The Arlington Hotel in Red Deer was haunted. That fact was driven home to me when I was fighting the City of Red Deer to save the city's oldest building from the wrecking ball, a fight that was ultimately unsuccessful.
The Arlington Hotel in Red Deer was haunted.
That fact was driven home to me when I was fighting the City of Red Deer to save the city's oldest building from the wrecking ball, a fight that was ultimately unsuccessful. However, during the process I learned much more about the building and some of the tenants.
My tour of the building came as the hotel was slated for demolition, and I gained access to preserve a visual record of the 1899 wing, but I was to find so much more than history.
Originally the sleeping quarters of the owners, the top floor of the wing was converted to storage, and the sitting room, once glorious with a view of the train station, was home to beds, doors, mattresses and junk.
One of the rooms had a tenant. I should say, it "had" a tenant 50 years before.
Bill was a man who lived in Room 7, had hanged himself in that room, and since that time his quarters had remained empty with sparse renters in the old rooms that sported solid mahogany doors and 1920s style switches and electricity.
He was still there.
While walking through the building with my brother, son and father on a "ghost tour", we snapped pictures all around the floor, and in Room 7, I captured orbs, which are evidence of ghosts in the room around the clothing on the rack.
My brother called me back into the room. He had been videotaping and he asked me to smell. All of a sudden, there was the smell of what my dad called "bull dog" or "lucky dog" tobacco. He said his father smoked that when he was young.
There was no one in the room, and the smoke smell started beside the bed, just like Bill was sitting on the metal frame bed having a bedtime puff.
The night desk staff had stories as well.
Down the hall from the front desk on the main floor, sounds of children were frequently heard. Upstairs, the same sounds could be heard in both hallways as well. Children had not lived in the hotel since the 1930s.
On the first floor, our guide told us about the "woman in white" who had been seen in the room at the far right, gliding from the wall, across the room, and through the bathroom wall. It was not an uncommon occurrence, just part of the hotel.
A friend who was with us had never been party to a sighting and asked what they feel like.
I told him that the air cools down very quickly, and there are pockets of freezing air.
"Just like now?" he said, pointing to a spot that dropped 10 degrees.
The guide said, "She is here." We could not see her, but we could track where she went by the freezing air.
My friend left the room.
Later, when I wanted to show my father and brother the suite, my guide could not find the key. I guess the woman wanted privacy.
Unexplained Mysteries is a regular column that will investigate UFOs, ghosts and news we can't explain away. Email [email protected] if you have any sightings or topics we can explore.
