TheCemetery.net

OUR HAPPY HOTEL BAR GHOSTS

Different ghost hunters and psychics have come through here claiming all kinds of results. One night several sat in the bar claiming that about a half-dozen ghosts were happily sitting at the bar and were seated here pretty much all of the time.

The first time Damien Youth saw photos of the bar -this is even before we bought it- his first response was, "This place has Dead Guy written all over it!" And he wanted to name the bar Dead Guy's Inn or something similar.

Ghosts or no ghosts, this bar has over one century of history now to it.

The Unsolved Murder

In 1949 a man was killed in the back doorway here of the Grand Midway bar. For a long time the back door was the main entrance into the bar. Apparently some latenight argument took place inside. A man exited alone and was suddenly clocked over the head by a wooden 2x4! Then, moments later, he was struck again as a taxicab drove over him in the back alley! He died.

This case was never solved. The bartender went to his grave never repeating what happened that night. The rumor is he was warned he'd recieve the same fate. Recently, last year, the local County Coroner's Office at the request of the family, reopened the case.

THE PROSTITUTE GHOSTS

They're everywhere in the building!

An interesting experiment took place while researching the hotel. Four different mediums were asked about the building, having no idea of the stories within. The first was Sally Morgan, from England. I met with Sally in Connecticut and filmed the interview.

A recent article on Sally Morgan discussed her work with Princess of Whales while she was still alive, and then the experiments after she died.

I met with Sally Morgan in Connecticut while she was visting the United States. She began another experiement involving the Grand Midway Hotel. Looking only at an exterior photo of the hotel, she described impressions she had of spirits and stories within. A few of these are mentioned in other places on this virtual tour. Sally was the first to mention a prostitute ghost living in the hotel.

"You feel her," Sally claimed, "Sometimes she swats you and others on the edge of the bed. It was a gesture she used to do signifying the guy's time was up for a session. Like this, wack wack, come on get up. It will feel like a quick slap gesture that your time was up."

Sally also claimed there was a church once in the building directly next door to the hotel. And that some affair had taken place between a man from that church and this working girl from the hotel long ago. Sally believed there might even be some underground connection or small tunnel between the two buildings down in the basement closer toward the front. She suggested checking it out.

The building directly next door to the hotel later was in fact absolutely confirmed to have been a small church at one time. No obvious tunnel between the two buildings was found upon innitial looking though.

Later, a second medium named Sydney Mulligan, based in California, having no idea about what any other mediums described as potentil spirits associated with the hotel, also brought up a prostitute ghost. Mulligan claimed this particular female spirit is linked with room #6, where she supposedly lived and worked at one time.

"Why is she here?" I asked Mulligan, "What is she doing in the hotel?"

"She's returned to a time she was happier," Mulligan explained, "You see, when she was younger she had all the attention of the men and felt on top of the world. Later, as she got older she came to realize all her life had been a lie, that none of the love was real. So her spirit has decided to link to that time frame when she was happier. Which was here in this room where she got all the earlier gifts and attention."

THE PROSTITUTE GHOSTS

One day I was in a coffee shop when I struck up a conversation with a stranger. She happened to mention that she had a skill where she could walk around old buildings and pick up on detailed memories of the place, and that she was particularly useful during ghost hunts. So, as she didn't know my background, I asked if if she'd like to be put to the test right that very afternoon. She had a free hour and seemed interested. So she followed us in her car to Windber.

I told my companion in the car, a third person I'd gone to have coffee with, a little of the history of my hotel. How it was an old mining hotel. I said if this woman is for real she will pick up on one energy in particular, from the prostitutes. It was almost a bet my coffee compainion and I had going about this new stranger.

We watched her as she approached the building. Her eyes started to widen a bit as if she were inhaling smells and new visions. Her arms started to shake a bit and then one word came out. It was like she was casting a decision of doom. She bellowed, "PROSTITUTES!"

I had to admit she nailed. She then walked around the building and offered detail after detail of things she believed took place in this room and that. "People literally were just fucked for hours all day long in this place. It was their day job. That is why this place is so charged with sexual energy. It is, right? You feel it, right? You do. That's part of what you like about this place, all the sexual energy. But man, they just fucked in these rooms for hours. What a life. But it was awful too. There was a really mean man who would discipline the women if they didn't do their jobs."

