Jesse James’ Ghost Captured in Photos and EVPs.

Jesse James’ Ghost Captured in Photos and EVPs.

by | May 16, 2021 | Uncategorized

It seems that Jesse James haunts the rooms and halls of the Talbott Tavern in Bardstown, KY.  How do I know this?  I believe this to be true because of all the sighting and stories from employees and guests that have seen and recognize the apparition of Jesse James. As a Certified Ghost Hunter, I have conducted hundreds of investigations at the Tavern and found other ways to detect Jesse’s presents through the use of EMF meters and audio recorders.

Jesse James was an American Outlaw and the most famous member of the James – Younger gang.  Jesse, legendary for his activities with his brother Frank, was in fact a husband and father. In the mid-1800s, Jesse and his gang robbed trains and banks throughout the Midwest. At one point, the governor of Missouri offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the James brothers.

Along with a long history of many robberies taking place in Kentucky, in 1868 Jesse and Frank joined Cole Younger in robbing a bank at Russellville, KY, not far from Bardstown, but did not become famous as outlaws until December 1869 after robbing the Daviess County Savings Association in Gallatin, Missouri. 

In 1880 Jesse and Bill Ryan robbed a stagecoach near Mammoth Cave, KY.  Then in 1881 they robbed the store of John Dovey in Mercer, KY.  All these events were pretty close to Bardstown, KY where it is said that Jesse and Frank would lay low while avoiding the detectives of the Pinkerton Agency.  Also in 1881, according to Historic Nelson County, Federal officers Yankee Bligh and George Hunter went to Bardstown to try to arrest Frank and Jesse James. The two outlaws were eating in a hotel there (believed to be the Talbott Tavern) and were quickly joined by Sheriff Donnie Pence and another prominent local citizen, Ben Johnson, who earlier had been Pence’s attorney during attempts to extradite him. After the meal, the four walked past the Federal officers in the hotel lobby and the James brothers mounted their horses and rode away without an attempt being made to arrest them.

It is also noted that the local Sherriff of Bardstown, Donnie Pence was a distant cousin by marriage of the James boys. In his earlier years Donnie had rode with the James brothers but later was exonerated and become one of the best officers of the law for Bardstown stated the governor of that time. Donnie would allow the James boys to come into Bardstown for some rest and relaxation as long as they agreed to be civil and not rob any banks.

Many times, the Pinkerton Detective agency would send their Detectives into Bardstown looking for these desperados, but the James brothers would be warned by the town’s people.  They would make an escape by going down into the basement of the Talbott Tavern where there was an opening to an underground cave system.  They would maneuver their way through the cave which led to the other side of town.  Even though they emerged from the ground quite dirty it did afford them a clean getaway.

It is understandable why Jesse would want to haunt this old historic landmark since it was a safe and fun place to be between his stressful life of crime. We have not heard of any reports that indicate that he has tried to harm anyone that has witnessed his spirit.  As a matter of fact, he has laughed at a few of the guests as if being amused at himself for scaring them. 

Their favorite place to hang out was the Talbott Tavern and it was said that in a guest room upstairs has bullet holes in the wall left by Jesse James.  This room was Jesse’s favorite because of the murals painted on the walls.  After a night of drinking and card playing Jesse retired to bed but awoke later to find, what he thought were birds flying out of the murals and he started to shoot at them.  After a few shots he realized that he must have been dreaming and lay back down to sleep. The Innkeeper took advantage of the bullet holes left in the walls and did not repair the walls.  People can now enjoy a meal or stay a night and be able to visit the room where Jesse slept and shot up the room during his dream.  This was a good marketing idea no matter what century you lived.

If you go and visit the Talbott Tavern, you will find that the holes in the walls have been covered with plexiglass to protect the holes from being touched or destroyed.  When I host the Bardstown Ghost Trek we go into this room and the walkers love taking pictures of the bullet holes left by Jesse James.

In 1994 I moved to Bardstown, Kentucky.  Shortly afterwards I became the General Manager of the Talbott tavern.  Almost immediately the staff, guests, and former management contacted me to tell me their story about their experience with Jesse James’ ghosts. 

One evening, before closing the tavern, I got my analog camera and decided to go into the empty rooms and down the hallway to take random pictures as I asked if Jesse was present.  Of course, in those days I had to take 36 pictures before I could take the film to the photo shop at Kroger and then wait 7-10 days before I could pick up my photos to see if I did get any weird images that might be paranormal related.  I was so excited when I discovered that one of the pictures revealed what I believe to be an apparition of Jesse James.  He was sitting on the floor in the corner of a hallway beside a vacuum cleaner.  As I looked closely at the photo it seemed to me that he was holding a mug of beer in his hand and resting it on his raised knee.

In 2008, one of the walkers of the Bardstown Ghost Trek took a picture in the conference room and capture an apparition of Jesse James standing in front of the fireplace wearing a white cowboy hat.  This happened around 8:45pm. The reason we felt it was Jesse is because I was talking about how he haunts this room and had been seen several times in this room by staff and guests. 

