Creepy 1880s hotel draws seekers of the paranormal
Visitors report seeing apparitions, hearing strange sounds
BALLINGER, Texas — The activity never stops at the Olde Park Hotel in Ballinger. From full-body apparitions to cold spots, this century-old hotel is a hot spot for the paranormal.
The San Angelo Standard-Times reports the two-story hotel, built in the 1880s, looks like a haunted house from a movie. Walking in, those who hope to see something spectral may even feel a spooky shift in the atmosphere.
A dull, gold-lit sign from the 1950s sits above the check-in area, where Connie and Dan LaFave can be found most weekends. The two local teachers, who used to be paranormal investigators, took ownership of the hotel a couple of years ago.
They now allow tours and overnight stays. The tours usually happen from 6-11:30 p.m., and most of the guests experience some kind of activity.
The first night they spent at the hotel, Dan experienced just how active the spirits are. They had just finished giving their first ghost tour and were too tired to drive back to San Angelo.
“Our anticipation level was way up,” Dan said. “When you are staying overnight for the first time, you’re just waiting for it.”
The two were asleep in the first-floor bedroom when Dan felt a hand massaging his scalp. He thought it was Connie, but when he saw what it was, he jolted.
“Her face was above me, looking right at me,” Dan said. He jumped out of bed, and as he landed the apparition vanished.
Dan remembered the apparition was a woman in a black 1800s-style dress with white and red on her sleeves. Her curly black locks tumbled down her back. Dan said she was not transparent at all.
“She wasn’t necessarily scary-looking. She was a real person,” Dan said. “Looking back on it, I thought she looked like a brothel woman.”
He more research about the hotel and discovered it had served as a brothel twice.
At the end of the firstfloor hallway is a workshop, and Dan said women sometimes say they feel uneasy around that room. This workshop is believed to be haunted by a man, possibly the husband of the former owner.
“I know the presence in there doesn’t like women going in,” Connie said. “He’s just a grumpy old fart and I don’t let him bother me.”
Once, when Dan was leading a tour of seven women, he took them to the workshop and the spirit got angry.
“All of a sudden, the woman in front of the group asks, ‘What’s that,’” Dan said.
She saw a head peek out of one of the rooms and retreat. As they all talked and watched the door, it happened again. Then a small, shadowy figure the size of a child walked between two more rooms.
“It’s not over yet,” Dan said. “We have a big one … a cowboy, and his head doesn’t clear the doorway. He leaned out of that same doorway the little boy came out of and followed. He blotted out the whole hallway.”
Dan switched on the light, and the workshop ghost hurled an object that made a loud noise. One of the women fainted and two of them fled, Dan said. Four of them remained and wanted to finish the tour.
“All the history of the hotel is gradually starting to come back,” Connie said. “We wanted to share what we know. It has become an icon now.”
The main part of the Olde Park Hotel was already a house in Ballinger in 1886. It started as a white, twostory house, Connie said, citing photos she found doing research.
It has been a restaurant, a brothel, a boarding house and more. The couple is constantly researching to find out more about the building.
“We decided to in order to honor the families that owned the place and to keep their history alive, we decided to name a lot of the rooms after the people that used to live here,” Connie said. “We’ve even got one named after us.”
For those interested in seeing the place at its scariest, the LaFaves are throwing their third annual Hallo-Scream Haunted House event.
“What better place to do it than an already haunted building?” Dan said. “We totally convert it. We black out the windows, have fog machines; we’ve got special effects. … We’ve got 30 scary actors, and these guys are creepy.”
“We close the hotel two weeks prior to finish” preparations, Dan said. “We will run hundreds of people through here each night.”
All the proceeds go toward restoration of the hotel.