She walked to the third floor and looked in one dark room, "That happened in here." She found this room's energy overwhelming and brutal.

Later Adam Blai made the connection that the really mean man was possibly the man in the hall or negative male energy often noted at the back of the second floor hall

____________________________________________________
THE PLAYER PIANO GHOST

Psychic Sydney Mulligan spoke about the entire building, listing 19 ghostly regulars she felt confident she could describe with detail. One of them was a man she called the Piano-Player Ghost or Organ Ghost. She said he was a regular who worked here in the hotel years ago, accompanying the bar activities the way Player Piano Men accompanied silent movies in the theaters back in the day.
____________________________________________________
THE NEW ANTIQUE PIANO

Recently I entered the bar to find a beautiful, large, upright Fischer NY Piano in the bar. I had no idea how it got there. It was a surprise sneaked into the building by hotel guests Skot Jones and Joe Bob Smith.

Joe Bob, while hiding upstairs waiting for my return, claimed he thought he heard the piano playing downstairs on its own.

____________________________________________________
THE REQUIEM

An old organ was left behind and found in the building when we purchased the place. Inside the seat was a booklet of sheet music, The REQUIEM by Maurice Durufle, copyright 1949. (In pencil on the cover was written the name Drew Timko. Drew was one of the original family members who lived here. Also a musician, he has since passed on.)

REQUIEM
I. Introit
II. Kyrie
III. Domine Jesu Christe
IV. Sanctus
V. Pie Jesu
VI. Agnus Dei
VII. Lux aeterna
VIII. Libera me
IX. In Paradisum

This sheet music now sits out on the new piano. One can just imagine some goth culture giant like Diamada Galas or Peter Murphy from Bauhaus singing to it.

____________________________________________________
THE HOTEL BAR PSYCHIC IMPRESSIONS
(FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA GHOST RESEARCH FOUNDATION)
-by Linda Imlers

There is a man with black hair and a mustache (old fashioned with the twirl on the ends), glasses, white shirt, white apron, white towel over his right arm. I get the impression he is a waiter waiting to serve his tables.

I felt I should go over and sit at the piano. I sat down and looked at the pictures on the piano. I had the urge to play even though I don’t know how at all; I started to hit different keys. It seemed like some sort of pattern to me.

I could see a girl about 9 or 10 years old. She had on a pinafore type dress, pigtails, and dark brown hair. She was supposed to be practicing her piano lessons, but she liked to play the "tune" I was playing.

She said "her father would discipline her if he heard her playing that way", she was to practice her lessons not play what she wanted to. When she left I had trouble playing the keys I was playing and also lost the urge to play.

____________________________________________________
SEEING A CHILD GHOST IN THE BAR
-by Renee Angle

When I first entered the hotel one wintry night last January, the first room I saw was the bar. I hadn't really known what to expect coming to this building, but I was still surprised by the grand-looking room with the high ornate ceiling, ship-shaped bar, and skeletons adorning the velvet-papered walls. It was spooky, no doubt about that, but too fascinating to be really foreboding. As a result, I found myself hanging about a lot in the bar after relocating to the hotel shortly afterwards.

One night, I was alone in the bar around five in the morning. I'd been up all night working on some writing and the work was stressing me out. Leaving my laptop on the surface of the bar for a moment, I stood and began to pace around the room, trying to organize my thoughts and stretch my legs. Suddenly, I became aware of an apparition straight ahead, staring dead at me from the far end of the room, the back of the bar where the stage is.

Now, that section of the room is certainly more dimly lit than the rest of it, but there was no mistaking what I saw - it was not a shadow or a trick of the eyes. It was a little girl dressed in white with an arm outstretched toward me, as though she wanted me to come to her. I was startled, but not intrinsically afraid. I was curious about the spector and took a step toward her. Perhaps my movement startled her, because she instantly vanished.

