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Led by certified ghost hunter Patti Starr, the weekly Ghost Hunt of Lexington explores the paranormal history of downtown Lexington, particularly the area surrounding Gratz Park. Photo by Louis Beckett
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Historic Gratz Park is surrounded by buildings where supernatural sightings have long been reported. Photo by Louis Beckett
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Historic Gratz Park is surrounded by buildings where supernatural sightings have long been reported. Photo by Louis Beckett
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Manifestiations of “Mam Bet,” a nursemaid who cared for children in the Hunt-Morgan House, have been reported various times since she died sometime after the Civil War. Photo by Louis Beckett
Legend has it that after being abruptly fired from his post at Transylvania University in the 1800s, Constantine Rafinesque, a botany professor known for his erratic personality, issued a curse damning the school. Ever since the storied “Rafinesque Curse,” strange occurrences and spectral sightings have been reported at the university – ranging from mysterious deaths to the building allegedly housing his remains burning to the ground (the only room spared held his tomb).
The history of these and other local paranormal mysteries are unraveled in Patti Starr’s Ghost Walk of Lexington, a weekly ghost tour that the Lexington-based certified ghost hunter launched in May.
Led by certified ghost hunter Patti Starr, the weekly Ghost Hunt of Lexington explores the paranormal history of downtown Lexington, particularly the area surrounding Gratz Park. Photo furnished
A petite woman with a blonde braid and impish smile, Patti Starr has been traveling the United States and Europe investigating paranormal activity for more than 40 years. The founder of Lexington’s monthly Mystical and Paranormal Fair and the local ScareFest Convention (both of which she sold to new owners over the past year, after running them for seven and nine years respectively), Starr has taught “ghost hunting” at a collegiate level (at Bluegrass Community and Technical College and online to students from around the world), and lends her extrasensory expertise to central Kentuckians in a variety of other manners as well, including leading a ghost walk in Bardstown every Saturday night from June to October since 1997.
Taking place on Friday and Sunday evenings from May through October, the Ghost Walk of Lexington is imbued with lessons on downtown architecture, little-known facts about the homes and prior residents, and other local lore, but the primary focus is the paranormal. Both human senses and technology – as Starr puts it, a combination of “sensitive and science” – are employed to connect with spirits during the walks.
While spirit sightings vary from week to week, according to Starr, “people are never disappointed.”
“I always find something everywhere I go, because there is always an energy everywhere,” she said. “Sometimes we’ll see small round anomalies referred to as orbs; white tornados, which we call vortexes; mists; and full-blown apparitions.”
During the walks, special instruments are used to record these encounters and photograph energies perceived as supernatural. These include an electromagnetic field meter (EFM), which detects fluctuations in electromagnetic fields, and an audio recorder to capture unexplained voices or sounds. But – perhaps, surprisingly – Starr says one of the most effective tools is that common, everyday object we all consistently have on hand: a smart phone.
“A smart phone is known as an ITC: an instrumental transcommunicator,” she explained. “We like to use the phone rather than a still camera because of the energy that it allows to come through. We are able to get more apparitions on a cell phone.”
On a recent afternoon, I set out with Starr, phones in hand, to learn more about the tour and the supernatural activity that has been widely noted in downtown Lexington. The tour starts at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, which was the first library west of the Alleghany Mountains and serves as a building prime for “residual hauntings”: hauntings that are the result of a building’s energy repeating familiar activities, such as pulling books from a shelf. The tour then heads across the street to the Bodley-Bullock House, a historic site that was used as a headquarters for both Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War – and a building where visitors have often reported sightings of a mysterious female specter wearing a party dress and tiara.
With my walk with Starr taking place midday, my expectations of seeing an actual apparition – I suppose I assumed spirits only appeared at night, for maximum effect. But, while admiring the columned facade of the Bodley-Bullock House, I caught a glimpse of a skull in a pane of window. I looked behind me to see if I could find the source of the reflection, but saw no obvious culprit. When I glanced back, the skull momentarily remained, then faded, leaving me startled – but still skeptical.
Across the park, as we passed the Hunt-Morgan House, Starr relayed the fascinating stories of the two ghosts said to occupy the place. One spirit who frequents the residence is Mam Bet, a former nursemaid to John Wesley Hunt’s offspring whose ghost has been seen throughout the years in the nursery, hovering over sick infants, stroking their fevered heads. Starr captured the second John Wesley Hunt, the property’s patriarch and grandfather of General John Hunt Morgan, in a photo taken during a previous tour. The picture reveals the obvious outline of a masculine figure with a broad face, bald pate and tailored coat, bearing a striking resemblance to portraits of Hunt.
My skepticism was put to the test in front of a trio of houses on Mill Street known as the Three Sisters. In the most intense interaction of our walk, Starr’s EMF meter abruptly began emanating a series of beeps, indicating spirit activity. Starr herself was a bit surprised, since this is not typically one of the spots where the instrument reacts. Through the meter, Starr communicated with the entity, asking questions and receiving answers through various beeping patterns, which helped her determine the ghost was male and several other spirits were also connected to the properties.
Starr has a long history of being visited by unexpected apparitions – as a young child, she recalled, the ghosts of children began appearing to her, asking to be told stories. (Much to the disapproval of her devoutly religious parents, she complied.) Her first interactions with the spirit world started at age 4, when she said she encountered what she refers to as “elementals” on her family’s property in South Carolina.
“They were not quite human and not quite animal,” she said.
Later in childhood, she recalls being visited by “shadow people,” who she said would pull off her bed covers to get her attention.
Starr credits these encounters with teaching her how to effectively speak with the dead and encouraging her to pursue her gift. She considers herself a “light worker,” meaning she communes with “sweet spirits” and archangels. According to Starr, the biggest misconception about her vocation is that it involves all “demons and horror.”
For Starr, the most rewarding aspect of ghost hunting is the discoveries.
“Just about the time I think I’ve got it figured out, there’s another discovery – and then I get to add another layer to my understanding of life,” Starr said.
“I’ve learned more about life from the dead than I have the living.”