went down this hall to the room at the end to check on things after the movers left, and I could hear the boards in the floor squeak. I didn’t hear footsteps, but instead I heard the sound that the boards would make if someone were walking on them. I turned and said out loud, ‘I guess it’s you and me. I know this place is going through some changes, but we promise to keep its charm.’ I thought that if anyone could hear me talking to these unseen figures, they would think I was crazy.”
As we walked toward the stairs, Gary asked if we would mind taking the stairs back down. Later, at home, when I played back my recorder to listen to my interviews, I picked up an EVP of the little boy. After I say that we have no problem taking the stairs, the little boy’s voice can be heard saying, “No problem.” I was extremely pleased to have captured the unexpected EVP of him.
Gary took us down into the basement so he could show me where he had a bold encounter with the little ghost boy. He said, “I was standing here in front of the caged area when I heard the loud laughter of a small boy behind me. The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up, and I swung around quickly, expecting to see a little boy, and, of course, there was nothing there. Feeling a little unnerved, I went upstairs to the kitchen, and as I entered the room, the ice scooper that was sitting on top of the ice maker came flying across at me and barely missed my head. I walked up to one of the kitchen staff and told them about the little boy laughing, and she said, ‘Wait until the ice scooper hits you in the head.’ Then I immediately told them that I had just witnessed the ice scoop flying over my head a moment ago.”
By now it was getting close to lunch time, so we decided to finish our investigation and have lunch at the restaurant. The food was a delicious Southern style, and I had the fried green tomato salad. It was truly yummy. Of course, the biggest treat was the spoon bread that they brought out in a basket and served by dipping a big spoon into a soft cornbread pie and placing it on your plate. It has a great history and has been served as part of the meal since Boone Tavern opened in 1909.
Before we finished our lunch, I looked up and there stood the chef beside our table. He had seen us come in and recognized us from long ago. I was shocked to see that it was Jeff Newman, who was now the executive chef. For years he had been the chef at another haunted establishment known as the Mansion at Griffin Gate in Lexington, Kentucky. We began to compare notes about the different hauntings, and I thought it was weird that he would end up in both places as the chef. You might call our meeting a coincidence, but since this type of thing happens to me so often, I no longer believe in coincidence. It was also a wonderful conclusion to a successful day of ghosthunting at the Boone Tavern.
CHAPTER 3
Buffalo Trace Distillery
FRANKFORT, FRANKLIN COUNTY
A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE, Fiona Young-Brown, an author from the Bluegrass State, called me one evening for an interview. I had met Fiona a couple of years ago through her husband, another friend of mine. She explained that she was writing an article for the September issue of Kentucky Monthly about haunted distilleries. “Patti,” she said in her English accent, “when I got this assignment, the first person that came to mind was you.” I told Fiona that I had completed two ghost investigations of a distillery named Buffalo Trace with great success and would love to share my story with her. At one time there were many bourbon distilleries located