In 2017, a guest went into the conference room and asked Jesse if he would show himself.  She took a picture around 4pm with plenty of daylight in the room.  She captured an apparition of Jesse James and again he was wearing a white cowboy hat.  I and my friend had arrived at the Tavern shortly after she took the picture.  While I was getting the walkers ready for the tour my friend took a picture of the camera showing the apparition.   I was thrilled that we continue to get pictures of apparitions of Jesse James at the Talbott Tavern.

Maybe you would like to come to Bardstown to experience all the hauntings from the Talbott Tavern and other notable places that host spirits such as the Jailer’s Inn and the Pioneer Cemetery.  Come join me, Patti Starr, on the Bardstown Ghost Trek every Saturday from June through October and learn more about these ghosts.  Maybe you will be lucky to capture a picture of Jesse James’ apparition during the walk.

Yep, you bet

by Patti Starr

Yes, Jesse

by Patti Starr

ghost of Jesse James sitting in corner at Talbot Tavern
Jesse standing in front of fireplace
Jesse James in front of fireplace
Tortured Victims, Murders, Drowned Child in Basement

Tortured Victims, Murders, Drowned Child in Basement

by | Apr 22, 2021 | Paranormal

The Bishop House, a Hotbed of Paranormal Activity.

A house of Grace, abandoned to a house of drugs, including murders, torture and more.

Back in the early years of 2000 I was asked to come and investigate an apartment building in Lexington, Kentucky for spirit activity.  I was contacted by the owner, Stuart, who was concerned about what was going on with his tenets in his apartment building.  Before agreeing to do the ghost investigation, I set up an appointment with Stuart so he would explain to me in detail what type of paranormal activity was happening.  During this time, he also told me about the disturbing history of this building.

Stuart told me there were numerous accounts of his tenets calling him to complain about the weird things happening in the apartments.  The first two levels of the building housed his tenets and he lived upstairs in the attic area.  The activity seemed to be in all levels of the building including the basement.  

One tenet said that when she was at home, she liked to burn the scented candles.  She would light the candles in every room and during her meditations.  She knew that when she left for work, she would have to make sure all the candles were out so not to cause a fire.  Sometimes when she would come home some of the candles would be lit.  This became a common thing and she worried that someone must be entering her apartment while she was at work.  She contacted Stuart with her accounts and wanted to know if he was entering her apartment.  He told her he would never enter her apartment without her permission let alone light her candles. To satisfy her concern he changed the lock on the door just in case someone else had a key.  This made the tenet happy and for a while no problem until it started happening again.  At this point she began to suspect paranormal activity.  She was so upset about these candles being lit that she told Stuart she may have to move out. 

Another tenet came to Stuart and told him that he had been wakened many nights to the sound of his bathroom faucet running water.  He would get up to turn off the water and check out his apartment to see what might be causing the water to turn on.  Then in a couple of nights later the faucet would turn on again.  Stuart checked the faucet to make sure it was working properly, and he found it to be ok.

Then another tenet complained about someone running up and down the stairs.  He could also hear them walking around in the foyer as well.   His apartment was the closest to this location.  He said that he would hear a little girl laughing and playing in the foyer.  He would get up out of bed and open his entry door to see if he could see who was making this noise.  He would walk down the way and look at the foyer and it was clear.  No one there. 

As the complaints continued to come in Stuart started getting these weird phone calls.  He would answer his landline phone and hear some heavy static.  He would say hello several times but never heard anyone on the other end.  Then, on the day that I was scheduled to come to do the ghost investigation he got another one of these static phone calls.  He started out by saying his hello and just as he was about to hang up the phone a little girl’s voice came through.  She said, “Can Chloe come out and play?”  Stuart was thrown back at this request.  He asked, “Who is this?” and the phone line went dead.

He explained to me that the reason this upset him was because he had a small dog that he would let out and it would go downstairs and play in the foyer.  He thought it was cute how this pup would play with itself, running in circles and jumping up and around.  The kicker to this tale is that his dog’s name was Chloe.  “Oh my!  Could it be that Chloe has been playing with a ghost child all this time?”, he asked.

Stuart’s father was a hands-on work ethic type of Dad.  He made arrangements to make some upgrades in the basement and Stuart was to help.  At one-point Stuart ‘s dad asked him to pass him the hammer and the hammer was passed to his dad.  Then he asked Stuart for another tool but this time he did not receive it in hand.  He turned and looked to see why Stuart had not given him the tool and Stuart was not there.  He yelled for Stuart to see where he had gone.  Stuart came back downstairs and asked his dad what he wanted.  He told Stuart that he was passing him the tools and then he stopped.  Stuart told him that he had to run upstairs, and he was not passing the tools to him.  While they were working together in the basement Stuart had to leave for a quick errand and went upstairs. So, who was handing the tools to his Dad?  

Stuart told me that the history started when the original building was the home of a Bishop back in the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s.  The Bishop and his wife could not have children, so they decided to adopt a young girl around 5 years old.  Shortly after she joined the family the Bishop felt she was quiet a handful and decided that there was the need for a nanny.  The child was rather difficult and acted out many times.  As he continued the story, after a while the child seemed to be missing from the family.  Speculations started what might have happened to her.  It was believed that the little girl was thrown down a deep well located in the basement, by the nanny.  Some thought it might have been the Bishop and they blamed the nanny.  Back in the 1800’s there was little concern for a child’s wellbeing and when they went missing a lot of times there was no investigation. 

