Did You Have A Personal Experience?

10-11-09
Tracee Swanson
Room Unknown
Adults/Teenagers

“Last night, my girls (Angie and Jenna) and I stayed at your hotel with my mother-in-law, Sandy.  The stay was a birthday present to me and girls from Sandy because she knows the three of us have an interest in ghosts.  (To believe or not to believe)  Well, we arrived with the expectation that nothing would happen but we would have bragging rights about spending the night at a ‘real’ haunted hotel.  We ate a great dinner, soaked in the beautiful surroundings and thrilled ourselves by reading through the guest experiences.  Along with your generous hospitality, this would have been enough to give us great memories for a long time.  Well, we got much more than that!

I have a little voice recorder that I use for my college classes.  We brought it along because everything we’ve read says to try to capture voices.  Yeah, okay.  So we walked around with the recorder asking questions like what’s your name and how old are you, but mostly we just giggled and talked to each other.

By morning, I’d forgotten about the recordings and it wasn’t until we were driving home that my youngest, Jenna, wanted to listen to the recordings.  We truly did NOT believe we would hear anything that shouldn’t be there.  But we were wrong.  I can’t believe it!  We are all freaking out with excitement.

While we were recording, Sandy and I stopped along the side table in the 2nd floor hall, the one adjacent to room 11.  We were discussing the decorative arrangement because Sandy thought the picture standing on the table had been moved since the last time we had passed by it.  Suddenly, loud and clear, there is a female voice on the recording that says “Happy Birthday”.  What the heck?  I was holding the recorder the whole time and none of the four of us said it!  We all agree this is one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to us.  I can’t thank you enough for making this the most special and memorable birthday for my girls.  (and for me!)

Oh, I should also mention that during the night, we spent some time in the children’s playroom.  We sat in the wicker love seat then moved to the floor. After a few minutes had passed, the chair began to ‘pop’ or creak like wicker does when you sit in it.  We all thought nothing of it at first but the noise continued for quite a while, much longer than what seemed normal.  Well we all discounted it to normal wicker sounds and didn’t give it another thought the rest of the night.  It wasn’t until the next morning when Angie mentioned to you that this was the closest we’ve come to hearing or seeing anything ‘strange’ that we were informed that this was a noise reported by professional investigators and other people who had spent time in the playroom.  Pretty cool!

Again, I can’t thank you enough!  You can’t imagine what a gift you have given us.  This has made the most wonderful, lasting impression on all of us!  I still cannot believe a ghost wished us a happy birthday!”

1-11-09
Michelle
Room Unknown, Adult

“Lying in bed and waiting to fall asleep after investigating when I start hearing my name being called.  I tell them I’m trying to sleep now.  I’ve been trying to communicate with someone all night, now I’m trying to sleep and I find this a bit rude of you to come to me now.  But if you do have something to say and it’s something short, I would like to hear it. I hear the name Benjamin and then I got the name Lancaster.  I heard Lancaster a few times and then they put the names together as Benjamin Lancaster.  Then I hear the name Ellie.  Seemed like this Benjamin person was looking/searching for an Ellie.”

9-1-07
Total stranger walking in to The Palmer House

“Room 9, the name of “Chapman” comes to them. Room 11, an 18 year old having a baby. Cramden”-suicide in the early 50’s.  Leisel.”

12-30-06
Greg & Laurel
10 years old

“Yesterday I was coming down the stairs then I heard a thump, thump, thump, WUMP.  Then a twisted broken shape of an old man with a snapped cane looked at me then evaporated.  Just like snap!  Not like gone, like having the skin floating off.  Fast, until nothing was left!  Maybe because the Palmer House was built on top of a destroyed one, the spirits of the perished might be here.  But nobody knows what the true reason is.”

10-22-06
Atreya
Room 11
Child Age Unknown

“When we were going to bed, the thermostat got cooler!  And nobody had turned it down!  And when we went to bed I heard a ball tap up stairs.  We heard a knock at the door at 1:30AM.  A book was open and when we returned to the rooms it was closed. This is a cool Hotel.”

