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Encounters Archive:

2004 Encounters:
Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus in the Window - North Baker, Pennsylvania

The Little Girl in the Red Dress - San Jose, California

The Scream Orb - Indianapolis, Indiana

Tyler's Torment - Sterling Heights, Michigan

Ribhu's Last Visit - Siliguri, West Bengal, India

Grandmother's Shadow? - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Woman of Whiskey Row - Prescott, Arizona

Dad's Helping Hand - Grand Rapids, Michigan

Great Grandfather's House - Spartanburg, South Carolina

Family's Mysterious Mist - Glenville, West Virginia

Grandma's Goodbye Hug - Bellingham, Massachusetts

Jimmy and Jacob's War Games - Toledo, Ohio

Sachs Bridge Ghost Mist - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

The Man in the Overcoat - Chicago, Illinois

Witch Bertha's Flying Orb Video - Coleraine, Minnesota

Auditorium Shadow Video - Hibbing, Minnesta

The Apartment in the Former Morgue - Marlborough, Massachusetts

My Father's Visit - Spring, Texas

Knocks, Bumps, a Cemetery, and a Book - Banks, Oregon

The Chase Through Enchanted Forest - Pasadena, California

Ghostly Wisps of Blonde Hair - Ellicott City, Maryland

The Mist of Gunntown Cemetery - Naugatuck, Connecticut

The Cold Wind and Haunted House - Porterville, California

The Cloaked Figure in Nesbitt Elementary - Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Tormented in My Bedroom - Grand Prairie, Texas

The Little Girl of Grants Pass - Grants Pass, Oregon

Stephanie in the Window - Painesville, Ohio

Phantom Funeral Pyre - Nagaland, India

The Visiting Nun - Des Plaines, Illinois

The Nazi Belt - Georgia

Forest Park Cemetery Chase - Troy, New York

Sarah's Nightly Visits - Lawrence, Kansas

My Sixth Sense - Chicago, Illinois

The Old Prisoner - Indianapolis, Indiana

Fast Food Victorian Ghost - Guthrie, Oklahoma

Camarillo State Mental Hospital "Pipes" - Camarillo, California

The Insistent Spirit - Litchfeild, New Hampshire

Disembodied Voices Speak - Flubdun Township, Pennsylvania

Thomas Edison Museum Orb - Ft. Myers, Florida

The Old Hag Who Lifted Me - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The Ghosts of Fort Pulaski - Savannah, Georgia

The Blithe Spirit - Portland, Maine

Paco from Chichen Itza - Atlanta, Georgia

Footsteps in the Forest - Hooks, Texas

The Phantom Maid of Melville - Melville Hotel, Saskatchewan, Canada

Grandfather's House Full of Family Spirits - Cheektowaga, New York

The Spirit of Anne - Norfolk, Virginia

The Shadow Man's Hand - Verden, Germany

Murderous Mirror Message - Jefferson, Texas

River Styx Cemetery Face - Wadsworth, Ohio

The Phantom Sentry - Israel

The Flash at Devil's Den - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

The Little Man of Bihar - Bihar, India

Chesterland Cemetery Mist - Chesterland, Ohio

The Thing in the Woods at Camp Morgan - White Mountains, New Hampshire

Mom's Cat and Pennies from Heaven - Lindenhurst, Illinois

The Haunted Apartment - Brooklyn, New York

A Friend's Goodbye - Chicago, Illinois

Temporary Possession - Believe It, Or Not - St. Augustine, Florida

The Douglas Arms' Ghostly Argument - Banchory, North East Scotland

Mystic Pizza Place - Saratoga, California

A Sleeper's Disembodied Hands - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Ebne Baviie Cemetery Orb - Tehran, Iran

Sean's Visit with My Daughter - Norman, Oklahoma

A Crying Mary Statue - Lyons, Illinois

Mischievous Boy Ghost in the Pub - Brighton, England

Dad's Answering Machine Message from Beyond - Knoxville, Iowa electronic voice phenomenon (evp)

