St. Albans Sanatorium Vlog

Hey everyone! Check out our very first vlog from our paranormal investigation at one of Virginia's most notably haunted locations- St. Albans Sanatorium in Radford.

Have a faBOOlous day!

                                                             -The Boo Review Crew

Patrick Henry Hotel: A Living Space Not Just for the Living

We took a trip through downtown Roanoke to check out a reported paranormal location called The Patrick Henry Hotel. While there we took pictures to compare the online perception of the Patrick Henry with our personal experience.

But first, here's some history on the Patrick Henry:

The Patrick Henry Hotel was built when Roanoke became a hub for the railroad and coal industry throughout the Appalachian Mountains. In 1923, William Wise Boxley decided to develop a hotel and assigned William Lee Stoddart as the architect. It was first opened on November 10th, 1925 and for years it served as a very successful hotel. The first year it was open, the hotel was already hosting over 2,000 guests.

Originally there were 300 rooms in the Patrick Henry, but many were eventually turned into apartments during the late 1960's and early 1970's, cutting the number of rooms to 121. In 2007, the hotel lost most of their business and all of their tenants, causing them to shut down the hotel for what they thought would be permanently.

However, in 2009, the building was purchased by developer Ed Walker, who made plans to reopen its doors and transform the hotel entirely into an apartment complex. In 2010, The Jefferson College of Health Sciences announced that it would be joining in on the project to serve as housing for its students, and 56 apartments are currently reserved for its students. The renovation cost approximately $20 million dollars and was finished in June of 2011 and now serves as a 134 unit apartment complex with retail and office space, as well as its own restaurant.

Even with this seemingly innocent past, the hotel has still become the alleged home of several ghosts. According to our research, the Patrick Henry Hotel is home to at least six spirits. Three of which hang around in the ballroom, watching the guests and possibly wishing to join in. Other reports suggest that the ballroom is haunted by more than just the three men, as witnesses have reported hearing sounds of a party, such as glasses clicking and laughter, emerging from the ball room even when no one is in there. Another ghostly apparition has been seen on the second floor smoking a pipe and kicking the tablecloth to make his presence known to people passing by. The fourth ghost is based off of an (unsupported) story of an elderly woman who passed away in one of the rooms. She supposedly stayed in the room and hangs around the bathroom, occasionally waking guests from their sleep.

The most notable story, however, is that of a stewardess who was brutally murdered in Room 606. It is said that in the early 1980's, the young girl entered the room and was attacked by someone hiding in the closet. The attacker stabbed the woman multiple times and placed her body in the bathtub, covering the majority of the room in blood. The murderer escaping without ever being caught, and some say that the stewardess never left the room. Cold spots and flickering lights are common experiences, and one guest who stayed in the room reported that a ghostly staircase appeared from nowhere and a a specter woman emerged from it. The ghostly woman walked down the staircase and to the woman staying in the room and touched her hair. Fleeing from her room, the terrified guest spent the rest of her night in the lobby because she was too frightened to return.

From personal experience, I have been told that the Patrick Henry doesn't allow guests to stay in room 606 anymore because of how actively paranormal it is. I've even heard that no matter how much they are cleaned, the blood stains always reappear. However, all of these are just rumors I have heard, with no evidence to back it up.

Here's what we found online...

And here are pictures that were taken by us...

Our Experience: 

Because the Patrick Henry is now an apartment complex and no longer a hotel, we were unable to enter the building. Therefore, we did not experience any first hand paranormal encounters here. However, we did get some lovely pictures of the outside of the building. Compared to the pictures we found online, our pictures appear to be slightly scarier. Of course, this is probably due to the fact that ours were taken at night. But on first glance, this beautiful and impressive building certainly seems like it could be haunted. 

In conclusion, we give the Patrick Henry a 2.5 out of 5 Boo Rating. 

We didn't experience any paranormal activity ourselves, but its history of alleged hauntings is enough to give anyone a fright. Stay tuned for more visits to haunted locations around Virginia! 

-The Boo Review Crew     

             

Weekly Anomaly Spotlight: Bunny Man Bridge, Not Your Grandma's Average Bunny

Are you brave enough to venture through here?

Yeah? What about now?

This site is known to many as Bunny Man Bridge and is located in Fairfax, Virginia. For decades, it has been the location of an alleged haunting, thus alarming many locals and spreading the legend throughout Northern Virginia, Washington D.C., and the surrounding areas.