I stood there bewildered for a moment, then, not worrying about how crazy I might sound to the other hotel residents, I called after her something like, "Wait, come back! I want to see you!" But she didn't return that night. For about a half hour following her disappearance, I was aware of the energy in the bar which felt like standing near a power plant - electric, alive, almost oppressive in a tingly sort of way. It destroyed any chance of concentration, and eventually forced me to call it a night and head upstairs to sleep, and later, to share my exciting encounter with everybody else.
____________________________________________________

Steven Sane Gets Spooked:

My name is Steven Sane from New Orleans, and I recently moved into The Grand Midway over a week ago. I visited this place last year during the Kerouac Fest when I was performing with Damien Youth. It was a blast from the little I can remember. I recieved an email from Blair a month ago when he got word I wanted to move to Pittsburgh which ive been planning for a couple of years now. I loved the idea but due to the spooky rumors of this place i was a little nervous. I didnt know why I was so nervous until last night. There was some drama here with my roomates in which I felt the need to intervene. The drama calmed down and I walked downstairs to find Dylan to talk to him. As i reached the bottom stair case I waked passed the radiator I was grabbed by a small hand which came from the radiator. I tried to run but I was paralyzed for ten seconds before i realized what happened. I was touched by a ghost, and god did it suck. I ran to the third floor to find Blair and Renee. They saw me in shock but I couldnt get the words out. Then Blair asked me what happened, and in tears i said "I was grabbed downstairs goddammit....why did this happen!" Blair went downstairs to see what i was talking about. He came back up and said there's definately something down there. I really didnt believe in any of this until now. This will definately be an adventure that words will not describe. Its always 4 a.m. in Winber.

Rene Angle writes:

I had no idea what was going on when I heard Steve screaming obscenities as he ran up the stairs. He burst into my room clutching his chest and gasping out swear words, his face contorted and paler than I've ever seen anyone's. It took him about two minutes before he could even speak. He was crying and stumbling, I thought he was having a heart attack! Finally he sputtered out that he'd felt a hand grab him as he walked past the radiator. There was no doubting the validity of his experience - the guy was terrified. He refused to go downstairs again without Blair or I with him that night. Blair went down to check things out and came back reporting that his hair was standing on end in the first floor hallway. It was crazy. There was definitely something stirred up down there. We'd just had a bunch of people over and there'd been some arguing and minor drama. The combination must have awakened whatever it was. All I can say is, WOW. What a crazy night.
____________________________________________________
A TOAST TO THE GHOSTS
-by George Sporay

First off, I want to thank Blair for his generosity and hospitality in accommodating me during this unsettled period in my life. Blair is allowing me to stay and store my personal items at the Grand Midway Hotel while he and I work on a few projects.

I truly believe that both humans and animals are born with this innate sense and that it is de-conditioned over time. I in no way claim to be in touch with the spiritual world, however, from time to time, in different places I have had the sense of a spiritual presence. One experience in particular was while I was living in Lancaster, PA. Every morning, around 5:00 AM, I would walk my dog Zoe before I went to work. Along part of the route there was a lone bench on the sidewalk. There was never anyone or anything visibly on or near the bench. However, as Zoe and I would approach this bench the hair on her back would stand up as though she was threatened or startled. As we walked past a little further, her "ruffled" appearance would subside. This went on for about a year… then I thought I would try something. So, one morning, like any other, we went for our routine walk past the bench. As we approached Zoe’s hair stood up but this time as we passed I turned toward the bench as though someone was sitting there and said, "Hey! What’s up?" We continued walking and I remember thinking at the time, "I hope that no one saw or heard that… they’ll think I’m crazy." Regardless, every walk past that bench after that day, I would turn and say, "Hello!" and, coincidence or not, Zoe’s fur did not get "ruffled" again.

I guess what I’ve learned is that the place we reside in is a shared space. It is a space that was there long before us and will exist long after we have gone. Many beings and objects have been through that space and many events have and will have happened there. Just in the same way that one would knock and ask permission to enter a stranger’s house, I think one should politely acknowledge the (potential) existence of spirits residing in the same space and make your intentions known to them. I personally like to (personify???) the act by offering a drink to the host spirits… in the case of the Grand Midway’s host(s), we had a drink of whiskey.

SPOOKED! Well, yet another out-of-town band requested to stay the night here in the hotel, and loved the big ghost playground for a few hours. But sure enough, by 5 AM the lead singer freaked out opting to immediately drive hours home, refusing to sleep here after all. Ha Ha Ha, laughs a dancing Butch Patrick and Deanna Kane, run you sissies!


