Holland Hotel
This is the evidence for the two part investigation we did at the Holland Hotel in Alpine Texas. The first part was done on 6.11.11 followed by the second on 6.26.11. It was the best investigation that I was lucky enough to be a part of since I joined the RSRS team. Before I tell you about the investigation let me tell you a little bit about the hotel itself. First, the staff was excellent! They were very supportive of the investigation and happy to show us around while telling us their stories of personal experience and even shared some stories from past guest. The manager Julie Morton spent time in research to give the best possible information of the hotel.
The Holland Hotel was built in 1912 for around $250,000.00. It contained 70 guest rooms and a large banquet hall. At present it has been split into two different building, the second half being own by a private resident who is currently renovating the building for apartments. At least that is what we have been told. At this time we have been unable to investigate that area. It was considered to be one of the most modern and beautiful buildings in the area.
Like other buildings of it time and purpose there are several stories out of different things that happened in the building. From the person who was very ill and passed away in a room, to a suicide, and even a previous owner who remodeled a room to resemble a jail cell. No history would be complete without the beautiful woman who cheated on her husband and was murdered for her crime. Wait, back that up, yes, we can back that up. There was a beautiful woman who was murdered by her husband along with her supposed lover at the Holland Hotel. How can we back it up? Julie located an actual newspaper report of the incident and gave us a copy.
Taken from the Alpine newspaper on Sunday, February 11, 2007; Historical Perspectives.
The 1916 Spanell-Butler murders: A tragedy in three acts. You can read the article here.
The murders happened on July 20, 1916 around supper time. Witnesses stated they heard gun shots and a woman voice screaming,“Oh Harry! Please don’t kill me.” Two people were killed that night. Crystal Holland Spanell, daughter of John Holland, who built the Holland Hotel, and Matthew C. Butler, Jr. of the 6th U.S. Cavalry and son of Senator M. C. Butler of South Carolina. The murders made the front page of the New York Times.
Crystal Spanell’s husband, Harry J. Spanell, was taken immediately to jail in Brewster County where he confessed to the double homicide. Witnesses also stated that they heard Harry say, “Crystal, why did you make me do it?” He later asked if “they were both dead” and when told that they were cried “Oh, my God.” He was asked why he killed them and stated that he didn’t know.
It was decided that he would have separate trials for the two killings. The first trial would start on Monday, January 15, 1917 for the murder of his wife Crystal. One reported stated that more than 100 witnesses had been called to the trail. Another told of a railroad car “coming from Waco with friends of Spanell.”
The second trial for Col. Butler was set for Thursday January 18, 1917, but, it was later moved to Coleman Texas on April 9th. There was little coverage of this trail, most believe this was due to the selling of the newspaper to a group business men who were also friends of John Holland. It was stated that the lack of coverage was due to respect of Mr. Holland and the damage it could do to his young granddaughter.
Mr. Spanell stated at the trail that the killing of his wife was an accident. He also stated that during his testimony that Col. Butler attacked him when he question the Colonel about an event that had happened upstairs in the Holland Hotel. At one point he stated that Col. Butler was the one to kill his wife Crystal. They case went to the jury on February 2, 1917 where deliberations lasted around one hour. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty for the murder of Crystal Spanell. Following his acquittal he was released on a $5,000.00 bail.
For the second trial, the murder of Col Butler, many of the same witnesses were called to testify in court. The defense repeated their attack of the victim as a womanizer. The prosecution tried to show that murder as premeditated. Mr. Spanell was convicted of murder and sentenced to five years in the state penitentiary. A motion for a new trial was filed and denied. Then an appeal was filed, followed by a second appeal. The court overturned the conviction on the grounds of double jeopardy stating that it was a single event and he could not be tried since he had been found innocent of the murder of Crystal Spanell.
A few side notes. The Holland Hotel has a historical marker giving some information on John Holland. It is the 13th building in Alpine Texas to have a historical marker placed. Crystal’s young daughter (Maud Crystal Holland Spanell) was around the age of seven when her mother was murdered. She later married under the name of Crystal Holland to William Hatcher in Alpine, Texas in 1927. Mr. Hatcher was shot and killed by a business associate in Deming N. M. in 1937. He was survived by his wife Crystal and their seven year old daughter Frances.
I this is a lot of background, but seldom to we have such reliable information about a possible haunting. I also find history to be very interesting even through it is not the only reason for a haunting. When there is building in an area with such history and loved by many who have stayed in it, it’s not a surprise that spirits might not only return to the scene (or area) of the crime, but spirits might also return to a place where they were happy with good memories.
One of the personal experiences reported to us was of a female apparition walking down the hall on the 2nd floor with her hands in the air. There are also reports of curtains opening on their own. One member of the cleaning staff related a story of making up room 208. A second member of the cleaning staff had finished early and came in to help. The two ladies had just finished making the bed and were standing beside it talking when the end of the bed sank down with a butt imprint on the covers. They both quickly left the room.
As you can imagine room 208 was the room I wanted, and I was not disappointed. Sadly, I can only report it as a personal experience that was shared by Julie the present manager of the Hotel. The team had done a walk through of the area. We were in the process of taking out and setting up our equipment. I was standing by the bed unpacking my personal handheld camera’s. I heard a click and looked up to see the room door opening. It swung open slowly and Julie stood on the other side about 3 steps away talking to someone I couldn’t see in the hall. She believed that someone was exiting the room, and I believed that she was about to come into the room. Neither of us was close enough to touch the door. After 3 to 5 seconds the door closed on its own and the knob clicked into place. I had to turn the handle to get out of the room to speak with Julie. The upside (in my book) it was Julie’s first paranormal experience in the hotel as she had been the manager for three months. I count it as the best paranormal experience I have had to date!
I know what your looking for. You looking for actual captured evidence of a haunting. Well we have that too. Most of the evidence is in the form of EVP’s, which is the norm on most hauntings. On the first investigation (6.6.11) the 3rd floor was closed to the public due to upgrades to the fire warning system. We were aloud to investigate but no one slept on the 3rd floor. Nor were any of the rooms rented to us or any other guest. We were in room 316 and my husband was taking pictures. I turned my back to him and looked across the hall to avoid destroying my night vision. I saw a shadow of a head peeking around the wall in room 317 staring at us. As soon as I made a comment it disappeared. We moved into that room to do an EVP session. We (myself and husband of 16 years Terry) were doing an EVP’s session and received an intelligent response. (first two evp's in the evidence section)
We do have some video of an e. m. f. meter sitting on a chair in room 317 going on and off randomly during the 2nd investigation. (6.26.11) This video file is in several parts due to the fact the video camera turned off repeatedly on its own. The camera is fine, we have not had that problem with it since or even before we left it filming in room 317.
Another incident that happened at the end of the 1st investigation was when my husband had a personal experience when he went down in the elevator alone taking everyone’s bags out on a luggage cart. A voice standing directly beside him told him “No.”
Another personal experience actually happened to Lara’s (RSRS investigator) husband that had come with us. He is a skeptic to the point that he had no plans to investigate with us. He was kind enough to help set up equipment on the 2nd investigation. He was setting up an IR camera in room 319 when he left to go to retrieve a digital recorder to go with it. On his way out the door he saw a woman sitting on the bed. Thinking it was his wife he turned to talk to her. The woman was gone, but a butt print remained on the bed. After placing the digital recorder he left the rest up to us and investigated the bar downstairs.
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