Friday Night

We sat there all crowded in my bedroom. It was a Friday night and we were all sitting there doing nothing, passing time, waiting for someone to give us something to do, but eventually we took that upon ourselves and that was the start of the ghost story I'll be telling for the rest of my life. A feeling rose up in my stomach and I knew from that fluttery feeling that what was in store for me that night was going to be a memory I would never forget. I carried on with the night despite that feeling in my gut. 

Everyone gathered together like a bunch of delinquent dimwitted teenagers and we decided that we were going to spend the night looking for trouble, adrenaline, ghosts, fun, danger, the supernatural, delusion, figments of our imaginations. It's whatever you want to call it or whatever you believe, I cannot force your belief but after that night I can say this confidently: spirits, evil, demons, all of it, it is just as real as you and me. Note, this wasn't an irregular occasion, going out and ryling up things we shouldn't was a regular hobby of ours, purely a source of entertainment. After you hear this story you'll think we were stupid to go out and do that in the first place, although you're right, we are also very smart and experienced with this hobby. This is just an example of us pushing it a little too far. 

There were 6 of us, myself, my best friend Malaree, my brother Malachy, his gf Skylee, my cousin Kylee, and my brother's life long friend Fernando, although our stories are all very similar everyone has their own side of every story, this is my side... We were all riled up and ready to get scared shitless as we drove down Ogden Historic 25th to the Bigelow Hotel you may know it as The Ben Lomond Hotel or “the one by the big Wells Fargo sign”. Now there's about a 50/50 chance you’ve heard the stories, not a lot of people talk about it these days. I heard the stories from my parents. The Reed Hotel was the first hotel to be built on that land, there were stories about that hotel too, a lot of deaths so evidently when the new and improved Bigelow Hotel was built bad things would follow. The first death to occure at the bigelow hotel was a murder, the next two were two men who took there own lives jumping off the top of the building, the fourth a suicide, the next two were said to be natural causes, but the seventh was the worst a man was murdered, he was stabbed 44 times in the chest. And with all of that come the ghost stories as you could have guessed The Bigelow is said to be very haunted, it sure as hell looks haunted. Some people say they see the ghosts, some hear them, or feel them. Unexplainable things happen in that hotel. The elevator, despite being repaired and replaced multiple times, will stop on floors that were not selected, open, close, then go to the next selected floor. Of course there are the most haunted rooms and floors but that will come up. 

