Located on S. 2nd Street, the Inn at 835 is known for more than its friendly staff and classic charm. The Inn at 835 also happens to be a hotspot for ghostly activity.

The activity at the Inn is so prevalent, in fact, that a local ghost tour hosts its starting point there.
Garret Moffett, a long-time history fan and founder of Springfield Walks and Tours Guide Services, takes a group of people to the Inn on tour nights to begin The Ghost Hunter’s Haunted History Tour.

The groups visits three place during the tour: the Inn, an old church and its columbarium, and Norb Andy’s on Capitol Avenue.

Each place is known for its activity. The Inn, according to Moffett, has more “benign encounters,” while Norb Andy’s can often get physical.

“Something does seem to happen to someone every night on the tour,” Moffett said. “We’ve had people slapped, punched, pushed down, [and] pushed against a wall.”

While on the tour, guests have the ability to experience “ghost-hunting 101,” as Moffett provides some basic ghost hunting tools – like divining rods and Electromagnetic Field (EMF) meters.

Both devices signal the presence of electric energy, and many ghost hunters believe that the energy a spirit possesses derives from electricity.

“Albert Einstein says that energy doesn’t dissipate, it just changes from one form into another form of energy,” Moffett said. “…We have an electrical conductivity that shoots from the top of our heart to the bottom of our heart.

“So if energy just changes from one form to another,” he continued, “then what happens to the electricity that once made up our heart beat? Where does that go?”

Moffett believes that the energy in question imprints itself on haunted environments.

In the case of the Inn, one spirit often present is that of the original inn owner, Bell Miller. While Miller didn’t die a violent or untimely death, the common belief is that her love for the inn was so strong that she came back to watch over it.

There’s another presence at the Inn, however, that isn’t as friendly.

“We left the inn, and me and this girl were the last people,” Moffett said. “She turned around and snapped this photo – there’s nobody there – and there’s a very distinct image of a man standing there, in a long black coat … and you just get the message, ‘You’re trespassing.’”

Moffett attempted to recreate the photo himself – to debunk the presence of a full-body apparition – but was unsuccessful.

Moffett and his team regularly make an effort to debunk potential encounters, as well as find support for encounters that couldn’t be debunked. “We put a little thought and science behind it. We’re not just going out there to tell a bunch of hyped-up ghost stories,” Moffett said.

“We’re not really trying to prove or disprove the existence of ghosts,” he said. “I’ll give you the information; you make up your own mind.”

The Ghost Hunter’s Haunted History Tour is being held on select nights through Nov. 5. More information can be found at http://www.springfieldwalks.com/HauntedHistory/.