The Last Ghost of Summer

     

So one last ghost story from this past summer season.

Last September, Jim and I went to Mackinac Island with two other couples. We had never been there before, and had always wanted to see this interesting island that didn't allow motor vehicles and promised all sorts of interesting sites to visit.

We weren't disappointed. We arrived by ferry from the mainland, and spent hours on our self-guided walk, checking out Fort Mackinac, wandering through the historic cemetery, enjoying the spectacular water views, and dodging bicycles as well as horse-drawn carriages on the paved streets. Mackinac Island is an amazing place.

We only had the one day visit (on a round-trip ferry ticket) and the day we chose to visit was hot. I mean HOT. After hours of walking around with occasional stops to rest and frequent sips from our water bottles, we eventually decided it was time to get lunch in an air-conditioned restaurant. Now, the main street there is a tourist hot spot with souvenir shops, candy stores featuring Mackinac Island Fudge, ice cream venues, hotels, and eateries. After some speculation, we wound up in a hotel restaurant and amazingly got a table for six after a fairly short wait. The serving staff was friendly, the food was good, and -very important- the room was wonderfully cool.

After our meal, we readied ourselves to walk back out into that fiery hot sunlight, and this included a quick stop at the restroom. Anyone who has read this blog since its inception knows that I have frequently wondered why ghosts choose to haunt bathrooms. I mean, seriously. If I were a ghost, I don't know that I'd want to hang around the women's room day and night. For what? But then, I'm not a ghost and I don't know how they think -if they think- so I can't explain it.

While I was drying my hands in one of those devices where you put your hands between two blowers and "slowly draw them upwards" as the sign indicates, I turned my head and noticed, for just a flash of a second, that there was a woman to my right who was watching me. I blinked and looked again, and she was gone. That was odd. I know there was only one other person in the lavatory with me, one of my friends, and she was finishing up in a stall. So why did I see a woman standing there, watching me? I thought, that was weird, and went back out to the lobby.

A few moments later, my friend joined the rest of us and before we headed out, she said, "There was a woman in the bathroom." I said, "Really? I thought we were alone." And my friend said, "That kind of woman." And then I knew she meant the dead kind. "I saw her, too," I admitted. "She was just standing there to my right, watching me dry my hands." And my friend said, "Exactly."

I didn't get a long enough glimpse of the lady to describe what she was wearing, although I will say she didn't seem to be dressed in contemporary fashion. My sense of it was that she had on a long dress, and that her hair was done in style that suggested turn-of-the twentieth century.

I might have doubted what I saw if my friend hadn't volunteered seeing the same thing. And if it lends any credence to this story, the friend who also saw this ghost woman was none other than the acclaimed and highly-talented paranormal writer, Terri Reid, herself.

Validation!