Haunted High School - Slinger, Wisconsin

The Angry Man in Brown Flannel - Everett, Washington

The Boy on the Rock - Forests near Trichur, Kerala, India

Cemetery Orb - Las Vegas, Nevada

Amli Apartments Ghosts - Kennesaw, Georgia

Gawler's Tree Ghost - Gawler, South Australia

Granny's Bouncing Green Lights - Jemison, Alabama

The Ghost of Ceely Rose - Lucas, and Lima, Ohio

Ghostly Stalker - Nashville, Tennessee

Jerry's Visit to Say Goodbye - New Mexico

Grandmother's Premonition - Spring Green, Wisconsin

Grandpa's Message - Los Angeles, California

Seeing the Light - Perham, Minnesota

Amanda, The "Imaginary" Friend - San Jose, California

Swan Lake Cemetery Energy - Swan Lake Cemetery, Hibbing, Minnesota

Grampa's Painting - Greely, Ontario, Canada

Haunted Homes I Have Lived In - Washington D.C and Las Vegas, Nevada

The Rapping and Disembodied Voice - Troy, New York

Tall Man at My Door - Tampa, Florida

Grandmother in the Shed - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The Orb in the Wardrobe - Hartlepool, England

The Third Eye Opens - Orion, Bataan, Philippines

Aunt Flo's Saving Grace - Lackawanna, New York

Mom's Visit With Talk of Love - Alva, Oklahoma

Stuck Out of Body - Sunnyvale, California

A Confederate Solider Followed Me Home - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

The Walking Boy - Edina, Minnesota

Haunted Statue - Punchbowl, NSW, Australia

Missing Hot Sauce and Candied Hearts - Brooklyn, New York

Ghostly Girl from the Well - Milford, Massachusetts

Precognition of Dad's Death - Southington, Connecticut

Red Dot in a Fog - Granbury, Texas

More Pennies From Heaven - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Mother's Kept Promise - Reynella, South Australia

Sensing a Previous Tenant - Los Angeles, California

Shaking Red Couch - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Discovered Room Unleashes Spirit - Toledo, Ohio

Graveyard Ectoplasm - Indianapolis, Indiana

Ghost Woman on Video - Chatham, New Jersey

Pennies from Heaven - Cincinnati, Ohio

Blurry Nap-Time Visitor - Boise, Idaho

Vanishing Girl - Davao City, Philippines

Black-Hooded Ghost - Hamilton, Ohio

Ka Huaka'i Po (The Night Marchers) - La'ie, O'ahu, Hawai'i

The Lady in the Blue Dress at Captain Tony's Bar - Key West, Florida

Haunted House in Princeton - Princeton, West Virginia



August 26, 2004

The Phantom Maid of Melville

Rate this encounter:
Votes:44 Rating: Rating = 7.25 Ratings Breakdown
V. Smith, Melville Hotel, Saskatchewan, Canada, Fall 1985, info@ghostvillage.com

As a touring bar musician in the 80's and 90's, I had many an occasion to stay in different hotel rooms. Thankfully, strange events were extremely rare -- but the only one I ever had guaranteed I would never forget it.

On a Sunday afternoon, our band's school bus pulled into Melville, a small town in Saskatchewan, located the Melville Hotel (I believe that was the name), and preceded to load in our equipment. After we had set everything up, I located my room on the third floor at the end of the long hallway and found it odd that it had two entrances -- one to the bedroom which was located at the end of a small hallway, and the other located at the main hallway, which opened into a small sitting room, which then lead into the bathroom and then the bedroom. While washing up, I heard some strange noises emanating from the bedroom, but I attributed them to the old steam heaters. I locked up both doors and went for dinner with the rest of the band at a local restaurant.

During dinner I tried unsuccessfully to convince the other band members to come to the movie theater down the street. Most towns we played were too small for a theater and it was a treat to see a movie. In this case, St. Elmo's Fire was playing, and while definitely not my first choice, it was better than watching the CBC in black and white on the TV in my room.

