The Haunting in Amish Country

The haunting in Amish Country is not the title of my new book.  It is something that really happened to us.  This haunted tale happened several years ago, but I still get goosebumps every time I think about it.  This week, Nana, the kids and I are headed up to Amish Country again.  Nothing like a good ghost story… too bad it is all true.  

Nana and I are gearing up for our annual pilgrimage to Amish Country with the kids. This year we are taking my bestie and her mom too.  While we were discussing the places we wanted to shop at and visit this year, I bust out laughing. Nana knew right away what I was thinking…

Ever since the kids were born, we have traveled to Amish Country to spend a couple of days. Just Nana, the kids and I. Daddy stays home and eats pizza, watches Sports Center and plays video games. The first year we played it safe and stayed in a very nice Comfort Inn. Since then, we have branched out into some rather interesting places.

That’s why I was laughing.

I have a healthy appreciation for ghosts. Not scary-ghosts a’la Scooby Doo, but spirits that for one reason or another haven’t crossed over. I believe in angels too, but I digress… Now, with that said… on with the story.

We decided to stay at this particular hotel that was built around 1845. I am not going to share the name of the place, because it really WAS a nice, beautiful hotel and we loved staying there. Well, except for the story I am about to tell you.

The hotel is beautiful… all decorated with period Victorian decorations—each room is unique. When booking our room, I chose one that boasted of two bedrooms. A few days before we left, the owner of the hotel called and asked if I would like to move into a larger room for the same price. I agreed.

After getting off the phone with him, I decided to do a Google image search and see if I could find pictures of the hotel and what the room was like. Big mistake.

The. Hotel. Is. Haunted.

Great.

There were several different encounters reported in the various rooms—of course, our room being one of the ones. Nothing bad… more mischievous things. Personal items being moved. Laughing in the hallways. Things being knocked over. Most of these occur after the lights mysteriously go out in the hotel.

Okay. We can do this.

I happen to tell Nana about this—spelling out the important words (remember this) like haunted and ghost. She said we would be fine.

I now know Nana is a liar.

We checked in—the lobby was gorgeous—there was an old-style mail cubby made out of wood. You literally expected to turn around and catch a couple of Victorian women conversing in the parlor. Really. The entire place was amazing.

We take the elevator (thank God!) to the third floor and check out our room. It was rather larger, with two massive beds, complete with Victorian-style headboards, Victorian decorations, and a nice sitting area and bathroom. We even had a fridge. Perfect with toddlers!

So, we are not in this room 10 minutes and one of the kids proceeds to knock over a rather large decorative ball off one of the bed posts. Knocked it right off. Barely missing their toes.

It should have been a warning.

The first night was perfect. You couldn’t hear anything—street noise, other guests. Nice and peaceful. We laid in bed and discussed how it would be beautiful for a honeymoon or romantic getaway. We had eaten in the hotel restaurant that night and the food and service was wonderful.

We hopped up Friday morning ready to explore Amish Country. We spent the day sightseeing and buying enough cheese to kill a full grown man. We decided to have a “bed picnic” for dinner and stopped to get lunch meat and bread to make sandwiches for dinner.

We get back to the room, eat and the kids watched some TV and we snuggled in for the night. Now, remember… this was September and it was Indian Summer, so we still had the air conditioning running in our room.

Middle of the night, I hear some rustling from mom’s bed. I figured it was Morgan and thought nothing of it. She settled down and I went back to sleep.

About 4 in the morning, I woke up so quickly it took me awhile to get my bearings. I couldn’t figure out what woke me up, until I realized the air conditioner at kicked off. No big deal. I rolled over to look at the clock. It wasn’t on.

The.

Power.

Was.

Out.

Holy crap Batman!

I wake Nana up and we are having a frantic discussion in the dark, by the light of my cell phone. We heard laughter and voices in the hallway—it sounded like someone (something?) was running up and down the halls.

I am in total freak out mode.

After about ten minutes, the power kicks back and the air conditioner roars to life. Mom and I attempt to settle down again to sleep until Morgan says…

“Mommy, did you see that little girl?”

“What little girl, baby?”

“The one sitting in the chair. I showed her my doll.”

“What little girl, baby? WHAT LITTLE GIRL, BABY?!”

“She’s gone now.”

“Okay, honey. Go back to sleep.”

Holy crap Batman.

Now, remember earlier when I said we were spelling out words like ghost and haunted. There is no way this child could have known what we were talking about.

Mom and I had another quick, whispered discussion before I got up to turn several lights on in the room. You know, because that was going to protect us.

Around 7, after lying in bed awake for three hours, I jumped up to pack our stuff and take a shower. We were out of the hotel by 8 and on the road for the day.

As we were checking out, the proprietor asked how our stay was and if we had any issues.

“None, except for the power going out.”

“The power didn’t go out last night.”

I don’t think I was still standing there when the key landed in her hand.

Later in the car, Nana told me that while I was in the shower, Morgan was beating on the headboard saying “Come out little girl and play. Come back.” I about wrecked the car.

This year, I did my research BEFORE booking the room. I think we are good.

I hope.