No Vacancy at the Inn

This article is written with the permission of the St. Francis Inn. I have no affiliation with them and am gaining nothing from them by writing this article. Enjoy!

I was born and raised in St. Augustine, Florida and my grandparents happen to own one of the most haunted houses I’ve ever been in! I’m no stranger to spooks! So, when I got the idea to seek out a haunted room in a haunted Inn in St. Augustine, I was all about it!!

My Hometown of St. Augustine, Fl has some really cool, beautiful Inns available to enjoy! My husband’s birthday just happens to be the day before Valentine’s Day AND he just happens to not believe in ghosts or hauntings AT ALL. ha ha

I’m sure you can guess where I’m going with this…

Not even a year after we married, I decided I was going to kill two birds with one stone and make a surprise reservation for the two of us at a beautiful Inn…..that also happens to be very haunted. What could possibly go wrong?!

After a bit of research, I settled on the St. Francis Inn located in downtown St. Augustine. It’s absolutely breathtaking AND is said to be SUPER haunted. Win-Win!!!

I called them up and asked for the most haunted room they had! They recommended “Lily’s Room” and it just happened to be available, which was a small miracle since it was only a month before Valentine’s Day! It’s like it was meant to be……

I showed up early the day of my hubby’s birthday to set up and decorate our room and asked the lady what the story of the Inn was. This is a snippet from their website that explains why the Inn is haunted…

“A story is told of a young man who lived with his uncle, Major William Hardee, who owned the Inn during the middle of the 19th century. He fell in love with “Lily,” one of the young black servant girls, believed to have been a beautiful slave woman from Barbados, and they would sneak into rooms of the inn to carry on their secret love affair. When the uncle, a military officer, walked in on the lovers, he dismissed the servant and ordered his nephew to never see her again. The nephew, deeply depressed, killed himself, some say by hanging himself in the attic, now Lily’s Room, others say by jumping from the third floor window.”

Some of the things that she said occur in that room are make-up bags being messed with, people being touched, seeing things moving by themselves, full bodied apparitions, and she even said there was once a house keeper who was cleaning the bathroom of Lily’s room and became locked in there for several hours when the door shut and wouldn’t open again! The bathroom door didn’t have a lock on it…

Armed with this information, I felt fairly confident that my unbelieving husband would be a believer soon!

Once he was off work, I had his bag packed and whisked him off to our fun over night adventure! We rode their bicycles around town that they had for free use of their guests, had dinner, and settled in for the night.

This next part isn’t going to sound very romantic because, well, it isn’t. ha ha ha That night was wrestling night and my hubby started watching it as I dozed off. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remember, I stirred because my covers came off of my shoulders. I’m the kind of sleeper that bundles up to my neck in covers. When I looked back on it, the covers were pulled off of me but in my sleepy state, I didn’t realize that. I just pulled them back up and rolled onto my side.

I felt a sharp slap on the back of my neck and flipped onto my back in a flash! I was suddenly wide awake and fully aware that something was happening! As I was laying there, realizing that my covers were pulled downwards, I began to hear the sound of plastic moving. Like a rustling sound.

Before we had settled in, I’d put a big ziplock bag full of my make-up in a chair on the other side of the room but still in clear sight. At this point, I’m realizing that it is moving….

I lay perfectly still for what felt like a half hour watching and listening to this plastic bag moving, too scared to get up and check it out. Slowly, the realization settles in that…..I have to pee. Oh no. Why did I have to doze off without peeing first?!

All I can think about is that poor cleaning lady being stuck in a haunted bathroom for three hours and how I might be next! I am silently FREAKING OUT by now! I tap my hubby’s shoulder and whisper, “Honey, I think there’s a ghost in here.” He doesn’t even stir. This time, I vigorously shake his shoulder and thus his whole body and loudly whisper “Honey!!! I think there’s a ghost in here and I have to pee!” He finally says “Huh? Go pee.” and then he’s gone again.

Great. He’s useless to me right now. I realize that I can’t hold it until morning so I am going to have to suck it up and get to that toilet!

I come up with a plan, albeit a lame plan. But, a plan none the less. First, I turn on the dimmer light by the bed. Next, I scoot the big chair that is beside the bathroom door in front of the bathroom door so that it is wide open and blocked by the chair. I guess I was hoping the ghost wouldn’t simply move the chair out of the way but I didn’t have time to worry about that. I really needed to get to that potty!

Relatively happy with the chair in front of the door, I entered the bathroom. I wouldn’t even LOOK at the mirror because I was too afraid I would see someone else in it. I’ve seen scary movies, ya know! I sat down on the toilet in a runner’s stance, one foot in front and one behind. If that chair had even flinched, I would have absolutely peed all the way back to the bed! Thank goodness it didn’t! ha ha ha

After heeding nature’s call, I was back in bed in a flash. Now was not the time for washing hands, sorry to admit. I spent the rest of the night watching shadows dance and periodically listening to the sound of rustling plastic.

That morning, my hubby woke feeling rested and ready to start his day! I, on the other hand, was deeply bummed out that I was the only one that got haunted! That was a big backfiring of my secret plan! He didn’t even remember me trying to wake him, he just wondered why the chair was blocking the bathroom door. I didn’t explain.

Once we were back at our apartment, I called the Inn and told them what happened. A different lady said “Well, sweetie, that ghost doesn’t haunt everyone, just women! They didn’t tell you that?!” No. No, they did not.

To this day, that little escapade is a running joke of our more than 21 yr marriage….the time I tried to trick my husband into being haunted and believing in ghosts! lol He says that fun little overnight trip doesn’t even count as a birthday gift because it wasn’t for him, it was for me. I suppose that’s fair. We still had a great time, though, and I got an amazing ghost story out of it! Still a win-win!

All joking aside, the St. Francis Inn is an amazing place to stay but if you are hoping to convert your non-believing husband, don’t ask for Lily’s room….