Thunderbirds Are Go
The Halloween Collection
2022 Edition
By Lee Homer
Disclaimer: All rights reserved. I don't own Thunderbirds and any of the characters involved. You know the drill. We're back for another collection of tales of the weird, the depraved and the paranormal. I hope you enjoy these stories and Happy Halloween.
Our Honeymoon Haunting
By Jeff Tracy
My beloved Lucille would have celebrated her birthday today. I know she wouldn't have wanted the fuss, but I can't help but use this occasion of remembrance to look back at our life together. We've had so many wonderful memories together, including the birth of our boys, but there's always one memory that sticks out, and that's the purpose of this story. See, we had a long and strenuous process trying to organise our wedding. Everyone we loved dear had all gotten involved with the arrangements and it felt like we were all getting under everyone's feet so to speak. So, for our honeymoon, Lucille and I decided to go on a week-long hiking trip around the country, before jetting off for another week in Paris. It was a chance to have some alone time while exploring the country away from the stresses of work and technology. I was very anxious at the time because I had a slate of top secret test flights coming up, and knew that I wouldn't be with my new bride as much as I wanted to, so this trip seemed like a perfect idea, and it was for the most part.
We had started our trip in Nevada, hiking toward the desert towns that had been left in ruins. We camped in certain spots, stayed at motels and made new friends along the way. It was magical. On the third day of our trip, we arrived at the small desert town of Grandview in the heart of the Nevada desert. It was a small town, marked on a few maps and easily missed because of the interstate that ran close by. It was once an old mining town that served traders and settlers alike in the 1800s. It certainly kept the aesthetic of that era, complete with gift shops, a saloon and restaurant, a small church, a town hall which concealed a museum and at the centre of it all was the Grandview Hotel. This grand building sat on a crosswalk section and offered sprawling views of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. I looked across at Lucille. I could see the twinkle in her eyes. She loved it here.
"Oh, Jeff, isn't it beautiful!" she said. "I wonder if they have a room available for tonight?"
"It's getting pretty dark out there, honey," I replied as I observed the dusk-toned colours above. "I think we should go to the reception desk and check. It looks very quiet."
I didn't feel anything at that point, but that soon changed from the moment I took my wife's hand and crossed the street towards the front entrance. The entire building had a vibe to it as if it had its own story to tell. I mean, after all, it was such an old building. Stepping over the threshold into the lobby, we found ourselves standing in a room straight out of a detective novel. It was a large, beautiful grand lobby. Velvet carpet complimented the floor which ran towards the dining hall and bar. A grand wooden staircase sat ahead with the reception desk situation just to the right of it. Grand portraits of previous owners adorned the walls alongside the staircase. It felt as if they were staring at you with their piercing eyes. I shrugged off the feeling and approached the desk clerk who was on the twilight shift. We were in luck. There was a room available up on the 3rd floor. I can remember the look of intrigue in Lucille's eyes as I carried our backpacks up the grand staircase towards the fourth floor. However, when we reached that floor, the vibe changed once again. The whole floor felt oppressive and quiet. The long corridor felt narrow and would easily play on someone who suffered from claustrophobia. Naturally, I chalked it up to being tired and overly hungry and thought nothing more of it. We stayed in room 320, which was a short walk from the main staircase. The room itself didn't look amazing by any means, but it was clean and the bed was comfortable. We set down our bags and headed back out into the corridor. It was around this time that the first weird occurrence happened.
We were walking down the corridor talking about where we were going to go for dinner. Lucille had noted that she had seen a diner on our way into town when something made me stop on the spot. It was as if my body wanted to move to one side so someone could pass us, only there was nobody around. I shook it off and we continued towards the staircase. When we got to the top of the stairs, however, we both paused at another sound. We could hear hurried footsteps echo up the hall towards us. We moved aside, expecting to see another hotel guest appear around the corner. The steps grew louder and closer, but suddenly, they evaporated. Perplexed by this, I walked over to the spot where we had heard these steps and peered around the corner. All I could see was an empty corridor. There was nobody there. Lucille called from behind me.
"Is there anyone here, hon? Jeff?"
"No, There isn't anyone here," I replied as I could feel my mind scramble for an answer. "I guess it was the floorboard setting or something?"
She motioned me with a gesture; "Come on, let's go get dinner. I'm famished."
As the evening progressed, we managed to forget the incident in the hallway. The food was amazing. We had a few drinks after that and then decided to retire for the night. It was a dry but cloudy night which added to the town's creep factor. All was silent inside the hotel. It felt as if the building had been abandoned. Just wanted to cuddle up to my wife, I ignored all of the feelings that my body was trying to tell me. Looking back now, there was a presence there. The hotel had a thick veil of energy within its walls. You could feel it undulate and pulsate as if it were a living, beating heart. We went up to our room, climbed into our bedclothes and settled down for the night. Now, being a newlywed couple, we were very much in love and well… we didn't get much sleeping done. It was the early hours of the morning when the next occurrence happened. The more prominent one.