	OUR HAPPY HOTEL BAR GHOSTS Different ghost hunters and psychics have come through here claiming all kinds of results. One night several sat in the bar claiming that about a half-dozen ghosts were happily sitting at the bar and were seated here pretty much all of the time. The first time Damien Youth saw photos of the bar -this is even before we bought it- his first response was, "This place has Dead Guy written all over it!" And he wanted to name the bar Dead Guy's Inn or something similar. Ghosts or no ghosts, this bar has over one century of history now to it. The Unsolved Murder In 1949 a man was killed in the back doorway here of the Grand Midway bar. For a long time the back door was the main entrance into the bar. Apparently some latenight argument took place inside. A man exited alone and was suddenly clocked over the head by a wooden 2x4! Then, moments later, he was struck again as a taxicab drove over him in the back alley! He died. This case was never solved. The bartender went to his grave never repeating what happened that night. The rumor is he was warned he'd recieve the same fate. Recently, last year, the local County Coroner's Office at the request of the family, reopened the case. THE PROSTITUTE GHOSTS They're everywhere in the building! An interesting experiment took place while researching the hotel. Four different mediums were asked about the building, having no idea of the stories within. The first was Sally Morgan, from England. I met with Sally in Connecticut and filmed the interview. A recent article on Sally Morgan discussed her work with Princess of Whales while she was still alive, and then the experiments after she died. I met with Sally Morgan in Connecticut while she was visting the United States. She began another experiement involving the Grand Midway Hotel. Looking only at an exterior photo of the hotel, she described impressions she had of spirits and stories within. A few of these are mentioned in other places on this virtual tour. Sally was the first to mention a prostitute ghost living in the hotel. "You feel her," Sally claimed, "Sometimes she swats you and others on the edge of the bed. It was a gesture she used to do signifying the guy's time was up for a session. Like this, wack wack, come on get up. It will feel like a quick slap gesture that your time was up." Sally also claimed there was a church once in the building directly next door to the hotel. And that some affair had taken place between a man from that church and this working girl from the hotel long ago. Sally believed there might even be some underground connection or small tunnel between the two buildings down in the basement closer toward the front. She suggested checking it out. The building directly next door to the hotel later was in fact absolutely confirmed to have been a small church at one time. No obvious tunnel between the two buildings was found upon innitial looking though. Later, a second medium named Sydney Mulligan, based in California, having no idea about what any other mediums described as potentil spirits associated with the hotel, also brought up a prostitute ghost. Mulligan claimed this particular female spirit is linked with room #6, where she supposedly lived and worked at one time. "Why is she here?" I asked Mulligan, "What is she doing in the hotel?" "She's returned to a time she was happier," Mulligan explained, "You see, when she was younger she had all the attention of the men and felt on top of the world. Later, as she got older she came to realize all her life had been a lie, that none of the love was real. So her spirit has decided to link to that time frame when she was happier. Which was here in this room where she got all the earlier gifts and attention." THE PROSTITUTE GHOSTS One day I was in a coffee shop when I struck up a conversation with a stranger. She happened to mention that she had a skill where she could walk around old buildings and pick up on detailed memories of the place, and that she was particularly useful during ghost hunts. So, as she didn't know my background, I asked if if she'd like to be put to the test right that very afternoon. She had a free hour and seemed interested. So she followed us in her car to Windber. I told my companion in the car, a third person I'd gone to have coffee with, a little of the history of my hotel. How it was an old mining hotel. I said if this woman is for real she will pick up on one energy in particular, from the prostitutes. It was almost a bet my coffee compainion and I had going about this new stranger. We watched her as she approached the building. Her eyes started to widen a bit as if she were inhaling smells and new visions. Her arms started to shake a bit and then one word came out. It was like she was casting a decision of doom. She bellowed, "PROSTITUTES!" I had to admit she nailed. She then walked around the building and offered detail after detail of things she believed took place in this room and that. "People literally were just fucked for hours all day long in this place. It was their day job. That is why this place is so charged with sexual energy. It is, right? You feel it, right? You do. That's part of what