For years, the house went from owner to owner and in the 1970’s it became abandoned.  It was known as a crack house where drug addicts and drug dealers would hang out.  People in the neighborhood knew of its reputation and to stay away from this house.

Another episode developed when a man moved to Lexington from Texas, who bought the house and turned it into small apartments.  Somehow, he would lure homeless and drug addicts back to the house and imprison them.  He would take them down into the basement and restrain them.  He would beat them and harm them through disgusting acts until they died.  He had even set up a gynecologist’s table with a long chain assembled with handcuffs that hung down over this medical table to hold them captive. 

I am not sure how or why the police got involved but they discovered the murdered victims in the basement, and they arrested this man.  When they put him in the system, they learned that he was wanted in the state of TX for multiple killings.  He was released to the Texas authorities and as of 2002 was till serving his sentence in a Texas prison.

If that was not enough another man bought the building and improved the apartments to be rented out for income.  He fixed up the attic and lived there while running his apartment business.  Unbeknownst to his tenets he wired all the rooms, including the bathroom with cameras.  He would then go into one of his rooms in the attic and watch his tenets in their most private moments.  This man was not caught but when he sold the building the new owners found all the cameras and his watching station.

This all leads up to the current owner, Stuart.  After the purchase of this promising building, he also renovated each apartment in hopes to keep it rented for his income and to finance any repairs or improvements that might come up.  In the beginning, Stuart had no idea about the history of this place. After he started receiving so many complaints about these unexplained activities, he imagined that this old building might be haunted.  At this conclusion he started doing the research and learning the history of this building. 

Once Stuart called me and I agreed to do this investigation I named this case the Bishop House.  If you try to google it, since I created the name there is no information available about the Bishop House in Lexington, KY.  I did however found a link from Chip Coffey’s website where he made a page dedicated to this investigation.

Yes, I had the greatest honor to have Chip Coffey join me and my Ghost Chasers International team on the Bishop House Investigation.  In 2001, Chip Coffey and I met over the phone one afternoon.  Chip had been searching the net and he found my website and started to read my bio.  He told me that he was a psychic medium and he was extremely interested in ghost hunting.  I asked him when he became a psychic and how did he know he was psychic.  We shared stories about our experiences in the paranormal.  He saw that I grew up in Spartanburg South Carolina and was excited to know that we had that in common as well.  At one time he lived in a little town just outside where I lived.  We discovered as children we had gone to the same park to play and picnic with our parents.  This was it.  Since he had never been on a ghost hunt, I asked him if he wanted to come to stay with me in Lexington and I would take him with me on his first investigation.  That way he could see firsthand how we did things.  He agreed and within a few days he was visiting me in Lexington.

When he arrived and after showing him where he would be sleeping, we went into the living room to meet my team.  That was 20 years ago and most of the team that he met that day are still friends.  As we sat down the eat lunch and go over details of the investigation one of my team member, Jason, received a phone call on his cell phone.  He looked at the number and refused to answer it since he did not recognize the number.  In just a minute or two Jason’s phone rang again.  He checked it and once again he did not answer.  When his phone rang for the third time, I asked him to tell me the number to see if I recognized it.  When he told me the number coming through Chip said, “What?  Are you kidding me?  That is my phone number”.  Now remember, Chip had just met my team and there is no way he would know Jason’s number and he had been sitting on the couch eating lunch and had not called anyone from his phone.

I asked Chip to check his phone and when he reached into his pocket to get his phone it was not there.  We all started searching for Chip’s phone and found it in the next room over on the dining room table.  Chip checked his phone and there was not an outgoing call registered. 

After the Jason and Chip Coffey weird phone calls my phone started to ring.   When I looked at my phone answering machine, I could see the number coming through was Stuart’s number.  I was thinking he might be needing to tell me something before my team and I arrived for the ghost investigation.  I answered and all I could hear was a heavy static.  I repeatedly said hello, but no answer came through.  I hung up the phone and called Stuart back.  When he answered I asked him why did he call?   He was confused at my questions and said that he had not called me.  I told him that his number come up on my answering machine but when I answered it was only static.  He assured me that he did not call me. Wow!  What an awesome beginning to a super ghost hunt!

As the day started to wind down, we all got in our cars and headed to the Bishop House.  Once we arrived and completed our group prayer we decided to start in the basement.  Stuart being our guide led us to the entry of the basement.   The basement entry was located out back of the building.  It was a bit grown over with ivy and at the base of the steps were dead leaves.   As we stepped down a few steps to reach the opening of the basement I noticed what looked like a weird fountain on the outside wall to the left of the basement door.  That was a red flag.  Why did someone put that there just as you are about to enter the basement.  Was that something installed by the Bishop?  It did look extremely old.  When I asked Chip about this strange vessel, he said it was a holy water font. As soon as I returned home that evening, I looked up the meaning of the holy water font; A holy water font or stoup is a vessel containing holy water which is generally placed near the entrance of a church. It is often placed at the base of a crucifix or religious representation.  I have no idea why it would be placed at the entrance of a doorway that led into the basement.  Did it have anything to do with the story that the little girl was thrown down into the basement well?  Or could it have been originally installed at the front door entrance and the Serial killer removed it and put it on the wall entrance to the basement to bless himself before committing the tortures and murders?   

