Speaker 1: Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 1: Years ago, after a long day of work, I had
Speaker 1: settled into my hotel room. I was desperate for a
Speaker 1: good night's sleep, as I was exhausted and completely jet lagged,
Speaker 1: and knew I had to get back to work earlier
Speaker 1: the next day. I turned out the bedside lamp and
Speaker 1: my head hit the pillow. Seconds later, I heard a
Speaker 1: click and the large light fixture and fan above me
Speaker 1: turned on. Knowing this was an old hotel, I assumed
Speaker 1: electrical issues, so I got up and turned the light off,
Speaker 1: but was slightly weirded out that it was in the
Speaker 1: on position when I did so. Settling back into bed,
Speaker 1: I heard the click again and was again blinded by
Speaker 1: the light above. Even from my bed, I could see
Speaker 1: the switch I had just turned off off was very
Speaker 1: much in the on position. Again, Exasperated, I stood up
Speaker 1: and turned off the light again. As I got back
Speaker 1: in bed, it flicked back on. I was trying to
Speaker 1: temper my frustration and obvious fear, but my need for
Speaker 1: sleep was great. I kid you not. This song and
Speaker 1: dance went on at least three more times, until at
Speaker 1: one point the light flicked on, and laying in bed,
Speaker 1: almost in tears, I said, please stop. I have so
Speaker 1: much work to do tomorrow and I just need to sleep.
Speaker 1: And then I heard a familiar click, but this time
Speaker 1: the light turned off. This was one of the first
Speaker 1: of many, many, many experiences I would have at the
Speaker 1: Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. So let's
Speaker 1: take a little trip, shall we. I'm Amy Brunei and
Speaker 1: this is Haunted Road. The Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods,
Speaker 1: New Hampshire stands as one of the last Grand Victorian
Speaker 1: hotels still operating in America. So named for their quiet
Speaker 1: grand appearance in Spanish Revival architectural style, they were all
Speaker 1: built in the early nineteen hundreds. These hotels, like the
Speaker 1: Hotel del Coronado in San Diego and the Stanley Hotel
Speaker 1: in Estes Park, Colorado, and of course our Mount Washington Hotel,
Speaker 1: are all large, elaborate structures, stark white with bright red roofs.
Speaker 1: The Mount Washington has over two hundred rooms in the
Speaker 1: original hotel and is massive. I can attest to this
Speaker 1: because as you pull into the Mount Washington driveway. After
Speaker 1: having seen nearly nothing but dense woods and mountains for miles,
Speaker 1: this gem of a Shining hotel greets you like a beacon,
Speaker 1: which she's been for me ever since I set foot
Speaker 1: inside almost fifteen years ago. So some fun facts for
Speaker 1: you know. The Shining was not based on the Mount Washington,
Speaker 1: nor was it filmed there, but the Grand Floridian Resort
Speaker 1: at Disney World was modeled after her, and I think
Speaker 1: that's way cooler. So while researching for this podcast, I
Speaker 1: was surprised to learn that the Mount Washington was not
Speaker 1: the first structure on this property before the landing question
Speaker 1: was solely owned by Joseph Stickney, who we will talk
Speaker 1: about in a moment. A lumberman named John T. G
Speaker 1: Levitt built a simple, almost box like structure with only
Speaker 1: forty rooms on the property called the Mount Pleasant House
Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy five. There was also a sawmill and
Speaker 1: adjacent housing called stove Pipe City thanks to the number
Speaker 1: of stove pipes extending from the small log buildings. In
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty one, Joseph Stickney and Oscar Pittman purchased the
Speaker 1: hotel from John Levitt right away, the partners enlarged it
Speaker 1: by adding a fourth story. Now, according to an eighteen
Speaker 1: nine I'VE map, there were other structures in the vicinity.
Speaker 1: There was the loghouse, the homes tavern, another stable near
Speaker 1: the tavern, and a building called the Blind Tiger, which
Speaker 1: one can only speculate about what went on at that establishment.
Speaker 1: Before we die further, let's learn a bit about Joseph Stickney.
Speaker 1: Joseph was born on May thirty one, eight forty, and
Speaker 1: conquered New Hampshire. He attended schools and conquered as well
Speaker 1: as Vermont's Setford Academy, before entering into various businesses from
Speaker 1: railroading to coal mining and handling and real estate. Not
Speaker 1: to fast forward too much, but when he died he
Speaker 1: was worth an estimated ten million dollars. That's the equivalent
Speaker 1: of about three hundred ten million dollars today according to
Speaker 1: currency calculators online, So he clearly had some money to
Speaker 1: throw around. After about twenty years succeeding as proprietor of
Speaker 1: Mount Pleasant, a period wherein he refurbished the property and
Speaker 1: added some turret and flags and made it more ostentatious.
Speaker 1: According to Mount Washington director and historian Craig clemmer Our.
Speaker 1: Mr Stickney got bolder in those decades. He married a
Speaker 1: pretty twenty five year old He himself was fifty two
Speaker 1: on his wedding day. Her name was Caroline Foster. He
Speaker 1: met her at a dance down the road from Mount Pleasant.
Speaker 1: Caroline's father was a prominent meat merchant, and the family
Speaker 1: summered at the twin Mountain House in Carol, New Hampshire,
Speaker 1: where her father's choice cuts were a feature on the menu.
Speaker 1: It was around this time, being a driven man with
Speaker 1: money to burn and strong emotional attachments to the area,
Speaker 1: that Stickney decided to build the grandest of the grand hotels,
Speaker 1: going full stop luxury from the foundation's up, a rarity
Speaker 1: among the resort's rivals, which all boasted humble beginnings. With
Speaker 1: that in mind, let's review some of the additions he
Speaker 1: made to the existing Mount Pleasant Hotel, just to give
Speaker 1: you an idea of what was to come with the
Speaker 1: Mount Washington. So in eighteen eighty four, Joseph bought out
Speaker 1: his partners and planned a major renovation that would turn
Speaker 1: them Out Pleasant into one of the finest hotels in
Speaker 1: the region. Much of Stickney's correspondence survives as do many
Speaker 1: of the bills for the project. Stickney added an electric
Speaker 1: power plant that would provide for seven fifty lights. He
Speaker 1: had Walter Trask, a sinker of artesian wells, drill a
Speaker 1: four hundred foot well to assure a steady water supply,
Speaker 1: thereby eliminating a recurring water shortage. There was a bowling alley,
Speaker 1: baths in every room, a golf course, tennis courts, and
Speaker 1: a private lake named for his wife, Caroline. Stickney lent
Speaker 1: a very devoted ear to all ideas about how to
Speaker 1: increase business, and he opened his check book to bring
Speaker 1: numerous ones to fruition. He also oversaw the construction of
Speaker 1: an extensive system of trails behind the hotel on what
Speaker 1: was then called Mount Stickney. In A bridle path two
Speaker 1: miles long was built to the summit. A log cabin
Speaker 1: was built called the Orchestra's Retreat, another trail called the
Speaker 1: Carzone Trail. According to the hotel's brochure, zig zagged up
Speaker 1: the mountain to the Birch Rock Spring and the Susquehanna Spring,
Speaker 1: with rustic seats along the way. There were other maintained
Speaker 1: trails in the woods. All of these lessons learned and
Speaker 1: the remodeling of the Mount Pleasant likely benefited Stickney as
Speaker 1: he embarked on the construction of the Mount Washington Hotel.
Speaker 1: The Mount Washington Hotel lies in a valley of the
Speaker 1: Amonosak River, six hundred feet above sea level. The mountains
Speaker 1: surrounding the two thousand five d fifty acre preserve are
Speaker 1: the Presidential, Dartmouth and Willie Rosebrook Ranges, dominated by Mount
Speaker 1: Washington at six thousand two hight feet, the highest peak
Speaker 1: in the northeast. The resort itself sits on three acres
Speaker 1: as of a June report. The structure was designed by
Speaker 1: Charles Allen Gifford, known for designing resort hotels. Joseph Stickney
Speaker 1: was quite an entrepreneur and wanted the veryt of everything
Speaker 1: for his guests. The Mount Washington Hotel was the embodiment
Speaker 1: of new technology and an instant success when it opened
Speaker 1: between nineteen hundred and nineteen o two. Joseph Stickney shelled
Speaker 1: at one point seven million dollars almost fifty three million
Speaker 1: dollars by today's standards, to bring Gifford's design to life.
Speaker 1: During construction, Stickney spared no expense in building the imposing hotel.