10-08-06
Jessica Rose & Daryl
Room 2-3
Adult

“While sleeping I was awoke by something slapping my bare leg that hung out of the covers.  As my eyes fluttered open I saw something scoot by my face.  Needless to say, I had a hard time staying asleep after that.  Also, a really cold pocket of air was by my face for a short while, and the bathroom floor kept getting mysteriously wet for no reason.”

8-25-06
Paul Landiero
Room 9
Adult

“I was sitting in the bar having a pizza when suddenly a shadow flew on the wall in front of me and I felt wind all around me. When I looked behind me, though, there was nothing there.  Okay, that was only my first night, so tonight I’ll write more.  Wow, our sound machine turned itself off last night.  I woke up to go to the bathroom about 3:00 and it was off.”

8-06-06
Parker Hill
Adult stopped for lunch)

“I was in the bathroom around noon and I went to wash my hands when the water, which I had put on cold, all of a sudden was burning and steaming hot.  Then I went to tell my family and wrote it right here.”

9-06-03
Leesa Schofield
Room 19
Adult

“We were staying to show our horses at the Arabian show.  Sunday morning we were up early at 6AM.  About 6:45, we heard a knock on the door-very clearly!  I went immediately to the door and there was no one there, not a soul in sight up or down the entire hallway.  And apparently the ghost in this hotel lies to read westerns, as a paperback copy of “Streets of Laredo” disappeared from our room as well!”

10-29-?
Elise Rodgers
Room 12,
Adult

“We came in here one night because I read in Minnesota Ghost Stories about this place.  I wanted to come here just to see if anything happened.  My friend and I were sitting down at the bar and we met these group of kids around our age.  They had a video camera and asked if we wanted to go in the basement with them.  We went down there and started to look around and the girl w/the camera asked me if I wanted to video tape.  She told me to go in the little dark room.  I had the light on the camera so I could see.  I walked in and I hate the dark to begin with, but it felt extra spooky in there.  I had the camera on the wall and there was a door leaning on the wall.  As I had the camera in that direction, the door fell down right in front me me and made this huge bang.  Everyone screamed and ran out of there and I was frozen in place.  There was definitely something strange about that basement.  I never got those people’s numbers but we do have that on video tape.  That was definitely an experience I will never forget!”

9-6-05
Betsy, Carol, Emma, Mary, Kelsey
Room 13,
Adults/Kids

“The weekend of August 6-7, 2005, we were staying for the Arabian horse show.  On the first night of our stay in room 13 at The Palmer House, Betsy’s cell phone rang around 1:46AM.  The phone displayed the letter “P” and said no contacts as that name.  In the morning, she double checked her phone under recent calls and it showed up as unavailable.  On the second day, we were unable to find both our keys.  Emma had come up to the room and used one of the keys to let herself in and the rest of us had used the other one.  Betsy then left with her purse and had not taken a key with her.  We were looking all over for one of the keys when Betsy returned and said she had on of the keys in her purse, even though it was not there before.”

Becky

“I arrived at The Palmer House on Saturday, June 10, at approximately 3:00pm.  My mother and I were traveling together and we were meeting my brother and his wife for a two night stay.  Having no prior knowledge of the ghost stories associated with the hotel, we proceeded to check into rooms 17, 18 and 19.  My mother and I were in adjoining rooms (or rooms next to each other) and while unpacking, we suddenly heard a ruckus in the hallway.  A lot of movement and knocking on our doors.  My mother went to answer it and no one was there.  That evening, I tried to turn on the TV in room 19 and I found it was not located near any outlet.  I went down to the front desk and they sent someone to move it to an appropriate place.  In the meantime my mother heard voices in the hallway, while I was at the front desk, and a bouncing ball.  After visiting with the front desk clerk, I was made aware of the ghost reports at the hotel.  The uncanny part was almost everything previously reported happened to us without our knowing of the hotel haunting’s.”
1)  Noises in the hallway/voices also
2)  Knocking on the doors
3)  Balls bouncing
4) furniture moved
5)  Temperatures changes
However, we enjoyed the stay and will be back!

