RJ and I arrived there about 7:45 in the evening and was greeted by the owner/manager of the Inn, Ken. Ken and his wife have run the Inn for a few years and the Inn has been in his wifes family for about the past 125 years. Doe Run was established in 1780 and completed in 1790. The land itself was first settled by Squire Boone, Daniels brother.
We were given the keys to our rooms, luckily RJ's was next to mine, and away we went to get our items settled. While we were walking up to our rooms which was on the third floor in the farthest wing, which also just so happened we were the only ones in that part of the inn for the evening, RJ's shoes kept coming untied on the steps. He stopped four times to retie his shoes. Keep in mind this is an extremely old building. All of the timber is orginal, all of the mortar and stone is original. Therefore there were no elevators. When we got to my room we started to poke around and asked permission if something was there to take a picture, and we wound up with a very nice mist in one of our pictures.
After a very nice dinner everyone went downstairs to get started on the hunt. There were about 14 people with varying degrees of experience there. We had skeptics and embracers both, so we had a nice mix of people. Bill gave a brief class on how to use the various equipment and also showed some video and EVP of his personal experiences that he has had.
After the class we were seperated into three groups of 4 or 5 persons per group. We had a nice mix, which included myself, a gentleman named Don who is a full blown skeptic, a nice lady named Nancy who is a reporter from the local newspaper who had some trepidation but was not really convinced, Nancys mother, and another very nice lady named Pat who did not disbelieve but who had never experienced anthing personally. The owner of the Inn informed us that we had free run of the Inn that evening and was welcome to go to any place we wanted to go, and that any room that had a open door on it to feel free to walk in and explore!
We started our part of the hunt on the third floor, and after some discussion with one of the guides there discovered that there were two children reputed to haunt the Inn and a favorite past time for them was to untie peoples shoes as they went up the steps. They also liked to close the doors on people in the guest rooms. We explored all of the third floor and I was glad I had brought three cameras!! Two digitals and a 35 mm disposable. Almost right away my batteries started to go dead in the digitals. Nancy captured several great pictures of orbs and a couple of a apparition trying to take shape in one of the guest rooms. She has assured me that she would email these to me for use.
The next area we were off to investigate was the dining rooms and kitchens. When we walked into the main dining room there was nothing there that I could feel, but as we neared the side dining porch, my feet slowed and I became very nervous. I did not notice the others in my group as we walked into that part of the dining room. My throat got extremely tight, my eyes filled with tears, and I became very anxious. The closest I can come to describing this would be if you can remember as a child, if you were looking for your mother and couldn't find her, and that feeling of trepidation you get where you feel like you have been abandoned and no one is coming back for you, and you're all alone. I was only in that room for a few moments before I headed back to the lobby area and I was not aware that Nancy had also fled the room and was relaying what she was feeling to her mother. When I came into the lobby area, Nancy seen that I was shaken and I described the same thing she had experienced.
Our next outing was to the attic! When we arrived in the attic I took a few pics and may have captured a face in the window. We will be doin a bit of study on this pic before we say for sure. I also captured a large piece of dust with a red outline. It looks in the shape of a heart, very cool!
Then we were off to the cabin. As soon as we walked into the cabin I felt nothing. There was not a thing happening there that I could feel. Earlier in the evening that had been the hot spot for activity but the show was over by the time we arrived. After getting back to the Inn and gathering in the lobby we were told that we were on our own for the rest of the evening to explore as we saw fit.
We walked around a few of the other guest rooms, before there were several of us who realized we had missed getting to the basement. Once we got there one of the men in the group found a large crawl space that was partially boarded up that he could fit into. He crawled in there a bit and actually found a bone. Whether it is human or otherwise, we do not know.
We also went back to the kitchen area, although I didn't get too close to the side porch, and decided to take a look in the back kitchens, when we heard a call on the walkie talkies for help from a couple of the the ladies in the group. It seems something had locked them in the pantry.
Doe Run Inn.
The beautiful Doe Run Inn grounds.
A skull?! No, a giant mushroom!
Is this mist?
A possible face in the window in the attic.
More of the attic.
At around 5am RJ and I both were exhausted. We headed back up to our rooms and decided for peace of mind, that we were going to bunk in the same room. After we laid down we both slept VERY well, and actually woke around 8am feeling as if we had a full nights sleep. After a huge breakfast we walked around the grounds a bit. The place is very spooky at night but it is gorgeous during the day.
If you would ever like to visit them you can get any info you would like at www.doeruninn.com.