Haunted Driskill

www.docubloggers.org

Jesse Lincoln Driskill made and lost a fortune in the cattle business. Originally born in Tennessee, Driskill moved his family to Austin in 1870, which, at the time was the Westernmost metropolis in the state of Texas. He quickly fell in love with Austin and felt that the city needed a first class hotel that could rival the great hotels of the large cities of the day. So in 1884, he purchased a city block of land downtown and hired architect Jasper Preston to design the building. Six million bricks and tons of limestone were used in the construction, which featured three grand entrances, gargoyles, stone busts of Driskill and his two sons and the largest arched doorway in Texas. At a cost of almost $400,000 "The finest hotel South of St. Louis" opened to the public on December 20, 1886 with all the luxury amenities of the time.




However, the Driskill was the most expensive hotel in the city, charging almost double what the other hotels charged. As a result, it didn't make much money. Within five months of it opening, it was closed. According to the Handbook of Texas, a late spring freeze in 1888 killed most of Driskill's cattle. Payments on the hotel could not be met, and Driskill was forced to sell his dream. Driskill died, some said a broken man, two years later.




Driskill's grave is not the opulent marker of a man one would expect: Just a simple granite headstone, set next to his family in a small corner of the nearly-abandoned Oakwood Cemetery. A forgotten final tribute to a man that left Austin with a beautiful landmark.




There's a lot of history in the Driskill Hotel. Texas Governors have a long standing tradition to have their inaugural balls there. In 1908, two lawyers had a gunfight in the lobby over a disagreement in a case. A young senator named Lyndon Johnson met his future wife and had their first date in the restaurant of the hotel, and in 1977 Peter Fonda rode his motorcycle through the lobby for a scene in the film "Outlaw Blues."




They say that the Driskill Hotel is the most haunted hotel in Texas. They say that at times you can smell the smoke of Colonel Driskill's cigar in areas where no one is smoking. Does Driskill's spirit still restlessly roam the halls of his creation?




In an interview with the Houston Press, Johnette Napolitano, lead singer of the band Concrete Blonde tells of a paranormal experience she had while staying at the Driskill:
"I'd only told the band there was a ghost in my room, and there definitely was because it kept turning the lights on and off. The next night, Paul [CB drummer Thompson] came running in with Vinnie [Sting drummer Colaiuta], because Vinnie had met a woman at the bar who had almost the exact same story — except she had seen the ghost and it had grabbed her."
Napolitano's experience led to the band recording the hit song "Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man" in 1992.




So is the Driskill Hotel really haunted? All I know is that we deliberately chose to shoot our interviews for this story in one of the rooms that gets a lot of reports of paranormal activity. While we didn't see any ghosts, or smell any cigar smoke, the lights in the room would occasionally flicker while were were shooting. Maybe Colonel Driskill was keeping an eye on us as we explored his hotel.




Or maybe it was just old wiring.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• KLRU
• Docubloggers
• Driskill
• Hotel
• Austin
• Texas
• haunted
• ghost

[sw33tiexkiwi]

CTFXC!!!

[yuio5704]

lts if you came here from ctfxc!

[lolKaRii]

lmfao CTFxC :P

[TheMarshmellow23]

this music is freaking me out :s

ctfxc ftw

[SoundGauge]

Woman in White! Holy shit! Charles saw it!

[outanames6]

tweet this to ctfxc and pvp!!

[chichywoo]

CTFxC sent me here

[azboi911]

oh snap women in white.........we saw her in charles's vlog =D

[BlackopsPlayer05]

CTFXC FTW!!!!!!

[oakvilleracer1]

CTFxC FTW

[bmxdude2471]

CTFxC

[beboploser]

how did Alli (CTFxC) know that girl was a ghost??