Ep. 64 - America’s Most Haunted Hotel

Summary

Podcast Summary: My Victorian Nightmare
Host: Genevieve Mannion
Episode: 64 – America’s Most Haunted Hotel
Date: October 13, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this extra-spooky October edition, Genevieve Mannion explores the notorious Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas—reputed as “America’s Most Haunted Hotel.” Delving into its Victorian origins, gruesome history, infamous scams, and reported hauntings, Genevieve weaves together folklore, personal anecdotes, and historical research. This episode also features a spiritualist segment with medium Jennifer Page from the “I Talk to Ghosts” podcast, where Genevieve shares an emotional reading and discusses the nature of spirits and connections beyond the grave.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Victorian Hauntings & Shared Sorrow

• [04:17] Genevieve welcomes listeners to a month of “extra spooky stuff,” turning her attention to the Crescent Hotel after a brief segment on ghost-proof Victorian children and the bloody history of Leap Castle in Ireland.
• Victorian culture’s deep fascination with death, spiritualism, mourning, and the supernatural sets the tone for the rest of the episode.

2. With Their Own Eyes: Leap Castle (Ireland)

• [05:00–12:30] Genevieve reads from an 1869 article describing Leap Castle’s hauntings:
  • Children who are indifferent to ghosts.
  • Accounts of a “woman in red” and a terrifying elemental spirit.
  • The castle’s bloody history: murders, rival clans, a spiked dungeon, and mass poisonings.
  • Personal reflection: visiting Ireland, family connections to the famine, and a poignant story of her father’s lost sobriety pin at an ancestral grave.
• Quote: “It would be strange if Leap Castle was not haunted.” (From the 1869 article, 05:07)

3. Spiritualist Segment: Seance Room & Medium Reading with Jennifer Page

• [16:11–29:13] Genevieve features a reading with Jennifer Page, medium and host of "I Talk to Ghosts".
• Jennifer directly connects to Genevieve’s paternal grandmother, describing her as caring, reliable, and a collector of miniatures—details confirmed by Genevieve (e.g., a collection of tiny "salts").
• Warm family stories, spiritual validation, and a discussion about soulmates.
  • Quote: “She feels like you are a soulmate to her. That you’re very alike. Like two peas in a pod.” – Jennifer Page (21:54)
• Discussion about the nature of spiritual connections, advice from spirits, and where they “exist”:
  • Spirits don’t foresee the future so much as “tune into your energy.”
  • On “where are they?”:
    • Quote: “The material world that we are in is just condensed energy... I do believe we keep the aspects of what we were here, but we’re more and we’re everything.” – Jennifer Page (27:21)
  • Reincarnation and time as fluid possibilities; spirits are with us, yet also “everywhere, all the time, all at once.”

4. History of the Crescent Hotel

• [29:37–32:58] Genevieve gives a detailed historical account:
  • Built in 1886 as a luxury spa destination, capitalizing on the area’s reputedly healing mineral springs (waters found to be antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory; modest relief for ailments by 19th-century standards).
  • The hotel thrived during the era of “taking the waters.”
  • By the early 20th century, as pharmaceuticals advanced, such spa retreats declined.

5. The Dark Era: Baker Cancer Clinic

• [32:58–39:40] The hotel was repurposed in the 1930s by Norman Baker, a fraudulent “doctor.”
  • Baker marketed a bogus cancer elixir (“Formula 5”), injected into patients up to seven times daily.
  • Despite no medical expertise, Baker’s influence and propaganda (via radio, publications, and even presidential support) lured many desperate patients.
  • It’s estimated up to 100 people died at his clinic; the true toll is unknown.
  • Quote: “It’s bizarre that he was allowed to operate a quack cancer clinic with, like, no problem, but because he used the United States mail to promote his quack cancer clinic, that got him in trouble.” – Genevieve (38:30)
  • Baker was eventually imprisoned for mail fraud, not for the actual deaths caused.
  • Upon release, he tried (and failed) to reclaim the hotel to make it a tuberculosis sanatorium.

