First off, I was trying to be cheeky with the title. I don’t want to “sleep with ghosts” in the sense of having intimate relations with them. I do, however, enjoy checking into allegedly haunted hotels and spending the night.
The other day, I got to talking with some people about my hobby, passion, craziness…whatever you want to call it. Their resounding sentiment was, “I wouldn’t feel comfortable staying the night where there might be a ghost. It’s really creepy if you think about it, Courtney. And I sure as hell wouldn’t want to sleep in a room where anyone had died.”
I don’t know if I’ve ever slept in a room where someone died. I have stayed on premises where people have passed. I’m willing to bet most people who travel, whether they seek out haunted hotels or not, have stayed in one with a resident ghost. (Or ghost story. It’s hard for me to use the word “ghost” knowing there’s still not definitive, concrete proof of their existence.)
Wayne freaks out about staying in supposedly haunted places. Like when we went to New Orleans last year and I booked us into the Hotel Monteleone. I asked to be placed either in a room known for activity or on a floor with the highest amount of it. He was ready to kill me.
Other than hoping the ghost was giving us privacy when it counted most, nothing happened.
So, no, sleeping with ghosts doesn’t bother me. Sometimes it can be startling, like the experience I had at the Shilo Inn, but I have yet to encounter anything to be afraid of. Maybe if I ever feel my life is threatened in some way, I’ll change my tune and give sleeping with ghosts a second thought. Because it would take something as dramatic as that to spook me.
Until then, I’ll continue to seek out places where I can sleep with ghosts. At the end of the day, I don’t know what that makes me, but I know I have a lot of fun doing it.
What about you? Do you mind sleeping where ghosts might roam? I know Lon over at Phantoms & Monsters says he does. He’s sensitive and checks the haunted-ness of hotels pre-check-in. In his case it’s not a matter of being afraid, but a matter of wanting to get rest when he’ on the road, not be disturbed by spirits who want to take advantage that he can sense them.
So where do you stand on the matter? (Or lay, as the case may be.)
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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Haha! Can’t wait to see what kind of traffic you get with THAT title!!! If you think of ghosts as everyday people who have passed, what’s so scary? People seem to imbue ghosts with all sorts of weird and sinister characteristics they never had in real life! But what would I know? I’m a pragmatist!!
Problem with any hotel, even those they say have no hauntings, is all can. I mean hotels have transient guests and many die over the years there from heart attacks, etc… while on trips for business and pleasure. I mean, come on. Then you have the land before the hotel/motel is built, same goes for homes, etc..who knows what was on the land before or if anyone passed by the land and maybe died there. Like the Holiday Inn in Roanoke, Virginia I stayed in for Mysticon couple of weeks ago–the investigators as guests did a ghost hunt with those who came to their panel (I couldn’t do hunt as had a panel myself after theirs) and got EVP on 5th floor as it was reported to have activity.
If doing a ghost hunt I will stay with other hunters in a room to do so. But if there to rest, I say a prayer to keep spirits out and get my sleep. It has worked for me at home in my bedroom (after all this is my sanctuary) and at hotels–even very haunted ones. I don’t need a living person I don’t know staring down at me, much less a spectral one–it happened once and being bothered a lot at another by spirits (one was solid).
Pamela, you bring up EXCELLENT points. It’s true. You just never know what goes on in a place or on the land. And what if no one ever reported the death? It happens. People hide things. Sometimes they’re caught, sometimes not. I think how you go about staying in a potentially haunted place is wise. I had to laugh at your ending sentence. Boy am I with you on that!!!!
OMG! Red, I can’t even believe I actually published it with this title. It was on of those born on a whim kind of whip it out posts. But it is sort of true. And, funny, I’ve become more pragmatic via haunt jaunting, crazy as that may sound. I, too, GREATLY struggle with ghosts having “weird and sinister characteristics” (brilliantly put, btw! 😉 that they didn’t have while alive. Makes no sense to me. Certain laws of the universe should apply no matter if you’re in this world or beyond, right? Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!
LOL, we usually book a room with claims of haunting on purpose. We set up all our equipment and are ready for anything. I have to admit it is hard to get a good nights sleep waiting for something to happen. My hubby is like yours, he would prefer we don’t stay in a haunted room. When I travel with him, I just don’t tell him, tee hee.
HA! We are kindred spirits, Adsila! Except I don’t do all the equipment stuff. I need my sleep. I’m too lazy to investigate. But I like to go in search of places where ghosts might roam…and if they wake me up I just enjoy it. (Sort of. Depends. I can be pretty grumpy when I am roused from a peaceful slumber…)