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"Death is the greatest illusion of all." - Osho Rajneesh
You can click on the QR code in the video, click on the one below, or if you don't have a scanner app on your phone, this link will take you to the right place. Like I said earlier, you don't give them any info at all - just a click for The Grove which is greatly appreciated. You're allowed to vote once a day, so if you get a few spare moments in the next two weeks I'd really appreciate a vote or two.
Okay, I've got to say it again, and it's really from the heart. One more time, The Grove says... 
Here's what's coming up around Jefferson...
Once again, this is strange but I have to say, "Who knows?" Our sincere prayer is that Jefferson - and the entire country, for that matter - is able to safely come back to some normalcy in the very near future. Until we get those directives, it's impossible to list upcoming events. Things are still cancelling, like the Historical Museum's Civil War Symposium and the Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend. Everyone's being careful. We will come through this, and eventually get back to some form of normal again. Hang in there, my friends.
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I really want this honor for The Grove, so we've been pulling out all the stops - I even had a sign made for the front fence of The Grove where passersby can scan the code with their phones and vote immediately. By the way, for the next couple of weeks you can vote once a day, and you can even vote once with your phone and once again with your computer, so if you wouldn't mind tossing a few extra clicks to The Grove, I thank you.
Okay, so my first Jefferson story may not be all that pleasant to contemplate. We had a storm come through that had some very high winds. We lost several large limbs here at The Grove. The next morning I was driving around town to see what other damage might have occurred, and I ran across this sight in Lions Park. The port-a-potty there had blown over... door down. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would take to correct this situation, so I went on about my merry way, thankful that of all the problems I have in my life, this wasn't one of them.
Okay, a few Jefferson headlines. I have some wonderful news... the delightfully haunted Jefferson Hotel, which has been closed for months, has now been purchased and will be re-opening for business soon. I had a conversation with the new owner, and I don't know if they are ready for it to be announced, but let me just say that anyone who's attended the Jefferson History, Haunts and Legends paranormal conference should know them. These are folks steeped in the paranormal, so I am confident that the hotel will given the supernatural respect that it deserves. It has already had a face lift that looks incredible. I will try to have more info as things develop, but I'm really excited about this. My favorite story about this place comes from Mike Lakey, a couple of owners back, who told me that as he was working at the front desk, he'd hear the stairs creaking as someone walked down them... but looking over, no one would be there. There are so many supernatural stories about the Jefferson Hotel... I love it!
If you've been to town recently you may have noticed that the Hamburger Store has been closed for a while now... but word is that it has been sold and will soon be opening back up - and personally, I can't wait. I hope the new owners resurrect the old tradition of putting dollar bills on the walls; I miss that. I also hope that the have the high-meringue pies that the place has always been known for. They may, however, be thinking of re-inventing the Hamburger Store to something even more interesting... we'll see, and I'm looking forward to the grand re-opening.
I can also report that the Excelsior House, the Kahn Saloon Hotel, and our delightful Bed & Breakfasts are open and ready to receive guests. They're following guidelines, disinfecting everything, requiring masks, etc., so if you're in need of a Jefferson fix, the city's waiting for you! Masks are required inside stores and other places, as per the mandate by the State of Texas, but it's nice to see people in town again. We haven't started tours of The Grove back up quite yet, but we've had a conversation with our doctor about procedures, so maybe we can do so in the very near future. For info on our fair little city, don't forget to 
But on a more supernatural subject, if you've been a GroveZine subscriber for a while, you know that as a second to Jefferson, my wife and I love Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and especially the haunted Crescent Hotel that is located there. We spent our honeymoon in Eureka, so we have personal connections to the place - and we go back at least every year or so. This photo is of the fireplace in the lobby that I took on our last visit. It will factor into the video that I'm about to share with you.
