galvez

The Haunted Galveston team was fortunate enough to stay in The Galvez Hotel on November 9, 2005. We had reserved room #505 since we had read and heard rumors from fellow ghost hunters and island residents that it was considered the most haunted room in the Galvez. However upon arrival to the hotel we were informed that room #505 was no available. The entire 5th floor of the hotel was undergoing a major renovation, room #505 was one of the rooms being renovated. However we were able to stay in room #507 right next door to room #505. As we rode the elevator up to the 5th floor we found the entire 5th floor was a mess.

Up and down the hallway all the doors for the entire wing (the haunted wing as it's called) were standing wide open. We had the entire wing of the hotel to ourselves!! You might think this is a little creepy - however, we counted ourselves VERY lucky!! It is very rare that you will have the run of the entire haunted floor of a hotel to yourself.

We started our investigation of the hotel around 10pm central time. Starting first in our own room, we found absolutely no evidence of any paranormal activity.

At 11pm we decided to take the investigation out into the halls of the haunted 5th floor. We took pictures totally randomly, rarely having a rhyme or reason as to what we were photographing or why.

It wasn't until around midnight that we began to experience what we can only classify as paranormal activity. Doors up and down the hall of our wing began to slam shut, repeatedly, and rather loudly. At first this was ignored, after all it is a hotel, slamming doors is something that just happens. However not when you're the only one in that wing of the hotel.....

One of our team members (Teresa) that stayed behind in the room to monitor any activity that might be going on in that specific wing of the hotel made a complaint that someone was slamming doors out in the hallway. When we told her that it wasn't possible because we were the only ones in that wing of the hotel she became a bit more curious and insisted that doors had been slamming up and down the hallway the entire time the team had gone to do a sweep of the entire hotel.

It was just about that moment that the entire team heard the doors for the first time. First one, then another, then a third slamming out in the hallway. Not slamming shut mind you, but slamming on the "privacy lock bar" that held the doors of the unused rooms open. (see the picture at below)

This mad a loud banging noise every time one of the doors were left to bounce off of the metal privacy bar.

looking out, and she saw nothing and no one in the hallway. Seconds later the entire group heard the door to room #505 right next door slam shut and then proceed to bounce off the metal privacy bar three consecutive times before it came to rest. The only way to room #505 is to walk right past our room #507, this left the entire group stunned and somewhat giddy with excitement.

Once again the team hit the hallway, this time we searched every room - including room #505 to see if we could find any evidence that someone might be in the hallway trying to play a prank. The team found absolutely no on hiding in any of the empty unused guest rooms and we continued to experience the slamming of the doors up and down the haunted 5th floor wing all night long.

The other paranormal activity we experienced aside from the activity on the 5th floor was in the 1st level lobby bathroom and ballroom areas. When one of our team members (Teresa) was first arriving to the hotel prior to having any knowledge of the first level bathroom being haunted she told us that she thought she heard a young girls voice when she first entered the bathroom.

She didn't think anything about it, after all a young girl in the ladies bathroom isn't all that out of the ordinary. However when she walked into the bathroom she realized that no one else was in the bathroom. She had no other odd experience aside from the sound of the young girls voice while in the bathroom except for the very strong scent of gardenias. Could this be the young prankster that likes to turn on the water, rattle doors, or flush toilets while other guest are trying to use this downstairs bathroom?

However the most disturbing evidence of paranormal activity was the photographic evidence that we captured while staying in the hotel. We captured a few apparitions, orbs, and ectoplasm on digital cameras. However we will let the photographic evidence speak for itself, you can view the photographs taken from this investigation by (clicking here) or scrolling down to the "pictures" section.

Ann's Account:

If you've never experienced a true "haunting" then you absolutely must go to the Galvez in Galveston. Room 505 is supposed to be the most haunted room at this 5 star hotel. However it was my experience that it wasn't only room 505 that was haunted but the entire 5th floor.

The 5th floor of the Galvez was under construction the night we chose to visit. So all of the doors up and down the hallway were standing wide open, beds were unmade, furniture was moved out of the room, and the only room that we could see was accessible to guest was room 507 (our room right next door to room 505).

The activity started around 10pm and lasted through the night. The most noticable thing that seemed to take place was the slamming of doors. All night long doors would open and slam shut. At first we didn't think much of the phenomena, that was until we noticed upon going out to take some photographs on the 5th floor that we were the only guest on the floor.

So we stood in the hall and waited, looking for any sign that someone was messing with us, slamming doors on purpose, and so forth. We walked down the main hallway away from our room, knowing full well that NO one was in the wing we just left. We checked each room before leaving the "haunted" wing, no one was in any of the rooms, and no one could have hidden and not been discovered. So we left that wing and we waited down the hall, knowing that the only way to get to that wing of the hotel was to walk right past us, down the main hallway. It didn't take too long, we heard a door slam, immediately we all grinned brightly and went to go back down to the "haunted" wing. As we were walking back we heard another door SLAM shut. It was very loud, and it made us all go from a walk, to a dead run to hurry back down the hall to the haunted wing.

Immediately the slamming of the doors stopped once we were back in the haunted hallway. However our investigator Lee, did capture an apparition of the ghost we believe to be responsible for the slamming doors. You can see the picture at the beginning of this post. I think it's important to make it perfectly clear that absolutely no one was standing at the end of this hallway when Lee took this picture. We were the ONLY guest on this floor when all of our pictures were taken!!

Upon further investigation outside of our night at the Galvez, the Haunted Galveston investigation team discovered a few interesting facts. First, it was the unanimous belief of the team that the apparition at the end of this hallway, picture above; was in fact that of a nun. So when our research assistant, Ann; did further investigation on nuns in particular it was discovered that at least 12 nuns died in the storm of 1900. Many of them died while trying to protect the children of St. Marys Orphanage. St. Marys was once located at Sea Wall and 69th, less then a mile away from where the Galvez stands today.

Lee's Account:

So we were @ the Galvez November 9th and this place was so amazing. Beautiful and very very old. There was a heavy feeling in this old place as soon as I got inside, but when we got to the 5th floor, the mood got darker. The batteries in my camera started dying after 4 pictures and I kept putting new ones in and got the same results. This happened for about 45 mins, and then the batteries would last a bit longer. That was certainly the strangest thing that has ever happened to me. Ann's batteries didn't last too much longer than mine either. We got some interesting photos and heard lots of doors slam which is very strange coz we were the only people on floor 5 since they were doing remodeling. Teresa heard laughter of children in the first floor bathroom and I felt dread looking into the mirror (and it wasn't coz of my reflection! Ha ha). Lots of orb photos, a nun, and a young boy.