7-29, 30, 31, 2006
Briannah
Rooms 16 and 13
Child

“I was reading my fav book on the steps and all of the sudden I heard my cousins name and my name.  Then I heard a snap sound.  Then I saw a figure.  It looked like it was a mother and her boy.  It looked like the boy was bouncing his ball and I heard a big groan.  I just heard a lil girl and it must have been a goast. The toilet flushed once and no one was in there.  I was just sitting outside of room 16 and I heard something in the hall.  I looked up and down the when I heard footsteps and no one was there.”

10-22-06
KEJ
Room 17
Adult

“My friend and I came from Fargo looking for a good scare, and we did see a few things.  Upon arriving, I immediately felt drawn to a specific chair in the front entryway…then, after we checked in, I felt drawn down the hallway to my right at the top of the stairs on the 2nd floor, but we were staying in room 17 (on the 3rd floor), so we went all the way up and dropped our things.  Shortly after being in the room, we found that many of our batteries were dead (we’d brought some equipment to catch/record something) and so we left again to go buy some.

As we went downstairs, I felt drawn down that hallway again, so I left my friends to investigate.  I was about half way down the hall, when I heard someone/something say “Come here”.  There was a door to my right which was ajar, but the room was dark, so I got my friends but when they went into the room-which contained a long table and many chairs-they found no one.

Later in the evening, we decided to snoop around and try to record an EVP….instead, we found room 18 had the heavy smell of fresh cigar smoke-but no one seemed to be checked into the room, as the door was wide open.  When we returned to the room, an alarm clock, and a clock on one of our digital tape recorders, was off by nearly 2 hours.  They were working when we’d left the room.

My friend did catch a few interesting images on her digital camera-but the real kicker (literally) was when I heard loud clomping in the hallway @ 7AM (woke me up)-the clomping didn’t stop until it was at the foot of our bed., then the bed SHOOK right at my feet.  My eyes shot open, but no one was there….then, I heard a ball bounce down the hallway!”

7-13-03
Paula Egan Wright
Room 13
Adult

“Ever since I directed a play in a haunted theater in Cheyenne, Wyoming, I’ve been curious about ghosts and haunted places, and when I travel, I try to go and see peculiar places with eerie stories associated with them.  A couple of years ago, in France, I stopped in a supposedly haunted castle, on the edge of a creepy forest.  In that castle, there had once been a witch trial, and the place even had its resident black cat!  I’ve also gone ghost hunting at the famous Bullack Hotel in Deadwood, South Dakota, at the Baldpate Inn in Estes Park and at the Fairplay Hotel in Colorado.  While each visit gave me a strange feeling and a sense of not being alone, nothing particularly significant happened.  However, here in room 13, on the night of a full moon on the 13th of July, I am convinced I’ll see, hear or feel something, and this will be my account.

Right now it’s 10:30PM.  I’m here with four children who are playing a dice game “Zilch” and are gambling with an assortment of candy.  I keep smelling cigarette smoke and that’s odd because if I detect the smell, I avoid it like the plague.  There’s also a very interesting breeze on my shoulders-it doesn’t feel like the air conditioner because it only seems to be hitting my neck.

I set my alarm for 2:55, so I was out in the halls by 3AM.  It was oppressively hot in the room and surprisingly drafty in the halls.  I started my vigil by sitting between rooms 12 and 13, and I heard little creaking sounds, as though someone were in room 12.  But I glanced in and there was no one-the bed wasn’t even made.  Eventually, I moved to the uppermost stair landing and then I heard more creaking sounds.  I slowly made my way down to the lobby.  Sitting on the stair landing and looking into the lobby was a weird experience.  The wind was blowing outside and so there were shadows everywhere-on the carpet (shadows from the moving flags outside) – and reflected in the mirrors.  Suddenly, I heard music-listening with attentive ear, I noticed it was “Fur Elise”.  I ventured down into the lobby & realized it was a CD player left on.  I sat down there, mesmerized by the moving shadows in every direction and also aware of how chilly it was!  I didn’t feel scared, but I didn’t feel alone, either.  After sitting there awhile, I returned upstairs to my spot between rooms 12 and 13.  It was breezy, and I heard footsteps overhead (I was already on the top floor).  And, many times, it felt like the doors were opening around me and that a face would appear any moment.