6. Fact vs. Legend: Tragedies and Ghosts at the Crescent

• [32:58–40:07] Genevieve investigates the most persistent legend: a woman’s fatal fall from the balcony, sometimes said to be pregnant or pushed.
  • Despite detailed retellings, Genevieve found no historical evidence for this death after exhaustive research.
  • The story persists to “explain” sightings of the ghostly “Girl in the Mist” (also known as Theodora).
  • Quote: “Sorry to bring you to a fabricated situation, but I really wanted to show you around. My descriptions of the place were accurate.” – Genevieve (32:58)

7. Ghostly Residents of the Hotel

• [40:07–44:00] Genevieve narrates sightings and legends tied to the Crescent:
  • Michael: Irish stonemason who died during construction; reportedly haunts Room 218, sometimes interacting physically (e.g., pulling back shower curtains, touching guests’ shoulders, eerie screams).
  • The Girl in the Mist: A spectral woman seen falling from balconies or wandering halls.
  • Little Boy Ghost: Allegedly died of appendicitis; children (living) report playing with him.
  • Nurse Ghost: From the hospital days, seen pushing a gurney in the basement morgue, often accompanied by squeaking wheels.
  • Dr. Ellis: Another spirit from the clinic era—his presence in Room 212 is accompanied by the strong scent of cherry pipe tobacco.
  • Morris the Cat: The hotel’s former resident cat (“General Manager”); after dying in 1994, his ghost is still reportedly seen and felt.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Genevieve’s take on the comfort in old morbid tales:
  “Oh, I feel so refreshed. I woke up today so excited to learn terrible things that it feels like my heart has grown big shiny bat wings.” (02:25)

• On Leap Castle’s Elemental:
  “The thing had the size of a sheep and it was thin and shadow, like... the smell of a decomposing body.” – Quoting Mildred Darby (10:10)

• On her father’s lost AA pin:
  “Dad, maybe they were just so proud that they took it right out of your pocket the moment you arrived.” (12:30)

• Spiritual connections:
  “We want it to be... tangible like that… But are you denying your consciousness? … The material world that we are in is just condensed energy.” – Jennifer Page (27:21)

• Dismissing invented histories:
  “If this happened, it wasn’t documented anywhere. Sorry to bring you to a fabricated situation, but I really wanted to show you around.” (32:58)

• On Michael the Ghost:
  “Some guests have reported hearing a man’s scream coming from the ceiling. And then they claim to see the spectral form of a man fall through the ceiling down through the floor.” (41:25)

• On the ghost cat, Morris:
  “Guests claim to see him still roaming the halls... so they assume it must be the spirit of General Manager Morris still making his rounds.” (43:05)

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Important Timestamps for Segments

• 04:17 – Announcement of the episode’s topic and extra-spooky October plans
• 05:00–12:30 – With Their Own Eyes: Leap Castle’s bloody history and ghosts
• 16:11–29:13 – Medium reading and spiritualist conversation with Jennifer Page (“I Talk to Ghosts”)
• 29:37–32:58 – Crescent Hotel’s history as a spa and retreat
• 32:58–39:40 – The Baker Cancer Clinic era and Norman Baker’s crimes
• 40:07–44:00 – Ghosts and legends of the Crescent, including Michael, Theodora, Dr. Ellis, the nurse, and Morris the cat

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Tone & Style

Genevieve’s narration is witty, self-deprecating, gothic, and enthusiastic—mixing dry facts with warmth and macabre humor. The medium reading segment is notably heartfelt and intimate. The episode maintains a blend of scholarly curiosity, skeptical investigation, and a genuine love for the weird and uncanny.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a rich journey through the eerie intersections of history, legend, and personal spirituality. Genevieve’s careful distinction between myth and record—alongside her willingness to relish the unsettling and emotional—makes this a must-listen for fans of Victorian history, hauntings, and the strange ways the past lingers on.

Transcript

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[Genevieve Mannion]

Hello and welcome to My Victorian Nightmare. I'm your host, Genevieve Mannion, and I'm here to talk about mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian era. Because to me, there's just something especially intriguing, creepy, and oddly comforting about horror and mayhem from the 19th century. So listener discretion is advised. Hello friends, and welcome to this, my 64th episode. I hope that you all enjoyed our little vacation episode last week. I know that I did. I had a glorious vacation in my apartment. I think I left like four times total. I pottered around. I sat a great deal. Oh, the sits. I watched Halloween 5 about 400 times on Shudder. Not because it's good, of course. It just brings me comfort and solace in these dark times. Inexplicably, when I did leave my place, I went for a disaster trolley tour of Greenwood Cemetery with some friends on that gorgeous Saturday that we had last weekend in New York. Like a tour of graves with terrible histories. And I thought, I would love to do that. I would love to lead a tour of the cemetery one day. Maybe I will. Let me know if you'd be into joining me for something like that. Oh, I feel so refreshed. I woke up today so excited to learn terrible things that it feels like my heart has grown big shiny bat wings. This was the epitome of a dream vacation for me. So then, let's get to it. But first, a little Haunted housekeeping. Thank you all so much for rating the podcast on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Thank you for your ever so lovely comments. Thank you for helping yourself to some merch in the [e-mail] where you will also find access to the fan coven. Thank you all everyone who has joined. Those of you who receive the show ad free a day early whomst also receive witchy, inspirational affirmational astrological guidance that I ever so love to share as well as creepy eepy murdery extras a whole extra bloody story from the Victorian era every single week. Again, you can access the Fan coven as well as ever so tasteful merch by visiting myvictorianightmare.com get 40% off Abercrombie.

