Room 314

[00:00:00] Foreign. [00:00:06] I'm Ben and welcome to the show where you and I gather around this campfire to hear some of our fellow campers scariest experiences. Whether you're a new or returning one, I'm glad you're here. [00:00:17] Tonight we will hear a story submitted by a camper named Heather who in my opinion was lucky enough to be visited by one of the ghosts at the Mount Washington Hotel. [00:00:27] Now without further ado, do you want to hear a ghost story? [00:00:33] Hi Ben. I know you've told a few hotel stories before and at least one honeymoon. [00:00:40] But I hope you'll make room for just one more. [00:00:43] Because what happened to me and my husband almost 10 years ago on the second night of our honeymoon at the Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire is. Well, let's just say it stayed with us and next week we're going back. [00:00:57] So I thought it was prime time to tell somebody what happened. [00:01:00] It was 2015. I'd always wanted to stay at the Mount Washington Hotel. It's this massive, gorgeous red roofed hotel nestled in the White Mountains. It's the kind of place that looks more like a snow globe than a real building. [00:01:14] And if you're not familiar, I know you have a picture of the Stanley in your brain, just think of that. In my opinion, it looks more like the Stanley Hotel than the Stanley Hotel. [00:01:26] I had had this childhood memory of going there for cocoa with my grandmother after a Christmas train ride. And the image of that lobby, those columns, the chandeliers, the faint smell of old wood and fire smoke never left me. [00:01:42] So when my now husband asked me where I wanted to go for our honeymoon, I didn't hesitate. [00:01:48] We spent our first night in one of the modern rooms. Clean, nice. [00:01:54] But the second night, the second night we got upgraded. [00:01:58] We'd been talking to one of the women at the front desk earlier in the day and just telling her how we'd just gotten married. [00:02:05] She smiled and she said she had something special for us. [00:02:10] Room 314. [00:02:12] I didn't know the significance of that at the time. I do now. [00:02:16] If you don't know, it's one of the most famous rooms in the entire hotel. [00:02:21] People say it's haunted by the wife of the original hotel owner. The story goes that after her husband passed, she kept coming back to the hotel for decades long after it changed hands. [00:02:32] She had her own private dining table, her own seat at high tea. [00:02:37] She died in 1936, but people still claim she never really left. They say she appears in room 314, brushing her hair at the end of the bed. And she doesn't like it when the guests disturb her routine. [00:02:52] Of course, we didn't know any of this until after, so we upgraded and thought it was romantic. Old World charm, you know. The room was beautiful in the kind of faded antique way. There was a clawfoot tub, floral wallpaper, a heavy wooden wardrobe that looked like it hadn't moved in well over a hundred years. [00:03:14] And there was even this little vanity in the corner with a mirror framed in brass. [00:03:19] The first hour in the room was perfect. We took a bath together. We opened a bottle of champagne we'd brought with us. We even joked about how the place felt just haunted enough. It wasn't until around maybe 1:30 in the morning that that statement started to feel real. [00:03:36] I woke up to feeling someone sitting on the bed. [00:03:39] Not like tossing and turning. [00:03:41] My husband was fast asleep beside me, but like a weight, a pressure, sitting at the foot of the bed. I opened my eyes and at first I thought I was dreaming. But I sat up and the pressure was still there. [00:03:56] The blankets were dented, as if someone was perched right on the edge. [00:04:02] I didn't say anything at first. I didn't want to freak myself out. [00:04:07] A click came from across the room. It was the vanity. The mirror was facing the window, and in the moonlight I could see through the lid on the powder jar. [00:04:18] The one that was just sitting there for decoration was open. [00:04:23] I thought this jar was sealed shut. I even remember trying to open it while we were getting ready for bed, curious if there was old makeup inside and it hadn't budged. [00:04:33] Now it was wide open. [00:04:36] That's when my husband stirred and mumbled something. [00:04:39] I whispered that everything was fine. He was mostly still asleep. [00:04:44] Then we both heard it. A soft brushing sound, like the sound of bristles against fabric. [00:04:51] I turned back to the vanity and there was a hairbrush floating in the air, just hovering slowly, dragging through. Nothing when it dropped hard, clattered against the vanity top and rolled onto the floor. [00:05:06] I screamed. My husband shot up and turned on the lamp beside the bed. [00:05:12] Of course, everything was normal now. [00:05:14] The powder jar closed again. The brush was on the floor, the dent in the blanket gone. But we were both wide awake. [00:05:23] We both knew we'd heard it. [00:05:25] We didn't really sleep for the rest of the night, Just laid there, lights on. [00:05:31] Around 4am we started hearing footsteps in the hallway. Not like walking past the room. No, these were deliberate. [00:05:39] Pacing back and forth in front of the door. [00:05:43] I went to the door and looked through the peephole. There was no one there. But the footsteps kept going. [00:05:48] When the sun came up, we packed our things, just left the key on the counter, and told the staff we'd had a family emergency. [00:05:56] We didn't talk about it for long, but a few months later, we found a book on New England hauntings and saw a whole chapter on the Mount Washington Hotel, room 314, and Carolyn Stickney. [00:06:10] Apparently, the vanity in room 314 was hers, and many other people had reported the exact same thing we saw. [00:06:19] According to the legend, she died in the room. [00:06:23] And so many people say she's still there, brushing her hair, watching over the hotel. [00:06:29] Over the last 10 years of our marriage, we've decided to research hotels before we book them. And we have purposely avoided other haunted locations. [00:06:38] But now, on the 10th anniversary of our wedding, we're going back, back to the Mount Washington Hotel, though not to room 314. [00:06:48] Carolyn made very sure of that. [00:06:51] I want to believe it was a fluke, that it was the champagne, the nerves, the weird energy that clings to old places. [00:06:58] But part of me wonders if she saw us, if she greeted us, and, well, part of me wonders if, when we go back, if she'll remember us. [00:07:10] Wish us luck. [00:07:12] Thank you, Heather, for allowing me to share your story. I must say, I'm jealous that you've been to the Mount Washington Hotel more than once and experienced a ghost. [00:07:22] I think it's one of the few items on my bucket list. [00:07:25] So have fun going back for your anniversary, and please feel free to send me any new encounters you gather. I would like to welcome our newest camper, who didn't give me a name, only registered with the helpful demon. [00:07:40] So whoever you are, welcome. And if you'd like your own shoutout at the end of an episode or access to our monthly bonus episodes, which I know I'm behind on, they're coming. They're on the way, I promise. Head over to patreon.com do you want to hear Ghost Story? And as always, I'm just glad to have you all as campers on this journey. [00:08:00] Please keep sharing the show with anyone you think might like these stories or someone you're just trying to scare. If you're enjoying it, go ahead and leave a review. I would love to hear from you. Until next time.