Niagara on the Lake

 From: 
Story type: Ghost
Location: Pillar and Post Hotel
Source: Form Submission

A month or so back I had promised my girlfreind Heather I would take her to the Pillar and Post for a nights stay on Sept. 2nd (as sept. 3rd is  U.S. Labor day).   I called to make reservations and the receptionist talked me into taking a room with a fireplace. (For an extra $80).   

I did not request any  special room as I have little knowledge of the layout of the Pillar and  Post.  Heather and I left Bufalo, NY (HOME) at 11:00 am on Sunday Sept. 2nd  and after a leisurely drive and some sight seeing (The Niagara GorgeWalk/Awesome) we arrived at the Pillar and Post about 2:00 PM.  

I asked the hostess if we could check in a little early (regular check in is 3:00 PM) and she said that as long as we didn't have a preference of room this wouldn't be a problem.  I told her as long as it had a fireplace  any room would be fine.  

After a couple of minutes of punching computer keys she said that for some odd reason the computer had us locked into a room and she couldn't get us out of it, she asked me if I had requested a specific room and I told her no, but we were going into town anyway to eat a late lunch so we would stop back afterward and pick up our key then.  The hostess then booked us into our room and told us we were all set and the keys for room 118 would be waiting for us when we came back from lunch.  We walked into town and had a nice lunch at The Kiely House, looked around some of the shops and walked back to the P/P.  

We picked up our keys at the front desk and went into room 118.  

The room was beautiful and I was glad I paid the extra $80 as the room was almost like a mini-suite.  

We turned on the fireplace and looked around the room, ate a couple $5.00 candy bars from the honor bar/fridge. We decided to use the pool and hot tub which were also beautiful (although the waterfall in the hot tub wasn't working).  

As we were leaving to go swimming I asked Heather to turn off the fireplace which she did and off we  went.   We swam and hot tubbed for an hour or so and went back to our room. When we opened the door it was dark except for the fire from the fireplace.  

I said to Heather  (Somewhat snidely) " I thought I asked you to turn off the fireplace".  

She said she did and I was pretty sure she did  but we didnt really think much of it.  

We dressed and decided to ride into town with no real plans except to have some fun.  

Heather remembered that we had seen some advertisement somewhere on the web for a candlelight ghost tour at Fort George.  

It was about 7:45 Pm and I thought it was probably too late but we took the short ride and as luck would have it a group was just walking into the park.  

We tagged along for a short distance and the group came to a stop and a woman  holding a lantern began speaking and asked if everyone had their tickets for the ghost tour.  

I wanted to go on with the tour and just pay later. (really:) ) But Heather thought we should go get tickets and wait for the  later tour which was to start a little later at 8:30 when it was really dark.  

So we went back and bought tickets ($16 Canadian for two) and then sat in our car and drank a little wine (Pellar Estates Cristall. GREAT STUFF) and waited for the tour to start.  We had little idea of what the tour was all about, I thought we all got our own candle and spooks (read Fort Employees) would be rattling chains and moaning etc..  

Our tour guide Kyle quickly informed us that was not the case however, he explained what the tour was really all about, as much a history lesson of Ft. Georges role in the war of 1812 as a ghost tour.  

He then started talking about some of the ghosts in town that were known to haunt certain locations.  

He asked if anyone was staying at the Oban Inn and described a ghost there.  

He said there was a ghost at the Kiely house where we ate lunch (we chuckled a little at that) and he talked  about some ghosts at the Prince of Wales.  He then asked if anyone was staying at the Pillar and Post, we were at the back of the pack but I raised my hand, he then said there were a couple of ghosts; there one was in room 222 and he was kind of nasty but there reportedly were two women  ghosts who were staying in room 118.  Heather let out a little gasp and burried her head against my chest saying half jokingly "Oh, No".  

we had a little laugh with the rest of the crowd as we told them we were staying in  room 118.  I'm not sure how many rooms are in the P/P but the odds we were in a haunted room must be at least 50-1.  

Heather thought maybe I paid Kyle the tour guide $20 to say that 118 was haunted but we really hadn't been seperated from each other all day and the ghost tour was her last minute idea.  

I thought the whole thing was kind of cool but I didn't really believe in ghosts and Heather is pretty well educated and I don't think she really believes in ghosts either but I figured we would have some fun with it and  I would tease her and try to scare her.  

The tour group then went into the fort and the ghost tour continued as Kyle talked about what life was like for the common soldier and their family, and some of the ghosts that haunted the soldiers barracks.  

After that we walked to the back of the fort where Kyle explained that this was where much of the ghostly activity in the fort took place.  

We were then walked down a long (150yds. ?) totally dark underground tunnel.  

Heather made sure we stayed close to Kyle and the candle as he led us down the tunnel to a small room where he gave us another interesting story about the fort its history and some of the ghosts.  

