Haunted Hotels

I was watching a show on Discovery’s Travel Channel (I think) called America's Haunted Hotels. It was a countdown of what are supposedly the most haunted places to stay in America. During the show they would interview several customers and some of the staff. I have to admit, these people seemed like they actually believed the place was haunted. Common since tells me they are just actors or actual employees ‘acting’ for the reputation of the hotel. After all the haunted claim to fame might be all that is keeping that hotel in business. Some of them were not exactly the Hilton downtown. After thinking about it, I have actually talked to several people who have claimed to have lived somewhere (or at least stayed somewhere) that was haunted.

It makes me wonder what kinds of things would make people think a place is haunted. I have heard people say things like a toilet flushes, the floors creeks, a light will be on, or maybe the TV turned to a static channel. If those things make a house haunted then I could only assume every house with indoor plumbing or electricity in the world is haunted. These things in conjunction with an over active imagination might make someone believe they really are being haunted.

A few days ago I was sitting at my computer desk when I suddenly heard the TV (which I thought was off) volume come on really loud. I got up and turned the TV off and called it a night and went to bed. I image the TV was already on, just on a program that was recorded at a much a lower volume (sometimes digital channels are funny like that) or perhaps the cat stepped on the remote. I can see where a customer in a hotel that had a reputation for being haunted might have assumed that was a ghost.