Built by the Eureka Springs Improvement Company and the Frisco Railroad, the hotel was designed by Isaac L Taylor. Construction was started in 1884 and was completed in 1886.
On May 20, 1886 the doors opened to a waiting fan fair with the local paper heralding it as the most luxurious resort hotel in America. At the time, many were flocking to the Ozarks because of the belief that the springs waters there had special healing powers, and seeing this a former governor had formed the Eureka Springs Improvement Company, in hopes of take advantage of this period.
But this period of prosperity did not last as people began to realize that the waters didn’t have the healing properties they had come to be known for. Over the years, around the turn of the century, peoples interest faded as so did the number of guests at the hotel.
From 1908 to 1924 it was used as a resort during the summer, but became the Crescent College and Conservatory for Young Women. But even then, the operating costs became to great and the income too low to keep the doors open. So the building sat empty for six years.
From 1930 to 1934 the building became a junior college, but once again the tuition fees could not keep the doors open.
Then in 1937, Norman Baker purchased the hotel for the purpose of opening a cancer hospital and health resort. Advertising miracle cures and alleging the his patients would leave the hospital, cancer free. Baker, of course was a con man and had been convicted of practicing without a medical license in Iowa, in 1936. He was arrested once more in 1939 for mail fraud as he sold his miracle cures from the hotel.
From 1940 to 1946 the hotel sat empty.
In 1946, four Chicago businessmen purchased the hotel, did some restoration and opened the doors once more, turning it back into a thriving hotel.
In 1967, tragedy struck as a fire gutted much of the fourth floor, south wing of the hotel.
Over the next few decades the hotel passed through several owners, each making repairs and some restorations, but none ever fully restoring it to its former grandiose splendor.
In 1997, the hotel was purchased by Marty and Elise Roenigk, who vowed to restore the hotel to it original splendor. And in 2002, and after 5 million dollars, they made good on their promise and revealed the newly renovated hotel to the public.
Investigation Team
Jason Hawes – Lead Investigator
Grant Wilson – Lead Investigator
Steve Gonsalves – Tech Manager
Donna LaCroix – Investigator
Dave Tango – Investigator
Dustin Paris – Investigator
The Pitch
Jason tells Grant about a case that he’s been speaking with Donna about. The Crescent Hotel, located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a hotel with an interesting history, that includes being a fake cancer hospital that had a morgue in the basement where much activity has occurred. Jason also tells Grant that the staff has reported seeing a doctor walking down the hallway, and hearing voices.
Grant’s narrative:
“We’re really interested in this Crescent Hotel case, it sounds like its got amazing history. The whole town of Eureka Springs is built on these cold natural springs, and, uh, there’s a theory out there that the whole town in haunted.”
The Tour
Ken Fugate, a local historian, tells the story of a man, Jacob, who is seen supposedly seen waiting at one of the dining tables, for a woman he fell madly in love with to come down and join him. No recent examples are given and when asked how he knows the story, he replies that it is a story that has been handed down since Victorian days.
He then takes them to Dr. Ellis’s office. A clip of Grant explains that Dr. Ellis was a well respected man who believed the spring waters had healing powers. The story goes that people have seen a man in Victorian style clothing, walk from the elevator, straight to and through the office door.
Room 419.
In room 419 Ken tells that many guests report that when they get up the next morning their clothes are neatly packed and set next to the door.
The Hospital Morgue:
A clip of Grant explains that in the 1930′s a con artist bought the place and turned it into a hospital. Ken tells that all the cancer patients received an autopsy, and points out the autopsy table. Ken then shows them the room where the body part specimens were stored. He also says that the activity in that room is from the guard, and asked if they couldn’t help with that.
The Investigation
Room 419 – 2 hours into the investigation
Dustin and Donna investigate room 419. Earlier during setup, Dustin found Grants laptop bag propped against the door on the inside of the room.
While here, Dustin finds a mild EMF spike that dissipates as he tries to track its source.
Room 2500 – 9:44pm
Steve and Dave investigate room 2500, where Steve explains that this is the room that patients were taken to this room when the pain was too much for them and the drugs were no longer working. This is were they were left to sit and die. Once they died they were taken downstairs to the morgue.
