- Soldier Haunting Read House Hotel?
“It’s not the first time I slept in a haunted place. But it is the first time we paid to sleep in one; and paid dearly.”
Our experience with the Sheraton Read House Hotel, in room 311, was incredible.
My daughter enjoys history, thanks to an inspiring, middle school history teacher, and also like myself, she likes a good ghost story. So we spent 2009 Spring Break in Chattanooga. Appreciating the rich history there and hoping to see a ghost.
We called ahead to book an appointment at the historic Read House Hotel; Requesting room 311. The booking agent didn’t hesitate, or even snicker when we requested that room, and she would have booked us precisely NOT in room 311, if I hadn’t asked how many beds were in the room. She asked if we needed one or two. “Wait a minute,” I chuckled, “I want room 311, how many beds are in this room?” She could NOT guarantee that room. She could request it, and if available when we arrived, we could get it….”No thanks, we are coming to Chattanooga to stay in room 311.” We decided to take our chances, having read that the hotel doesn’t rent the room except when requested, or when the hotel is full.
When we arrived I was somewhat hesitant to request the room specifically, but after we walked in, and saw the ornate décor, and felt the atmosphere, it seemed natural. The desk clerk was great; he played right into the legend, and even had us speak apart from the children, so they wouldn’t hear the ghost story. (Of course, they already knew.) But from his account, room 311 wasn’t actually the original room. When the hotel was remodeled, they sealed off the actual area where the murder took place, and moved the room number down 1 door. But you could still see the barred window where it happened, since the room is still there, visible from the bedroom window; and also where Al Capone had stayed while awaiting trial. This almost felt like a let down. But if there are ghosts, the passage of time, the destruction of buildings, and even fire won’t change their pattern, so we rented the room. AFTER the desk clerk played a little pricing game with us. Quoting an outrageous fee at first, and then telling us he would speak with the manager to get a discount. Still, while we played along with him, he had a worker give us a tour, and this guy was terrific. He took us through the staff elevators to the Silver Ballroom; (This is a beautiful reception hall where we did have a paranormal experience.) As for room 311, our tour guide wouldn’t go inside the room when he let us preview it.
Back in the lobby, the clerk told us we could have the room for $250/night. We played the game a little longer, having priced the rooms hours earlier when we tried to make reservations. Since we weren’t jumping at his discount, he decided we needed another tour, and he got another man, who looked the part of a haunted doorman, to take us to the kitchen, the basement and throughout. This guy was the best. He had worked there for more than 25 years and he said there were secret corridors he didn’t even know about. We toured the basement, and all the way to the 10th floor. It was worth the trip just to get these two tours, because we never could have accessed some of the places he let us into. He said he had seen and heard things he preferred not to talk about throughout the old hotel.
Finally, we rented the room, for less than $250/night, thankfully, but still more than the booking service online. The kids couldn’t wait to unpack the video camera. My middle schooler took control and went on a 30 minute journey just taking video of our room, the halls and elevators.
After going out into the streets of Chattanooga, we couldn’t wait to get back to room 311. The first mysterious occurrence happened then, as I had deliberately turned on the desk lamp just inside the entry, and staged the desk so that I would know if anything was moved. (Even took a picture.) When we returned, that lamp was off and the light in the kitchenette was on instead. I had to prove to the family with the photo on the camera that someone had messed with the lights after we left.
Then, we checked the room for extra linens as the couch was a foldout bed, (we had one king bed, 4 of us). No extra pillows, sheets or blankets. We tried to call room service, but the phone in the room wouldn’t work. My hubby went down to the lobby and asked for these things and was told it would be brought to the room. While we waited, my husband called out on his cell phone to a friend, and my daughter did the same with her cell phone. Within minutes someone knocked. I went to the door expecting room service, but there was no one there. I looked up and down the hallway, there was no one? That was spooky. And it was about another ten minutes before room service did bring the linens.
