The Crescent Hotel

Mr. Seiger closed the hotel room, being sure that he and Mrs. Seiger both had their room keys, and that he had the digital camera in his pocket. He took hold of Mrs. Seiger's hand, and she held Hanna's. The three took the short walk to Room 212, and Mr. Seiger knocked on the door.

A man opened the door and asked, "Here for the Ghost Tour?"

"Yeah!" Hanna said enthusiastically, nodding her head.

The man laughed and said, "Well come on in and get your tickets. The tour will be starting soon." He stepped aside for the family to enter into the room, and propped the door open incase anyone else were to come in, since it was soon to be 8:00 PM.

"I'm Ken Fugate," said the man as he moved towards the other side of the desk, "And this is Carroll Heath." he said, nodded towards the other man.

"Nice to meet you folks," Carroll said, shaking his hand with Mr. Seiger.

Mr. Seiger moved up to the desk in the middle of the room and started getting the tickets from Carroll. "I'm Will Seiger, and this is my wife Clare, and our daughter Hanna," he said, introducing everyone as he wrote the amount that was totaled up for the tour. He handed Carroll the check, and in turn Carroll handed him a receipt.

"All right, a few more folks should be arriving, and then we shall get started on the tour," Ken informed them. "You can sit on the sofa in there until they arrive."

Mr. Seiger nodded and Hanna ran to the couch and leaped onto it. "Hanna!" Mr. Seiger scolded, chuckling a bit himself.

"Sorry, daddy," she said sheepishly, and sat up on the couch to make room for her parents.

The rest of the tour group started arriving family by family until it was time to start the tour. "All right, our first stop is actually this room," Ken said, his arms outstretched to mean Room 212. “The room we use for our office for the Ghost Tours is actually Dr. Ellis’ office. Dr. Ellis was a respected doctor back in the 1880s, and he believed that the springs had healing powers.”

“People have reported that they’ve seen Dr. Ellis’ in a Victorian outfit,” Carroll said from the doorway. “Walking to his office from the elevator and going straight through the door.”

The room dropped a few degrees as this information sunk in for the group, some looking excited at the information, others nervous. Cameras were whipped out at various times by different people, taking pictures of the room in hopes of getting something. Mr. Seiger took his camera out and took a picture of the doorway where Carroll was standing before pocketing the camera in his jacket again.

“Our next stop is just down the hall,” Ken said, nodding to Carroll, who nodded back, and got out of the doorway for Ken to go through. Once the entire group was out of Room 212, Carroll shut the door and followed, bringing up the rear end of the group.

The group stopped in front of Room 218, the room that the Seiger’s were boarding in. “This room is affectionately known as Michael’s room by many people,” Ken said. “An Irish Stone Mason named Michael died in a construction accident in 1886 around the time the hotel was being built. He fell through the roof into this room, which is why he haunts this room.”

Mrs. Seiger’s face went pale, Mr. Seiger shook his head, and Hanna stood there trying to formulate exactly what Ken was saying. She tugged on Ken’s pant leg, causing him to look down at her. “Yes?” Ken asked pleasantly.

“This is my room,” she said, pointing at the door they were standing in front of.

Ken looked at Mr. Seiger and asked, “Really? You got this room?”

Mr. Seiger nodded. “Yes. Something strange happened earlier when we tried to get into the room,” he said, and then he explained what had happened, the group listening in interest.

“Whoa,” Carroll said once Mr. Seiger was done explaining. “Michael must like you guys, then.”

Hanna laughed happily, and Mrs. Seiger laughed nervously. Mr. Seiger smiled and replied, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Ken smiled, and then said, “We’ll, I guess we’ll move along, then. Come along.” He walked back down to where the elevators were, waiting for the group and Carroll to catch up with him. “We’re going to go up to the Fourth floor next,” he informed the group, then turned to Carroll. “Since we’ve got a pretty large group, you take half of the group into one elevator, and I’ll take the other half.”

Carroll nodded. “All right,” he agreed, and then turned to the group. “Half of you come with me, the other half with Ken.” The group split up, the Seiger’s going with the half that went with Ken.

They loaded onto the elevator, Ken pressing the button to the fourth floor, and they went up. Ken gave them a briefing of the hotel, much like Carroll was doing just an elevator over. “You know, The Crescent Hotel which is also known as ‘The Lady of the Ozarks’, was built in 1886 and was used as more than just a hotel, serving as a college and a hospital since it had been built,” he said, some in the group nodding to show they were listening.

