I have to investigate a "haunted" hotel

[CptColumbo]

Part of my current day job is investigating complaints about hotels that our employees stay in. Usually, it involves noise, bad food, pests (insect and rodent) and cleanliness. Recently I got a complaint about a hotel in Spokane, WA that stated that the place was "haunted, like something out of a horror movie." When I e-mailed the person who complained for further clarification (was it a noise or the AC making it too cold), she wrote back that it gave off "a bad vibe" and made her feel "uneasy." Looking through our records, this person has never complained before about a hotel, so there is no history of such complaints. It is also the only complaint of this nature to be made about this hotel (there are others from a while ago about elevator/lift trouble). I still have to call the hotel and inquire about it and possibly go there to experience it for myself (unlikely after one complaint, but not unprecidented), then write a report.

 

[Ixion]

Make sure to tape EVP, and bring your infrared cameras and EMF readers.

Seriously though, do you have to investigate every single complaint made about the hotels, or does one of your supervisors pre-screen the complaints? This should not be taken seriously. Maybe something along the lines of "Keeping it on record that the complaint was made" would suffice?

 

[petra10]

Sounds like fun. I suppose you must take it serious as I think the lady really believes the hotel is hunted. Phone the manager and explain the complaint that was made. You never know maybe he has had complaints about the haunting before.
After calling the hotel simply file the complaint away as "looked into" and dont send the lady there again.

Remember if you need any help you know who to call.

 

[CptColumbo]

Make sure to tape EVP, and bring your infrared cameras and EMF readers.

Seriously though, do you have to investigate every single complaint made about the hotels, or does one of your supervisors pre-screen the complaints? This should not be taken seriously. Maybe something along the lines of "Keeping it on record that the complaint was made" would suffice?

Yep, I have to investigate it. What it will probably amount to is asking the manager if the place is haunted. I just hate wasting the manager's and my own time on this.

I've also had a person who stayed at a hotel in Vegas with a circus theme that complained because she has an "extreme fear of clowns."

 

[Gravy]

Yep, I have to investigate it.

Why should you have to investigate such a nonspecific complaint? How would you determine if a place was or was not "haunted?" Suppose I said, "That place gave me the willies." Would you ask the manager if the hotel was a known willie-producer?

It's absurd and a waste of everyone's time. Talk to your boss and file it under P for poltergeist, personnel, and psychiatry.

 

[Psiload]

I've also had a person who stayed at a hotel in Vegas with a circus theme that complained because she has an "extreme fear of clowns."

Who doesn't?

 

[Loss Leader]

A rattling elevator can make a noise that seems both close and far away, audible and somehow inaudible. It can cause the strangest vibrations. Without knowing what it is, I could see how something like that might scare the tar out of an otherwise reasonable person.

 

[Psiload]

Reminds me...

I was once staying in a hotel and I started 'hearing voices'. It was creepy as hell. Every once in a while, I would hear a real faint voice saying just a few barely intelligible words. It was obviously coming from inside the room.

The voice started in the middle of the night and woke me up. In my groggy state, it took me nearly twenty creeped out minutes to figure it out.

The clock radio was on and tuned between stations... it was picking up one end of a phone conversation or a walkie talkie or something.

I could easily see how someone could walk away from a similar situation thinking they'd experienced a "haunting".

 

[kerikiwi]

A rattling elevator can make a noise that seems both close and far away, audible and somehow inaudible. It can cause the strangest vibrations. Without knowing what it is, I could see how something like that might scare the tar out of an otherwise reasonable person.

No, it would leave a reasonable person wondering where that noise was coming from.

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

Part of my current day job is investigating complaints about hotels that our employees stay in. Usually, it involves noise, bad food, pests (insect and rodent) and cleanliness. Recently I got a complaint about a hotel in Spokane, WA that stated that the place was "haunted, like something out of a horror movie." When I e-mailed the person who complained for further clarification (was it a noise or the AC making it too cold), she wrote back that it gave off "a bad vibe" and made her feel "uneasy." Looking through our records, this person has never complained before about a hotel, so there is no history of such complaints. It is also the only complaint of this nature to be made about this hotel (there are others from a while ago about elevator/lift trouble). I still have to call the hotel and inquire about it and possibly go there to experience it for myself (unlikely after one complaint, but not unprecidented), then write a report.