Speaker 1: The latest design and construction methods were used. Innovative and
Speaker 1: complicated heating and plumbing systems were installed. To this day,
Speaker 1: the Bretton Woods Hotel has its own private telephone system
Speaker 1: in post office. Stickney brought in two hundred fifty Italian
Speaker 1: artisans to build it, particularly the granite and stucco masonry.
Speaker 1: The general style is based on Spanish Renaissance Revival, with
Speaker 1: a red roof to imitate Spanish roof tiles. The building
Speaker 1: is y shaped, with a forty five degree angle between
Speaker 1: the wings and main kitchen in the middle. It is
Speaker 1: the largest wooden structure in New England and has a
Speaker 1: steel infrastructure, which was quite unique in the early nineteen hundreds.
Speaker 1: The foundation is made of cut granite corried on the property.
Speaker 1: Some of the novel features included an auto road at
Speaker 1: a time when automobiles were rare, electric lights, a pool,
Speaker 1: and private bats in every room. Stats about this hotel's
Speaker 1: original construction are almost hard to imagine. Like for example,
Speaker 1: it had more than twelve hundred windows containing over half
Speaker 1: an acre of glass, and construction required nine hundred kegs
Speaker 1: or three train car loads of nails to complete the
Speaker 1: extensive veranda. Nine hundred three ft long and the longest
Speaker 1: in New England, provided exercise for guests no matter what
Speaker 1: the weather was like then and now, six laps around
Speaker 1: the veranda add up to a mile. I wouldn't know
Speaker 1: this because when I'm on the veranda, I'm usually sitting
Speaker 1: with a good book and a glass of chardonnay. When
Speaker 1: the hotel first opened for business on July, a crowd
Speaker 1: gathered to celebrate. It was then the electrician, a Mr.
Speaker 1: Thomas Edison, turned on the lights for the first time.
Speaker 1: At that moment, Joseph Stickney stood before the crowd and proclaimed,
Speaker 1: look at me, a gentleman, for I am the poor
Speaker 1: fool who built all this. And poor fool is about
Speaker 1: right because a year later he was dead. The New
Speaker 1: York Times read on December second three, Joseph Stickney, of
Speaker 1: the firm of Stickney, Conningham and Company, died suddenly at
Speaker 1: his home Fifth Avenue yesterday morning from a stroke of apoplexy.
Speaker 1: He was born at Conquered New Hampshire in eighteen forty,
Speaker 1: and about eighteen sixty became interested in anthracite coal mining,
Speaker 1: which had been his business ever since. He leaves a
Speaker 1: widow who was Miss Caroline Foster of Waltham. He was
Speaker 1: a prominent member of the Union, Union League, Racket and
Speaker 1: New York Yacht clubs. His country home was in Westchester.
Speaker 1: Although the hotel had been Joseph's dream, Caroline was seemingly invested.
Speaker 1: After Joseph's death, hotels continued to be one of Caroline's focuses.
Speaker 1: She remained fully involved in the hotels, spending summers at
Speaker 1: the Mount Washington, making sure her guests were treated second
Speaker 1: to none. During the open season, guests arrived by train,
Speaker 1: sometimes fifty a day or more, from Boston and Portland.
Speaker 1: They were brought to the hotel by horse and carriage,
Speaker 1: arriving at the front porch. The hotel originally had three
Speaker 1: train stations. So here's a glimpse at what life was
Speaker 1: like for those who summered at this resort. According to
Speaker 1: Craig Clemor, it was the early nineteen hundreds, and trains
Speaker 1: unloading the families of the country's wealthiest people still came
Speaker 1: thirty five to fifty times a day, so often you
Speaker 1: hardly even notice it, dumping wives and children for the
Speaker 1: entire season. They wanted their families in an environment where
Speaker 1: everything was cleaner, fresher, and cooler. They wanted them away
Speaker 1: from the yellow fever and the caller in the cities.
Speaker 1: The pastimes here were utter turn of the century horseback riding,
Speaker 1: hiking and golfing. Honestly, not much different than how it
Speaker 1: is there today. They would work on their watercolors, clamor says,
Speaker 1: and they'd have meals in a restaurant three times a day,
Speaker 1: changing clothes four times a day. The floors dedicated to
Speaker 1: guest rooms offer nearly every guest outside windows with mountain views.
Speaker 1: When it opened, Mount Washington was the largest spa in
Speaker 1: the White Mountains, one hundred seventy miles north of Boston.
Speaker 1: It's guests enjoyed a service ratio of two to one,
Speaker 1: a ticker tape, augmented by a telephone office and recreational
Speaker 1: facilities on ten thousand acres. Guests paid twenty dollars a day,
Speaker 1: which covered their room and three meals spread out over
Speaker 1: the generally lengthy days. Mount Washington raked it in twenty
Speaker 1: dollars per day, was four times the standard rate for
Speaker 1: a room and three meals. According to the CPI inflation
Speaker 1: calcula later, that's about six thirty five dollars per day.
Speaker 1: In numbered. Among its famous guests were Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison,
Speaker 1: Mary Pickford, and President's Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding.
Speaker 1: On the patio level, there's now a bar called the Cave,
Speaker 1: which is one of my favorite spots to visit on
Speaker 1: the weekends, but originally it was the hotel's squash courts.
Speaker 1: The space was later converted into a bar and grill
Speaker 1: and was a speak easy during Prohibition, with guests drinking
Speaker 1: spirits out of teacups. The Great Hall was initially named
Speaker 1: the Assembly Hall. The focal point of the space is
Speaker 1: a large guildstone fireplace, as well as several crystal chandeliers
Speaker 1: that were added in the nineteen twenties. One point two
Speaker 1: million dollar renovation in two thousand seven referenced historical photos
Speaker 1: of Mount Washington's interior and once again features historic details
Speaker 1: such as furnishings and a very large moose head, as
Speaker 1: well as custom carpeting depicting local flora and fauna. The
Speaker 1: Great Hall is filled with many wonderful pieces, but of
Speaker 1: special note is the nineteenth century Grandfather clock tucked to
Speaker 1: the left of the fireplace. Before the hotel was open
Speaker 1: year round starting in two thousand one, the starting of
Speaker 1: the clock signaled the beginning of the summer season. On
Speaker 1: the final day, the last guest would stop the pendulum
Speaker 1: until the following season began. The clock is one of
Speaker 1: the few original pieces remaining in the Mount Washington Hotel
Speaker 1: Great Hall. In the conservatory, the high dome in the
Speaker 1: middle of the room provides natural acoustics and was used
Speaker 1: for musical entertainment, chamber music lectures, and poetry readings, just
Speaker 1: as it is today. The glass around the dome is
Speaker 1: Tiffany glass, and the piano is an original eight two
Speaker 1: Steinway from Joseph Stickney's New York home, The Princess Room
Speaker 1: number three fourteen is by far the most popular suite,
Speaker 1: now called the Princess Room after its most esteemed proprietors,
Speaker 1: Caroline Stickney Princess You Say Well. Ten years after Joseph
Speaker 1: Stickney's death, Caroline remarried and her husband was a French prince,
Speaker 1: Prince Aimon de Fassiny Loosene. Before this second marriage, Caroline
Speaker 1: apparently confided in a friend, Joe left me every material
Speaker 1: comfort a woman could desire, But now I am lonesome.
Speaker 1: If I ever marry again, it will be for companionship.
Speaker 1: A notice of marriage appeared in paper syndicating a message
Speaker 1: from the Boston Globe that opened with a celebration of
Speaker 1: a hometown sweetheart. From a small house on Main Street, Waltham,
Speaker 1: to one of the finest residences on Fifth Avenue, to
Speaker 1: the most socially exclusive homes in Newport and Bar Harbor,
Speaker 1: to the Palace of the Emperor of Japan, to the
Speaker 1: home of the Viceroy of India, to Buckingham Palace itself,
Speaker 1: and finally to the title of Princess bearing the name
Speaker 1: of one of the oldest families in France. Is the
Speaker 1: career in brief of Caroline Foster, later Mrs Joseph E.
Speaker 1: Stickney and now Princess amon de Fassny Loosene. She was
Speaker 1: married before a brilliant assemblage to the Prince Wednesday, July
Speaker 1: two in London. After this, Caroline was affectionately referred to
Speaker 1: by guests and staff as the Princess. So back to
Speaker 1: the Princess Room. Originally it functioned as her private dining
Speaker 1: space where important guests were invited to dine with her.
Speaker 1: The Princess Room is home to an original chandelier above
Speaker 1: the bar and It even houses her original bed that
Speaker 1: she had assembled wherever she stayed. Yes, she traveled with
Speaker 1: a massive four poster bed and you can sleep in it.
