Thisfunktional Magazine Issue 8 A | Page 25

P AGE 25 els of Europe l d a , r n , s y s f n n t a t r r . s alive only during the summer months. When my research led to that hotel, I realised that I had to go check it out myself. I persuaded my friend Maddy to come with me and we drove there the next day. We were not going to stay in that hotel of course, we just wanted to ask a few people about it and take pictures. But when we got there, the hotel that we booked was closed. There was no indication that it was even in business. We waited for about 45 minutes and then we decided to go see Hotel 12 and not stay the night. When we got there, that hotel was closed too. We thought that due to the season (it was the beginning of April) all the tourist places were closed. We went for dinner in a nearby restaurant. Rain began to fall and it wouldn’t stop so we waited patiently before we returned to our car. By then, it was after 10pm and thought we better get going but once we drove past Hotel 12, we saw it was open. “Let’s go ask if we can stay tonight!” I said. My friend was wildly against it but she followed me. The hall was lit only with a small lamp and the desk was equipped with an antique bell. We didn’t have to ring it, for the proprietor heard us come in and he exited his office. We booked a room on the third floor, paid it in advance and found it ourselves. The proprietor was very particular in having the money up front. The room was cosy and clean. It had a balcony and a nice bathroom. We were exhausted so we forgot all about the haunting and we went right to sleep. I couldn’t tell what time it was when my friend woke up screaming that there was a huge spider in her bed. We searched for a few minutes but couldn’t find anything. We went back to sleep only to awake a few minutes later by a weird whistle. We couldn’t determine where it was coming from. After the whistle stopped, we could hear a group of people singing. In the morning, when we checked out, we said that a couple of guests in other rooms were noisy and the proprietor told us that there were no other guests. We were happy to get out of there and when we asked about the haunting at the local bakery, they told us that individuals and even groups of people have vanished from this hotel. It is believed that the spirit haunting it is “kidnapping” guests and having them relive their last night over and over again. I don’t know if it’s true, I only know what I experienced, and I am not going back there. If you want to visit Hotel 12, rates start at $55