The Haunted Hotel
In this first post to Everything Under the Sun, I thought I would start off with an event that happened some years ago when I was traveling through France and Great Britain. I was doing the dharma bum tour which essentially entailed staying at youth hostels, B&Bs, cheap hotels, and campsites. As a treat to myself, however, I shared a luxury hotel suite in London with some other pilgrims that I had met in Paris, but after a few days of living the high life, as it were, we decided to split up, and I went in search of lodging suitable for a rucksack traveler with limited funds, as I could no longer afford to pay champagne prices with a beer budget.
I don't recall which part of London I was in, but eventually I located what appeared to be a Victorian era town home that had been converted into a hotel as was evidenced by the gold leaf lettering on a bay window. The exterior of the hotel was charming in spite of the fact that the brick facade was painted black. That was unusual, to be sure, but because the windows were painted white it exuded a sort of formal elegance that made the hotel stand out from the rest of the buildings on the street. It certainly caught my attention and so I went in to inquire about the rates. I thought that perhaps I had misread the gold leaf signage in the large bay window because instead of seeing a front desk with a hotel clerk wearing a hotel uniform, I saw a man pouring a Guinness for a patron at a well stocked bar (Evidently, it is not uncommon in England to find privately owned hotels that also do business as pubs). In any event, The rate was right so I paid for one night and I went up to the room. Upon entering the room, I was struck by the fact that it was furnished with very old furniture. I think it's fair to say that the English are somewhat old fashioned or traditional, generally speaking, so it made sense that the room would have, in this case, Edwardian style furniture. Nonetheless, the ambiance was strangely charming to say the least.
It was early afternoon and there were still plenty of sights to see and things to do, so I threw my rucksack onto the four poster bed and then left the room and went out into the streets. It was almost dusk when I returned to my room several hours later. I was a bit weary from walking about so I lay down to take a nap before going out on the town later in the evening. Now, let me just state for the record that I do not recall at any time in my life when I had experienced anything particularly unusual except when I was hallucinating, which was due to the result of a high fever, that can and often does cause people to experience things they would otherwise not experience, such as a conversation with Bugs Bunny or looking at an animated Salvador Dali painting. As a rule, I would say that many events associated with "paranormal activity" if properly investigated can often be explained through deductive reasoning, i.e., a high fever can cause people to experience the sensation of having conversations with cartoon characters or walking through a park designed by Salvador Dali.
As I was saying, almost immediately when I lay down, my chest felt heavy and it seemed that I was being pressed down by some unseen force. The force extended to the extremities of my body until I was immobilized except for the the only movement I was capable of making which were my eyes. I tried to yell out for help but to no avail as my voice had somehow been silenced. As I lay there helpless and terrified, something caught my eye. Across from the foot of the bed was a dresser. On the left side of it, in the corner of the room, was a dark gray figure that resembled smoke or a dark cloud and outlined in such a way as to suggest a human form but without any distinguishing details such as hair, facial features, or clothing. The apparition, spectre, ghost, or whatever it was approached me along the right side of the bed. I struggled with every ounce of strength to free myself from whatever unseen entity kept me pinned down and just when the nebulous spectre was only a few feet away, I was somehow able to get away from it, and I fell onto the floor opposite the side on which the ghostly figure had approached. Quickly, I looked for the apparition but it was no where to be seen. In an instant, I grabbed my rucksack (which thankfully I had not unpacked) and ran out of the room and into the hall and down the stairs as fast as my feet could fly. I threw the key toward the front desk/pub counter and yelled, "This hotel is haunted!" as I bolted out of there and continued to run as far from that curious hotel as I could until I was completely out of breath. I walked rather briskly for a while all the while looking nervously over my shoulder until I found the hotel I had stayed in the previous evening. I was a little traumatized to say the least and it would be at least a couple of days later before my nerves had calmed and a sense of normalcy had returned. To this day, I have yet to figure out what it was I had seen and experienced and, unfortunately, I do not recall the name of the haunted hotel.
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