Below: Dillinger's tommy guns Photos from 2008 and 2010 (2 photos), respectively.
Below: Dillinger's padded body armor and case
One of the great things about Hotel Congress is the fact that they've tried to keep the "luxury hotel of the 1920's" feel to the place. Because it really, truly was. They still use the old switch board-- and all the staff are switchboard operators. There are also no televisions located in any of the rooms because they weren't original to the hotel. Rooms heat with radiators and are cooled with swamp coolers.
Here's a photo of the area behind the front desk:
Below: A photo of the rotary phones used in each room.
The door to room 214 is rather odd in appearance. From a distance, the door appears to be slanted downwards 10-15 degrees towards the left. The floor also appears to rise up and then curve downward before the door... but when you walk closer to the door, the angle changes and the door straightens out or bends another direction. The door has been surveyed and checked with a level. It is perfectly straight and the door frame is parallel to the walls... yet it appears crooked. The room is the location of a successful suicide attempt, and is called the "suicide room" by many. A man put the long end of a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. The room was cleaned and most of the shot was removed from the wall, but it's rumored that there is still some shot that was never removed from the wall.
When I asked the manager, who was telling about OTHER haunted rooms in Hotel Congress, what she knew about room 214... she countered with the response of "I don't know... what do you know about room 214?" Since we'd just been chatting about the Lost Souls ghost tours, it was suggested she ask the Lost Souls lady about the room.
Anyway, I took a photo of the door so you could see the slant-- optical illusion?... maybe. There is also a photo of the inside of the room from the front door.
Other rooms that were "haunted" include the hotel's "most haunted" room-- Room 242, where the hotel manager says guests have reported a woman sitting on their bed who tries to wake slumbering guests so she can talk to them. (It was occupied, so I was unable to photograph the inside of the room.)
Room 216 is known as the "heart attack" room. A guest of the hotel died from a heart attack in this room. People have supposedly seen the visage of an old man looking out the window of this room. (It was occupied, so I was unable to photograph the inside of the room.)
Room 220 housed the last artist in residence of the hotel. Hotel Congress honored this fellow's room rate of $7/night until the day he died. In life, the artist in residence LOVED to tinker with things and would borrow butter knives from downstairs to use as screwdrivers. Hotel Congress staff still find butter knives in odd locations throughout the hotel. Below: Photo of room 220.
