Hotel Lawrence

12.09.06 - Background Information

History:

Originally built in 1925 – once known as the Scott Hotel, D Magazine voted the Hotel Lawrence the best hotel deal in Dallas.  With the NYC style, but without the NYC price tag, this boutique style hotel once held an illegal gambling casino in the basement in the 20’s and 30’s.  This is a historical landmark in the heart of downtown Dallas, Texas.

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Testimony: 

Internet rumors

• A ghost of a gentleman gambler seen roaming the basement looking to join in on another game

• A lady jumped to her death from the Presidential Suite on the 10^th floor back in the 40’s

• Crying and dark shadows on 10^th floor

• Cold spots in the lobby and the sounds of footsteps between the hours of 12 Am to 6 AM

Other stories

• Someone committed suicide by jumping off the roof

• A woman dressed in slippers is looking for her dead cat and then disappears on 10^th floor

• A man is looking for his cat on the 10^th floor

• A congressman lived in the hotel for a period of time and he jumped to his death on the 10^th floor

Witness accounts

• Laundry carts moving on their own in the basement

• Eerie feelings in one of the storage rooms

• A door to a room on the 10^th floor sometimes doesn’t want to open to hotel staff – almost as if a hand on the other side of the door is holding it closed

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12.11.06 - The Investigation

The Investigation included the following rooms and floors: basement, 10^th floor hallway, rooms 1005, 1007, 1009, Presidential Suite, 10^th floor staircase, and the upper-level room that leads to the roof: 

The entire investigation took place between 6:15 PM-10:30 PM.  The activity reported by various sources and witnesses seemed to take place during the day and night.  Due to the holiday season rapidly approaching, and trying to doing our best not to cause spectacles of ourselves with waving gadgets around, this was the best time to conduct our investigation.  Not to mention the employees who need to do their jobs who work there.  We hit the basement first for our baseline tests.

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Basement Baseline Tests:

EMF detectors (Electromagnetic Field) were useless down in the basement due to the numerous power sources and types of lighting (except for the bathrooms).  We tried the (3) different EMFs and all of them constantly went off pretty much no matter how high or low you held them.  If there was going to be any spiritual activity – the EMFs weren’t going to help us.  *Generally a reading of a 2-7 could mean you have spiritual activity.  Our temperature gauges were constant for the most part depending on where you were.  We only had access to the lighting in the storage rooms and not the entire basement.  Even though some staff said we could turn the lights off, we’re not the type to start flipping switches and seeing if we can shut down the entire historic hotel.  Perhaps next time.  But even with the lights off in the storage rooms our EMFs were going crazy.

Basement Findings:

• Bart and Jimmy each did solo call/response sessions in two of the storage rooms.  No activity here.

• 7:38 PM: Bart’s digital camera shut off in the laundry shoot room (red brick room) and the brand new batteries were completely drained.  Later, when we got another set of batteries in – we realized we captured a nice-sized orb.  Many think that orbs are a sign of spirit activity.  Others say it could be a reflection or dust.  Some say that when spirits are trying to make contact that they “suck” all the energy out from anything it can to try and form and this why you see the orb.  By the way - our digital camera lenses are always clean.  Well, batteries are an energy source.  Once I got the new batteries in I recreated the same shot on camera.  Nothing.  No orb.  And my batteries didn’t drain.

• 7:55 Jimmy’s walkie-talkie batteries suddenly died.  They were brand new batteries.  Good thing we bring tons of em with us.

We spent what time we could in the basement doing solo call and responses, using trigger objects (poker chips), motion sensors, video, barometers, different types of thermometers, and EVP’s (Electronic Voice Phenomena – this recording device can record sound at frequencies humans can’t hear).  Except for the one orb on Bart’s camera and the draining of the batteries on some equipment, not much seemed to be going on down in the basement.

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10^th Floor Baseline Test:  (including: the Hallway, stairwell, Presidential Suit, rooms 1005, 1007, 1009, and upper-level room that leads to the roof)

Like the basement, our EMFs went crazy no matter where we went – the hallway, rooms, everywhere.  The EMFs were not going to be able to alert us to anything tonight.  For the most part the temperature readings were constant.  Nothing indicated to us that anything strange was going on.  If we were going to capture any activity it would be with EVPs, video, or cameras.