Steve notes an EMF reading of 2.0 all over the room. The source is traced to a hot tub located in the room.
Morgue – 1:09am
Jason and Grant are in the basement where the morgue and specimen storage used to be. While there they get something on the thermal imager.
Comments on Room 419
In Ken’s description of room 419, guests find their clothes packed and set next to the door. Darkrealm Labs has been unable to confirm this story, but have found a multitude of stories about a woman who claims to be “Miss Theodora”. Who, in more than one story claims she’s a cancer patient then vanishes before those who have witnessed her. Ken’s story is confusing. Even the Hotel’s website has stories of Miss Theodora, but nothing mentioning guests bags being packed.
Nothing showed up on video, but as mentioned earlier, Dustin had found Grant’s computer bag against the door. This could easily be someone playing games.
It would be easy enough to recreate the experience simply by carrying the case to the door, then step to the hallway and kneel down, keeping the case on the inside the room and simply setting it down so it is slightly leaning against the door. Once the bag is in position pull your arm back and gently pull the door closed.
Viola! The next person to open the door will find the computer case against the door, just as described in Ken’s tour. Darkrealm Labs believes this is what actually transpired in that event; and considering TAPS camera that was trained on he bag showed the bag remained stationary during that time, this is the most likely scenario.
Note: When the bag was moved the location of each person in the building is impossible to determine, so it impossible to rule out such a scenario taking place based upon the evidence at hand.
This is the clip that sparked a lot of controversy and is still discussed and debated on several forums. The Soldier Apparition of The Crescent Hotel.
This is the clip that is shown in the reveal, which leaves out the piece of footage that includes the cameras recordings just prior to the recording of the image in the locker. A piece of evidence that is crucial in helping establish the cameraman’s position when the clip was shot.
Darkrealm Labs Analysis
The thermal evidence presented is extremely questionable and the arguments presented by TAPS members only makes things more suspicious. During the investigation, after the “apparition” had been caught on the thermal imager, many things come into question. The first is why did Jason and Grant go from “Is that your reflection Grant?” to “I see a civil war soldier!” in a matter of moments, with no real attempt to recreate the event at that time. Instead, they simply attempt to shoot down the idea by presenting the viewer with what a thermal reflection in a mirror looks like and comment that the locker is dull and non-reflective. This is further sold to the viewer as Donna makes the comment that the locker is not reflective, as well as others in the team.
Jason also sells the reflection as a civil war soldier. We’ve tried to substantiate the death of a civil war soldier in the vicinity and have failed to find any death record of one the the immediate area. Another interesting bit of fact is that the hotel was build after the civil war. Neither of these points seems to concern TAPS, and neither were researched, indicating sloppy investigation work on their part.
Thermal Reflectivity
Now, let’s take a look at the reflectivity issue. TAPS sells the idea that it can’t be a thermal reflection because the locker is no more reflective than a wall. What’s really interesting about that strategy is that even in their own show, Jason is on record about thermal reflectivity and states that they can get reflections off of a variety of things, even walls. {clip to the right}
So even Jason admits that a wall; which is the comparison they made to dismiss the idea, can indeed cause a thermal reflection.
Every surface reflects light. If they didn’t you wouldn’t be able to see anything because it is that reflected light off an object that allows us to see. Different colors are a result of different wavelengths of light reflecting off an object, i.e. a red object reflects light in the red spectrum while absorbing the other wavelengths.
Thermal radiation is similar but is confined to the far infra-red spectrum. With thermal radiation, instead of color, wavelength determines temperature. This is where many people get confused when viewing thermal images, and this gets further complicated when thermal images are represented by a color scale, and is the main reason why it is better to use grey scale when viewing thermal images as confirmed by anyone trained in thermal imagery.
Another thin that comes into play with thermal images and reflections has to do with the settings of the thermal imager. When an imagers temperature scale is set to a narrow band or is auto-scaling in a narrow band, it is better at showing a reflection since the slightest difference will produce more exaggerated results.
One other thing that people do not think about is that every thing emits or reflects thermal radiation. So in essence and in comparison to visible light, everything glows. It is the “glow” or thermal radiation that the thermal imager sees, whether it be a reflection or emanation.
