Haunted Hotel Part II

The 2nd afternoon of our stay at Hotel Del my husband had to go downstairs for some business activities so I stayed in the suite and unpacked properly.  I noticed the lights flickering as I did this but didn’t really think anything of it.  I read some of a book on the veranda and the jet lag began to catch up with me.  I decided a short nap was next on my list so I went inside to the bedroom, pulled down the covers, closed the shutters and began turning off the lamps.  After turning off the bedside lamp I realized the desk lamp on the opposite side of the room was still on so I walked over to it to figure out which way it worked (it seemed as if every lamp had a different on/off switch.)  The desk lamp had the switch button that sits like a rocker, you push one side for off and one for on but you have to use some finger muscle to complete the task.  I turned it off and took about two steps back to the bed when I heard a distinct ‘click’ sound so I turned back to look at the lamp and it had turned back on by itself!  Impossible!  I could think of no rational idea to explain how that can happen.  “Hmmm” I thought to myself.  I then turned to look at the lamp by the bedside and it was now on!!!  Suddenly, I felt a distinct drop in temperature and shivered from the cold.  I laughed and said out loud, “I guess we have a ghost!”  As soon as I finished my sentence the lights began to flicker again.

The bedroom where the ghost played around

When my husband came back I told him about it and he said that some of the top executives staying on another floor had reported seeing the ghostly image of Kate Morgan already.  Vindicated, we went on about our business.  Later that evening we went down to the ‘Crown Room’ for drinks & dinner sponsored by the financial group.  This dining room was unique in that the ceiling was built to be shaped like the hull of a ship.  It was made of dark woods hand placed together without the use of any nails or screws.  Every so often you could see someone look up and hear the “Wow”s, “Oooh”s” and “Aaahh”s.  The multiple chandeliers were all in the shape of a King’s Crown.  It was impossible to sit for long without glancing back up to the awe inspiring ceiling.  While visiting with my dinner neighbors I inquired if they had experienced any ghostly activities and then shared my story with them.  Directly after I finished my story I heard a clang, crash and clattering.  I turned to see a table full of coffee cups crash onto the floor.  There was nobody around at the time and the look on the nearest waitstaff’s face was that of nonchalance as if they were thinking, “Oh, there it goes again.”  Ghost?  Nearly the same thing happened at the final formal dinner to a table of glasses behind where I was sitting, but it looked as if the whole table slanted on its own to make the glasses slide off.

After sunset view from the veranda

The lamps in the room continued to turn off occasionally without any help of mine.  At one point when Robert had to go to another meeting I decided to retreat to the veranda to get back into the book I was reading.  It had rained fairly hard earlier and the rocking chair cushions were damp so I thought I’d flip them over to see if the other side was dry.  I had done this previously and it worked but this particular rain was a bit more so the rocking chair cushion was too damp to sit on.  I moved to the next chair and as I started to check the underside of the cushion I was surprised to see a child’s orange plastic beach shovel underneath it.  I laughed it off and went to the next cushion to look under it for kicks and there was a butter knife like the ones from the dining room.  Was this a child’s ghost playing games or did I somehow miss these objects the first time I flipped the cushions?  Well, both sides of the cushions were wet so I went back inside to my previous position on the chair & ottoman in the bedroom.  As I went to put my feet up on the ottoman there was a small brown leaf on it and I know for a fact it was not there when I left a few minutes earlier.  Could that have been a ghostly gift?

The next occurrence made me wonder if the ghost was following me.  Robert and I had taken a leisurely stroll down the block to check out the shops and have lunch at an Irish style Tavern.  After lunch we walked down by the bay to look at the sailboats and yachts docked there.  There was a public bathroom there so I decided to use it instead of waiting until we got back to the room.  (I had a draft Guinness at the Tavern).  As I walked in the door to the single stall restroom the sink nozzle immediately turned on by itself and sprayed ferociously enough to shock me into a jump & surprised squeal.  It turned off just as quickly as it turned on then the lights began flickering as if to say “Gotcha!”  I laughed about it and we continued on with our walk.  Shortly thereafter when we returned to our room I went straight to the toilet again.  (Ok, so I had 2 beers.)  When I flushed the toilet the pipes made a loud banging noise like someone had grabbed it and was shaking it.  I looked around behind the toilet expecting to see a broken pipe but what I saw was a fairly new tube attaching the piping – it was new enough that it still had a tag around it that was legible.  I shrugged and went to the sink to wash my hands.  When I turned on the water it shot out and sprayed, stopped and shot out again (as if there was air in the pipes) making me jump and squeal in surprise.  Coincidence?

Yes, a skeptic could rationalize out each separate event.  Except for the lamp clicking on by itself.  Lamps like that cannot click themselves.  Therefore, it is my conclusion that the Hotel Del is haunted and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! 🙂

Stay tuned for Part III because there is more to our travel experience besides haunted happenings.