Mineral Springs Hotel Investigation

The Mineral Springs Hotel opened in 1914. Early advertising boasted that the hotel featured the "largest swimming pool in Illinois", mineral spring "cures", and the biggest table in the city of Alton, said to seat 26 people. The hotel was started in 1913 by August F. Ratz who purchased the site of the former Illinois Packing Company at the corner of Broadway & Alton. Construction was started in October 1913 with the excavation of the swimming pool. The hotel held its grand opening in September 1914 and a number of rooms were added in 1925.

For further information about ghost tours and other events contact Janet Kohler. mineralspringshauntedtours@yahoo.com

Located at 301 E. Broadway, Alton, Illinois 62002, 618-465-3200

A strong scent of jasmine perfume has been smelled in the building from time to time, thought to be connected to a woman who was either pushed or tripped down the stairs and fell to her death in the main lobby. One of the ghosts is said to be a man that smells heavily of liquor and the ghost of a small child has been encountered in the swimming pool area. Wet footprints have been noticed there and in other parts of the building. Shadowy figures have been seen floating down a back hallway and numerous paranormal events have taken place upstairs in a room where a suicide took place sometime in the past. During our previous investigation in June of 2005, unexplained crashes were heard as well as the sound of piano keys being touched, metallic sounds, and sounds of movements upstairs and the possibility of a table being moved without any human assistance.

The Ghost Research Society most recently investigated Mineral Springs Hotel October 11, 2009 and the team members included: Jim Graczyk, Stan Suho, Joe Tito, Joey Tito, Nicole Tito, Jerry Lutz, Andy Rhodes, Lisa Krick and Dale Kaczmarek.

At the October 10, 2009 investigation a lot of strange sounds were picked up on the audio track of camcorders placed throughout the facility that evening including the following video clips:

Breath 2 in the pool area a disembodied breath is recorded on the audio track and a researcher also hears it in "real time" and asks, "Who's there?"

Breath in the pool area a disembodied breath is captured.

Creepy in the pool area just at the start up of a new mini-DVD, a strange sound is recorded.

Mineral Springs Loud Breath in the hallway next to the main stairway, a loud breath or screech is recorded followed by laughter in the background.

Mineral Springs Loud Breath 2 in the hallway next to the main stairway, a loud bird-like call in heard.

Mineral Springs Male Voice during an EVP in the back hallway where shadow figures have been reported, a question is asked seemingly followed by a reply in the distance.

Sigh in the pool area a disembodied sigh is heard.

Whistle in the pool area, a disembodied whistling sound is heard.

Mineral 1 on the stairway facing a lower banquet hall the same loud breath is also picked up as in Mineral Springs Loud Breath.

Mineral 2 on the stairway facing a lower banquet hall the same loud bird-like call is also recorded as in Mineral Springs Loud Breath 2.

Mineral Springs Hotel Report 10/11/09 from Nicole Tito

Team Partner: Lisa Krick

Impressions/Personal Experiences:

During the initial walkthrough, I disliked the feeling I experienced in the basement pool. I felt like I was being watched and that someone would push me into the pool and this was all when the lights were on. I immediately knew that I wanted to investigate that room further.

Lisa, Andy, and I sat down in the pool area for awhile in the dark at the beginning of the investigation. Although I didn't see or hear anything, I felt very uneasy the entire time, which is unusual for me if I'm with other members.

While investigating the suicide room for a 2^nd time, Lisa's K-II meter had unexplainable spikes throughout our EVP session. An interesting note is when we were asking where the individual committed suicide in the room. At this point, I began to walk around the room with the meter hoping for it to spike. When I reached the bathroom door, the meter began to spike high for several minutes in the middle of the doorway. We couldn't find an electrical source so I continued on investigating the rest of the room. Then, after my complete search I went back to the bathroom door to see what the reading would be. This time, the K-II remained at solid green baseline and did not spike.

While performing my final EVP session with Joe Tito in the 1^st floor hallway cubby hole, we kept hearing noises to the left of us down the hallway where no one else was present. Joe got up several times to investigate and couldn't locate the source or location of these noises. It almost sounded like someone was walking or opening doors.

EVP:

In the suicide room, there is a possible EVP of a male's voice reacting to our session. In the clip, I state, "Come sit next to me." At which point, I believe the male's voice says, "Fuck." Then, I begin to talk and underneath my voice you can hear the same voice say, "Who are you?"

The 2^nd EVP clip comes from the final EVP session in the 1^st floor hallway with Joe Tito. You will hear me say, "Is there anything else you want to say before we leave?" Several seconds later, I believe that you hear an older African-American male voice saying, "No! Get out of here."

