These ghostly tales were written by anonymous AAA inspectors ....

Upon my arrival at the Mason House Inn in Bentonsport, Iowa, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye.  As I put my car into park and exited, I saw a black cat trotting through a small opening in a screen door along the side of the house.  However, during my inspection I noticed nothing out of the ordinary; in fact, the Inn was exceptional, extremely clean and well-maintained.  The antique furniture was beautiful and the rest of the décor was very well coordinated.  It wasn’t until after I was finished with the inspection and asked the owners how everything was going did they let me in on the fact that their inn was haunted.  At first I was slightly taken aback, I mean, seriously, haunted?  I skeptically watched for telling body language and listened to see if I could pick up on any hint of humor or sarcasm.  They were stone cold serious and after sensing my disbelief they asked if I would like to hear the ghosts…

The Inn was built in 1846 and was used as a holding hospital during the civil war.  Wounded soldiers were cared for at the Inn while waiting for a train to transport them to the main hospital in Keokuk.  It is assumed that some of the soldiers unfortunately died while waiting for the train.  Five other people that the owners know of died in the Inn:  1) Lewis Mason (1857) was an owner and died during a cholera epidemic.  2) Mr. Knapp (1860) was killed from being stabbed in the heart after he came back to the Inn from the local tavern and accidently went into the wrong room.  3) Mary Mason Clark (1911) died at the age of 83 on the third floor of the Inn.  4) An unnamed doctor died in 1940 of diphtheria.  5) Fannie Mason Kurtz died at the age of 84 in the dining room, in a rocking chair, by the fireplace.

Numerous accounts have been made by the owners and guests of the Inn where they report seeing ghostly images.  Some guests claim to have been woken up in the middle of the night by a tugging sensation on their pajama sleeves, some by the creaking and squeaking noise of a rocking chair, others by slamming doors.  Some have heard footsteps on the stairs when no one is there.  The owners have heard on a couple occasions a rustling noise like that of a plastic bag, and they have on many occasions found windows and doors open when they know they were shut and shut when they know they were open.

It was then that the owner retrieved his laptop and played for me audio recordings of the ghosts that haunt the Mason House Inn of Bentonsport.  The recordings were short, only seconds in length… They had some static in the background no doubt from a very sensitive microphone… Yet, through the static I did hear the slightly raspy voice come through and say “Good evening”.

Another one ....
First of all, let it be said that I have a ‘sixth sense’.  I have walked into a number of hotels (even worked at one) and in many historic inns I have felt an odd sensation that something wasn’t right.   I have asked the innkeepers if they have a ghost and when they say “yes, how do you know?” all I have to do is show them my arm where all of the hair is ‘standing on end’.  Most think that is pretty cool, but for me, it tends to be a little scary!

The most eerie experience that has happened to me was at the Hotel Durant in Berkeley, California.  The manager was showing me around the hotel and we were inspecting guest rooms on several different floors.  The entire time I felt uneasy, but thankfully the inspection was going very well and I knew that I would be out of there very soon.  Each corner we went around I was afraid that something, or someone was going to be there.  Needless to say, every hair on the back of my neck, my arms, even the top of my head was standing on end.  I was never more relieved when we walked out of the last room and the evaluation of the guest rooms was finished.

We proceeded downstairs into a small meeting room where we could discuss the evaluation as well as update the hotel’s listing information.  There was a restroom at the end of the hall and  as we walked past the door, the manager and I could hear someone in there moving around.  The manager thought that it was one of his employees in there as no guests were staying on that floor at the time but when he knocked on the door whoever was in the bathroom got very quiet.  The manager and I looked at each other and just shook our heads.  We sat down at a table and not more than a minute had gone by when the rattling in the bathroom started again.  The manager walked over to the bathroom door and knocked and asked who was in the bathroom.  Again, all went silent.  He returned to the table where I was sitting and we started to talk again but the rattling became louder like someone was trying to get out of that room. 

He didn’t have a key to the restroom door so he contacted the maintenance man to come down to unlock it.  The maintenance man arrived and he too could hear someone in there so he knocked asking if whoever was in there was okay.  Silence again.  He unlocked the door, slowly opened it, looked at the manager, then looked at me.  "Are you sure you heard something... there’s no one in here."   I said, “I know what I heard. Is there a window where someone could have crawled out?"   I looked into the bathroom - they were right, no one was there – it was a very small bathroom with one commode, small sink and an extremely small window that even a child could not get out of. 

I took another step closer and the ‘ghost’ decided to leave the bathroom and went through me to get out.  This was the oddest sensation that I have ever felt, and very difficult to describe what it was like – only that I don’t want it to ever happen again. I thanked the manager for his time, and I drove away as fast as I could!