Old Talbott Tavern Investigation

Location: Bardstown, KY

Date: June 21, 2005

Moon Phase: Full

Solar Weather: C1 class flares

Investigators present: Hillary M., Paul M., and John M., and Robert H.

Equipment: Olympus C-3000 digital camera, four Sony digital video cameras with Nightshot and IR extenders, Extech EMF meter, Olympus DS-1 Digital Voice Recorder, Extech IR thermometer, 1 Sony MINI DV, 1 Kodak digital camera, 1 Panasonic digital voice recorder, 2 remote sensor 35mm cameras, Olympus C-4000 digital camera, Olympus 2000 digital voice recorder, Canon PowerShot S2IS digital camera.

History: This tavern was built in the late 1700s and is rumored to be the oldest western stagecoach stop in America. According to legend, several historical figures including Daniel Boone and Jesse James have spent the night here. The second and third floors of the inn were burned in a fire in 1998. The first floor sustained major water and smoke damage. Although the restaurant and bed and breakfast are currently open for business, they are still renovating the building. You can find more information at:

www.talbotts.com

Investigation: We began our investigation at 12:15 a.m., after the restaurant was closed for the night and the building became quiet. We spent 15-30 minutes recording in each room (rooms #4, #5 and #6), rotating our video cameras into the empty rooms between each recording session. We obtained one anomaly on video and one EVP during these sessions, as well as two pictures of moving orbs in room #5.
  At 1:30 a.m., John, Robert and I set up video cameras in the long hallway connecting our rooms, then we went out to the second floor dining room beside the balcony for a recording session. Here, we obtained one picture that may show a mist floating near the ceiling. At 1:40 a.m., we moved to the dining room behind the common area on the second floor. We did not obtain any results in this room.
  At 1:50, we moved into the first floor lobby. We ended the investigation at 2:00 a.m.

Conclusions: Unfortunately, we obtained very few results here. The results that we did obtain, though, are quite intriguing. Even so, we cannot come to a definite conclusion that the tavern is haunted…but we suspect that it is. Additionally, John and I did each have one strange experience at the tavern that we cannot explain.
  When we arrived at the tavern around 6:00 p.m., we checked into our rooms, and went down to the dining room for dinner. At one point, I had to run back up to the room to get something. I had noticed earlier that we were given two identical keys on the key ring, but one opened the door to the room, and the other opened the door to the tavern itself. Because they were identical, you couldn't tell which was which until you actually tried them in the lock. When I reached our room, I put the key in the lock and opened the door. To save myself some time and potential fumbling with the other key, I left the key in the lock while I ran into the room to get what I needed. When I came back to close and lock the door, the key wouldn't turn. Somehow, the other key was now in the lock! I had to switch keys to lock the room!
  John also had a strange experience in his room. When he got to the inn, he took a shower and changed clothes. In the bathroom there was a small sink that he used to shave; the only things that were in the bathroom were his toiletries. After the shower, he took some pictures of his room. He then walked around the inn and continued to take some daytime pictures until the rest of the group arrived. Nothing out of the ordinary was noticed at this time. However, when he woke up in the morning, he found a pair of gold earrings on his sink in the bathroom! He has no idea where these earrings came from, but once he began reviewing the pictures he took while in Bardstown, he found a picture of his room taken before we began our investigation. The picture shows a pair of gold earrings on the dresser! A picture taken during the investigation shows the same dresser, with no earrings visible. No one else on the team ever saw these earrings, but they seemed to keep disappearing and reappearing during John's stay!

Submitted by Hillary Murdoch