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There are many wonderful American home towns through out the United States but one that people often think of when they hear the term is the town of Hannibal Missouri. Noted for being Mark Twain's boyhood home, the charm and history of those days when Samuel Clemens walked the streets developing his love for this little river town remains there today. As a paranormal group there are many places we would love to explore to catch a glimpse of those ghosts of by gone days. We had the pleasure of doing so on October 3rd, 2009.
Many of the buildings from the mid 1800's to the later part of that century still remain as a historical foundation for Hannibal's Main Street. Many businesses have come and gone, just as the tourist who make a pilgrimage from all over the world, yet the buildings remain. Brick and mortar, plaster and lath, hardwood floors, tin ceilings, white clapboard siding, this is what you see when you walk the sidewalks here. Most of this is the original building material from the days of Clemens youth. What you don't see quite as easily is what still walks the sidewalks and roams the buildings from his day. The ghosts of Hannibal Missouri.
As you walk up Main Street in the 100 block you will come upon one of the quaintest restaurants in downtown Hannibal. The Abby Rose is a superb restaurant owned by Pam and Carl Rivera. It's victorian decor is very fitting to the era of what Mark Twain wrote about in his books but that's not what really brings everyone back to this eatery. It's the food. River Town Paranormal Society happened upon the history of the Abby Rose after stopping there one day for lunch. A dish of lasagna created by the master chef at the Abby Rose was delicious but there was something else in the air of this restaurant. After leaving a business card for RTPS with the tip it wasn't long before the owner came back out to talk to our members. Pam told us that she believes their restaurant is haunted and wanted to know how they could go about being investigated.
On October 3rd of this year we did investigate The Abby Rose. There were several unexplained events the owner, chef and kitchen crew had experienced so they wanted to know if what they were experiencing was real. From the fan in the kitchen being unplugged by what seemed to be no one, to coffee beans and pesto disappearing never to be found, to a full bodied apparition of a civil war soldier on the 2nd floor dining room area and lastly to their names being shouted at them when no one was around, The Abby Rose had plenty of areas for us to concentrate on. Pam Rivera's and Barb Lake's accounts of what they have experienced are genuine. Since our investigation on October 3rd they have had more activity.
Our investigation results will be posted here with the owner's consent. We picked up a few evps, but it's not that evidence that gave us reason to believe there is activity at the restaurant. Our K2 session with Pam at the end of the night did give us positive responses to questions Pam asked and for the first time we used our Ghost Box to see if we could pick up any spirits of times gone by. The Abby Rose building once belonged to the Cohn's and was an established business called "The Famous". It has been said that Mrs. Cohn died peacefully in her chair at the end of the steps which are still there at The Abby Rose. Could this be the beloved spirit who still roams these floors or could it be any of the previous owners who date back to the late 1800's? Our investigtion could not define the energy that the Rivera's and their staff have experienced and it may take more investigations to be able to do that. The Abby Rose was given a journal to keep track of the unexplained happenings inside it's walls to find
out if this a residual haunting or a intelligent haunting. One thing is for sure though, no one has ever been harmed, nothing malicious goes on, it just seems like they want to play with the staff by hiding their supplies. Or maybe, just maybe, they enjoy the excellent food being cooked here as much as we do! We can't say at this point whether we believe The Abby Rose is haunted or not but we can say their perfectly delicious menu can lift the spirits of anyone, past or present. We hope you enjoy our evidence and videos from the investigation.
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The Abby Rose
