Phantom of the Inn...Would You Believe It?

Do you believe in ghosts? (Besides the Holy one, I mean.)
If you asked me, I'd say, "Of course not," but I still might check behind the shower curtain when nobody's looking. (I'd be more worried about Norman Bates than any of Casper's relatives.)

After all, everybody knows that ghosts only show up in Scooby Doo mysteries, and then they're not really ghosts at all but the work of mentally deranged innkeepers who would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids.

I've always assumed that ghosts and ghost busters are only in the movies (along with the Stay Puft marshmallow man.) People see what they want to see, don't they?
But then my completely sane husband came home yesterday from a business trip to Nova Scotia with a story that's rattled me a bit.
See what you think.

Whenever Todd goes to Nova Scotia, the Michelin travel people reserve him a room at the Blomidon Inn, the local bed and breakfast pictured in the Courier & Ives scene above. I should tell you that my husband is not really a B&B kind of guy. He'd rather have a big TV in the room than rocking chairs on the porch, and he doesn't cotton to sitting with a table full of stranger ladies for tea. We did B&B's plenty in France, and it was a lovely way to spend a vacation once we got used to it, but when he works? Not so much.
When he works, he wants to work, sleep, then repeat. So he just ignores the doilies. It's always worked out fine.

And why shouldn't it be fine?
Look at the beautiful rooms!

The place is full of gorgeous antiques, big fluffy beds that require a step stool...


Tons of mahoghany and teak...


Flickr photo by west.advocate
And plenty of old paintings with googly eyes that follow you all around, just like in Scooby Doo. (Do you see a pattern here?)
Check out the eyes in the painting above. Those belong to Captain Burgess, the wealthy sea captain and ship builder who built the stately Victorian as a home for his family.

"I felt uneasy the whole night," Todd told me. "I know it sounds crazy, but it felt like somebody else was in the room. I hardly slept."
If you know my husband, then you know that he's built like a football player and is very brave. (Except for the time years ago when we heard a noise in the garage and he threw me out in front of him when he opened the door. But I promised I wouldn't bring that up again.)
He flipped channels and dozed on and off, all night long.

So the next morning at the factory, he told a coworker about his rough night. The coworker wasn't surprised one bit, and shared a couple stories of his own. One involved a mutual friend of theirs (a PhD chemist, if that helps you believe it.) She stayed in Captain Burgess' room on her last business trip and woke up around 3 am to find Captain Burgess standing at the foot of the bed!
"Why are you in my bed?" the image asked her.
She promptly threw her things in a suitcase, ran to her rental car, and checked into a different hotel.

Crazy, huh? A waitress at the inn said it happens all the time.
What do you think? Do you believe it, or should we track down the innkeeper and check for a mask?

Have a great weekend, y'all!
Love, Becky
PS. Now I can't stop thinking about this...