Mixed Spirits
Welcome to Mixed Spirits, the podcast where high-proof cocktails meet the low-down details of the strange stories we are fascinated by.
Every week, neighbors Stephanie and Annie mix up a drink and dive headfirst into the weird, strange, and spooky world we live in. Whether it’s a spine-chilling true crime case, a deeply unsettling ghost story, or a legendary cryptid sighting, we’ve got a story to tell and a drink to go with it. Every episode kicks off with a unique, curated cocktail designed to fuel our descent into the strange and horrifying.
Grab a glass, lock your doors, and join us for a round of unsettling tales and killer drinks. Cheers!
Mixed Spirits
07- Annie's Crazy Water & The Haunted Baker Hotel
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Grab a glass and sip on a "Jamaica Me Crazy" rum punch with Annie and Stephanie on this episode of Mixed Spirits!
This week, Annie takes us to Mineral Wells, Texas, to explore the wild history behind "Crazy Water" and the grand, ghost-ridden Baker Hotel. From lithium-infused well water that drew thousands of health-seekers to chilling, documented hauntings spanning 14 stories, this story has a bit of everything!
In this episode, we cover:
- 🍹 The Drink: A strong-ass, Boomer-approved variation of the "Jamaica Me Crazy" rum punch featuring Myers's Dark Rum, 99 Bananas, Parrot Bay Coconut Rum, fruit juices, and a dash of fasionola syrup.
- 💧 The Origin of "Crazy Water": How a stink-water well dug by James Lynch in 1877 turned into a booming mineral spa town.
- 🏨 The Grand Baker Hotel: Built in 1929, this $1.2M resort hosted stars like Clark Gable, Judy Garland, and even Bonnie & Clyde.
- 👻 The Famous Ghosts:
- The "Lady in White": The flirtatious 7th-floor ghost who leaves red lipstick stains and smells of lavender perfume.
- Douglas Moore: The 15-year-old elevator operator who met a tragic end in 1948.
- The Sick Boy: An 8-year-old spirit seeking treatment for leukemia in 1933.
- The Unexplained Basement Recording: Two separate investigation teams, years apart, capturing agonizing screams in the locked basement.
So before I start my story, I want to tell you about the drink I'm having us try. Okay. Okay. It's called Jamaica Meek Crazy. Uh-oh. Or Jamaican Meek Crazy. I've heard it both ways. Okay. It's a tiki-style rum punch. It was popularized in popular popularize. Give me another drink, please. It was popularized in beach resorts and on cruise lines during the 20th century, which is mostly where my topic takes place.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01So I'm going to give everyone in Podland the recipe and you can hit pause and make it. Or if you're going to stay sober, you can fast forward two minutes. How much did I pour? More. Okay. That's the exact amount, more. Okay, so keep in mind I'm giving you the high octane fashionola variation, meaning this is a boomer-approved strong ass drink. Boomer traded the 40% Malibu rum with 90% Parrot Bay and the basic banana liquor for 99 bananas. The result keeps the same tropical sunburst colored profile, but lands with a lot more punch.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's gonna be a boomer drink.
SPEAKER_01So if you're making it with us, you're gonna need three ounces of Meyer's dark rum, one and a half ounces of 99 bananas, one and a half ounces parrot baked coconut rum, four ounces pineapple juice, two ounces orange juice, one ounce fresh lime juice, and a dash of fashionola syrup. If you've noticed this is a large drink, you're welcome. I doubled the recipe for you. So to make it, you're going to fill a shaker with ice and add all the ingredients except for the fashionola syrup. Shake vigorously for 15 seconds. And while you're shaking up your drink, I want to rewarn you this is a classic recipe's loud cousin. It's a liberty-taken, full strength pour, threatening to be a full-on boomer drink. So once it's chilled from the ice, you're going to strain it into a hurricane glass. Okay. Filled with crushed ice. But me, I'm being unfancy. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm using a high ball glass, and I'm pouring mine over a large round ice ball made from not regular water. Oh, this is the crazy water? But crazy water. Yes. Which you're going to learn more about in my story. Then to get that sunburst gradient look, you're going to float a dash of fashionola syrup over the top. And if you're feeling fancier still, you can garnish your drink with a pineapple wedge and cherry. And then serve it with a straw. I don't know if I've put enough fascionola. Well, how much do you need? I think it's a super. Honestly, I think it's well, is it? If it's in that case, more. I like a sweet drink. Just like that, baby.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I don't want to make it too sweet. Nice. That's good. I think you got just right. Okay, great. I've done something correct today. Alright. Um, we've done all of your things. All the recipes. So now we're going to do that. So this is uh Jamaica me crazy. Jamaica me crazy. And so I'm I oh god. Not trying to die.
SPEAKER_01I want more pineapple. Yeah? Mm-hmm. I love a good pineapple with coconut. I'm not getting any of the coconut. I think because Boomer likes a nice strong ass drink, you can't taste the flavors. You get the alcohol.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's a little better. Then I've added more of that. Yeah. But god damn. And it's still I can see someone drinking this on a beach somewhere.
SPEAKER_01Good, because that's what you're supposed to be imagining.
SPEAKER_02Oh.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02With the crazy water.
unknownOh no.
SPEAKER_01Well, not with the crazy water. The cra crazy water is a special addition to our story. So is your story about the crazy water?
SPEAKER_02Or does it play into it?
SPEAKER_01I'm sure you'll you'll tell me. Well. Now that we've gotten a drink, okay. I'm going to be telling you about the haunting at the Baker Hotel. Oh, that's why are we both doing hauntings? That's funny. Well, it is called mixed spirits. Oh, by the way. Uh-oh. Welcome to Mixed Spirits. We are so bad at this. Hello, people in Podcastland. Yes. You go, Stephanie. Welcome everybody in.
SPEAKER_02Hi, everybody. Welcome to the weirdest intro. I mean, it's not weird, I guess. It's very appropriate for us since we are still so new at all of these things. Um, now that we've no now that we've had our drink poured and we are all caught up, uh, welcome to Mixed Spirits Podcast. I'm not gonna say episode number because I have no idea. Um, I'm Stephanie. I'm Annie. And we are two neighbors that like to tell each other weird, fascinating stories, whether it be crime or hauntings or cryptids. So it's mixed stories. Mixed stories. With mixed drinks. Hence the name. Mixed spirits. Mixed spirits. So welcome again. Thank you for tuning in with us and spending a little bit of time in the car or doing homework or scrubbing toilets. Scrubbing toilets or cleaning out your pantry. Whatever you do when you listen to the podcast. We really appreciate all of the love and the listens that uh we get from you guys. Um we're just having a good time. Decided to start something. Anyway, I'm not gonna get into the whole history of us doing a podcast. Of why we like to drink in the day and tell each other's stories. Especially in in theater.
