What I Did:
Island Hotel Cedar Key, Florida, USA Historic Inn
Room #29
This unique hotel has a lot of character to it as it is....bullet holes in the King Neptune mural in the Lounge for one thing. The rooms are very peaceful looking with high four poster beds. We were there on a most beautiful day and the first thing I noticed when we went upstairs was really how peaceful it felt. There was nothing "scary" about this hotel.
How I Did It:
I was walking ahead of my husband to the balcony and I heard my husband stop quickly in his tracks. He said, "Did you see the Siamese cat?" I turned around and he was pale and really taken back. I missed the "cat" but he seemed shaken and insistent that he was not playing a trick on me. It was also strange for me him to quite detailed as to the type of cat. He described that the cat wasn't "completely" there, that it was most definitely an apparition that initially appeared quite real. Since I love cats, that didn't scare me. Finding it odd though, we asked the owner later that night and he said he didn't know about any ghost cats. The next morning, however, one of the hotel staff that had been there previously with other owners revealed that it was interesting that we saw this ghost. She related that the former owner loved cats and insisted that they continue feeding all the feral cats (man of them) that were outside of the hotel and told them even after she died she wanted this to continue. My husband and I never saw any cats walking around the hotel and the doors were shut and upon hearing this revelation I was pretty convinced (as the hotel staff thought) it was the ghost of the former owner. Okay, well, the only night we stayed at the hotel first revealed this cat ghost. After being out many hours later, my husband wanted to go to sleep while I still wanted to hang out in the famous lounge. I told him to keep the lights on and I was taking the flashlight (having heard that the main ghost had sense of humor about flipping on and off lights).
The lights were still on though when I went upstairs.
I still felt strangely calm (and I'm rather intuitive and sensitive so if I hadn't been feeling peaceful I would not have even fallen asleep). After several hours of good sleep, I immediately was awakened by a LOUD BANG. It sounded like a book had been slammed to the floor. That was all I heard I waited a while longer and then woke my husband up and asked him to check to see if the Bible that was right next to the bed was still there. He said it was. He got up and turned the nightlights on and we both discovered that a Kleenex box that was on a coffee table across the room had been thrown down across the floor. Just to rule out any possibility of a breeze doing this we did all sets of tests placing the box under a fan and everything but knew it had to have been thrown...
Lessons Learned:
- There were a lot of ghosts supposedly in this place according to history so I'm glad only one benevolent trick was pulled on me. I have other ghost stories so I already believe in ghosts but I was glad this was not a terrible experience. It was more funny that my husband saw a ghost cat when he didn't REALLY believe in ghosts per se...
- Always keep a flashlight on hand and in hand...you never know when the lights could go out...