We arrived at the hotel and everyone had this weird hyped up, we could do anything feeling we were confident and thought we were ready. As we were walking up to the door a security guard who worked at the hotel was leaving, he opened the door for us which was convenient because we didn't have a key card to get in, he got in his car and drove away. We walked inside. We are all familiar with this hotel because we have been here multiple times at family gatherings and such so we quickly find our way to an elevator to avoid getting talked to by a receptionist or anyone that might end up kicking us out. Once we are in the elevator we have to decide what floor to go to. We could go to the 6th, 3rd, 9th, or the 11th floor which is the top floor. All of these floors we had a reason to visit but the top floor was our main destination because it was said to be one of the most haunted floors and the most haunted rooms are on this floor, rooms 1102, 1106, and the “most haunted” 1101. But we figured we would save that for last so we went to one of the other ones. Every floor we went to nothing happened other then an uneasy feeling and this really nice security guard, it was the same one that opened the door for us, I had thought he left but figured he just must have come back until I saw him on every floor we went to we watched him lock the stairwells so couldn't take the stairs but I would see him at the end of a hall then get on the elevator walk a little and see him again. He was very friendly so no one was really thinking too much about it at the time, it was just a coincidence but then on the 10th floor he got on the elevator with us. He started to tell us stories as we went down again telling us that he sees ghosts while he's working everyday. He told us about the elevator stopping on floors it wasn't supposed to he said that when the elevator does that its stopping to pick up the ghosts and then, like he had been saying, the elevator stopped on the wrong floor, the guard puts his arm out and with a straight kind face says ‘too the ghost’ “come on in little buddy” as he directs what looks like nothing into the elevator. We all laughed it off and then it stopped again, this time no ghosts, it was a woman and her dog, as she entered the elevator then she acknowledged everyone but the guard even though he acknowledged her. Her dog would not stop barking at the corner where the guard and the ‘ghost’ were standing, the woman apologized and made it clear that this was strange behavior for her dog and when she got off she apologized, again acknowledging everyone but the guard. Do you see what I'm getting at here, I think the guard is a ghost, I have no proof other than something was just not right with him but something was really not right with him. After that strange elevator ride we headed back up to the 11th floor. When we got up there we were all feeling a bit weird. The energy up there was strong and it encouraged us to investigate. We made our way straight to room 1101. Everyone continued to wander around that hall but I was stuck at this door. The corner of it was worn down and there were splintered pieces of wood breaking off from the door. All I wanted was to get in that room, I didn't try, but I wanted to. It was all I could think about, I sat there observing the door. Everyone else walked down the hall and back then told me we should move on. They started to walk away and I was hesitant to following behind them unable to shake a weird feeling about that room and just as everyone turned the corner I heard that door open and the chain latch I turned around and my heart sank into a pit in my stomach, i saw a woman with long black hair peeking out of the pitch black room but there was something wrong her face was so pale is was almost white and it was rotted and dirty like she had just crawled out of a grave, her hair was matted and frizzy. I had no words. I was in shock. I made eye contact with her and I felt the world slow around me but I turned and ran. I told everyone that we needed to leave and I would explain in the car. I was shaking and confused if I had just seen what I saw. I had messed with spirits before but they have never manifested themselves that clearly to me. I couldn't get her face out of my head everytime i would close my eyes, I saw her standing there peeking through the door. As we were leaving we saw the security guard come in from outside and that's when all the dots connected and I started to think about the weird things that happened with that security guard. I told everyone my theory immediately and they all agreed that they had at least a weird feeling about him. In the car I told everyone what I saw and the reason we had to leave. I could tell some of them were skeptical but it was okay because I knew what I saw and I will never forget that face, it has been cemented into my brain, I don't think I could forget even if I wanted to. It was only just about to get dark, the hotel was just a little pit stop to waste time till it was dark so that we could head over to the Ogden City Cemetery. 

I never go searching for “spooks”' as we used to call them. Without my favorite game, the ouija board, I also brought my black candle, black candles are known to be a very powerful tool in contacting spirits. The energy in a black candle can help a spirit connect itself to this plane so we can make contact. When we got to the cemetery the sun was starting to set. We sat under some trees, gravestones surrounding us along with the warm summer air. I placed the ouija board down in the middle of the four of us, Kylee and Malachy didn't want to play, I lit three candles I had stuck into the ground putting the black candle in the middle. We all placed our fingers on the planchet and chanted together “Ouija, ouija, ouija”, while making 3 circles around the board. Once we stop I ask “are there any spirits here who would like to contact us?” As the planchette started to move towards yes everyone was silent, I don't remember much about this part. We played the ouija board often so it didn't stay with me as much as the rest but we contacted someone and talked to them for a little while probably just the basic questions like “what's your name”, “how old are you”, “are you here to harm us”, nothing too exciting happened. We realized that it had gotten dark and we were now sitting in the darkness, our small area lit up with candle light, but the candle light only made the darkness darker, deeper, and unpredictable. we started to hear things and see things, we were going to continue to play till we asked the spirit to prove it was among us, to show us a sign, nobody saw a sign but Kylee urgently out of nowhere said we needed to go and that was good enough, we figured something had happened but didn't want to pry so I packed up my board and my candles and headed back to the car, keep in mind that I grabbed the black candle and put it with the rest of my stuff. 