SPEAKER_01What do you think the word will be today?
SPEAKER_02For the drinking game? Mm-hmm. I don't know. It can't be Jamaica, because that's in the drink.
SPEAKER_01No, no. Mm-mm. Nope.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. How about crazy? But you're gonna say that a lot, I fear, and it's gonna be Actually, I'm not gonna say it nearly enough.
SPEAKER_01I'll have to throw it in more. You're just gonna I'll just find ways to say, well, that's crazy. Don't you think that's crazy?
SPEAKER_02Uh so I have this drink in front of me, and it's um it's good. Mm-hmm. It's it's a lot more sour than I thought. Um You said there was coconut rum in there and bananas. Mm-hmm. Parrot bay coconut rum. And um typically coconut, but I just I don't get any of that in here. Yeah, once you get past the shocked phase, it's not so bad. Maybe because it's also the crazy water. Cheers. Cheers. Oh, cheers.
SPEAKER_01Cheers! More down the hat. So I told you I was gonna tell you about the haunting at the Baker Hotel. Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells, Texas. Oh wow. Have you been there? I have not. Okay. It's not too far though, so I should have I should have. Mineral Wells is close to is it close to Austin? Uh Fort Worth. Fort Worth. Wow. About an hour just shy of an hour away. Okay. Okay, but before we do that, I want to get into some backstory. Okay. Okay. I should say, you're gonna get some backstory. Okay. Before I ever heard of the Baker Hotel, I was shopping at HEB and I stumbled upon this bottle of water.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Crazy water. That's what it says on the label. So what made you decide to get this mineral water? Because I see it says mineral water. Because it says crazy water.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So I mean it said that and I had to go run home and I had to look into it because uh hadn't bought it. You hadn't bought it yet. Um no, actually I did because it said crazy water. Okay. But then I went home and I looked into it because it's promising crazy, and I need to know what that means. Uh-huh. Well, it does not mean crazy as in a measure of how fun the thing is, it means crazy as in you broke your brain.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I don't think I feel like You're crazy.
SPEAKER_01Oh. Okay. Now before you decide that you have to have a glass of this stuff, you need to know this history behind it.
SPEAKER_02Why but why call it crazy water and you're gonna break your brain drinking water?
SPEAKER_01You not know it means it's for people whose brain is broken. Okay. Okay, I see. That did once upon a time. Okay. Now it's just crazy good. Now it's just crazy. It's really not. Oh, it's really not. If you like earthy water, this is the water for you. Oh, no shit. Mm-hmm. Uh oh. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Is that why there's three full bottles behind me? Take a swig. Oh, that's a brand new bottle. Did you want a used one? Sure. Does it smell? No, no smell. Oh, I'm st I'm scared. It's just a little salty. I'm really scared. A little salty.
SPEAKER_01Nice face. Nice face. The fuck? Did you make me put in my mouth? Crazy water.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01God. People buy this? People buy this. Was there a lot left on the shelf? Oh yeah, no, there are boxes of it. And you see, it says number three. There's numbers one, two, three, and four. I got number three. This is how strong it is. Number four being the strongest. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Annie, what's wrong with you? Are you okay?
SPEAKER_01I'm crazy.
SPEAKER_02Yes, well, we knew that.
SPEAKER_01Drink up.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Okay. So where was I? Where was I? Where was I? Okay, you have to know the history, which I'm gonna tell you before I tell you about the hauntings at the Baker Hotel. Because if it weren't for this crazy water and everybody having to have some, there would not be a Mineral Wells, Texas, and there would not be a Baker Hotel. Oh shit. Yep. That's a whole thing. That's a whole thing. This this water is responsible for a lot of it? Okay. Alright, so the story starts in 1877 with James Lynch and his wife Aramanda. My voice is still doing that thing. Do you hear it? Where it's like shaky? Are you hungry? No. We just had some cantaloupe. I have nothing here. What are you talking about? We have nothing drinking today. What do you mean? No. Ah, it's just, I don't know. My voice is just doing this thing. Oh well. I don't hear it. So James Saint J James Lynch and his wife Aramanda moved away from Denison, and you know where that is, right? Denison, Texas.
SPEAKER_02I've heard of it, but I'm not quite sure where in the geographical map.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's just north of Dallas. Okay. Mile from Oklahoma border. Um, it is right next to Red River, and in early times, Denison was a booming railroad hub surrounded by fertile land, with parts of it being swampy river bottoms. Okay. That's important only because James and Armanda are leaving Denison with nine kids and all their livestock, and they're searching for a drier climate to escape malaria. Oh my god. Okay. So you move it's a little swampy back then.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Now I've been to Denison. Isn't all of Texas swampy? Well, you'd think up north it's not so much. I mean Dallas is not swampy. But they're coming south. From Dennis. You're right. It is a little south. A little south, a little bit west.
SPEAKER_02I also can't envision moving an entire thing of livestock.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02All that livestock. That's I mean, I've seen it happen in movies. Sure. That's gotta be a huge undertaking.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02To get away from malaria. Do you know how old the k to how old we get away from the mosquitoes?
SPEAKER_01How old the kids were? There's nine of them, so I'm pretty sure it was a wide range. Okay. Yeah. So they are finding this wonderful s new spot fifty miles west of Fort Worth.
SPEAKER_02What's the difference what's the um distance between Fort Worth and Ennison?
SPEAKER_01Okay, so it's about an hour or two, and instead of miles, I go by hours. This is not how they measured distances back in these times, but this is how I measure it nowadays. So it's about an hour, hour and a half from Dallas.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01And then isn't Dallas about an hour away from Fort Worth?
SPEAKER_02I don't yeah.
SPEAKER_01We're talking averages. We're not talking about two the second. But yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_02I believe you. I pffust an hour away from Houston, so yes.
SPEAKER_01Well. Okay, so it is drier in in this new area that they found. Yes. Um but they still have access to water since they are about three or four miles from the Brazos River. But think about that, at least three miles of walking to get water for yourself and your livestock. They need closer water. Yeah. So James tries to dig a well, but turns out he kind of sucks at it. Okay. All he can dig up is dry dirt. So they have to keep walking miles each day. Oh fuck. Also, did I mention that he and his wife suffer terribly from rheumatism? Perfect. Perfect. Yep. So add that to the long walk that they're enduring. So when a professional well digger comes along, you know James doesn't think twice about offering two of his oxen to trade for a well dug.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Now, one well is all that James can afford at this point. And now that he has that much at least, he should be thrilled, right? Except this water from the well is so stinky that he is sure there is something wrong with it. Rheumatism or not, he does not trust the water. Better to walk several miles each day than to die from sickness. And now he can't afford another well, but he also can't afford to let this one go to waste.
