Paranormal investigators examine, praise historic Enterprise hotel

/Home/Haunted Locations/Haunted US/Haunted Alabama

Paranormal investigators examine, praise historic Enterprise hotel
October 23, 2010
By Greg Phillips
Dothaneagle.com

Wiregrass residents looking for scares this Halloween don’t need to watch Freddy or Jason slash people on the movie screen.

According to some real-life ghostbusters, the historic Rawls Hotel in downtown Enterprise provides plenty of chills for anyone who explores its expansive space.

“The Rawls has never ceased to please me,” said Shelly McCraney, lead investigator for the Montgomery-based Southern Paranormal Researchers. “Almost everyone on our tours has agreed this is a creepy building.”

McCraney and her fellow researchers were at the Rawls Saturday giving tours of the hotel and performing a paranormal investigation.

Shawn Sellers, the founder and director of Southern Paranormal Researchers, said the hotel is famous throughout the Southeast among those interested in the supernatural.

“It's one of those places that, traveling around, I've always heard stories,” he said. “The first time we paid a visit here several years ago, I was blown away by how beautiful this place is and how much history it has. A place like this has a residual energy. People go to parties and experience it and replay that history. A lot of impressions have come through here, from World War I and the train station on.”

The hotel dates back to 1903, when it was built by Japeth and Elizabeth Rawls.

It wasn’t until the 1970s, however, that reports of paranormal activity began to surface in the hotel.

The building’s then-new owner, Hayden Pursley, was renovating the building when he reported some strange phenomena occurring around him.

“The story is he came in here, was putting window treatments up, went away, and when he came back the next day, all the window treatments were on the floor,” McCraney said. “Like anyone, he thought he must've put them up wrong. He puts them up again, leaves, comes back the next day, and they're on the floor again. The third day, he's putting the window treatments back up, and a board is thrown at him. There was nobody else around. He felt fairly certain it was Japeth Rawls who didn't like the renovations that were happening.”

Stories like that are commonplace at the Rawls.

“One of the gentlemen in the kitchen was telling us that when the building was being renovated recently, they heard trumpets playing inside,” Sellers said.

Hotel staff, visitors and construction workers have reported numerous incidents through the years, ranging from phantom smells to invisible children running through the third-floor halls.

But Saturday’s tours weren’t just about ghost stories.

Sellers said part of his mission is to spread awareness of historic buildings like the Rawls.

“History is one of those things that is kind of missing in Alabama and that (cities) don't use enough,” he said. “Cities like Savannah and New Orleans are really tapping into the ghost stories. You've got TV, and everybody’s got busy lives, so it's really easy not to acknowledge what you have right at home. History's something that pulls you together and gives you pride. Kids play Gameboys and stuff, but they lose sight of the stories. What I want to do is share the phenomena with them but also show them the history behind it.”

As for Sellers and his team, they say fear is just part of the job.

“It's like anything in life, if you look for it long enough, you might not be ready for it,” he said. “We call it ‘going Scooby Doo.’ You feel the hair on back of your neck go up. We try to bust out a song or do something silly to break that creepy vibe when we catch some activity going on.”