"The Addams Family meets The Clampetts"
When one arrives at the Thomas House Hotel, one is greeted with a picturesque setting; gorgeous landscaping, a lovely water fixture, and stunning arches decorated with lush ferns take one's breath away. The enormous porch is quaintly decorated with rocking chairs, benches, and wicker furniture, pillows, flowers, and quirky animal statues/gargoyles. But alas, the excitement and anticipation dissipates the moment the doors to the hotel open ... and they mean what they say on the Web site about opening doors. Visitors are NOT allowed in one moment earlier than 4 p.m. CT, so, depending on the weather, plan on sweltering or freezing on the porch if you happen to miscalculate the drive time.
Upon entering the hotel, the smell of mothballs and mildew was overpowering; but although it was offensive, the members of my party and I dismissed it as the odor of a "haunted abode." We received our key from the front desk clerk and climbed the creaky grand staircase to our rooms which were decorated as one might expect -- with antique chachkis, chamber pots and wash basins, grandma's quilts, and lace curtains. We didn't expect the modern conveniences one might get at other hotels, but we were astonished at the disrepair. The floors were sharply sloped, the toilets were sized for kindergarten students (all of them) and in our room, were dirty with black mildew, and the showers had no hot water.
In the dining room, where most of the action takes place, the ceilings were stained and condensation dripped onto the tables from an air conditioning vent. Sticky plastic tablecloths were likely never removed for cleaning. And the food was repellent. For dinner we served ourselves an entree resembling some dried meat casserole, cabbage, corn muffins, and banana pudding. The pudding reappeared at breakfast, which also consisted of cold rehydrated eggs, overcooked and also cold sausage patties, country ham, gravy, and cold biscuits that could have been used as hockey pucks. The owner/resident allowed her grandchildren to run around the dining room in the morning, handling the serving spoons and hovering over the food, which made it even less appetizing. The best meal of the experience was the midnight snack -- boiled hot dogs and chips -- but since the staff didn't leave enough plates or condiments out, the guests had to rummage through the kitchen themselves to find what was needed.
None of these things would have mattered, however, if the Ghost Hunt experience had been up to par. We hoped to learn about the history of the house and its occupants and to see *real* ghost hunters at work. Instead, we were served up two incredibly boring and outdated videos: an episode of Ghost Hunters from 2012 and a video created by our host Chad Morin, in 2016. As an aside, the staff chatted loudly during the videos, as I'm sure, they'd seen them dozens of times, making it difficult for many of the "guests" to hear.
Morin, a supposed expert on the Thomas House, was present in body at the event, but came off as a hack, not even knowing the names of the staff members when introducing them. Everything started later than advertised, he had nothing to say of any substance, and his oral presentation was self-serving and flat. Needless to say, his goal was to get guests to buy novelties, not get us excited about the ghost-hunting experience.
Finally, the ghost hunting itself consisted of two local "guides" taking us to three different parts of the house -- two hallways and a sitting room -- and encouraging us to ask the ghosts a series of questions (but only certain kinds of questions). They did not know the history of the house, going along with a guest who asked if the house had served as a Civil War hospital. It could not have been, of course, because it was built in 1891, a member of our party quickly explained. Although our guides had lots of tricks for the ghosts to do including talking through noise machines and playing with colorful cat balls, the only "responses" we got from the "spirits" were communicated through flashlights. Anyone with access to the internet could see through this; in fact, here's a link explaining how it's done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqNwGeXTQJk
All in all, we all left very disappointed. Save your money. Don't go. read more