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ROOMS
WITH A PAST
TEXAS HOTELS BUILT BEFORE 1950 : Number 1 in a Series
Schulenburg's
Heartbreak Hotel*
The
Uninvited at the Von Minden
Schulenburg,
Texas
by John Troesser
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Your Hotel Here & Save
La
Grange Hotels |
| | Von
Minden Hotel
TE photo |
We
first heard of the Von Minden's ghost while sitting in the comfort of the Schulenburg
Library, a place with a ghost of it's own.
Our visit to the Hotel Lobby
at 3:00 in the afternoon found the lobby empty, the day's mail on the desk clerk's
counter and a 1961 hotel directory tucked into a holder. We followed the script,
calling "Hello" several times and receiving no answer. There was also no guest
register or we would've checked for familiar names. Clyde Barrow. Ma Barker. Casper?
Except for the 1961 directory and a 1947 set of encyclopedias, this was a thirties
type of place. Built in 1927, the date appears on a stone in front, but not the
corner one.
We climbed the stairs slowly; half hoping someone would
stop us. Dark paneled walls and small metal numerals on the doors; there was nothing
in sight except a maid's cart left unattended on the second floor. A window met
us at the third floor and we gazed down, wondering if the altitude would be fatal
to a jumper. We had seen enough, and turned, making mental notes and finding room
33 open and vacant. Wasn't that door closed when we walked to the window? As a
matter of fact it was.
The spartan room just sat there and we had a
vision in our mind's eye of Frank Sinatra in Some Came Running, wearing his khakis,
and unpacking his "duffle" from his duffle bag. We descended to the lobby and
nothing had changed. We left. |
| | Von
Minden Hotel lobby
Photo courtesy Larry Bob Raymond |
We returned
at 6 PM to Momma's Pizza, which is located at the rear of the Hotel and Theater.
We spoke with Uncle Garrett and Nephew Warren who were both busy, but answered
questions readily. We were fed sandwiches of pizza ingredients and soft drinks
in a size we didn't know existed. When asked about the ghost, Garrett asked, "which
one?" "The suicide," we replied. It was then we learned that there were at least
two.
Room 23 was a Railroad worker who went to bed sick and woke up
dead and they had to have a co-worker (a very small co-worker) climb through the
transom to open the locked door. Room 37 was a returning WWII veteran who found
his girl had married someone else. As the old joke goes, the ground would've broken
his fall, but sadly in this case his neck encountered the clothesline.
Garrett lives on the hotel's forth floor and has encountered Ms. X several times.
His description is quite detailed. A polka-dot dress and a broad-brimmed straw
hat, white gloves, about 20 years old and carrying a cardboard suitcase, Ms. X
depends on the kindness of strangers for directions.
"They're always
simple directions to give," said Garrett, "but after you turn to point or gesture,
when you turn back around she's gone."
Nephew Warren told us of seven
(count them) SEVEN! teenagers who vandalized the City Cemetery. They were all
found hanging from a rafter in an old barn near the graveyard. This story has
great currency among young Schulenburgers and the next day we found the City Cemetery
to be nearly devoid of vandalism. Our hats go off to the inventor of this fabrication;
it's cleverly solved a problem many small towns have.
Garrett apologized
for the untidiness of the hotel, and explained that the maid had quit. "Had she
seen the ghost?" we asked . "No", replied Garrett, "She found a better-paying
job."
The Cozy
Theater - next
page
Another visit, another family member and another ghost
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©
John Troesser
2000
*Elvis
Presley's hit song was indeed inspired by a newspaper clipping of a jilted lover's
suicide in a lonely hotel.
More Texas Ghosts |
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