Madeline

My wife and I were on a road trip in May of this year and made a stop in Natchez, Mississippi. We stayed at a former plantation house called, oddly enough, Monmouth Plantation. After checking in we were shown to our room by a very energetic and engaging bellman. When we asked him about a good place to eat dinner that evening, he first suggested the dining room in the main house. We had reservations there for the following night. (If you ever go here, don't miss it) He then suggested The King's Tavern which is in town, a mile or so away.

We arrived around 6 o'clock to an almost deserted restaurant. The dining room is rather dark and somber, stone walls if I recall correctly.

We were seated and given a menu and a printout with the history of the building and a photocopied newspaper article (it looked like National Inquirer or something along those lines). The printout stated that the building is haunted by a ghost named Madeline. I've forgotten the details for the supposed haunting but you were invited to visit her bedroom on the third floor.

The writer of the newspaper article stated that while she was dining at the inn a heavy iron chain hung on the wall by her table began to swing to and fro while she was eating. There was also a photo of her at the table. When I looked on the wall the chain was right there beside our table.

As dinner progressed I was fooling with my wife, trying to scare her a bit, asking Madeline to make an appearance or at least make the chain move. Nothing happened.

When we were having dessert and coffee, I asked my wife if she wanted to go up to the third floor with me. She declined. I went up and looked around. It was said that sometimes the bed felt warm as if someone had just gotten out of it. I touched it, nothing. I asked Madeline to make an appearance, nothing.

I went back downstairs and told my wife she hadn't missed anything. I then took a sip of my coffee and it tasted and smelled like perfume. I had drunk some of it before going upstairs and it was fine. I asked my wife if she was messing with me and she assured me she was not. She never wears perfume as I have allergic reactions sometimes. She also assured me that our waitress had not been to the table.

I told the hostess this story as we were leaving and she just smiled and said "Madeline likes you."

We returned to our room and went to bed a few hours later. Sometime during the night I awoke and the first thing I realized was that I couldn't move. I looked to my right and there was a white apparition standing or floating right beside me. I could see through it and see the painting on the wall behind it. I couldn't make out the facial features very clearly but it was definitely a female form.

I didn't feel frightened or threatened and after a time, one minute or ten I'm not sure, the image just faded away. I feel back to sleep and slept peacefully the rest of the night.

When I told my wife what had happened in the morning, she said "Well, you did ask her to make an appearance."