Latest / Boozy Banter with Friends / Haunted Bedford Springs

Transcript

Haunted Bedford Springs · Boozy Banter with Friends

0:13
SPEAKER_00: Grab a cocktail as we talk about life and death.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: Everything in between and beyond.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Join us for a little boozy banter with friends.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: Hello, everybody, and welcome back.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: Hello.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: We're we're starting to get into a routine here of recording in a different format.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: So uh we hope you like it and continue to watch us.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: I promise you we'll get better.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: The more we do this, the better we're gonna get.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: Everyone has to start somewhere.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: We just don't have the budget to have people come in and do all the things for us, like, you know, all the celebrities.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, but if we did have the budget, would you still want it?
1:08
SPEAKER_01: Probably not, because I'm so cheap.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: Well, also I feel like that keeps us grounded.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and it I mean, and I'm kind of controlling.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: Like I like shit, you can see that.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: I like to know like what is, you know, where it's going.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: Like somebody else doing it, I would probably have like so many suggestions.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it would be, it would be a lot.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: So one thing I think that we would definitely hire is someone to run our social media.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, absolutely.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: 100% that takeaway, do whatever you want because we are terrible at social media.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: It's not that I can't do it.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: It's that I don't like to do it.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a poster in my real day life.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't use my own pages.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I've never been.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: I've never been a poster.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: I've never been or I don't even like to really like I'll get on every now and then and just see what's going on.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: But for the most part, I also don't check it regularly.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: I probably check it more than you do, but my own.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: And it's just kind of like mindless scrolling.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: But as far as like engaging and interacting, I've never been that kind of person.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: I've never been, I may share some things every once in a while, and every once in a great while I may like take a picture and share it, but just to like give an update on every single thing that I do in my life, that's never been me.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think that will ever be me.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: So I think that's one thing that we would definitely source out if we ever got to the point where we source things.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: Social media.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:01
SPEAKER_01: So take it away.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: Today we are back to one of our favorites.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: It's the end of August-ish, beginning of September.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what day it is.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: My gosh.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: I think it's like, yeah, we're in September.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: I think we're in September.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: Um crazy to say that out loud.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: Anyhow, regardless, uh, it's still hot in Florida.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: But um That's how you don't know.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: We don't, and you don't really care.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: We don't know because it's hot.
3:33
SPEAKER_01: But uh we a few many weeks ago, we stopped at Citigate just to check in, see what they've got that's new.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: They had the roasted pecan whiskey, which is delicious.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: And I don't remember when we bought that, but I had to pick a bottle up.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: But uh, they also had the key lime pie rum, which is amazing.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're drinking today.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: We just put it in a little bit of ginger ale, and it is my god, it's so good.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: It several times we've made, I don't know what it's actually called, but I call it a lime brand.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: That's so good.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: And it was rum, that's so good, and um fresh lime and simple syrup, and it's just so tasty.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: That's what this tastes like, you know.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: Two ingredients.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: The City Gate, key lime pie rum and some Sprite, done.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: Very, very good.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: One of the best cocktails that you'll have for closer to the end of summer.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: If you're trying to capture summer, capture that.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: It's very good.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: It does taste like fully.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: I tell you what, City Gate, I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: They are my favorite distiller.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Everything you everything you get for them tastes so good.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: It's so pure tasting.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: Nothing tastes artificial or filled with chemicals, and everything mixes beautifully whatever you want to mix it with.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: It's I just can't, I just can't say enough.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: I wish they would sponsor us because we rave about them so often, but we do it because I genuinely love their kids.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: So um, a few weeks back, we talked about going to that haunt the readers in Mount Joy, uh, Pennsylvania.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: And one of the authors that we had previously met, we met her back in May.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, we did she had a seance there at the at the brewery, which is really cool.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: And our very first seance.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: And uh she was just a genuinely wonderful human being.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: Um one of those people that's so bubbly and just so filled with like welcoming and just she just wanted when she was at Haunt the Readers, she just wanted to meet everyone, not just her readers, but all of the other authors.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: Like she was just enjoying herself and it was she's infectious.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: Um, but her book, Nowhere, Alice and Gunn by Allison Gunn was fantastic, and she has another one coming out, and they were if you went to haunt the readers and you were um a VIP, you got an advanced copy of it.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: It'll be out next year.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: And um it's called Hive Mind.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: This is going to take off.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's um a great book, and she promoted it so well.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: She, if you went to any of her talks, she you got little jars of honey.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, these she was giving out with her books.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: They were in the VIP bags, um, just little sticks of honey with a little B.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: And then in the VIP bags, there was also little postcards and stickers.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, I hated to open it because it was it was sealed so pretty, but not stickers.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: They were tattoos um with a bookmark for Hive Mind inside it.