It was around 4:15 am when it happened. Lucille had nestled her head on my chest as she slept in my arms. I awoke to a sound that disrupted the ambience around us. Our room was partially illuminated by the lights outside in the corridor. A slither of light seeped into our room through the crack under our door. It wasn't distracting at all until I saw something pass under in front of it. It was a shadow as if someone was walking past our door, but it didn't make a sound. I ignored it and tried to settle back down. Then suddenly, we were both jolted awake by a large thumping sound. It sounded like somebody had slammed their foot down hard and it came from right outside our door. The sound was immediately followed by the sounds of shuffling and squeaking. Was it the house cleaning staff? And if so then what were they doing up at 4:30 in the morning? I wanted to ignore it, but Lucille begged me to go and check it out. She was frightened by the sounds, worried that someone was skulking about outside our room. I assured her everything was alright and told her to stay in bed.
"Stay right there, sweetie. I'll take a look around," I said as she pulled the bed sheets up to her eyeliner.
"Please be careful?" she begged. "I don't like this. Did you lock the door?"
"It'll be alright. I'm just going to have a look,"
As I moved towards the door and unlocked it, I could hear the squeaking sound once again. It was metallic and it sounded as if someone was pushing a trolley or something across the floor. I waited for the person to pass by the door, preparing to jump out at them by surprise. I was very athletic at the time and knew many self-defence moves when I was in the air force. I swung the door open and leapt out into the corridor. What I saw next, chilled me to my core. A translucent figure floated in the corridor before me. It was a woman, dressed in an old nurse's uniform. She had long brown here which she had put up in a bun. Her face was pale as anything while two dark holes occupied the upper portion of her face. The lower part of her body glowed but became more transparent as it reached the floor. She looked at me, instilling a sense of fear which fused me to the spot. She appeared to be pushing a Gurney which had a sheet on it. It was also translucent as I could see the wall on the other side, but the shape of it resembled that of a body. I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. After a few minutes, the apparition turned her head away from me and continued to push the Gurney down the corridor. I watched it for a few minutes as the figure rounded the corner and out of my line of sight. I pulled myself together and jogged lightly down the corridor, hoping to catch another glimpse of the nurse, but when I rounded the corner, she had vanished without a trace. There was no sign of her or the Gurney.
I stood there, my mouth agape as I tried to comprehend what had just happened. Did I just see a ghost? Returning to my room, I shut the door and told Lucille everything. We didn't sleep for the rest of the night. As sat up in bed, holding each other until the sun up. During that time, we continued to hear footsteps outside, wheels squeaking and doors banging. When dawn arrives, we packed up our belongings and decided to check out and get breakfast. When we approached the desk, we explained what happened to the manager. He smiled and apologised, informing us about the activity that was happening in the hotel. As it turned out, we weren't the only ones who reported this ghostly nurse. She had been spotted frequently by guests, pushing a Gurney throughout the Hotel's 6 floors.
"I'm sorry, you mean to say that this entire building is haunted?" Lucille asked.
The manager nodded; "That's right, Ma'am. The Grandville used to be a military hospital back in the Civil War. The building attended to casualties from both sides. After the war, it was used to treat the sick during a Cholera outbreak. The nurse up on the 3rd floor was said to be one of the ones who tended to the dead. There used to be a body chute up there that would drop the deceased down into the morgue. She doesn't mean to scare anyone, she's just carrying out her duty."
Lucille and I looked at each other. Our emotions varied from that intrigue to sorrow. We had spent the night in a building that replayed the events of a grisly epidemic. To add to this, We'd later do some research into the building's history. Apart from the nurse sightings up on the 3rd floor, guests had also reported seeing shadow figures in the dining hall. The apparition of a Union soldier was said to roam the 1st floor plus there had been reports of poltergeist activity in a room on the 2nd floor. Staff would hesitate to venture into the basement as it was said that a negative entity lurked down there in the shadows. The Grandview Hotel was an interesting piece of history, preserved throughout the centuries, but we agreed that we'd never spend the night there again. The rest of our honeymoon was amazing, except for that night.
To this day, the hotel still stands where it did all those years ago, but sadly, it is left abandoned and left to rot. I've told my boys this story, and they'd often joke about going on a ghost hunt there. I've told them never to go there. I just feel that some things are best left alone. Just remember though, if you ever decided to spend the night in an old hotel like the Grandview, just prepare to be awakened by those who permanently reside there. The dead might decide to knock at your door.