Told to Jeanine Plumer:
HAUNTING HONEYMOON AT THE DRISKILL
It was a chilly, rainy day, and we wore coats from the reception to the hotel.
When we first arrived at the hotel room, I went out onto the balcony by myself. I noticed that one rocking chair was covered, while the other was uncovered, by a weather protecting cover which was laying on the balcony floor. I thought that was odd, because surely the maids would have checked the balcony when they prepared our rooms and either covered or uncovered both of the chairs at a five star hotel.
Later, Earle went out on the balcony first, and had just popped the champagne bottle when I came out to join you. As he poured the champagne, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. I saw the chair on our right, rocking in an uneven motion. I said, “Earle, the chair is rocking!” It was not rocking regularly, as if one motion, like one of us bumping the chair had caused the motion. (And I had carefully avoided the chair as I stepped outside.) It was rocking continuously, and irregularly, with pauses, as if someone was in the chair.
I went over to the chair to put my hand on the back of the chair and tried to stop the motion of the chair. This gave me a sense of foreboding, and I felt afraid of intruding, somehow. Furthermore, my hand on the chair did not seem to have any effect on the movement of the chair at all. The chair continued to rock. By this time, the laws of physics were being defied in terms of how long the chair had been rocking on it’s own.
At this point, Earle proposed a toast to the chair, or the being in the chair, telling it that we were celebrating our wedding. I chimed in and thanked it for allowing us to share the space. We raised our glasses and drank. The rocking stopped-as if on cue.
We left the balcony feeling reassured that the spirit had responded to our good wishes. We placed a glass of champagne on the balcony as an offering before retiring.
The next morning, I went outside to look at the chairs. I pushed the chair on the
left side of the balcony, and it rocked in a regular rhythm for about 5 seconds, which seemed normal. I could also stop the rocking by touching the chair. I looked at the design of the chairs, and both were the same. I looked under both chairs, for any kind of motorization. There was none.
I touched the chair on the right side of the balcony, the one that had been rocking the night before. Immediately, it began rocking in the same ghostly fashion. I felt the same sense of foreboding, in the bright sunlight. It continued rocking, as it had the night before, and again, I could not stop it. I was frightened, and left the balcony.
We checked out a little later that morning. We had had a romantic, wonderful wedding night. And a ghostly visitation (or were we visiting the ghost?) that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
Mrs. Jane Hager
