Original Springs Hotel, Okawville, Illinois March 2015
CAPS team: Dave, Trish, Vicki and family
Weather was warm and sunny
It was a beautiful day when I once again headed to the Original Springs Hotel for a brief Spring break trip with my family in tow. We met up with Dave and Trish who had arrived shortly before us and with our metal key in hand headed to room 59, preferred most by my children who like direct access to their wonderful pool.
I was giddy with anticipation because although we have been granted access to almost every area of this historic gem, this time we had the opportunity to investigate a location that has always intrigued me. Over the years as I strolled the 3rd floor hallway. I’ve always felt a strange and powerful sensation of energy, mainly focused in the southwest corridor. I couldn’t help but be curious what was on the other side. What might we encounter in room 328?
Once my family had settled in, I made my way up two flights of stairs to meet with Dave and Trish. As I approached the door to their room I felt that familiar surge of energy and I just knew this was going to be a night to remember. When I opened the door I was certainly not disappointed, the room was elegant and dazzling. As a corner room, it looks out across the intersection of Hanover and Walnut, allowing the occupants to easily watch over the main entrance to the hotel. I could see how over the years this room would certainly be so desirable, and perhaps still is…
After enjoying the spacious nature of the main room, I approached the door of the bathroom and I felt a flood of energy surge though my body. It seemed to coincide with that same area in the outside hallway, but here it was significantly stronger.
Dave and Trish made mention of some bizarre occurrences that had happened shortly after their arrival. First they had trouble getting the door open with one of the keys. Once inside, they unpacked and Trish decided to try the divinity rods. The rods kept pointing towards the bathroom. Trish, who is normally cold, became very hot and sweaty, so she decided to stop. Dave said Trish seemed distracted for a time; she kept looking over next to her, as if someone was there. When Trish turned her head to look at Dave, for some reason she couldn’t see him.
Trish proceeded to the bathroom where she was surprised to find the guest towel that was previously hanging on a rack next to the sink, was now lying on the floor in front of the sink as if it were a rug. As they stood there trying to understand how it could be laid out so impeccably straight, they both heard a loud knocking noise.
Dave decided to set up a video camera focusing on the towel while we all went to sit outside on the hotel's front porch and enjoy the sunshine. We joked about the fact that nothing ever seems to happen when the camera is running, and we were sadly not surprised.
When we went to have dinner in the downstairs restaurant, Dave moved the camera to watch vigilance over the room itself. Before we left, we checked to make sure the towel was placed properly on the rack. As the saying goes, “While the ghost hunters are away, the phantoms will play!” We returned to find that same towel again on the floor, this time folded neatly against the wall, very similar to how a maid had placed them in the basket by to the sink.
We did many tests to see at which point the towel might slide off the rack and how it would land. The towel had to be extremely off centered and it never fell in the positions we had found them. We were simply baffled how a towel, perfectly centered on the rack could slide off and land so perfectly. Quite baffling indeed! It was clear to us that we needed to focus this investigation on room 328.
Dave and Trish brought out their equipment, one of which was a K2 meter placed next to the bathroom doorway. Throughout the night that meter seemed to respond to many of our questions. Dave began with a spirit box session and the SB7 appeared to be working remarkably well, when suddenly it unexpectedly died. That was certainly an eerie sensation that our small group collectively felt. Much to Trish’s chagrin, her cell phone had also suffered from the same fate!
A short time after our Spirit Box session ended, we heard a strange static noise and at the same time the K2 meter went off. I was standing near the doorway of the bathroom and by instinct decided to take a peek. I could not believe my eyes when by golly that towel was once again on the floor half of it spread out straight; the other half had one neat fold. I snapped off some photos this time, because let’s face it, once or twice maybe a coincidence but not three times!
We also found one side of the sink counter soaking wet. We turned on the faucet to make sure it wasn’t leaking; it was functioning perfectly fine. Dave made the observation that it was always the one towel next to the sink. It wasn’t more than a couple of minutes later that while Trish was in the bathroom, she witnessed one of the other towels hanging on the opposite wall slide off on its own onto the floor.
It was nearing 3 am when Trish, looking out towards the windows, saw a dark figure pass outside. Although there is a balcony walkway, it is no longer in use. At the same time Trish was freezing; Dave and I were on the other side of the room feeling quite comfortable. Dave always teases Trish about being cold, so he really didn’t think anything of it, but when I walked over next to her, I felt the icy cold!
At 4am, I decided it was time to venture back to my room and sleeping family. In the morning, Dave and Trish said they kept hearing unexplained noises including footsteps. One sounded as if something was being dragged across the carpet. David also found his recorders strangely turned off on more than one occasion. As for that towel by the sink you may wonder; it was of course found on the floor in the morning…
If you’re wondering why we didn’t get any video of the towel, let’s face it, the bathroom isn’t an appropriate spot one would want a camera running, (for obvious reasons). While Dave and Trish were sleeping, our camera captured some interesting movement that also set off our EMF-equipped Boo Buddy.
Original Springs Hotel has never disappointed us, but this trip was much more than we could have ever anticipated! Room 328 is hauntingly beautiful and is shrouded in mystery as to why this area in particular would harness such intense energy
Photos
Room 328 was truly an amazingly beautiful room!
This is the window where Trish saw the shadow figure on the balcony.
Before and after... Third time with that intriguing towel. Below is the water by the sink.
This shot of the pool area shows my kids favorite room. It wouldn't be Original Springs without a friendly blue orb!
EVPs
Recording from SB7 after we were discussing about spirits crossing over... The same voice across several bandwidths seemed to respond, "Would you cross?"
From SB7, sounds almost like Dave and the Spirit box having a conversation.
From the Spirit box, when asked for a name, think this response is "Bubba".
Also the SB7, at the beginning sound like "Dave" and then at about 4-5 secs "You're playing Dave".
As Trish is talking, we caught an older lady's voice that seems to say, "We can walk around..."
About 2 secs, after Dave asks the meter to go red, response seem to say, "Hit".
Video
After we called it a night, Dave set up one of his night vision cameras on the sitting table overlooking the room. In the video you can see our Boo Buddy EMF detector lighting up on the night stand in the center of the screen on the other side of the room, and then...
This video was edited to compress the footage, but we couldn't find any good explanation for the movement of the bed cover. Perhaps a playful spirit that also enjoys towels?