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[Genevieve Mannion]

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[Genevieve Mannion]

As we now find ourselves monster mashing our way through Halloween season, I will have some extra spooky stuff for you all month long. Every episode this month is going to be covered in goosebumps. Today for you, dear listener, I will be talking about the disturbing history and hauntings of the Crescent Hotel. Built in Eureka Springs, Arkansas in 1886. This hotel is called the Most Haunted Hotel in America, or at least one of the most haunted hotels in America. I do not think that they trademarked that title like the Whaley House trademarked the most haunted house in America. They better get on that. They have some stiff competition. I also was delighted to receive a reading from Medium, Jennifer Page from the I Talk to Ghosts podcast. I'm going to include a bit of that reading in this episode, but you can hear the whole thing on her podcast I Talk to Ghosts, available anywhere you find your spooky podcasts. But first we will have our weekly segment With Their Own Eyes where I discuss the personal haunting accounts of petrified Victorians. Man, I found this little article and it opened up a bloody can of worms. This can was a creepy gift that just kept on giving when I started to dig into it. It comes to us from the spiritualist newspaper from December 3, 1869. The title is A Haunted Castle and it reads it would be strange if Leap Castle was not haunted. It would not be easy to imagine a more appropriate habitation for ghosts considering its antiquity, its traditions, the deeds of violence and blood of which it was the theater, the quaint and curious apartments in the prehistoric dwelling house attached to the castle now used for kitchen and servants apartments, the great trees dying of age and the weird aspect of the whole place. Accordingly, While partaking of Mr. Darby's genial hospitality and going through the building, the ladies told me of several most extraordinary and unaccountable apparitions and noises of which they were themselves personally the witnesses, and which would afford ample materials for a lot of sensational romances. But even these stories were scarcely more strange than the psychological fact that the children of the family are all ghost proof. Even the youngest will go to sleep alone, without light, in rooms where women in white have been seen, where loud laughter and awful shrieks have been heard, and the sounds of feet moving about and of hands cautiously lifting and drawing back bed curtains at the witching hour of night. Okay, I did a little digging into the history of this purported haunted castle. And goodness gracious, that man said a mouthful when he said that it would be strange if it weren't haunted. This was a bloody, bloody hell of a place. This Leap castle is in Rosscrae in County Offleigh, Ireland. It was built in about 1250 AD by the O' Bannon clan, and its history is rather awful. In 1513, the O' Carroll clan took over, and in 1532, a fierce rivalry for leadership of the clan ensued. Two brothers in the clan became sworn enemies. One was a priest, and in the middle of a mass, his brother stormed in and drove a sword right through the other's back. The butchered priest fell across the altar and died in front of the whole family. The chapel where this happened still stands, and it is called the Bloody Chapel by those in the know. In 1922, men working to restore the castle found a hidden dungeon behind the wall of the Bloody Chapel. Inside was found a deep hole full of skele. It was just a hole clearly used to throw prisoners into. 150 human remains were found. They also found a pocket watch that was dated to about 1850, 1860, just about when that article I just read was written. I wonder if the family we read about in that article with the ghost proof children were using that dungeon for their own purposes. The hole contained three thick wooden spikes so you would be impaled when thrown in. The O' Carroll family also hired 40 members of the MacMahon family to train them in new warring techniques in the 1500s. And when they were all done, they invited them to a big feast and poisoned all of them so that they wouldn't have to pay them. Lovely group of folks. Many say that the spirits of the MacMahans still roam the castle. The current owner, a man named Sean Ryan, says that the place is crawling with ghosts. When he moved in and began to restore it, he said that he Was thrown off a ladder twice and various other violent and creepy incidents happened to him. He decided to have a serious heartfelt talk with the spirits and assured them that he was only intending to restore the castle and that they could all stay. From that point on, he hasn't experienced any negative issues, but there are a few, few ghosts that he claims live there. They just don't cause him any harm. How nice. There's an old man ghost who sits in an armchair by the main hall's fireplace. Oh, that's exactly how I want to spend my afterlife. With like a lovely little cup of ghost hot chocolate in hand. There are two little girls known as Emily and Charlotte. One of the girls died by falling out of a window at age 11. It's unclear how the other died, but she suffered from a deformed leg in life. And this little ghost is seen