CB1100 Monthly Photo Challenge

[spechg]

This is the Grand Hotel in Helsingborg, Sweden, right in the medieval town center. The hotel was built in the 1920's and the 5th floor - especially room 585 - has been haunted ever since. This is not just a tourist tale, made up for publicity, but very real. It's actually a bit of a headache for the hotel as the national air carrier SAS, which uses the hotel for crew rest, has had so many complaints from their crew members that they have asked not to be booked on the 5th floor altogether.

The reception has seen several guests turn up in the middle of the night, having felt cold drafts, seen moving curtains, heard scratching sounds and being prodded in bed. A few have even felt they've been pushed out of the bed, onto the floor. The cleaning staff have felt sudden chills and sensed being watched. In 2009 the hotel restored the 5th floor extensively, admitting that it was partly in an attempt to get rid of the problem. It did not help. A few years ago a newspaper reporter stayed the night, with the intention to write a light-hearted article, but were scared for real by scratching sounds and feeling watched. The reporter was highly uncomfortable and never wrote the article.

The haunting is believed to be the ghost of a mistress, traced to one of the very first weeks of the hotel's operation in the 1920's. The story is that a man and a woman checked in after lunch, in room 585. The same evening another woman turns up, presents herself as the wife, asks for the room number and takes the elevator to the 5th floor. The next morning the man and the second woman - the wife - checks out and disappears. The first woman was never seen to leave the hotel. The haunting started soon after. The belief is that the man and the wife somehow got rid of the assumed mistress, maybe in the hotel somewhere, and that she is the source of the still ongoing haunting.

Nice spooky photo, Olof, and exactly the kind of interesting story I was hoping for. And it's not even Halloween yet!