7:21
SPEAKER_01: And it was just so much thought into it, and it was just so cool to open this up and see all these things, her her business cards and just little just all the effort that she put into it was just so cool.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh, a little bee charm was in there as well.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: And um we just enjoyed spending time with her and talking with her um about everything.
7:55
SPEAKER_01: Like we talked about her books, we talked about things that go bump in the night.
8:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:02
SPEAKER_01: Her seances, her tarot card readings.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: Um I didn't get a tarot reading from her.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: I really wanted to, but she was she was so busy.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: So many people were requesting that.
8:13
SPEAKER_01: But back in May, we did do a little sit-down.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: We were all sitting at the table and she had her cards with her, and she just handed everybody one.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: And we sat there and then she asked for them back.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: And when you gave them back, she told you what it represented.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: And um almost forgot about that.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was very spot on.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: She's just she's just great.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: So uh if you get the chance to meet her at an author event, take it because she is she's a doll.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: She's great.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, she's the kindest person you'll ever meet.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: And if you have not read Nowhere, read it.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's creepy and um it's just a really good book.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: And then uh when Hive Mind comes out in, let's see, um April 27th, 2027, highly recommend.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, you won't be disappointed.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, that one's gonna take off.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: If you like culty things, yeah, and you know I do, you know I appreciate a good cult story.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh definitely check out Hive Mind.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: You're really gonna like it.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: If you like um creepy, I mean this is like Appalachian horror, this nowhere.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: So um I know which I do love, yeah.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: We all we know Appalachian horror is Appalachian anything is creepy as fuck.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: And for someone to incorporate a book about that, yes please.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: Check her out.
9:57
SPEAKER_01: She's out, she's great, yeah.
9:59
SPEAKER_01: You won't be disappointed.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, we're moving on to story of the day.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: I know, you know, I've been hanging on to this one because we've just been doing other things, but um's always busy for this, though.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: Always busy.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, hold on.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: Summer's always busy for her.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: Oh this year I dragged you into my shenanigans.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: So well, because I didn't have any.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: We've talked about it before.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: My daughter got married back in March already.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: Oh my God, I can't believe it's been that long.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: So she got married back in March.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: And after uh the wedding, they had to fly back to Bethesda and uh go back to school.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: But they had a few days before school started after they left here, and they didn't get time.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: Okay, they didn't have time for a honeymoon.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: But that being said, they their clinics this summer have been Texas, Alaska, and they're going back to Hawaii in October.
11:06
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not feeling real sad for her that they didn't get to, you know, go on a honeymoon.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: But they did get a few days away and they chose to go somewhere within driving distance.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: So they picked Pennsylvania and um which surprised me.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: Like I figured she would head towards I mean, from where they were, they were in Maryland.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: So Pennsylvania is not that far away from Maryland.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: So I mean, and honestly, Pennsylvania wasn't it surprised us how big Pennsylvania was.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we stopped at a rest area and they have a map, like you know, most rest areas do.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: And Pennsylvania was enormous, like compared to other states that we had driven through, like South Carolina, Georgia, you know, it just Tennessee, depending on which way you're going, of course.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it just seemed like you'd get this little and then here's Pennsylvania, you know.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it was pretty expansive.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: And we were just like a little dot at the very base of the street.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Right.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: They're like, you are here, and then the rest of the state is here.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it just seemed it just seemed crazy.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: But um, they went to uh the Omni Bedford Springs Resort.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: Um sounds fancy, it was fancy according to her, and it's historic, which she doesn't get into it as much as I do, but she definitely loves like a really good old-timey hotel.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: So um it's charm, it's character.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but she calls me up to tell me, you know, that they're going and they get checked in.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: She's like, Mom, it's haunted.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: We love a haunted hotel.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: So I had to look into it.
