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An interesting thing happened to me when we stayed at the Millennium Suites in Istanbul. We stayed in room 401 on the fourth floor. On our second and third nights (especially the third one), I heard noises coming from above us. Specifically, footsteps. Loud ones.
That made me paranoid about how loud we might sound to our neighbor’s below. The hotel was actually super quiet. That’s why the footsteps stood out. Except for other guests we saw in the lobby (mainly during breakfast or around dinner time), it felt like we had the place to ourselves. I didn’t even know there were people in the other room on our floor until we got to talking with them one evening before we headed out to eat.
So that’s why the noises from above drew my attention. Except, I knew the hotel only had 7 rooms. 1 singles room on the lobby level, and two a piece on floors two through four. So what was on the fifth floor?
I decided to investigate. The night I made the video that follows below was the night I discovered nothing was on the fifth floor except the attic.
While it was accessible, it wasn’t readily accessible. Nor did it look as if it’d been accessed any time recently. (I wished I done a better job of video documenting that part.)
Anyway, I only heard it the two nights. It seemed once I became aware of it, it didn’t happen anymore. (Because I had all my cameras ready to film and try to capture the sounds if they re-occurred.)
So was it a ghost or just some very noisy critters? It sounded like human feet. It was a heavier sort of tread. However, Istanbul is loaded with cats. It’s conceivable, I suppose, some knew a way to get up into the attic.
But I have cats. My one is super noisy and can sound like a herd of elephants all by herself, but she still sounds more animal than human when she bounds about. The footsteps sounded people-made (like by shoes as opposed to paws), not animal.
I did ask the managers and staff, but they said no one should’ve been up there, and of course they don’t really buy into the ghost stuff so…I may never get an answer, but we very well may have been staying in a haunt jaunt sort of place and didn’t know it.
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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Call me prosaic, but MAYBE one of the hotel staff snuck a stowaway up there for a freebie??
Nah, that’s a WAAAAY too boring exlanation – and inconsistent with your findings!!
LOL, Red! Maybe that’s it…you just never know!
Gotta love a haunted hotel 🙂
Kind of spooky. Seems to me that if people had gone up to the attic you might have heard them outside your door, climbing the stairs and opening the attic door. Intriguing….
They like to deny it….because they are scared!!
But I know some cultures really do not like ghosts.In Thailand, Taiwan, and some Vietnam areas people think its unlucky to be associated with such things, so they rather not mention it if weird things are happening in their own hotel/business.
Annie, that is fascinating! I got the impression that’s how people in Turkey sort of felt. That, and they just didn’t really buy all the ghost stuff. Super interesting! Thanks for sharing that.
It’s very possible, Cathy. I rarely heard anything. The hotel was SUPER quiet. But I’m thinking to get to the attic there would’ve been more ruckus because of having to move that board leading to it. I like your word “intriguing.” Yep, most definitely! Thanks for the comment!
I guess I’m lucky I’m a sound sleeper.
Did you ask the other people staying on your floor, if they’d heard anything?
Um, no. DOH! {forehead slap} It seems like an obvious thing to do now that you mention it, but it never even occurred to me. Can I blame jet lag?!
That’s what my husband says about himself! You guys ARE lucky. Especially if you have an active imagination. Noises + too many horror movies = crazy images and thoughts running through a person’s mind!