Speaker 1: But this is the most haunted room in the hotel,
Speaker 1: so you may want to rethink that. When summering at
Speaker 1: the hotel, Caroline would famously watch all the ladies coming
Speaker 1: down the stairway to dinner from behind a curtain on
Speaker 1: the balcony near the front desk. If any woman was
Speaker 1: better dressed than she, Caroline would change her evening ensemble
Speaker 1: to ensure she was the finest dressed. Caroline left her
Speaker 1: mark in the main dining room as well as the
Speaker 1: Princess Room. In the octagonal room, designed so that no
Speaker 1: guest might feel slighted by being placed in a corner.
Speaker 1: Caroline Stickney's table was the first table on the right
Speaker 1: as you enter the main dining room. It was always
Speaker 1: reserved for her. There was one seating for dinner, and
Speaker 1: if she was dining there, she was always the last
Speaker 1: one to enter. Up until last year, a table was
Speaker 1: set for her in the main entrance to the right.
Speaker 1: I have to admit to being a little bombed last
Speaker 1: time I visited to see that it was gone. An
Speaker 1: endearing element of the design is found in the grand staircase,
Speaker 1: featuring stairs that are wide and shallow, allowing for the
Speaker 1: ladies of the day to easily travel up and down
Speaker 1: without tripping over their skirts. In a similar vein, Caroline's
Speaker 1: habit of watching the stairs before dinner in case she
Speaker 1: needed to change into something more elegant is memorialized in
Speaker 1: a painting at the hotel in the spot where the
Speaker 1: balcony once was. During events in the dining room, along
Speaker 1: with an orchestra, the Bretton Wood's Boys singers would perform
Speaker 1: in balconies on either side of the room. Further adding
Speaker 1: to Caroline's princess status is this popular anecdote. There was
Speaker 1: also the hotel's indoor pool, one of the first of
Speaker 1: its kind in the country. When Caroline Stickney was in
Speaker 1: the mood for a swim, all of the other guests
Speaker 1: would have to get out and leave the room until
Speaker 1: she was finished. Under Caroline's tenure, construction added the sun
Speaker 1: Dining Room with guest rooms above the fourth floor between
Speaker 1: the towers and the chapel, honoring her late husband. Another source,
Speaker 1: Janice Brown's article for the New Hampshire History bog claims
Speaker 1: that Caroline was summering at the resort as latest August
Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty four. Caroline's second husband passed in ninete
Speaker 1: and she never remarried. Caroline died on November second, nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty six, in her Providence, Rhode Island home. In nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty eight, Caroline and Joseph were both reinterred at the
Speaker 1: Stickney Mausoleum in Old North Cemetery. Although it's in conquered
Speaker 1: New Hampshire, there's a tiffany window inside recreating the view
Speaker 1: looking from the south verandah of the hotel to Crawford Notch,
Speaker 1: a V shaped valley to the south of the resort.
Speaker 1: I think it's pretty clear why Princess Caroline would still
Speaker 1: be haunting the property and has become their most famous ghost.
Speaker 1: But before we get to the ghost stories and deaths
Speaker 1: on the property, I want to tell you one more
Speaker 1: bit of very famous history that took place in the hotel.
Speaker 1: After Caroline died, her nephew Foster Reynolds inherited the hotel
Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty six. He had a short run with it,
Speaker 1: as the hotel closed down in nineteen forty two due
Speaker 1: to World War Two. It was only out of commission
Speaker 1: for two years, though, because a group out of Boston
Speaker 1: purchased the property. Now, if you have visited the hotel,
Speaker 1: you may have walked past an elaborate room off the
Speaker 1: Great Hall called the Gold Room. The story of how
Speaker 1: it came to be as fascinating and historically incredibly significant.
Speaker 1: Hotel business had waned during the nineteen thirties with Prohibition
Speaker 1: and the Great Depression, not to mention the nimble automobile
Speaker 1: taking an enormous toll in the hospitality industry. In addition
Speaker 1: to the challenges post of the service industry by the Depression, Prohibition,
Speaker 1: and war. Both the advent of the income tax and
Speaker 1: Henry Ford are to blame. The affordable automobile and modern
Speaker 1: roads made going up to New Hampshire easier, making the
Speaker 1: scene less exclusive. That's when it really started to wane.
Speaker 1: Just a couple of years earlier, when the government was
Speaker 1: searching for an ideal location to hold a worldwide conference
Speaker 1: to deal with the financial aftermath of the war, now
Speaker 1: known as the Breton Woods Conference, they chose them out
Speaker 1: Washington because of its secure location and ample room for
Speaker 1: the seven hundred thirty delegates. From forty four nations that
Speaker 1: would be attending. Before the conference began, the hotel's interior
Speaker 1: had suffered neglect, collapsed roof, peeling wallpaper, so the federal
Speaker 1: government sent one hundred fifty workers and new furniture and
Speaker 1: put hundreds of thousands of dollars into the hotel, which
Speaker 1: they had just two months to restore. Each worker was
Speaker 1: given fifty cans of white paint and was told if
Speaker 1: it didn't move, they should paint a white which is
Speaker 1: what they did. All of the beautiful mahogany doors were
Speaker 1: painted white, as were the brass light fixtures in the
Speaker 1: Great Hall, and even some of the tiffany windows. The
Speaker 1: Gold Room is where the final Articles of Agreement for
Speaker 1: the International Monetary Conference were signed in July nineteen forty four.
Speaker 1: It is this room that played an important role in
Speaker 1: the hotel becoming a part of the National Register of
Speaker 1: Historic Places in nineteen seventy eight. The table was originally
Speaker 1: from Caroline Stickney's private dining room. It has ten legs
Speaker 1: and is made of rock maple, just like Caroline's four
Speaker 1: poster bed that's located in the Princess Room. The conference
Speaker 1: was so important that the lighting in the room was
Speaker 1: switched from electric to gas in case the hotel experienced
Speaker 1: a power outage. It was convened in order to create
Speaker 1: the World Bank, set up to provide long term international funds,
Speaker 1: especially to underdeveloped countries. The International Monetary Fund the gold
Speaker 1: standard at thirty five dollars an ounce and tied the
Speaker 1: value of other countries currencies to the US dollar. It
Speaker 1: is said that the conference was more important than the
Speaker 1: Treaty of PSI after World War One, which devastated Germany's economy,
Speaker 1: but the Breton Woods Conference established the economic base which
Speaker 1: led to prosperity. After World War Two, the German economy
Speaker 1: was rebuilt and Europe was stabilized for the first time
Speaker 1: in centuries. Although meetings took place all over the crowded hotel,
Speaker 1: the Gold Room with its fourteen chairs for the fourteen
Speaker 1: power nations that took part in the formal signing and
Speaker 1: doors as a tribute. So in nineteen seventy five, the
Speaker 1: Mount Washington Hotel was added to the National Register of
Speaker 1: Historic Places, and in nineteen eighty six it was recognized
Speaker 1: as a National Historic Landmark. It wasn't until nineteen ninety
Speaker 1: nine at the hotel stayed opened for the winter season.
Speaker 1: Prior to that change, the hotel would close to guests
Speaker 1: late in the fall and open in the spring. And
Speaker 1: in January two thousand nine, the Mount Washington Resort completed
Speaker 1: a fifty thousand square feet edition that includes a twenty
Speaker 1: five thousand square foot spa and a twenty five thousand
Speaker 1: square foot conference center. I love the spa, but oddly
Speaker 1: I do find this to be one of the more
Speaker 1: haunted spaces on the property. So let's get to the hauntings.
Speaker 1: There have been a few deaths on the property. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about notable deaths, ones that are documented and ones
Speaker 1: that are important. Obviously, Caroline and Joseph both died elsewhere,
Speaker 1: but some debts have occurred within the resort. According to
Speaker 1: author Janice Brown, there at least two verified debts at
Speaker 1: the hotel. Realized that in order for it to be
Speaker 1: New York Times news, the victims had to be fairly wealthy,
Speaker 1: so if a maid or delivery man keeled over on
Speaker 1: the front porch, it would not be in that newspaper.
Speaker 1: So on Friday September nineteen oh seven, Daniel Willis James,
Speaker 1: a very wealthy merchant of New York and senior member
Speaker 1: died at age seventy five at the hotel of a
Speaker 1: heart attack. On Wednesday, August eighth, nineteen seventeen, Alfred and Beadleston, Sr.
