Well, next month. But today our first stop has been booked, much thanks to the awesome Christy doing all leg work! Along with Chirsty and my sister Cori, I am going to spend July 13th overnight at The Palmer House, a historic an very haunted hotel in the cute little town of Sauk Centre, MN. I am wicked excited! Not only because I get to hang with my actual sister and someone I consider a sister, but because the morning of Saturday the 14th is a gallery reading with psychic Tiffany Johnson and us crazy girls are attending that as well!
As you may have read in an early blog post, Christy is working on cultivating her medium skills and we are now actively seeking out well-known haunted places for her to go to and see if she picks up on anyone (remind me to tell you all about the time she saw the little blonde woman while on the bus going to work, looked down at her phone, and when she looked up again, she was gone) so this is a perfect first-time outing that my sister is getting dragged along with us. Cori is not a huge paranormal enthusiast, but there's a bar! And me and Christy! So, what's not to love?
The Palmer House, located in Sauk Centre, is not a far trip at all and I have been to Sauk Centre several times since my family is from up that way. In fact, my Grandma used to work at The Palmer House in 1949 as a cook...she thinks. She was only 15 at the time and many years have passed so she doesn't remember trivial things like what job she had at 15 so...but after I told her our plan of staying at The Palmer House she consulted with her younger sister, who said, "Oh, that place is very haunted!" I asked her if she herself experienced any paranormal activity while working there, "I don't know..." she answered. I asked her how far she lived from The Palmer House at the time, "Well, I was living in the farm, you know." I don't, but I assume she means the farm in either Spring Hill, MN or Melrose, MN, both neighboring-ish towns of Sauk Centre. Thanks for all the info, Grandma!
The history of The Palmer House is a little better remembered, however. It was built in 1901 after the Sauk Centre House, the city's first hotel, burned down in a fire the year prior (fires destroyed all kinds of things in the early 20th century, didn't they) Apparently, the townspeople of Sauk Centre were relieved when this happened since they hated that grungy ol' Sauk Centre house and wanted something fancier anyways, and Ralph and Christena Palmer delivered! They even made sure their spiffy new hotel had electricity, which was quite the luxury! Also, when the hotel was new, many people decided to live there and raise their families in the hotel itself. One of the most famous hauntings of The Palmer House is that of a boy standing at the top of the stairs on the second floor. There have also been incidents of balls bouncing down the hallways, and voices of several children being heard.
The Palmer House has also been said to house the ghost of Sinclair Lewis. I call slight shenanigans on this mostly because Lewis died in Rome and I read somewhere a long time ago that he wasn't all that keen on his hometown of Sauk Centre, so much so he left as soon as he could and didn't look back. Until his remains were brought to Sauk Centre, buried there, and now there is a street named after him. So, maybe he does haunt The Palmer House out of spite? Like, "Take this, ya hunyuks! Boo!" Could be!
The Palmer House also claims that there is quite a bit of spirit activity in the bar too! So, see ya there, ghosts!
The Palmer House does allow paranormal investigations to happen, they charge you 250 dollars to do it, but it's cool that they not only embrace their history, but they also encourage others to seek out the paranormal occurrences in their hotel, instead of trying to sweep it under the rug. We aren't going to pay the 250 dollar fee to conduct an investigation, we feel our money is probably best spent hanging out in the bar most of the night, then waking each other up every ten minutes with "Did you hear that?!"
Can't. Wait.
*I was trying to find a picture of me, Cori and Christy to post but I can't find one of the three of us together where all or one of us looks totally bombed. I see a pattern emerging here...
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