Tag Archives: Mary Ann Poll

Guest Blog: Haunted Destinations: The Sheraton Gunter Hotel (San Antonio, Texas)

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by Mary Ann Poll, America’s Lady of Supernatural Thrillers

Seated in the center of historic San Antonio, the Sheraton Gunter Hotel is an impressive sight to behold: twelve-stories tall, beautiful tan brick, and a flare of elegance often found in old properties.

The Sheraton Gunter Hotel is a blend of old and new, modern amenities and timeless elegance, trendy cuisine at its restaurant and bar, Bar 414, and historical significance. On January 9, 2007, the US National Register of Historic Places listed The Sheraton Gunter Hotel as a property of historical importance.

Since the 1830s, the Gunter Hotel has almost always been a hotel under different management and names. It earned extreme notoriety in 1965 at no fault of its own.

Since 1837, just a year after the fall of the Alamo, a hotel, in some form or other, sat on current Sheraton Gunter Hotel Land. The first hotel was called The Settlement Inn and known as the Frontier Inn by some.

The Inn stood at the corner of  El Paso and El Rincon Streets (changed to Houston and St. Mary’s Street some years later).  

In 1851, the Settlement/Frontier Inn was purchased for $500 and demolished. Irish immigrant brothers William, John, and James Vance had a different venture in mind.

The Vance brothers erected a two-story building where the Inn once stood and rented it out to the US Army for the next decade. During that period, the property operated as the local Headquarters for the Army.

Texas seceded from the United States when the Civil War erupted and joined the Confederates like many other Southern states. The Union (or US Army) left, and the Confederates took their place.

When the Civil War ended, the Vance family lost possession when the Federal troops occupied the city. The Federal troops used the building until 1872 when the Vance family regained ownership.

The building reopened as the Vance House (or Vance Hotel)

San Antonio hit its stride by the turn of the twentieth century because of the railroad and tourism.

In the early 1900s, a group of investors formed the San Antonio Hotel Company. There were thirteen men in total, including rancher Jot Gunter, whose name would later be the hotel’s.

The Vance family relinquished ownership in 1907 when the newly formed San Antonio Hotel Company made its purchase.

The investors had a plan to tear down the hotel and replace it with a “palatial structure that would meet the demands of the state’s most progressive city.”

(Unfortunately, Joe Gunter did not live to see the day when his dream became a reality. He died soon after the purchase, but his co-investors decided to name the hotel in his honor.)

Upon completion in 1909, The Gunter was a gorgeous juxtaposition of luxury and modern amenities. Eight stories tall and 301 rooms in total—The Gunter Hotel blended steel, concrete, and tan brick to create a hotel that was one of the finest in the country. Also, The Gunter Hotel was the tallest building in San Antonio for many years to come.

By 1979, Josef Seiterle bought The Gunter Hotel and invested $20 million in its restoration. The Gunter found a new home with the Sheraton hotel chain ten years later. However, the Gunter underwent various new ownerships for the next ten years.

In 1999, after an $8 million renovation, it once more became a member of the Sheraton hotel family and remains so today.

While The Sheraton Gunter today is one of the most stayed in hotels in San Antonio, it is also a building where ghosts also reside.

The Ghosts of The Sheraton Gunter Hotel

  • Like many haunted locations in San Antonio, people staying at The Sheraton Gunter Hotel have seen the spirits of the fallen Alamo defenders. There are reports of dips in temperature, the kind where your hair stands up on end and a chill courses up your spine.
  • Others report the sensation of being watched, of glancing over your shoulder with the expectation that someone is there—but they never are. Sometimes the sense dissipates, and in others, it persists for a much more extended period. Then, that feeling begins anew.

These are everyday paranormal phenomena experienced at The Sheraton Gunter Hotel. But there are more.

  • Two flappers are said to haunt the halls of The Sheraton Gunter Hotel. Or, instead, they’re believed to be flappers from the 1920s. Others suggest that they were prostitutes of the same period.

The first spirit, given the name Ingrid, is often seen wearing a long white dress while she strolls the hotel’s upper floors. The second, alternatively, is nicknamed Peggy.

It seems these two ghostly figures do not like each other. Though the women are said to haunt opposing sections of the hotel, guests have reported hearing them argue. No one knows why they quarrel.