Our next move was to go see Flo, or Florence. I imagine even less of you know about her then the hotel. Another story that came from my parents that doesn't really get talked about. If you're coming down the top of the right hill in the Ogden Cemetery there will be a gravestone on your left for a 15 Year old girl named Florence Louise Grange who died in 1918 from influenza during a pandemic. There are multiple versions of the story of Flo. Some think she died by getting hit by a car or choking on candy but those were just made up to make the game more fun and believable. Over the years people have made rules that you have to park your car at the top of the hill, shut it off, flash your lights 3 times, and then she will appear in front of your car and try to get in. Of course you can try this but that's not how you have to do it, people say if you're not in the car she will kill you but people used to contact her without cars so I think that you would be okay. No matter how you choose to contact her, it is said that she will appear in front of her grave and slowly become clearer as she gets closer. 

We parked at the top of the road and I took a deep breath to center myself. I remember looking down that road late at night. It was eerie and mysterious. Looking down this road you see three big trees down the path a little on each side of the road towering over it. I am sitting in the front passenger seat staring down the road waiting and preparing, everyone gets quiet, Kylee turns her car off and flashes her lights three times. Out of all the things i believe in i was never really a believer of flo i figured it was just some game teenagers used to play and nothing would happen but i try to believe the unbelievable. We waited there in silence thinking expecting nothing to happen but still ready for it if it does that silence was a different kind of silence it felt so quiet I couldn't even hear anyone breathing then right before I said we should give up a sphere of very dim light started to appear with a misty looking cloud surrounding it. She got closer and closer and I just sat there holding my breath. I wasn't sure if anyone else was seeing it or if I was making it up but I knew someone in the back saw it because I heard them gasp when she appeared. As Florance got closer to the car I started to see what had been a weird orb of light form into a human shaped mist, eventually Skylie said “i see her” which I then realized she was the one who gasped. Everyone was silent just staring into the darkness staring at her. I wasn't scared, not like I was when I saw that woman at the hotel. Flow didn't scare me; she seemed kind and soft. She continues to get closer and closer until Malachy sits up and says “ but focus on the trees, do you guys see the shadows” as he says that Flo disappears and I start to look at the six trees lining the road. As I'm focusing on them I see a shadow start to grow at the bottom of one of the trees and another under the leaves on a different tree. The shadows grew, slowly growing, making the trees darker, practically consuming them. Now this felt different then Flo. It made my eyes water and my skin hot. These shadows were not pure or kind; they were dark and dangerous.  At this point we're all talking about the shadows and we all see them and then we see them shrinking they slowly get smaller and smaller till they just disappear. About half of us admitted to seeing Flo and all that did described the same thing. The shadows were gone and so was Flow but Malachy could still feel the presence of something. He told Kylee to drive forward and stop when he says stop. He rolls his window down, sticks his arm out the window and Kylee drives. “ I'm looking for cold spots,” he says, explaining himself. We drove almost to the end of the road when he said “stop”. The car stopped and we waited. With no explanation malachy started to stare out the window, confused everyone looked around to see what he's staring at. “That tree! Do you see it on that tree” he said, pointing to a tree a few feet away. I focused on the tree and watched it be consumed by two shadows and just like before they disappeared just as fast as they appeared. But something was right, they weren't gone, we just couldn't see them. I looked around at the surrounding graves taking in the eerie feeling you get from cemeteries at night. “What was that?” Kylee said explaining she just saw a man walk behind her car in the rearview mirror. “BANG!” something just slammed against the back window on the passenger side, everyone either jumped or screamed, my heart felt like it stopped and I just sat there waiting for someone to say that it was them but no one did. We decided that it was probably a good idea to be on our way especially considering the fact that we weren't supposed to be in that cemetery after dark and the cops would start patrolling soon. 

We moved on once again to the Evergreen memorial cemetery, we were just going to stop by there and see how we felt to see if we should mess with a few more spirits. I wasn't in on this one though, I wanted to skip it and head home because of bad experiences with that cemetery in the past. The last time we got the itch to go out looking for spooks we were at that cemetery and I continued to see this dark shadow man. He was barely there but you couldn't miss him when he was. I saw him in the corner of my eye, behind trees, then when we played the ouija board (because that's what we were doing there) it ended in a pretty terrifying experience. If you can tell by now i don't particularly scarce the easiest but that experience scared the shit out of me. No one else saw him but i can say from the feeling of suffocation that he was very real, out of nowhere he had appeared by a bush and then before i could process what i saw i felt pressure on my throat, i couldnt breath, in a panic i pulled my fingers off the board and screamed, as i did that the pressure realized and i was okay. I had my sister back then she helped calm me down since I was so terrified I could barely talk and had barely enough strength to walk. I took a break after that night and now I am back for the first time since it happened. 

