For mid-November, the weather is really holding out in my hometown of Lawrence, Kansas.  Fall has been hanging on for dear life, and we are just now getting in to temperatures that make you want to curl up with a nice cup of hot chocolate.  As I’m no fan of freezing temps, I’m taking advantage of every second of decent weather we have before old man winter sets up shop for several months.  That, and a nice lunch with my brother and sister-in-law, was what took me to downtown Lawrence today and passed me by our own local haunted inn, The Eldridge Hotel.

You cannot study local history in this town and not come across the Eldridge.  The somewhat nondescript building that stands on the corner of Seventh and Massachussetts Streets in Lawrence has had, to say the least, a turbulent history.

Early settlers to the area came here bound and determined that Kansas would enter the union as a free state, and anti-slavery sentiments ran high.  The New England Emigrant Aid Society, then, built the hotel in 1855 as interim lodging for those who were building their homes in the area, and aptly named it The Free State Hotel.  It was only one short year later when the hotel was attacked by a pro-slavery militia, headed by Sheriff Sam Jones.  The Free State was burned to the ground, but was rebuilt bigger and better by Colonel Shalor Eldridge, who swore he would build and rebuild the hotel, no matter what came. 

The Eldridge Hotel and Massachussetts Street after Quantrill’s Raid

What came was the infamous Quantrill and his raiders in the year of 1863.  Lawrence was burned to the ground, including the Eldridge Hotel.  Over 150 people were dragged from their homes and stores and were murdered.  The town and those who stood up for the freedom of all mankind, were left in ruins.  Colonel Eldridge remained, however, and true to his word, he rebuilt the hotel.

It was this tragic event that is immortalized on the Seal of the City of Lawrence: a phoenix rising from the ashes.  Lawrence was rebuilt, and thrives as a university town (Go Jayhawks!) and a center for the arts.

Due to deterioration, the Eldrige was torn down and rebuilt in the 1920s.  Then, in the 1970s, it closed down entirely, as cheap motels sprung up and made the accommodations at the Eldridge somewhat obsolete.  The hotel was renovated into an apartment complex until 1985, when it was renovated once again back into a 48 room hotel, and major updates were made once again in 2005, which restored to hotel to the luxurious appointments it had in 1925. 

The Restored Lobby of the Eldridge Hotel

Mounted by the front desk is a picture of the ghost.  Many believe it is Colonel Eldridge, who still lurks in his beloved hotel.  Room 506 is purportedly a hotbed of paranormal activity.  Lights turn on and off, doors open and shut, and someone’s ghostly breath fogs the mirror from time to time.  Some believe the fifth floor hosts a portal to the spirit world, allowing spirits to drift in and out.  Apparitions have also been seen on this floor, and the elevator is known to make unnecessary, frequent stops on floor five.  This same elevator has also been known to cause camera malfunctions.  Others notice that the hotel seems to have a number of “cold spots,” which is often an indication of a visitor from the other side.

The Eldridge has occassionally played host to ghosthunters.  For some pictures and a link to a Channel Six report on the paranormal occurrences at the Eldrige, click here.

Yours in this life and the next -

GhOsTwRiTeR KiM

A&E, a cable network whose focus is shifting these days, like many other networks, away from the “Arts” and more toward the “Entertainment” end of the spectrum with shows like Intervention and  Gene Simmons: Family Jewels, recently premiered a new show called Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal.  Here’s a little promo clip to give you the gist:

The premise here is that they take three kids who appear to be receiving psychic input, introduce them to each other, and then put them in a situation (like taking them to a haunted B&B) where their skills will be put to work and they can learn methods to control and/or increase their psychic abilities.  Leading the pack on these excursions are psychic Chip Coffey, who has appeared on Paranormal State several times and has a background in counseling, and Dr. Lisa Miller, clinical psychologist and spiritual scholar.  Dr. Miller works with the kids and the parents to help identify what kind of psychic phenomenon they are experiencing, and to help address the fear and social stigma that come with these experiences.  Chip, on the other hand, makes it his job to explain to the children what it is they are experiencing, things they can do to protect themselves, ways to handle the fear that comes with, you know, seeing dead people, and the things they can do to control the input they are receiving.

As far as these “documentary” style television shows go, this one is well put together, provides a little bit of drama, and comes off as though they are really helping these kids and their parents by giving them the tools they need to handle their very different reality of everyday life.  But there is a bit of a buzz going on around the internet about this program that is divided into two camps: one camp thinks this is great and really good for the kids and their families, but the other sees this as exploitation of some very confused kids and their concerned parents.  Personally, I am a bit torn on this issue.  I suppose that if you don’t buy into psychics in the first place, you would automatically fall into the latter category, but that’s not the issue I have.  I know that there are simply people out there who are more sensitive to energy, and when they say they are seeing images or receiving messages, I don’t automatically jump to the conclusion that they are schizo, but where my concern lies is with “outting” these kids.

I think it is great that they connect these kids with one another, because I am sure they feel very alone, but what happens when filming is over and they have to go back to their lives?  Many of these kids talk during the show about how they have never told their friends about what they are experiencing, and how they feel so “different” from everyone else, and now everyone will know.  It doesn’t even matter if their friends don’t catch the show, word will get around.  As a for instance, the premier episode of the show featured a girl from my hometown of Lawrence, Kansas.  The mother of this little girl belongs to one of the more hard-core christian churches in town, so she has had a hard time coming to terms with what her daughter is experiencing and deciding whether or not to put her on the show.  The end result of the decision?  A front page article in the Lawrence Journal World on her daughter and the show.  Now everyone knows.  Now, I’m sure her mom made the decision that it was okay for people to know when she let her child do the show, but her child will be going back to school in the fall, and kids are cruel.  That is where my concern lies.  I know the show gives them some great tools to deal with their abilities, but do they do anything to help with the aftermath of such an outting?  If they don’t, then this is simply another form of exploitation.  These kids had a kind of self-imposed isolation before the show, and all I hope is that having their unusual talents aired before the world doesn’t impose a kind of social leprosy on them.

Okay, now that I have aired all of that, I will repeat that it is a decently entertaining show, despite being on shaky moral ground, and Chip and Dr. Miller appear to take their jobs quite seriously and handle the kids pretty well.  For more information on the show and to find out when you can watch it, go here.

Your in this life and the next!

GhOsTwRiTeR KiM