As we continued into the basement it was larger than I expected.  You walked into a large main room and there were two smaller rooms to the right. It was very dark, but we had plenty of flashlights and there was one main light in the entry room.  It was the most eerie place that I had ever investigated.  The energy was dark and thick but in some other spaces not so bad.    When we entered the side room to the left, we found a gynecologist examining table. It was not as shocking as when I saw a chain hanging down from the ceiling with two hand cuffs on the end of the chain swinging down over the center of the examining table.  What in the world did his twisted mind cause him to do to his victim can only be horribly imaged?

Shortly after going into the basement while walking through each room we found the closed covering to the deep well where the little girl was supposed to have been thrown down.  As we walked around in this area Chip began to feel the little girl’s presence.  I looked over to the side of the room and noticed a light bulb hanging down from the celling and it was barely lit.  It started to flicker.  At that time, I asked Chip if he would ask the little yes and no questions to see if she would use the light to blink on for yes.  He agreed and started asking questions.  Are you the little girl that haunts this place?  The light flickered as a response for yes.  Were you happy when you were here? The light did not flicker as a response of no.  Were you afraid of the Bishop? The light flickered as a response of yes.   Did you die here? The light flickered as a response of yes.  As Chip was answering these questions, I started checking out the light and followed the cord that ran across the top of one of the beams.  To my amazement I noticed that the electric cord was severed and there was no power going to the lightbulb.  I pointed that out to Chip and the communication with the little girl stopped and the light hung dark.

During the time we spent in the basement one of the team members froze in her stance and would not move.  She stared out into space and started to shake.  When we noticed the strange behavior and approached her, she blurted out, “Don’t touch me!”  I became concerned for her and called for Chip to come over to us to see if he could help.  As he approached her, he slowly lifted his hand to reach for her and asked her if she was ok.  She turned to look at him and at that time we took a picture of her to see if we could capture anything around her in our photos.  As Chip continued to talk to her, she seemed to come back to reality, and he asked her if he could lead her outside and away from the basement.  She agreed and a few of us walked out with her.  She told us that she was overcome by a horrible feeling of dread and fear.  She had a roar in her ears and for a few seconds she could not hear us talking to her.  She continued the investigation with us, but she refused to go back into the basement.  When we looked at the photos that we took of her she had a red glow around her eyes.  We checked with a few professional photographers to see if this was a red flare that you sometimes get when you would look into the camera straight ahead.  They call it the red eye. She was looking to the side and not into the camera.  This is what made the redness seem strange and very unusual and should have not caused the red around her eyes.  I have included this photo below.

There was so much paranormal activity that we knew we would need a second investigation to cover the apartments, the attic, and the basement.  I will continue with our investigations to let you know what type of interaction we were able to capture on the other investigations. 

In one of our sessions, while down in the basement, Chip decided to kneel to see if he could get the little girl to approach him.  As he was holding out his hand, I took a picture of him with my camera.  I was able to capture a big bright spirit orb to the right of him.  I use a technique that I taught my student when taking pictures with a flash.  I instructed them to not look at the viewfinder or screen but to look into the flash as they took a picture and at times you would be able to see the orb, apparition, shadow people, or other paranormal images with your natural eye.  Another thing that made this picture so convincing was the spirit orb was also captured on video as my flash went off.  Anytime you capture an image in two different mediums it gives it more credibility. This session turned out to be another learning lesson for me and my ghost hunting team. 

When we planned our time inside the building we started in the foyer where the sounds of a little girl laughing and footsteps running up the steps had been heard.  This was also the favorite area for Chloe, Stuart’s dog, to play.  We were not sure what we would find so with cameras, videos, and audio recorders in hand we stood in silence to see what might happen.  One member of the team was holding a cell sensor meter, EMF meter, that began to slowly beep indicating a disturbance in the electromagnetic field.  Within a few seconds Chip jumps back with amazement after seeing the image of a little girl standing beside the team member with the meter.  I am including this short video Of Chip down below.

While I was on the second floor, I had one of the tenets come out of their apartment to see what was going on. She wanted us to come inside her apartment so she could show us where the candles were.  She explained to the group how they would be lit again when she would return home.  While I was in the apartment my camera batters died so I put them on recharge.  As you hear me explaining about the batteries, I managed to pick up an EVP on my audio recorder of a little girl who says, “He so sorry, I’m sorry to”.  Upon reviewing my audio, I was more than delighted to have captured this message.  I thought that maybe she was telling us that the Bishop was sorry for what he had done to her and she was saying she was sorry for being such a difficult child.

I wish that someday I could return to this place just to see if it is still as active as it was almost 20 years ago.  Since that time, we have improved on ghost hunting equipment and different techniques of communication with the ghosts and spirits.  It would be so exciting to try these to see if we could capture more evidence of paranormal activity there. My connection to this place is gone since Stuart sold it and moved away. 