12:51
SPEAKER_01: So here we are talking about it today.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: So um tucked into the quiet valley at the edge of the Allegheny Mountains is the Omni Bedford Springs Resort.
13:03
SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful historic hotel located in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, just east of Pittsburgh, at the edge of the Allegheny Mountains.
13:13
SPEAKER_01: What I thought was so cool about this area is that evidently Bedford Springs itself is just a very historic, haunted area.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: I think we need to do like, oh, next time we maybe next year when we go back, because the readers will be back next year.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we'll take a detour.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: We could do that.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: Let's check out Bedford Springs.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: I, you know what?
13:41
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you about it.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: Well, tell me about it.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: And then we'll definitely uh we'll definitely go to Bedford Springs.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh, long before the hotel came to be, the land itself was already considered sacred.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh, indigenous tribes, including the Shawnee and Iroquois, were drawn to the area's natural mineral springs, which were believed to possess healing properties.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: Reminds me of that place we talked about in Arkansas.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, stories of the healing springs spread, and in 1796, Dr.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: John Anderson acquired the land and began building facilities where patients could take the waters.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: Take the waters.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that just sounds like Mr.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: Anderson tells you to take the water.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Eat coli in the makeup.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: Back in the day, though, what did she used to get from the water back in the day?
14:42
SPEAKER_01: Like with the travelers that would like going across plush-eating bacteria.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: Dysentery.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: Was it cholera or was spread through the water?
14:53
SPEAKER_01: Was it cholera or um I don't know, it was one of those.
15:00
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to say malaria.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't malaria, but something like that.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: Like one of those old times.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, if they're taking the waters, hopefully they weren't like actually killing all the people.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: Mark, but that marked the foundation of what would become one of America's earliest resort destinations.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: People want to go somewhere fancy to take the waters.
15:25
SPEAKER_03: I just want to go someplace fancy.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm getting old.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: I want fancy in my library now.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: By 1806, a formal resort had started to take shape.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: One of the first of its kind in the United States, centered around the now famous springs.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: Guests followed a regimen known as the Bedford Cure.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: Drinking and bathing in various mineral waters, each believed to treat different ailments.
15:59
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I was, you know where I was gonna say they were not drinking where they were bathing.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: I hope not because that one of gross.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm sure back in that time, hygiene wasn't top priority.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: And they probably didn't think twice about drinking the same water, though.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, that's an old other story.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna go there.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: Not even gonna think about it.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna have some of my drink and nothing at all.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: What began as a frontier health retreat quickly evolved into something far grander.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: By the end or by the mid-19th century, Bedford Springs had become a social and political hub.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: Presidents, senators, and influential figures flocked to the resort, drawn by both its reputation and its seclusion.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: Like they wanted to have a say.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: Everybody loves something exclusive.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: And if it's fancy, it's fucking exclusive.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: Well, back in the da back in the day.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: President James Buchanan was a frequent visitor of the property and used it as his summer White House.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay, Mr.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: Buchanan.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh no.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: That was from 1857 to 1861.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh so it was here in 1858 that Buchanan received the first transatlantic telegraph message sent to the United States from Queen Victoria.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: Well, fancy indeed.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: A moment that placed the resort briefly at the center of global communication history.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Creating history.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: That's definitely fucking fancy.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: Over time, at least a dozen US presidents would visit, transforming the resort into a symbol of prestige during America's golden age of grand hotels.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: They included George Washington, who visited twice in 1758 and 1794, Thomas Jefferson, who stayed for several weeks in 1819, James Polk, Zachary Taylor, Dwight D.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: Eisenhower, and George W.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: Bush.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: Yet even as the resort thrived, history continued to leave its mark.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: But things took a turn during the 20th century that brought dramatic changes to the property.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: The effects of the Great Depression hit the hotel hard.
18:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but yeah, don't uh too much because they they definitely recovered.
18:38
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't um it wasn't able to recover that financial stability that it once had.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, so it was requisitioned by the U.S.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: government during World War II.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: After the attack on Pearl Harbor, a naval radio operating school was established within the hotel.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: Over 6,000 sailors received training before the facility was closed in 1944.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but once the Navy vacated the grounds, it still wasn't relinquished back to the owners.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: Instead, officials with the State Department used the resort as a detention center for high-level Japanese diplomats that were captured in Germany during the spring of 1945, including General Hiroshi Oshima, who was the Japanese ambassador to Germany.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: Oh, so at least they put him up in a fancy hotel.
