ghost stories

on vacation last week, we stopped at the mt washington hotel to show bill the beautiful location (and i love the historic value, too!). during our little self-guided tour, we stopped at the bar downstairs (not the cave, the other one) for a drink (mmm ... mt. washington apples!). we were the only guests at the bar and we got to talking with the bartender. bill noted the similarities between the mt washington hotel and the hotel in the shining. no, it is not the same hotel ... but it was designed by the same person. from there we got on the subject of ghost stories. the bartender shared two stories with us ...

there's a group of old guys that come up every year for a reunion and our bartender got to know them. when the princess was running the hotel, she 'adopted' orphans as caddies at the resort ... the guys were some of the kids she had 'adopted'. they reminisced about the past and how the princess looked out for them - she even came down to their living quarters every night and tucked them in. after she passed, no one looked out for the kids as well, but some mornings they would wake up all tucked in to their beds. they tried staying up to see who did it and never saw anyone, but, in the morning, they'd wake to find themselves tucked in.

the other story is more recent. last year (2006), the hotel changed hands. before the sale, the previous owner scheduled an employee photo in front of the hotel. everyone came out for it. if you look in the background, you see a shadow peeking out from behind a curtain. no guest was registered to the room. every employee that might have been in there was present for the photo. and the room used to be the princess's.