Guess what, mr Columbo.

It is here. It is now available. For free.


Here's part one

 

[ElMondoHummus]

Yep, I have to investigate it. What it will probably amount to is asking the manager if the place is haunted. I just hate wasting the manager's and my own time on this.

I've also had a person who stayed at a hotel in Vegas with a circus theme that complained because she has an "extreme fear of clowns."

And that is wrong why?

*Imagines clown, shudders*

 

[cj.23]

Ridpath, Darlington or Double Tree? A few seconds on google establishes these are three hotels in Spokane which actually claim to be haunted, so it may well be it's fashionable in those parts...

cj x

 

[cj.23]

Incidentally I'm a bona fide British ghost hunter (you can see me on Most Haunted or the old Discovery show Ghosthunters if you need references) and will cheerfully write you a report on how to handle this for a donation to the JREF or TAM scholarship fund. Failing that I would not mind a transatlantic flight and few nights in a Washington hotel if your boss will stretch to it!

cj x

 

[a_unique_person]

Take a camera with a fuzzy lens.

 

[petra10]

Incidentally I'm a bona fide British ghost hunter (you can see me on Most Haunted or the old Discovery show Ghosthunters if you need references) and will cheerfully write you a report on how to handle this for a donation to the JREF or TAM scholarship fund. Failing that I would not mind a transatlantic flight and few nights in a Washington hotel if your boss will stretch to it!

cj x

Bloody hell your not Derek Accord are you?

 

[plumjam]

Incidentally I'm a bona fide British ghost hunter (you can see me on Most Haunted or the old Discovery show Ghosthunters if you need references) and will cheerfully write you a report on how to handle this for a donation to the JREF or TAM scholarship fund. Failing that I would not mind a transatlantic flight and few nights in a Washington hotel if your boss will stretch to it!

cj x

Hi JK

 

[Hamsterfan]

Hm. Let's see, you need a camcorder with a battery known to fail frequently (so when the spirit manifests and the battery dies you can say that the spirit was gathering the energy it needs to show), a partner who is jumpy, a tape recorder and a camera crew and you would have the makings of a TV show that would get picked up on a cable network!

What a drag you have to investigate complaints. Hope it is a more interesting trip than it sounds like it will be.

 

[RemieV]

Incidentally I'm a bona fide British ghost hunter (you can see me on Most Haunted or the old Discovery show Ghosthunters if you need references) and will cheerfully write you a report on how to handle this for a donation to the JREF or TAM scholarship fund. Failing that I would not mind a transatlantic flight and few nights in a Washington hotel if your boss will stretch to it!

cj x

CJ? The medium? Nah, can't be. She's in FL.

Well, now I'm interested

Back to the original issue, though...

I've stayed in so many "haunted" hotels that it's ridiculous. I find it kind of awesome that the individual actually complained about the hauntiness. My real suggestion would be to give the individual who complained a drug test. That sounds awfully harsh, I know. But it seems to me that the best way to handle it is to knock out all easy explanations first.

 

[godless dave]

I still don't understand why you have to investigate the complaint. It's clearly frivolous. Your employer is wasting money.

 

[Calcas]

Ridpath, Darlington or Double Tree? A few seconds on google establishes these are three hotels in Spokane which actually claim to be haunted, so it may well be it's fashionable in those parts...

cj x

I've stayed at all three. A few years back I was relocating to Spokane and my company put me up mostly at the DoubleTree.

At any rate, Spokane is a great town but it's not too far from some VERY FAR left Loonys just over the border in Idaho.

So, I would agree that it is "fashionable" in those parts...which is like saying that Berkley, CA has more "reports" than Orange County, CA.