The plumbing in this old part of the hotel made a lot of noise, and by the time we actually went to bed, my kids had become rather scared after hearing the noises that I attributed to the plumbing. So they didn’t stay on the sleeper sofa, they came to our bed. This would prove to be a long night. I didn’t sleep well, myself, and though I didn’t see anything in particular, I heard voices (wasn’t too alarmed, we were in a hotel), and noises like a small animal’s toenails catching in the carpet. A few times I “thought” I saw shadowy movements, but when I investigated, there was nothing.
I finally drifted off to sleep, to awaken a few hours later from heat. This is where it gets odd. Yes, there was 4 of us in this bed, and yes, that could have contributed to the heat, but I was drenched in sweat, it literally rolled down my skin, and my husband woke up the same way, within a minute of my discomfort, so he got up to check the air conditioner, and turn it to a cooler setting; he checked the wall thermostat and it read 69 degrees. There was no way it was accurate. He put the setting on 66 and returned to bed. We didn’t even pull the thin sheet over us. It got hotter, and my kids woke up sweating. We actually got up for a little while, to cool down, which was within a few minutes.
(I lived in a haunted house for a few years, that had burned and was built on the same foundation with some of the same bricks, and I know from experience that when a place has burned and is haunted, it can get very “hot” just the same as the “cold” spots that accompany most hauntings.) The Read House had burned before, so I really feel that this was a paranormal phenomenon in itself.
When morning came, I was very grateful to see daylight, and the only thing that we all heard that didn’t have an explanation was the sound similar to a woman moaning, and it seemed to rise right up from the bed.
I have to say, one night in room 311 was all I needed, because I was sleep deprived, so we moved on.
Now to the Silver Ball Room. When we returned home and looked at our pictures on our computer, the hair actually stood up on the back of my neck, and I got chills when I saw the images in the mirrors taken in the Silver Ball Room. Kids have great perception of things that we don’t always understand, and my youngest elementary aged child saw a soldier in that image. It wasn’t as clear to me at first, until I zoomed in on this dark shape, and definitely I could see the outline of a hat, and a very faint beard on the face. We caught some orbs, too, in the motel room and in the kitchen. But nothing excited me like the images in the mirrors.
Amazingly, when we went to the hotel, I knew of the mysterious female ghost that supposedly haunted room 311. I didn’t learn until after our return of the soldier that walked around on the 4th floor.
Note: Just a few hours ago when I was going through the video my daughter took, I was pleasantly surprised to hear an unknown female voice. This was during an excited moment when we first arrived and my daughter wanted to start filming the place. The entire clip is almost 30 minutes long, so I took fragments of the video and used in my youtube slide show. It was during this scene selection that I heard this voice seemingly say “I can’t stay here.”
That was a moving experience for me. It is almost like a hurried whisper, yet so distinct.
I can’t doubt that the Read House has ghosts….From my experience in life, spirits are like humans, they are very unpredictable, and they can’t be forced to make themselves known just because a human wants to see or hear something from their world. But I wasn’t disappointed in the visit.
For more info on the Read House, choose one of these links:
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM23N5_Read_House_Hotel_Haunted_Room_311
http://www.gallagherstravels.com/States/TN/smartcity.htm
Instantescape's Blog 
Great site…keep up the good work. 🙂 I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks, 🙂
A definite great read.. <a href="http://wiki.hudson-ci.org/display/~bill-bartmann"
-Bill-Bartmann
If you don’t mind me asking, How Much did you pay to stay in that room? I live in Tennessee, and well I just wanted to know. Do they have Just tours or do I have to spend the night in the hotel to get a tour? Thank you.
Approx $200/night. It was ridiculous. I think they played a pricing game because of the legend.
When I was about seven I stayed in that hotel but the scary thing was we where right across from room 311 and I was about go in the room bc the maneger was about to let me and my mom but im 13 and I remember the moment perfictly.
