Unexplained Voices, Cold Spots, Light Anomalies? KSAX Investigates the Palmer House, Greater Minnesota's Most Haunted Hotel

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Unexplained Voices, Cold Spots, Light Anomalies? KSAX Investigates the Palmer House, Greater Minnesota's Most Haunted Hotel
May 22, 2010
KSAX

SAUK CENTRE, Minn. - The legendary Palmer House Hotel is one of the most haunted hotels in the nation. KSAX went inside to find out why.

"It operates today as it did in 1900," Owner Kelley Freese said.

The Palmer House stands today as it did more than a century ago. As the first building in Sauk Centre to have electricity, it was a destination for many, and Freese said some of those guests haven't left.

"The activity has really been intense in the kitchen, and there's a man that walks around in the dining room that several of us have seen," Freese said.

The man she sees isn't real. He's an apparition.

"You go there only to find nobody's there," she explained.

Paranormal investigators come from all over to investigate this haunted hotel. KSAX investigated. As we walked up the stairs it got colder even though no windows were open and there's no air conditioning.

"There's just no way to explain it," Freese said.

The cold turned into almost a breeze when Freese turned on the antique phonograph, playing old music.

Many experience the unexplained during their time in the hotel. A guest took this unaltered picture, not realizing what they captured. In the picture there's an image of something floating in the window's reflection in the mirror.

In some of our video, a dot of light appears out of nowhere. It's a light anomaly, which is an unexplained source of light, dancing around in from of the same window.

"That could be a person," Freese said as we described what we were seeing.

Freese said a light anomaly is one of the most concrete pieces of paranormal evidence caught on camera, because much of the activity comes when you least expect it.

"Books have come flying off the shelf in the pub," Freese recalled. "Literally off the bookshelves, over the top of the table and land on the other side of the room."

"A lot of people get touched. I've had my hair pulled and my arm yanked back," Paranormal Investigator Lisa Lee said.

Another source of evidence is sound.

"We've heard voices," Lee explained. "We've heard dogs barking in the basement."

"Could you tell me what your name is," Sherry Johnson said, speaking to a little girl no one could see.

Johnson used a modified radio to pick up sound during our investigation.

"Spirits can use the voices and the words already in our airwaves. They can answer our questions by pulling those words out and sending them out through the radio," Johnson said.

While sitting in the playroom, Johnson spoke with the spirits of children. We heard a quiet voice say one word, "nervous" through the radio.

Johnson and Freese have heard more voices caught on tape in the hotel's basement.

"Do you recognize anyone in the room," they asked. A voice from someone no one could see responded, "Kelley."

More often than not the presence of ghosts or spirits is a feeling, but sometimes when you least expect it the guests you can't always see in the Palmer House will surprise you; whether it's an apparition, a moving object, or a voice telling you to leave.

For more information and for events happening at the Palmer House Hotel click here.