Eureka!

Did you ever have a Nintendo in the early 90s? Do you remember the “Duck Tales” game? I do. Whenever the ducks would make a brilliant discovery, or advance to the next level, they would shout “Eureka!” This past week I was fortunate enough to visit Eureka Springs and stay at the Crescent Hotel. This hotel certainly was a brilliant discovery for me, and warranted a loud cheer of “Eureka!”

Opening in 1886, this venue served as more than just a hotel; it was also a college & conservatory for young women and a fraudulent cancer treatment center (much more about that later). Not surprisingly, The Crescent ranks right up there with The Stanley Hotel (from “The Shining”), as one of the Top 10 haunted hotels in the US, according to the Travel Channel and the Architectural Digest. The grounds are really quite lovely, and the years have been kind to The Crescent.

The lobby makes you believe it that it might just be an entirely different era that you have stepped into. From the antique furniture, to the old-fashioned check-in area, everything fits perfectly. They give you an actual key, as opposed to a key card to open your room. And that door makes a very pleasing creaking sound when it opens. Perfect sound for a historic and haunted hotel.

The hotel offers several nightly ghost tours. They are so popular that they all sell out every single night, and the only night of the year that they are not offered is Christmas Eve.

I took the 9 PM tour on a Thursday night, with Lavoisare Blair Caruthers serving as our fearless guide. There were about 20 of us on the tour. We started on the 4th floor in a room where there were some displays of the students who attended the Crescent College & Conservatory between 1908-1934. Here we were given a bit of history and orientation of the hotel and Eureka Springs.

Our first stop was a balcony overlooking the beautiful Ozarks.

It is here where a former student, simply known now as “The Girl in the Mist” fell to her death. She was pregnant and either jumped or was pushed over the edge. She is what is known as a residual ghost, which means the incident of her fall that everyone continues to see, happens recurrently. She has reportedly been seen many times, by guests, locals, and even a police officer, who called for an ambulance, but then found that there was no one there.

Next, we were fortunate enough to visit the penthouse, Room 419, which once belonged to a nurse, known as Miss Theodora. Mr. Caruthers told us that he has only had a chance to take guests to this room twice, as it is usually rented out.

Miss Theodora is known to obsessively tidy up the room when guests are staying there. But if she doesn’t like you, she will pack up your bags while you are out, and put them by the door, ready for you to leave. She is also seen outside the room sometimes, searching through her purse for her keys.

Now, we walked down to the third floor and learned about the dark days when Dr. Norman Baker came to operate a fraudulent cancer treatment center in the hotel from 1937-1940. He would offer a fake pain medicine, which was a concoction that actually caused further pain. Many people died on the property. Guests have reportedly seen and heard a woman dressed in an old fashioned nurse’s uniform pushing a squeaky gurney down the (then wooden) floor. The floor is now carpeted, but guests hear it as it sounded back then. There is an area that now houses the honeymoon suites, which were reserved for the very ill patients who were screaming out in pain. They pushed them off to this secluded area so their screams could not be heard. My room was not far from here, room 330. When I woke up at 6 AM to walk through the dark and silent hallway the morning I checked out, I half expected to see and hear that squeaky gurney. (I didn’t.)

After that, we worked our way down to the second floor. Here is where Mary Breckinridge Thompson once resided. She was famous for being a midwife who first practiced sterile birth procedures. In 1914 she had a baby named Breckie, who sadly died at 4 years old. He can still be seen on the second floor, insisting “It isn’t fair!” And he is often seen playing with a ball. What wasn’t fair? We may never know, but I am guessing maybe it was the little outfit they made him wear.

Perhaps the most famous ghost of the hotel is Michael, a 17 year old stone mason who fell to his death during the construction of the property. He landed right about where Room 218 is located. Michael is a flirt. He particularly enjoys when women stay in this room. He also plays practical jokes, like hiding things from guests. At one point a mother of a bride getting married in the hotel stayed in room 218. Until the moment before she had to go downstairs for the wedding, Michael had hidden her dentures inside the toe of her shoes that she was about to put onto her feet. She had looked all over for them, and that is where they finally turned up.

Also residing on the second floor in room 212 was a local physician, Dr. Ellis. He is never seen, but the fragrance of his cherry tobacco pipe still lingers outside his room.

As we ventured downstairs to the lobby level, we were told about the resident cat who lives here: Jasper. In fact, I saw him myself earlier that day. He was very sweet and friendly.

We then learned about another cat that guests sometimes see. A cat that died in 1994: Morris. Known as “The General Manager”, Morris is often seen cozying up in front of the fireplace in the lobby.

Last stop: the morgue. This is in the basement level, and is very dark and creepy. Oddly, Dr. Baker kept the cancerous organs of his patients and displayed them in jars down here. (Ewww.) What ever happened to Dr. Baker, you ask? Authorities eventually caught up with him and he was arrested for mail fraud. He ironically died in 1958 of…..cancer.

Our tour came to a close, and I am grateful I came here to visit. The entire city of Eureka Springs hides a lot of mysteries. Everything in the town, except for the Crescent, was once destroyed by fire, and the city was rebuilt on the side of the mountain. I enjoyed exploring the beautiful historic district. I would highly recommend a visit to this unique part of the country.

Below is the park outside of the Basin Hotel, which is the sister property of The Crescent.

On the left is the New Orleans Hotel, which I wandered inside and got a brief tour of the beautiful property, adorned with wrought iron and ferns, much like my beloved Big Easy.

Final thoughts: I loved Eureka Springs. It is historic, mysterious, beautiful, and a little spooky. Right down my dark alley.