Haunted Olde Park Hotel (Texas)
Welcome back! I hope you had an enjoyable holiday and are staying safe. We traditionally travel over the Thanksgiving holiday but this year we stayed home. I was thinking about how much fun it would be to go ghost hunting over the holiday but I couldn’t swing the time. A great place for an extended weekend investigation is found in Central Texas in the town of Ballinger.
Touted as the Greatest Little Town in Texas, Ballinger lies roughly 180 miles west of Waco. I drive in from Fort Worth and I really enjoy the small towns I pass through on the way (i.e. Eastland, Cisco, and Coleman). With a population of 3,600+, it has the warm, welcoming feeling I expected from a small town.
Hotel History
The Olde Park Hotel is a historic building that had multiple purposes during its lifetime. Built in 1886, it started as the Three Sisters Hotel, and went on to function as meeting hall, restaurant, schoolhouse, courthouse, apartments, music store, cowboy lodge, a bordello, and an antique store. The hotel has 43 rooms and 10,000+ square feet of space.
The hotel has had more than one owner but the Keel Family (who purchased it in 1922) has a prominent history with the building with it remaining in the Keel Family for multiple generations. When you visit— and you should —you will see evidence of add-ons to the building that occurred over the years. Dan and Connie LaFave purchased the Olde Park Hotel from Jeanette Findlay (granddaughter of John and Virginia Keel) in 2016 and have since been lovingly restoring the building and renting it out for paranormal investigations.
Hotel Specs
The hotel is a two story structure with 10 rooms available for overnight stays. The rooms are listed and described below per their brochure:
Helen’s Azalea Suite AKA the Pink Room - an upstairs room named after former resident Helen Keel. It has an adjacent balcony room that was once a gift shop.
Ginny’s Honeysuckle Suite AKA the Green Room - an upstairs room named after Jeanette’s aunt Ginny. It is the only room with original furniture from the family and it also has a doll named Ginny.
The Rice Marriott Room AKA the Red Room - an upstairs room with red and white pinstripes. The room was named after the son of a previous owner of the hotel.
Iona’s Oleander Suite AKA the Yellow Room - an upstairs room named after Jeanette’s grandmother, Iona. The room also has a doll named Abigail.
LaFave’s Master Suite - a downstairs room that is gold and burgundy.
Preston’s Parlor - the room was once Jeanette’s grandson’s room. His name is Preston and he used it as a playroom.
Pruiett Wildflower Room - an upstairs room named after “Tex” Pruiett Keel. He was one of John and Virginia Keel’s sons.
Chrisco’s French Bordello - an upstairs room named after Jack & Juanita Chrisco. It has blue and gold colors and has balcony access. It also has a mirror that is believed to be haunted.
The Ghosts
Cowboy AKA Uncle Slim - seen upstairs and encountered in the Pink Room.
A prostitute - encountered in LaFave’s Master Suite.
The Chrisco Sisters - believed to be heard in LaFave’s Master Suite and the kitchen area.
A little boy named Dennis or Benjamin - he is seen running and playing in all of the rooms and the hallway
Glenn - a cowboy also seen upstairs in or near the Pink Room
Other non specified activity - feeling dizzy, headaches, apparitions in the Yellow Room and Pruiett Wildflower Room, footsteps in the downstairs hallway, women’s voices in the kitchen area, a touch style lamp in Preston’s Parlor turning on and off by itself, doors opening and closing on their own, the feeling of being watch, being touched, cobweb feeling, and voices in various parts of the hotel.
Our Experience
We use the living room as base and we bring a bunch of snacks that we keep in the kitchen for our breaks. At the beginning of each of our visits, each team member will pick a room in which they stay overnight. I have stayed in the Oleander Suite on each of our visits and really like that suite (it has a nice set up with a separate living room and a private bathroom).
We have investigated the 1st floor but we tend to spend most of our time on the 2nd floor. One team member reported a creepy feeling and having unexplained noises on their audio recorder near and in LaFave’s Master Suite however we were not able to get enough data to establish validity of the recordings or who it might be. Other than that, there isn’t much to report for the 1st floor. We just seem to gravitate to the second floor.
In the Pruiett Wildflower Room, team members reported activity on the Rempod and a creepy feeling. Twice they spent the night in that room and reported activity throughout the night. Nothing was significant or frightening enough to drive them out of the room but they did NOT have a quiet night.
The upstairs hallway and going towards the back……..that is where we tend to spend the most time. We have had erratic EMF activity and could not find a reason or the source for it. Using a laser grid, we may have seen shadows down towards the end. I say that we may have seen shadows because, after a while, the lights kind of play tricks with your eyes. At least it does with me. While we were not able to document shadows with a camera, a few of us are pretty certain we saw something.
We also had some hits on the Parascope but they were erratic and did not seem to be in direct response to questions. We used a Ghostbox as well but didn’t get any responses that seem to coincide with a direct question. Most of our activity seemed to be with the Parascope and K2 meters.
Recommendations to Other Paranormal Teams
While this is a big place, I recommend keeping your investigative team to 8 investigators or less. Splitting up is good but know that that footsteps and conversation from upstairs can be heard downstairs. If you decide to investigate the front of the hotel near the check in desk and lobby, noise and light contamination from the outside can be an issue. There is also a Tex-Mex restaurant right next door that could create noise contamination. I don’t recall having much of a problem with that but just know that the restaurant is there. Lastly, there are some Halloween themed items in some of the back rooms so you may be startled when you first see that.
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I hope this article helps you decide to visit the Olde Park Hotel and, if you are part of a paranormal team, I hope it helps you have a better investigation. Dave and Connie are great people that have a passion for the paranormal. Not only do they understand what it takes to have a good investigation, they are also taking care of a building with a unique history.
I hope you are staying safe and warm during this holiday season. Check back for more articles about paranormal locations!
Make this beautiful day count!