I wish I had more scientific equipment with me to read temperatures changes, electro magnetic changes and to detect sounds.  While sitting in the hall upstairs, I heard the sound of a squeaky door and then I heard voices.  But as I moved down the hall, I realized there was a truck outside loading things, and maybe the driver was talking to the person helping him unload??  Interesting visit, in any case.

Finally this morning, I noticed that a candle was missing on the table outside our door.  My son asked the cleaning lady, and she said she’d moved it.  So much for the ghost arranging furniture—-maybe!”

10-28-06
Joel & Brenda Wollem
Room 1
Adults

“We stayed at The Palmer House for the 1st time to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  When we told our friends that we were going to be staying there, the common response that we got was “That place is haunted.”  I didn’t mind that too much since I grew up in a home that we considered “haunted” also.  Some strange unexplained happenings were experienced there too.

Anyway, we checked in Saturday evening in room 31 and upon entering the hotel we saw the Ghost Stories books on the front table.  I told my husband that I would not be looking at those until the morning as I wanted a good night of sleep.  We went to go see a movie and after turning in for the night around 10:30 we were awakened at about 12:30 because there was a lot of noise from the room above us.  It lasted about ½ hour and sounded like furniture was being moved around or a party was being thrown.  Lots of walking around like pacing or lots of footsteps around the bed was what we thought it could be.

In the morning after a pretty good night of sleep, after all of the commotion from above settled down, we got up and my husband went to get his cell phone next to the TV where he had left it along with his keys, checkbook, wallet and sunglasses.  It wasn’t there and once we looked around the room we found that it was on the nightstand next to my side of the bed.  We brushed this off and really thought nothing of it at the time.  We went down and ate a great breakfast in the dining room.  During breakfast, we read the ghost stories book that other guests had shared their strange experiences in.  After breakfast we went and sat in the front lobby and had a wonderful conversation with Kelley the owner.  She shared with us different stories that people had experienced there and some things that she had experienced herself.  She said that the latest thing was that men were commenting that their cell phones were being misplaced in their rooms.  We found that not too much of a surprise since my husbands also was not where he had left it.

While we were visiting with Kelley, the guests from room #12 checked out which was the room right above ours.  We asked them if they had thrown a party in their room the night before and they said that they were out at a Halloween party the night before and didn’t get back until well after 1:00 which was when the loud sounds ended.  They wr2e not partying in that room but somebody or something was!  My husband and I both heard it!

We decided to go back up to our room and get packed up and ready to check out and while we’re doing this our toilet flushed on its own!  We were very glad that this did not happen during the night.  Something about the daylight and these occurrences is not quite as scary as the dark!

I did not get any bad feelings about these happenings.  I think that these ‘ghosts” are just trying to figure out our world and are intrigued by things such as cell phones.

We would definitely come back to The Palmer House.  It is a cozy place to stay and offers something a little different-if you’re up for it!”

Jeannie Bellefeuille
Night Clerk
June-August 2002

“During my brief stint as the night clerk, a number of “explainable” events occurred. I did get “weirded” out a few times, but I never actually felt frightened or threatened in any way. That is important to point out, as I generally consider myself somewhat of a “wimp” when it comes to scary stuff. In fact, my concern about staying up all night, every night, in a large old “haunted” hotel, almost kept me from taking the job in the first place. By profession, I am a 6th grade Catholic school teacher. The night clerk position seemed like a great summer diversion. It certainly turned into the most unusual job that I have ever had.

