Lady in Blue(grass)

My Old Kentucky home is an appropriate way to describe Louisville; I indeed felt right at home with the hospitality, strikingly beautiful topography, and well…..the ghosts.

There are plenty of haunted sites to visit in the greater Louisville area, one of the most famous being the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. But I didn’t get to visit there (this time). This trip was all about the haunted hotels, in particular The Seelbach and The Brown Hotel. I stayed as a guest at the former, and I had spirits (interpret as you wish…cocktails or ghosts) and dinner at the latter. I also might add a nod to The Galt House, which I didn’t get to visit this time, although I’m sure it has plenty of spirits of its own.

First let’s talk about The Seelbach. I knew as soon as I walked up to the facade that I was going to be in for a treat. It opened in 1905 by the Seelbach brothers to replicate the grandeur of European hotels. The staff was beyond friendly and their eyes lit up when I asked about it being haunted. In fact, one of the security guards offers a night tour at 11:30 PM to talk about the haunting of the hotel.

The most famous Seelbach ghost is “The Lady in Blue”. Patricia Wilson was running late to meet her estranged husband one morning at The Seelbach. They had recently separated and were meeting to potentially patch things up. She ran up to the hotel and realized she wasn’t late after all, as her husband had not even arrived yet. She caught her breath and sighed with relief, but not for very long. The meeting never happened. As the story goes, her husband was killed in a tragic car accident on his way to meet Patricia. Inevitably, she was devastated by his sudden death. Tragically, later that day she was found at the bottom of the service elevator shaft.

Nobody is sure if she jumped to her death or if she was pushed. Allegedly there was a mistress. (Isn’t there always a love triangle in these stories?) Could the jealous and angry mistress have known about the potential reuniting of the Wilsons, and let jealous rage get the best of her? Or was Patricia so upset by her husband’s accident that she chose to join him on the other side? Many people have reported seeing Patricia Wilson in the hotel after her death. Some claim to see her on the 8th floor of the hotel, while others see her on the hotel’s mezzanine level. However, all guests agree than the woman they see wears a blue dress and has long black hair. Along with the image of the Lady in Blue, guests claim to smell a faint fragrance of sweet perfume and often hear light footsteps.

There are reportedly other ghosts who wander the halls of the Seelbach, as well. The front desk staff told me that the ballroom on the 10th floor and the Rathskeller have a plethora of reported paranormal activity. The Rathskeller once hosted a speak-easy, where the likes of Al Capone once gambled. Beautifully appointed oak walls house secret passageways where he and his gang would hide when necessary. Who knows what secrets those walls hold. What a beautiful venue, with so much rich history.

F. Scott Fitzgerald himself was a patron of the Seelbach and used the 10th floor Ballroom as his backdrop for the lavish parties thrown in “The Great Gatsby.” I wandered up here myself to see the ballroom. It was quite warm inside and quite empty on the afternoon that I visited.

Next stop for me in my whirlwind Louisville visit was the Brown hotel, built in 1923 by J.Grahm Brown. Mr. Brown himself is said to haunt the hotel. During the Kentucky Derby the scent of the cigars he once enjoyed fills the air. His ghost is known to show up on the mezzanine level, where he can watch the employees and guests. Most people claim that the haunting here never began until after the hotel had some renovations done. Perhaps Mr. Brown didn’t like change, but after the Great Depression, the flooding of the Ohio river, and just plain aging, some renovations have been necessary.

Now, of course I couldn’t easily visit The Brown without eating its rich signature dish, “The Hot Brown” and drinking some Kentucky bourbon. After two drinks, I was really feeling nice. It’s no wonder people say there are spirits here…..

There is so much more to see and do in Louisville and beyond. During my short visit I did get to see the State Capital, in nearby Frankfurt. I heard a rumor that it has some ghosts of its own. I think that this simply means I need to take a trip back to Kentucky do a bit more investigating (and a bit more bourbon sampling, while I’m at it.)