The Driskill Hotel

For the first ever post to The Haunt, I decided to not stray too far from home; the Driskill Hotel located in my hometown of Austin, Texas.
Located in downtown Austin, it was completed in the late 1800's and is the oldest operating hotel in the city, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But with a building that old comes a rich history, and not all of it pleasant.

As described in the national register file number 69000212, the file on the Driskill, "The capping elements at the top of each of the street facades are busts of limestone of Driskill and his two sons which were carved by an unknown Italian artisans." Our key figure, Colonel Driskill "is the capping element for the main portico on East 6th Street." It is Colonel Driskill himself that is responsible for the majority of the hauntings at the hotel.Colonel Driskill, whose full name is Jesse Lincoln Driskill, did not originally start off in the hotel industry. He moved from Tennessee to Texas and went into the retail industry around the Austin area. He eventually landed on ranching, a popular and prosperous career choice in Texas, especially during the 1800's. Jesse Driskill did not move to Austin until 1871 and construction on the hotel did not start until 1885, 5 years before the Colonel died. The hotel opened up December the following year and was projected to set Austin up at a tourism town and boost the economy significantly.

The Driskill has always attracted a crowd, the more lavish the better. The University of Texas held its homecoming ball there regularly along with state politicians. President Johnson himself used the Driskill to await the results of his election and accepted the nomination from one of the balconies. There is no doubt that the Driskill is an Austin fixture.

Shortly after the Driskill opened, Colonel Driskill died in 1890. The question is did he ever leave the hotel? But what would make Jesse Driskill want to stick around. Jesse Driskill did not own the hotel for long, and there have been more than the fair share of people trying to take a wrecking ball to the place and build a newer hotel. Perhaps Jesse Driskill did not get to spend enough time in his hotel, and that is why he's sticking around. Rumors also say that he lost the hotel in a poker game or his cattle business suffered and he was forced to sell the place. For the sake of this blog, I am calling these rumors since I have not found a credible source confirming these rumors.

As for sightings, on the Drikill's website Johnette Napoliatno claims to have experienced the ghost of the Colonel. She claims that the bedside lamp kept flickering on and off, forcing her to unplug the lamp. This inspired the song Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man. A similar electrical issue happened in a KXAN video where all of the lights completely shut off. This video takes place in the jilted bride room, not in the areas where the ghost of Colonel Driskill have been reported. Colonel Driskill seems to be the most passive of the ghosts, since the main reports of activity are associated with flickering lights and the smell of cigar smoke.

Though a hotel ranked number two in the nation for most haunted hotels would not just have one ghost. Another famous story is the suicide bride story. The soon to be bride, often called the jilted bride, killed herself in room 427 with a gunshot to the stomach in the shower. Supposedly she was left before the altar, leading her to kill herself. In the first episode of My Ghost Story, the owner of Austin Ghost Tours, Jeanine Plumer and Monica, another person associated with these tours, talk about her experience at the Driskill Hotel and while some seem a little out there, the details on the Jilted Bride story are very solid and line up with the rest of my research. The story is that the wedding was called off two days before it was supposed to happen in 1989. The bride then went out on an extravagant shopping trip, came back to her room at the Driskill where she then killed herself. This is not the only legend surrounding suicide brides. This is just the jilted bride room, there is a whole other suicide room located on the 5th floor.

Room 525 is famously known as the suicide bride room, where not one but two brides committed suicide 20 years apart exactly. This date association is very common when dealing with hauntings where on the day of the traumatic event, paranormal activity exponentially increases. Another ghost that is said to haunt the hotel is a former employee; Mrs. Bridges. Some say that she loved her job so much at the Driskill that she just never left. Reports of cold spots and flowers being rearranged are all that are associated with this particular ghost. And what is a haunted hotel without a child ghost? Shortly after the hotel opened, a young girl fell to her death down the stairs of the lobby, and her spirt remains there to this day. Activity associated with her include hearing her laughing and uncomfortable feelings from a painting with a young girl that is reported to be the girl that died.


Whether or not you choose to believe the many legends and stories surrounding the Driskill Hotel, I hope you enjoyed reading and if you ever come to Austin, you know where to stay.












Links to Works Cited can be found below:
Driskill Hotel National Archive file 69000212:  https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973601
KXAN article on the Driskill: http://kxan.com/2015/10/08/austin-hotel-voted-2nd-most-haunted-in-america/
Fox News video: The Driskill turns 130: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b8RcRgcmW8
Driskill Hotel website: http://www.driskillhotel.com/video-gallery.php
Dark Haunts YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgwjtE7xiC4
Blog: http://austinot.com/driskill-hotel-haunted
My Ghost Story: Season 1 Episode 1