I love a good ghost story. I also love a good historic hotel, and the two go hand in hand really nicely.
So today I'm going to tell you a little ghost story in honor of next week's Halloween holiday. Gather around the glow of your computer — it's not really a campfire but it'll have to do.
Our story takes place in Louisville, Kentucky, about 20 years ago. Hotel buffs who also love ghost stories are getting a little "ping" in their brains right now: Yes, this story is about the Seelbach Hilton Louisville.
Before I covered the hotel industry, I had another reporting job that took me to Louisville annually and I looked forward to staying at the Seelbach every time. It's just the quintessential historic Hilton — oak-paneled ballrooms, gilt-adorned elevators, a little bar tucked in off the lobby, and guestrooms decorated to complement that French Renaissance design history.
And of course, any hotel open since 1905 has ... seen some things, as they say.
But the last time I stayed at the Seelbach, I knew nothing of the ghosts. I just liked the cozy feel, the step back in time, that whole vibe.
Then I went to bed. Isn't that how all these stories begin?
I awoke overnight not in a fright, not in a panic, not in a cold sweat, but absolutely certain that someone else was in my room.
I felt neutral about it. I could sense someone in the room though I could not see anyone or anything out of the ordinary. I just knew that it was a woman, she had long, dark hair, she was standing near the bathroom, which was near a window. I was looking right at her, from my spot in the bed, even though I saw nothing.
It's funny how those middle-of-the-night moments hit a person, right? It's like we exist then in a liminal space between sleeping and waking, between our right minds and our fantastical ones. That's what this was. I woke up. I was certain this woman was in the room. I felt neutral about it. I fell back asleep. In the morning, the picture was just as clear in my head as it felt in that moment.
I couldn't shake it, so I asked the hotel concierge the next day whether the hotel was haunted. How very naive I was! The hotel at that point was nearly 100 years old! Of course it was haunted!
The concierge asked me my room number. I told him and his reply was something to the tune of, "Well, your room is just across from elevator 3."
I had no idea what that meant, and my face showed it. So the concierge handed me a book of Seelbach history and explained the story of the lady in blue.
The book was The Seelbach, by hotel historian Larry Johnson. Do yourself a favor and watch Johnson himself tell the tale of Patricia Wilson's death in 1936 in the elevator shaft at the hotel.
But I'll summarize it here: The young woman (spoiler alert: She had long, dark hair) was in the hotel bar when she received news that her ex-husband had been killed in a car accident on his way to meet her at the hotel. The next morning, her body was discovered in the service elevator.
Fast forward to 1987, when her ghostly apparition — clad in a blue chiffon dress — was spotted by two different people on the same day. Her description matched her photo from her obituary.
Here's the twist: Johnson says in the video that the hotel hasn't been able to prove any sightings of Wilson since then, though people have said they smell her lilac perfume, or get a sense that she's around.
I suppose I can chalk my experience at the Seelbach up to a "sense" that she was around, but I definitely pictured her very clearly at that moment, without knowing her story. So, I believe.
Do you? Tell me your hotel ghost stories. Email me, or find me on Twitter or LinkedIn.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or CoStar Group and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concern.