you like about this place, all the sexual energy. But man, they just fucked in these rooms for hours. What a life. But it was awful too. There was a really mean man who would discipline the women if they didn't do their jobs." She walked to the third floor and looked in one dark room, "That happened in here." She found this room's energy overwhelming and brutal. Later Adam Blai made the connection that the really mean man was possibly the man in the hall or negative male energy often noted at the back of the second floor hall ____________________________________________________ THE PLAYER PIANO GHOST Psychic Sydney Mulligan spoke about the entire building, listing 19 ghostly regulars she felt confident she could describe with detail. One of them was a man she called the Piano-Player Ghost or Organ Ghost. She said he was a regular who worked here in the hotel years ago, accompanying the bar activities the way Player Piano Men accompanied silent movies in the theaters back in the day. ____________________________________________________ THE NEW ANTIQUE PIANO Recently I entered the bar to find a beautiful, large, upright Fischer NY Piano in the bar. I had no idea how it got there. It was a surprise sneaked into the building by hotel guests Skot Jones and Joe Bob Smith. Joe Bob, while hiding upstairs waiting for my return, claimed he thought he heard the piano playing downstairs on its own. ____________________________________________________ THE REQUIEM An old organ was left behind and found in the building when we purchased the place. Inside the seat was a booklet of sheet music, The REQUIEM by Maurice Durufle, copyright 1949. (In pencil on the cover was written the name Drew Timko. Drew was one of the original family members who lived here. Also a musician, he has since passed on.) REQUIEM I. Introit II. Kyrie III. Domine Jesu Christe IV. Sanctus V. Pie Jesu VI. Agnus Dei VII. Lux aeterna VIII. Libera me IX. In Paradisum This sheet music now sits out on the new piano. One can just imagine some goth culture giant like Diamada Galas or Peter Murphy from Bauhaus singing to it. ____________________________________________________ THE HOTEL BAR PSYCHIC IMPRESSIONS (FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA GHOST RESEARCH FOUNDATION) -by Linda Imlers There is a man with black hair and a mustache (old fashioned with the twirl on the ends), glasses, white shirt, white apron, white towel over his right arm. I get the impression he is a waiter waiting to serve his tables. I felt I should go over and sit at the piano. I sat down and looked at the pictures on the piano. I had the urge to play even though I don’t know how at all; I started to hit different keys. It seemed like some sort of pattern to me. I could see a girl about 9 or 10 years old. She had on a pinafore type dress, pigtails, and dark brown hair. She was supposed to be practicing her piano lessons, but she liked to play the "tune" I was playing. She said "her father would discipline her if he heard her playing that way", she was to practice her lessons not play what she wanted to. When she left I had trouble playing the keys I was playing and also lost the urge to play. ____________________________________________________ SEEING A CHILD GHOST IN THE BAR -by Renee Angle When I first entered the hotel one wintry night last January, the first room I saw was the bar. I hadn't really known what to expect coming to this building, but I was still surprised by the grand-looking room with the high ornate ceiling, ship-shaped bar, and skeletons adorning the velvet-papered walls. It was spooky, no doubt about that, but too fascinating to be really foreboding. As a result, I found myself hanging about a lot in the bar after relocating to the hotel shortly afterwards. One night, I was alone in the bar around five in the morning. I'd been up all night working on some writing and the work was stressing me out. Leaving my laptop on the surface of the bar for a moment, I stood and began to pace around the room, trying to organize my thoughts and stretch my legs. Suddenly, I became aware of an apparition straight ahead, staring dead at me from the far end of the room, the back of the bar where the stage is. Now, that section of the room is certainly more dimly lit than the rest of it, but there was no mistaking what I saw - it was not a shadow or a trick of the eyes. It was a little girl dressed in white with an arm outstretched toward me, as though she wanted me to come to her. I was startled, but not intrinsically afraid. I was curious about the spector and took a step toward her. Perhaps my movement startled her, because she instantly vanished. I stood there bewildered for a moment, then, not worrying about how crazy I might sound to the other hotel residents, I called after her something like, "Wait, come back! I want to see you!" But she didn't return that night. For about a half hour following her disappearance, I was aware of the energy in the bar which felt like standing near a power plant - electric, alive, almost oppressive in a tingly sort of way. It destroyed any chance of concentration, and eventually forced me to call it a night and head upstairs to