He then said that as those at  the very front of the group (us) had had the candle on the way in, he thought it was only fair that those at the back had the candle on the way out.  

He then walked to the back of the group and started leading the group out.  

I figured this would be the perfect time to throw a little scare into  Heather and asked her if there was anyone behind us as we walked out, I thought it might be fun to stay back a little in the dark and fool around. She looked behind us (her eye sight is FAR better then mine) and let out a scream.  Not a fake fooling around kind of scream, but a real shout of terror I have been a police officer for 15 years and have never heard a scream like that.  

We were holding hands and she tried to take off running, I tried to slow her down  but she pulled me with her into the couple in front of us.  I could kind of make out the woman in front of us as she had been standing next to me in the room at the end of the tunnel and she had long frizzed out blonde hair which picked up what little light was in the tunnel,  

Heather pulled me into this woman and her boyfreind  (I stepped on his foot pretty hard, I noticed him limping for the rest of the tour.)  

As we emerged from the end of the tunnel Heather was laughing but I could tell she was kind of shook up.  I asked her what had happened and in a loud voice (as she pointed at the blonde and her boyfriend) she said  "They snuck up behind us and ran past."  The blonde and her boyfreind (who looked kind of pissed at me for stepping on his foot) looked at her as if she were nuts and I told her they were in front of us the whole time as I saw them leave the room ahead of us and I could make out her hair in front  of us as we were walking up the tunnel.  Heather insisted someone had rushed passed us and she felt them pass her and her hair had blown back as they went past.  

She was a little upset (hysterical?) as she asked me if I  hadn't seen or felt 'those people ' rush past us.  

By now I figured I better not try to tease her or scare her after all as she already seemed pretty scared.  

The rest of the tour was very interesting and Heather calmed down (some) and nothing else really scary happened although when we were walking out of the fort onto the green space in front of the fort I thought I could hear a little girl playing some kind of a game and making up a rhyme as she went along (like jump rope or hopscotch or  something) I thought  (and think now) it was just my imagination and I didn't want to freak Heather out any more so I didn't say anything about it then.  

As the tour came to a close we finally had a chance to talk to Kyle the tour guide about the ghost in Room 118.  He told us that the guests had never seen the two women as far as he knew but the staff had seen and heard things on several occasions.  

He then described how one maid had been cleaning the room when a radio came on and started playing and even after she had unplugged it it kept playing (Christmas music as it was christmas season) she checked to make sure it wasn't on battery power and brought it to the hotel manager still playing.  

They then brought the radio back to the room and asked the ghosts to turn the radio off.  

They left the room  and supposedly when they came back the radio was off.  

On the way back to the room we talked about how it was funny that we ended up in room 118 and that we couldn't get the computer to let us out, and we talked about how the fire place seemingly went on by itself.  And if we hadn't gone on the particular ghost tour we went on we never would have thought twice about it.  Heather said if the fire place is on when we get  back she "IS NOT" staying in that room.  

Well when we got back she jokingly (I Think) put her ear to the door and listened.  She got an odd look on her face and said listen.  I figured we really couldn't hear much being in a noisy hall way, so I just opened the door.  The radio was on and Heather let out another real scream (In  fact several doors opened to see who was being murdered).  

I figured we must have hit the alarm button on the radio or someone had set it earlier and forgot to turn it off before they left.  But it wasnt set to alarm it was set to off, and when I checked the alarm it was set for Mid-night and  it was only reading 11:47 P.M. (the correct time).  Heather was a little freaked out but I talked her into staying and we ordered room service and calmed down.  

When the waiter brought the room service I asked him if he had ever heard of a ghost in this room.  He turned a little white when I explained what had happened and left down the hallway very fast. (almost a run)  He said over his shoulder that staff had seen it but weren't supposed to talk about it with guests.  

I really still thought it was cool and after calming Heather down and eating the food, etc. I went right to sleep.  (I wouldn't let Heather leave a night light on and she said it was a long time before she fell asleep.)  Well I have to admit that around 4:45 AM I didn't think it was so cool anymore.  

After waking up for some unknown reason I was kind of disoriented (read scared).  I then felt what seemed like two or three sharp tugs on the blankets from the foot of the bed.  I couldn't tell if Heather was awake, but I thought maybe she was trying to scare me and pretending to be asleep. So I closed my eyes only to feel three or four tugs on the bottom of the blanket.  

Well that was it.  I said "Heather, are you awake"  and shook her just to make sure she got the message.  I then told her I had to turn the light on for a minute.  I turned the light on and looked around.  

Heather asked me what was wrong and not wanting to scare her (Or admit I was a LITTLE scared) I told her nothing was the matter, but if SHE wanted we could leave a night light on for the rest of the night.