Springfield Ghost Society

The building was constructed in 1870 by Judge Thaddeus L. Loomis and designed by architect E.E. Meyers (who also designed the Macoupin County Courthouse). Originally the hotel had 50 rooms on three floors and a large dining area. In 1878 Loomis sold the property and the name changed to St. George Hotel. It was last used as a hotel in 1964.

Today the building is privately owned and houses several shops and a bar on the ground floor. The second story used to be a restaurant and is no longer used. The third and fourth floors are still in the original hotel configuration although in a very sorry state of disrepair from years of neglect. Charlotte Westenberg, the owner's daughter, explained the cost to repair the structure is prohibitive. She said they were told, "Start with a million and go from there." The basement is remarkable as it once housed several shops and a bakery. The town's first barbershop was here (run just after the Civil War by two black men) and evidence of these shops still exists here. A large fire swept thru the basement in the past (there is evidence in the support beams today) but no one was killed or injured in the blaze.

The haunted history is a little vague. There have been sightings of apparitions believed either to be Judge Loomis or his partner, a man identified only as "Holliday". After scandal erupted due to appropriations issues (the court house and the hotel were built by the same man at the same time…did the money for the hotel come from the court house funds? Eventually the courthouse cost $1,000,000.00… in 1870 a huge sum), Holliday vanished and was never seen again. A cook, identified as Gussie, reported the ghost, as have several other witnesses. Charlotte pointed out that she had never seen anything odd.

Investigation notes:

Basement:
Depending on the location temp. readings ranged from 69 to 74 with no noticeable fluctuation. There was no EMF activity noted.

Ground Floor:
This is a large, sprawling area with several rooms and shops. Temp. averaged 60 with no significant EMF activity. It should be noted that the temperature outside was approximately 58 degrees at the start of the investigation.

Second Floor:
Recently used as a restaurant now, like much of the building, used as storage although the restaurant is still plainly visible. At first this floor also housed "drummers rooms". Charlotte explained "drummers" were salesmen who would rent space here and stay a week or so trying to "drum up" business. Average temperature throughout was 60 with no EMF.

Third Floor:
This floor is exactly how it was as a hotel. It is in poor condition and the floors are littered with plaster and dead pigeons. There are 5 rooms on the east wall and a hallway extending to the west. Along the hall are four rooms per side (north and south) all in various stages of decay. Average temp. 54 and no EMF.

Fourth Floor:
Description exactly like above. Average temp. 53 and, on initial sweep, no EMF. Jenny was picking things up here in another room. I had set my equipment down and was wandering around and entered the third room on the east wall when I felt a powerful presence in the room. I stepped out to grab my meters and camera and when I went back in the feeling was gone. At this point Carl walked in and asked, "Do you smell licorice?" as I have a cold I can't smell anything. Carl said it smelled strongly of black licorice but as we stood there it dissipated and, to my knowledge, was not repeated.

After this I wandered the building (all floors) taking scans and pictures. There were no significant changes in my readings on any floor. I returned to the fourth floor and, again, entered the third room on the east. This time Phil, with video, went in with me. As I scanned I got a huge EMF hit in the center of the room. It lasted several seconds and then stopped and was not repeated. Phil's video should collaborate this. There is no electricity on the top two floors and, therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that this was a legitimate hit. The windows in this room are boarded up so it was too dark to see the meter to determine how strong the hit was…very loud.

Jenny had said a spirit had told her, "You'll find me in the armoire" and as we all were trying to figure out what this meant Cheryl and I were examining an old dresser in one of the rooms. The drawers were lined with newspaper. One of which was a Springfield State Journal from 1950 and the page we found was the obituaries.

At 11:35 I left a tape recorder in this room while everyone went downstairs. I recorded for twenty minutes and recovered the tape. Upon listening to it a series of sounds…which sound like breathing…can be heard. At noon I set up the tape again for another twenty minutes but this time I got no results.

As we were leaving Janice went to the second floor with dowsing rods. I had gone up to make sure no one was still there and came upon Janice as she worked. The rods were going wild at the head of the restaurant stairs (leading outside). I walked up to the fourth floor and shouted, "Is anyone still here?" and, receiving no answer, turned to go back down. I then felt what seemed to be the sensation of fingers (several hands) lightly rubbing my back and arms and I quickly left.

Perhaps this has no bearing on this investigation but I include it anyway. The upper stories here are littered with decade's worth of trash including lots of old newspaper. Several members of our team walked into a room we'd all been in before but this time they found, right inside the door, a paper (8x10) with a picture of a blue head on it…very strange, like those "Blue Men" on the commercials. The other side featured a fictitious story entitled "The Eavesdroppers". I now have this framed above my desk.

I have not developed my film from this investigation at the time of this writing.

John Winterbauer
SGS Charter Member