limping. They are said to be seen with another spirit, a kindly woman referred to as the governess, who appears to stay by their side. It's believed that these particular ghosts all lived in the castle in the 16th century. There is also a woman, half naked that is frequently seen and this is terrifying. She will scream a blood curdling scream twice before she disappears. There is also a woman in red seen holding holding a dagger that she raises at people. A woman named Mildred Darby lived in the castle in 1909 and she claimed to see this woman in red. She also claimed in a magazine called the journal Occult Review, which I must find, that the castle has a non human demonic spirit called an elemental. She believed that this may have been a spirit called upon to either curse one of the families or was called upon far earlier in the 12th or 13th century to curse the land itself by the druids who the land was stolen from, either to curse or even perhaps protect their land. That woman, Mildred Darby, she described the elemental spirit in that magazine as such. Quote, I was in the gallery and looked at the floor when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. The thing had the size of a sheep and it was thin and shadow, like the face was human, but it also was not. His decomposed eyes showed some kind of lust. At that point I smelled a horrible smell which made me ill. It was the smell of a decomposing body. Ooh, my God. I've been to Ireland. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever, ever seen. And I stayed in a few castles when I was there and barely slept because I was afraid of this kind of thing happening. Not so much running into stinky Demons. But like any and all manner of slaughtered chieftains, like my family, the Manion clan had a castle that is nothing but like a few pebbles now as I understand it, it was sacked the daylights out of. At some point I'm afraid I may have a few spectral enemies, enemies that might recognize me around those parts. I went with my family a few years back. I've mentioned that my family began immigrating during the Great Hunger, otherwise known as the Potato famine in the 1800s and we visited a number of mass graves that have single stones commemorating the hundreds if not thousands of people beneath our feet, including my family. And my father brought with him his 30 year sober pin. They give you pins in AA to mark your days and years sober. He wanted to leave it there to show our family that despite the hardships that their sons and daughters who fled to the US endured and the alcoholism, many of them used to cope. Quite a number of my first generation Irish American ancestors were rather famous in the police blotters of the day. He wanted to bring his pin and show the family that we're okay now, that we're safe, we are well and we haven't forgotten where we came from. And my dad lost the pin on the way from the car to the stone. Damn it. We laughed and I said, dad, maybe they were just so proud that they took it right out of your pocket the moment you arrived. Who can say? I just know that I'm so proud of him. Okay, before we make our way to the creepy Eepy hotel, won't you follow me into the seance room where I usually discuss the goings on in the spiritualist society of the 1800s. But today I have a very exciting spiritualist experience to share. Not from the 1800s, but from my very own reading with medium Jennifer Page, hostess of the I Talk to Ghosts podcast. And I have to say, first of all, I love this gal and her show. We had so much fun with the reading, but we also ended up just talking witchy stuff for like two hours afterwards. It was delightful. She told me a number of weeks ago to think of someone that I wanted to speak with in the reading and not to tell her who it was. Instantly I knew that I wanted to talk to my grandma on my dad's side, but I didn't tell her like she asked as the reading began. I thought she was going to start by asking me who I wanted to speak with. And she didn't ask that, she just said okay, so your grandmother on your dad's side came forward and she picked up another notebook to show me all of the notes that she had taken over the previous week of messages that my grandma wanted to share. This was before we started recording. I got teary straight away. I pulled it together when we started recording those. So take a listen to this snippet of my I Talk to Ghosts Reading with Jennifer Page.

Thank you, Jennifer, so much for having me. This is so exciting. Would you talk a little bit about your show to my audience so that they can find you and also just let them know what you're about? Absolutely.

[Jennifer Page]

So I had it in my heart for a while there that, oh, let me make a podcast. I just want to share ghost stories. I want it to be atmospheric. I want it to be emotional. I want it to be like theater of the mind. I just think it's so funny that the podcast became Ghost Stories and Medium Readings. And when I was open to the idea of sharing readings on the show, I also got the inspiration for A Message from the Spirits, which is a segment on the show where I open up the space for a spirit to come in connected to someone listening to the podcast. So a listener could very well be getting a message that episode as well.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Oh, wow.