Speaker 1: Head of the brewing concern of Beatleston and Wortz, died
Speaker 1: at age sixty nine of an intest tojournal hemorrhage on
Speaker 1: the property. And in researching for this podcast, I found
Speaker 1: another rather grizzly death that took place on the property,
Speaker 1: one I'm not sure many know about. On the morning
Speaker 1: of August nine, diners enjoying their breakfast in the main
Speaker 1: dining room were interrupted by a woman screaming. Running to
Speaker 1: be of aid, guests found a woman crushed between the
Speaker 1: wall and the elevator off the main lobby. It is
Speaker 1: believed the elevator boy lost control of the car as
Speaker 1: a mss C, a cook from New Bedford, Massachusetts, was
Speaker 1: either exiting or entering the car. She had to be
Speaker 1: identified by her family members by her wristwatch. That elevator
Speaker 1: is still in use today and up until a few
Speaker 1: years ago, still required an attendant to operate it. I
Speaker 1: am sure there are other debts on the property, as
Speaker 1: many hotels tend to not advertise when tragedy happens within them.
Speaker 1: But let's get to the hauntings and ghost stories, because
Speaker 1: there's a lot more than I think we have time for,
Speaker 1: so I will focus on the juicy ones. Although activity
Speaker 1: is mentioned to occur throughout the resort, the Princess Room
Speaker 1: holds the most concentrated activity. Many guests have been roused
Speaker 1: from a sound sleep by the sensation of someone sitting
Speaker 1: on the edge of the bed. Some have even seen
Speaker 1: the ghost of Caroline brushing her hair and looking out
Speaker 1: into the void of the night. In three fourteen, guests
Speaker 1: have noted instances of lights turning on and off on
Speaker 1: their own, as well as items disappearing and reappearing in
Speaker 1: strange locations. Other guests reports smelling of floral perfume in
Speaker 1: the room. Here's an account from an unnamed staff member
Speaker 1: in a housekeeper was slated to clean Caroline's sweet A
Speaker 1: newly what couple had booked the room, but when the
Speaker 1: housekeeper knocked, there was no response from within. So the
Speaker 1: housekeeper opened the door but found that it wasn't unoccupied.
Speaker 1: There was a little girl sleeping on the bed. They
Speaker 1: went into the hall and spoke with the supervisor sighting
Speaker 1: the little girl as the reason why the room couldn't
Speaker 1: be cleaned. The housekeeper was then asked to leave a
Speaker 1: note in the room to let the guests know they'd
Speaker 1: be back in an hour to try again. When the
Speaker 1: housekeeper went back in the room to leave the note
Speaker 1: by the table, they looked at the bed and instead
Speaker 1: of a little girl, there was a woman staring right
Speaker 1: at them with the most scary smile on her face.
Speaker 1: She had black hair and was wearing a white dress.
Speaker 1: The very startled housekeeper left the room to grab a friend,
Speaker 1: and when they returned, room three fourteen was empty. The
Speaker 1: day before this incident occurred, the housekeeper had taken pictures
Speaker 1: of herself on the bed, and they wondered if perhaps
Speaker 1: Caroline had taken offense. In a blog post for Red
Speaker 1: Oak Press, yet another person detailed becoming a believer after
Speaker 1: experiencing strange events in room three four During the first night,
Speaker 1: the author was woken up around one am by a
Speaker 1: scratching sound on the window sill near the sitting area.
Speaker 1: They wondered if it might be windy outside, but before
Speaker 1: they could get up to look, they heard one loud
Speaker 1: clank on the pipe near the window. They claim that
Speaker 1: no heat was turned on at this time, and that
Speaker 1: they heard no indication of wind outside beyond the scratching sound.
Speaker 1: On their second night, they went to bed around midnight,
Speaker 1: and here's the author's account of what happened next. At
Speaker 1: two am, the metal cover on the ice bucket in
Speaker 1: the room fell off the empty bucket and fell to
Speaker 1: the floor with a clang. I sat straight up in bed.
Speaker 1: I could smell a flowery perfume in the air around me.
Speaker 1: I could not budge from the bed. I do not
Speaker 1: wear perfume, So where was this smell coming from? And
Speaker 1: why would the lid just come off the ice bucket.
Speaker 1: I now was convinced that there was a ghost in
Speaker 1: the room. The next morning, we told our waitress about
Speaker 1: what we had experienced. She just nodded with a knowing smile.
Speaker 1: Less frequently cited, the ballroom has been a host to activity,
Speaker 1: specifically that of disembodied mysteriously sourced music, and I will
Speaker 1: say that is actually the site of my very first
Speaker 1: experience at the hotel, which I will talk about later.
Speaker 1: A staff member had an eerie experience in the room
Speaker 1: on a night when no performances were scheduled they entered
Speaker 1: the ballroom late night and to their surprise heard the
Speaker 1: faint sounds of an orchestra playing. They thought a rehearsal
Speaker 1: was going on, but when they checked, no one was there.
Speaker 1: And then as they started to walk away, the lights
Speaker 1: suddenly went out and the music got louder. The employee
Speaker 1: checked the switch and sure enough it was turned off.
Speaker 1: They turned it back on, but then the switch turned
Speaker 1: down on its own the entire time the music kept playing.
Speaker 1: They ran out and grabbed some security guards. However, when
Speaker 1: they entered the ballroom to check, the room was silent
Speaker 1: and the light switch responded just fine. Down the great
Speaker 1: hall from the ballroom is the lobby, and one account
Speaker 1: from an anonymous staff member mentioned a frequent experience where
Speaker 1: a woman was glimsed on the mezzanine from the lobby.
Speaker 1: When someone looked closely, she was gone. One evening, in
Speaker 1: the hotel's bar the cave, two bartenders and two guests
Speaker 1: heard aloud that at the opposite end of the bar
Speaker 1: and a stack of tea cups and saucers they had
Speaker 1: stacked underneath the bar came flying out at least four
Speaker 1: ft and smashed all over the place. They had no
Speaker 1: doubt that there was a spirit in the room, and
Speaker 1: the guests quickly finished up their conversation and left for
Speaker 1: the night. They never came back for a drink. New
Speaker 1: England couple and dear friends of mine, Sarah Vickers and
Speaker 1: Kyle James Patrick, have stayed at the Mount Washington Hotel
Speaker 1: numerous times. Once Kyle said he felt pins and needles
Speaker 1: on his feet in the middle of the night. He
Speaker 1: also couldn't go back to bed after seeing a man's
Speaker 1: face in the mirror on the way to the bathroom
Speaker 1: at three in the morning. They did attend one of
Speaker 1: My Strange Escapes weekends at the hotel and Sarah definitely
Speaker 1: came out of that one a believer. Kyle and Sarah
Speaker 1: have stayed at the Mount Washington many times on New
Speaker 1: Year's Eve, and they almost always stayed in the Princess Room.
Speaker 1: So there was one weekend where the group took their
Speaker 1: party to Room three fourteen when the formal events at
Speaker 1: the hotel ended. At some point, a random middle aged
Speaker 1: man named Steve opened the door and came into the room.
Speaker 1: He refused to leave. He kept going on about how
Speaker 1: high he was and how he wanted to talk to
Speaker 1: the girls. Steve was escorted out, but again snuck back in. However,
Speaker 1: the next day there was not a trace of this
Speaker 1: man in the hotel or lobby. No one knew who
Speaker 1: he was. Fast forward to them visiting me at a
Speaker 1: Strange Escapes weekend a couple of years ago. Kyle and
Speaker 1: Sarah were having a private e v P session with
Speaker 1: Adam and myself in Sweet three fourteen, and not a
Speaker 1: lot was happening, so they decided to head back to bed,
Speaker 1: and then things got very strange. Knowing that they always
Speaker 1: left a light on for the sun, the couple was
Speaker 1: surprised when the light went off about half an hour
Speaker 1: after they all went to bed. Patrick called out to
Speaker 1: his brother in law, thinking he turned the light off
Speaker 1: by accident, but there was no answer. Suddenly the door
Speaker 1: slams shut, so Sarah says they were very confused and
Speaker 1: assumed it was a practical joke, but their brother in
Speaker 1: law was in bed, unaware that anything had happened. What
Speaker 1: they didn't realize was in that moment we were still
Speaker 1: investigating in room three fourteen and through the spirit box,
Speaker 1: a ghost named Steve kept calling for Kyle and asking
Speaker 1: to party with the girls. He kept mentioning he was
Speaker 1: high as a kite? Did I mention that Kyle and
Speaker 1: Sarah had never told me that weird story with the
Speaker 1: guy named Steve. I had no idea this had happened
Speaker 1: to them. So we don't know who Steve is or
Speaker 1: why he's stuck at the Mount Washington Hotel. But that's
Speaker 1: just one of the many mysteries within that place. So
Speaker 1: on that note, I want to talk the hauntings and
Speaker 1: theories about them at Washington, and I could not think
Speaker 1: of two better people to speak on this with than
Speaker 1: my BFF and paranormal investigator Adam Bury and one of
Speaker 1: my other BFFs, occult specialist and paranormal researcher, John Tenney.