When we got there I immediately felt a weight over my whole body. It didn't help that I was already drained from the rest of the night and now as we drove around everyone was talking and all I could do was watch out the window. I was so scared I would see him standing in the darkness but I could tear my eyes away. We stopped for a moment just kinda sat there. A few of us got out of the car and walked around. I stayed in the car, everyone was feeling sketched out and didn't want to stay out there so we continued to drive around. I was almost over my paranoia when I saw a man looking at me from behind a tree. I tried to convince myself I imagined it but there he was again and again and again, every time he would disappear behind a tree he would appear by another he was everywhere. I started to tense up. I felt all my muscles tighten and I felt stuck. I knew I wasn't, all I had to do was move but it was as if something was holding me back from making that decision. I had reached my limit and had to get out of there. I told Kylee we needed to head back and everyone agreed so we drove to Skyles' house. 

I had thought that when I left the cemetery I would feel better and I could calm myself down but as we drove it only got worse. I couldn't move and I started to feel a pressure on my chest. I tried to calm down and breathe through it the best I could but every time the tension would start to realize it came back stronger. I couldn't tell anyone because it felt like I was isolated from them, like if I even tried to speak they wouldn't hear me. Suddenly Malaree grabs my arm and askes “hey, are you okay?” when she did that she must have snapped me out of it cause my body loosened and i could breath. i told her i was okay, later i told her what had happened. However I was still drained, feeling that kind of stress, adrenaline, and energy in my body. It felt like I was dreaming. I was mentally drained and physically drained, I was ready to go home and sleep. I didn't get what I wanted. 

When we got to Skylies house i had everyone get out of the car i cleansed them with sage then i cleansed myself. Everyone described the same sense of relief after they were cleansed but we were all still very jumpy and foggy. We went inside for a little bit and as we were sharing our night with Skyles dad Kylee asked me to look at her back really quick. I got up and lifted her shirt, there were three big scratch marks down the middle of her back, the placement of these scratches proved that they couldn't have been self-inflicted and even if it was possible she had just had shoulder surgery and didn't have a lot of le-way for moving around. Apparently she had felt a pain in her back way back when we played the ouija board at the Ogden City Cemetery but didn't say anything till now cause she thought it was in her head. Skylie got her stuff and we headed home to my house. Everyone except Kylee was pretty much at my house all the time so my house was home. 

That was one of the most silent car rides I've ever had. I suppose everyone was trying to make sense of the night, it was a lot for a mind to handle. We got to my house and Malaree was helping me gather my stuff, ouija board, candles, sage, etc.. We had everything but that black candle was missing, i swore on my life that i grabbed it Malaree swore on hers that she watched me grab it. We searched the whole car but there was no luck, I figured it would turn up and told kylee to let me know if it does. Everyone walked in together and headed upstairs. I watched every person there walk straight into my parents room i was the last one up the stairs and i went into my room, which is just across the hall, set down all my stuff but i walked in, turned the light on, and there was that black candle, covered in dirt and pine needles from me sticking it in the ground. It was sitting on my bed and it was balanced so that it stood straight up. It felt like i got hit by a tsunami sized wave of emotions, i was so exhausted i screamed, fell to the ground and started to cry uncontrollably, i was shaking and i felt heavy my body collapsed on itself. Of course Everyone came running to see what was wrong and they all went silent when they saw the candle because they knew that no one had stepped foot in my room since we got home. I gathered myself, moved the candle and we all gathered in my parents room to tell them about our night. I've tried to write about this before in my journal but I couldn't even get the right words out, I didn't know how to explain what I saw. The following weeks were a blur. No one really talked about what happened at first. I think some of us wanted to forget but I wouldn't take back the choices I made that night. Nights like that night are stories I get to tell for the rest of my life.