Prior to the now infamous Bethlehem Hotel was the Moravian’s “Golden Eagle Hotel” a structure that dates from 1794 (George Washington was in office) to April of 1919, in it’s last days it was used for soldiers returning from World War I as a convalescence home. But even earlier, before if was the Golden Eagle Hotel, there was a stucture known as the "First House of Bethlehem”, built in 1741 by missioning Moravians in the wilderness that is now the bustling Lehigh Valley. Where on December 24th of 1741, the Moravian’s patron, Count Nicholas Von Zinzendorf, sang a hymn about Bethlehem, after which those gathered decided to name the town Bethlehem.
Reported Paranormal Activity
Guests and staff report seeing apparitions, shadows and unexplained reflections in mirrors and glass. Staff have reported hearing their names called when no one is there, being tapped on the shoulder, and seeing pens drop on the front desk from nowhere. Staff have also reported vacuums turning on and moving across the floor, even when they were not plugged in. The ghosts are generally believed to be from the Victorian and Colonial eras.
A little girl who appears in one of the windows is believed to be May Yohe, who grew up in the hotel. She later became a well-known actress and singer in the 1890s. May went on to fame and fortune; she was a well-known actress and singer in the 1890s, and married a man wealthy enough to own the Hope diamond, which she occasionally wore. Her adult life, however, was marked with scandal and broken hearts, and it was believed that her childhood at Hotel Bethlehem was her happiest time.
One unknown woman appears in period dress in the kitchen and dining room. Spooked guests have occasionally asked to leave early because they saw an apparition in their rooms. One engineer avoids the subbasement because of his experiences.
Room 932 has been the center of many reports of paranormal activity. Including guests being awoken by strange apparitions in the room, voices and names being called, messages appearing in the mirrors of the bathroom. Peculiar areas of pink coloring appearing on the walls of the bathroom as well.
The fifth floor was the site of a fatal fire during the 1980's. Some guests have reported strange goings on in the hallways and rooms of the fifth floor.
The investigation of the hotel took place in April of 2009. It was Saturday night investigation that finished up in on Sunday morning. The investigation team we were with rented room 932, as have many other groups as this was reportedly one of the most active rooms in the hotel. There were a total of 9 investigators and we set up into two teams of four and one team of three. Each team rotated once through the following areas, the boiler room, the 6th floor (with gym), and room 932. The hotel had 2 weddings and was booked to maximum capacity. This limited our movement during the initial hours of the investigation and also halted any chance of getting into rooms 512 and 514 on the fifth floor were activity had been experienced on the previous investigation.
IR CCTV cameras were setup in the basement (4 locations), IR CCTV cameras were also setup on the 6th floor (4 locations). The use of KII, regular EMF, Full spectrum, IR, UV photography, digital audio and real time EVP were all used by our team of investigators.
Many of us did have personal experiences during the investigation. Below is a list of some of those experiences share by those who investigated.
1. While setting up for initial EVP session in room 932 the team deliberately placed the chain to the door between the door and frame to keep it ajar while one of the investigators took pictures out in the hallway. The door suddenly opened on its own, released the chain and closed fully startling the group of 3. One investigator immediately went outside and questioned the investigator in the hallway, he said no one was near the door. The investigator opened the door and place the chain back into its original "ajar" position. Two investigators are now in the hallway and one remained on the couch in the room. Again, the door opened and closed on it's own. Amazed the three investigators set it up a third time and stood there and watched in amazement as the heavy door opened again in front of them, released the chain, then closed. The investigators were unable to get this on film and it is important to note, this did not not happen again. You can hear the audio of this activity below.
This is the audio of the door opening and closing for the first time in room 932.
This is the audio of the door opening and closing for the second time in room 932.
2. While in the basement in the small office 2 investigators were asking EVP questions including prompts to "move an object", after about 60 seconds an object slides across the desk in front of the investigators, as it is dark they were unable to verify what it was although there was a metal fork which appeared to make the exact sound when moved.
3. While in the main ballroom several shadows were seen in the balcony area and also moving across the front wall above the main door.
4. An EVP session accompanied by a KII meter elicited some remarkable response of the KII to direct questioning.
5. This Image below was taken using a compact digital camera, without a flash. The investigator is sitting against a wall and you can see another male investigator sitting opposite. There is no one between them at the time of the picture. Several reports of "entities" had been reported by both staff and visitors in and around the Gym.
Note: our history is from a group known as Genesis Paranormal Reasearch and Investigations and the evidence presented here is from that group. A special thanks to Andrew for allowing us to share this evidence.
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