[Jennifer Page]

I'm also a very spiritual person, and I love sharing my readings, and I feel like the podcast just continues to evolve, and I love it so much, and to share that with everyone is just amazing and how it becomes its own thing and it starts to shape you and influence you. So, yeah, I talk to Ghost Ghost Stories and mediumship.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Fabulous, amazing podcast. Definitely give it a listen, everyone. Thank you so much, Jennifer. Thank you.

[Jennifer Page]

I'm excited to have you here. I feel like magic is afoot.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Yes. Yes. We are ready to go.

[Jennifer Page]

I was explaining before we met that I kind of opened the space beforehand. And some mediums ask, who do you want to connect with? But I love to just lead in and see who's there first.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Okay.

[Jennifer Page]

A woman really stepped forward with a lot of motherly grandmother energy, and she feels like she's the one that you wanted to talk to tonight.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Yes. That is.

[Jennifer Page]

She's expressing it on her side. It is a shame that she passed when she did because it would have been great to know her more and share a knowledge.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Okay.

[Jennifer Page]

One thing that she had shared with me was that she was the type of person who managed a lot, almost like, made it easy, and, like, wow, how do you do? How do you do what you do? But then she talks about how her health burdens made her slow down and she had to stop that so that is what she shared with me.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Yes. Yes. My grandmother on my father's side.

Yes.

She died of lung cancer. And she was the woman. She was the matriarch of the whole family. She was the one who. Every Christmas, every Thanksgiving, she was the one who. I just sat back and went, how do you do this? She just made the most wonderful home. Yes. And events for the whole family. And just. They just appeared to happen. And only as I got older did I realize just how much work and how much care and how much effort and difficulty it must have been for her. Yes.

[Jennifer Page]

She's flowing in with a lot of this nurturing, growing energy, Very solid, reliable. Reliable is such.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Like a dry word.

No, but that's the word. That's a word that I would use for her. My grandmother and my grandfather on that side were always so comforting, especially as soon as I'd walk in the. In the home. In their home, all was right with the world.

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Yes.

[Genevieve Mannion]

You know, it was that feeling of everything safe. We're perfectly cared for.

[Jennifer Page]

And they're proud of. They're proud of that. That's what their goal was. You know, they're like, look at these riches that we can pass on in legacy. And your grandfather is coming through with. He, to me, is like, wow, he is a smart man.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Yes, he was a very smart man.

[Jennifer Page]

And it feels like he led with his ideas and his intellect. But your grandmother was guided by her heart.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Yes, very much.

[Jennifer Page]

And there's something about the teeniness of things. Like, I don't know if it's every little detail or if they're. I'm feeling like a dollhouse, you know, like miniatures and like the teeny coziness of. Of things.

[Genevieve Mannion]

My grandmother. Should I say.

Go ahead.

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Yeah.

[Genevieve Mannion]

My grandmother collected. They were called salts. They were very, very tiny, small, little bowls, little things that you would. They were very fancy, often made of crystal. And she had an entire tier, multi.

Tier.

Thing that she kept. And I loved to look at them and I loved to play with them.

We weren't allowed to touch them, actually.

I was only allowed to look at them and I would just look and stare. Yeah, she. She collected all of these little miniature beautiful things. Yeah, yeah, that. That. That's the teeniness that I would. That immediately comes to mind. Well, she definitely loved. She loved miniature. She loved. There were these little figurines, and she had these figurines that represented all of the grandchildren. All of them, all of us. And when they passed, they gave them to us, each one of them. And. Yeah. So she Was definitely a collector of small things that represented. Were, you know, very important to her and represented family to her, for sure.

[Jennifer Page]

Oh, that's awesome.

[Genevieve Mannion]

That is awesome.

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Okay.

[Jennifer Page]

She was bringing up the word soulmate.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Soulmate.