Whatever the case may be, it’s plain to see their fighting causes a lot of the paranormal activity at The Sheraton Gunter. Guests have taken photos with their ghostly forms caught on film, as though they too want to be part of the fun.

  • There are sounds, and evidence, of furniture moving in guest rooms as well as in the public areas of the hotel when no one is around.
  • Blues player, and one of the most notable celebrities to stay at The Sheraton Gunter, Robert Johnson, is said to haunt this hotel.

Johnson’s talent scout, H.C. Speir, had arranged for a recording session at the hotel on November 23, 1936, in Room 414. In a strange twist of fate, it would be only one of two recording sessions that Robert Johnson would ever have.

(An interesting note: Johnson was one of the most important (and influential) blues musicians of his day. He was so talented, many people thought Johnson made a bargain with the devil to earn all the success he had amassed in such a short time.)

In 1938, at the age of twenty-seven, Johnson was found dead near Greenwood, Mississippi. The cause of his death was unknown then and is still up for speculation today. Some believe the jealous husband of a woman he flirted with at a country dance club he’d played in for some weeks poisoned Johnson.

At The Sheraton Gunter Hotel, rumor is that Johnson’s spirit still lingers in Room 414, where he once held his first recording session. In 2009, musician John Mellencamp arrived at The Gunter to record a new album. He’d felt drawn to the hotel, Mellencamp once said, and Room 414 in particular.

Today, The Sheraton Gunter’s new bar is honored with the name Room 414, in reference to the room where Johnson stayed. If the ghost of Robert Johnson is at The Sheraton Gunter, it’s probably in Room 414.

  • In February of 1965, San Antonio’s most notorious mystery took place in Room 636.

Albert Knox checked in on February 6. He was a blonde man, said to be quite handsome and exceptionally charming.

For two days, guests of The Gunter saw Albert Knox come and go with a tall woman.

On February 8, one of the hotel’s housekeepers brought some items to Knox’s hotel room. The housekeeper pushed open the door, only to stop dead in her tracks. Albert Knox stood at the foot of the bed with a bloody bundle in his arms. Blood splattered every inch of the guest room. In the face of the housekeeper’s horrified expression, Knox lifted one finger to his mouth. “Shhh.”

The housekeeper’s mouth started to scream, and Knox dashed past her and out of the room. It took forty minutes for management to receive a report of the incident. By that time, Albert Knox had disappeared.

The room provided little evidence to explain what happened there. A lipstick-smeared cigarette, brown paper bags, luggage from the San Antonio Trunk and Gift Company. The purchase suitcase was by check from John J. McCarthy . . . who happened to be the stepfather of thirty-seven-year-old Walter Emerick, who had disappeared on one of his “drinking bents.”

The police were sure someone was murdered in Room 636 and scoured the city for the woman’s body. They checked construction sites and even sections of streets with newly laid cement. They found nothing.

On February 9, a blond man walked into The St. Anthony Hotel, just one block away from The Gunter. He came with no luggage. And when he requested to book a room, he made it known that he wanted Room 636. That particular room was not available, and after some arguing, he settled for Room 536. He checked in under the name Roger Ashley.

The front desk attendants became suspicious, and after tipping the San Antonio Police that the murderer might have just checked in to their hotel, the detectives rushed over.

They hurried to Room 536. Banging on the door, the police tried to apprehend Walter Emerick (aka Roger Ashley) for the crimes. As they struggled to open the door, they heard a single gunshot. Ashley was dead, and there were no concrete answers to the mystery.

Many people claim to have witnessed the murder replay in the years since. Staff and guests both have reported such paranormal phenomena–one guest even saw a ghostly woman who held her hands out and stared at the guest with a gaze that appeared almost soulless.

Housekeeping staff has reported that new employees often quit after being assigned to clean the room. Others have said the image of a blonde woman inexplicably appears in photographs. Strange sounds of hammering have also been reported coming from the unoccupied Room 636.

Source: ghostcitytours.com Source: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/tx-gunterhotel/

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Mary Ann Poll is the author of five Supernatural Thriller novels, Ravens Cove, Ingress, Gorgon, Dullahan, and Andalusia Forest. Sign up to subscribe for free information about upcoming events at www.maryannpoll.com and check out her podcast Real Ghost Chatter.