10^th Floor Findings:  (including: the Hallway, stairwell, Presidential Suit, rooms 1005, 1007, 1009, and upper-level room that leads to the roof)

• 8:16 PM: Bart’s video camera’ battery died in the Presidential Suite.  This was a brand new battery and fully charged.

• 9:30 PM: When the team entered room 1009, Bart said, “This is the one.”  Bart captured (2) orbs on his digital camera. 

• 9:35 PM: While Dave was in room 1007 and Jimmy was in room 1009 doing solo call/response, Bart remained in the hallway.  Bart was sitting down watching the rooms at the end of the hallway and he thought he heard a female voice ask, “Can you help me?”  or “Can I help you?”  He said it happened so fast.  Jimmy had the EVP in with him.  Soon after he saw the handle to room 1009 move and the sound of someone applying pressure to open it.  He was able to snap off some pics on his digital camera and lo and behold an orb was caught.  To debunk what he thought he saw – Bart asked Jimmy if he tried to open the door or messed with the handle.  Jimmy said he didn’t.  We tested this out by showing that the handles on the outside of the doors move, while on the inside they don’t.  You can try them yourself.

• 9:50 PM: Jimmy, a huge skeptic, thought he saw someone walk across the end of the hall pass by the elevators.  When we went to investigate there was no one there.  The elevator door never opened and the only place a person could go would be straight through the wall.  There is no hallway past the elevator.  It wasn’t late in the evening and the hallway lights were on.

• 10:04 PM: We left a video camera running in room 1009 and the EVP since this was the room where the orbs were caught.  The door locks would no longer accept our key cards to get in and they weren’t re-set from downstairs.  We found this odd since we had been using them with no problem.  Once we were let back into the room to retrieve our gear a strange sound was captured on EVP that didn’t come from any of us.

• ~10:00 PM our card keys refused to work.  This was right after we saw the activity with the door handle.

We used motion sensors (rooms only), video, digital camera, thermometers, and EVPS in the hotel rooms.  We did not want to use motion sensing equipment in the hallways in case a hotel guest came out of their room and the alarm would go off.  Nothing odd about the 10^th floor stairwell or the upper-level area that leads to the roof.

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Gear Used:

• E.L.F. Zone Magnetic Field Detectors

• Ghost Meter

• Gauss Meter

• Olympus VN 1000 voice recorder

• Canon ZR 500 camera

• Motion sensor

• Neiko laser thermometer

• Oregon Scientific thermometer

• Canon Powershot A70 Digital Camera

• High Gear Barometer

• two-way radios

• flashlights with red filter lenses

• Audacity (software).

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Miscellaneous Information:  

• Total Pictures Taken: 150

• Number of positive photos showing activity: (8)

• EVPs: (1) Class “C”: moan

Click Here to view and hear evidence from this investigation

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Consensus:

Battery drains, some nice-sized orbs, a door handle moving, a possible female voice talking, someone walking across the hallway that leads nowhere, and a questionable EVP, all leads us to believe that something is going on at the Hotel Lawrence.  Due to the rumors, stories, and eyewitness reports, it would seem logical.  But with an investigation such as this our experience was only a snap shot of an evening.  A few hours.  However, in order for us to say if we think that this location has a haunting we would need more evidence to say/prove that this location is truly haunted.  Some odd things happened that we can’t explain, but we feel we need more time and other elements that we could control with some infra cameras and motion sensing equipment. We would love to come back for a follow-up investigation!  Yet, based on some of the activity C.P.S. did experience, we are lead to believe that if there is something present it is harmless.  None of our team ever felt that something was “watching” our every move or something wanted to cause us any harm.  The rooms on the 10^th floor all seemed peaceful.

The hotel management and staff were absolutely delightful to work with.  They were so amazing to us.  The staff all deserve gold stars – which makes this place the best hotel in our book!  They should win a staff award in D Mgazine.  The Hotel Lawrence is a spectacle within itself with all its history.  Thank you so much for this opportunity.  And whether you’re looking for a haunting or some pretty neat history, the Hotel Lawrence is the perfect spot to book your room for the night. 

We can’t wait to go back for part two of the investigation.

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