The Calvert Hotel B & B

Calvert, Texas

Aunt Belle found this historic old town when she was job hunting shortly after she moved to Texas from Ohio. Right away decided we had to spend some more time here. The town buildings are old, a lot of them being torn down due to deterioration, a lot of them being restored by people who are hoping to turn the town around and have it become a tourist mecca.

We didn't have much time that first day, but we noticed a beautiful old building a block off the main street (Highway 6) and did decide to stop by the Calvert Hotel Bed & Breakfast (www.calverthotel.com).

The innkeepers are John and Ron Baribeau, and their friend Nelson operates a beauty salon on the premises.

John gave us a tour of the building during which Belle and I both experienced some ghostly happenings, so we decided to come back. We planned a trip in February and two of my friends, Michelle D. and Michelle W., were able to come with us. We all have lots of experiences in both the hotel and town. Following are some of the most interesting, although this is another place that it would take a small book to relate all the happenings.

The Drummers Room

 Mrs. Dirr, the widow of the original owner, was left to raise several children alone after her husband died. She turned her home into a hotel and allowed drummers who were staying there to display their wares and take orders. A group of us were sitting in that room, Paula and Joyce, two ladies from the town, along with Belle, the Michelles, and me. Paula was beside me, Joyce beside her. Belle and the Michelles were on chairs facing us. I felt a woman beside me and my right arm was tingling faintly. At first, I just glanced at the woman and said hi. I couldn't see her, but I sensed her there. Pretty soon, the tingles on my arm grew stronger. The woman moved closer to me, then I felt her over nearly half my body. I asked Belle if she saw her, and she nodded yes. The woman moved over my entire body and I could hear her courteously but very insistently telling me that I should move! Then Paula started feeling her; tingles and goosebumps were crawling up the right side of her body, the side next to me. I finally gave in to the lady's insistence that I move and got up off the settee. Then I asked Belle who was there. She said it was a small, elderly lady in an old-fashioned gown, wearing a dust cap, and she had a feather duster in her hand. She was vigorously cleaning. Belle could see her clearly, and she said the lady wanted us out of her way so she could continue cleaning. It was fairly obvious that this was Mrs. Dirr, the wife of the original owner. We decided to leave Mrs. Dirr to her cleaning without our interference and all go look around the upstairs rooms.

At one point during the afternoon, Ron told me that there would be a group meeting in the Drummers Room that evening. He said that he had a strong feeling that at least one of the ghosts at the hotel was not happy with that group and asked if I would "keep my senses alert to see if they disturbed any of the ghosts." While were still eating the delicious meal Ron prepared that evening, the larger group, both men and women, filtered in and began to fill up the Drummer's Room. Shortly after that, a very strong force rushed out of that doorway! It was a stout woman and she came directly at me. I sensed that she was very angry. I heard her mutter the words, "Too many men in there! Too many men!" and she stalked on by me. This was definitely not Mrs. Dirr, who had been in that room earlier cleaning. She was taller and heavier. Later I discussed this with Ron; told him that this woman didn't mind the women who came to the hotel, but she definitely disliked men. My sense was that this woman was Leona, whose picture was just inside the hotel door. Ron was somewhat astonished. He said that yes, Leona hated men. That she had married one of the Dirr relatives and they'd been divorced, a fairly uncommon happening in her day. The male relatives tried to take the hotel from Leona and she fought them in court. Leona won and kept the hotel, but she definitely did not like men from then on.

John and Ron also told us the story of the white dog that was seen periodically. They said they had both seen the white dog, which traveled past the hotel, went toward town, across the railroad tracks, and then disappeared into thin air on the sidewalk beside the Masonic Lodge. They'd be sitting out on their upstairs veranda at times and see the dog. Ron would also see it sometimes when he was alone out there, and hear its toenails clicking as it crossed the veranda downstairs, then continued on its same path. Folks in town told them that one of the hotel owners had had a white dog, and a few others in town had seen the dog also, although it had been dead quite a few years. Earlier, when Joyce, Paula and the rest of us were in the upstairs hallway, I felt something rush past my legs and realized it was the white dog. The next morning, I took a picture of Leona's photo in the lobby, with my flash turned off so it would not glare on the glass covering the picture. The dog's face showed up in the picture clearly, his nose, muzzle, eyes and ears.

During the night, we also went to two of the graveyards. We all got several orb shots, and this is one of mine.

The Michelles and I also walked up through town that night. I got several nice orb shots, as did they. One is in a corner building on the main street.

Another one is over one of the old buildings.

Another nice shot was of the Masonic Hall.

This is definitely a town to go ghosthunting in! We plan to go back as often as possible.