[Jennifer Page]

And it feels like it has so many different layers to it. Let me single you out a little bit. But she feels like you are a soulmate to her. That you're very alike. Like two peas in a pod.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jennifer Page]

And that you were meant to have this connection.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Oh, I love that so much. I love that so much. She gave me a. I'm not a Christian, but she had this beautiful Madonna porcelain that she had on her dresser. And I would always go. The first thing I would do, apart from running downstairs to the basement to play, is I would always sneak off and I go up to the bedroom and I would talk to it, because I actually kind of felt that it was a statue of she and her and me, because she. That it had, you know, it's the Madonna with the baby Jesus. And it kind of was like my representation of my relationship with my grandma. And she left it to me in the end, and before I even knew, she had given it to me in a dream I had a few days beforehand. She came to me in a dream, and there was a big bowl of jelly beans on the table and the Madonna right next to it. And I had just dyed my hair black at the time. And the first thing she said was, jenny, I really liked your hair better the way it was before. She had her smoky, smoky voice. And I was like, I know Grandma, of course, because she always loved the red hair. The red hair was like this badge of honor in the Manning family. And then two days, three days later, that's when I found out that the Madonna was left next to the bowl. Easter was three days later, and there was a bowl of jelly beans right next to it. Wow. Yeah. So it's. I absolutely feel that way, too, about her. It was. I had a very, very deep connection to her, and she. To me.

[Jennifer Page]

Yeah, she. You could use the sentiment of. First off, she's very proud of you. And you could say if you were going to translate this into words that you take after her, but she feels like it's more profound than that. It's like you're the same. Taking after someone is kind of like, oh, I'm inspired, and I'm mimicking. Whereas when you're the same and your soulmates, you know, your souls are linked and similar, like little puzzle pieces. That is very different than you taking after someone yes.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. There was much more to that reading, which I hope you will all check out on her show. I talk to ghosts. It was so wonderful. But I want to share just a little more here. I asked her a bit about spirits in general, like, how do they know what's in store for us? How do they know what advice to give in meteor readings? I asked because she gave me some really lovely advice that she said my grandmother wanted to give me. Again, you can hear more of the reading on her show, but this is what she said about how spirits know what's in store for us and how we should navigate our paths per se, and why they want to communicate these things to us. And I also asked her, where are they? I loved how she answered these questions. Here's what she said.

How do they know? Do they see my life already played out? You know, I wonder that, you know.

[Jennifer Page]

That is a great question, because sometimes I get, like, people want future advice or law advice, and it's not so much that it's all played out and destined. What they're doing is they're in tune with your energy, and they're blending with your energy, and they know what you need to hear. It's inspirational. It's validating.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Okay.

[Jennifer Page]

And when they have this microphone to be able to say it, it's like, how do we concentrate this down? I will never not be fascinated and awestruck by how complex just the soul is and how it continues on and how we are connected and. And how precise they really can be. And, yeah, they feel your energy. Of course. They see what you're doing. We can definitely share emotion and sentiment, and they know it. And if they have the opportunity, they're like, yes, we're gonna tell you. You are so right. And cheerlead you on. Please keep going.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Wow. And may I ask just one more question? Absolutely. Where are they? Are they in our realm but invisible? Are they in another realm and just connected to ours? I would love to know. I mean, you know, where is a term of the third dimension? So maybe beyond the third dimension. Where they may not be. Where may not be it.

[Jennifer Page]

You have such an analytical brain like me, because I'm like, where? Where is it?

[Genevieve Mannion]

Yeah, but I understand that, yeah, I might be limit. I'm. I can tell I'm limited by the word, but I would just love to understand, really, how to wrap my mind around it. Okay.

[Jennifer Page]

As best I can understand it, we've got this 3D world that we're navigating and we're in, but that is not all there is. It's just so compelling and hypnotic to us. It's like we're hypnotized by it and we want everything to be tangible like that. We want it to be. I can hold it in my hands. Is it right here or is it up above or below? Is it light years away from me? I immediately start thinking of consciousness. Like, how do you quantify your consciousness? How do you quantify the images you're seeing in your mind's eye right now? That isn't physical. But are you denying your consciousness? Are you denying your existence? So they're already melded together. You're just in this. The material world that we are in is just condensed energy. And I can't pretend to know what that's like to, you know, pass on. But I do believe we keep the aspects of what we were here, but.

[Genevieve Mannion]

We'Re more and we're everything interesting.

[Jennifer Page]

And I think that reincarnation can fit into that. I think that everything, all the time, all at once, can fit into that. Your grandmother could be making a metaphysical omelet somewhere right now. She could be in the past, she could be in the future. She could be here with you now.

[Genevieve Mannion]

Isn't that fascinating? I keep a big open mind to all of this and I enjoyed my reading so much and since simply adored talking with Jennifer. So again, to hear the full reading, check out her awesome podcast, I Talk to Ghosts Anywhere you find your spooky podcasts.