sleep, and later, to share my exciting encounter with everybody else. ____________________________________________________ Steven Sane Gets Spooked: My name is Steven Sane from New Orleans, and I recently moved into The Grand Midway over a week ago. I visited this place last year during the Kerouac Fest when I was performing with Damien Youth. It was a blast from the little I can remember. I recieved an email from Blair a month ago when he got word I wanted to move to Pittsburgh which ive been planning for a couple of years now. I loved the idea but due to the spooky rumors of this place i was a little nervous. I didnt know why I was so nervous until last night. There was some drama here with my roomates in which I felt the need to intervene. The drama calmed down and I walked downstairs to find Dylan to talk to him. As i reached the bottom stair case I waked passed the radiator I was grabbed by a small hand which came from the radiator. I tried to run but I was paralyzed for ten seconds before i realized what happened. I was touched by a ghost, and god did it suck. I ran to the third floor to find Blair and Renee. They saw me in shock but I couldnt get the words out. Then Blair asked me what happened, and in tears i said "I was grabbed downstairs goddammit....why did this happen!" Blair went downstairs to see what i was talking about. He came back up and said there's definately something down there. I really didnt believe in any of this until now. This will definately be an adventure that words will not describe. Its always 4 a.m. in Winber. Rene Angle writes: I had no idea what was going on when I heard Steve screaming obscenities as he ran up the stairs. He burst into my room clutching his chest and gasping out swear words, his face contorted and paler than I've ever seen anyone's. It took him about two minutes before he could even speak. He was crying and stumbling, I thought he was having a heart attack! Finally he sputtered out that he'd felt a hand grab him as he walked past the radiator. There was no doubting the validity of his experience - the guy was terrified. He refused to go downstairs again without Blair or I with him that night. Blair went down to check things out and came back reporting that his hair was standing on end in the first floor hallway. It was crazy. There was definitely something stirred up down there. We'd just had a bunch of people over and there'd been some arguing and minor drama. The combination must have awakened whatever it was. All I can say is, WOW. What a crazy night. ____________________________________________________ A TOAST TO THE GHOSTS -by George Sporay First off, I want to thank Blair for his generosity and hospitality in accommodating me during this unsettled period in my life. Blair is allowing me to stay and store my personal items at the Grand Midway Hotel while he and I work on a few projects. I truly believe that both humans and animals are born with this innate sense and that it is de-conditioned over time. I in no way claim to be in touch with the spiritual world, however, from time to time, in different places I have had the sense of a spiritual presence. One experience in particular was while I was living in Lancaster, PA. Every morning, around 5:00 AM, I would walk my dog Zoe before I went to work. Along part of the route there was a lone bench on the sidewalk. There was never anyone or anything visibly on or near the bench. However, as Zoe and I would approach this bench the hair on her back would stand up as though she was threatened or startled. As we walked past a little further, her "ruffled" appearance would subside. This went on for about a year… then I thought I would try something. So, one morning, like any other, we went for our routine walk past the bench. As we approached Zoe’s hair stood up but this time as we passed I turned toward the bench as though someone was sitting there and said, "Hey! What’s up?" We continued walking and I remember thinking at the time, "I hope that no one saw or heard that… they’ll think I’m crazy." Regardless, every walk past that bench after that day, I would turn and say, "Hello!" and, coincidence or not, Zoe’s fur did not get "ruffled" again. I guess what I’ve learned is that the place we reside in is a shared space. It is a space that was there long before us and will exist long after we have gone. Many beings and objects have been through that space and many events have and will have happened there. Just in the same way that one would knock and ask permission to enter a stranger’s house, I think one should politely acknowledge the (potential) existence of spirits residing in the same space and make your intentions known to them. I personally like to (personify???) the act by offering a drink to the host spirits… in the case of the Grand Midway’s host(s), we had a drink of whiskey. SPOOKED! Well, yet another out-of-town band requested to stay the night here in the hotel, and loved the big ghost playground for a few hours. But sure enough, by 5 AM the lead singer freaked out opting to immediately drive hours home, refusing to sleep here after all. Ha Ha Ha, laughs a dancing Butch Patrick and Deanna Kane, run you sissies!