SPEAKER_02So So when you say I'm sorry, I don't mean to stop you. Um when you're digging a well and he's still moving, they have settled in their place 80 acres. Got it. Okay. I thought they were still traveling to a new piece of land and they like built a well in between. Oh no, that'd be crazy talk. That's why I was like, it's crazy water.
SPEAKER_01Nope, they found this land forty miles west of Fort Worth. Yes. They've claimed it as their own. They're about three or four miles away from the Brazos River. So he's walking eight miles. Nah, the Google tells me three or four. In one day. Mm-hmm. Back in the middle.
SPEAKER_02Oh, gotcha. Yes. Math. Yeah. Um, to just bring water to his family and livestock. Wow.
SPEAKER_01Taking the livestock down, getting a drink, bringing them back.
SPEAKER_02Jeez.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Okay, so built a well, doesn't trust the water. Doesn't trust it. So he tested it out on um his cattle. They don't die. Okay, great. Very good story. Um then he decides he's gonna try a little bit of it himself, since they didn't die, so he tries it himself. He doesn't die. Otherwise, this would have been a very short story. Um not only did he not die, but after a few weeks of him and Aramanda trying the water, that nasty rheumatism just goes away for both of them. Oh.
unknownMm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01He is so convinced that it was this weird water that has cured him that he tells other people about it. And the next thing you know, people from the nearby town of Edneville are coming around to try his water. So he starts charging them five cents a glass. Wow. That's a lot back then. Five cents a glass, yep. This is this is medicinal water. I so was well last week's drink. I'll tell you what we're drinking.
SPEAKER_02So it was the monk water, although the monk drink was also medicinal. Charge for that. How much do you think that is nowadays? I always uh I always jam out on the let's see. I can actually five cents value.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, okay. So Google says it's a dollar fifty-seven. Okay. Right down to the penny it gets us. Right down to the penny. $1.57. For the glass. Yep. Okay. So it's not too bad. That's not bad. A buck fifty. Give me a buck fifty. You can have a glass of this magical water. That's I think I'd pay that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, right. So five cents a glass.
SPEAKER_01In no time at all, claims are being made that this water heals more than just rheumatism. It's a cure all. This water is becoming so popular that people are lined up for it. To accommodate the massive influx of people, James makes it official and lays out the town of Mineral Wells on his 80-acre farm, and he appoints himself the first mayor. Of course. Why not? Why not? I would do the exact same thing. Then James has two more wells dug. One of the three wells is dug in 1881 by his uncle Billy Wiggins, and that is the well that became the name of this bottle of water. Okay. So here's how that name happened. Story number two. Okay. Story within a story. How come have I drank more of my drink than you? That is very weird.
SPEAKER_02That does not normally happen. It usually does not happen.
SPEAKER_01I'll catch up. I mean, that's crazy, right? It's crazy. Water. Okay. Okay, so this woman was hanging around the well, and everybody could see that she had some kind of mental imbalance going on. Okay. She got it in her head that she was going to sit by that well day in and day out, and she asked people to pull her up a pail of water. And there were always kind people who would do that day in and day out. She was such a staple to this particular well that the school kids passing by would call it the crazy woman's well. And then it just became easy to call it the crazy well. Oh my god. Alright. More drink, please. More drink. Well, here, pour you some. Yes, ma'am. I mean, it's crazy that you're letting it go so low.
unknownI know.
SPEAKER_01See, I told you we'd find ways to get crazy in there.
SPEAKER_02How many were uh we should do a counter. You're a tink.
SPEAKER_01Dink.
SPEAKER_02That's not me pee peeing, by the way.
SPEAKER_01Again. Maybe. Every time we say crazy, that tells you drink. Oh fuck. No, that's a little bit much, right?
unknownAll right.
SPEAKER_02All right, so crazy well.
SPEAKER_01Crazy, crazy woman standing by crazy well, asking people to bring her up a crazy pail of water. So is this the is this the guy's um owned well? Mm-hmm. Yes. That he's just kind of opened. Remember, he took his 80 acres, he turned it into a town, and he has now got three wells dug onto that town. And he's been charging a buck fifty, five cents back then, yeah, um, for each glass of water, and people are lined up for it. So he's made enough money to buy more wells. Yeah. Ooh, I love that face you're making. Bless America.
SPEAKER_02Holy shit.
SPEAKER_01Did you reshake it? I did. Yeah, I mean I mean it's crazy.
SPEAKER_02That's the only time I'm gonna do that.
SPEAKER_01Are you sure I think you should do it every time?
SPEAKER_02Okay, oh no, I didn't almost had it. I didn't say it that time.
SPEAKER_01No, no. All right, shall we get back to the crazy story? Okay, yeah, so crazy lady wants a pail of water. Then something shifted. In the crazy lady? In the crazy lady. Because people started to notice that the crazy woman wasn't quite so crazy anymore. Whatever was happening to her, the clarity, the calm, maybe less talking to people who weren't there, the town credited the water. Or maybe the people are becoming crazier, and she just seems normal now. She's normal, yes. Thousands of people are now flooding into town to drink from the same bucket that that crazy woman had.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god, her mentality is just. I'm not gonna say it.
SPEAKER_01I almost didn't say it. I'm gonna drink more of this sour drink. Nobody said they had to be big drinks that you're drinking. They don't have to be crazy big drinks. They just have to be drinks.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna take this thing away from you.
SPEAKER_01Touching it. So when word of her cure spread, this dusty little nothing town suddenly became a destination. People are coming by the train load. Sick people, dying people, desperate people, all convinced that the answer to whatever's wrong with them is bubbling out of the ground in West Texas. 3,000 people all camped out waiting for the water. God damn. That's a lot.
SPEAKER_02That's a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01So with the boom of the health seekers, the town needed a hotel. Okay, of course. So now we're getting there. And that's where our ghost stories come from. Kind of. Still okay.
SPEAKER_02We're getting there. We're not there yet.
SPEAKER_01First appointed mayor decides we need a hotel. So first there was no hotel. There's just a small wooden pavilion over the well, just a roof over a hole in the ground. Then soon a larger pavilion goes up next to the first one where the visitors are entertained by orchestras and variety shows. Oh my god. Come in for a drink, have a show, right? Then they built the Crazy Hotel, and that is actually still in operation today. Is it called the Crazy Hotel? It is called the Crazy Hotel. It became a sales pitch. Yeah. They are wearing the name Crazy. Push the button. Push the button next.
SPEAKER_02No my goodness garcious.
SPEAKER_01Yep. And then finally, in 1929, they built the lavish Baker Hotel.
SPEAKER_02So and it was called the Baker because that's the guy who built it. What is the what does Baker have to do with Mineral Wells? Who was he?
