Adler Woman

Since I could remember, I have dealt with the supernatural or paranormal in my life. I have, however, have had a fascination with both. I remember my little sister telling me how she saw a "witch" behind a curtain and she screamed for my mother to come in her room to check. At the time she was four years old, and she described her as her face being impressed in the fine silk curtain when she screamed, she said the "witch" made a fearful expression and vanished. My mother has had paranormal dealings with UFO's, and Ghost Shadow people (which I will mention later as it plays with my story). Ranting, I will move on.

My story begins in a town fallen in darkness. I will not give the location however. The town is in Upstate New York. Location; in the middle of now where with a population of about 500 or so people who live by working with the earth. In the 19th century, the town was booming and prosperous with everyone from the likes of the Vanderbilts and Oscar Wilde flocking there for peace and relaxation. What brought so many people to this town was the mineral springs and spas which were sulfur and magnesium. (Oh boy it smells foul there...). That was the popular attraction. Grand and elegant hotels sprung up around them, bringing more tourism and economy to the spa town; it was all to good to be true. It all had to end someway or another.

Way before this town even came to be. Before settlers came from the east, Native Americans (Iroquois) deemed the area as a sacred place as they buried there loved ones there (3 Native American burial grounds surround the area). In 1780, a great battle between the Colonial soldiers and native Americans ensued a mile outside the town limits. The natives lost terribly, and eventually gave the land to the settlers. This plays to my theory very well.

They town prospered, and by the early 1900's fell hard and not so beautifully. Hotels and businesses closed. They still stand but rot away as time goes by. Spa lay in ruin. People have left. And Tourism is down to none. It is what we call a Ghost town. Figurative... And also literally.

Some haunted places around the area are the Beekman mansion, which is believed to have been known to have haunted bloody footprints on the steps. It was owned by a judge or political figure at the time. An apartment building is believed to be haunted. The Columbia hotel is known to have its haunted elevators move on its own. And of course, the famous and now defunct Alder Hotel. That was the history, now The main point of my story.

The Adler is a grand 7 story hotel. It has a ballroom, a gym, a pool, suites, a dining hall, kitchen and a spa in the basement floor. Ever seen or read the Shining? As creepy and foreboding as that hotel in the movie. Smaller but it has the narrow, twisted hallways, the ballroom, the bar... (shivers.)

Anyway... famous celebrities have been there, even a mayor of NYC (Edward I Koch) used to be a bus boy there. It always interested me since living there for so many years. I finally got the courage to investigate, as I have already investigated numerous buildings in the area. The Adler was the only one not to be.

It was in the summer of 2008, and me and two friends decided to spice things up and explore the Adler. The first couple times we went in, nothing out of the ordinary happened.

But let me tell you; Being in there, is like being in another dimension. You step in there, the air is heavy. Dark, damp, and what bugged me the most was how quiet it was. So quiet you wouldn't even hear the echo of your footsteps in big empty rooms like the ball room. We had flashlights to make sure there wasn't some sort of mass blocking reverberation, but there wasn't anything. That I couldn't put my finger on...

By the fourth or fifth time we went in to investigate, it went the same really. But later on it got weirder.

My friend began to tell me how someone in this hotel was shot in the attic and a bullet hole was still in the wall up there. We decided to go and find out. We climbed the steps, and it grew heavy up there. We finally reached the attic (what a pain it was to find it) and up there we found a hospital bed, and various junk. We looked at the wall and there was a Giant hole as if someone took it out on purpose. Who knows.

We went down stairs afterwards, and we came to the dining room. The dining room was full of tables that were blocking the doorway (they were already there) We had to go under them to get to the next room. We finally reached the lobby and that's when it all began.

My friend said stop. We listened, and we heard someone walking up the steps that we came. And the three of us were all accounted for. We got the hell out of there...

Weeks went by until I went in again (this time it was a different group of friends of about 6 people). I told another friend about the hotel, and he was interested into the paranormal as I was and told me his Ghost escapades in Long Island and was usually good at telling if a place was haunted or not. The six of us went there and as soon as we got in, he said "oh man, its haunted." We found several cold spots in the hallways (He pointed them out) and things went on normal. Soon it came to be not so.

We began to split up and were fooling around after awhile. I saw my friend Joe hiding behind a corner and ran down the other side and hid again. I went to investigate. He smacked me with his coat as a joke and ran away. I laughed, cussed and told him to come back. As he was walking down the hallway I saw something behind him...

There, a woman with a pale complexion, no eyes, blonde/white hair and the most devilish smile I have ever seen was right behind for a brief moment. I ignored it as it just being my imagination.

We continued and I would walk past the hallways and in the corner of my eye I would see "her" down them. Again I would ignore them.

Then I heard everyone in frantic conditions, mostly from this girl in our group who saw a woman in a mirror. That's when I knew I wasn't just seeing things. We felt more cold spots and that is when we finally left that dreaded place.

That night I felt drained and tired and fell asleep as soon as I got home.

A Day later my friend from Long Island told me how he felt when he got home and had the same thing. He said the ghost must have attached to him and said the same thing to me.

More things occurred at my home. I began to see shadow people in my house, but mostly in my room. One night, as I was drifting off to sleep when I heard a noise or creak and sensed someone standing over my bed watching me. I then saw a shadow on the wall that shouldn't have been there. The only thing illuminating my room was the soft glow of my alarm clock. It was the shadow of a human. I got my pillow and blanket and slept down in the living room.

A week or so went by, and my Mom brought up how she also saw shadow people in the hallways. I was actually quite thrilled because I thought it was just my imagination again. She went one to say it as Grandma was coming back to see us. I think it is something else.

I have some more thoughts to give. I would have endless conversations with my college friend Jim about Ghost's the spirit world and the spa town. He has gone on to say that because the town has natural springs, it is on a Nexus, which attracts spirits and ghosts to the area. To make things worse, the springs are Sulfur which is composed of negative energy and makes mean spirits. And since the town is surrounded by three native burial grounds doesn't help the paranormal activity either. The Spa town is basically a gate way for the other world.

I don't know what your thoughts will be about this story, but I would love some opinions. My ramblings were a bit much, but I felt like giving a background on the history as it plays on my theories about the Ghost activity there. But I hear it doesn't matter on this site, as many of you like to read the stories posted, so I must say enjoy it, and I hope maybe you can give me your thoughts, and comments! Thank you for reading!