19:42
SPEAKER_01: Right.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, if you're gonna be if you're gonna be detained, I would rather be detained in something opulent versus something.
19:53
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if uh General Oshima took the waters.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: And very used to baths.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: Um he might appreciate.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: He may have, I mean, may have sucked being detained.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: But he may have appreciated being detained at a facility where there were healing waters.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: Maybe.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: Just speculation, by the way.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: You never know.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: After the war, the resort continued operations with its hotel and springs.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: The historic elegance still attracted an elite clientele, including President Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, while he was the governor of California.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
20:43
SPEAKER_01: But a series of poor business decisions eventually led to the hotel closing its operations in 1986.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: Well.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: After sitting empty for almost a decade, a local company, Bedford Resort Partners Limited, acquired the property for eight million dollars.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: Million dollars.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: After investing millions back into the resort, they once again opened their doors in 1998.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: And in 2007, they became part of the Omni Hotels brand and a member of Historic Hotels of America.
21:26
SPEAKER_03: Omni?
21:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: So Historic Hotels of America also owns like the Marshall House in Savannah leading to book a night there.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: And the old Bay Inn.
21:40
SPEAKER_01: So they they've bought up, or I don't know if they've bought them, but they've included a lot of, you know, historic buildings in their in their group, which is pretty cool.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: It is pretty cool.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: Um so you really can't be surprised after hearing all of that that there are claims of it being haunted.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Of course not.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: Of course not.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: So what are the claims?
22:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell you right now.
22:06
SPEAKER_03: Here we go.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: There's a bunch.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: So stories of unexplained phenomena have circulated among guests and staff for decades.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: According to accounts associated with the resort, visitors have reported sightings of apparitions resembling soldiers from earlier centuries.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: I can say that.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they had to have been around during the Civil War.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, with their background with World War II, like it makes sense.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: Children appearing in photographs when none were present.
22:46
SPEAKER_01: All right.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of creepy.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if they're wearing old timey clothes too.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: If they're wearing old timey clothes, that's definitely creepy.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: Right.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: Unexplained noises in hallways and empty rooms.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: It's an old building.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: I know.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it could just be the pipes, it could be the air conditioning, because you know they've had settling.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Objects moving or being disturbed without explanation.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: Also, that's a tricky one.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Like I think so too.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: If who determines if it was moved or not?
23:29
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: It could have been a hotel.
23:30
SPEAKER_01: Did you mark it out?
23:32
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: One particularly unusual claim describes a ghostly employee seen typing at a computer in an otherwise empty reservations office.
23:45
SPEAKER_03: A computer?
23:47
SPEAKER_01: Right.
23:47
SPEAKER_01: Because I mean, unless they mistook it for a typewriter, like that seems a little modern.
23:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that does seem very modern.
23:58
SPEAKER_01: Besides official accounts, personal experiences also fuel its haunted reputation.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: On forums and in firsthand testimonies, visitors describe unsettling moments, particularly in older sections of the hotel.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: One guest describes seeing something around the historic indoor pool like a child was swinging a hose around and then it just suddenly stopped.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: Others describe hearing splashes in empty water or sensing a presence in quiet rooms during the early hours of the morning.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you're sensing a presence, is that because you're trying to like sensing a presence, I think is pretty strange.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: So anyhow.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: And then as far as the splashing around the pool, like empty water, and then you're hearing splashes.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: Could it be, could be anything?
25:04
SPEAKER_01: Could be.
25:05
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh what I love is that even the resort itself leans it into its haunted reputation.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: There are guided ghost tours that take guests through its corridors and tell the tales of unexplained encounters and historical tragedies tied to the property.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: I love that when a supposedly haunted place embraces it and actually goes through because we've stayed at a few places that are like mum's the word on the hauntings.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: They like don't know what to talk about.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: But I love a place that actually kind of like, oh yeah, it's haunted.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: And we're okay with it.