SPEAKER_01Mineral Wells was started by James Lynch. Yes. He started the whole thing on his 80-acre farm. Um James Baker was some guy, I think I want to say California. He was just some guy who came in. Uh he had hotels elsewhere. Okay. And he built this one as well.
SPEAKER_02So he saw the profit.
SPEAKER_01He saw the profit. He saw that. He said, people are coming in. I want some of that money. Okay. Now, before we get into the hotel, I bet you're dying to talk about this water. I sure. In your last episode, you were talking about snake oil, and I was like itching. I was like itching. I was like, ooh, I got some snake oil for you. So what do you think? Is it do you think it's snake oil? Do you think maybe it's just smelly water that comes with a great story?
SPEAKER_02I mean s my grandfather, when he owned property up in um Normangy, which is an hour and a half away from here. I don't know how much property he actually had that he owned, but he had a well that he built. And that was our drinking water. That was the water that we washed in and everything. And I do remember back then when I would come home from spending the weekend with my grandfather, that water here, the tap water, was disgusting. I really enjoyed it, I felt good. I it maybe it's all in your head, I don't know. I remember it smelling like sulfur at some points, too. And but like I do recall like drinking the water straight from the well, it tasting completely different. It wasn't necessarily as salty saline as this one is, but it being like, oh, tap water in Houston sucks. So maybe if they are only drinking river water, that when you come across something that tastes a little better, again, maybe it's all in your head. Maybe. Maybe there's something psychosomatic about it where, you know, they say, Yeah, this is crazy woman's no longer crazy sort of situation.
SPEAKER_01Tastes better, works better. Yeah. Except this doesn't taste better.
SPEAKER_02It's gotta taste better than Brazos River water or fish pee pee.
SPEAKER_01Maybe. Alright, so here's the story. It was found that this water This water This water has lithium in it. Oh fuck all right. It has lithium in it, and uh that's an element genuinely used to treat mental imbalances and mood disorders. So Oh yeah, no shit. Oh. Yeah. So it may not do anything for cancer or bad backs, but it could have actually helped that crazy lady.
SPEAKER_02Who's got yeah. Um does your story talk about how soon I because I don't know when people could test water. Like I don't know when that whole process was developed to say, like, I need to make sure that my water is alkalinity is good and all this stuff. Is there anything in your story that goes back to because I'm sure people are just drinking the water, but then someone had to say, some scientists have somewhere had to be like, hey, what's up?
SPEAKER_01My research told me at first, okay, so my research kept taking me down different answers. At first, my research told me that in the 30s the FDA got on their case and tested the water, and that's when they found out there was lithium in it. Okay. But then I did a little more digging, and that research told me no, they already knew there was lithium in the water. They had already done their own tests. Mineral wells people had already done their own tests? Yes, they had already sent it away.
SPEAKER_02Oh shit.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02So I'm not sure which one to believe. How much lithium can you drink before it becomes a problem? Do you know?
SPEAKER_01No, but I do know that, okay, so let me let me tell you what else this does. Okay, so for James and Aramanda's rheumatism, modern science shows that lithium has surprising benefits for joint health and inflammation. Okay. So it could have also helped them. So that was also true. Um and what I read from um Google was that low doses of lithium even reduces seizures. Wow. Okay. Okay. Now remember, I'm not a doctor, and neither is Google as much as it likes to convince us otherwise. Yeah, right. So definitely go with uh professional treatments over what I'm telling you. But it did say low amounts, and I stress that low amounts because it said higher amounts actually can have the opposite effect.
SPEAKER_02I think anything in moderation, sure, is gonna be.
SPEAKER_01So there is, I don't know the number, but it is it makes sense to me, understanding that much, that yes, there could be too much lithium.
SPEAKER_02They still provide or do they still um allow people to take lithium for these problems, or do they use something dull? Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. When uh that crazy doctor and yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm going to take this away from you.
SPEAKER_01And she was crazy. Uh that crazy doctor told me that I had bipolar. Remember I told you she changed the answers on my form? What? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, you've never told me the story.
SPEAKER_01When she was diagnosing me, she changed the answers on my form. She kept saying, No, what you actually mean is this, and she'd change it. What the fuck? Yes. And not only that, but um, oh what a there was a not only that, but now it just suddenly escaped my brain. Anyways, um, my regular doctor, she spoke with me, and she goes, Honey, I've known you for 20 years. Yeah. I've never once seen anything that tells me you're bipolar.
SPEAKER_02Because you were on medication for it and everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And one of the first medications they offered me was lithium.
SPEAKER_02I'm so mad right now. That really, really fucking pisses me off.
SPEAKER_01So I absolutely believed that I was bipolar, and now I think she was crazy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she was the one who's bipolar, it seems. So she was something. Oh my god, I had no idea. I am so sorry that you had to go through that. I had no idea.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because I just we hadn't had a conversation. We didn't talk about the outcome of that. You were you were dealing with some some heavy shit for a while. Um after your trip to Italy. Oh yeah. So I have I had no idea. I am so sorry.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely surprised my dog park friend. I was telling him about when I was in Italy and how that guy convinced me to get in his car and how I had to jump out while he was driving. Yep. He's all, God, the stories you keep telling me. I'm always surprised. I'm like, oh. There's more.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, don't don't don't dive too hard, Richard, because guess what? You're not you're gonna be wanting to punch people in the face. Or is that just me? I think it's just you. And it's what I love about violence. Because I'm I want to protect. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Eventually. All right. So the Baker Hotel. It was 14 stories of fabulous.
SPEAKER_02Fourteen stories.
SPEAKER_01Fourteen stories of fabulous. It had a spa. Okay. Had bathing rooms, had a bowling alley, it had ballrooms like the Brazos room on the first floor, and it had a medicinal center uh center clinic on the second floor. What year was this again? Uh 1929.
SPEAKER_02God damn.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yep. Um, it also had a pool filled with the famous mineral water. That's a lot of importing of water.
SPEAKER_02How big is this fucking well to have this much water being provided not only as a drinking thing, but bathing, sure. Right. And to fill up a pool?
SPEAKER_01Fill up a pool. Yep. Luckily you don't have to change out the water every day. A lot of people pee in that water, I'm sure. That's why you use chlorine that they used in the mineral water and ruined it. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. I would just see people like I uh my stupid brain. I envision people like hanging over the side of the pool with a sippy straw. Oh no. Just trying to drink the water in.
SPEAKER_01They sell the water too. You don't have to drink it out of the pool. That is one way they'd be cheap. But if you don't want to pay for the water. Right. Just take a swim. Go to the pool. Well, you know what? If you drink pee-pee, that's on you. So this this hotel costs $1.2 million. Okay. That's a lot back then. Yeah. 1920s. You want to do that math conversion? No. I think it's 33% difference. Is that the if when we were looking up how much uh the five cents was, it said prices today are roughly 31.31 times higher than they were in the 18th late 18th century.
