THE HAUNTED HOTEL Part one

A few years ago my husband went abroad for a week and I decided to use this time to stay at an Inn about 2 miles away from where my sister lives. Several times over the years whilst visiting her, I had thought it looked an interesting place in which to stay. This was an ideal opportunity and so I booked a double room, half board.

You can see this place on the Internet. It is called The George at Nunney (Somerset) and is a 15th century Hotel opposite the ruins of a moated 14th century castle. I love the place and was really looking forward to staying there. I knew nothing about it at all, but did wonder if it was haunted or if I would "pick up" anything whilst staying there. Now, I may be a psychic medium, but I have never seen a ghost which is a totally different thing to what I do. I still haven't seen one, but, I now know they exist. My first night was about to be very scary in some ways.

On arrival I was shown to my room which was sort of on the 2nd or 3rd floor. The main stairs take you to a first floor hotel lounge. From this room there are three exits. One takes you back the way you came, the furthest door takes you to all the main hotel bedrooms and the third exit on the right hand side of this room, takes you to where I was to stay. It led to two bedrooms on that level, but there were about six steps leading to another room on its own at the very top of the Hotel. This was the room given to me. These three rooms were quite cut off from the main body of the hotel and even though it was very nice, the fact I was alone made me a little nervous at being so cut off. Little did I realise then, that I was actually the only guest staying in the hotel that night.

I unpacked my things, had a quick wash and then left to go and visit my sister who lived in an adjoining village. She was to join me for dinner on the Friday evening, but the first two nights I would dine alone. I got back to the Inn at about 4pm with the intention of having a relaxing bath, a lie down reading for an hour or so and then a walk around the castle opposite before coming back and having a drink (or two) outside by the river before dinner. All best laid plans and all that.

As I came back into the hotel, there were two ladies sitting there with a cup of tea. They said hello and asked if I would like to join them. They introduced themselves as the owner and her friend who was also the hotel receptionist. It was kind of them to ask and so I agreed. We had a cup of tea and about an hour later we all had a glass of wine. Why not, I thought. I was on holiday and wasn't driving anywhere. How pleasant was this.

Where we were sitting was in the reception area. The reception desk was mainly in the hallway, but you could look through from the desk area into the bar which was behind a thick stone wall. As I sat there with them both sipping my wine I asked a question without thinking what I was doing. I looked at the owner and asked her who the man was who used to come in every day and sit on a stool at the bar in a corner by the door. I told her he smoked as he had just blown smoke into my nostril, that he wore a soft cloth cap and was called Tom. I don't know who was more stunned, them or me.

I am not now talking about the ghost. This was me picking up something mediumistically. This never used to happen to me like that but this place was something else and my gifts have never been stronger than they were in the George that holiday. I was asked what I was talking about and they were fascinated by my answer. They looked at each other knowingly but never said why. I found out the next morning why they had looked at each other like that. In fact, later that night in reality. Anyway, they said they didn't know who it was as the owner had only been there for about two years so wasn't sure about past regulars.

I later went up to my room, had my bath and went down for dinner. There was the residents dining room or another eating area for non residents in the lounge bar. I chose to eat in the lounge bar area as it had more character and I wanted to see what the local villagers were like. It was a good decision. I had a superb meal and then after I had finished was approached by the landlady. She told me that a man called Richard was bound to be in at any minute and that he had been a regular each night for many years. If anyone knew who I had been talking about earlier, it would be him.

He arrived and they asked him if they knew a man who smoked, wore a cloth cap and sat on the same stool in the corner at the bar every night. Before they could say more, he said "Oh yes, that'll be old Tom". You could have knocked me for six. He told us more about him and then we left it with no more said. I was asked if I could pick up any more, but I couldn't as I was tired by now and ready for my bed. The next night in the hotel was to be an incredible experience for me and the whole village. This night, however, was to be the most incredible experience I have ever had.

At this point, I still did not know that I was the only guest in the hotel that night. I knew there was no one else in to eat, but in a hotel (or village Inn) so far from anywhere, I put it down to them having eaten in Bath or somewhere else they had been to see that day and assumed they would arrive later. Wrong! With what happened next all I can say is thank goodness I didn't know that night that I was alone apart from the owners, who were in another part of the hotel. If I had known then,due to what happened later, that I was the only one, I would have been petrified out of my skin. As it was, I put it down, at first, to someone playing a joke on me.

My room was very pleasant, quite spacious, had a pleasant outlook and a decent sized bathroom. It had an old wooden door with an old fashioned latch with a ringed handle. You know the sort. Twist the ring handle and the latch lifts. The weather was very hot and so I had the sash window wide open for air and to try and get a breeze in the room. I washed, changed and did all the usual and got into bed with the bedside light on, picked up my book and prepared to read to make my eyes tired enough to sleep. And then the first thing happened.