I got an email from paranormal photography expert Michael Graves a few days ago about a recent visit to the Crescent Hotel in Eureka, where he spent some time in Room 218... "Michael's Room"... um, that's Michael the Irish stone-mason, not Michael Graves the paranormal photographer. Anyway, he (Michael Graves, not Michael the Irish stone-mason) came away with one of the most interesting ghost photos and stories that I've seen in a while - that of the Crescent's deceased resident cat "Morris." It just blew me away. To watch his experience at the Crescent, and his encounter with Morris, 
Eureka Springs isn't the only place with a ghost cat, however. One of our B&Bs here in town - Kennedy Manor - has a phantom feline in residence. On a Facebook post the owner said, "Yes, we have a ghost cat, and yes, I have actually seen it!" Sometimes after a room has been cleaned and the bed made, the owners will come back later to find paw-prints that have disturbed the covers. This photo was taken by them one day when that happened, in fact. Check out their website and Facebook page for more information about Kennedy Manor in Jefferson, Texas.
As long as we're talking about ghost cats, I went back through the GroveZine archives and found this posting from all the way back in October 2011. In Jefferson you quickly learn which neighborhood cats belong to which houses, so I'm very familiar with all those around us. One day, however, I saw a cat that I'd never seen before, or since... "I've talked before about ghost cats at The Grove, and even a shadow animal that my wife saw, but this month I had an experience that I have no explanation for. I was in the game room, taking down the Halloween tree (yes, we had a fun little Halloween tree this year) and I looked down and saw a cat run past my feet and under the table. I don't mean that I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye, and felt like it was a cat, I mean that I ACTUALLY saw a cat. There are two cats at The Grove, a tortoise-shell (black with gold spots) named Elsie, and a white cat named Daphne. Whenever they come inside the dogs immediately want to play with them, which delights Elsie and terrifies Daphne. The cat that I saw was white, and I assumed that it was Daphne... until I realized that the tail and hindquarters were black. I then figured that some other neighborhood cat had found its way into the house, so I bent down to look under the table... and there was nothing there. I got down on my hands and knees and quickly looked across the floor of the room, and again, nothing there. I called my wife in to tell her what I'd seen, and she couldn't find a feline, either. We called in the bassets, who just sniffed around and looked at us like we were crazy. There is no doubt in my mind that I saw a white and black cat run past my feet, and I have to think back to the fact that Louise Young, who spent her entire life at the house and died here in 1983, kept a house full of cats. If you've been reading the GroveZine for any time at all, you may remember several stories about ghostly cats that show up from time to time. While I don't understand how animal spirits figure into the grand scheme of things, I have to say that on that evening at The Grove, I saw a cat that wasn't there!"
And now, kind of an amusing story. You see, I put an entire chapter in my Haunted Jefferson book dedicated to ghost stories about places that I couldn't name, either because the owners swore me to secrecy (that happens all the time) or it's something that I heard but could not verify. This story is from the latter. Jefferson is the kind of place where you know most people that you see, and it's easy to stop and strike up a conversation. That's exactly what happened - a friend and I were talking, and I looked at a beautiful old two-story house across the street from where we were and commented, "Isn't that a stately old place? I'd love to get to peek inside, but I don't think anyone lives there." My friend said, "Oh, I've been inside it - I saw the owners working on the outside of the house a while back, so I went up and introduced myself, and they gave me an impromptu tour... it's beautiful!" Of course, I was immediately jealous. I said, "I guess that I'm going to start watching for someone out in the yard, then." My friend laughed and answered, "Like I said, the inside is beautiful, and there's a grand staircase to the second floor. The owner told me that a woman had once hanged herself at the top of it, and so that's where the ghost shows up." She said it so matter-of-factly that it took a moment to sink in. I stood there for a second, and when I opened my mouth, I was stammering, "B-b-but why hasn't anyone told ME about this!" Well, we talked a little longer, but I have to say that I haven't spoken to the owner of the house, and this story is second-hand, but it has certainly whetted my appetite to learn more about the old place. I'll be looking for the owners sitting out on the front porch on their next trip to Jefferson, so watch for updates in upcoming GroveZines.
Your help is greatly appreciated in trying to make The Grove one of USA Today's "10 Best Haunted Destinations in America." Although we're up against seemingly insurmountable odds (nationally known places like Winchester House and Eastern State Penitentiary), you can really help by