The exact origins of Bunny Man Bridge have circulated throughout many years and details have evolved but all versions mention a post Civil War insane asylum prison in Clifton, Virginia. Eventually due to public outrage the institution was shut down and residents were put on buses to be moved to Lorton Prison. During the transfer one of the fifteen buses crashed leading ten patients to escape and hide in the woods. All of the patients were quickly located except one a man, Douglas Griffen. As local authorities searched for Griffen they found a trail littered with mutilated rabbit carcasses that lead deep into the woods and through a tunnel bridge. It is at this point the details of the story diverges, some report Douglas Griffen hung himself while others claim he was hit by an oncoming train. To this day it is believed that if you walk through the tunnel at just the right time the Bunny Man will attack you, leaving you with the same fate as the bunnies.

Over the years strange phenomena has occurred involving the Bunny Man Bridge. Starting in 1943 when three teenagers, two boys and one girl, were found hanging after spending Halloween night under the bridge. The story reappears in the 1970's when a couple separate witnesses reported seeing a man dressed as a bunny, yelling at crossing civilians, calling them trespassers. One witness claims the Bunny Man threw hatchet onto his car breaking the front window. Reports like these made it into the 1970's Washington Post and the 1973 version of the University of Maryland's student class newspaper. The most recent event involving the Bunny Man happened in 2001; when after hearing the tale, six local students and a guide, ventured into the woods in search of the Bunny Man. The group reported finding mutilated parts of bunnies and were prompted to quickly leave when they heard rustling noises and noticed figures moving around them.

So if you're ever near Bunny Man Bridge, think twice before crossing... Some bunnies are friendlier than others.

                                            We hope you have a faBOOlous Halloween!
                                                             -The Boo Review Crew

                                                   

Weekly Anomaly Spotlight: The Woman in Black, Straight to the Facts

Ever heard of The Woman in Black? No, not this one...

This one...

Unbeknownst to many, she once called Roanoke, Virginia her home. Since Roanoke is our hometown, The Boo Review Crew decided to delve a little deeper into her past. 

According to the History Museum of Western Virginia, she made appearances in Roanoke in March of 1902. She was known for appearing only to notable, married men while they were alone at night. The Roanoke Times, a local newspaper, ran several stories about eye-witness accounts of the Woman in Black. According to the eye-witnesses, she never tried to hurt the men, but just simply walked them back to their houses and disappeared when they arrived at their doorstep. As suddenly as the Woman in Black appeared in Roanoke, she vanished. Later encounters showed a similar apparition appeared in Bluefield, West Virginia and then moved onto Alma, Nebraska. 

We managed to track her down in Alma where an almost identical apparition called the "Alma Nightwalker" had multiple sightings. We believe that her name was changed from the Woman in Black to the Alma Nightwalker because of her prominence in the city. Witnesses claim that instead of a white, ghostly apparition she appeared dressed all in black, covering her face with a veil. Again, she appeared most frequently to the well-known men of the town while they walked to their houses at night. Such sightings were reported by newspaper editors, congressman, and many other notable town figures. However, nearly every one of Alma's approximately 1,000 citizens reported seeing her. There are no reported attempts of her trying to harm anyone, instead she would just scare people by appearing and dissipating. 

The Woman in Black is an urban legend that has spread throughout the country and has inspired many stories and tales. So next time you're walking home alone at night, keep your eye out for a cloaked woman who wants to keep you company. You never know, with her beginnings and ties in Roanoke, she just may return...

We hope you've enjoyed our first ever Weekly Anomaly Spotlight! Stayed tuned for next week's post on "The Bunny Man Bridge". Have a faBOOlous day! 

-The Boo Review Crew     

            

   

Come Join The Crew!

Welcome to The Boo Review, a paranormal blog focusing in and around southwest Virginia. We are a group of 3 high school students who are "skeptic believers". Our mission is to give light-hearted and honest reviews of the places we visit and our experiences there. We will be traveling to local haunted places to see first hand whether they live up to their spooky reputation, and then we'll give them a 1-5 ghost rating on our "Boo Scale". So stay tuned for posts and vlogs to find out if these places live up to their spooky reputations! In between visits, we will be doing interviews with locals who have had firsthand paranormal/unexplained experiences. Also, every week we will post an "Anomaly Spotlight" where we will highlight local legends, myths, and sightings. Sound interesting? Then click that little follow button to keep up to date with the Crew's News!

Also, if you have any experiences and would like to be interviewed, please contact us! Or if you have any paranormal evidence you would like to be featured on the blog or suggestions for places that you would like us to visit, please submit it to our email thebooreviewcrew@gmail.com or comment below.

Have a faBOOlous day!