The Caroline Hotel

The Caroline Hotel Disaster of 1921

I arrived at around 5 in the morning at my dad's house. I tried to speak clearly as I explained that I had a nightmare and I had slipped on a mud puddle while getting gas which caused my ankle injury. My dad chuckled and Nelly teased me. I was just happy to finally be home. I slept in the basement in my dad's den. I felt comforted and safe. I tried to get at least 2-3 hours of sleep but I struggled due to trying to process what the hell I witnessed at that cursed hotel. Around 9:30 I woke up and I dragged myself upstairs. Nelly was helping Dad make pancakes and bacon for breakfast. "Morning son." My dad said in his morning voice. "Hey the klutz made it up the stairs okay!" Nelly said, giggling evilly. I chuckled softly and limped into the kitchen, sitting at the table. "Dad? Do you believe in ghosts?" I asked. Dad chuckled. "I only believe in the Holy Ghost." He said, smiling as he flipped a pancake. I smiled half heartedly. Nelly sat by me and scooted her chair next to me. "Did a ghost haunt the mud puddle you slipped in?"
"Oh Nel be quiet." I said, drinking orange juice that was prepared for me. Nelly giggled as she swung her legs. "Nate's scared of ghooooosts" she teased.

After breakfast, I decided to take a trip to the local library and do research to see if that hotel was actually real at some point. My stomach repeatedly dropped with every newspaper clipping I examined. Until my heart stopped and my blood ran ice cold as I read a big bold headline on a old—and I mean old—paper. "CAROLINE HOTEL BURNS TO THE GROUND! MULTIPLE GUESTS AND STAFF PERISHED IN THE FIRE!" I sat there stunned. My jaw was agape as I read the article. A famous actress burned to death in her room. The room I stayed in. The woman I saw, that's who died. A family of four suffered as well. The family I saw as I ran in the hallways. The staff, the man with the handlebar mustache who spoke to me. He was in this article too. Other photos of guests when they were alive were shown in the article and each one, I saw in the hotel as I ran that night. I printed copies from the pages of the article, running out of the library and all the way home despite my ankle. I burst in my dad's front door. "Dad! Dad! Nelly! You have to see this! I'm not crazy!" Dad walked up to me. "Son are you okay...?" He asked me with genuine concern in his voice. Nelly stared at me blankly. "I-I...The hotel...I.."

I explained to them everything that happened. I even went as far as driving them to the empty lot. All of us became believers that day, and I started hunting down haunted locations since then. Nelly joined me when she graduated as my buddy. By 2002, we had made a name for ourselves amongst paranormal investigators. My dad is proud of both of us, and every year on the date I first experienced the Caroline Hotel, I leave some flowers for the poor souls trapped living in a loop of their previous lives. It's the least I can do.