Still Pictures: Nothing.

Joey Tito: I did some free hand work throughout the investigation which included a walk through of the hot spots prior to our equipment setup. I ran a static camera in the pool room as well. I did not come across anything out of the ordinary personally during this investigation. We did come across an instance where Dale, Nicole, Dad, and I were in the 2nd pool room and were snapping pictures. In the pictures was the presence of various orbs. These orbs were automatically chalked up as dust particles falling from the ceiling and more dust and debris being kicked up while us walking in the area. I did look over the footage of the walk through as well as the free hand segments, but nothing paranormal was captured on either account.

Lisa Krick: I had my camera set up in the women's restroom because there were reports of a woman putting on makeup in the mirror. Nothing on video for me.

We spent quite a bit of time in the pool area as well. I was touched on the face and hair in the deep end several times, but have nothing on EVP. The last time I went to the pool area, it was with Andy. I didn't take the recorder - just wanted to sit and soak it in. As we sat there in the deep end, Andy and I both, at the same time, saw a shadow figure on the far side of the pool moving around. At the same time, my chest began to hurt and I had a really bad feeling about being in that area. I wanted to leave immediately. However, I squashed that feeling. Eventually my chest stopped hurting, but I never did have a good feeling about being the pool area again. I believe this area needs further investigation as well.

Stan Suho: We began our investigation in late afternoon. First we had a walk through tour of the first floor and Basement areas by the managers of the building. I followed them with a VHS Camera and Digital Camera taking several pictures. Since this was a re-investigation by me I knew where I wanted to set up. I decided to set up G.E.I.S.T. in the pool area as this was an area that I experienced EVP the last time. The Ion Detector, Geiger Counter and the Ghost Microphone were connected and monitoring was started. There were several other members concentrating on this area also. Well as it turned out the whole area was a big echo chamber. The audio recordings were almost unusable. However the Geiger Counter was more active then normal. This may be due to the presence of Radon Gas in the area.

Now the last time I was here, I picked up some Chimes on my EVP tape. Several times. This was backed up by a story in Fate Magazine where the author also reported hearing chimes on his tapes. After reviewing my recordings, I could not hear any chimes this time.

In conclusion I can report that nothing unusual showed up in my experiments or cameras. If we ever go back I think I will concentrate on the upper floors with my EVP, and let the Camera boys have the pool area. I think this place could use a follow up all nighter monitoring more of the upper floors.

Dale Kaczmarek: Nothing remarkable was captured on the infrared digital trap cameras or my regular digital camera. The command post was set upstairs and cameras were placed in the woman's restroom where a face has been seen appearing in the mirror, a downstairs ballroom, the pool area, a side hallway to the right of the main staircase. Motion sensors were placed in the far back hallway due to reports of black shadows seen slithering along that corridor. Trigger objects were used in the pool area without any success. There were no higher than normal EMF readings at any locations within the building.

I personally believe that based on the video and audio evidence collected that evening and prior investigations that Mineral Springs Hotel is probably haunted by a residual haunting in some aspects and possible intelligent spirits especially where actual responses were obtained in EVP sessions throughout the evening. I believe it would take another more thorough investigation to nail down these specific areas where EVP and audio tracks were captured. Nothing at all was recorded in the upstairs hallway or the women's washroom where the face allegedly appears in the mirror.

EVP Transcripts

1st Floor Hallway EVP

Nicole Tito, Joe Tito

I ask my final question, "Do you have any last things to tell us before we go?" Then, a few seconds later, I believe you heard an elderly African-American male yell, "No, get out." (See Mineral Springs Male Voice) above.

Suicide Room EVP

Nicole Tito , Lisa Krick

I am talking to whatever is present in the room and asking it to wave its hand before the K-II meter. Then, I say, "Come sit next to me." You will hear a weird, robotic male's voice say what I believe is, "Fuck." Then, a few seconds later you will hear the same voice as Lisa is talking saying, "Who are you?"

Mineral suicide room hello ... Nicole and I are in room 401 or the suicide room and we're just beginning the session. I am telling the recorder that there's an alarm that's going to go off like every three seconds (the smoke detector). Right after I say that, the K-II meter shoots up (at 7 seconds on the tape). At the same time the K-II meter shoots up, a voice says, "hello". Having seen the K-II meter shoot up, I say, "well, hello" ... so it's like the voice says hello and then I say well, hello.

2nd Floor Hallway EVP

Landing

A question was asked, "If you want to get a message across now's the time to do it." A whispery EVP comes through.