25:44
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: I do like that.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: So, real quick, I'm gonna tell you about another place that they visited um because it's also in Bedford County.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: And again, they went and had dinner and she's like, Mom, it's haunted.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: So I had to uh kind of check it out and look into it.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: All right, tell us about it.
26:06
SPEAKER_01: Local restaurant and inn called the Jean Bonnet Tavern, which of course, Jean Bonnet, I'm like, Jean Bonnet.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Ramsay?
26:17
SPEAKER_01: Because that's really what we associate with.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: Jean Bonnet Ramsay.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it has a local reputation of being the most haunted spot in Pennsylvania.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: Not the most haunted.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: According to the locals, it's the most haunted.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: But is it really, you know, what is it?
26:41
SPEAKER_01: I think most locals like to claim whatever's haunted in their spot as the most haunted.
26:47
SPEAKER_01: I mean, how many times have we talked about something that is the most haunted spot?
26:52
SPEAKER_01: But you never know because it's been there for almost three centuries.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: Well now.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: So there could be, there could be a little bit of a foundation there.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: So the origins of the tavern date back to the early 1760s, when trader Robert Callender established a stone building at a critical crossroads used by settlers pushing westward.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: Constructed with thick field stone walls and towering chestnut beams, the building served as more than a tavern.
27:29
SPEAKER_01: It was a refuge.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: Travelers, soldiers, and traders all passed through its doors.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: By 1779, the property had been acquired by John Bonet, who formally opened it as a public house.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: Positioned at the junction of key routes leading toward Fort Pitt, it quickly became a vital stop for the weary.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: So I can see how, you know, there have been some stories.
27:59
SPEAKER_01: So one of the most colorful moments in history for the tavern was its participation in the whiskey rebellion.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: Did you know about the whiskey rebellion?
28:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, but I do like whiskey.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: Oh no, I did not know about it at all.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: It is very interesting.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: Like history, if you like history, look into it.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: If you didn't know about it, if you like history, you probably already knew about it.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, the so-called whiskey tax was the first tax imposed on a domestic product in the new United States.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: Which makes sense because whiskey had to have been such a big part of the development of the United States.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: That in moonshine.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, it was part of Alexander Hamilton's plan to help pay down the huge national debt caused by expenses from the Revolutionary War.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: You know, when you hear about like the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, you don't think about it in terms of national debt because it's so early, you know, you just think that these people just went out and fought for their country so they could be independent.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, but it had to cost, like it had to cost something.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: Someone had to pay for everything.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: Right.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: So but evidently, yes, that is the case.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: Um so the tax itself really hit a sore spot.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: It was not, you know, something that people were like, oh yeah, we'll we'll contribute.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: Farmers it was whiskey, right?
29:40
SPEAKER_01: Nobody wants to contribute to paying more money for their alcohol.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: Farmers would distill their surplus grain and corn into whiskey, which was sometimes traded in place of money.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't just like, oh, we have it was, you know, there it had monetary value.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, and to add insult to injury, some of these, many of these um same farmers were veterans who had fought in the Revolutionary War.
30:11
SPEAKER_01: So it was like they put their lives on the line and now they're being taxed for it.
30:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, in 1794, amid growing anger over the tax, local farmers gathered at the tavern to protest.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: A liberty pole was raised outside, a bold symbol of defiance in what became known as the Whiskey Rebellion.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: The uprising would ultimately be suppressed by federal troops led by President George Washington himself, some of whom reportedly passed or camped near the tavern itself on their march west towards Pittsburgh.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:52
unknown: Okay.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: George Washington's like, we're not doing this.
30:55
SPEAKER_03: He's like, fuck this shit.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: I've already done one battle.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm tired.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: I feel like that's how I felt.
31:04
unknown: I'm tired of this shit.
31:05
SPEAKER_01: Tired of this damn shit.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: Do we have to do it again?
31:10
SPEAKER_01: May not have been a direct quote, by the way.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: We're just, you know, speculating.
31:18
SPEAKER_03: Can confirm nor deny what George Washington said back in.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: But I I can imagine that he's like, give me some whiskey.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: Give me some whiskey, and let's just stop this shit right now.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: So over the centuries, the tavern changed ownership many times, uh, serving alternately as an inn, private residence, and a gathering place.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: Yet through every transition, its purpose remained rooted in hospitality.
