The Alaskan Hotel is one of the 'Portals to Hell'

This newsletter is going to be a lot more fun to read if you believe in paranormal activity and can suspend your illusion of disbelief.

Portals to Hell got three seasons, totaling 39 episodes – and season 1 episode 1 is about The Alaskan Hotel. It aired in 2019. Jack Osbourne (yes, from The Osbournes) and paranormal baddie Katrina Weidman and co-host land in Juneau and head into town.

Some background: The Alaskan Hotel is the oldest operating hotel in the state, opening Sept. 16, 1913. It was at one point, very high-profile, but quickly shifted into being known for deviousness and debauchery.

There's definitely some oogie-boogie going on, Jack said.

Jack has three different paranormal shows he stars in on the Travel Channel, including Jack Osbourne's Night of Terror and The Osbournes Want To Believe. All three shows feature Sharon and Ozzy in some capacity, which is fun.

It's not the first reality tv show filmed at the hotel. In 2013, Hotel Impossible filmed season 4, episode 1 at The Alaskan.

Jack and Katrina talk to Bettye, the owner, who gives them a tour of their rooms. They put Katrina in room 219.

Alice came in maybe around the '30s, I would think, and so Alice and her boyfriend moved in and lived in 219. And he went away to mine, and while he was gone – now this was still kind of a working woman's place, and so she decided to take a little on the side. Well, he came home unexpectedly and caught her, and he shot her dead in the bed, Bettye said. And then he hung himself in 219.

Jack is in room 315. Bettye asks during the tour to stand by the exit.

I checked this Navy sailor in. And he said, 'I want the most haunted room,' and I thought, 'Oh great, trouble,' Bettye told Jack and Katrina. I just knew that was trouble. And when he came in, around 11 o'clock at night, there was screaming, and he started screaming, screaming, screaming, and he was saying, 'Help! Let me out of here! Stop.' Then at some point, he had cut himself, and he wrote on the wall, 'Help.' And just a bunch of blood, blood was everywhere.

Bettye says he then jumped through the window from the third floor. The incident occurred in 2007.

Jack and Katrina talk to Bettye's son, Josh, who is the bar manager and has lived in the building "his entire life." Josh takes them into the basement, where he begins speaking Latin to ward off any demonic entities. As one does. Then he tells them about how he pulled a man named Charlie out of a hot tub who had drowned.

I was the first person to touch him after he died, and I know that he's still here, Josh says during his basement tour. We've never used this room in 20 years. The worst things he does are to girls. Guys he'll usually leave alone. But girls, especially pretty girls, I've seen them run away screaming. He touches girls. He gropes them.

Jack asks what's so special about this place, to which Josh answers: it's the meridians. Josh said a medium once visited and showed him a video she took of orbs floating down the hotel hallway. He described rituals that weren't quite demotic, but "definitely diabolical."

I wanted to chat because, what do you want from all this? Rachel asks Josh.

What I would like to know is everything to do with where. So I'd like to know where you found what. That's all, because that's where I'm kind of blind. When I was doing a lot of work conjuring spirits, Josh said.

Let me stop – did you conjure spirits here? Rachel interrupts and asks.

Only a couple of times, but yes, Josh replies.

Both Jack and Katrina said they slept with the lights on, and set up videos to catch any potential abnormalities. They eventually try communicating with the spirits and do some ghost hunting.

When they report back to Bettye and Josh, Katrina tells them they specifically heard the name Alice come through their audio device three times in room 219. A production assistant shared that she had a dream about Alice, and in that dream, Alice told her she was misunderstood.

At the very end of their investigation, Josh shares that he dated someone whose mother was using black magic to control her family.

Very foolishly, I remained in a relationship with her for almost a year. During that time, her mother somehow managed to get ahold a piece of my hair or an object that belonged to me, and the reason I know this is because her daughter had a dream. She woke up and then saw a demonic figure with my head. I woke up simultaneously, and I was living in room 223 at the time.

I hate it when that happens.

Is this place a portal to hell? I'll say yeah, for sure, Jack says.

(total watch time: 42 minutes)

'Summer House' Season 10 reunion, Part 1: 10/10

I love getting texts from friends about what shows they're watching. Zee has never seen a single episode of Summer House, but tuned into the reunion to see a beautiful Black woman read two losers to filth. Emily also texted me this week, asking if she should watch Summer House. She hasn't seen any of the recent drama surrounding the cast and season 10, so she's in for a big, delicious, scrumptious treat.

Ciara, what are your intentions that you hope for, for this reunion? Andy asked.

I mean after that, I don't know. I mean, we might as well talk about the details before I put them in the ground and cover them up with dirt.

Part one of the Summer House season 10 reunion released last week, with two more to go.