Runnels County Register
Paranormal groups from all over the area as well as curious visitors, have been stopping in to check the place out.
If you’ve lived, visited or even driven through Ballinger – ever – there’s no mistaking the Olde Park Hotel, located at 107 South 6th Street, next to the courthouse.
The building, which has served as a schoolhouse, a hotel, a residence and some say even a temporary courthouse and even a bordello, was purchased last summer by Dan and Connie LaFave of San Angelo.
“It was a dream of ours,” said Connie LaFave, who with husband Dan, also head up Graveyard Shift Paranormal Investigations. The team was first formed in Harlingen, Texas in 2009 with projects including documentaries such as Raising the Ghosts of Yorktown Memorial Hospital and Ghosts of Laborde House. Dan is an author of two books entitled Shadow of the Ghost Hunter and The Supernatural, Texas, and The Old West, which can be found on amazon.com.
Since purchasing the hotel, the LaFaves have welcomed other paranormal groups to tour and spend the night in the hotel and conduct their own investigations.
nd as Halloween approaches, the LaFaves are scheduling the “Haunted Hotel Tour” which will take tourists up and down the long, halls of the hotel both upstairs and down. Plus, visitors will be able to see the various rooms, which have been decorated and are ready for visitors.
In August, the Concho Valley Paranormal group conducted an investigation. In addition, in the last few months, two other teams have toured the 41 room, 10,000 square foot hotel.
“They have all gotten EVP’s,” said Connie, who is an English and journalism teacher at San Angelo Central High School. EVP means “electronic voice phenomenon.”
Concho Valley investigators chronicled their experience via video and in the middle of August, reported one of the upstairs rooms as being “cold.” They are also among the investigators who have identified a spirit they call “cowboy,” who roams the halls of the old hotel.
Still other investigators, including Connie’s children, have reported seeing a small child, they call Dennis.
Some of the ghost stories include talking with women who used to live in the building when it was a parlor house, and not realizing that they weren’t employees of the antique store. Other spirits such as “Glenn” and “Cowboy” have been noticed by employees, as well as women, with voices and doors opening and closing by themselves. Jeanette has reported she feels there are close to 30 identified ghosts in the building. Footsteps, and cold spots have also been known to accompany the phenomenon along with an occasional pat on the shoulder. People have mentioned that they have had their clothes tugged on and report feelings of uneasiness in the building along with friendly spirits.
The LaFaves are in the process of renovating the hotel, which experts say can stir up activity. But that’s what it’s all about ad the LaFave’s want to share the experience with others who are interested in paranormal activity.
he LaFave’s purchased the hotel from longtime owner Jeanette Findlay Truehart, whose family had owned the hotel for many years. In the last few years, it was an antique shop and there was a bed and breakfast upstairs.
The LaFave’s are looking forward to preserving the history of the building, while also studying the phenomenon that has been reported there. They welcome paranormal groups for overnight stays as well.
“We have been working hard on the decorating, and getting it ready, so we are looking forward to having a good turnout,” Connie LaFave said.
So far, 47 people have prepaid for the Haunted Hotel Tours Friday and Saturday night.
And, they will as they say, be prepared for anything.