The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories (6 page)

In the historic town of Nevada City, California, high in the Sierra foothills, on the corner of Broad and Pine streets, there is a small hotel with a big history. Owner Katie Bennett, who bought the US Hotel in 2002, has heard strange noises and mysterious sounds regularly.

And so have her patrons. The odd occurrences include knocking noises, steps that sound like someone is right outside your door, and lights that flicker on and off. The most common thing Bennett hears is laughter, accompanied by music and footsteps as if someone is dancing. So it was no surprise to her when a team of paranormal investigators caught the sound of laughter and footsteps on tape. The recordings included a man calling out for someone named Olga, the sound of boots on hardwood floors, and popping and knocking noises. Visit
www.norcalghosthunters.com
, click on EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) and links, and then scroll down to “US Hotel B&B EVP Link” to hear the evidence for yourself.

A GHOSTLY IMAGE

In January of 2007
The Union
, the local paper for Nevada County, California, reported that a ghostly face had appeared in a photograph. The photo had been taken of the historic Skidmore House, one of a dozen or so original homes still standing in North Bloomfield, a mining town that is now part of the Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park. Sonny Lopez, the park's maintenance mechanic, had moved to the park in July of 2006. He and his wife wanted window treatments that had an old-time feel, and so one afternoon Lopez took several
photographs of Skidmore House and its windows. Later, when he went home to show the photos to his wife, he noticed that the otherwise empty home was perhaps not so empty. In one of the photos was a figure that looked like a woman with long hair, pulling back the curtain and looking back out at him. You can view the photograph yourself in
The Union
's online archives at
www.theunion.com
. Do a search for “ghostly photographs” and see what appears.

THE GHOST IN THE FLAME

Originally built as a firehouse, a necessary building in a gold-rush town of shacks and temporary structures, the Fire House No. 2 in Nevada City, California, is now a historical museum. Visitors and employees alike have reported hearing footsteps in an otherwise empty room, as well as feeling sudden temperature changes, cold spots, and a general “thickening” of the atmosphere. Some witnesses claim to have seen the ghost of a Victorian woman, who searches through cabinets, and a female piano player from a nearby whorehouse. A few visitors have even sighted a group of Chinese men standing around a shrine, a testimony to the Chinese population that contributed to Nevada City's early growth.

AS TOLD BY GIOVANNI GALATI

In the mid-1980s in Hanover, Germany, my family owned a large apartment house where my parents, brothers, I, and other employees of the restaurant my father owned would rent rooms. Many of the residents reported ghostly sightings and encounters. Some employees refused to stay. But I was the skeptic—until one night.

I arrived home late after work, close to one in the morning, and fell fast asleep. A few hours later, probably around four or five, I awoke suddenly, my eyes wide open. At this moment, I heard the key turn in the lock to my front door. Instinctively, I tried to get up to see who it could be. I lived alone and thought I had the only key to the apartment. But I was completely paralyzed. I could not move—not my fingers, my toes, nor even my head—to see who could be there.

As I lay there struggling with the inability to move, I heard footsteps go through the hall and into the kitchen, echoing across the wooden floors. I then heard the handle of my bedroom door begin to turn. I could hear someone or something come in the door and stand
next to my bed, looming over me. Yet I could not turn my head to see who or what was there. At this point tears were streaming down my face, not as much from being frightened as from being completely frustrated at my inability to so much as wiggle my fingers. I tried everything I could, using reason to try and send the signals to my brain to move my body. After a bit of time—maybe ten or fifteen minutes, though I can't say for sure—I felt the presence withdraw. I heard footsteps move away from my bed toward the door, the sound of the door handle turn, the door open and close, and then the echo of the footsteps retreat back through the kitchen, down the hall, and out the front door of my apartment.

As soon as the front door closed, I was able to move. I jumped up, grabbed the key, and ran out of the bedroom. I could still hear the footsteps descending the inner stairwell, as I lunged toward the apartment door. I heard the outside door of the building slam shut, and I ran down the stairs and out the main door. I couldn't see anyone, so I ran down the path and looked right and left down the street. There was no one in sight. A fresh snow had fallen while I was asleep, and I could see no mark or footprint of where anyone had been on the path or the porch.

THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES

Just outside of Paris, France, among the rambling and vast grounds of the Palace of Versailles, stands Le Petit Trianon. Best known for being the residence of Marie Antoinette, Le Petit Trianon was given her name by King Louis XVI in 1774. Yet this mini palace within a palace is also famous for something else: hauntings.

Over the centuries guests and visitors have reported numerous sightings and unusual sounds. Most often workers in eighteenth-century clothing are seen milling about, and some people claim to have seen the ghost of Marie Antoinette herself. One of the strangest reports is of seeing phantom woodlands and houses that have not been there for more than two hundred years.