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[Genevieve Mannion]

Learn [e-mail] okay, let us make our way to the Crescent Hotel. My main references for Today are an ozarksalive.com article, a usghostadventures.com article, and a steemit.com article by Winston Wolfe. All of my other resources can be found in the show notes. The Crescent Hotel opened its doors in 1886, and for a few years prior to its opening, the water in the area was found to have healing properties. In the mid-1800s, a man named Alva Jackson claimed to have used water, water from one of the 60 springs in the area to cure his son's eye troubles. And during the Civil War, the water was used to Treat soldiers wounds. I looked into this to see if there was any science backed info on why the springs would have been thought to cure or treat health conditions. And I did find some. Eureka Springs water contains a number of minerals like sulfur chloride and bicarbonate. These are antimicrobial, anti inflammatory and keratolytic. Keratolytic? Yes. These minerals treat psoriasis. And the waters are also very alkaline. This can contribute to speeding up of wound closure. There were actually a number of other benefits to bathing in these kinds of mineral springs that I found. But that being said, none of the effects of bathing in mineral springs rival modern medical treatments for any conditions. In other words, the anti inflammatory properties of these springs do not rival Advil for example. But in a time where Advil did not exist or effective psoriasis or eczema treatments, folks would find some relief by soaking in these waters. So the hotel was built for this sole purpose of creating a wellness retreat. You may have heard the term taking the waters. This meant going to a fancy spa retreat and soaking in the healing waters waters till pruny and enjoying a lovely fireside glass of sherry in the hotel lobby till bedtime. Sounds divine. The hotel was very successful in those early days. But by the turn of the century folks were less inclined to whisk themselves away to take the waters as they were to take an aspirin or use medications that were rapidly being developed for ailments or conditions that would inspire them to to take a trip to places like Eureka Springs. But rather than close in 1908, the hotel became a college for young women and operated as such until the 1930s when the school was purchased by one of the most evil human beings of all time. But before we discuss the most disturbing history of this hotel, won't you follow me through these large oak doors into the lobby of this gorgeous Crescent hotel. We're going back in time a little bit. It's October 1889 and the hotel opened just three years ago. Hello Robert. Good evening Miss Manning. I do trust you're enjoying your stay. Oh, very much, thank you. We have taken the waters and we would love a cozy night in.

[Jennifer Page]

Oh, isn't that fine.

[Genevieve Mannion]

We're just gonna go have a seat by the pipes. Would you say send over some sherry's? You betcha, I'll send them right over. Thank you kindly Robert. Right this way to these very fashionable settees. Oh, the pipes. This gorgeous pipe organ was installed in 1886. These are just the pipes. The organ itself is right around the corner. It has some lovely naked ladies carved into it and even stained glass windows inside of it. It's absolutely beautiful. I put the pictures on Instagram. And this marvelous white stone fireplace has the most lovely details. I love that. That fire screen looks like a peacock. It just feels like a gingerbread house in here, doesn't it? With its elegantly detailed pillars. Oh, I could just stay here with you all night, but sadly, we will be ushered out in not too much time. I really hope our drinks get here before tragedy. Oh, thank you very much. There we are. Chin chin. As I said, in not too much time. Something quite awful. Oh, yes. You might want to close your eyes. Oh, my. Okay, come with me. Quickly. Now, a young woman has fallen from the third or fourth floor balcony over the stairs and landed on that first step. Her neck is broken. She may or may not be pregnant. She may or may not have been pushed. Let's just make our way over to the Crystal Ballroom. Now, there's a reason why I'm not quite as concerned as usual. I haven't lost my heart, I promise. It's just that, well, none of this actually really happened. Everywhere you look, when you read about the tragic history of the hotel, you will find this story. Sometimes the woman is pregnant. Sometimes she's not. Sometimes she may have been pushed. Sometimes it's the third floor, sometimes it's the fourth floor. But here's the thing. I dug so deep into the history of this hotel for anything even resembling this situation, and I came up entirely empty handed. I checked every newspaper between 1886 to 1940. I checked the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Nothing. I checked the archives from when the hotel became a college. Nothing there either. Library of Congress. If this happened, it wasn't documented anywhere. Sorry to bring you to a fabricated situation, but I really wanted to show you around. My descriptions of the place were accurate. And it was either a trip to the hotel in its Victorian glory days, or it its era as a quack cancer hospital led by a psychopath. I'd rather just tell you that history instead of bringing you there. In the late 1830s, the hotel became the Baker Cancer Clinic. A man named Norman Baker, a broadcaster, inventor, hypnotist, actor, writer and liar, purchased the hotel to to turn it into a clinic where he would administer his cancer curing elixir, what he called Formula 5. This was a mixture of alcohol, glycerol, carbolic acid, ground watermelon seeds, corn silk and clover leaves. It would be injected into tumors up to seven times a day. Baker stole this recipe from another conman it did nothing but offer a entirely false hope to people in the very most vulnerable of positions. He wasn't a doctor. In fact, he had no medical education or experience at all. But he had developed a significant following through his radio broadcasts and publications. He ran one of the United States most powerful radio stations, KN T N, which stood for Know the Naked Truth. He printed newspapers and magazines. He essentially created all of his very own propaganda. All of his operations began to exist for the sole purpose of directing people toward his cancer clinic enterprise. Other phony hospitals would be open as well. This man hit pay dirt. He was even able to convince President Herbert Hoover to support him after contributing a substantial amount of money to his campaign for president. Of course, in not too much time, the American Medical association got wind of this horrible, despicable person, and they got his radio station shut down for lying about his cancer cure, quote, unquote. But people still came to his clinics. He continued to administer this poison to people, and they did die. It is estimated that up to 100 people died in his clinic, but there are no, no substantiated figures in that regard. People certainly were not cured there. And the truth began to spread. In 1839, local leaders threatened to turn the water off to the clinic because despite how much money Baker was making off his cancer cure, and he was making a lot of money, he hadn't paid his water bill, and he was arrested for mail fraud because he sent materials claiming that he cured cancer. It's bizarre that he was allowed to operate a quack cancer clinic with, like, no problem, but because he used the United States mail to promote his quack cancer clinic, that got him in trouble. I'm sure federal authorities were just like, chomping at the bit to use any governmental loophole to shut this guy down, and that one was solid. Baker was sentenced to to four years in prison and a $4,000 fine, which doesn't at all feel like nearly enough by any stretch of the imagination. As soon as he got out, he actually tried to buy back the crescent, which had been seized and turned into a hotel again, but he was denied, thank God. He wanted to turn it into a tuberculosis sanatorium and no doubt administer some. Some other kind of snake oil. He allegedly retired to Florida, where he lived out the rest of his monster life on a yacht. He died in 1959. The hotel is still open to this day.

