I don’t like to be scared. Which is funny, because I keep seeking out creepy experiences that would seem scary. Like visiting cemeteries in the middle of the night. Or camping by a lake where people have repeatedly seen La Llorona. Or broke into abandoned sanitariums. At night. Alone.

I know, you don’t believe the “I don’t like to be scared” part. But it’s true. It’s not about being scared, it’s about getting a glimpse of the paranormal with my own eyes. And so far… I’ve been a little disappointed.

The cemeteries definitely have that creepy factor, but I mostly just got cold. And a twisted ankle when I tripped on a root. No La Llorona, at that night around the lake. Thought I did catch a trout for breakfast that morning. Maybe there’s a fish ghost out there now?

The sanitarium was probably the closest. There were unexplainable sounds… flashes of lights I couldn’t explain. Doors even opened and shut on their own – when they were out of view. Did I actually see anything? No, no I did not.

So, when I made a reservation at the Golden Sky Inn for room 319 I had high hopes (I always had high hopes), but no real expectations.

First, though, they tried to talk me out of it.

I made the reservation online and specified the room. This room was well known in the paranormal community. On the message boards numerous people reported to have been prodded or jostled in the middle of the night. One woman woke up to a shadowy man sitting at the end of the bed staring at her. A man recounted a sleepless night when the bed shook and bucked and even hovered a foot off the ground before dropping violently. One terrified guest said she tried to open the bathroom door but it was stuck shut and as she tried to open it, she heard the sink faucet turn on by itself.

Almost immediately after I submitted the reservation my phone rang. It was the hotel. The man was courteous and tried to get me to change my room. I explained I knew what I was getting in to and, yes, I was quite sure room 319 was the room I wanted to stay in. He tried valiantly, offering free breakfasts, another night… part of me wanted to take him up on the offers and mentally noted if I needed to stay here again to book room 319 with no intention of actually staying there, but every intention of getting freebies.

I don’t bring a lot of equipment. When I arrived that Friday night I had a normal overnight bag and my backpack with nothing more than my laptop and a digital recorder. I left the recorder running in the empty room while I went to dinner and reviewed the two hours of uneventful taped silence when I got back before taking a shower and turning in for the night – recorder again on.

Just after midnight I was jostled awake – literally, something jostled my foot. I was about to scream, but I opened my eyes and the scream froze in my throat. There, at the foot of my bed sat a bald man staring intently at me and smiling. Only, I could see he wasn’t completely solid. My initial fear that this was an intruder were replaced with real terror that this was not just a ghost but a full-bodied apparition… and it was staring at me.

And then it spoke. “Good,” it rasped, “You’re awake.” If being awakened by a full-bodied apparition wasn’t terrifying enough, to have it then speak… “It is now time…” it started, “to party!”

Instantly the dark room was awash with flashing-colored lights and the prismatic reflections of an unseen disco ball. Deafening electronic dance music filled the room with a thumping bass beat. The bald-headed man was standing now, gyrating with the beat. But he wasn’t alone. I looked around and could see other figures – most not as defined as the bald man, but clearly entities – dancing to the beat. More than see them, I could feel the bodies around me moving and dancing.

“Get up and dance!” the bald-headed man took my hand and pulled me out of the bed like I was weightless. With the ease at which he pulled me I thought at first this must be a dream… right up until I stubbed my toe on the bed. I bent over grabbing my foot and the bald-headed man was right there next to my face. “Are you okay?” he asked, concern on his face.

“Uh…” I stammered, “Yes… I mean, my foot hurts but it’s fine. I’m more concerned with what the hell is going on here.”

“It’s a rave!” he said straightening up and bouncing to the beat.

“Yeah, I can hear that,” I yelled back over the pulsing beat. “But why? Who are you?”

“Why? Because you’re here!”

I couldn’t help but start moving to the beat myself, but asked, “Me? What about me?”

“You’re the right mix.”

“Mix?”

“You believe, but you’re not hunting. You’re open but you’re not inviting. And you’ve got a little pinch of psychic ability that pulls the whole thing together.”

“I do? So, what?”

“So, your energy is like a key that allows all of us to just let loose!” he danced and spun in a circle.

A disembodied head of a woman apparated near my head and spoke, “We’re so tired of the normal turning-on-the-faucet routine! We needed a break!”

From the other side a figure existing out of dark smoke spoke, “Even the dead need to get funky sometimes!” Its incorporeal smoke pulsing to the beat.

“But who are you guys?” I asked.

“We’re the ones that haunt this room,” the bald man said.

“All of you?” I asked. The room seemed quite crowded with energies bouncing and moving.

“Well,” a headless torso spoke, “I haunt 237, but I heard the party was here tonight!”

“Almost all of us haunt this room,” The bald-headed man said.

Just then three loud knocks came from the door to the room. “Hotel Security!” came through muffled through the door. I moved to the door doing my best not to touch any of the dancing entities around me. Reaching the door to the room I flipped on the lightswitch and opened the door. Immediately the music stopped and when the security guard looked into the room, he saw an empty room and me in my pjs.

“Is there a problem?”

He stared at the empty room behind me without speaking.

“Sir?”

“Uh… yeah, we’ve gotten a number of noise complaints – something about a dance party going on in this room?”

“Well,” I said opening the door wide. “You can see there’s no one in here but me. I was just sleeping.”

“Sleeping? With that noise?”

“What noise?”

“I could hear it when I knocked on the door – electronic music?”

“From this room? Are you sure?”

He stared around at the room. My laptop was still in my backpack and aside from the day’s clothes on the floor, there was no visible indicators that anyone else had even been in the room. “I’m… I’m not sure about anything right now. You have a nice night,” he said and turned around.

“Thanks,” I said and closed the door. I flipped the lightswitch off and the dance music and strobing lights started again with all the ghosts dancing like nothing had interrupted them.

“Go Laurie, it’s your birthday!” the bald-headed man chanted, and a number of other entities joined in. I couldn’t help it, I gave in and danced the night away with the ghosts.