To find out more about the amazing Chip Coffey, World Renown Psychic Medium, please click here www.chipcoffey.com  At the moment he is a regular cast member to the very popular paranormal show, “Kindred Spirits” on the Travel Channel.  Also, I have this story on my YouTube channel as well. Please click the URL to view the Bishop House video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCG2fMi_vjw&t=174s 

He's so sorry, I'm sorry.

by Artist Name

In one of our sessions, while down in the basement, Chip decided to kneel to see if he could get the little girl to approach him.  As he was holding out his hand, I took a picture of him with my camera.  I was able to capture a big bright spirit orb to the right of him.  I use a technique that I taught my student when taking pictures with a flash.  I instructed them to not look at the viewfinder or screen but to look into the flash as they took a picture and at times you would be able to see the orb, apparition, shadow people, or other paranormal images with your natural eye.  Another thing that made this picture so convincing was the spirit orb was also captured on video as my flash went off.  Anytime you capture an image in two different mediums it gives it more credibility. This session turned out to be another learning lesson for me and my ghost hunting team. 

A Playful Little Boy Ghost

A Playful Little Boy Ghost

by | Apr 7, 2021 | Paranormal

During the early summer months, I loved going to downtown Lexington to the Farmers Market.  My husband, Chuck, and I would try to go every Sunday to buy the fresh tomatoes, peppers, peaches, and watermelons.  One Sunday while collecting my favorite fruits and veggies a young woman approached me.  She began by asking me if I was Patti Starr, the ghost hunter. When I agreed, she asked me if I had a minute to talk to her about some strange things involving her family. To be specific, she started telling me about these weird incidences happening in her child’s playroom and other rooms in the house.  We found a corner bench to sit while she explained to me what was going on.

She said that occasionally, at night after putting her 2-year-old son to bed, she would hear a child laughing and it did not sound like her child.  She would walk down the hall into her child’s bedroom and could see that her little one was asleep.  She passed it off and thought maybe he was laughing in his sleep.

Sometimes she would be sitting in the sunroom while her child was playing beside her and she would hear what sounded like a small child running down the hallway behind her.  She would quickly turn around to see what was causing the sound and she would see nothing.  

One evening, while finishing up the dishes, she heard the sound of one of his toys coming from his playroom.  She thought that was strange since her son was in the living room at the time.  She went into the playroom, turned the toy off, and returned to her chores.

Again, another night around midnight, she was awakened by the toy sounding off again.  She went into the playroom, found the toy in a stack with other toys, and turned it off.  The toy continued to wake them up and play in the middle of the night until they decided to remove the batteries.    She thought the toy must have malfunctioned. A few quiet nights passed and then one night it went off again.  She was a bit more concerned now since she knew she had removed the batteries and there is no way this toy should be sounding off.   Now she thinks that maybe for some unknown reason her house might be haunted by a child.

She talked to her husband and they decided that she would talk to me and see if I would do a ghost investigation.  He was not very supported of the idea that the house was haunted so he decided he did not want to be at he house when I came to do the investigation.  He took their little boy out to the park and then later, for some ice cream.

In June of 2002, I made an appointment to do a ghost investigation for this young family.   I decided to invite three of my former students who had just completed their Certified Ghost Hunter course to join me on this investigation. These students were eager to use the dowsing rods as a means of communication on their first ghost investigation since graduating.  I was hoping we would also witness some activity with the EMF meters as well.

We arrived about 6pm and since most of the activity was in the playroom we decided to start there.  The room was packed with more toys than can be imagined.  You could tell that this room would thrill any child, including a ghost child.  I took my EMF meter and walked all around the room to see if by chance I would get a hefty reading.  There was no EMF disturbance, so the meter remained quiet.  While Chuck was putting the camcorder on the tripod, we heard the sound of a child running down the hall.  I turned to look in the direction of the sound.  Then my EMF meter started to beep.  I stood frozen to see if it would go off again.  It did!  When it stopped, I started talking to the child.  I said, “I think there is a small child here with us and you like to see the red light go off.  You can make the meter go off.”  Then the meter started to beep.  I asked the child if he could make the meter go faster and he did.  I asked if he could make it go really fast and he did.  It was amazing and then I asked the child to stop the meter and he did.  The meter was quiet. 

This was the day I had discovered digital dowsing.  I was delighted to have learned that I could communicate with the ghosts and spirits through using the beeping sound of the EMF meter.  After this investigation I continued to use the meter as a digital device to dowse for answers to my yes and no questions.  I have improved my use with the meters by asking the spirits to slowly beep out how many spirits are with us.  This method has validated as many as 13 spirits being present with us during the electronic dowsing.  Going forward. I added this discovery to my lessons of the Certified Ghost Hunter course. 

We continued the investigation by going into the sunroom.  I thought this would be a good place to use my dowsing rods.  One of the first things I do before dowsing with my rods is to get permission from the spirit to ask some yes and no questions.  On this evening, when I asked for the permission to dowse, I got a no response.  I rarely ever get a no response but when I do I respect their wishes and put away my dowsing rods.  Later, when I was listening to my audio recorder, it was at that moment I captured an excellent EVP.  It was the voice of a little boy who said, “Boring.”, as I was putting away my dowsing rods.  As I discovered this EVP upon reviewing the audio tapes it made perfect sense why he said, “Boring”.  The little boy had more fun with me while dowsing with the meter.  He was thrilled to hear it beep and to see the red light at the top of the meter flash on and off.  Not so much going on when dowsing with two “L” shaped brass rods.   I guess he was telling me that the dowsing rods were, “Boring.”  That is why I got a no response when I asked if I could use the dowsing rods.