Mary Ann Poll’s Journey to Becoming a Published Author

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Three weeks ago, I introduced you to Mary Ann Poll when she generously shared a post about her character Kat’s Thanksgiving in the small town of Ravens Cove, Alaska. This week, Mary Ann has written a guest post for my blog about her journey to becoming a published author. Mary Ann writes Christian-based, supernatural thrillers. I’ve read Ravens Cove, and it is a thrilling ride. I’ll let Mary Ann explain her books to you.

My Journey to Becoming a Published Author
by Mary Ann Poll

There is one thing to be said for coincidences. There aren’t any. And, before you think I’m crazy or just ‘narrow-minded’ consider the following story of how I became a published author.

A day came when I was confronted with an indisputable fact: My eternal soul lives in nothing more than crockery. That day came in May 1998.

I awoke for another day of work. Hands reaching toward the ceiling in that wonderful morning stretch were stopped instantly by sharp, tear-producing pain. As the initial pain subsided, I downed a pain reliever and was at my desk by 9 am. The pain returned with a vengeance by noon. At 1 pm I found myself in the emergency room. A disc had herniated in my neck, and I faced surgery with a long recovery.

This small writing is from a piece I wrote several years ago when I was asked to describe how I became an author. As they say, “The Lord works in mysterious ways.” Indeed, He does. Because if a disc in my neck had not herniated, if I had not read 100 books in ninety days because I could do nothing else while I healed, and if I had not listened to a good friend who suggested I write a novel, I would not be writing this article today.

My first book in what is now the Iconoclast series took many more years before it saw the black and white of printing. That journey was full of trips down other paths – going back to work time and again to make the almighty dollar and avoid the emotions and mental weariness that writing took. I took courses, joined online chat groups and talked about writing until I was blue in the face. In the end, I accepted the idea of writing was not going to go away. That was the day I sat down to write a book. It took twelve years to summon the courage and face the passion that would not leave, no matter what I did.

In all of the trips down other pathways, one helped me. I found out about National Novel Writing Month from a contact I made on a Christian writers forum. This is a yearly event where over 300,000 writers come together and grind out a novel in 30 days. I had tried everything else, so what was there to lose? So, I committed to the project. Low and behold, Ravens Cove was born.

Once written, then I was faced with the frightening and somewhat overwhelming question every writer has: “What now?” My answer for several months was, “nothing!” This was when I first discovered that writing a book is akin to giving birth. I wasn’t putting my ‘baby’ out into the world for criticism and rejection.

So, I let the book sit in the dark for several months. It stayed in the rawest of formats, and I think I was actually in denial that I had written an entire novel. I didn’t have (or make) the time to edit it because I had no clue where to go and who to trust with my ‘baby.’

My husband read the prologue and told me it was great. Of course, he did. He wanted dinner and to sleep in his own bed – what else would he have said? I knew he meant it. I also knew he loved me, so I dismissed his compliment.

It just so happened that my father-in-law came to visit the summer after I wrote Ravens Cove. He asked if I might allow him to read it. His reading it was not such a frightening thought, and, to be honest, I really wanted his opinion. And, I trusted his view because he has a Ph.D. in education and had published works of his own. He also happened to be the most avid reader I had ever met. So, I thought if anyone could

I gave him the book. He and my husband left that weekend for our RV in Anchor Point. He read it there. He came back and told me he really liked it. He said he had read authors he thought should have never been published. And, he thought mine should be.

My husband, with the I-told-you-so-look, agreed. Then, he took it a step further and emailed links to several publishers and publishing houses with information on what it took to get the book to press. And, here’s where Providence is again disguised as coincidence. One of those names was Publication Consultants.

I debated sending out query letters to the ‘big houses.’ I heard stories of books that were tied up for months, even a year or more, by those ‘big houses’ that had initially accepted the author’s work and then left them hanging forever. I debated the self-publishing houses and again read and heard of the horror stories of authors that were taken financially to the point it wasn’t worthwhile to pursue marketing their books. With all this, I decided I wanted to be able to look a publisher in the eye. So, I met with Evan Swensen of Publication Consultants.

Before I did, I reviewed the website and the different contracts available to an author. They all seemed above board and fair. I reviewed what authors had said about them, and it sounded good. So, I called.

Evan reviewed the first few pages of what was to be Ravens Cove. There were some problems but he told me the story was good and he would publish it-after I took it to an editor to fix the ‘boulders’-his word for problems. The rest is history. Since 2010, I have been privileged to call Publication Consultants my publishing house.