Speaker 1: So it's going to get very weird. So stay tuned
Speaker 1: because that is coming up next. All right, So I
Speaker 1: am currently sitting here with Mr Adam Burry, paranormal investigator
Speaker 1: bff um and Mr John Tenney, occult specialist, paranormal researcher
Speaker 1: and so full disclosure, guys. When I was trying to
Speaker 1: figure out who to talk to about the Mount Washington Hotel,
Speaker 1: you know, normally when I do these podcasts, I find
Speaker 1: people who are closely affiliated with them and at Donnda me.
Speaker 1: I think that we have investigated the Mount Washington probably
Speaker 1: more than anyone else. Yeah, we go back every year
Speaker 1: and we spend multiple nights and I go back sometimes
Speaker 1: not affiliated, even with an event. I just go back
Speaker 1: and investigate. And what I love about the Mount Washington
Speaker 1: is that they're very open to us. You know, We've
Speaker 1: had a lot of locations where we do investigations or
Speaker 1: we do events, and they they kind of almost tolerate us,
Speaker 1: where the Mount Washington very much welcomes us. And you know,
Speaker 1: they've always kind of embraced their history with the princess
Speaker 1: and everything, and so I think that has a lot
Speaker 1: to do with it. How do you feel our reception
Speaker 1: has been at the hotel over the years. I think
Speaker 1: they enjoy us. I mean it changed from privately owned
Speaker 1: right or owned back corporation, one corporation to another because
Speaker 1: Omni took it over right, we had more access to
Speaker 1: spaces when it wasn't Omni, because I think the people
Speaker 1: before the Omni really we're like, Okay, do whatever you want.
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't think they were so worried
Speaker 1: about people falling and hurting themselves in spooky in spooky places.
Speaker 1: But I think now it's a little more corporate and
Speaker 1: they have to like dot their eyes and cross their teas,
Speaker 1: and I think we might be tolerated a little bit
Speaker 1: more now, you know, we were saying like we're tolerated.
Speaker 1: I think that's the case. I mean, I think the
Speaker 1: people before they were like, whatever, it's fine, go up
Speaker 1: in that spooky cross space or whatever you want to do.
Speaker 1: But they love it. I mean they've always been very nice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we used to be able to go into the towers.
Speaker 1: We can't go in the towers anymore. And I can't
Speaker 1: necessarily fault them for that because when we go in
Speaker 1: the towers, the floor is you know, almost falling up
Speaker 1: from underneath their feet. So there is there's probably some
Speaker 1: you know, liability issues there. I think that one of
Speaker 1: the reasons that we're tolerated, so you say, at the
Speaker 1: Mount Washington, is because if you think about it as
Speaker 1: an event and resort, Like when you tell an event
Speaker 1: and a resort that you're going to bring a few
Speaker 1: hundred people into the place, they get very worried that
Speaker 1: it's going to be loud and raucous. And sure, we
Speaker 1: might have the I p parties and after parties. But
Speaker 1: we're bringing in hundreds of people who love to be
Speaker 1: in a historic location and love to explore the haunted
Speaker 1: location and are respectful of locations and so like to
Speaker 1: bring in hundreds of people that you don't really have
Speaker 1: to worry that much about, who are going to love
Speaker 1: the property because of its history. I feel like for
Speaker 1: a resort, that's one of the reasons they're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: bring us, bring us people like this. Yeah, a thousand
Speaker 1: per cent. And so that being said, just for people listening,
Speaker 1: I do own a company called Strange Escapes where we
Speaker 1: plan like basically paranormal vacations for people, and we do
Speaker 1: them at the Mount Washington every year. And so we
Speaker 1: show up with a few hundred of our closest paranormal
Speaker 1: friends and fans, and we kind of take over the
Speaker 1: hotel and it's a weekend filled with investigations and lectures
Speaker 1: and learning and really good energy. And I think that
Speaker 1: kind of raises the vibe at the hotel and results
Speaker 1: in some really interesting activity. But to your point, John,
Speaker 1: when you tell a hotel a resort that you want
Speaker 1: to bring in those people and just kind of sit
Speaker 1: in the dark all night, and be as quiet as possible.
Speaker 1: They're like, oh, please bring in all your ghost hunting friends.
Speaker 1: You know, we're not like some crazy wedding or a
Speaker 1: conference like. These are people who like their whole point
Speaker 1: is to experience the location to such an extent that
Speaker 1: they will be quiet and still for hours on end.
Speaker 1: And that seems to me like a kind of a
Speaker 1: dream for some of these hotels, right, It's like they
Speaker 1: spend a lot of money at the bar, they eat
Speaker 1: a lot of food, and they are quiet as mice. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: that's a dream. So any other haunted locations listening, feel
Speaker 1: free to invite us. We're a lot of fun. My
Speaker 1: history with the Mount Washington goes back really far. The
Speaker 1: first time I went there, I think I still lived
Speaker 1: in California. I went there for an event. I showed
Speaker 1: up in the middle of the night, and you know,
Speaker 1: I had flown all day, had driven hours, had never
Speaker 1: been to this place, and I remember driving for what
Speaker 1: seemed like forever up in those New Hampshire white mountains
Speaker 1: in like pitch darkness, and then suddenly you kind of
Speaker 1: turned the bend and there is this majestic, insanely lit
Speaker 1: hotel in the middle of nowhere, and there's really no
Speaker 1: words to describe the first time you lay eyes on
Speaker 1: the Mount Washington Hotel, like it is just it's beyond anything.
Speaker 1: We've all traveled a lot. It is my favorite hotel
Speaker 1: I have ever been to. We go back regularly, but
Speaker 1: I do remember that first night, pulling in and kind
Speaker 1: of walking into the lobby, getting checked in, and then
Speaker 1: wanting to check out the event space. I think it's
Speaker 1: probably one or two in the morning, and so I
Speaker 1: was with my event organizers at the time, and we
Speaker 1: all together kind of went or there were three of us.
Speaker 1: We walked into the ballroom. It was all dark, but
Speaker 1: it was already set for our lectures the next day,
Speaker 1: and we walked in and just kind of checked it out.
Speaker 1: And I remember as we were walking out, I turned
Speaker 1: to one of them and I was like, it feels
Speaker 1: kind of different in here. It feels weird in here.
Speaker 1: And right end we heard this woman's laugh. This is
Speaker 1: kind of like like this, very like dramatic like laugh.
Speaker 1: We all heard it. We looked around. This place was
Speaker 1: desolate at that time of night, and we were there
Speaker 1: in the off season very much on purpose, and I
Speaker 1: remember being like, Wow, I've been here five minutes and
Speaker 1: I've heard this this like crazy laugh out of nowhere.
Speaker 1: So each of you, like, what were your first experiences
Speaker 1: with the hotel or what were your not even first
Speaker 1: but just like maybe you're more notable. I know, Adam,
Speaker 1: you've had the craziest experience. For me, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1: Like I remember driving to the Mount Washington for the
Speaker 1: first time and thinking to myself, there is nothing here,
Speaker 1: and then you make that turn and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's a magical wonderland here, like there's all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it just appears like a ghost, it just shows up.
Speaker 1: And then for me, I think the first night I
Speaker 1: was there, it was late at night, it was probably
Speaker 1: two or three in the morning, and I was just
Speaker 1: walking the hallways, being quiet, trying to get a feel
Speaker 1: for the building. And I knew that people would be
Speaker 1: coming for the event and that they were interested in
Speaker 1: ghosts and stuff. And so I heard a man talking
Speaker 1: to a woman and they were down the hallway from me,
Speaker 1: and I thought, oh, these people are up late, they're
Speaker 1: probably interested in ghosts as well, So I will sneak
Speaker 1: up behind them and give them a little ghostly shock.