The job description was pretty basic. I arrived at work at midnight. I was always careful to lock the kitchen door and the lobby doors before I went up to check in on the 2nd floor. The bartender was still in The Pub, until The Pub door was locked at closing time. I would go about my duties, cleaning, vacuuming, rolling silverware, dusting and whatever needed to be done. When the bartender would leave, I would recheck all of the 4 doors. I never found one unlocked. Afterwards, I would continue with my duties.

Now that I have given you some background, I can tell you about some of the “strange” happenings that I experienced. I was a little nervous on my first night. As with any new job, I wanted to be sure that I made a good first impression. I vacuumed the dining room and made sure that all of the tables were set with placemats and silverware. I was slightly disgusted that, on several tables, the silverware seemed to have been thrown on haphazardly. But I straightened it all out and went to check the bathrooms. A few hours later, I went to double-check that everything was clean. When I checked the dining room, many of the sets of silverware had been moved! Now, being a good Catholic, I said a half dozen “Hail Mary’s” and straightened them all again. Then I went to The Pub and found a fire blazing in the fireplace! Not so unusual, except that it was about 90 degrees outside. I didn’t panic, but I did leave The Pub quickly and said a very heartfelt “Our Father”. I figured there was a reasonable explanation, but I haven’t heard it year. The owner insists that the gas connection to the fireplace is turned off during the summer.

Other odd occurrences included lobby lamps that would go on without explanation. Sometimes I could turn them off, and other times they would stay on. I eventually unplugged one particular lamp that became too creepy. Also, the faucet in the waitress station would turn on occasionally, but would only run for a minute and then go off. The silverware was moved so often, that eventually, I just gave up trying to straighten it until just before I left at 7:00am. And then there was the cold. And I mean COLD! As I said, this was summer, and I usually wore shorts and a sleeveless shirt to work. But….after the first two nights, I learned to bring a sweatshirt and pants. At about 3:15am it got so cold that I could almost see my breath!

There were a couple of decorative “throws” in the lobby. I would put on my sweats, wrap the throws around me and curl up in a chair for the coldest 20-25 minutes ever! It was weird, but I could almost set my watch by those “cold spells”. I prayed a lot from 3:00-4:00. I took comfort in the fact that the newspaper lady would show up around the same time. She never said anything, but I’m sure I looked ridiculous wrapped up like an Eskimo in the hottest part of the summer!

Without a doubt, the strangest “encounter” happened in mid-July. The bartender had left for the night at about 12:30am. I had checked the doors and just finished vacuuming the dining room. I went in, to vacuum The Pub, and was startled (OK, really freaked out) to see a young man standing at the bar! My mind was racing to figure out where he had come from and how he had gotten in. He was a nice enough looking guy in his mid 20’s. He asked if he could get a beer. I said I thought so, and checked out the taps to be sure they didn’t “lock” at night. Seeing that they did indeed work, I asked what kind he would like. He asked what “my” choice would be, and I jokingly said, “I like the brand with the canoe handle!” He laughed and said that would be fine. “What do I owe you?” he asked. I told him I had no idea, because I was the night clerk and not a bartender. I asked him if $2.00 sounded fair. He produced a $10.00 bill. “Oh, now we have another problem” I told him. “I do not have access to any change”. So, I told him that he would either have to have 4 more beers, or he could see if he had any other money. He checked his pockets and came up with 5 quarters. I explained that it was his lucky night and that beer happened to be on sale for $1.25. I was still trying to figure out where this guy came from! He gave me the quarters, thanked me, and went to the lobby. He headed up the steps, and I breathed a very deep sigh of relief. Clearly, this guy was a hotel guest! I did throw in a few “Hail Mary’s”, just in case. So, I did my work, straightened the silverware (twice that night) and put the quarters in the drawer of the front desk. End of story.

