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| The Hotel Galvez - Galveston
Island, Texas |
Galveston Island is the
perfect getaway for fun and sun. Stroll along the Seawall, shop the Strand,
and savor island flavors offered by the many fine restaurants. Museums, art
galleries, theaters and
historic homes offer the traveler culture and history. Galveston Island and
the Gulf of Mexico have a magical symbiosis. But this wonderful
relationship was nearly destroyed with the Great Storm of 1900—the island
was nearly consumed by the sea. The people who survived were determined to
restore their island. Built on the site where the Beach Hotel, Electric
Pavilion, and Pagoda Bathhouse once stood, a new symbol of the economic
recovery arose. In 1911 the magnificent Hotel Galvez was constructed, and
it became the “Playground of the Southwest” for socialites, businessmen, and
celebrities such as Jimmy Stewart and Frank Sinatra. American Presidents
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson stayed
there, as did General Douglas Macarthur. Galveston Island’s only truly
historic hotel, the Galvez, is reminiscent of a gilded age gone by. It’s no
surprise that a hotel with so much history should have it’s own
“mystery”—the guest who checked in, but never checked out….
Yes, the Hotel Galvez is
haunted! Staff and guests have experienced many unexplained events, leading
them to suspect that there are several ghostly residents. The most well
known spirit is the lovelorn lady of the fifth floor. Many years ago she
checked into room #500. She would go upstairs to the turrets, and gaze out
at the bay. Her fiancé was at sea, and she was deeply concerned for his
wellbeing. One day her greatest fears were realized when she got word his
ship had perished. But she refused to believe he was really gone. After a
month of denial, in utter despondence, she returned to one of the turrets on
the top of the Hotel Galvez and hung herself. In a sad twist of fate, a
month after her death her fiancé returned, looking for her—he had survived
after all! Now her spirit is “locked” here, at the Hotel Galvez. The staff
knows this lovelorn lady is around when they feel a sudden cold breeze from
nowhere. They know she wants room #500 all to herself when their equipment
mysteriously malfunctions when trying to make an electronic key for that
room. As many times as they try, they cannot make the key. Another sign of
the lovelorn lady was a strange light coming from one of the turrets. A
guest
mentioned the odd light up in the turret, yet the staff knew this was
impossible because renovations were underway and the turrets were not lit!
Staff and electricians investigated, but found no source of power to the
turret, nor had anyone gained access with candles or flashlights
.
Other unexplained activity occurs regularly at the hotel. Staff members
have been unnerved in the ladies room when their stall
door begins to violently rattle, or the commode in the next stall flushes,
yet nobody else is in the restroom. Other employees have felt a presence
with them on a back stairway. One extremely strange encounter involved a
wall in one of the guest rooms that appeared to “bow” out into the room
several times. There are times when the hotel is quiet, on a Sunday
afternoon, yet will seem to be full of energy and “activity”—could this be a
moment in time from days gone by, overlapping into present day?
Click Here to See Our
Investigation of the Galvez
Click Here to See
Pictures of the Galvez
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