The next day I was pleased to see the same students visiting my Ghost Hunter Shop and they bought the Cell Sensor EMF meter.  This was the same meter I used when I got the child ghost to come through. They were looking forward to using the EMF meter as another method in getting answers to their yes and no questions during a ghost investigation.

Once I had reviewed all the evidence, I set up a reveal meeting and returned to their home in two weeks.  I was pleased to have her husband present when I played the audio of the meter going off and the EVP of the child saying, “Boring”.  Her husband was a bit more receptive of our efforts to conclude that they had a small little boy ghosts sharing their home.  It was a beautiful home that housed a loving family.  They agreed since they did not feel any threat to their son that it was ok to have visits from this ghost child.  We all admitted that there were plenty of toys for both to share.

For a while I stayed in touch with the family to make sure all was well.  They let me know that activity became less and less and finally it stopped.  I later learned that her husband was diagnosed with cancer and passed away.  It broke my heart to hear this news because they were such a happy young family.  After that I lost touch with this precious family.  I think of them often and felt blessed that I got to meet them and help them with their positive paranormal activity. 

I would like to invite you to subscribe, like and hit the bell icon to my YouTube Channel.  I have the story about this ghost child posted on my Patti Starr’s Supernatural Chronicles.

If you have any questions or would like to share your idea about the story of the child ghost, please comment below!  Thank you!

 

 

 

Child Ghost Makes Meter Go Off #1

by Patti Starr

Child Ghost Makes Meter Go Off #2

by Patti Starr

Are you a little boy

by Patti Starr

Boring

by PattiStarr

Meeting Elvira at the ScareFest Horror & Paranormal Convention

Meeting Elvira at the ScareFest Horror & Paranormal Convention

by | Mar 26, 2021 | Personal

One of the biggest perks while owning The ScareFest Horror and Paranormal Convention for eight years, was meeting so many iconic celebrities of the horror movie genre and the paranormal celebrities from the ghost hunting shows on TV.    If you are curious about the ScareFest you can click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdoprkdVXGA and watch a video about ScareFest’s earlier years and what the stars and fans had to say about their experiences.

Through the horror movie years high attendance at the box offices started to reach the greatest numbers in audience in the 1960’s.  I was turning 12 years old back then and I had such a love for these super horror movies.  The list would include such greats as Psycho, Eyes Without a Face, Rosemary’s Baby, and Night of the Living Dead.

I would see most of these movies at the drive-in theaters.  Drive-in theaters were developed on a large strip of land surrounded by a high fence, to prevent anyone from sneaking into the drive-in theater without paying, not to mention hiding in the trunk of the car and waiting till dark to sneak out to watch the movie.  When you arrived at the drive-in you would drive pass a huge marquis all lit up with the name of the movie, top star names, and what time the drive-in opened.  Once you drove through the entry you would pass the concession stand before coming upon rows of slightly elevated hills.  You would pull your car onto a favorite spot while maneuvering to get close to the speaker box that was attached to a pole.  Once you were into the space you would roll down your window, yes, I did say roll down, and pull the speaker into the car and attached it to the driver’s window after rolling it back up halfway. Looking out the windshield you could see the large outdoor movie screen.  Once it was dark enough the movie would start, and you could view the movie from the privacy and comfort from your car.

Now if it rained you would have to roll up the window all the way and turn the on the windshield wipers.  If it got cold after dark you would have to roll up the window and turn on the heat.  Then when the windshield fogged over you took a towel and wiped the windshield down.  Going to the drive-in was a lot more fun in the summer months.  We would bring blankets and pillows and set out in front of the car and sometimes we would sit on the hood.  Now that was living. 

The next best thing about the drive in was the concession stand where we could buy bags of popcorn.  If you were really hungry you could buy hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, moon pies, Coca-Cola and popsicles.  Most of the time Mama would fix popcorn before we left the house and put it in a huge brown paper bag.  Then she would pack small lunch paper bags so we could have our own individual popcorn. This would cut down on all the sibling fighting over who got the most popcorn.

In 1987 marked another great time for the horror movie industry.  We were watching Evil Dead 2, Hellraiser and Predator that featured people losing appendages in the woods. The Lost Boys and Near Dark were revealing modern day vampire tales.  Speaking of vampire tales, in 1988 one of my favorites was a movie starring Cassandra Peterson in, “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark”.  Later, in the 1990’s when they released her movie to VHS, I made sure I got a copy and as technology has advanced, I also purchased a DVD of “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark”, a total must have.

In 2010 I was beyond thrilled when we were able to book Cassandra Peterson, as Elvira, for the ScareFest Horror and Paranormal Convention.  As she had one of the biggest lines of fans waiting to get her signature and a photo of her, I was lucky enough to sneak into her booth and get some time to visit her.  I was so star struck and totally giddy that I was meeting her for the first time.  I was amazed at how radiant she was in her appearance and totally so much fun to be with.  I introduced myself and proceeded to tell her how much I loved her work and the iconic character who she had created as Elvira.  There is so much more to this brilliant woman.  I learned that after she visited Las Vegas as a teenager, she was inspired as she watched the performance of Ann-Margert while in a film Viva Las Vegas.  After returning home and graduating from high school she returned to Las Vegas and landed a contract at only 17 to be a showgirl in Frederic Apcar’s, Vive Les Girls.  While living there she met and dated Elvis Presley.  She had a small role as a showgirl in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and played a topless dancer in the film The Working Girls (1974). In the early 1970s, Peterson moved to Italy and became lead singer of the Italian rock band, The Snails.

