There seem to be a lot of things getting in the way of writing my folklore book, but thankfully not in the research. My mom and I recently spent a weekend in Marietta, Ohio at the historic Lafayette Hotel. We took a ghost tour of the downtown area. It was a fabulous tour and the group (which was large) was allowed to take pictures and go inside a few of the buildings. One structure we were allowed inside was a movie theater that is currently under renovation. There was not a light in the place. Thankfully, the tour guide had a few extra flashlights to pass out but the huge silent theater with its crumbling dignity and old-fashioned empty seats definitely had atmosphere going for it. In its time it had obviously been a beautiful building. As it were, our hotel was on the list of haunted places and the management graciously let us ramble around in the basement which was a series of small rooms and hallways. Several people took pictures and captured “orbs” with their cameras. We were warned by our guide that no matter what, don’t let them put you on the third floor of the Hoag addition. She added that several of the cleaning people won’t go on that floor because of the paranormal activity. Hummmm, you got it, now I know why our room was so cheap…third floor, room 332. Of course, by the time we’d taken the tour and walked briskly for an hour and a half we came in and crashed. It had been a long day for us and it was nearly midnight when we got back to the room. By that time, I fell into bed and went to sleep so soundly a ghost could have been jumping up and down on my bed and I wouldn’t have known it. I have to say we will definitely be going back to the Lafayette many more times. The rooms were filled with real antiques, we had a view of the river and the staff was incredible. The whole experience was fantastic. Actually, the ghost of the Hoag addition is supposed to be playful and both Mom and I did experience a couple of odd moments – for instance I was in the shower and just for one second I was hit with cold water – freezing water, in fact. It was just enough to make me give a yelp and start to adjust the knobs, then all was fine. Mom was getting ready to dry her hair and the hair dryer started moving, like someone gently tugging it off the shelf. She couldn’t see any reason it would slide and caught it before it hit the floor. So, do those two occurrences constitute a playful ghost? I don’t know, seems a bit anticlimatic if it was the ghost being mischevious. I’d like something a bit more flamboyant.
Just found a couple of sites featuring the hotel and other guest experiences.
http://www.hauntedmarietta.com/stories/lafayette.php
http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=2811
