For years I have been wanting to visit the allegedly haunted city of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and though I live only a short three hour drive away, it took me until this past weekend before I finally made the trip. From a scientific standpoint, the spring water flowing over the limstone creates an electrical charge. From a paranormal standpoint, this energy and the limestone the town is built on are both conduits for increased spritual activity. And since I was planning to have a ghostly weekend, I booked a room at the historic Crescent Hotel, which is considered one of the most haunted hotels in the US.
I checked in and immediately had to make sure I said hi to the manager - Jasper is 17 years old and runs a tight ship when he's not sleeping on the job. His intern, Ozzy, is much younger and spends his days roaming the grounds, making sure nobody is getting into too much trouble.
Soon it was time for my first ghost tour of the weekend - the regular version. This tour included tons of stories of the hauntings and legends surrounding the hotel, as well as some of the history. The Crescent Hotel was built as a luxury resort in 1886 when Eureka Springs was starting to become a popular destination to experience the "healing waters." However, a few decades later, the popularity of healing oneself with spring water declined and the hotel fell into disrepair. In order to make more money, the hotel became the Crescent College and Conservatory for Young Women during the school year. The school closed permanently in 1934, and the hotel fell into disrepair once again, before being purchased by Norman Baker in 1937 and beginning its darkest chapter. Norman Baker was a wealthy inventor turned businessman who decided that he could make even more money by claiming he knew the cure for cancer. It's important to note that he had zero medical training - in fact, he had previously been arrested for impersonating a physician. However, this did not stop him from creating a concoction including, among other things, ground up watermelon seeds, spring water, and carbolic acid. He injected this "cure" into his "patients" up to seven times a day, locking them behind closed doors when they were close to death, and performing illegal autopsies in the makeshift morgue in order to cut out and display the tumors that he claimed to cure. Much of this evidence was hidden for the next 80 years, until hundreds of the vials, jars, and other containers were accidentally unearthed during some landscaping work. Many still contain the "Formula 5", other "medicines," and tissue samples taken from Baker's victims. While tons of bottles have been removed and displayed, there are countless others still buried. It is unknown how deep or extensive the grave of evidence is.
The regular ghost tour lasts around an hour and stops at many of the more famous haunted locations in the hotel. While it does discuss the dark history, it is fairly tame in my opinion. There are a few other options of ghost tour at the Crescent Hotel - the expanded tour, the kids tour, and the midnight paranormal investigation.
In addition to the ghost tours, the Crescent Hotel offers various other daily activities for guests. I signed up for the Sunday yoga class. The class was held outside of the conservatory with a beatiful view, and the instructor was excellent. If yoga isn't your thing, you can enjoy trivia, outdoor games, axe throwing, swimming, and much more.
After yoga and a delicious brunch, I headed downtown to wander around and do some shopping. Eureka Springs is a weird and wonderful town and it far exceeded my expectations. It's beautiful, people are friendly, shops offer a fun selection to browse, and the food I ate was all delicious. Which other town offers working rescue rabbits that hand you receipts, change, and purchases; plenty of nearby hiking and outdoor activities; and a Halloween themed coffee shop?
After wandering around downtown, it was time for my second ghost tour of the weekend, the paranormal investigative tour at the Basin Park Hotel.
The Basin Park Hotel sits on the site of the former Perry House Hotel, which burned to the ground in 1890. The hotel became a regular hangout for Chicago mobsters during Prohibition until the illegal actitives were busted up by the town sheriff. A fun fact about the Basin Park Hotel - because it was built into the side of the mountain, every floor is technically the "ground floor." And unsurprisingly, both the fire and the mob activities triggered plenty of ghostly activity making the paranormal tour pretty darn creepy. I highly recommend booking this if you find yourself in Eureka Springs.
After finishing the Basin Park Hotel investigation, it was soon time for my third ghost tour of the weekend - the Crescent Hotel midnight paranormal investigation. Regarding this final tour - I only have one thing to say: it was terrifying and absolutely worth it. It focuses much less on the history and stories and much more on the investigating, so keep this in mind if you'd rather learn about the hotel.
On my final day in town, I did a little bit more exploring before I left town. On the way out, I stopped at the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. The sanctuary rescues animals from the illegal wildlife trade and offers them a peaceful place to live the rest of their lives. The animals are free to do what they want - whether it's sleep all day, play in their pool, or lounge in the sun. There is a tram tour offered every hour that introduces many of the animals and outside of that, there are plenty of walking paths to wander and enjoy the animals. Of course, as a crazy cat lady, I could have stayed and watched the cats all day. Someday I will - Turpentine Creek offers several options for overnight lodging, and some of them overlook big cat enclosures.
Overall, there is so much to do in Eureka Springs and the surrounding area, and I'm eager to return for more exploration.