After our time together, I had to return to my many duties as the convention was going on for 3 days.  A few hours later I had one of my security people come up and took me by the arm and said, “You need to come with me now.”  I was thinking that something terrible had happened the way he pulled me down the hall into a private room.  When I turned and looked around there stood Cassandra all dolled out as Elvira.  She had agreed for my staff to bring me there in the quiet and vacant room so she and I could stand in front of a backdrop and have a proper portrait done of us together.  I was so thrilled and honor at this sweet jester.  I have the portrait framed and for years it hung in my office.  At the moment it is packed away with my other belonging while I wait for my house to be finished.  When that day comes it will continue to hand in my office for all times.

I am starting a new podcast in about 3 to 4 weeks and one of my biggest goals is to have Cassandra Peterson as a guest.  I want to find out more about her earlier years and to get an idea on what she has planned for herself and Elvira in the near future. 

I found several great YouTube videos about Cassandra that I thought you would enjoy.  I listed two URLs below that are most resent.  The first one is highly informative about this awesome, talented woman and the second one is a funny song she sings about COVID 19.  I hope you enjoy these videos.

By the way, she turns 70 years old this year of 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5wicJrLbLQ  Information about her life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvDI9Bel7-o    funny song about COVID 19

While on FaceBook I saw where Cassandra has a book release coming soon 9-21-21, “Yours Cruelly, Elvira” and you can preorder at https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/cassandra-peterson/yours-cruelly-elvira/9780306874352/       

Please check out what the current owners are doing with The ScareFest Horror and Paranormal Convention 2021.  It is going to be EPIC!!  www.thescarefest.com

A Sweet Spirit speaks to her guests at Talbott Tavern

A Sweet Spirit speaks to her guests at Talbott Tavern

by | Mar 23, 2021 | Paranormal

When I moved to Bardstown in 1994, I was so thrilled to be living in a place that seemed to have stopped in times of long ago.  As I parked my car for the first time to visit some of the historical downtown buildings, I hesitated to cross the street to watch a stagecoach ride passed me on one of the main streets.  I later learned that Jonsie was the owner of Around the Town Carriage & Gifts, 223 N. Third St. Bardstown, KY 40004. (502) 348-0331. https://www.kentuckytourism.com/bardstown/attractions/family-fun/around-town-carriage  I was so entertained by the unique atmosphere the horse and buggy rides created on the streets of Bardstown.

As I headed towards the Tourist center I watched as a gentleman and three ladies came walking through the doors after me.  Oh my, they were wearing clothing that reflected the 1800 period of history.  After meeting the manager of the visitor’s center, I was told that they were part of the Stephen Foster Story performed every Saturday night at the amphitheater from June until August.  https://www.stephenfoster.com/

As I continued to travel down the main streets, I came upon what look like a vintage train parked at what seemed to be a museum.  Once I entered the main building, I learned that it was called the Dinner train.  It was a RJ Corman 1940 train that took you on a two-hour trip into the beautiful countryside of Bardstown and surrounding areas.  During the two-hour trip you were served a delicious meal while listening to music that was popular during the 1940’s.  https://www.kydinnertrain.com/

Then to top off my first day exploring this amazing little town I found the American Civil War Museum with one of the biggest selections of Civil War items and memorabilia that I could ever hope to see.  There was also a Women’s Museum that chronicles the achievements of women of all backgrounds, races and creeds during the 1800’s and Civil War. The Museum’s buildings are adjacent to the Old Bardstown Village, a collection of ten original 18th and 19th Century log structures that form a Colonial period settlement along Bardstown’s Museum Row. I loved walking down the path that led to a blacksmith shop, a tavern, an inn, a church, and a beautiful water mill with swans swimming in the sun.  https://bardstownmuseumrow.org/

As I continued my search through this awesome town the visitor center pointed out the rich history of the bourbon country.  They told me that Kentucky is where 95 percent of the world’s bourbon is made.   A few years later after living in Bardstown Heaven Hill Bourbon Heritage Center was built. They now provide a tour of tasting and learning the history of Bourbon.  They also offer an excellent gift shop for an unforgettable experience. https://heavenhilldistillery.com/bourbon-heritage-center.php

William Heavenhill was the original owner of the distillery.  He was born on September 15, 1783 and died June 6, 1870 at the age of 86.  Around 2004 I was granted permission to visit the gravesite of William Heavenhill.   I had been asked by management of the Bourbon Heritage Center to do a ghost hunter presentation for the center’s visitors.  I told them it would be great if I could do some investigation of the grounds in case, I could capture something paranormal while using my equipment.  As I visited Heavenhill’s grave and looked at the date of his birth I noticed that the day I was doing this investigation was September 15, the day of William’s birth.  As I walked around the representative told me an interesting story about the birth of William.  She said that just as his mother went into labor there was an Indian attack on the property.  The family was fighting off the attack as William was being born.  When I returned home and was reviewing all my photos, videos, and audios I was thrilled to discover I had captured a very eerie screams of a woman.  In the recording you can hear me walking around the grave and asking questions of the sweet spirits.  I can assure you that during this time none of us heard the screams of a woman.  I was thinking that it might have been the screams of his mother as she gave birth to William during the Indian attack.

