They're Watching You

This episode was aptly titled. Most of the ghosts seemed to watch the Ghost Lab crew rather than the crew watching the ghosts do much documented activity.

The Catfish Plantation Restaurant in Waxahachie, Texas resides in a converted 1895 Victorian home. At first the Klinge brothers thought there might be poltergeist activity going on, especially in the main dining room. I disagree. I picked up on two distinct ghosts in the dining room, but no poltergeists.

The fun and frustrating part of the Catfish Plantation location was that there was an obviously intelligent ghost messing with the Ghost Lab crew. Things seemed to happen as soon as they left the building or turned off their cameras. They did catch a grainy video of what could have been a knife stuck in a vase on a table rising above the vase and then dropping onto the table. Even with video enhancement the image was deemed too grainy to be definitively paranormal.

The first night of the investigation the only activity caught on tape was a sliding wooden door that connected the main dining room to the foyer vibrating left to right. No logical explanation was given for a sliding door doing that when nobody was in the building and no earthquake activity present.

I saw the ghost of a young boy, about seven years old facing the edge of the door, clutching it with his arms while his legs were planted far apart. He was fair skinned, with black hair and was wearing what used to be called "short pants", sort of 3/4 length capri's for boys. I believe he was autistic and was rocking the sliding wooden door back and forth in it's limited track as a form of soothing himself. He was early grade school age but was acting about 18 months old in terms of clutching at the door and making it rock back and forth with him. His eyes were closed as he was focused on the movement. Not much to see when your forehead is touching the edge of a wooden door.

The second ghost in the main dining room was definitely Caroline, a former owner who has strong ideas about how things should be done. I think she was the one behind all the tricks with the silverware. On the morning of day two when the Ghost Lab crew went back into the building to collect their game cameras Katie noticed a spoon on the floor that had been part of a table setting two minutes before before the cameras were turned off from the night before. Shortly thereafter the crew noticed a table knife had apparently crossed itself over the fork and spoon in a place setting. Once again this was missed by the Ghost Lab cameras by a few moments.

Since sitting passively inside or out of the restaurant didn't seem to be working Ghost Lab mixed things up the second night of the investigation setting silverware and stacks of poker chips in odd formations all over the dining room. Caroline did NOT like this one bit but kept to herself until Brad told her she was running out of time to manifest. Her unrecorded response was, "I don't take orders from you!" Right then there was a thunk from outside that Barry couldn't find any reason for. Both Barry and Brad agreed it was a knock on the outside of a dining room window.

In a chat with restaurant owner Ann, Barry expressed his frustration, "It is almost like something knows what is happening." Ann knew the feeling well. The conversation was interrupted by a metallic clink and Ann commented that "something flew". That something was the grainy tape of the possibly levitating knife. During the evidence review Brad characterized the whole investigation "Like a cat and mouse game."

I asked my guides why Caroline was always messing with the knives in the silverware settings? The answer I got surprised me. Caroline and her husband whose formal photo hangs on one of the restaurant walls had had a Down's Sydrome baby. They didn't understand a thing about this special needs infant and saw it as a freak or a monster. Caroline was worried she would be suspected of having cheated on her husband when she saw the characteristic almond shaped eyes Down's babies have. She didn't understand how two white people produced such a child. Fear, shame and ignorance contributed to a tragedy. Caroline was frightened about raising a child that to her looked like a changeling of some sort. She came up with the idea of quietly killing the infant. Caroline and her husband discussed two possible methods, one was to kill the infant with a knife. The other was to expose the infant to the elements and let the baby perish without shelter or protection outside. Nothing had been decided for certain the night Caroline's husband dispatched the baby with a knife. She didn't know he was going to do it then. After the deed was done she felt terrible remorse and continues to feel it to this day. A cover story was told to the community at large saying the baby had died within a few days after birth. That is why Caroline plays with the table knives in the restaurant. She is trying to bring the murder to light while struggling with guilt because it was her idea.

The last fifteen minutes of the episode were spent on the investigation at The Lawrence Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Built in 1925, the structure boasts 10 floors and lots of reports of ghostly activity. Alleged past hauntings include apparitions, disembodied voices and living guests and staff feeling watched or followed by unseen presences.

Hotel Historian Sam Childers was brought in to talk about several of the most notorious murders and suicides associated with The Lawrence Hotel. In the 1940's a couple was involved in a murder/suicide. The husband shot his wife while she slept and then turned the gun on himself. On the 10th floor a woman once jumped out a window to her death. Childers speculated that hotels attract crime because they are anonymous. Just about anything can happen behind a closed hotel door.

Brad and Barry did a nonproductive EVP session in room 1015 where a 22 year old woman staying with her parents jumped out a window to her death. Among the questions asked, "Is that you?" Response, "Yes" in a female voice. She was asked to shout her name. I heard "Clara". The most interesting question was why she jumped. I heard Clara say, "a boy". Many of us have had the miserable experience of being dumped and rejected, but fortunately most of us don't plunge out windows over it even if we feel like that might be a good idea at the time. Clara's story was sadly familiar. What a waste of a life that was really just getting started.

Ghost Lab's Hector did a bit more research into the murders at the hotel and said that two men had been murdered over the years in room 807. The best documented was Jack Jackson who had been found strangled with a hotel towel around his neck. A Mr. Brookshire was the second victim on the eighth floor but no details were given about his death. Unfortunately I didn't get any either. Mr. Brookshire's energy was significantly weaker than Mr. Jackson's who gave me a charming view of his strangled self on the floor. Gee thanks.

The most entertaining ghost at The Lawrence Hotel has been nicknamed "Smiley" by the staff. Smiley inhabits room 807, regardless of the registered guest. Frequently paying guests have reported that they have keyed the room door which won't open. If they knock on the door and "ask nicely" as one staffer put it, Smiley will let them in and the door will open the next time they try it. The doors at The Lawrence have modern electronic key card locks. Barry was able to duplicate this sequence of events twice during the investigation. The second time this happened Brad picked up a pair of footprints on his thermal camera INSIDE the empty room. The room had a baseline temperature of 65 degrees. The strangely long lingering footprints next to the door were 71 degrees. The Klinge brothers checked for stains or possible wetness on the carpet but found neither. Barry tried to duplicate the thermal effect but the heat of his footprints faded much faster than those of the presumably ghostly Smiley.

I saw Smiley as a young, thin man in a white tuxedo with a red cummerbund. He had rather shaggy light brown hair and a scraggly goatee. He seemed to be some sort of service staffer with an obsession for good manners. Rather unkempt hair combined with a tux made me wonder if he dated from the 1970's? Normally men who wear a tux to work keep their hair better groomed.

Hector was a goofball when he elected to stay in room 807 and asked the ghosts of the murdered men not to hurt him. He did some EVP work asking Mr. Jackson, "Did he kill you with a towel around your throat?" A recorded EVP response was a thin and reedy, "Yes".

Caroline gets the most tragic story award of the episode. Infanticide, yikes!

Blessings,

Lynne