Pay attention to the bronze plate next to the man’s head. Notice it’s dull finish and inability to coherently reflect visible light.
This is what the thermal imager sees. Notice how it can coherently reflect thermal energy.
The Reflectivity of the Locker
As we have clearly demonstrated with the article and images above, thermal energy can reflect off of a surface that appears dull and non-reflective to visible light, thus negating TAPS argument about the “apparition” being a thermal reflection. But let’s examine their claim about the reflective properties a bit further and look at the locker.
For those who buy into the misconception that the locker is not reflective, here is an interesting still that proves that the locker is even reflective to objects in the visible light spectrum. Notice what appears to be a broom handle or some long, cylindrical, light colored object. Notice how it reflects off the locker, and for those who think there are two of these objects, just follow it down to the base of the locker where you can see the one to the left fade off as the object extends beyond the locker. This still was taken from the scene when Ken leads them into this room.
The Attempt to Recreate the Thermal Reflection
In order to examine why TAPS attempt to recreate the thermal reflection did not produce any results we must first establish the location of the thermal imager and Grant in both cases. First let’s look at where they were when the “apparition” was captured.
In the clip to the right, I’ve overlaid the thermal image onto a frame of footage taken with the lights on. As can be seen the thermal overlay matches the locker in the shot with the lights on. This shows that when the image of the “apparition” was shot that the thermal imager was in very close proximity to where the camera was when it shot it’s video. From this we can extrapolate the positions of Jason {orange} and Grant {auqua}.
Now, to examine where they were during the recreation we will examine a still from that session. Notice how much more of the side of the locker is visible. This is because they are further to the right of the locker than they were when the “apparition” was captured with the thermal imager. This cane be easily verified by looking at the above example that establishes Jason and Grant’s location at that time. In fact, looking at where Grant is located in the attempt to recreate the incident we can see that he is standing in about the same location that Jason was standing when the thermal image was recorded. Now since Jason is to the cameraman’s right in this shot, that puts him at a much shallower angle of incidence to the locker, and any reflection he would be seeing in the recreation would have to be coming from the wall near the entrance to the room.
Schematic 1
Schematic 2
By comparing the location of where Jason and Grant were when they captured the “apparition” on the thermal imager {Schematic 1} and where they stood when they attempted to recreate the event {Schematic 2}, it is easy to see why the recreation did not produce the same results. Whether it was intentional or not cannot be determined from the show, though it does show sloppy investigation methods, and a lack of attention to detail, which is crucial when investigating.
In both of these schematics, Jason is represented by the orange marker, Grant by the auqua, and in the schematic 2 red depicts the cameraman’s location.
Additional Reasoning as to Apparition vs. Reflection
Why is the ’2′ glowing
To establish why the ’2′ is glowing is relatively simple. The two is painted on the locker is stenciled on the locker with white paint. White paint is very reflective, and actually reflects more light than a standard mirror; it just doesn’t reflect in a coherent manner. Because it reflects more heat it appears hotter, or to glow.
The apparition is in the locker
After examining the locker, Jason and Grant show that there is no way that someone could be inside the locker at the time the “apparition” was captured on thermal. But they need not even do that. Whether or not this was a person or apparition, if they were in the locker then the thermal imager would have never seen them. A thermal imager cannot see through solid objects, and cannot even see through glass for that matter. So, if something was in the locker it would not have been seen, and since the two obscures the “apparition” it only strengthens the argument that the “apparition” is nothing more than a reflection of Grant.
Darkrealm Labs Conclusion
We are certain that the “apparition” capture on the thermal imager was nothing more than Grant’s reflection. Looking at how the locker is partially reflective to visible light and how thermal radiation can reflect coherent images in some of the most dull finished surfaces, along with all the other facts in this investigation, we are very certain of our conclusion, and also that the recreation was at minimum sloppy in it’s execution.
We also surmise that TAPS investigation was sloppy in execution as well as research. Had they checked into the history, they would have found that no Civil War Era soldiers had died anywhere near the location, and that the hotel was built after the Civil War. These factors alone show that there was little interest in getting to the truth, or that they were inconvenient and omitted because they cast doubt on TAPS conclusions about the hotel.
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