If what you are about to read sounds impossible, implausible, and beyond belief, I recognize and appreciate those sentiments. I experienced the following firsthand, and it remains the last thing I think about before falling asleep and the first thing I think about when I wake up. This location changed me. 

Since 1858, the Garnett House Hotel in Garnett, Kansas has secreted its layers of mystery revealing them only to the most sincere seekers. It leans like a tired grandfather with a pocketful of magic tricks, anticipating the return of his audience. The house “belongs” to no one, but some are akin to the house. It chooses you, leaving you both exhilarated and terrified, but always craving its attention. 

The house is now a shadow of its former glory and is the only remaining antebellum house in Garnett. Constructed in 1858 by David Houston, the house expanded into the town’s first Hotel, housing famous lawmen and entertainers such as Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Belle Starr. Harry Houdini was also a registered guest of the hotel. John Brown and the Underground Railroad used the home’s attic and tunnel system to harbor escaped slaves. The hotel operated as a brothel, jail, and schoolhouse, and even served as temporary housing for orphaned homeless children. Most recently, the house was used as a doctor’s office where the tenants mixed their medicines and performed everything from office visits to surgeries. 

What the house lacks in aesthetics, it more than makes up for in its mystique. Those who have passed through it have imprinted their energy on the house’s bones, if not returned to it in the afterlife. I anticipated an eventful night when, during the introductory tour, two dolls fell from their perch, a door closed forcefully, and a disembodied voice was heard from the kitchen. Justin Spurrier, formerly of Ghost Adventures and hotel co-owner, guided us through the hotel’s history while we navigated the unexplainable activity and fun-house effect created by the leaning walls paired with the squared doors. 

One of the most famed spirits (some would say a demon, but I’m reserving judgment) in the house is The Grinner. While he has been seen in multiple locations and different forms in the hotel, one guest fortunate enough to see him immortalized his image in a painting that hangs next to the bookshelves on which she saw him leaning. We spent the first part of our investigation in this room with impressive evidence using our different equipment but were disappointed that the poltergeist activity had slowed. We weren’t prepared for what lay ahead. 

After a couple of hours, we moved our investigation upstairs to the ladder room. This room holds the entrance to the attic, an old wooden ladder permanently affixed and leading to a small square hole in the ceiling. As I stood directly under the ladder, I kept getting the sensation of cobwebs on my face and eventually asked my husband to trade me places to see if he would experience the same. Our other two team members were doing an Estes session at the other

end of the room. Less than a minute after my husband and I traded places, he too felt the cobweb sensation. As soon as he acknowledged this, a loud bang was heard directly above his head. (I would later discover this to be a wooden pallet falling.) He ducked, fearful that the ceiling was falling in. Just then a ball was hurled from the attic entrance. The ball did not drop, nor did it roll, out of the attic. It was thrown with force, never touching the sides of the attic opening. I had seen similar activity on video from this location on film and had even delighted at the strong reactions from investigators. I wasn’t laughing anymore. It was the most afraid I had ever been on an investigation. 

After a short break outside the team returned to continue our investigation. While investigating the doctor’s office, we heard a thump from the second floor above us. We ascended the stairs, suspecting a doll had fallen causing the noise we heard. As we made our way through the rooms, three team members were walking through what is known as the Cowboy Room directly in front of the top of the stairway. I was in the adjoining room. I heard a loud bang and the team’s reaction, discovering later that the team had witnessed the bed warmer leaning against the wall fall over. Seconds later and on the other side of the room a windup clown toy began to play music. The team ran from the Cowboy Room and down the stairs. I followed, but as I did, there were heavy boot steps on the floor of the cowboy room as if someone were in pursuit of us. At the moment, I was certain that I would be pushed resulting in the entire team falling down the stairs. Fortunately, that didn’t happen (well, one fell, but that’s what you get for wearing a blanket to an investigation). 

Having had some heart-pounding, adrenaline-inducing experiences, we decided to return to the Grinner Room. I pulled out my dousing rods and leaned against the bookshelves, facing my team members. One said, “You know you’re standing in his spot.” I smirked, “Yeah, I know.” I watched as my team members’ faces went from smiling to horror. As soon as I asked, “What?” the doll on the bookshelf above me, a sweet little thing that appeared to have smallpox, fell onto me and then to the floor. We replaced the doll and moved the bookshelf around, attempting to debunk the experience. We couldn’t make the doll fall from where she was sitting. My teammates described the doll as “moving in slow motion” as she was slowly tipped forward until she fell. 

We moved into the dining room, where we still had a clear line of vision into the Grinner Room, and began packing our things to leave. One team member nudged my husband, redirecting his attention to the bookshelves holding the doll. They watched as one of the 6-foot-tall shelves tilted backward. As they were hyper-focused on this shelf, the doll flew backward. We all heard the loud thump as she hit the wall behind her. Again, this wasn’t a doll falling. My husband described it as if something or someone had reached through the wall and pulled her back with tremendous force. 

I have returned to the Garnett House Hotel three times since that first night. I have gone back to rationalize and debunk my experiences, only to add other unexplainable activities to my list: screams and other disembodied voices, antique turn-style doorbell sounds at the front door (the bell is still attached to the door, but the turnkey is gone), blocks falling from shelves, shadow play, inappropriate touching, rocking chairs moving on their own, and the list goes on. I will continue to research and return until its mysteries are revealed to me. There is no place like the Garnett House Hotel. It has changed me, challenged me, and opened my eyes to the power of the paranormal.