Speaker 1: So I walked faster down the hallway, and they were
Speaker 1: staying ahead of me. And then I came around a
Speaker 1: corner and started to go down the stairs, and I
Speaker 1: could still hear them in the stairwell, but then they
Speaker 1: stopped talking and I went further down the stairs and
Speaker 1: I was out of the hallway, so I could kind
Speaker 1: of run down the stairs. And I ran down the
Speaker 1: stairs and there was no one at the bottom of
Speaker 1: the stairs, and I was like, I've been here fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes and I just chased a man and a woman
Speaker 1: who don't exist through the hallways. Yeah. Yes, And it's
Speaker 1: weird because a lot of those experiences and a lot
Speaker 1: of those kind of people encountered and seen don't necessarily
Speaker 1: line up historically or as far as like death's on
Speaker 1: record and everything with the property. And I'm very curious
Speaker 1: as to why. Like so, Adam, your experience resonates very
Speaker 1: much with me, if you want to talk about it,
Speaker 1: because it's like it's so out of character for what
Speaker 1: anyone would expect from the hotel, and so earlier in
Speaker 1: the first half the podcast, we did talk about our
Speaker 1: friends Kyle and Sarah and their experience with Steve, who
Speaker 1: was clearly some guy from a more modern time who
Speaker 1: was very interested in like meeting girls and getting high,
Speaker 1: and like this was this guy like not at all
Speaker 1: like a death that was on record with the hotel
Speaker 1: or anything you would expect from the princess. She would
Speaker 1: be appalled at that behavior. And your experience in mind
Speaker 1: me a lot of that. Yeah. So it was the
Speaker 1: first time I had ever been to the Mount Washington.
Speaker 1: It was April of twenty eleven. Actually, wow, pull that
Speaker 1: out of my just pull it out, um. And we
Speaker 1: were investigating it at this point. We were we were
Speaker 1: allowed to investigate the towers, which you can't get into anymore.
Speaker 1: But when we investigate, we investigate in small groups. And
Speaker 1: so at the beginning of every group there are dues
Speaker 1: and don't because we were in this space, it was like,
Speaker 1: please don't go, you know, into the middle of the space.
Speaker 1: There's a giant glass ceiling thing that you could fall through. Anyway.
Speaker 1: I was giving instructions and I said, okay, go and investigate.
Speaker 1: And I turned around to watch people leave. And I
Speaker 1: turned back around and there's this woman standing in front
Speaker 1: of me. She has black hair, bangs, long straight hair.
Speaker 1: She's wearing a gray sweatshirt, red sweatpants, old ish rebox
Speaker 1: and she's holding a diet coke bottle and she's looking
Speaker 1: at me, and I say, I'm like, can I did
Speaker 1: you hear what I said? I gave all the instructions
Speaker 1: are you Are you familiar? And she was like, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not. And then I repeated myself and all the instructions,
Speaker 1: and I got to and I don't go in there
Speaker 1: because if you go up there, you could trip and
Speaker 1: fall through that glass ceiling and that would not be
Speaker 1: I mean, and you could die. And I was like
Speaker 1: making a joke about it, because you know, and she goes, oh,
Speaker 1: that'd be okay, And she's just staring at me in
Speaker 1: my face, holding this diet coke bottle. And I noticed
Speaker 1: at this point, like the diet coke bottles a little
Speaker 1: dirty there. It's about an inch of water, brown murky water.
Speaker 1: Maybe there's some cigarette butts in it. It's just so
Speaker 1: weird and out of place and out of character. And
Speaker 1: she's staring at me through me, looking at me, and
Speaker 1: I said, hold on a second, and I turned around
Speaker 1: my back. I turned my back to her, and I
Speaker 1: look into this other room to check on these people
Speaker 1: and say, how is it going there like it's great,
Speaker 1: and then I go, oh, my gosh, she's not wearing
Speaker 1: a lanyard. Maybe she crashed the event because we have
Speaker 1: crashers sometimes. And I turned back around to confront her
Speaker 1: about it, and she is gone. And the weird thing
Speaker 1: is when you get to that tower, you go up
Speaker 1: an entire flight of stairs to get there, and when
Speaker 1: you open and close the door to get into the stairs,
Speaker 1: it is very loud. That did not happen. She did
Speaker 1: not go downstairs. So I started making my way around
Speaker 1: this octagon, you know, tower, looking in every room to
Speaker 1: be like, where is this woman? Where is this woman?
Speaker 1: Where's this woman? I screamed for everybody to come back
Speaker 1: to me, and I asked them. I was like, have
Speaker 1: you seen this woman? And nobody knew who I was
Speaker 1: talking about. No one had seen her. I was the
Speaker 1: only person that saw her. No one. And I asked
Speaker 1: every single group all night long. I remember asking you.
Speaker 1: I probably asked Tenny if he was there, Like you know,
Speaker 1: I was telling everyone who would listen, and I kept
Speaker 1: looking for this woman and I couldn't find her. And
Speaker 1: then months later I was at another event, and this
Speaker 1: is when the hotel would send somebody to events to
Speaker 1: get people to come and hunt ghosts, and the sky
Speaker 1: sees me come in the door and he belines it
Speaker 1: for me and he says, Adam, we've seen her, And
Speaker 1: I was like, who, And it has to be reminded.
Speaker 1: He was like that woman that you talked about. We've
Speaker 1: seen her, but every time we see her, she's down
Speaker 1: at the end of a hallway, turning a corner, or
Speaker 1: she's going somewhere, you know, and they can't catch up
Speaker 1: to her. Like she goes down the hallway where there's
Speaker 1: no exit and she's not there. And she looks like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, she looks like she's wearing the sweatpants and
Speaker 1: she has the It's the weirdest thing because it looks
Speaker 1: like a person. And I was talking to her and
Speaker 1: I had no doubt in my mind that it was
Speaker 1: a person until she was it wasn't a person. Well,
Speaker 1: John brings that up a lot in his lectures. How
Speaker 1: you know how many ghosts have we seen that we
Speaker 1: just had no idea where ghosts? You know, how how
Speaker 1: many times have we seen an apparition that just looked
Speaker 1: so real that we went about our day and we
Speaker 1: had no idea that this was someone you know who
Speaker 1: was potentially a ghost. And you know, going back in
Speaker 1: the history of the mountawah Rington, there really aren't any
Speaker 1: recorded modern deaths on property, but that doesn't necessarily mean
Speaker 1: they don't exist. You know, a lot of these kind
Speaker 1: of bigger hotels and things, they don't really advertise that
Speaker 1: when you go back and look at deaths that took
Speaker 1: place there in the early nineteen hundreds or whatever, when
Speaker 1: there was all these like very well to do people
Speaker 1: there and things. There were two documented deaths of two gentlemen.
Speaker 1: But like I mean, these people arrived with kind of
Speaker 1: a cavalcade of like servants and you know, helpers and assistants.
Speaker 1: If any of those people died, that would not have
Speaker 1: been in the New York Times. And then even so
Speaker 1: later on and so I did uncover one death that
Speaker 1: we did talk about earlier, but I don't know that
Speaker 1: you guys know about it. But I did find one
Speaker 1: really gruesome death that happened on property in the twenties.
Speaker 1: And basically everyone was at breakfast one morning. This was
Speaker 1: they're all at breakfast. They hear a woman screaming from
Speaker 1: the lobby. People run to the lobby and they find
Speaker 1: this woman basically crushed between the wall and that elevator
Speaker 1: in the lobby right there. So the elevator boy had
Speaker 1: that that's what they called him in the newspaper article.
Speaker 1: By the way, the elevator boy his title, had lost
Speaker 1: control of the elevator either when she was getting on
Speaker 1: or getting off, and she basically was crushed between the
Speaker 1: wall and the elevator, and her family had to identify
Speaker 1: her only by her wrist watch. Good lord gnarly. And
Speaker 1: that elevator has been in use, I mean the elevators
Speaker 1: in use today. I mean now they don't have an attendant.
Speaker 1: When we first started going, there was an attendant, but
Speaker 1: there's not one there anymore. But that's the only other
Speaker 1: like really crazy death I could find there. But that
Speaker 1: does not explain your diet coke lady, or the people
Speaker 1: that John Tenny saw. Right. I have a new theory
Speaker 1: and I'm interested to hear your thoughts on it. So
Speaker 1: every time we go to the Mount Washington, I bring
Speaker 1: up this story because you know, the drive is long.
Speaker 1: It's like going to the Shining Hotel, you know. And
Speaker 1: I we were talking about this story again and Ben
Speaker 1: was like looking at photos and it was like, does
Speaker 1: this did this look like her? Because we're trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what she looks like. And I look at
Speaker 1: the picture and I said, oh, sort of like she
Speaker 1: could be a relative of that person, like a cousin
Speaker 1: or aunt, like the same features. And he was like,
Speaker 1: that's the princess. And so I was like, what if?