SPEAKER_02So was that 31 million dollars for a let's say that a hotel.
SPEAKER_01Let's say that. 31 million dollars. That makes sense. Plus the 2%, but who cares? 31, 39, whatever. I don't know. I can't do math. So this this hotel towered over everything. Sure. 14 stories? It still does, though.
SPEAKER_02Oh no shit.
SPEAKER_01It still does. You can see it from miles away. It's a like a massive palace rising out of the Texas scrubland. Like like it got lost on the way to somewhere fancier.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like someone like moved and said, Oh, this is good. Drop. Boom.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's it's amazing how it looks. So now because this hotel was so grand, it attracted people like Clark Gable, Judy Garland, sure, LBJ.
SPEAKER_02Well, he's from Texas, so that makes sense. Bonnie and Clyde. Also not from Texas, okay.
SPEAKER_01Supposedly, allegedly, requested that the carpet be removed outside their door so that they could hear when the cops are coming. Didn't they die in Texas, did they? Louisiana Highway.
SPEAKER_02Nowhere close.
SPEAKER_01Bonnie and Clyde died on a rural stretch of Louisiana Highway. Okay.
SPEAKER_02So Louisiana.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Nowhere close to 1934. 34. 1934. Okay. So Bonnie and Clyde had the carpet ripped up. So they knew they were doing some they were on some sketch shit.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I'm pretty sure people knew. Yeah. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Did the hotel um abide by the ripping up of the carpet? All I know is they requested it. And I'm gonna say they probably did it. They probably did. And I don't think they ripped it up.
SPEAKER_02I think they rolled up the it's like a floor runner?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I'm pretty sure they rolled up the floor runner.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Either that or maybe Bonnie and Clyde never requested it. Maybe they actually just rolled it up themselves.
SPEAKER_02Probably they don't play by the rules already.
SPEAKER_01Why even bother asking? Many big bands blasted out their tunes from the first floor Brazos room. Glenn Miller played there.
SPEAKER_02That's cool.
SPEAKER_01Yes. I would have killed seeing Glen Glenn Miller. Lawrence Welk remembered starting out in the Brazzo's room, but at the Baker Hotel. Um and allegedly this is before he even learned how to speak English proper. Welk? I don't even think he knew how to speak English proper. In the end. In the end. But at this point he was still learning. Yeah. So aside from all the big names, the baker was still catering to health seekers. These people came because of the water. They read the ads, or the doctor told them, or somebody's cousin swore it worked, and they packed up and came to West Texas to be cured. That's the whole reason this hotel exists. God damn. Is the well still there? Mm-hmm. Not this well. But yes, they still have wells. They still have to do that. And they're right now the the well number three that we're drinking that got the name that started everything. That one is under a sidewalk at this point. Okay. That's all I know. I read that it was under a sidewalk.
SPEAKER_02No. Because it's under concrete.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Here's the thing that nobody puts in the brochures though. Um over four decades in operation, the building was had 450 rooms, by the way. God, that's a that's a it was a it's four big. It's huge. It's huge. Um they were filled over and over again with people who had run out of options. Right? Okay, like someone had a flat tire and can't go on or No, no, like somebody had cancer and thought this was the only hope I have. Got it. Okay. A lot of these people did not get better. Sure. Dozens of them must have died there.
SPEAKER_02It's yeah, well, sure. It's not a cure all. Right, right. But I mean if you've got no other hope, then why not? So they had people coming from all walks of life, dying. Probably dying, yes.
SPEAKER_01But one of those cases was a boy. There's a local psychic who says that a lot of the ghosts at the baker don't like to communicate. Oh. But this little boy, he does. He he was willing to communicate, and he told her that he was maybe eight years old. When he died in nineteen thirty-three, he told the psychic that his parents were seeking treatment for his leukemia. Oh God. So think about what that means. I don't think water's gonna help you at this point. In nineteen thirty-three there was no treatment for childhood leukemia. That didn't come about until about nineteen forties. Did they know what leukemia was? Did it have a name? Yes. Yeah, they knew what leukemia was. They understood how to look at blood. Okay. And how to see that the white cells were off balance and whatnot. So they they knew that. Um they knew that there was childhood leukemia, but they did not have a cure until the forties.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So in 1933, a doctor would have told these parents just, you know, there's nothing that we can do.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Good luck, Godspeed. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01The parents would have gone home, they would have looked at their kid, they would have tried to come up with some kind of plan.
SPEAKER_02They don't have the internet at that point in time, so they can't go online and be like, where can we go? No, but they could have found a brochure.
SPEAKER_01They c found a flyer. Yep. Or somebody could have told them, and they would have packed up. They would have come all this way.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01Probably would have drank in the water too, because you know I would have. Right? If you knew right there.
SPEAKER_02All basically. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01What else do I have? Yeah. But he died in that hotel. Sure. Hundreds of miles from home. So this boy would not have been the only one to die there from an untreated illness, right? I mean, obviously so many people. 450 rooms over and over again. People cycling in and out. So when I hear that the baker is full of ghosts, I don't have any trouble believing it. What I am surprised by is the fact that most of the ghost stories surrounding the Baker Hotel have nothing to do with illnesses.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_01Yep. So for example, there's the ghost who resides at the southeast corner of the seventh floor. She is known as the Lady in White. She was first seen by a porter who worked there during the 50s and the 60s. Okay. So he worked there during that time period and he was the first one to have ever seen her. And after that, she became very well known for flirting with men whom she finds attractive. Okay. She doesn't stay stuck on the seventh floor though. When she gets restless, she moves to the hotel bar to flirt with men. Excellent. Excellent. She's that kind of girl. Yes, baby. Now she's a seventh floor ghost. How do they know that it's her if she's in the lobby? I don't think that there's a limit, is there? Yeah, but how do you know? How do you recognize her? Like, I mean, so so you s so you see haunting things, you feel poked around on the seventh floor, you're like, oh, it's a seventh floor ghost. Let's give it a name. It's a seventh floor ghost. But then you go downstairs and something's messing with you there. Like, how do you say this is the exact same thing?
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01So that was my question.
SPEAKER_02Is there a smell?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Accompanied with it? She has a signature lavender perfume smell that she goes with. Yep. Mm-hmm. Also, when she does show herself, she's seen as a beautiful redheaded woman wearing white, dressed to perfection, and wearing bright red lipstick.
SPEAKER_02Hell yes. Boomer's dream was a redhead. If it was a redhead that owned a liquor store, I'm fucked. Oh no. I am so fucked.
SPEAKER_01I can feel it.
