My ghost encounters started when I was 3 or 4 years old. I was at my great-grandmothers house sometime around Christmas. I woke up one morning, looked out the hallway to see a huge gray-white mist hovering in the doorway. I started yelling for my mom and dad, they woke up and comforted me. I didn't really think much of it until about ten years after. I brought it up to my mom again, and she confessed to me that her and my aunt had seen the same thing in the same exact place when they were just a couple years older than I was when I first saw it. Hearing that story confirmed my belief in ghosts. My mom told me that the supernatural was drawn to me at an earlier age than that, because there were always certain smells in my bedroom when I was even younger. In one house, a lady's perfume was smelled near my crib. In another house, the smell of chocolate cake in my room.
Naturally, having experienced things like this, and having my experiences confirmed, I started exploring different locations that are known to be haunted. My girlfriend and I found a hotel in San Francisco that's not only haunted, but a man by the name of Jim Fassbinder actually hosts a "ghost walk" that starts in the hotel and tours around 6-8 blocks surrounding the hotel.
After having such a great time on the ghost walk, we actually decided to plan a trip back to the hotel to stay the night. The hotel used to be a girls school in the early 1900's. The woman who was in charge of the schools name was Mary Lake, and her old office was turned into one of the suites, and according to previous guests, had the most paranormal activity.
We booked a night in the Mary Lake suite. Things started out slow, mostly because I think we were waiting for something strange to happen. The ghost tour went through the hotel, and since we had rented the Mary Lake suite for the night, we were sure to let Jim and the tour group know they were welcome to come and check the room out. Especially since we weren't able to do so on our first two tours.
Nothing had out of the ordinary happened that night, with the exception of laughing and talking around 3-4am, which could have been other guests in the hotel. It was incredibly hard to sleep with the feeling that someone or something is around you. We felt as if something was around us the entire time, but it defiantly wasn't threatening or evil feeling. From what we heard, Mary Lake was a very nice, caring woman. That was the vibe throughout the hotel. Mary Lake has been known to unpack the clothes of certain guests, and even tuck them in for bed.
The next morning is when strange started happening. My girlfriend and I went out for breakfast. Throughout our stay, my girlfriend did not like using the elevator. It was pretty small and kind of rickety, so she opted for four flights of stairs to get to our room instead of the quick trip on the elevator. After eating, we came back to the hotel. Even though she preferred the stairs, I'd always ask about the elevator anyway. We walked in the doors of the hotel, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a woman about 5'-5'3" go into the elevator. Since I saw someone go in, I didn't even try and get my girlfriend to ride the elevator. My girlfriend didn't see whoever it was that went into the elevator, so this time, she suggested taking it up to our floor. I agreed and we went to the elevator. As soon as I pushed the button, the doors immediately opened and the elevator was on the ground floor. Stunned, I walked in and didn't say a word until we got back inside the room. If someone went into that elevator, it wouldn't have been on the ground floor like it was. There was absolutely nobody in the lobby besides us. Totally strange...
We thought that was pretty cool, but not as cool as what was about to happen next. We packed up our bags, and while my girlfriend was in the bathroom finishing getting ready and doing her hair, I took my camera out to our floor to see if I could capture any apparitions or orbs on film. After shooting some pictures, I returned to our room and walked to the bed to grab my camera bag. While putting my camera away, the hotel room door opens and slams. My back was to it, so I didn't see it happen, but my girlfriend was facing it and saw the whole thing. Completely tripped out, we both went to the door. We tried everything we possibly could to debunk this. No matter what, the knob had to be turned to open the door. And no matter how easily we set the door against the latch, the auto-close pressure hinge at the top would push the door closed every time, even if we put the latch right against the door frame and let it go. It would close every time. It was not physically possible for the door to open on it's own, because it would defiantly close on it's own.
After tripping out about that for about a half hour, we decided it was time to leave. We checked and double checked that we had all of our belongings. Satisfied, with our arms full of bags, we headed for the door. We had all of our suitcases and bags in our arms and hands, so we just let the door swing closed, and it was almost all the way open. No joke, the door swings closed and, and gets stuck on the latch. My girlfriend and I looked at each other in awe. We both agreed that Mary Lake didn't want us to forget something, so we went back in. Come to find out, my girlfriend had left her favorite blanket on the bed. We are both certain that was the reason Mary Lake held the door for us. We both thanked her out loud for the amazing time we had those two days, and especially thanked her for not letting us forget that blanket!
Anyone in the San Francisco bay area should stop by the Queen Anne hotel. The ghost tour departs nightly at 7:00pm, and meets in the lobby of the Queen Anne Hotel. Hope you all enjoyed my experience.
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