Hotels that go bump in the night!

It's Halloween!!! So....what ghost stories have we got for you?!  

Well we know we have a ghost at our hotel, we haven't tried very hard to discover very much about him but he is definitely there.  He walks the stair case from the cellar to the first floor and appears late in the evening.  Often when the night porter is on his rounds.  

Now being such a large old building, it should be of no surprise that we have a ghost.  Many staff members have different stories about their encounters with him.  He doesn't cause trouble, he simply paces up and down the stair case and corridors, occasionally appearing at reception.  

Some guests that have held an event in the room next door to the staircase in question have come in to show us their photos. They have all been believers and shown much excitement about so called Orbs being present in their pictures. (This doesn't happen to everyone, just some I hasten to add.)  

So what do we make of all this??  Well we think the ghost might have been a long serving member of staff many years ago.  He seems very careful not to disturb the guests, only the staff on duty.  In fact no guests have ever reported a paranormal experience, just the house keepers and night porters.  

Our Duty Manager Kumar had his first encounter about 8 years ago....  

It was a winters evening, wind and rain pelted Folkestone's sea front. Kumar was three hours into his shift.  At around 1.30am having done his rounds of the building he got himself a hot drink from the kitchen and made his way back to reception. Sitting on the sofa in the bay window he took a moment to rest and enjoy his drink when he felt someone sit next to him. Opening his eyes there was nobody there, however someone (or should I say something) started blowing in his ear.  There was no draft from the windows and there was no breeze hitting any other part of his body, just his ear.  Jumping up and switching on all the lights Kumar moved back behind the desk and remained there for the rest of the evening listening to the creaking of the floor boards and with the distinct impression that he wasn't alone.

Even now, the night porters tell us of similar experiences and the sound of someone pacing the corridors, and once even a shadow of an object in the shape of a man was caught on camera walking up and down the stairs. 

A housekeeper who used to work for us also experienced some strange goings on.  She was a live in member of staff and it happened that her room was below the suite in the hotel. On one particular night she was woken from the loud noises coming from above, the sounds of furniture being dragged around, doors being slammed and heavy footsteps stomping across the floor.  She rang reception to find out if the guests in the room above were ok, but it was reported back the suit was empty away.  The noises got louder and so they decided to investigate, however when they opened the door, the noises stopped and there was no sign of the room being disturbed.....  

What we don't know is if the two disturbances could all be tied in by one paranormal entity, if we have a couple that are harmless but occasionally like to remind us they are there or if indeed there are some perfectly reasonable explanations.

Of course being Halloween....We are expecting a sighting or two over the next few days....Wish the night porter luck!