SPEAKER_02Completely. All she has to do is own the liquor store. Yeah. Well, I mean, the oof. You're done. Yeah. I will not have a relationship any longer. I will be living solo. We need to buy you a liquor store. No, that sounds like too much work. I already have boomer. You have one customer. Boomer? Yes. He's a very good customer. Can I just have the customer without having a liquor store? It sounds like too many red tape moments.
SPEAKER_01So she does leave more evidence than just pinching men while smelling great, though. Okay. Okay, she also leaves red lipstick stains in the southeast suite.
SPEAKER_02That's oppressive.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02That someone can do that.
SPEAKER_01The maids and the caretakers who have to clean them up say these lipstick stains were being left on unused glasses during times when nobody was staying in the room.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01So all of this was while the baker was still in operation. Okay. It's been closed down. Oh. I think it was in the 70s. Although it's closed down now, the lady in white has been heard walking around in high-heeled shoes still.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Okay, so how? Well, how the hotel are people the hotel still stands?
SPEAKER_01Yes, the hotel still stands.
SPEAKER_02Did they say why they closed it?
SPEAKER_01Yes. The FDA started cracking down on fraudulent or exaggerated claims of healing. So they they the FDA had some say on that. As well as that, huge medical advancements were being made. So this kind of negated medicinal water. Let people have their thing though. Yeah, well, it it people could still have come, but it wasn't enough to keep the baker open.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01All right, well. So it closed in 1972. Okay. Now it's all boarded up. It's being cared for though. So we've got a caretaker named Ronnie Walker who manages the building. And even he has heard the seventh floor ghost clicking her heels on the top floors. He says he's heard the footsteps on occasion when he was all alone in both the hotel lobby and on the seventh floor. And he says that once when he was on the seventh floor resetting an electrical breaker, they had the Christmas lights going on. And over and over again the lights just kept tripping. So he went up there and as usual he'd go back there and flip the breaker. This time though, he could hear somebody slowly moving up behind him. And he turned around and he looked and there was nobody there.
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_01Of course not. Of course not.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But he just he says, you know what? Whether I see them or not, I'm just going to make an assumption. And so he tells them, I'm not here to do any harm. I just want to help improve the hotel, make it a better place for everybody. And he says that was the last time the breakers ever tripped.
SPEAKER_02Oh wow. So how how are they why Christmas lights then? If the place is unoccupied.
SPEAKER_01I guess they just put lights on the outside just to be decorative, just to be just to be part of the season. Yeah, just to be part of the season. Okay. I mean it's if you're gonna invest in a caretaker, why not at least pretty fast?
SPEAKER_02Does the caretaker live on site? Yeah. Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01I say yes so confidently. As I always do. People, I know how to play malarkey like nobody's business. Yes. Yes. Alright, so we're talking about how easily impressed I am by people who can see ghosts. Like I'm just in wow with your ghost stories of your being able to see them in your dreams and stuff. And I really wish I had that power. But I'm really impressed if multiple people see a ghost, like all at the same time. Like the phenomenon hits not just one person but everybody in the area. And that actually happened at the baker while it was still in operation. There was a group of World War II veterans and their spouses, and they entered the Brazos room for a conference.
SPEAKER_02Oh God.
SPEAKER_01There's the as they're entering in, they're filing into the room, and a couple suddenly stops, and a woman looks at her husband and she says, Do you hear that? And he replies, Why I certainly do. About that time, several other people in the group began to hear sounds. It was dishes and silver being moved around, they're clanking it, people talking, and there's orchestra music in the background that they hear. Oh wow. In fact, most of the people who were at this convention heard all these sounds and reported this event.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_01But it has never happened before, and it's never happened since. But the witnesses were sure that they were experiencing ghostly echoes of the past.
SPEAKER_02Do you think a big part of that is because of the uh World War II? People who have gone through PT PTSD and their energy levels because they're kind of coming together as a collective again.
SPEAKER_01So we're back to the fact that your energy levels can encourage or encourage the increase the energy of a ghost. Hmm. That might be why a whole group could hear it. That would make some sort of sense.
SPEAKER_02But we would it also could be the whole group. It could have been like one person going, Do you hear that? And someone's like, Yeah, I hear that, and they don't actually hear anything. But a whole lot of people reported this. Well, okay. I I wonder how much of that is like trying to fit in and not seeing like the weirdo who doesn't.
SPEAKER_01But that's only if everybody had to say it at the same time. Instead of somebody saying, You know what? I I need you to know I heard this um, this event happening. While we were at this convention, I heard this happening and it was weird. Like going up to the manager saying, Hey, I need to speak with the manager. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Okay. And as far as like their experiences and their energy, didn't we discuss that being with poltergeist? Right. We're opening a whole portal here, is what's happening.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like a whole energy portal opening to the past.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, if you've got, let's say, like 70 people who have served their country and have seen some horrible shit, you know, yeah, I can envision a whole entire orchestra showing up on the other side and playing music. And like like with my story, it was just it's a family of four and the the kids having an active uh active part of their experiences because of whatever angst they're going through, but having a whole list of people also I don't know if your story covers this, I know that water and or rocks of certain types can hold energy. And when you have like free-flowing water through certain things, so if there's a whole fucking pool of water underneath this ballroom that people are having access to, water has been known to hold energy. Right. No, I I I know what you're talking about. And that could be a big part of this too, is why there's potentially so many um sightings, is because this whole entire town was built on while it was open. On a mineral well. You know? So I I don't I'm not trying to discount the experiences that these World War II soldiers had, but there has something to be said for energy when it comes to these things and what is more susceptible to what doesn't what's more susceptible to having experiences.
SPEAKER_01I'm okay. So what I'm hearing you say is, Annie, you don't have enough angst to draw forth a ghost. That's what I hear you saying. No, I think it's loud and clear.
SPEAKER_02Loud and clear plenty of angst.
SPEAKER_01Where's my ghost?
SPEAKER_02I'm right here.
SPEAKER_01I don't think so.
SPEAKER_02I'm actually not a real human being. I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01I don't think so. I don't think so. All right, let's get back to the story. All right. So we're counting off the ghosts. We covered uh the little boy who died of leukemia. We covered the seven-floor ghosts. Now the most documented ghost at the Baker Hotel is Douglas. He has a name. Mm-hmm. Okay. For decades Douglas, though, did not have a name. He was called the Nameless Bellhop. Aww. I know, right? He worked there. He worked there. When researchers dug through the archives of the Fort Worth Star Telegram and the Waco, Texas News Tribune, those were hard for me to say, so I had to point as I said them, uh, they uncovered the original articles detailing the accident.
SPEAKER_02That's you know, that's gotta suck. To work at a hotel only to be stuck still working for the hotel after you die. Always and forever. But I mean if you have a if you have a servant's heart, sure.
SPEAKER_01Well, now I'm thinking about our whole theory of when you die, you can go to wherever you were at the happiest.
