Sleeping in the morgue

By: Antionette Grajeda

Posted: 10/31/07

Today is Halloween, and while some will celebrate the holiday by donning a variety of costumes, others will spend their night seeking scary thrills at local haunted houses.

A reportedly real haunted locale, the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs has been a popular spot for paranormal thrill-seekers for years.

In honor of the Halloween spirit, the hotel added a new lodging option, which offers patrons the chance to sleep in its morgue.

The three-day and two-night package is designed for a group of four and includes one night in the morgue and one night in the hotel's luxury suites, one per couple, according to a press release.

Technically, the area is no longer a morgue, but a storage area for the hotel.

The Crescent first opened in May 1886, but in the late 1930s, Dr. Norman Baker bought the hotel, which "had fallen on hard times" and turned it into the new location for the Baker Hospital, according to the hotel's Web site.

The autopsy table is still in place as is the walk-in cooler where Baker kept bodies and body parts for experimentation in his highly advertised "cancer curing hospital," according to a press release.

The room where he kept body parts in jars of formaldehyde is the site where a full-bodied apparition was caught on videotape by the Sci-Fi Channel's "Ghost Hunters" in 2005.

This unique package entitled "Fall Back In Time and Dimension" was created for the "Fall Back in Time" promotion conducted by Historic Hotels of America (HHA), of which the Crescent Hotel has been a member since 2000.

The idea for the new package, which UA senior Jed Hefner described as "freaking awesome," was originally created by Jack Moyer, the Cresent's vice president of operations and development.

"He was trying to think of a package that would be unique not only to our hotel but to the entire North American continent - evidently he succeeded," said Bill Ott, director of marketing and communications for the Cresent.

Although this is the first year this package has been offered, it has gained international attention.

The package has also received recognition in local newspapers and Web sites such as forbes.com, hotels.com and historichotelsofamerica.com.

"Our hotel has become famous for doing things a little bit different," Moyer said in a press release. It is part of our 'making lifetime memories' philosophy and what could be more memorable than a night in a former morgue where numerous paranormal sightings have occurred?"

To add to the paranormal theme of the package, the hotel is including a Crescent Hotel Ouija board, an official ghost meter and a complimentary video of the guests' overnight morgue "sleep-in."

Some meals and other amenities are also included.

"Since this package is only available any October Tuesday and Wednesday night combination, there were only five of these packages available this year," Ott said. "This package is not only scary, but scarce."

Because of this year's success, the hotel is definitely looking into offering these unique sleeping arrangements next year, he said.

"We are thinking about having a contest to actually give away these packages to hotel guests who register, but the details have yet to be worked out," Ott said.

What is it about this unusual sleepover that has several people so intrigued?

Junior Albert Im said people participate in these types of events "to experience death without dying."

Senior Shawn Foust agreed that seeking frightening thrills is a way to test boundaries.

"Most people struggle with the question of whether or not there's life after death," Foust said. "Seeking thrills is their way to find an answer."

Ott commented that the overnight escapade was not necessarily a quest for truth, but a form of entertainment.

"Everyone likes adventure," he said. "And what could be more adventurous than spending the night in a morgue?"