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