Once it reached the designated floor, the elevator dinged, and everyone got off. The other group arrived seconds after Ken’s, and once everyone was accounted for, they were off to the next paranormal anomaly.

Carroll lead the group this time, Ken in the back. They stopped in front of a room labeled “419”, and Carroll began to weave the tale of the room. “This is Miss Theodora’s room. Miss Theodora was a cancer patient who had died while being treated here when this was a hospital. Those who room in Miss Theodora’s room sometimes wake up in the morning to find their clothes neatly packed next to the door.”

“Whoa,” some of the group muttered, Mrs. Seiger relaxing a bit at hearing that some of the ghosts aren’t really harming anyone.

“Feel free to take pictures of the hallways and such. You never know what could be caught on film,” Ken coaxed them, elbowing Mr. Seiger, who chuckled.

“There are other ghosts that flit around the hotel, not just the ones that we are showing you tonight. Some we don’t even know their names, or why they are here,” Carroll said, giving the group more of an excuse to take pictures.

“Come on, Clare. Go and stand in the middle of the hallway with Hanna real quick. I want a picture of both of you,” Mr. Seiger coaxed his wife, who picked up Hanna and stood in the center of the hallway.

Hanna giggled, clinging to her mother’s neck, both smiling as Mr. Seiger snapped a quick photo.

“All right, we are going to get back onto the elevators and head towards the Ground floor to the dining room,” Ken said loudly so everyone could hear him, and they got on the elevators again, headed to the Ground floor. Once they reached the floor, Ken led the group to the dining room, talking about the hotel along the way. “In the years of 1908 to 1932 the hotel was a Junior College for women from the months of September to June, and a hotel during the summer months. It is rumored that people can see a woman in 1930’s clothing style running up the stairs, which would go along with a story of a woman committing suicide by jumping from the hotel’s balcony while she was a college student.”

The Seiger’s saw Max behind the reception desk, and Hanna waved, Max waving back as they moved towards the dining room.

“All right,” Ken said, waiting for the rest of the group to file into the room. “This is the dining room.”

The dining room was a spectacular sight, with tall bay windows and dark wood floors. The walls were of a lighter color wood and had small lights in between the windows, and there also was a small chandelier hanging in the middle of the dining area, lighting the whole room and the tables within it.

Ken pointed in a small corner farthest away from the group. “Over at that table in the corner near the windows, a man named Jacob, who lived in the Victorian era, sits waiting for a woman he fell in love with to come and sit for breakfast,” he explained, the group locking eyes with the table at the back of the room. “He hasn’t been seen by anyone so far,” he finished ominously, causing some of the group to widen their eyes slightly, murmuring to themselves.

Mr. Seiger chuckled quietly at Ken trying to scare the group. Hanna heard him and asked, “What are you laughing at, Daddy?”

He looked down at Hanna and said quietly, “Oh, it’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

“Now, we are going to go into the basement, which was a morgue back when the hotel was a hospital. This will be the last stop on the tour,” Carroll piped up, leading the group out of the dining room and towards the stairs to go down into the basement, Ken taking his spot at the back of the group.

Carroll started walking down the staircase, leading the group to a large metal door, rusted in places with a large bolt on the right-hand side. He took a key out of his left pocket and put it into the bolt, releasing the lock and letting the group through. The basement was dark, despite a few lights that were on in various places. There were bookcases lined up on the shelves, one bookcase filled with books, the other with jars filled with something that the people couldn’t see in the dark. The ceiling had old pipes, which had rusted over time, giving off an ominous glow in the little light.

“In 1937 the hotel was bought by Norman Baker, and he converted it into a hospital, claiming he had a cure for cancer. Many people died because of his claims, and the hospital was shut down in 1940 when he was charged of mail fraud for mailing his claims of cancer through promotional literature like pamphlets throughout the nation,” Carroll informed, walking slowly throughout the basement so people could look around. “The activity that’s in this room comes from a security guard, who people have reported as ‘hostile’.”

People took pictures of the room, Mr. Seiger taking some more pictures as the group dispersed slowly from the room, the tour being over. As they did so, both Ken and Carroll said, “Hope you enjoyed the tour.” Getting pleased comments from people in the group.

As Mr. Seiger was following his wife and daughter out, he heard a deep, menacing voice hiss, “You don’t belong here. Get out.” The hairs on his neck stood up as he tried to walk a normal pace behind his family out of the basement.