31:48
SPEAKER_01: In 1979, the building's historical significance was formally recognized when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
31:59
SPEAKER_01: But history isn't the only reason people visit from near and far.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: Nowadays, it's just as much because of the rumors of hauntings.
32:11
SPEAKER_01: Reports of strange occurrences began to circulate more wildly, widely, wildly.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: Some of these are wild, wild, but more wildly.
32:23
SPEAKER_01: Some of the claims are wild.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: In the mid-20th century, particularly after the tavern was purchased by new owners in 1957.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
32:35
SPEAKER_01: Guests and staff alike have described unexplained phenomena, including a lone figure seen wandering the halls.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: A man sitting at the bar after closing.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: Doors opening and closing on their own.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: Could be an old building.
32:56
SPEAKER_01: Like I have a door in my house that just kind of swings slowly.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: Because it's just like whoever installed it, like one hinge is just a little bit more in.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: And so it just kind of doesn't open on its own.
33:09
SPEAKER_01: No.
33:09
SPEAKER_01: Okay, see, there you go.
33:11
SPEAKER_01: Maybe.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: Sudden touches felt when no one was nearby.
33:19
SPEAKER_01: Locked rooms inexplicably found open.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: Maybe somebody just forgot to lock it and didn't want it.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: But why are the rooms locked anyway?
33:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's weird.
33:31
SPEAKER_01: Unless, because it's an inn.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: Like if I was staying in the supply closet and I came back and my my hotel room door was open.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'd be like, who the fuck was in our room?
33:41
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: Mysterious footsteps throughout the building.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: The scent of pipe tobacco.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: Could it just be a smell that's associated with that place in general?
33:56
SPEAKER_01: Maybe.
33:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh room three activity.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, there's a haunted, haunted room.
34:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: A rocking chair in this room frequently moves on its own, and guests have reported other strange occurrences, particularly in this room.
34:14
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we need to stay in that room.
34:15
SPEAKER_01: Room three.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: Room three.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: There are also sightings of a ghostly cat.
34:21
SPEAKER_01: I love ghost cats.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: I know you do.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: Do love ghost cats.
34:25
SPEAKER_01: Local lore often points to the spirit of Jean Bonnet himself as the tavern's most persistent presence, a solitary figure still tending to his establishment centuries after his death.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: I could see that.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: If you invested your whole life into something, you would want to hang around.
34:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:44
SPEAKER_01: But other legends are darker.
34:47
SPEAKER_01: Some accounts suggest the building once served as a makeshift court with executions carried out nearby, which fuels the sightings of the apparition of a hanged robber.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: Whether rooted in fact or folklore, the stories have transformed the tavern into one of Pennsylvania's most talked-about haunted locations.
35:08
SPEAKER_01: Today, the Jean Bonnet Tavern continues to operate as a restaurant and bed and breakfast, welcoming guests much as it did in the 18th century.
35:17
SPEAKER_01: Visitors arrive for its colonial charm, hearty meals and historical ambiance, but many leave with stories of something more.
35:26
SPEAKER_01: Some report nothing unusual, while others claim fleeting glimpses, unexplained sounds, and the unsettling sense that they are not alone.
35:36
SPEAKER_01: In the end, whether you believe in ghosts or not, the Jean Bonnet Tavern still stands today as a powerful reminder of America's early frontier days.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I do like the idea of it being so rooted in history.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: I do like that.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: And I love that it's a bed and breakfast in the tavern.
35:57
SPEAKER_01: And I do think that people go there with the expectation of seeing or hearing something, and that may feel like it's haunted, you know, whatever.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: So, anyhow, I think we should definitely make a stop next time.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: You know, Bedford County, Pennsylvania is going to have to go on our list of places to go.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: I like that idea.
36:22
SPEAKER_01: All right.
36:22
SPEAKER_01: Next year it is.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna try it out.
36:24
SPEAKER_01: We'll report back, like we almost.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: So, all right.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: Until next time.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: Almost drank all my drink, it is so good.
36:33
unknown: I know.
36:34
SPEAKER_01: Cheers.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: Hey, like what you hear?
36:38
SPEAKER_00: Leave us a review on your favorite podcast listening platform.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: For more about this episode, check out our website at boozybanter with friends.com or connect with us on Instagram.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: Later.