| | Haunted Hotels in Texas 2
The next listing for our Haunted Hotels in Texas
section is a beauty in
Galveston. But first, a little background.
If you think hurricane
Katrina was bad, the hurricane of
1900 was worse. Considered the United States’ deadliest
natural disaster, it
descended upon Galveston Island on September 8, 1900 with winds that
reached
up to
125 mph or more. At
that time, there
was no seawall to protect the city and the 15 foot storm surge wreaked
mass destruction, including the deaths of 6,000-8,000 people.
During reconstruction,
this now-haunted Texas hotel was erected and opened its
doors in 1911. Named after Bernardo de Galvez, the Spanish Governor who
first
chartered the Texas Gulf Coast after whom the city was named. Hotel
Galvez was
listed in
the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It has always been a
popular
getaway and is known as “Queen of the Gulf.”
Becoming a member of the Wyndham
family of hotels in 1988, it is now a Wyndham Historic Hotel and has
been
recently renovated and updated. It boasts 226 guest rooms on 8 floors,
an
incredible pool with built-in private alcoves and swim-up bar, jacuzzi,
and
outdoor grill as well as being situated directly on the Gulf of Mexico
where
you can charter a boat or rent jet-skis. There is a spa, a restaurant
and a
health club. It is a wonderful place to spend a weekend, a week or
more.
But as with all haunted
hotels in Texas,
it’s had its share of life
experience and with these events as
well as the hotel’s age, reports of hauntings have emerged.
You may enjoy
knowing that the eye witness accounts are surprisingly frequent in this
haunted Texas hotel, too. Some of the
reports of
hauntings include: In fact there have
been many
accounts of phones ringing in guests’ rooms, but when those
guests answered the
rings, there was nobody at the other end. However, when inquiring at
the desk
about the source of the calls, it was found they did not come through
the
switchboard. Read
one recent account here. Here is the major ghost
story linked to this haunted hotel in Texas: There
was a suicide on the fifth floor in Room 500. A woman was heartbroken
to
discover her fiance’s ship was lost at sea and hung herself
after receiving the
news. Soon after, her fiancé turned up unscathed and this
ghost is now trapped
in the hotel. Staff have reported hearing whimpers and the ethereal
apparition
of a young woman in the halls.
The painting of Bernardo
de Galvez that is hung at the end
of a long hall in the hotel is supposedly haunted, too. It has been
said that
being in the vicinity, viewing the painting gives one an eerie feeling.
Supposedly it is not possible to take a good photo of the painting
without
asking permission first. Supposedly, you have to ask permission from
the painting. This does sound far-fetched, but it is part of
the
legend of the hotel. Perhaps our visitors could help us debunk this
legend.
It is also said that Room
505
has been known to make visitors
feel very uncomfortable and the smell of gardenias have been reported.
The
disembodied
reflection of a face has been seen in the large mirrors on the first
floor of this haunted Texas hotel.
Make sure to update us on
your findings if you visit this
wonderful hotel. We’d love to know what you discover, if
anything.
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