Look at me, I digress. Anyway, getting back to the Talbott Tavern, after visiting the historic downtown of Bardstown I knew that I wanted to get a job at the Tavern.  My first visit convinced me that the Tavern was haunted.  I was so excited to have felt so many spirits there as I walked around the halls before I had my first meal.  During my meal I asked the server if the Tavern was haunted.  I got a definite yes as a response to my question.  At that point I told myself that I wanted to work here, and I was going to apply for a position.  I’m happy to say that I was hired as a secretary and within a couple of months I was promoted to General Manager of the Talbott Tavern.  I was there from 1995 until 1999. 

It was an amazing 4 years and then there was the fire.  In March of 1998, the tavern caught on fire and was devastated. The inside was destroyed, and the roof was burned away …  I got a call at 5am on a Saturday that the tavern was on fire and the fire department needed to know how many people were staying the night to make sure they had rescued everyone.  I gave them the number of guests and then dove in my car to get to the tavern.  I was so shocked to see the building on fire and the roof caving in.  I just sat down on the sidewalk and cried.

A few days after the fire I was able to go back into the building to see how badly it was burned.  There were barriers around the first and second floors to keep anyone from falling through the floor and other hazards.  After checking and feeling confident that it was safe in the other areas, I decided to do a ghost investigation. I wanted to make sure that they were all still there despite the fire. 

I invited a few friends of mine to come with me to see if I could capture any evidence that the spirits that I had encountered before the fire was still there.  I had 3 analog mini recorders that I distributed to three different rooms and let them record on both sides of the tapes while we were there.  We spent most of the night monitoring our crude ghost hunting equipment.  We had a compass sitting on our camping table we took with us.  We took turns checking the compass to see if it was reacting in a way that would indicate that the magnetic field was being interrupted.  We had an outside thermometer that we checked and then record the time and temperature to see if there was a spike in the temperature.  We also sat up analog video recorder and several analog audio recorders.  Back in my earlier ghost hunting days it was very boring to sit and watch the compass and the outdoor thermometer.  Occasionally we would walk around and talk to the sweet spirits to see if they would come through as an apparition or a shadow person that we could capture in our photos and videos. After about 3 hours into the investigation, we gathered and packed up our ghost hunting equipment and said goodbye to the spirits.

The next day I took all three of the recorders from the investigation and as I ironed my clothes with my headphones on, I began to listen for the EVPs.  Most of what I heard was a slight static with no sounds of life or motion.  Then I was thrilled to hear a voice with a full sentence.  It said, “Welcome to the Talbott, I will seat you”. It was such a clear voice, at first, I thought it might have been Melody, one of the ghost hunters in my group.  She is one to have fun with all of us and I thought maybe she had gone into the room to play a funny on me.  When I called her and asked her if she had done that, she totally denied it.  Another reason that I believed her is before the EVP came through there were no footstep sounds to indicate someone walking up to the recorder and speaking.

The next thing I wanted to do was figure out who was speaking.  I did have a clue to who it might have been through some of my historical research.  In 1886 George Talbott with his wife Annie Spalding Talbott purchased the Newman House.  They lived there and over the next few years they had 12 children.  Annie had 3 sets of twins and that is how their family grew so fast in numbers.  The family continued to live and work at the Newman House and during that time they lost 7 children to disease and flus.  Then in 1912 George Talbott died.  Annie decided at that time that she and her older children would stay on to run the Inn and restaurant.  In George’s honor she changed the name from the Newman house to the Talbott Hotel. 

Annie was in charge for another 4 years and then in 1916 she sold the Hotel and restaurant to T.D. Beam, Jim Beam’s brother.  When T.D. Beam took over he changed the name from the Tavern Hotel to the Talbott Tavern.  In today’s world most of the locals refer to the inn and restaurant as the Tavern.  For years, the tavern has been the hot spot for most locals to go for a good meal, relax in the pub, or enjoy music on Saturday nights at the bar.  By piecing together this timeline I felt that since it was not a tavern until T.D. Bean took over that there was no way Annie would refer to it as the Tavern. 

Another interesting tidbit I learned during my research was the reason why alcohol was never served at the Talbott Hotel.  When George was young lad one of his favorite uncles got into a fight during an evening of drinking in a bar.  During the fight he was shot and killed.  George blamed it on the alcohol and decided then to never drink alcohol or allow it to be served in his restaurant.  So again, it made sense to me why Annie would not have welcomed her guest to the tavern.  She would likely say, “Welcome to the Talbott, I will seat you.”

I hope you enjoyed my story and will make a comment or share an experience you might have had while visiting the Talbott Tavern. 

Please check out the Youtube video about this story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZM-AI18qJM&t=111s

Welcome to the Talbott, I will seat you.

by Patti Starr