Returning to the hotel, I walked up the three flights and turned the corner toward the long hallway where my room was located (at the end). As the hotel was quite old, the hallways were extremely wide -- not like hotel hallways these days. I distinctly saw a woman -- most likely a housekeeper -- walk into the hallway toward the entrance to my bedroom. When I turned down that hallway, I noticed my bedroom door was open -- although I had locked it before I left -- so she must have went into my room. There was no one in my bedroom but there was also another room located just before mine down that small hallway (to the bedroom entrance) so I assumed she was in there -- as that door was ajar too. I knocked on there, and hearing no one, I peered inside to look for her as I needed more towels. The room was very small and no one was in there. There was no bathroom in this particular room. Thinking the woman must be in my sitting room, I unlocked the door to discover she wasn't there either. As mentioned, this was an old hotel and when someone walked along the floor near you, you could hear it. Still thinking I had somehow missed her, I washed my hands and prepared to go to the movie. Then I heard the strange noises again coming from the bedroom. I walked into the bedroom and as I listened to the steam heaters, the noises which were a low mumbling sound changed direction and emanated from the sitting room. That's when it hit me that it was really strange that I didn't see the woman anywhere... So being a natural hero, I got the hell out of there as fast as I could and went to the movie -- which bored the crap out of me.

When I returned, the band was also returning from a long night of sitting at dinner. My brother complained that his door was left open even though he had locked it before, and sure enough, my bedroom was unlocked even though I had locked it when I left to go to the movie -- albeit in a big hurry.

We were going to rehearse a little bit in my sitting room and so I began setting up a some of our equipment for a bare bones practice session. As I prepared the equipment, the lead singer and his wife came in to the room to help me. After a couple of minutes, lost in the preparation, I realized that they were no longer in the room, but standing outside in the hallway. I asked them what they were doing. The lead singer (all 6'4" 220 pounds of him) answered "I can't stay in your room. It's got a bad vibe in there. I don't like it. There's something really wrong in your room." Both he and his wife absolutely refused to come back in to my room. Practice was cancelled (as I had the only extra little room) and everyone decided to go to bed. Except me, of course. I was entirely too freaked out. 

The next day, when I returned to my room after lunch, my bed was made and towels were left on my bed. I didn't think anything of that -- although usually the maids didn't touch the band rooms until the end of the week -- because we're notorious slobs. I thanked the lady at the front desk (the co-owner of the hotel) for sending someone to clean my room but mentioned that it wasn't necessary. She just looked at me and asked me what I was talking about. She literally had no idea. I told her about my clean room and the towels (although I had asked no one for them). She said that her daughter cleans the rooms on Sunday mornings and doesn't return until the following Sunday. I told her about seeing the woman go into my hallway and she had no explanation for that or my clean room. She laughed and said the guys in the band were playing a trick on me. I tried to explain that first off, the guys in the band knew I was terrified to be in the room in the first place, and the last prank they'd pull was cleaning my room and bringing towels to scare me (they would have been much more cruel than that to my delicate psyche) and secondly, they wouldn't be awake for another few hours.

She just shrugged and didn't offering anything else. My room was made three times that week (not every day) and no one else's was.

After I realized that whatever it was, wasn't out to harm me -- but rather make me pretty darn comfortable -- I had some of the best rest ever in that place. And yes, the lead singer and his wife never did come into my room again.




2014 Haunted New England Wall Calendar by Jeff Belanger photography by Frank Grace
Check out the 2014 Haunted New England wall calendar by Jeff Belanger and photography by Frank Grace!


Paranormal Conferences and Lectures
Don't miss the following events and lectures:

Jeff Belanger and “The Bridgewater Triangle” at Dedham Community Theatre - April 6, 2014 9:00PM

The Spirits of the Mark Twain House - Hartford, Connecticut - April 12, 2014

Paracon Australia - East Maitland, New South Wales, Australia - May 10-12, 2014