John’s blog

My mom passed on sad news that a close friend and former neighbor of hers died last Saturday.  Bill was an instructor pilot in the Army Air Corps in 1941 when the war began.  He served in Europe, and flew the P-38, the P-40, and finally the P-51 ("Mustang") in numerous missions over Germany.  It was a delight when he would take guests over to the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola Naval Air Station.  He would walk around several of the aircraft on display which he had flown, giving interesting, in depth details about the performance of each aircraft in combat.  At the conclusion of the war, he turned down a lucrative offer to become a test pilot for the new U.S. Air Force.  Instead he used the G.I. Bill to earn a degree in medicine.  He was, of course, retired when he and my mom were neighbors in Orange Beach, AL.  He introduced me to the great fun of deep-sea fishing.  He owned a 40-foot cruiser, powered by two impressive sea-modified inboard Corvette engines.  When I would visit mom during the summer, one or two mornings of my visit consisted of my joining Bill and his son on the boat, the "Tenacious", for a day of fishing 40 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, Bill's health went downhill rapidly over the past few years, and he lived the last few in an assisted living home near his son, in North Carolina.  He was a fun man, almost like a grandfather to me.  He is in a better place now, back on his boat, fishing everyday, I imagine.

If you could easily choose to live in another country without all the red tape and legal stuff, which one would you select and why? 
Submitted by Matthew 25.

Germany, because I lived there for three years, and am familiar and comfortable with the country.  And living in Germany would give me very easy access to the rest of Europe and the U.K.  England would be my second choice.

Well, Well.  The other night, our resident spirit here at the resort paid me a visit again.  I think there may be something about the holiday season that stirs him.  We set up a 14 foot christmas tree every season, in the center of the lobby.  Last year around this time, as I was walking past the tree in the wee hours, the only person in the lobby in the past 3-4 hours was me.  Yet, as I passed the tree, I smelt a very distinct cigar aroma which seemed to be hovering around the tree.  Jump forward to this year, just 2 nights ago.  Being bored, I decided to take a picture of the tree, since it looks really nice. So, I walk over, take the picture, and as I'm looking in the viewer to see if I got a good shot, I hear a very distinct and noisy sound by the tree.  It sounded exactly as if someone was "scrunching up" some wrapping paper, after a present had been opened.  It startled me, and I looked down into the lobby lounge to see if someone might be playing joke.  Nope, the entire lobby and bar was vacant, except for me.  Wild! And this is what really gets my attention...The next day I was telling my co-workers about what happened, one girl, who was the night auditor before me, said "I never thought anything weird happened at night  to me until I remember that this happened to me many times".  Not the tree, but she said that often at night she had the feeling of a "presence" from a back corner of the bar watching her work at the front desk.  The hairs rose on my neck.  I experience the same sensation, from the same part of the bar, almost every night I work.

And I've learned a bit about who the ghost, "the man in the brown suit" may be.  It seems that in the 20 years of the hotel there have been two suicides by guests.  One was by a man who stayed in our east tower until he jumped over the railing.  When the authorities inventoried the man's property in the room, one item was a brown suit.  Every one who has seen the spirit say it look like a man wearing a brown suit or outfit.  He's seen all over the east tower, but not the west tower or any where else on the property, except Christmas time when he enjoys the tree in the lobby!!??

I've only heard or smelt the presence...but the presence I feel is watching me from the corner of the bar...is under the east tower of the hotel.

Any incite would be appreciated!

Where is the farthest you have ever been away from home? Did you get homesick? 
Submitted by Melissa.

I'd have to say Zimbabwe, which is roughly 7,000 miles from sweet home Alabama, USA.  I nwas there a month on a mission trip.  Not homesick, really, since I've traveled all my life.  The year before I was in Bolivia, which is a 'lil bit closer, lol

Have you ever ridden in a hot air balloon or a helicopter?  Where did you go?

AI few years ago when I started going to my mom's time share on Kauai, Hawaii, I rode one a helicopter tour all over the island.  It was fun and cool!  I'm glad I did it that year, because the year after 2 touring helicopters crashed.  If I had waited a year, those crashes would have scared me from ever flying in  one of those helicopters!

Even though my team, the Alabama Crimson Tide, lost to LSU on Saturday, I'm really happy with how my team played.  Yeah, we lost  41-34.  But we managed to put 34 points on the board against the #2 ranked college football team in the country.  We made LSU play for 60 minutes.  They only scored the tie TD and then the winning TD in the last 3 MINUTES OF THE GAME!!!  I truly believe we are only getting better, so watch out SEC!  ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

I've been sad all weekend.  Had to say farewell to a girl who was working here over the summer.  Now she's gone home to Poland to finish school, her Master's Degree in Journalism.  It's hard because it is highly unlikely we will see each other in person ever again.  We were friends and I regret that I didn't make an effort to be a better friend with her.  Not romantically, just to get to know her better.  I hate telling someone good bye....it's so final.  I never tell my friends or family here "goodbye" rather, it's always "see you later".  Yep, I'm sad that I'll never see Magda later.  Her full name is Magdalana Dlugowolska...quite a mouthful!.  Well, she's back home in Poland this morning.  Good bye Magda.  Farewell, friend.

So, working in a hotel is a challenge, normally.  But when you add a resident spirit into the mix, that just "kicks it up a notch".  The resort I work at has a guest that doesn't seem to want to leave.  That's interesting in two ways.  First, our complex is only 20 years old, so the buildings don't have much of a history. The staff only knows of one guest who died in the lobby bar about 13 years ago. That guest was a woman, but our spirit, "the man in the brown suit" according to all who have seen him, is decidedly male.  Second, as far as we know, no guest of the hotel has seen him..just staff.  "He" is always spotted during late night or early morning hours by housekeepers, security guards, and engineer staff.  It's normally a quick glance at a male figure in what appears to be a brown outfit standing at the far end of a hallway.  He's been spotted on almost every guest floor for about 16 years.  Not very often, though, probably a couple months between appearances at the most frequent.  The other weekend, when I was the overnight manager, oursecurity guard may have actually heard "him".  The security guard was making a security round just after 4 am, and was walking the stair case between floors.  Passing from the 4th to the 3rd floor of our west tower, he suddenly heard footsteps running down the stairs behind him.  The security guard stopped, turned around, and when whoever was running reached the spot where they would turn the corner of the staircase into view of the security guard, the running noise stopped. instantly.  The security guard, thinking our engineer onduty was following him and playing with him, called up the stairs "Are you messing with me Rudy?"  He got no response, and stood still for a couple of seconds to see if he could hear breathing or any other movement.  He heard none.  So, he opened the door onto the 3d floor, and when it was opened, Greg, the security guard, said he "felt a cold chill" pass through his body, as if someone was walking through him. 

Let me tell you, Greg is not the type of person who would make up stories.  He is a straight forward, retired policeman.  And he does believe that there is "something" unnatural in the resort.

I've had a few experiences with unexplained noises, but I'll go into those next time.