Hotel Conneaut Paranormal Investigation

Hotel Conneaut - 2006

The Grassy Knoll Institute has been following the increased paranormal activity at Hotel Conneaut ever since February of this year, when an arson fire destroyed the amusement park that houses the hotel. On Friday, October 3rd, Patrick (Lead Paranormal Scientist) and myself headed out to the hotel to investigate.

A Little Background On The Site:
Hotel Conneaut, located inside Conneaut Lake Amusement Park, (Conneaut lake, Pennsylvania, 16316) opened its doors in 1903 to park vacationers and has changed very little since then. The hotel has no air conditioner or heater, no TV, no high speed Internet, and no electronic door keys. It was as if when you walked into the lobby, you were transported back in time 50 years.

However, It did boast a full service restaurant named Elizabeth’s and also had the Spirit lounge right off the lobby that served breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A green chalk board would alert the patrons of the menu of the day.

Hotel Conneaut also has a local legend tied to its rich history. As the urban legend goes, in 1943, during World War II, a soldier on leave married Elizabeth, the love of his life and chose Hotel Conneaut to consummate their marriage. His unit was shipping out in three days and he and Elizabeth wanted a peaceful several days before the horrors or war came back into their lives.

But tragedy would strike. On the evening of their marriage, during a heavy thunder storm, a lightning strike ignited the hotels wood roof and a massive fire broke out in the hotel.

Legend has it that the groom (Soldier on leave) survived the fire mistakenly thinking his bride, (Elizabeth) had already exited the hotel and was safe and fled the hotel to join her. However, Elizabeth was still inside the hotel desperately searching for her husband and quickly became trapped by the flames and perished.

After the Hotel reopened, patrons started reporting strange events occurring in the hotel, especially on the third floor, where the bride Elizabeth and her groom stayed. (Room 321 is the room said to be the number letted out to them) People claimed they saw the ghost of Elizabeth dressed in her wedding gown walking the halls searching evermore for her husband. Other people claimed that the water spigots turned on and off on their own and that windows would open and close in their rooms all evening.

Staff members reported that they felt a presence while in the halls and some actually had an entity touch them as they walked the halls. Strange orbs of light that would seem to appear and then float through the hallway walls have also been reported by staff members while making their rounds through the hotel at night. Lights turning on and off seemed the norm for staff members.

Whispers have been heard by many, staff and patrons alike. Most believe it is the last conversation Elizabeth and her husband had just before the fire. The whispers can be heard all over the hotel, in the rooms, halls, restaurant, lounge, and out on the grounds.

The Investigation:
Since the arson fire, paranormal activity has spiked not only in the hotel, but throughout the entire park. There were hundreds of reports of the ghost Elizabeth manifesting itself and strange sounds and occurrences happening in the amusement park section as well. Patrick and I loaded the Jeep with camera’s and video equipment and headed out on Route 11 for the 70 minute ride to Hotel Conneaut.

Make Sure To Click The Thumbnails For Much Larger Pictures For Full Inspection

We Arrived approximately at 8pm and and I snapped this photo right before entering the hotel through the grand entrance. You can tell that the hotel is in disrepair and with limited funds from the park being closed, it may be shuttered for good.

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Upon entering, to the left is a sitting room and library book shelf. Straight on is Elizabeth’s restaurant including the green chalk board with the daily menu written on it. A little to the right is the front desk and further right is the stairway to the hotel rooms.

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The stairwell that leads to the hotel rooms and especially, to the third floor, where Elizabeth’s ghost reportedly roams. So far, we have not encountered any living or dead spirits. No one was in the lobby, or at the front desk. Being that the hotel was closed, it did not seem strange.

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As we made our way to the stairway, we encountered Lilly, the hotel concierge. She seemed to be guarding the stairway. She was wearing some sort of mask, or fancy old fashioned hat I presumed on her head. Lilly was nice enough though and after an explanation on why we were there, she let us pass.

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This is the first picture taken in the hallway on the third floor of Hotel Conneaut. Since the hotel was closed, no lights were on so we switched our equipment to night vision and continued slowly down the hall recording as we went. As you can see, the hotel is old and dilapidated but for our needs, it was perfect conditions.

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At the first hotel room door we encountered, we spied this Halloween prop. Apparently, some prankster hung it there to spook patrons. We found it humorous and continued on. As we walked down the hall, we felt as if we were being watched, and the air was a little heavy.

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As we turned on the hallway I snapped another photo as I thought I saw a shadow moving towards me. Upon inspection, there is a large dark floating mass on the left side of the hallway. It stopped momentarily and then started slowly toward me. As the distance decreased, it vanished into the wall.

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We were getting close to Elizabeth’s room, (Room 321) as we turned left on the hall. There was a barricade preventing us from continuing down the right side of the hallway. So far, all the hotel room doors have been locked. I didn’t expect any to be open however.

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Just as soon as we turned down the hallway, we heard whispering coming from behind us. We snapped photos hoping to capture on film the elusive ghost of Elizabeth. We saw nothing but when processing the data, a blurry image of a female in white was levitating in the hall. Clearly, hard evidence the hotel is haunted.

