PLAY
GOOD WILL HAUNTING
RUMORS, REPORTS AND PARANORMAL INVESTIGATORS PROVE GHOSTS HAVE YET TO CHECK OUT OF THE ELDRIDGE H
ASHLEY BARFOROUSH
Meredith Laurie sips her drink, enjoying martini night at The Eftridge Hotel. Located on the most historic corner in Kansas, 701 Massachusetts St., the site dates back to the Civil War, and little does Laurie know, there may be more than just physical contact here.
"I had no idea The Eldridge was haunted," Laurie, Plano, Texas senior, says. "I think it adds to the atmosphere." The idea that The Eldridge houses non-living guests isn't new. The rumors are almost as old as the original building. The Free State Hotel.
In 1855, the New England Emigrant Aid Society built the hotel, wanting Kansas to enter the union as a free state. Pro-slavery sheriff Sam Jones burned down the hotel one year later. Colonel Shalor Eldridge not only rebuilt the hotel, but added a floor of rooms, promising to make the hotel bigger every time it was torn down. Seven years later, confederate leader William Quantrill and his raiders burned the hotel, and the city of Lawrence, to the ground. Col. Eldridge quickly restored and renamed the hotel. The Eldridge Hotel thrived until the building was converted into apartments in the 1960s.
Current general manager David Longhurst says his grandmother lived in the hotel when it was the Eldridge House apartments. He helped turn the building back into a hotel in 1986. The most recent multi-million dollar renovation took place in 2005, but the original ceiling, pillars and floors remain. "We brought it all back," Longhurst says.
He may have even brought back Col. Eldridge. The Colonel's chair sits in the basement near an old elevator shaft, and Longhurst says it doesn't collect dust no matter how many cobwebs form around it. A few years ago, a front desk clerk
had to see it to believe it. "He looked at the chair and there was somebody sitting in it smoking a pipe," Longhurst says.
The desk clerk never went downstairs again, but there are others who seek that sort of scare. "A lot of people specifically ask to stay in room 506," Longhurst says. "Other people say 'put me anywhere but 506.'"
Room 506 is deemed the most haunted room in the hotel because the original cornerstone remains there. Guests have reported flashing lights, drawers mysteriously opening and faulty elevator activity.
"They'll push B for basement and the elevator goes up to the fifth floor. The doors open and nobody is there," Longhurst says.
In 1989, someone took a picture of the lobby and spotted a ghostly man in the elevator after the photo was developed. The photo still sits on the front desk of the hotel. If The Eldridge is haunted, Longhurst hopes it is haunted by the ghost of the founder.
"I like the legend that Col. Eldridge cares so much for his guests that he's keeping an eye on the property," Longhurst says.
Vincent Porter, a paranormal investigator, brought his company, Unfinished Business, to The Eldridge on Oct. 13, hoping to settle some business with the other side. During the five-hour investigation he used electromagnetic field detectors, infrared cameras and digital voice recorders to scan for high voice frequencies.
"The frequencies are beyond human ears," Porter says. "The digital voice recorder gives us a helping a hand in capturing a conversation with another entity."
After playing back the voice recorder, he heard three different voices on tape. Porter also captured three energy orbs in the Crystal Ballroom and one in the Big Six Room. He says
one orb looked like a redish burst of electricity that came out of the middle of the ceiling and shot off to the right side of the room while others flashed like fireflies. "I haven't seen an orb like this in all my years," Porter says. "People might say it's creepy but I see it as exciting."
"There isn't any negative energy in The Eldridge Hotel," Porter says. "Everything in there has unfinished business, but it's all real positive."
He isn't certain who the ghosts are, but he is positive they aren't harmful.
WHO YA GONNA CALL?
orter sets the record straight.
**Ghosts** | People who died and have unfinished business so their spirit has yet to move on
**Demons** | Never human, but always wanted to be, surrounded by negative energy
**Mischievous Entity** | A separate existence that interferes with the living through a series of shenanigans like opening drawers and moving jewelry
Porter will reveal his paranormal findings from The Eldridge Hotel investigation on the Channel 6 News "Home & Away: Halloween Special."
alton Gomez/KANSAN and the cementry.
micans
side
weep to
state.
ply can't. Neely will be conducting the second Halloween Bash tonight at the Lied Center. Presented by the School of Music and featuring the University Symphony Orchestra, the Halloween Bash will feature songs to get anybody's heartbeat racing for the approaching Halloween weekend.
There will be a costume contest before the concert for all who dare to dress up like the symphony itself. Neely himself will be wearing five or six different costumes throughout the performance to match each musical piece he will be conducting.
SEE COSTUMES ON PAGE 3A
Scott Sheu, a senior from Manhattan, looks through racks of clothing Saturday morning in the lobby of Murphy Hall. The Theatre Department, which is hosting a costume contest today, had a costume in preparation for the event.
Evan Palmer/KANSAN
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE FOR HALLOWEEN AND HOW MUCH ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEND?
COURTNEY SLONE
Derby junior
Strawberry Shortcake
"I wouldn't spend more than $35.
It's ridiculous unless you're going
to wear it for five more years."
MEG PATRZYKONT Kansas City junior Marylin Monroe "I think that if you spend $200 on an outfit, that is ridiculous."
JULIA GUARD
Lawrence senior
Modern Ghost
"I'm not into dropping $50 on a costume. It seems a little freshman."
GREG SCHLEIFMAN
*Arlington senior*
Miller High Life guy
"$25 is the highest I'd pay, it's not
like it's your wedding."
N
KATELYN MITALSKI
Shawnee junior
Smurf
"I went to Fun and Games,
bought a bottle of body paint for
$16, that's all I'll need for years."
NATE KANEY
Minnetonka, Minn., junior
First night: Sheik
Second night: MILF Hunter
"I spent $40 dollars for both, it’s definitely worth it for a once-a-year deal."
DAVID COHEN
Chicago junior
Allen from "The Hangover"
"I was Billy Mays last year. It's cheap and I wanted to utilize the beard again."
1
for Stewart, Colbert marches
Individual students and a group of KU Young Democrats will be at the National Mall tomorrow for the "Rally to Restore Sanity" and the "March to Keep Fear Alive."
INDEX
FOOTBALL | 10A
Kansas looks for first league win Saturday
The Jayhawks have lost by an aggregate score of 159-24 in three Big 12 games. They'll look to a third-string quarterback in an effort to stop the bleeding Saturday in Armes against the Iowa State Cyclones.
Classifieds...9A
Crossword...4A
Cryptoquips...4A
Opinion...5A
Sports...10A
Sudoku...4A
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