SPEAKER_02Right. And maybe that's what I'm saying. He had a servant's heart. Maybe he really enjoyed helping.
SPEAKER_01Maybe he has his best memories of playing with his friends there. Because he did. That's kind of what caused the accident. So let me get into that. Okay. So um so they did they went and looked up the articles, they found the details of the accident. Um, the ghost hunters learned that his name was Douglas Moore. Okay. He was fifteen years old, and he was an elevator operator at the Baker Hotel. Ah. So that's the bellhop thing. According to records, on January 16th, 1948, Douglas arrived early for work and went to the basement to catch up with his friends who were working the maintenance shifts. Teenage talk turned into horseplay, and Douglas began to play with the surface elevator at the base of the stairs, jumping in and out while it was in motion. Oh no. Yep, yep. I don't need to remind you what year this is. 1948, there are no sensors. There is uh just a scissor gate. Yep, you see where this is going. One of his friends saw that Douglas hadn't successfully jumped all the way in, and he grabbed his legs to try and pull him back out. But he wasn't fast enough. Oh fuck. And Douglas was caught between the doors and the floor of the rising elevator. Why do I feel that in my I don't know you're intense?
SPEAKER_02Why do I feel that in my devil's wink?
SPEAKER_01Oh no. Now that's not the word. This podcast. Last podcast, that was the drinking word. All right, let's see. God dog. Yes, so it he he was caught between the rising ceiling and it crushed him at his abdomen. Yeah. I can't believe I could say that word. I always skip the B in the abdomen. That's a hard word. I'm proud of you. Don't act like it's not.
SPEAKER_02I'm proud of you.
SPEAKER_01Okay, thank you. Thank you. Abdomen. Yeah. Oh my god, I even got better at it.
unknownAbdomen.
SPEAKER_01Okay, alright. So it was half an hour before they could even dislodge him and get him to the hospital. Half an hour before they could dislodge him. Well dead. Yes, though he did die in the hospital of his injuries. He was still alive, crushed, between oh fuck that. His description as a ghost is unique enough that the ghost hunters knew that this bellhop they've been seeing was Douglas. One, because he's a teenager in a blue bellhop uniform, also because his apparition appears as only the top half of his body. Oh.
SPEAKER_02And he and he has jokes. Da da on the other side.
SPEAKER_01I'm only gonna show you the top half of me. Now that's not the only death that the elevator has seen, though. Twenty years earlier, on May 11th, 1928, while they were still building the hotel, a constructor worker named William L. Carter fell down the elevator shaft and fractured his skull. According to family records and local accounts, he was horsing around and sliding down the hallway when he accidentally slid right into the open exposed shaft where the elevator was soon going to be built. I tell you this, so that you'll have more context for the audio recording taken at the hotel. There's an audio recording? Let's get into that detail.
SPEAKER_02Do you have an audio recording?
SPEAKER_01I don't. I wish I I actually I Googled the heck out of it. And they said, Annie, you cannot have access to this.
SPEAKER_02Why?
SPEAKER_01They just they never made it public. But trust me, I Googled it. I tried it, I tried. I even asked AI to find it for me. I just and AI said nope.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01They said it exists, and not only does it exist, it exists twice. But you can't have it. I then what's the point? I don't know. Share. So here's what happened. In October 2000, two teams, DFW Ghost Watchers from Texas, or no, from Dallas, sorry, from Dallas. They're all from Texas. And Lone Star Spirits from Houston were brought in for a full skill investigation, and they made three separate visits and brought over a hundred thousand dollars in equipment. God damn. At the same time? Mm-hmm. Yeah, they came in together as a joint adventure. Okay. Endeavor, that would be the right word. Endeavor. It was an adventure. Yeah, I was here with you. Yeah. Okay. An independent psychic that was with this group claimed to have counted 49 different spirits in the building. Forty-nine. Actually, that's kind of low from what I would have thought. But it's very, very specific of a number. Yep, 49 different spirits that she was able to communicate with. One of the ladies that was with them was so sensitive to the amount of energy that she became so nauseous she couldn't stay in the hotel with them. So, back to the investigation. They came back with three things. Okay. Okay. The first two I'm not that entirely convinced by. See, the first, they captured hundreds of orbs. They photographed all throughout the building, the heaviest in the basement and on the floors five, seven, and fourteen. And then they captured, and this is the second thing, they captured two Ectomists in the ballroom. Okay. But this was October of 2000, which is right when digital cameras got very cheap, and every ghost hunter in America started coming home with orbs. Do you remember that? I do. It's still a thing. So if you point a flash at a dust moat, when the flash fires, the light bounces off the tiny airborne particle and reflects light back into the lens. Right. This was a 50-year-old abandoned building.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's all dust.
SPEAKER_01Yep, I'm pretty sure they were lighting up every dust moat in it. And these captured mists could easily have been airborne dust particles, it could have been water vapor, could have been backscattered from the flash.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I am setting those two findings aside.
SPEAKER_02I do know that there has been also a lot of people who have said they've captured ectoplasm. And it turns out to be the wrist strap. The wrist strap. To the camera. That's like in the shot.
SPEAKER_01Ah, gotcha.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yep. Thing with cameras.
SPEAKER_02There's a very distinct like pattern that happens when um you take a photo of that or like an orb or whatever that people are like, oh, that's that's easy to explain away. Same thing when it's like a bug. Like if you're watching video of somebody who's doing a ghost event a ghost hunt and somebody like moves towards the camera, and it's like if you slow it down enough, sometimes you can see the bug's wings and it flying. So it's so hard. I don't I I really wish I knew the uh who started the premise of orbs.
SPEAKER_01I don't know, but now I'm s I'm starting to think about the times you see orbs and then you see one that has a distinct shape of a human being, and you can see the eyes, you can see the mouth, you can see everything, right? But isn't that the same thing as like looking at clouds and saying that looks like a dinosaur? That's what I was thinking. All the times you see Virgin Mary on toast.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Like how many times was it just an accidental coincidence and it looks like something to you?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean I I I get that people are trying to show that hey, we've captured something, but orbs are just so easy to explain away. Especially in a 50-year-old or at this point, abandoned for 50 years place that's just dust. Yeah. I mean the caretaker can only do so much at this point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_01So what's your third thing that's well the third thing I can't set aside as easily.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Okay. They left an audio recorder next to the basement elevator and they locked the entire area down.
SPEAKER_02That's smart.
SPEAKER_01No team members were permitted in the basement while the audio was rolling. What came back on the tape was a man screaming in agony.
SPEAKER_02Oh, see, no, that's that's where I draw the line. Absolutely fucking not.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Here's the thing. In June 2001, a completely different group ran their own investigation and they recorded the exact same sound.
SPEAKER_02And this is the video this is the audio file that you're not allowed to have.
