Ghostly Encounter

The rain lashed against the windows and pounded on the roof. With the other guests out for the evening and the staff downstairs cleaning up from dinner; we were alone in the Coolidge Suite on the top floor corner. After a sumptuous meal with dessert and a glass of B&B by the fire; I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow. The last thing I remember was Sissy still talking on the phone.

Over breakfast the next morning, she sipped her orange juice and casually asked if I had heard all the tromping during the night. I shook my head with a shrug. Tromping? There were only 4 people in the whole inn and the other guests were an elderly couple on the lower level and he was frail and walked with a cane.

The story unfolded as we waited on breakfast. After she got off the phone, she lay wakeful in the darkness; listening to the rain on the roof and the creaking of an old building settling in for the night. Over the sound of the storm, she heard someone tromp heavily up the stairs directly outside our room; then run up and down the long central hall to tromp back down the stairs. Up and down and back and forth. Through the noise, she could just catch a murmured conversation between several people. Loud enough to hear, but muffled enough to not be able to distinguish what was being said. This went on for 10 minutes.

It could not possibly be the frail couple downstairs. It was perplexing. Thinking perhaps other guests had arrived late, she turned over, pulled the blankets over her shoulder and went to sleep.

When the innkeeper brought our pancakes, I asked him if the inn were haunted. Built in 1840, I assumed it must be. He gently laid our plates in front of us and nodded. “Why,” he said, “what did you hear? After hearing the story, he then regaled us with stories of the ongoing spectral party in the bar, the wallpaper episode and the yellow room.

It was thrilling.

If you get the chance, stay the night at the Echo Lake Inn. Let me know if anything happens. I hope you don’t sleep through it like I did.

Do you believe in ghosts?

I had only been in my house a few days and was still unpacking. I was sitting on my knees upstairs in the library with my head and shoulders in a closet when I heard someone say “Hello”. It was clear as a bell. I came flying out of the closet looking around. There was no one there. The voice was male. The windows were closed. I found no one in the house. I checked everywhere. Weird.

The next incident was several weeks later. I was bringing groceries through the basement. As I started across the basement I heard the phone ringing. My hands were full, so I decided to let the machine in the kitchen pick up. I clearly heard a male voice talking in sentences. I assumed it was the boyfriend. I finished bringing in the groceries and went to the machine to pick up the message. There was none. Weird.

A few months later, I was taking a nap on the sofa in the family room. Again I heard a male voice, this time saying my name. Again, I checked everywhere. Weird.

Then the voices stopped.

Now it is smells—not all the time, sometimes men’s cologne, sometimes strange food smells. Last time it was in my walk-in closet. The closet had been closed up all day. When I opened it after work to change clothes and the scent of cologne wafted out. It was a scent that was vaguely familiar. I own perfume but rarely wear it. So it was not me. Weird.

(I have had problems with closet doors staying shut too. That was weirding me out for a while, but that turns out to be the cat. He learned how to open the doors and apparently likes to sleep in the closet during the day. )

Why am I bringing this up? Today at work my cell phone rang. No one calls me at work so that was weird. I fumbled in my purse for the phone and when I answer, a male asks if it is I. I say yes. He then says he is sorry that it is a wrong number. I said “What?” He just kept repeating that he was sorry until I hung up. My friend Mel died a year ago in February. The guy on the phone sounded just and I mean just like him! Weird.