Since 1875, the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas has hosted hundreds of grand balls and social events. The present hotel opened up in 1924. It has been visited by numerous famous guests such as Presidents Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Harry Truman. Other famous guests such as Babe Ruth, Tony Benett, and Barbra Streisand used this luxury hotel for their stay in Hot Springs. But does this hotel have a dark past? Is it home to ghosts or spirits? Does Al Capone have a link to the occult? Is that what's causing the hauntings? These are questions that I am going to explore in this post. I touched on some of these topics in my video, but did not go into great detail. You can do a internet search for this famous hotel and you will find many online posts about visitors getting scared, lights turning on and off by themselves, toilets flushing, strange sounds, and full body apparitions that disappear. One of the best websites to visit is ghostinmysuitcase.com where you will find many ghostly stories.
After doing an extensive internet search for hauntings and paranormal activity I decided to visit this huge hotel to see if there was any truth to what people were saying. I had been to Hot Springs, Arkansas on many occasions before and visited the lobby of the hotel but never stayed the night. We decided to stay one night to see if we could catch anything on video or on camera or have a personal experience. My goal was to try to get a staff member to talk to me about their experiences and some of the stories they heard from guests.
For the price of the room, I hoped that the accommodations were as grand as the old hotel. I was wrong. It's old and the rooms need a little work and updating. But that's what you get when you stay in a historic place. At least it was clean. I wasn't there to do a hotel review anyway. We were there to look for the presence of the paranormal.
In my mind, I wondered if Al Capone and the other gangsters that stayed at this hotel opened doorways to the demonic realm with all their nefarious activities. Could I find a link to occult practices that is causing these hauntings? Was the mob somehow connected to the occult?
The 4th floor is famous because of Al Capone. When he came to Hot Springs, he would rent out the entire 4th floor for his entourage where they would run their operations. His favorite room was 443. There he made a few modifications including a trap door to quickly escape authorities. It is said that he was nice to everyone that he met in Hot Springs and it was the only place that he felt safe. After a long exhaustive internet search, I cannot find any records or mentions of murders that happened in the hotel. One thing I found interesting although, was that Capone was haunted by a ghost that he called Jimmy. Jimmy was supposedly one of the victims from the Valentine's Day Massacre.
I don't believe in merely ghosts that haunt people, but I do believe in evil spirits that can torment us. They can take on the form of whatever they want and actually do physical harm. It's not to far fetched to think that in all his dealings and murders that he opened those doorways. Even in prison, Capone was haunted by this "ghost" and would scream out in terror. Some believe that it could have been a hallucination caused from syphilis, while others say that some of the prisoners reported seeing an apparition in Capone's cell at Alcatraz. He even tried to get a medium to contact the spirit and make it go away.
The Arlington Hotel was also frequented by other notorious mobsters and gang members. Johnny Torrio and Lucky Luciano are two famous mobsters that also stayed in Hot Springs. With their ties to the Italian Mafia "Cosa Nostra" and evil dealings, it makes sense that something, a presence, or an entity could have been left behind.
I would need further research to determine whether or not the mafia participated in Satanic rituals and I'm sure other people are researching this. All I could find at this time, as far as ritual for the Cosa Nostra, was a blood oath.
With all that said, what about the hauntings?
11th floor of Arlington Hotel
As I previously stated, it was my goal to get a staff member to talk to me. I was in luck. I cannot divulge who it was here because I do not want to get them into trouble for talking. The staff told me that they are not allowed to talk about all the paranormal activity that happens there to the guests, but they were surprisingly willing to share with me stories after they found out why I was staying.
They told me that some visitors reported seeing an apparition of a lady in white with a small child on the roof. You can see her from the front of the hotel as she jumps with the child to fall to the concrete below. They also said that there is a lot of paranormal activity on the 11th floor. One couple checked out of the hotel in a panic because their bath tub had filled up with water all by itself and said they were not coming back. Apparently, a lot of activity also happens in the laundry room. The lady in white can has also been seen by the pool. Then I was also told that a guest left angry that there was nothing paranormal that happened while on her stay. In my research, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.
There are also stories of a 1920's flapper girl in the lobby and bar area that guests unknowingly interact with.
So what about our experience?...
We stayed in room 434. I wanted to stay on the same floor as the Al Capone Suite. The above pictures show our room and also the bathroom door that seemed to open by itself while I was in there. I was washing my hands when the door opened by itself. I did not touch it. I thought that my husband was opening the door although, I hadn't heard any footsteps. I quickly realized that no one was outside the door. Freaked out a little, I said "Hey, did you open this door?" He said, "No". I said, "Uh, it just opened by itself." I quietly prayed and rebuked whatever presence was there. Getting my wits back, I pulled the door shut noticing that the doorknob was somewhat loose and that I had to pull really hard to get it to click. I debunked the door because I had not pulled it shut all the way and I believe a change in pressure allowed the door to open by itself. It was easy to open by barely pushing with my finger when it wasn't latched.
During my walk through of the 4th floor, I started snapping pictures. One in particular caught my eye. I'm going to let you guys be the judge because some people can see something in this picture and others say it's just smudges on the glass. Look past the smudges. I know the window is dirty with fingerprints. If you want to see what I think it is, watch my video on Youtube. I could be wrong though in my attempt to find something paranormal. It's all subjective. I don't believe at this time I captured hard objective evidence of an entity.
You can also visit my Facebook page where I enlarged and lightened the photo. Like I said, you be the judge.
The next morning after breakfast we packed up and headed home. Well, actually to Magic Springs where it was over 100 degrees and I thought I was going to die! We left not knowing if there was really anything there. I'm going to be honest. I did not feel any evil presence like I have before at other places. That doesn't mean there isn't anything there. I was prayed up before I went into this investigation to protect myself and my family. I went into this with the understanding that their could be a malevolent spirit at this hotel. Also, I know that Hot Springs is also home to many pagan worshippers and a meet up place for rituals. You can research this online for yourself.
With all the online stories from previous guests of poltergiest and paranormal manifestations, it's hard not to say that this place isn't haunted. There are too many stories. Also, with the history all of the gangsters that stayed here, we really don't know everything that happened behind closed doors and what kind of evil activities they were doing. It is my belief that they opened doorways to the demonic realm in all their mafia dealings. If the doorways weren't open at the hotel, then it is possible that they followed the gangsters here to the hotel and Hot Springs to torment the living.
I can also understand why the management doesn't want a bunch of ghost hunters running around trying to interact and contact the dead. It would just make the problem worse because they would be drawing the spirits in. Plus, they don't want to scare off the guests. If you do visit Hot Springs, be sure to stop by or check in at this famous hotel. You may get more than your money's worth!!
On a sidenote:
A word of advice and caution. If you do decide to visit places that are reportedly haunted, make sure that you pray for protection before going in. Put on the whole armor of God. I do this to prove the existence of the supernatural and to find links to the occult and how doorways are opened to the spiritual realm. I also look for demonic activity at these places. I do this to help make people aware that there is more than the eye can see. Be aware that some places can be spiritual charged with evil and do not take this lightly. If demons can trick you into believing your dear old Grandma is visiting from the dead to get you to interactwith them, they will. Then bad things start to happen. So be careful.
Disclosure: All thoughts and opinions in this post are my own and may not reflect the thoughts and opinions of others. This post is not sponsored. It may contain affiliate links or links to other websites.
No comments:
Post a Comment