Couple Recounts Potential Paranormal Activity During Stay at ‘Marshall House’ in Savannah, Georgia

To be clear, DeAnna had not felt the pounding on the bed, and I had not heard the whispers. So, neither of us can verify the other’s story. But we have to ask. Why does this happen with ghosts? Why does only one person experience them at a time? In general, you don’t hear many stories where multiple people have the same ghost experience simultaneously. Only in the movies.

We developed a theory. Like people who are alive, ghosts find it more comfortable to approach people individually. Would you agree with this? Have you ever realized that when you are alone in a public place you have a different social experience than when you are with someone else? You notice your surroundings more. You make eye contact with others more. Maybe you even start a conversation with someone because you are not already in a conversation.

We heard that since room attendants often work alone, they do not like to service that room. Gospel music is played, and the door remains open to reduce the ‘alone-ness’.

One afternoon, DeAnna stepped out of the room, and the attendant in the hallway jumped and gasped. She gave DeAnna a stern look and did not say hello. Can’t blame her. We should have asked about her experiences with that room. Obviously, something had spooked her before.

That was our ‘alone’ theory. And I asked not to be alone in the room 🙂 I am more of a chicken when it comes to ghosts.

The next day was almost normal. We both mentioned that we could not “feel” anything “there” anymore. Like it had passed on. We were not nearly as nervous, and we accepted the situation. Maybe our ghost approved of us!

DeAnna texted the family to assure them we were still alive. We had forgotten their requirement to check in, and they had yet to hear from us. Naturally, they were concerned, and maybe a little mad. It’s hard to tell over text sometimes.

On the last afternoon, after a lunch and walking around the squares of Savannah, we decided to nap before dinner. (We are 50 years old BTW, and have earned naps). In the middle of the nap, the room became cold, and I got up to adjust the thermostat. I thought nothing of it. After all, it was November and in the mid-60s. So, maybe the room gets cold in the middle of the day.

When DeAnna woke up she also mentioned the cold. Cold rooms and spirits are known to go hand in hand. Maybe the spirit had not passed on. Maybe it was there again.

We both got ready for dinner, and as we went downstairs to go out for the night, I realized that I had forgotten to wear my walking shoes. We were walking everywhere that weekend, and I really wanted those shoes. I decided to go back up to the room and change. I joked that I was breaking my rule about being alone in the room.

I opened the door and began searching for my shoes when I heard the toilet running — like it was broken — continuing to run. But wait. We had just left, and the toilet was off. Why was it now running?

I dismissively thought that one of us must have used it before we left and just needed adjustment. Being the natural handyman I am — and with the bathroom door wide open — I lifted the toilet top, made the necessary and precise adjustments by jiggling everything with the exact amount of torque, and replaced the top. There, solved.

On our ride home from Savannah, DeAnna was driving, and I did more reading on 414. And, of course, I found that toilets flushing by themselves and running was one of the many documented experiences in the room. Geez.

On our last morning when we checked out, to be honest, we were a little disappointed. We had not seen an apparition, or had a door close on us, nor did the lights turn on and off. We had wanted an amazing and very certain ghost experience that we both shared together. Instead, we had these small, uncertain, and mostly individual experiences.

As we loaded the bags, the valet asked if anything had happened in the room. Our immediate response was “No”. It was not until later, when we reflected on these experiences, and read more about our shared experiences with others, that we understood our great ghost experience.

But, was it a ghost experience? The things we experienced were very ordinary. Movement in a bed while dreaming. Faint unintelligible voices from somewhere. A cold room in the Fall. A continuously running toilet. All these things would be considered usual in our everyday lives and homes. We would not question them, or even think they were associated with a ghost. But because we stayed in a room others said was haunted, we turned them into ghosts.

Yet, we propose that it really does not matter whether they were ghosts, or whether they were us. Because we chose to stay in that room, and because we were open to accepting whatever came our way, we turned a weekend of the ordinary into a weekend of the extraordinary. And isn’t that what vacations — and anniversaries — are all about?!

Oh… and about that single black picture…

When we arrived home, we examined that black picture with the Microsoft Photos app that comes loaded on a new laptop. We used a bigger screen and zoomed in 600% to see if something was there. What we noticed was a random squiggle pattern — like the pattern a cloth would make if its picture were taken up close. There was something there. Not just black.

We then used the Photos app to increase the Brightness to its extreme and POP! right in front of our eyes was a bright spot sitting high and right from the center. From that spot emanated a glow that dissipated away from the core. Amazing!