Story by Dana Martin

In 1924, the Drakemore Hotel opened its doors. Creating an opulent retreat for wealthy clientele was Frank and Esmerelda Drakemore’s goal, for they saw great financial promise in providing the rich with a luxurious haven to enjoy the prosperity and optimism of life in post
WWI. The hotel had the most modern conveniences of its time, even an elevator, and Frank and Esmerelda were extremely happy.

When Esmerelda died of influenza in the winter of 1930, Frank grew angry and withdrawn. Despite the warnings of his friends, many of whom were loyal clients, too, Frank remarried quickly to a widow with
a small son.

In January 1931, the beatings began at the Drakemore. Frank deliberately took out his anguish of losing Esmerelda on his young bride—most of the time while 7-year old Charlie was in the room. Guests of the Drakemore began complaining of a woman screaming long past midnight, and some said they heard the sound of a sobbing child.

For eight long years, Frank beat his new bride for any reason… for speaking without permission or for not answering the hotel’s telephone on the first ring.  Soon, affluent clientele stopped booking rooms, claiming that the Drakemore just wasn’t “right” after Esmerelda died. They couldn’t have known how true that was.

In October, 1939, Frank went too far. Jasper, the Drakemore’s bellhop, told Charlie how badly Frank had beaten Charlie’s mother that night. So, just after midnight, Charlie, now 15 years old, went to her room. When she didn’t answer his knock, Charlie let himself in, and what he found was her limp body, dressed in her wedding gown, hanging from a rope tied to the chandelier. Charlie fell to the ground and yelled Frank’s name.

Charlie, who’d been too young and weak to protect his mother before, now had the body and the anger of a full grown man.

No one knows what else happened that night because the Drakemore was never open for business again. Just two guests fled their rooms, the only people awakened by the sounds of guttural yelling and frightened screams. They told horrific stories of fleeing down blood-stained hallways to get to the lobby and away from the nightmare that was the Drakemore Hotel.

No one ever heard from Frank Drakemore again, and some say Charlie never existed. After the massacre and police investigation, the hotel was boarded up for good. However, some locals say that even though the hotel closed, it is still open for business to a few special guests.

Rumor has it that every October the hotel opens for the guests who never left that fateful night in 1939. The bellhops, Frank, his bride and Charlie are also feared to be among the living dead—returning every October for the anniversary of the bloodbath at the Drakemore Hotel.

CHECK IN TO THE  DRAKEMORE HOTEL, INSIDE TALLADEGA FRIGHTS... IF YOU DARE!!!