SPEAKER_01I'm not allowed to have. Nope. But there's many, many, many, many documentations of the fact that these two groups came together and did their own investigation, and then after that, what was it, a year later, another group came in that got the exact same sound on their recording.
SPEAKER_02Like if it was right on top of the recorder.
SPEAKER_01And you know what? Did I not write it in there? I did I not make notes? Hold on. I did not.
unknownHuh.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Okay. Well, somewhere in my memory. That's not me, V V. Ooh, topping us off. Finish this bottle off. That's crazy how we went through the whole bottle. Yeah, we didn't. Wait, wait. Oh, I'm gonna fere it is. Absolutely crazy.
SPEAKER_02No, don't drink it. Yeah, you gotta get the drink. Oh, please do add the fasciinola. Yeah, you need this to help with the floor.
SPEAKER_01So I am telling people that you add the fashionola if you feel like being fancy, but it turns out you also add it if you like a little sweet to your drink. If you want sweet drink, the fasciola is it adds that little it takes the edge off the bitters.
SPEAKER_02So going back to your recording, I really wish that I could hear these two things.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so here's here's what I had researched, okay? Because I could not get the actual audio. Uh-huh. I found out that both audios were examined for acoustic footprints and none were found.
SPEAKER_02Ugh, what does acoustic footprints actually mean?
SPEAKER_01That means that the expected environmental feedback that you get, like toenails clicking on the background of a dog. Um, no, like the the hissing of air that you hear. Uh-huh. All the normal environmental sounds that you hear uh uh in in an audio did not travel through the air when when the sounds came through. Okay. So like a human voice when it comes through right now. I don't know how clear our audio is, but you're gonna hear an air in with our voice. You can hear it. Uh-huh. Because we're breathing. We're we're actively alive. You can hear all these sounds, but in this recording there was no environmental feedback. Okay. So it was the sound was generated directly into the recording medium itself. Wow. Okay, so the hotel was closed in the 70s, but it has been bought and is being renovated right now. Okay. To the tune of $65 million. Oh my god. Why so much? $65 million is probably much more than that. $65 million was when they first started this renovation. But so many things have come up that I'm pretty sure that number is actually much bigger than that. Yeah. But the point is, Mark Rawlings, he's the restoration manager, and he has dealt with the ghost as well. Okay. That name sounds so familiar. Mark Rawlings?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01He may have walked in on TB Baker, the hotel magnet who built the place. T B kept a lavish sleep sweet. Shh shh sh. T B kept a lavish sweet on the 11th floor, and he smoked cigars as rich men seem to do. I actually don't know. I just I learned everything I know about rich men through movies, so I have no personal experience there. When Mark goes up on the 11th floor, he complains of heavy cigar smoke coming from the room. He says he's never smoked a cigar, but the smell is unmistakable. Sure. So, like I said, Baker is the baker is being restored. It's scheduled to open in 2022, but delays kept pushing back the date. Then it had an opening date of 2026, which would be right now. Yep. Um, then 2028, and it's currently aiming to open in 2029. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01If nothing else happens. When I looked it up, the uh renovation is taking a while because of the historical preservation project.
SPEAKER_02Sure. So they've got to there's a lot of red tape, I'm sure they've got to go through with the uh historical more than they expected.
SPEAKER_01Um also the fact that it is involving a severely decayed 14-story building that sat vacant for over 50 years. Yeah. Damn. Yeah. Well But I would like to think it's because the ghosts are like saying stuff and doing things and moving things around.
SPEAKER_02Would you visit when it reopens? I would love to. Would you stay the night?
SPEAKER_01Oh god yes.
SPEAKER_02I wonder how.
SPEAKER_01The question is, am I going to invest the money? I don't know what they're going to charge per night. Yeah. So would I? Because I'm a cheap bitch.
SPEAKER_02What I was saying, what's your limit?
SPEAKER_01200. A night? That's a lot. That is a lot. That's me being very generous. That's me bec me trying my best to be able to stay there. But if you're interested, perhaps you want to be one of the first ones to sleep a night in the baker, you can follow the project on their webpage, the bakerhotel and spa.com. So that's it. I picked up an ordinary bottle of water at the grocery store, and the crazy water turned out to have some crazy, crazy wait, wait, wait, crazy go stories in it.
SPEAKER_02Well, this has been fun. This has been fun. We've been gotten. We've been gotten. We've been gotten. We've been gotten drinking. We've been gotten drinking and we've been gotten very drunk. Mm-hmm. I think I've actually heard of the Baker Hotel outside of the story. I didn't know the history of it. Um it's funny that people buy this crazy water water. Um, did they have number one, two, and four listed at the They had number two, three, and four, I believe, at H E B is what I saw. And so they pull from the same well, but they just do they change the chemical bag.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so let me see in my notes here. Hold on. There is something about how it's done. Okay, so here's how I understand the numbers. Crazy water number one. This version doesn't come from a specific deeper well layer. Instead, it's purified and filtered to remove most of the minerals, leaving just a few essential like to maintain the alkaline state. Okay. I am stumbling hard. Okay, so crazy number two, this is sourced at 250 feet from the Norwood well. Um, it the company notes that the number two is meticulously created by blending the mineral-rich number three well water with purified water to give it a lighter taste. Because you you you tasted number three. You tasted number three. Crazy water number three is sourced from a deeper layer at 360 feet, and this is the famous deep well. Um Crazy Number Four, this is their strongest, most famous mineral well, and it is actually sourced from the shallowest well at 120 feet. How is that? Because it's closer to the upper, heavier, concentrated mineral clay and sandbeds of the Paulo Pinto water formation, and it retains a highly highly high highly an incredibly high mineral content. Okay. So this says it is naturally occurring calcium, magnesium, potassium, bicarbonates, silica, lithium, lithium, zinc, and many more. Yeah, bicarbonates is baking soda. You're right. Benefits, hold on. Relieves heartburn and indigestion, supports kidney function, improves oral health, soothes mouth and canker sores. Wow. The closer I guess it is to the clay beds. So what are you gonna do with all of this?
SPEAKER_02Uh crazy water you got.
SPEAKER_01I've been saving it for you.
SPEAKER_02But I've drank that. Yeah, look how much. Yeah, it wasn't much because I was terrified to try it. Alright. Well, thanks, Annie, for your story. You are welcome. It was very nice. I don't know what we're gonna do next time, but it's gonna be fun. It's always a surprise. I'll see you next week. Yep. So with that being said, drink responsibly and haunt exp exponentially.
SPEAKER_01No, nope, that's not it at all.
SPEAKER_02Hurry up and haunt. Yeah. She means to say drink responsibly and haunt existentially. Exponentially. That's what I said exponentially. Thanks, y'all. It's been a crazy good time.