An interview and a giveaway....

  Hi folks! Today I'm over at i swim for oceans doing an interview as part of the first ever Spencer Hill week. And, of course, there will be prizes. Hop on over and enter to win a signed copy of Angelina's Secret or.....wait for it.....are you ready?..... My MUSE!  Yep, all authors have them, but I have more than one, so I'm willing to share. Of course, my muse has chosen to manifest himself as a ghost from the Crescent Hotel. Are you surprised? I though not.  :)  Good luck and happy haunting!!!

My Recent Getaway

Isn’t it amazing how a vacation can simply wear you out? I returned home late Monday night from a much-needed getaway. As usual, I went to Eureka Springs Arkansas and stayed at the magnificent Crescent Hotel—and yes I have a ghost story to tell.
My husband and I were to meet some friends for lunch but as lunch dates sometimes go, we ended up extending it to include several outings. Long story short our “lunch” took up most of the day. Not getting into bed until very late the night before, we decided to take a 30-minute nap. I had just gone to sleep when I heard what sounded like my husband emptying his pockets on the nightstand. I rolled over to yell at him nicely ask him to be quiet. To my surprise, he was sleeping next to me. Typically, I would have grabbed my camera but I was truly exhausted so I went back to sleep.
After the alarm went off, I told my husband about the noise. He smiled and said, “I heard it too but I heard it twice.” He then went over to the closet and rattled the hangers. The hangers made the exact noise we had both heard. Being “professionals” at this sort of thing, we looked for a logical explanation. There were no vents in the closet or anything else we could find that would make that sound. Except perhaps, an unseen resident, telling us we shouldn’t waste such a beautiful day sleeping.
I did take a lot of pictures of the hotel but as of yet I haven’t had time to look through them to see if I captured anything out of the ordinary. If I did, which isn’t unusual at the Crescent, I will try to post them here later

My Turn...

Since I asked you to share your ghostly encounters, I’ve gotten several emails with request for me to share some of mine. So, I guess it’s my turn. 

As I mentioned in the last post, I love staying at the Crescent Hotel. The first time I actually stayed there was for my 20^th wedding anniversary. Since 20 years is kind of a big deal, we decided to go all out and booked the honeymoon suite. After the six hour drive to get there, we checked in and decided to take a nap before going into town. After getting up, we changed clothes and left the hotel to do some sightseeing. Returning a couple of hours later, we found our bed had been made and our clothes were put up. The room was not only clean, but it smelled of lilacs. I thought this was a little strange because I’d never stayed in a hotel that cleaned your room just hours after you checked in. Knowing the hotel was supposed to be haunted I suspected we might be experiencing something paranormal.  At that time my husband did not believe in ghosts so he was convinced “someone was messing with us.”

The next day we were visiting with a staff member and asked them if it was customary for the room to be cleaned after only being there for a few hours. The man smiled and said the hotel staff only cleaned the rooms in the mornings but that sometimes the “out of body residents” took it upon themselves to tidy up the rooms.

My husband, the skeptic wasn't buying any of it. He loved the Victorian charm of the hotel and was in awe over the town—but ghosts—no—that was impossible.  He did however have a hard time explaining how our room would suddenly fill with the fragrance of lilacs and then quickly dissipate throughout our stay.

Ghost Hunters Crescent Hotel

Anyone who knows me knows there’s no place I’d rather be than sitting out on the veranda at the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs Arkansas. I have spent countless nights there. I simply can’t get enough of the hotels Victorian charm and of course its ghosts. Some of you may have seen this footage before when it aired on Ghost Hunters but it’s worth watching again.