The next evening was my night off, but my family went into The Pub to have a drink after attending a play that my daughter was in. Kelley (the owner) was there, and I laughingly revealed my “ghost” story from the previous night. I explained that it was the guest that had stayed there. She went a little white and disappeared for a few minutes. When she returned, she asked which room he was in. I said I had no idea, I was just glad I knew how he had gotten into the building. When she pressed about the room number, she said she would need to make sure that “housekeeping” cleaned the room. I told her, “Just look for the room with the empty beer glass!” She laughed and went to check the rooms. None of the rooms had been slept in! No one had checked in or out, and the beer glass was never found! I think I’ll go say a few more “Hail Mary’s”!”

Excerpts from
“The Minnesota Road Guide to Haunted Locations”
By Chad Lewis & Terry Fisk

Ghost Lore

• A young boy died while staying at the hotel, and he can be seen and heard bouncing his ball down the hallways.
• A man haunts many of the rooms of the hotel and is believed to throw glasses in the bar.
• Mysterious knocks have been heard from several of the rooms in the hotel.
• The hotel is haunted by Sinclair Lewis.
• There are bodies and bones buried beneath the hotel in the basement.

History

On corner of Sinclair Lewis Ave. and Original Main Street rests the historic Palmer House. The original hotel, The Sauk Centre House as it was know to locals, was constructed in 1863 by Warren Adley. In 1867, the property was purchased by E.P. Barnum. During this time both the staff and the locals referred to the hotel as the Minnesota House. In 1868, the new owner, John Apfeld, changed the name of the building to the Apfeld House. On June 26th, 1900 the hotel burned to the ground. According to all newspaper accounts, the fire was intentional and the town seemed relieved that the hotel was gone, as it was considered a sore on the community by attracting devious characters. When the city council refused to offer the funds to construct a new hotel, the Sauk Centre Herald stepped forward with an offer of $5,000 to anyone who would build a new hotel.

In 1901, the property was purchased by R.L. Palmer. Mr. Palmer constructed a three-story hotel he named The Palmer House. The hotel originally contained 38 cozy rooms with the guests sharing a communal bathroom at the end of the hall. The concept of having electricity in a hotel was so new, that a special contractor from Minneapolis was brought in to do the work. On October 17th, 1901, the majestic Palmer House opened its doors to the welcoming public.
Sauk Centre proudly boasts itself as the boyhood home of the famous American writer, Sinclair Lewis. In 1902, shortly after the opening of The Palmer House, Sinclair Lewis was employed as a bellhop and night clerk. It is rumored that Sinclair was fired from The Palmer House because he spent too much of his time writing and not enough time working. In 1908, The Palmer House was leased out to A.W. Austin. This trend was continued until 1916, when Art DeBeau purchased the hotel from Mr. Palmer.

In 1921, the hotel was sold once again to a George A. Tanner. Over the next few years the hotel switched hands often. Each new owner would make additions and improvements as their finances permitted.

Throughout the years, The Palmer House faded in its glory and became more dilapidated with each passing year. However, in 1974, two business partners purchased the hotel with the intent to restore it to its original beauty. The partners, Al Tingley and Dick Schwartz, had the grand idea to once again restore The Palmer House. In addition to the numerous renovations and upkeep, Al had time to write a book of stories from The Palmer House titled “Corner on Main street”.
After Al and Dick, The Palmer House again traded hands quite a few times over the years. Today the beautiful hotel is owned and operated by the super friendly and inviting Kelley Freese and her husband. Even though The Palmer House has come a long way, now having 20 gorgeous rooms with four magnificent whirlpool suites, it still hasn’t forgotten its cozy small town feel that will leave you craving just one more night.

Investigation

We have been able to track reports of The Palmer House being haunted back many years to when Al Tingley owned the hotel. Although we are certain that the hotel was said to be haunted for much longer, unfortunately no written history of it exists today. With so many stories and witnesses, it was difficult to report them all.

For more information on the investigation, you may go to your local book store, or www.unexplainedresearch.com to purchase a copy. Visit our website again to see new reports from guests who have stayed with us.