The Haunted Yha

2000 was the last time I went on holidays. I took a trip to NZ for a few weeks, backpacking around the South Island (do it, it's worth the trip). I just finished doing a ten days walking trip around the forests of NZ and said goodbye to the people who I did the trip with (and was glad to see the last of them). Anyway, I ended up in a small village in NZ, name with held...seriously, I don't fancy getting sued at the moment.

I found a reasonably okay YHA (name withheld AGAIN). What I can say about the place that looked to be an old stables dating back to the early 1800's with the garbles, a porch, and the red brick works, very gothic appearance. As I started to go up the steps, I saw this guy standing at the bottom wearing round glasses, black pants that were held up by braces (odd, I remember thinking but cool), red lanky hair, and a collarless shirt (which I thought that's really funky). I said g'day to the guy but he just stared at me. I muttered something under my breath and went inside.

I rang the little bell but no one came so I left my back pack behind the counter and went looking for the owners. I went up a flight of stairs to the first floor, looked around and went up to the second floor where I saw this woman dressed in a grey skirt. She went into one of the rooms so I smiled and strolled to the room where I thought I saw her go in and knocked on it. No answer. Maybe it was the wrong room. Second room I did the same. No answer.

You know, I tried every damned room there was on the blasted floor and no one answered. I was very puzzled but finally I met the owners and signed in. I said nothing about the woman in grey.

It was 3rd night when I finally discovered the TV room, in a small cold cellar, which you had to climb down to get to. There wasn't much furniture, a settee; half torn, and a leather chair which had this girl sitting in it wearing a plaid shirt, long black hair and jeans. Looked like the fashion from the 70s. She was sitting very straight and looking at the TV which wasn't on.

I sat down and turned it on then nodded at her. About 3.5 seconds I got bored and turned to say something to the young woman and... She was gone. I would have heard her go. The chair still had the imprint of someone sitting in but she, herself, was gone! That freaked me out.

I finally worked up the guts the next day when I was leaving and told the owner about what I saw. She called me into the office, sat me down and asked me what I saw. I began with the bloke, who I must say didn't see at all during my time there, the woman in grey ("ah, our ghostly maid." Uh huh?) And the young woman who I saw but didn't see. I was told that the young woman died of a heroin overdose back in 1979 and her spirit still sits in the chair she died in.