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[Genevieve Mannion]

Now there's another reason why I took you to the hotel. To show you that terrible death, fabricated as it may have been. The reason that legend exists is to explain the origin of a female ghost known as the Girl in the Mist that roams the hallways. Although the legend of her origin is not true, this female ghost has been seen by a number of people. They call her Theodora, a misty female form that some folks claim to have seen falling from the balconies. Let's talk about a few more of the spectral guests experienced in the hotel. There is Michael, the most well known ghost in the hotel. He's believed to have been an Irish stonemason who helped to build the hotel in the 1880s. He allegedly fell to his death off the side of the building and his spirit has been allegedly encountered in room 2 18. He set sounds like a creep to be honest. Female guests have reported being touched on their shoulders in their room while showering. Some have said that their shower curtain was quickly pulled back out of nowhere. Some folks have also claimed to see hands coming out of the bathroom mirror and doors opening and closing on their own. And this is the creepiest thing allegedly some guests have reported hearing a a man's scream coming from the ceiling. And then they claim to see the spectral form of a man fall through the ceiling down through the floor. There's a little boy who allegedly died in the hotel in the early 1900s of appendicitis. And a number of children who have stayed in the hotel have reported to play with a little boy with his description down to his old clothing in their rooms. When the hotel was still operating as a quack cancer clinic, there was a morgue in the basement and staff of the hotel claimed to have seen a 1930s style dressed ghost nurse pushing a ghost gurney. And they claim to not have only seen it, but to hear the squeaking of the wheels in the basement. There's another spirit believed to be like another quack doctor that worked there during the clinic days, a Dr. Ellis. He has been reportedly encountered in room 212. He was a pipe smoker and guests in that room claimed to smell cherry pipe tobacco filling the entire room out of nowhere. Now the ghosts aren't all disturbing. This is actually the sweetest thing I'VE read about a ghost in quite some time. The hotel had a cat named Morris who lived for 20 years. They referred to him as the General Manager. He died in 1994 and guests claim to see him still roaming the halls. The hotel no longer keeps a kitty cat on the payroll, so they assume it must be the spirit of General Manager Morris still making his rounds. There's also a lovely painting painting of him in the lobby to this day. If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to hear more, please rate the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Leave me comments because you know I love them so much and join the fan coven to directly support my show. Listen ad free and for even more creepy and witchy content until next time, be kind to yourselves and I will see you in your nightmares.