Speaker 1: What if? Because of because this woman wanted to know
Speaker 1: why I was there, wanted to know why I was
Speaker 1: leading the group, what I was doing in the space
Speaker 1: I wasn't supposed to be in. What if the Princess
Speaker 1: just manifested herself as something as close as she could
Speaker 1: get to modern day so that I would talk to her,
Speaker 1: Because if she showed up in victorian dress, I'd be
Speaker 1: like whoa and like running around with my flappy arms,
Speaker 1: like breaking out. I don't know. After having heavily researched
Speaker 1: the Princess the last couple of weeks, I feel like
Speaker 1: that could be a possibility, But I don't think she
Speaker 1: would show up as a woman with a coke bottle
Speaker 1: with cigarette butts in it and sweatpants, Like that is
Speaker 1: not our princess. Okay, you know what? Like the algorithm
Speaker 1: got off and like she's like well, this will have
Speaker 1: to do. But it's like I felt like as if
Speaker 1: you know, she is just showing me herself as something,
Speaker 1: so I will talk to her because she needed that information,
Speaker 1: Like why are you here, what are you doing? What's happening?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just thought it was really really weird.
Speaker 1: And you know, I've never seen her again. And every
Speaker 1: time I go, I sometimes I just sit in hallways
Speaker 1: and like watch for her and wait, you know, I've
Speaker 1: never seen her again. So maybe this is putting it
Speaker 1: out in the universe. We're all going to see her
Speaker 1: next this this November when we go back to your
Speaker 1: to your point though, Adam, like, maybe she's not manifesting
Speaker 1: those clothes and that dirty coke bottle, but I mean,
Speaker 1: because we don't really know why ghosts wear clothes and
Speaker 1: and where they get their clothes from, Like maybe it
Speaker 1: is her, but your brain is manifesting her in a
Speaker 1: way that doesn't scare you and make you run around
Speaker 1: with your arms flapping and breaking out. Like maybe maybe
Speaker 1: your brain couldn't see it at that time in that
Speaker 1: spooky way, and so your brain put her in a
Speaker 1: normal outfit. A very relaxing woman from the eighties with
Speaker 1: a dirty cigarette butt filled Coca Cola bottle. I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe we're learning something new about Adam Barry exactly. That's
Speaker 1: an internal like an internal weird thing I need to
Speaker 1: work through. We've talked about this before though, there's a
Speaker 1: at least one of the ideas that we've we've I know,
Speaker 1: we've spoken about and I talked about it lectures. Is.
Speaker 1: One of the difficulties with ghost hunting any place is
Speaker 1: that sometimes these entities or spirits or ghosts show up
Speaker 1: and we don't know who they are, and we don't
Speaker 1: know why they're there. And maybe it's because they are
Speaker 1: on a type of vacation. Maybe they go to the
Speaker 1: places that they loved and they just check in and
Speaker 1: walk around owned because they loved it when they were alive,
Speaker 1: and so it's not that they died there. It's that
Speaker 1: now that they're not tethered to their body, they can
Speaker 1: go anywhere they want, so they go to the places
Speaker 1: that they love. I mean, I would one hundred percent
Speaker 1: if I was a ghost, I would one hundred go
Speaker 1: back to the Mount Washington, Like it's one of my
Speaker 1: happy places. As you guys don't, like, we go there
Speaker 1: all the time and I could definitely see myself in
Speaker 1: like spirit form being like, you know what, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go check up on the Mount Washington and see what's
Speaker 1: going on there and like have those feels, you know,
Speaker 1: get that nostalgia. So that being said, something that has
Speaker 1: kind of done, not necessarily related, but just something that
Speaker 1: I've thought about more now, just because you know, Charlotte
Speaker 1: loves hiking, and so she and mr X mr X
Speaker 1: being my significant other that chooses to remain unnamed, um
Speaker 1: mr X, she and uh Jimmy, they go hiking a
Speaker 1: lot up there, Like she's hiped Mount Washington twice now
Speaker 1: and like you know, she's eight. She loves it. But
Speaker 1: every time they go up there, I you know, I do,
Speaker 1: being the morbid person I am. They'll go on to
Speaker 1: like a certain mountain, and I will of course google,
Speaker 1: like you know, Eisenhower deaths, and I will learn about
Speaker 1: people who died hiking up there and hiking, especially back
Speaker 1: when the Mount Washington was first. I mean, obviously it's
Speaker 1: a huge part of that now, a huge component of
Speaker 1: it now, but even back in like the early nineteen hundreds,
Speaker 1: like they forged a lot of trails back there and stuff,
Speaker 1: and there were a lot of deaths, and there are
Speaker 1: a lot of deaths of people who were staying at
Speaker 1: the hotel and never made it back they went out.
Speaker 1: I mean, keep in mind, we're talking millions of people
Speaker 1: hiking there over the years, but there are moments where
Speaker 1: people like that staff has that job of cleaning out
Speaker 1: that room of someone that didn't make it back from
Speaker 1: a hike. It's very rare, and so sometimes I wonder that, like,
Speaker 1: are those people kind of you know, they didn't die
Speaker 1: on property, But it's just interesting because there is that
Speaker 1: weird energy there. I don't know, I'm I'm reaching. Maybe
Speaker 1: it makes sense though. Also you're talking about the land
Speaker 1: it's built on being you know, it's very beautiful. Native
Speaker 1: Americans were around there. I know that you and I
Speaker 1: have had many weird experiences down in the lecture area
Speaker 1: in the SPA, And I actually brought that up in
Speaker 1: the history earlier, was that, like, we have found that
Speaker 1: to be one of the most haunted places in the hotel,
Speaker 1: even though it's new to the structure, and they have
Speaker 1: since added on to that, there's a whole other wing
Speaker 1: of new rooms. What's really weird is that when you
Speaker 1: pull up you don't see any of that, Like they've
Speaker 1: really done it cleverly. Were like you pull up, but
Speaker 1: it is still very much the original facade of the hotel.
Speaker 1: You do not see the spa wing or the new rooms.
Speaker 1: It just looks exactly like it did when it was built.
Speaker 1: But in the back there are these new structures. But
Speaker 1: we've investigated the Presidential wing many times and had really
Speaker 1: crazy experiences. So John, maybe you can speak to that,
Speaker 1: Like why do you think that area would be more
Speaker 1: haunted or have so much activity? Well, I think people
Speaker 1: who ghost hunt and go on investigations. We know this.
Speaker 1: Like whenever a house is being rebuilt or an addition
Speaker 1: is being put on, like that seems to kick up activity.
Speaker 1: And it's almost like if there are spirits and entities
Speaker 1: who are used to roaming the halls, like oh now
Speaker 1: I have a new area to go into, like and
Speaker 1: and plus people, you know, whether we think about this
Speaker 1: in the forefront of our mind, but like when you're
Speaker 1: building something, you have people doing a craft, usually something
Speaker 1: they love. They're putting their like emotional energy into building
Speaker 1: a new whole segment, and they might talk about people
Speaker 1: are gonna get married here, and people are going to
Speaker 1: have memories here, and people are going to stay here,
Speaker 1: and that intentional energy might even act like a magnet
Speaker 1: to the entities that are already in the other parts
Speaker 1: of the hotel, like what is happening? Why are so
Speaker 1: many people thinking about this other area where there's nothing,
Speaker 1: where it's being constructed, And so they go and hang
Speaker 1: out and they see all the activity and they're like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna see what happens over here. And now that
Speaker 1: new part is as haunted as the rest of the place.
Speaker 1: I will say one of my best friends, she didn't
Speaker 1: really know the history there. I told her that we
Speaker 1: were doing an offense there or whatever, and she said,
Speaker 1: you won't believe this. I was at the spa one time,
Speaker 1: the the spa, you know, not not in the main hotel,
Speaker 1: and she was like, I was getting a massage, and
Speaker 1: she said, and the woman left for whatever reason, and
Speaker 1: she said, I felt like someone literally started pushing down
Speaker 1: on my chest so hard. She was like, I couldn't breathe.
Speaker 1: I was gasping for air. And she was like, I
Speaker 1: had the worst feeling. And she's like, I literally had
Speaker 1: to throw myself off of the massage table and I
Speaker 1: had to get her. I had to convince her to
Speaker 1: come back to the hotel. I was like, it's fine.
