Let Them Eat Cake

Floods, fires, and phantoms. A lot of these three things have gone on over the years in the sleepy Ohio river town of Marietta. This past week I took my second trip to Marietta for a tour with Hidden Marietta. Marietta was founded in 1788 and named after Marie Antoinette, who found the beautiful river town to be charming and lovely. She never got to visit, as she was busy being beheaded, but she sent Marquis de Lafayette to visit on her behalf. His visit was so impactful, that a local hotel was named after him.

This particular tour was of the historic Lafayette Hotel, a beautiful property originally erected as The Belleview in 1896, and then rebuilt again in 1918, after a fire destroyed the hotel. The Lafayette just celebrated its 100 year anniversary, and the old girl has held up pretty well. Pictured below is the antique call bell system for guests to communicate with the front desk by pulling a cord from their room that was linked to this panel:

Our fearless tour guide was Melisa, but she told us most people call her Viva, because she has a love for life. But Viva must also have a love for death, as she is very knowledgeable about the paranormal happenings at the Lafayette, and it was evident that her job brings her great joy. The third floor and the basement tend to have the most activity, although, based on what we learned from this tour, the main level seems to have a lot going on, as well.

There is a grand ballroom and there is allegedly an invisible orchestra that plays when no one is looking, and a phantom ballroom dancer, who joins male guests, wrapping her arms around their waists and taking off spinning with them, across the floor in an elegant waltz.

Mr. Hogue was the former owner, and he never really left the premises after his death. A practical jokester, he continues to play jokes on guests, even in his after-life.

One of his most famous pranks (when he was alive) was the old umbrella-cornflake trick……he would fill a closed umbrella with cornflakes, and when the guests would open the umbrella, they would be showered with said cornflakes. He is often still seen in this day and age checking on guests, and making sure everyone has a good experience at his hotel. He was known as a very generous man, and offered a complimentary place to stay when friends and community members got down on their luck. And he continues to try to aid people, as well as play some practical jokes, like closing doors, or hiding keys, or wheeling luggage carts down the hall on their own. He loved stern wheels and in the lobby is a giant stern-wheel, adorned to the ceiling, and the very well-worn carpet still exists from his era, and it even has a ship and stern-wheel pattern.

Many haunted venues have had a child die, and the Lafayette is no exception. A little girl fell to her death, down the stairwell to the basement, and she still remains trapped in that stairwell, crying out for help. Guests and ghost-seekers alike have seen and heard her.

But the basement is where the scary stuff really happens. After our tour we were given ghost-hunting equipment and invited to explore. Viva turned off all the lights, and I took some photos with my flash. I don’t think I captured anything weird, but the ambiance gave me the heebie-jeebies. It was dank and damp down there, and after it has flooded several times, it had kind of a musty smell.

There are 3 alleged spirits who regularly communicate with the living down here in the basement: The Grinning Man, the lady in the bathroom, and Thomas, the little boy. Thomas is terrified of the other two, but he likes to interact with live people. He plays a game where he lights up the ghost meters that measure energy in the room on demand. I don’t know much about the lady in the bathroom, but she is somehow crying out for help, and no one is sure why. The Grinning Man is just ridiculously scary, and he likes to show up right in your face, and terrify you. (Sidenote: I can’t help by singing “Grim and Grinning Ghosts” whenever I think of him. If you don’t know this song, think of Disney’s Haunted Mansion. It is the same guy who voiced Tony the Tiger singing this song towards the end of the ride.)

There is a restaurant known as the “Gun Room” upstairs and Mr. Hogue is often spotted in here. He and his ghostly helpers are also constantly moving things around and tidying up. Sometimes the diners are so distracted that they can barely finish their meals. I’ll bet if Marie Antoinette had ever made it to Marietta, she would have told Mr. Hogue and his crew to leave these guests alone and  “let them eat cake”.