Ghost Investigation: Hand Hotel, Fairplay Co.
The original hotel was built in 1931 by Jake and Jessie Hand and was furnished with western and Indian memorabilia from the South Park area. The interesting décor and the hospitality created a steady clientele keeping the hotel booked months ahead. The guests enjoyed fishing and hunting excursions as well as day trips into the local mountains.
For breakfast, many guests found tasty trout on the menu caught from the nearby fresh water stream by Jessie Hand herself. She continued fishing until the day of her death.
After visiting the Hotel two years ago while doing a UFO investigation, it’s been my wish to come back and perform a ghost investigation there. Some of the interesting paranormal events which have occurred at the hotel include:
Full body apparitions seen in the hallway on the second floor.
Little girls seen near the stair case.
Facial appearances coming from a mirror in one of the rooms.
Child size impressions on newly made beds.
Playful toying with males in one of the rooms.
Grandma Hand herself appearing to make sure her personal room is kept tidy.
Communicated noises and smells popping in and out of certain rooms.
Shadow figures.
And some say a “demonic dog” lurking in the basement which actually bit one of the previous visitors to the hotel.
Ok, now you see why I was so intrigued with this particular establishment. The hotel manager, Mike couldn’t have been more neighborly giving our team carte blanche of the whole establishment. Taking three rooms for ourselves, two of them having previous “ghostly” experience, we had complete access to other rooms including the basement to further our investigative needs. And boy, the basement was the place to be. One of the hotel stories tells about a “madame” who brought her girls in from Denver and took over the second floor one summer. During that time frame a local doctor visited the hotel and performed abortions on the pregnant “girls of the night” then buried the fetuses in the basement. The following is just a taste of what we accomplished that long but short night. Short because we lost an hour due to daylight savings time. As we go through the hours of tapes and audio, we will be releasing more information on this investigation in which I’ve already caught a couple strange anomalies including some possible EVPs. (Electronic Voice Phenomenon)
(Clockwise from left: Daniel, Genevieve, Trina, Matt & Sarah)
Saturday March 13th was our day to visit the Hotel. The “UFOnut” team consisted of me, Matt, Trina, Genevieve, Daniel and Sarah. Originally we were slated to break up into 3 two-person teams, but unusual occurrences, which you would expect while ghost hunting warranted us to convert to 2 three-person teams. At this time let’s just say it was safer to stay in larger groups.
Equipment ready to be put to good use. Paranormal style.
This image was taken by my Nishika 35mm 3-D camera. (Don’t forget to look at the center vertical black bar and slightly cross your eyes to achieve a third 3D image in the center)
Our equipment setup consisted having two low light Sony CCD DVR cameras stationary. One in the upstairs hallway, and the other in Grandma Hand’s personal bedroom just to the right of this picture. At the time of writing this blog, I’m still going through hours of DVR data. Even though some people seem to think this part of the investigation is boring, I for one enjoy every second looking for strange anomalies.
(Nishika 35mm 3-D camera picture)
We had two Sony night shot 8mm cameras stationary in the basement, one positioned in an area we expected the aborted fetuses were buried, and the other covering an area which included our investigative sessions and a sealed underground tunnel.
(Nishika 35mm 3-D camera picture)
Two more hand held cameras were used; One taken by each team while venturing in the basement and the other manned by Matt, which was used to document the investigation. This Nishika image was taken in complete darkness. The image shows what most ghost investigators have to deal with while walking around. “The hazards of the investigation”. While maneuvering around in these close and darkened quarters, we also carried two ghost hunting EMF meters, a K2 meter, a Natural Tri-Field EMF meter, temperature meters, digital recorders, red LED flashlights, and assorted props to coerce the spirits. We weren’t there to mess around, we meant business and were ready to tackle any “paranormal” situation.
Now, tackling the “paranormal” situation is a different story. If you ever hear of anyone who does ghost investigations say they’ve seen it all or can deal with any paranormal situation, they’re not being truthful. Trust me, we got scared plenty of times that night, but always went back for more. Why? Because we’re stupid that’s why. Anyone who does this has to have a screw loose or just be a UFOnut. It’s always the thrill of any investigation which drives us further…further into the unknown. This particular investigation had plenty of surprises and I guarantee there is something going on at the Hand Hotel. The responses we were getting through our Q & A (EMF meter) sessions were just outstanding. During our verbal sessions and experiments we experienced cold sensations, responses through our EMF meters and one of our team members not only felt something or someone brushing against their leg (not once but numerous times), but also sensed a touch from the apparition. A burning sensation was felt on their lower back elevating to sunburn potential. Marks were seen on the skin and immediately nausea set in, so the session had to be cut short. How do you handle a situation like that? We reconvened upstairs went through a video debriefing then re-organized and went right back to it. Why? Because that’s what you do. Face your fears and deal with them. I’m still learning to face my fears and that’s what makes this type of investigation exciting.
Here’s something interesting to note. After our team member Daniel made it back home, he went to bed to catch up on some z’s before he had to work Sunday night. He was awakened by a strange dream of an old lady telling him that he had taken something of hers. Not knowing what to think about the dream and considering all possibilities, he abruptly got out of his bed and started going through the clothes he was wearing earlier that morning. Guess what? He had forgot to turn in his room key to the front desk. Coincidence or could it have been Grandma Hand scolding him for taking home one of her room keys? Needless to say I contacted the Hand Hotel front desk and immediately mailed the key back to them. Grandma Hand was one tough cookie and none of my team including me, want to get on her bad side.
Matt and I are still going through the video looking for any evidence of the paranormal nature. I will blog on this investigation again releasing any evidence we find. Hopefully we’ll be able to add video too! Good hunting.
Category: Hauntings & the Paranormal, Investigations, The Z-Files