I worked at the Read House from 1997-2001, as a bartender/ server. I had several paranormal events at The Read House hotel. The hotel was a hospital in the civil war, the basement was the morgue in the 1860,s. When I worked at the Read House it was where employees clocked in and had breaks.
I was working as a bartender one night and a man came down and says to me, I want to talk about the ghost, when the lights flickered and the music faded, I told him in a half way joking manner she doesn’t want to be talked about. He insisted, over and over, and every time he said ghost the lights flickered and the music faded. I laughed and told him “not tonight, she must be down here in the bar”. Later that night I was the last one to leave, I locked up the bistro and I was headed out the back door of the hotel when someone jerked my keys out of my hand and they slid a good 25 feet down the hall, I thought it was one of the staff messing with me, so I start checking doors and corners for the joker who yanked my keys, no one was there. I walked out side and a man in a white SUV hit on me, I told him something like, I am not a working girl buddy, leave me alone. I get in my car and that psycho followed me all the way to my brothers house, who was waiting for me on the porch, because I had called him from the car and told him what was going on. I did not want to show this guy where I lived. Something tells me if my keys had not been jerked from my hand that guy would have tried to harm me, perhaps he would have been on foot able to drag me into his car or worse.
One winter Chattanooga had an ice storm and the staff were given rooms, I requested room 311 and got it. Pieces of the ceiling kept falling on the bed, so I slept on the sofa. It was not a restful sleep I remember waking up for the breakfast shift exhausted. I have heard stories of families getting room 311 on an over sold weekend not knowing the history of the room and checking out at 3am panicked telling staff they just want a different hotel, too scared to talk.
I think about going to visit that old building and I wonder if the ghosts would recognize me.
Recently stayed at the Read House Hotel in Chattanooga, in the “non-haunted” part. Found what we assume was room 311 without a room number placard beside the door, and a Do Not Disturb plackard on the door. I mentioned this to the valet parking attendant who said they had to replace that thing like, 40 times a year or more. I played along, giving him the possibility that fans of the band 311 maybe helping to gank the signs along with the “ghost hunter” memorabilia collectors.
Thing I didn’t mention to the silly dolt was how I had noticed no holes in the wall, nor wall deformations where the room number would have been if it had been removed. Room 311 is now unmarked, almost as if it were the 13th floor in a hotel.
I never did figure out what the “skinny” doors in that section of the third floor were for. Maybe they go somewhere “special,” but I may never know.
Wish we’d have known about the soldier just one floor up. Would have liked to have seen him…
WOW, can’t wait to take my cell phone there and take low res pictures and horrible video and make up whatever I want….
You are so foolish we do not have one picture from a cell phone – what a joke that would be, and you can make what you want of it, we have to downsize the pictures to upload to the blogs and such – they are too large otherwise, and if you or anyone else ever questions our pics we have the originals, but I always love the comments like yours that are so negative and full of it. I believe in a difference of opinions but really – a cell phone picture? Give me a break.
Im not sure if this was already known or not but as i watched the part where the camera is looking out the window of the apartment, i saw just as it turned from 3:00 to 3:01 a figure . It moved between the window with the crack and the next and then back again. If you pause the video just as it turns to 3:01 ,you will be able to see the apparition. It looks like a small cloud. Was this meant to be seen? Could you let me know? Thank you. Awesome video by the way. Very interesting so say the least .
