I like a good Ghost Story.  Especially, when they hold a little weight.
Everybody, knows somebody….. with a ghost story.

But here are a few famous ones tonight.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle…..  You know… Arty…. the genius behind detective Sherlock Holmes.  Turns out, he was a fanatical Spiritualist.   Fanatical with a capital F.  Many of the decisions he made in his life were influenced by the advice of his guide Pheneas… who happened to be a spirit.  Luckily, he could speak to Pheneas..  Conan Doyle’s wife was a medium and she channeled Pheneas.

Abraham Lincoln had a strong interest in Spiritualism early on, and after Willie’s death (his son) it became even more prominent in his life.  In 1842, Lincoln wrote a letter to his friend Joshua F. Speed.  Abe said he ‘had a strong tendency to mysticism’ and that he often felt compelled ‘by some other power than my own will’.   He claimed this power came ‘from above’.  And wouldn’t you know it….. Mediums frequented the White House.

They say Abe’s Ghost now haunts the White House.  He’s been seen by Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, and Maureen Reagan.  And supposedly, there are many more who have spotted him.  Perhaps the most famous incident was in 1942 when Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands heard footsteps outside her White House bedroom and answered a knock on the door, only to see Lincoln in frock coat and top hat standing in front of her (she promptly fainted).

There are a ton of stories… but this last one coincides with one of the scariest movies of all time…..  Stephen King and his wife spent a night at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park,  which is in Colorado.  They stayed in late September 1974.

Because the resort was to be closed for the winter the very next day, they were the only guests in the sprawling hotel.  Room 217 was the spot.  King said  he saw the spirit of a young boy in distress…..  in a bit of a dream-like state…. The boy was his own 3-year-old son running terrified through the corridors.   It inspired his classic horror story, “The Shining.”

All sorts of things apparently take place there.  Guests have reported hearing the sounds of children running and playing in the halls when no children were present, the feeling of blankets being pulled tight across legs and feet, and even the sensation of the bed gently shaking as they slept.

Sometimes I like to feel that heeby-jeeby-haunted feeling.  But other times….  it just scares the ghost sheet right out of me.

And. There may be nothing to any of it.

Then again…. I just don’t think Honest Abe would lie.