Publication Consultants was and still is invaluable to this me. They have taught, and are still teaching me, the ins and outs of the road to becoming a successful author. There have been numerous mountains to climb and valleys to traverse. They have stuck with me throughout the process and have opened doors that self-publishing could not. Without Evan Swensen and his staff, I would not have reached the goal of becoming a published author.

As I stated when I began this article, there are no coincidences. Each occurrence that seemed so small in and of their selves led me to Publication Consultants and the adventure of being a published author. To date, the journey continues. The entire Iconoclast Thriller series is complete. And, when ready and God willing, the next book will be published with the assistance of Publication Consultants.

Thank you, Mary Ann, for sharing your incredible journey with us. In my experience, writing a novel is the easiest part of the “author” process. The true work begins with editing, followed by publishing, and finally, the never-ending, tedious job of promotion. Mary Ann and I work very hard to promote our books, and we both belong to a promotional group called Author Masterminds. Our group is opening a reading club, and soon, I will invite you to join us. In the meantime, check out Mary Ann and her books. If you would like to know more about Mary Ann’s journey to becoming a published author, watch her webinar. At the end of the webinar, you will be able to download one of her books for free!

By the way, Mary Ann’s books would make perfect Christmas presents!

Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.

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Sign Up for my free, monthly Mystery Newsletter about true crime in Alaska.

Thanksgiving in Ravens Cove

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Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the U.S. I think it’s a wonderful idea no matter where we live to take a day, or better yet, several days throughout the year to consider everything and everyone in our lives for which we are thankful. We are all busy and are bombarded by negative news reports, political scare tactics, vicious elections, and the knowledge violence can happen anywhere at any time. It is easy to lose track of what is important and good in our lives.

This week, in honor of Thanksgiving, I have a special treat for you. My friend and fellow author, Mary Ann Poll, has shared with me an inside look at how the residents of Ravens Cove, Alaska celebrate Thanksgiving.

Mary Ann writes spine-tingling novels about the clash between good and evil. Ravens Cove is the first novel in her Iconoclast Mystery series, and it takes place in the fictional town of Ravens Cove, Alaska.

Kat, the protagonist in Ravens Cove, wrote this post, and she describes Thanksgiving in a small, Alaska town. Kat mentions that the dishes her relatives serve for the Thanksgiving feast come from a variety of cultures and traditions, making the meal truly Alaskan and emulating the “first” Thanksgiving which was also a blending of cultures.

Mary Ann will write a guest post for me in a few weeks, and I know this post by Kat will have you excited to read about Mary Ann and her books. Take it away, Kat.

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Happy Thanksgiving from Ravens Cove, Alaska

Today is a cold one for this time of year. Usually, we are around thirty-four degrees, but today our forecast is for the mid-twenties and a north wind, which means I’ll be pulling out the Army-green parka and clunky boots. On the bright side, the cold means fair skies…after 9:30 a.m. when the sun peaks out from behind the mountains. But, I digress. Today the cold is really last on my list of concerns because this is one of my favorite events of the year – Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house.
It seems like half the town gathers at Grandma’s (Alese Bricken for those of you who do not know her) for Thanksgiving. It is the time to catch up with my neighbors. Funny how we live in a small town and in the winter we can still go months without talking to each other.
We will have the traditional American feast but with parts of my Alaska native heritage thrown in – Grandma cannot seem to cook a meal without adding moose to the menu and, of course, smoked salmon for the appetizer. And, there is the pumpkin pie and mincemeat – does anyone know how a mincemeat pie became part of this? – Not my favorite, I’ll tell you! But, I will have a small sliver because Grandma thinks it is good for my bones. And, I choose my battles with Grandma.
May your turkey day be blessed!
Until next time…… Chin’an gheli – for my English-speaking friends: Thank you very much.
Kat

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Thank you, Kat, and thank you, Mary Ann. I am very thankful for you both for writing my post this week, and I love the idea of imagining how my characters spend their holidays! I am also thankful for my blog readers. A few of you have been with me from the beginning, and you hold a special place in my heart, so as Kat said, Chin’an gheli!

 

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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.


Mystery Newsletter

Sign Up for my free, monthly Mystery Newsletter about true crime in Alaska.