Sincerely,
Bill
I stayed at the Read House last weekend, February 2015, in room 641. Prior to check-in, I knew it was a historical site in Chattanooga and its history encompassed the civil war era. I did not, however, know about the ghostly history until eating at Porter’s Saturday night and the bartender informed me of its paranormal legacy over margaritas. We cut jokes and laughed at the tales of guests checking out at 4:00 am like a spooked horse. I thought it just added more character to the beautiful and charming building. Just to clarify before I get into my reason of posting a comment on a blog that I obviously had to do some researching to find via the Google, I’m your average Jane and I don’t wear black trench coats. I was in Chattanooga on my way home from a weekend meet-up trip with friends to a mountain lodge in NC. I was supposed to be staying in the room with my friend who lives in the city I do and we were going to go venturing downtown that night, head back home in the morning. Due to a disagreement on plans with her boyfriend, I got stuck with the room bill and in Chattanooga for the night ALONE. I’m a 24 year old single female, so obviously I’m not going to go carousing around downtown by myself– that’s how you end up on CNN if you’re not careful. I left Porter’s around 9:30, and decided to walk off my margarita around the hotel. There was a lot of activity going on because there was a Mardi Gras ball being held upstairs and unfortunately, I couldn’t gain access at the time to parts of the building without an invite. Did I see any apparitions or catch glimpses of figures in reflections? No. I did hear noises coming from every direction all night, not sure if that’s due to the building being so old with rattling pipes, but that wasn’t what affected me. What I experienced was a strong sense of sadness, completely taking over my consciousness. I don’t even think the word “sadness” is what I’m trying to describe. Maybe a sense of hopelessness mixed with apathy and remorse would be the best description. I just lost control of my emotions. The worst part was when I woke up around 2:30 talking in my sleep saying, “I’m so sorry”, and crying hysterically. I don’t remember a dream that would have caused me to react that way. Obviously, I was dreaming something that set it off. I did not want to leave the hotel. When I checked-out way later than I needed to, it was a true forcing of will. I cried for hours on end. How mixed up is that recipe? I’m feeling such a low and intense surge of emotional despair and I’m crying, yet I’m compelled to stay? In the shower the next morning, I found myself in a trance-like state, talking to someone telling them I was sorry. My eyes were dilated and my skin was flush white (I’m fairly dark completed). I scared myself looking in the mirror. Back story: my father committed suicide in our home when I was 21. After that happened, I had an experience where I cognitively knew someone had committed suicide in a location that I had no prior connection to or knowledge thereof. When that happened, there was no emotional breakdown or going into hysteria — it was simply a thought that entered my mind when I looked at the area it took place. Verifying that assumption caused me to really upset someone, and the guilt from that lingered over for a long time. I wonder if that made my sense “worse”? I’ve never thought I’ve seen a ghost or anything to that nature. These two experiences are the only times I’ve questioned the black and white reality that I’ve been trained so diligently to believe in since birth. I have always been a balanced and stable person. I’ve left subjects like the afterlife and the existence of spirits around us on Earth up to God. We can’t control what happens to us when we die and I just instinctively trust that everything happens for our highest good. I do believe that everything, according to science/ quantum physics, is energy and it cannot be created nor destroyed. Maybe this is what happens, maybe there’s energy buildup left over from times’ past and we can sense it in the right conditions? Dogs can hear frequencies we cannot, we can see colors they can’t. It’s all a big question mark if you ask me. I digress to make a point that I don’t know what happened to me. I think** (clearly, I do not know) that a person(s) died by suicide on the grounds and there was a connection between us. A strong connection at that because I’ve never felt such intensity of emotions – even after dealing with my dad’s tragic passing and others I’ve known who have died at their own hand. Unfortunately, something about me has developed a sixth sense when it comes to suicide. I’ve not told anyone, not friends, coworkers, family, not a single person about what’s occurred. Coming from the Bible Belt, I would for sure be hauled away to a psychiatric facility. Since my trip through Chattanooga, I’ve become a bit fascinated with the hotel. I had a vivid and happy-feeling dream where I got married in the ballroom in 2020 (I saw a date on a banner) the night after I was there. I plan on going back this summer to see the aquarium’ s otter exhibit (excuse) with my best friend this time. There’s something there I can dig deeper into and learn about myself from.
Tammy – I bought your new book “Chasing Ghost Tales in Tennessee” via Amazon. Great read! I look forward to any proceeding writings, especially hearing about the house you lived in with your mom. Thanks for your insightful information and I wrote this post because I wanted you to know your book has helped me understand “things” a bit more. I also felt like you could interpret without judgement. Good luck with your writing career. 🙂