February 4, 2008

Ghosts at Union Station Hotel

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Linda, Nashville, Tennessee, April 2001

In April 2001 I stayed at the Union Station Hotel. I was in Nashville for business purposes, and a co-worker and I were traveling together. We had separate rooms on different floors. Upon arrival, I asked if the hotel was haunted. I was somewhat interested in hauntings and thought it would be cool if we were staying in a hotel that was haunted. They guy at the check-in desk reported that the hotel was indeed thought to be haunted. I asked which floor had the most reported activity, today I cannot recall his response, but I believe he said it was the 5th or 6th floor. Being young, stupid, and naïve, I asked to have a room on that floor. My co-worker asked for a different floor.

The first few nights were uneventful, we spent most of our time checking out the city. By our fourth and final night, there I was exhausted, my co-worker and some others from the conference wanted to go out, but I decided to stay behind at the hotel so I could get some rest. I got a bite to eat at the hotel bar and then headed up to my room for the evening. I took a shower and then called my husband back home in Texas. During the conversation he asked if I had seen any ghosts. I said no and we laughed. We continued to talk lightly and laugh about it, I told him I had been there all week, had not seen a thing and that I really did not think the hotel was haunted. Eventually, we got off the phone and I settled into bed. I started to have this weird feeling, like I wasn't alone, which kind of freaked me out so I turned on the TV and a lamp. The noise and light just seemed to make me feel a little more at ease. I really just thought that all of the ghost talk had gotten into my head and now my mind was playing tricks on me. I grabbed the cordless phone and the TV remote and settled back into bed with one in each hand.

Just as I started to fall asleep I heard a loud banging noise. I jumped up in bed to a seated position. The noise was so loud and it really scared me. My heart was pounding. I sat there in bed for a few seconds, frozen with fear. Then it happened again. I thought someone was banging on the door. It was so loud I knew it would wake others in rooms around mine. I jumped out of bed and went to the door, I looked out the peephole but no one was there. I turned to walk back to bed and it happened again. I quickly went back to the peephole, again no one was there. I yelled out, "Who is it?" to which there was no response. I ran back to the bed, grabbed the phone, and dialed zero. I told the guy that answered that someone was banging on my door, I can't see who it is, and they will not answer when I ask who it is. They said they would send hotel security to check it out. They were very quick to respond. They knocked on the door, which sounded so different from the banging heard before. I looked through the peephole and saw two gentlemen who identified themselves as hotel security. I opened the door, they said they checked everything out and found nothing out of the ordinary. I thanked them for coming and that was it. I got back into bed and called my husband. I told him what happened and that I was so freaked out that he would have to talk to me on the phone until I fell asleep. We soon ran out of things to say and it wasn't long before I heard him snoring so I hung up and decided I would just do my best to fall asleep as quickly as possible. I closed my eyes and all of a sudden the TV turned off. I already had the remote in my hand and I turned it back on in an instant. Now I am really freaked and I try to call my husband, but the line is busy because he is still snoring into the phone. I laid there thinking please, please, please don't let me see a ghost. While I always thought it would be cool to see a ghost, I never wanted to see one when I was alone! Then the TV and the lamp went off -- both of them at the same time. I tried to turn the TV back on with the remote and it would not come on. I jumped out of bed and ran to flip on the bathroom lights. I walked over to the lamp and TV and turned them both back on. I looked at the electrical cords -- they were both plugged into the same outlet. I thought maybe there was something wrong with the outlet, so I plugged the lamp into a different electrical outlet. I turned out the bathroom lights, got back into bed, and tried to fall asleep.

About 10 minutes into it, the stupid TV and lamp go off again. I automatically jumped up and turned the bathroom lights on again. I tried to turn on the lamp but it would not come back on, I discovered that the bulb had burnt out. I turned the TV back on, picked up the phone, and called zero again. A man came up, brought me a new light bulb. I told him, please do not think I am crazy, this weird stuff keeps happening and I am getting really close to just grabbing a pillow and sleeping down in the lobby. He laughed and I told him I wasn't kidding, if something else happened in my room I was out of there. He told me he had never seen a ghost there, but that things like this happen sometimes to employees and guests but no one ever gets hurt. Then I told him I had requested this floor because I was told it was the most active, but I guess deep down I really didn't really believe it. We laughed about it a little and I told him I certainly believe now and whoever or whatever it is can quit trying to prove it to me because I got it -- point taken. He told me to call again if I needed anything and we said goodbye. I jumped back into bed, all lights in the room are on at this point, I covered my head with all the blankets and fell asleep -- sweating to death, but without further incident. The Union Station Hotel in Nashville is a beautiful historic hotel and the staff there are all very nice and helpful, but I will never stay there again!