Excitedly, we arrived at Elizabeth’s room. We had already witnessed several paranormal episodes and were anxious to enter. The room number was removed, probably by a souvenir seeker. Luck was with us as the door was left unlocked. We entered with camera’s ready.

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The room was standard fare. A bed, desk, lamp, a bathroom, closet, and a window. Of course, the lights were out except for a strange faint red glow coming from the ceiling of the room. We concentrated on the bed, Elizabeth’s honeymoon bed. Notice the round white orb on the paneling above the bed to the right. It was flying all over the room.

Concentrating on the orb, we didn’t notice that the bed was levitating ever so slightly. When we looked at the bed, I snapped this photo in hopes of capturing Elizabeth. Peering out from under the covers, I could make out a figure of a young woman (Apparently Elizabeth’s ghost) with red eyes looking upwards.

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The ghost instantly disappeared leaving the bed empty but we had captured her on film. Little did we know that moments later, we would make physical contact with Elizabeth. We left through the door back to the hallway and headed further down into the dark. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something.

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In this picture, notice the orbs at the end of the hallway. They seemed to be dancing back and forth. A moment later, they oozed through the wall. Also notice the white foot prints on the carpeting just outside the door on the right side. They appeared as I was filming the orbs.

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We followed the orb down the hallway snapping pictures wildly as we raced to the swinging doors. Once there, we took this close up of the white orb floating stationery. It seemed to be observing us. Then, it made several intricate spins and whisked away down the hall.

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We were back where we started. Room 321. Elizabeth’s room. Some sort of energy force guided me to the room opposite Elizabeth’s. I tried the handle on the door, and it was unlocked. We went inside. The room was almost the same as the other but there was something on the bed that startled me.

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Upon inspecting the room, there was a white wedding gown delicately laid out over the bed. The gown had intricate embroidery sewn into the neckline and appeared to be old fashioned in design. Could this be Elizabeth’s wedding gown? We would get our answer in mere minutes.

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As we walked out of the adjacent room, there before us was Elizabeth. A full floating full bodied apparition. Starring straight at us. Elizabeth didn’t speak, nor made any sudden moves, but merely swirled her wedding gown and turned away from us.

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We checked on the wedding dress in the other room and it was gone. Elizabeth was now wearing it. We raced into the hallway once again and just caught a glimpse of Elizabeth moving toward her hotel room door. My God, you could even make out her hands. In an instant, she vanished into the doorway.

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Satisfied with the incredible empirical proof that the ghost of Elizabeth still rooms the hotel halls, we set out for the basement of the hotel to see if we could dig up some more buried skeletons. Lead investigator Patrick took the lead as we walked in the silent darkness.

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We noticed that the kitchen and ballroom doors had signs posted that they were closed and to keep out. The signs on the doors did not deter us. We pressed on hoping to uncover more evidence. Luck was with us that night as the door was unlocked and we entered the kitchen area.

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Clearly we had missed dinner as the pots and pans were already rinsed and sitting in the sink on the back left. On the prep table, it appeared that a maintenance man was rooting through some old Christmas and Halloween decorations. There were light strings and a purple skull.

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One of the hotel employee’s or guests, (We never determined which) was startled by our presence in the kitchen. He was curious as to why we were taking pictures. He said to make sure we took a good photo of him. I told him that wouldn’t be possible.

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Upon exiting the kitchen area, which we found out was also the basement, lead investigator Patrick was attacked by several menacing white orbs. Using his martial arts skills, Patrick was able to fend the orbs off and they vanished. We made our way out the door into the night air behind Hotel Conneaut.

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Snapping a photo of the back side of Hotel Conneaut, we captured yet another orb floating inside where we just exited from. The orb was bright white and glowed almost as if it were a neon light. We waited for a moment or two to see if the orb would pursue us outside the hotel.

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In a matter of seconds, a large white orb appeared from the hotel and began buzzing above and around us. Knowing that we had collected enough evidence, we made our way to the front of the hotel and returned to our secret laboratory to evaluate the video, sound, and photographs taken at Hotel Conneaut.

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The Conclusion:
The Grassy Knoll Institute, upon reviewing the evidence collected Friday night, October 3rd, 2008, can only conclude that Hotel Conneaut is indeed haunted by the ghost of bride Elizabeth. Physical evidence was documented and photographed, (The wedding gown, the floating apparition of the woman in the hallway, Elizabeth herself, the dark masses in the hallway, the foot prints on the carpeting, and the unlocked doors) proving that a haunt is in progress at Hotel Conneaut.

There is also strong evidence that other paranormal activity is present at the hotel and surrounding grounds by the appearance of the many energy orbs that interacted with us that evening.

This is a haunting that you must experience in person. The hotel is not fenced in. Nor guarded. We were able to park in the field and walk right up and into the hotel with no barriers. The lone attendant there, Lilly, was more than friendly and as long as we had no intent on deception or destruction, she allowed us to proceed.

Rumor has it that the hotel will be boarded up November 1st of this year. If you are planning to explore the hotel and possibly capture Elizabeth on film, you should do so quickly. It will be worth it.

Happy Halloween – Samhain

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