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"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." - Albert Einstein
Or here's a link to click on...
10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-haunted-destination-2024/the-grove-jefferson-texas/.
Oh, and while you're there voting, you can see the full leaderboard of haunted places around the country, and what their raking is.
The first thing I wanted to share isn't a supernatural tale... it's just something that I found amusing. It did happen on the tour, though, so I'll tell the story here. As you know by now, I have a YouTube channel at "VisitJefferson.com" - two of the latest videos are:
Well, another month in the books as we get closer to my favorite time of year: Halloween - Thanksgiving - Christmas - New Years! It's always a time of celebration with friends and family that I enjoy. Again, I'd like to humbly ask that you vote for The Grove in USA Today's poll. Once, twice, or every day... everything is greatly appreciated. Just scan the QR Code at the first of the GroveZine or or click the link below it. Most of all, though, I want to say how much I appreciate you reading the GroveZine. I write it for all the wonderful fans and friends of the old place, and I take great pleasure in doing so. Thanks again!
10/03/2024 - Sitting Up With The Dead Exhibit Kickoff Reception
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Hello! Things have been great at The Grove, with the flowers blooming, the hummingbirds visiting the garden, and rain showing up a little more often that most years. Not only have we enjoyed watching the hummingbirds at their feeders, but there's a family of deer living in our neighborhood that has given us a lot of pleasure. Here you see a photo that I took through the front door window of The Grove. I watched this deer for several minutes, and it was really a peaceful experience. It made my day, and I'm always looking across the street to see if our "neighbors" happen to be out.
I just received notification from USA Today that The Grove is in the running for "10 Best Haunted Destinations of 2024"! It's won a place in the top 10 for the last few years... last year The Grove was #3, beating out the Myrtles and the Winchester House - all thanks to the friends and fans of The Grove. Voting will be open for the next four weeks, so if you'd be so kind, simply click on the QR Code below, scroll down, and click on the "Vote" button. Any help you could toss our way would be sincerely appreciated - you can vote once per device per day. That means you can scan the QR code below and vote with your phone, and then click on the link below it to vote with your computer (if that's different from your phone).
I have to tell a story that made me feel really, really good. Sometimes I really worry about our world - people seem to be so violently divided on every single, little thing. But just as I find myself worrying about where we're all headed, something happens to restore my faith in humanity. We were recently on vacation, and going through a small town somewhere in Arkansas. As we drove along, my wife said, "You know, I'm thirsty, and I'm really craving a Gatorade." Since that seemed like an easy-enough wish to grant, I pulled over at the next convenience store that we came to. We'd been driving a while, and we always try to stop and walk at least a little bit every hour, so it was perfect. We both went inside, but after searching the coolers, she couldn't find the original green Gatorade (there are a million colors/flavors these days, but she's old school). We finally asked, and the guy behind the counter said, "Naw, I've got red, blue, purple, but not the original green Gatorade." We thanked him and were walking back to the car when he came running out of the store. "Hey - I found one!" Apparently it was in the back of the cooler, and he'd gone to search when we came in and didn't find one. He gave it to my wife, and when I tried to pay him, he just said, "Don't worry about it - just have a good day." He turned and went back inside, and I was stunned. Not only did he go looking for a green Gatorade bottle when we left, but when he found one, he rushed outside to give it to us. We'll probably never be in that town again - I can't even tell you where we were - and I'll never see that fellow again. He just did something nice for a couple of complete strangers. And that gives me hope for the human race. He's my new hero - I want to be like him.
Something happened recently that was sad, but at the same time, made me smile, and I really wanted to share it. There’s a fellow that I’ve known most of my life. When I was a young man we were good friends, but as time went by we slowly drifted apart, as sometimes happens in life. We always kept in touch, though, and even when it had been a while since I’d heard from him, I still thought of my friend often. I think that our closest bond was the very weird sense of humor that we shared - we would both laugh at things that only we found funny, and I’m sure that our wives thought that we were both crazy.
Recently KTAL-news out of Shreveport, Louisiana did a report on haunted places in the area. The Grove was there, as were the Jefferson Hotel & Excelsior House. Stagecoach Road is included as well, but so are a number of places with ghostly reputations that I wasn't even aware of. Now I have to figure out how to get an invitation to the old train station in Texarkana... Anyway, if you'd like to see it for yourself, just 
I had a tour group one weekend this month, and I was starting to tell the story of the Young family who bought the house in 1885. Their son, James, took his life on the back porch of the house in 1908 - quite a tragedy for the family. He's not buried in the family plot here in Jefferson, probably because in those days suicide was looked upon as a mortal sin. If you took your own life, you couldn't be buried on hallowed ground. As I was telling the story, one man's eyes got big and he asked, "Was he known as 'Jimmy'?" I told him that I had no idea, but he went on to explain that as he walked through the front gate onto the property, he heard a woman's voice call "Jimmy!" He knew that it wasn't audible - it was in his head - but it sounded very real nonetheless. He said that it sounded like a mother saying something to a child. I understood this, because over the years I've heard voices in the garden - literally, as if someone was on the property having a discussion. When I looked around, though, no one was there. The former owner Patrick Hopkins told me that one time he was in the garden doing some weeding, and as he reached to pull a particular plant, he heard a voice say, "Uh-uh," as if to stop him from touching it. He looked around, but no one was there. He left that plant alone, though, and later learned that it was a special, heirloom plant. After two decades at The Grove, when I hear voices in the garden, I pay attention to them!
Speaking of ghosts, have you always wanted to own and operate a genuinely haunted hotel? Well, I'm happy to tell you that that opportunity now exists... The Kahn Saloon Hotel here in Jefferson is on the market for sale. The Kahn Saloon was built in 1865, and has both a colorful and violent history. It has been both a saloon and brothel where there have been numerous deaths. One gunfight that occurred was just inside the front door, when a deputy and a bar patron shot and killed each other. A madam in the brothel days was killed upstairs along with her 7-year-old son during a robbery. In another incident, a prostitute was beaten in the alley behind the saloon; she dragged herself inside before collapsing in death. The building has been renovated into an updated hotel - I've known many people who've stayed there, and while weird things occur there, nothing bad or frightening has ever happened to them. I even wrote a book about the Kahn, which you see in the photo. And now... you can be the new owner!
I'll close with something funny... I mean, we all need to smile a little bit every day. If you've visited Jefferson, Texas, you've probably seen Sterne Fountain. It's one of the icons of the town that's on all the postcards and travel advertisements. The Sterne children gave it to the city back when the calendar was turning from the 1800s to the 1900s, in honor of their parents. The statue on top is Hebe, the Greek goddess of beauty and youth. It's somehow appropriate that Hebe got decorated up the other day to celebrate the 95th birthday of one of Jefferson's ladies. I mean, if you can make it 95 years on this planet, then God bless you... a celebration is certainly in order!
