August 17, 2004
Murderous Mirror Message
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Resa, Jefferson, Texas, July 2004,
info@ghostvillage.com
We recently took a wonderful trip to Jefferson, Texas. After
hearing about its haunted history from a member of the summer IGHS ghost
hunter's convention in San Antonio, we decided to make the trip.
It's a bit out of the way from any major Texas city, but well worth
the visit. Picture a town scene straight from a Norman Rockwell
painting, and you have Jefferson. It is a very small town, and looks as
if it's gone untouched since the 1950's. Past 8 PM, the residents seem
to disappear entirely, making it seem like a real 'ghost town.' We
stayed in the Jefferson Hotel, which has a tumultuous history. It's been
everything from an upscale hotel, to a Chinese laundry, to a brothel.
We stayed in room 19, where it is reported that a young prostitute
was murdered. Although no murders are officially on file, one will never
know because the records were destroyed in a fire. The woman was
reported to have been killed in the tub, but was left in agony there,
not taking her final breath until two days after her mortal wounds were
inflicted.
After we awoke from our night's sleep in room 19, we drew a
steaming, hot bath. My husband and I were puttering around the bathroom
waiting for it to fill, while I watched the mirror fog up. Slowly,
across the middle, the word HELP appeared to fade in. My eyes grew as
wide as saucers as I implored my husband to watch. As if that wasn't
enough, the word JUDY faded in above 'help'. The final touch came when,
on the bottom of the mirror, from right to left, the letters EDRUM faded
in. They took up the width of the mirror, and a small 'r' was fingered
just above the letters, since the space was used up below. Read from
right to left, it said 'Murder' like this:
Judy
HELP
r
EDRUM
We cleaned the mirror off, and it steamed up again, revealing the
same eerie message. We bought another mirror later that day and hung it
in place of the other to see if it would produce the same results, but
nothing. Apparently the message is an imprint in the original mirror.
The next night, we stayed in room 12. The bed from room 14 had been
relocated to 12. In room 14, a woman hung herself from the chandelier in
the room after her husband stood her up for their wedding. She was
apparently attached to the bed. After sleeping in room 12, my husband
told me an odd story. Let me say first that my husband was not a
believer in my ghostly interests at that point. He told me that,
although we were the sole inhabitants of the hotel that night, he saw
shadows dart across the crack under the door as if someone was walking
by all night. However, he said the shadows were being produced from our
side of the door. Then, a hand was lightly caressing the back of his
leg, up and down, while he lay in bed.
I have read other haunted stories that originate from different
rooms in that hotel, and plan on staying in another room next time!