Speaker 1: That was it's like, you know, in my brain, I
Speaker 1: was like, it's so weird because that, like we've said,
Speaker 1: like that is seemingly one of the more haunted spots
Speaker 1: in the hotel, and she had this experience like completely,
Speaker 1: you know this, She's not into ghost or anything. I
Speaker 1: will say I've had many massages there and I've never
Speaker 1: had that experience and would go back anytime. But it's
Speaker 1: just so weird that, you know, she had no idea
Speaker 1: of the history or that it was haunted and she
Speaker 1: had this wild experience there. Well, you know, we always
Speaker 1: talked to about like the different types of experiences. And
Speaker 1: one of the things that I don't mention very much
Speaker 1: because it's one of my little I feel like it's
Speaker 1: a personal, little not trick, but I don't know what
Speaker 1: the good word is. But when I'm at places like
Speaker 1: the Mount Washington, I'm a cigarette smoker, and so I'm
Speaker 1: super sensitive to the smell of cigarette smoke and there
Speaker 1: are places like the Mount Washington where I can tell
Speaker 1: if activity quote unquote ghostly activity is going to kick
Speaker 1: up in an area because I start to smell cigarette smoke,
Speaker 1: and then I remember at these locations, the majority of
Speaker 1: the time they've been open, people used to smoke inside
Speaker 1: of them, and so I feel like my brain is
Speaker 1: like up, someone smoking in here, and I know that
Speaker 1: they're not. I know that no one's smoking in the building,
Speaker 1: but it's almost like that's how the spirit or the
Speaker 1: ghost figures out a way to let me know that
Speaker 1: they're there. I don't know if that's stranger now. No,
Speaker 1: I think they're very personable. I cannot pinpoint what goes
Speaker 1: on in that place. People always ask me, what is
Speaker 1: the most haunted place you've been in the US, And
Speaker 1: I'm like, the Mount Washington Hotel, like, hands down to me,
Speaker 1: is the most haunted place I've been. I've been into
Speaker 1: asylums and hospitals and crazy things, but like the Mount Washington,
Speaker 1: something always happened. You Know, there was a night where,
Speaker 1: like my the light in my room kept going on
Speaker 1: and off, and like I would get up and I
Speaker 1: could hear it flicking back on, and I would be like,
Speaker 1: you need to turn this light off, and then finally
Speaker 1: it would turn off. And you know, things like that
Speaker 1: happen all the time. There was a time where Charlotte
Speaker 1: and I my water we rented a room there in March,
Speaker 1: which is very much slow season there because ski season
Speaker 1: is winding down, and we were one of three rooms
Speaker 1: checked in into that entire hotel, and Charlotte was just
Speaker 1: running circles around the lobby and there was like a
Speaker 1: blizzard that night, and we were up with than one
Speaker 1: of the tower suites and the wind was howling and
Speaker 1: I literally was living like my haunted life in that moment.
Speaker 1: It was like, there is no place more haunted than this.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, I think the hotel remembers us. Oh,
Speaker 1: it totally does. I've been there so many times. I
Speaker 1: feel that, Yeah, it's like has a mind of its own.
Speaker 1: And you know, we have our fun things that we
Speaker 1: always do when we're there, right, we have we always
Speaker 1: do like sort of the same things to go to
Speaker 1: the spot, or we have a cocktail in the same spot,
Speaker 1: or we watch an episode of Kindred Spirits, you know,
Speaker 1: with a group of people, and we make these lasting memories.
Speaker 1: But I don't think the tel forgets us. And when
Speaker 1: we return, it's like, oh, welcome back. Let's like, let
Speaker 1: me show you this new thing I've got to show
Speaker 1: you today. It's it's fascinating and I wish, I mean
Speaker 1: I sort of wish I could live there. Did you
Speaker 1: have you talked about the portrait of Stickney? I haven't.
Speaker 1: I was going to talk about that in the end,
Speaker 1: So everybody stay tuned. I'm going to give you a
Speaker 1: little four one one. Yeah, it's a it's a doozy
Speaker 1: it is. And like what you were saying, I think
Speaker 1: we might be the only people who go up there
Speaker 1: regularly and talked to the hotel. I think people go
Speaker 1: up there, they experienced the hotel, and they do their thing,
Speaker 1: and they have their weddings and they have their vacations.
Speaker 1: But I think all of us have like an active
Speaker 1: conversation with her. I'm going to call her her well
Speaker 1: and to the extent, like to the extreme about like
Speaker 1: Adam saying that the hotel remembers us. So the first
Speaker 1: time I was at the hotel, I did the investigation
Speaker 1: out in the area where they have of the horses
Speaker 1: and a pig and the stable. Yeah, the stable, and
Speaker 1: nothing really seemed to happen. Every year since that time,
Speaker 1: when I go out into the stables, the activity in
Speaker 1: the stables is like, Oh, it's Tenny and those people again,
Speaker 1: because the last time we were hearing horses outside of
Speaker 1: the stable and people were seeing little shapes move around
Speaker 1: on the floor that looked like dogs and pigs and cows,
Speaker 1: and so it's like even the animals like love them
Speaker 1: out Washington to the extent that they're staying there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think this was the best unpaid for
Speaker 1: advertisement for the Mont Washington they've ever had amongst us
Speaker 1: spooky people. Yeah, they're listening upgrade every time we It's
Speaker 1: just one of my favorite places. And I just I
Speaker 1: feel like what you guys was. I think that it's
Speaker 1: very easy for people to go up there and have
Speaker 1: a beautiful, lovely vacation. But if you're into ghosts and
Speaker 1: you want to shift your focus and maybe try to
Speaker 1: experience something there, I think it's pretty easy. And it's
Speaker 1: also like very safe and secure, and so it's a
Speaker 1: good spot for people like us. So and I feel
Speaker 1: like we just scratched the surface, by the way, because
Speaker 1: I know we've all had way more experience and we
Speaker 1: could literally talk about them at Washington for six hours
Speaker 1: maybe more. But just tell me like individually, like John,
Speaker 1: I know you have a podcast happening, tell us where
Speaker 1: people can find you and you know how to support you.
Speaker 1: So my podcast is called What's Up Weird? Though it's
Speaker 1: not paranormal at all. It's just two people, two friends,
Speaker 1: talking to each other. But all of my social media
Speaker 1: is just John E. L Tenny. That's Twitter, Instagram, all
Speaker 1: of it. Or you can just type Tenny Weirdo into
Speaker 1: Google and follow where it leads you. That's fabulous. Mr Barry.
Speaker 1: I know you don't have anything going on, so I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna end this right now, and I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: Anything happen. You know, you can watch Candred Spirits. I
Speaker 1: feel like there's going to be a new season around
Speaker 1: the corner at some point. Whenever you're listening to this podcast,
Speaker 1: stay tuned. Oh this is coming out very soon. But
Speaker 1: our new season is coming out early early next year, right,
Speaker 1: So I'm doing that and then you can follow me
Speaker 1: find me on the social just google Adambury, Instagram's Adambury.
Speaker 1: My Twitter is Adam J. Berry because the Adam Bury
Speaker 1: in the UK will not give it to me, so
Speaker 1: that's okay. But we're friends now, so that's that's a plus.
Speaker 1: I think you just haven't you need to up your
Speaker 1: your price for that? He was like, why would I
Speaker 1: sell it? It's my name and I'm like, okay, fine,
Speaker 1: like it's also my name's also well. Thank you so much,
Speaker 1: you guys. I can't wait for us to get back
Speaker 1: to the Mount Washington in November. Although by the time
Speaker 1: people listen to this might not be November, but we
Speaker 1: are up there almost every November of every year with
Speaker 1: my company, Strange Escape. So check it out and join us.
Speaker 1: Thank you, guys, love you. I'm so happy to have
Speaker 1: had this conversation. My thank you for joining me on
Speaker 1: this extremely deep dive into the Mount Washington resort and
Speaker 1: all of its hauntings. I don't claim to know what's
Speaker 1: going on there, because it's not a haunting that fits
Speaker 1: any textbook haunting by any means. I do know that
Speaker 1: despite every strange and maybe slightly scary experience I've had there,
Speaker 1: I keep going back, and we'll always go back. It
Speaker 1: will continue to be a special spot for me and
Speaker 1: my family, and that veranda with those spectacular mountain views,
Speaker 1: will always be my happy place. I did just want
Speaker 1: to say a quick thank you to all of you
Speaker 1: who have enjoyed season one of Haunted Road. We are
Speaker 1: already very much at work on season two and your
Speaker 1: support and your comments and reviews and feedback have just
Speaker 1: been incredible. So thank you for getting weird with me
Speaker 1: every Wednesday. And I can't wait to be back with
Speaker 1: season two, so we will be talking again soon. I'm
Speaker 1: Amy Bruney, and this was Haunted Road. Haunted Road is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild
Speaker 1: from Aaron Mankey. The podcast is written and hosted by
Speaker 1: Amy Bruney. Executive producers include Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick. The show is produced by rema Ill Kali
Speaker 1: and Trevor Young. Taylor Haggerdorn is the show's researcher. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.