THE MOST HAUNTED ROOM

Of all the people that have toured the hotel, everyone seems to agree that if haunted locations are possible, this room -the Canopy Room- is the most haunted room in the hotel. There is no question about it.

Woman are drawn to it. Some request to sleep in it. But just about come away with an ominous feeling about the room.

Here are a few strories from those entering the Canopy Room:

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First Investigation of the Grand Midway Hotel
Charley's notes (Ghost Research Foundation)
December 16, 2006


It was a cold winter evening when several members of the Ghost Research Foundation went to Windber to investigate the Grand Midway Hotel owned by Blair Murphy. Patty Wilson, the founder of our group, is the only person who knows the details of the site that we are going to investigate. She does this so that hearing the stories before we work the site does not taint us investigators.

I, as well as several others in the group, are sensitive and pick up feelings and impressions. Others work strictly with the equipment. Blair took us on a tour of the hotel. I began to feel that it was going to be an active night! I like to write down my impressions and feelings when working on site, and that is what I did that night.

As we left the basement and entered the back of the bar, I felt the presence of a man that haunts that area. Later in the evening, Blair asked Linda Imler and I to check Room #3 on the second floor-- also referred to as the "Canopy Room." As Linda, Blair and I entered the room, I felt an intense cold, and was very uncomfortable!

Throughout the hotel, Blair has several Halloween props in the rooms and hallways. In this room there is a Ouija board leaning against the wall on the floor near a table. I said to Blair, "The board is not just a prop, it has been used recently, hasn’t it?"

Blair replied, "Yes, several weeks ago two girls that were staying in the room used it."

I told him that they should not have done that.

As I stood by the bed, the feelings of cold and an evil presence intensified! It became so cold that I had to leave the room. In the hallway Blair said that he could feel the cold radiating off of me. He asked how many spirits were in the room.

"Too many to count," I replied.

Linda was still in the room telling them to leave when suddenly one of them spoke through me and said, "We are not leaving!"

I reentered the room as Linda continued telling them to go. I could feel them backing away, but they didn’t leave.

As we were getting ready to leave the room, I placed my right hand on the closet door. Blair said that the closet was empty. I agreed, but the spirits entered the room through it. I told him so.

Linda and I both strongly urged Blair to get rid of the Ouija board.

These are only a few of my impressions of the hotel. I feel that it is very active and requires further investigating.

At the end of the evening, Patty reviewed my notes, as well as Linda’s, and said that we hit on a lot of the things. As Blair concluded the evening by telling us some of the stories about the hotel, he confirmed what I felt and sensed was real!

Charley—GRF Investigator

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Blair writes:

One month I was doing this experiment where I was sleeping in a different room of the hotel every night just to feel the various impressions and record any dreams. Finally when it came to sleeping in the Canopy Room I wasn't looking forward to it, like someone daring you to eat fish-flavored ice cream or something. I remember waking under the canopy in the morning, and my first thought before even opening my eyes was, 'Thank God, yuck, I didn't like my sleep in this room.' And then I opened my eyes. And it was pitch black! It was still only deep in the night, and I was suddenly wide awake, and I had hours to go.

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Joe Bob writes:

I had a dream that I brought roses for the Canopy Room, jacks for the little girl, and I pumped The Best of Canned Heat into that 'Fucked up 3rd floor back room!

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Skot Jones writes:

Whatever the words "haunted" or "ghosts" actually mean, I do have considerable past experience with those phenomena. I believe that there is strange energy emanating from room no. 3 of the hotel. I have no sensitivity or aversion to any other room, but this one makes me quite uncomfortable. Michael stayed in no. 3 during Kerouacfest '05, across the hall from where I stayed. Each time that I have entered the room I have felt light-headed and faint. There is a strong vampiric quality to the room that induces nervousness in me. The one occasion that I was in the room alone, something fell or jumped off of a small table.

Adam Blai writes:
 
Thank you for your reply Skot. When something jumped or fell from the table...what was it? Did it fall as you were walking, perhaps due to the bounce of the floor? Were you in the room a bit before something fell, or did it happen as you entered? Was this at a particular time you can remember? Thanks!

Skot Jones writes:

For whatever reason I do not remember now what it was that fell. It may have been a book or even one of the coffe mugs. It didn't fall because of any movement of mine. I was treading lightly and I remember pausing to look around for something I had left in the room and then thinking to myself something like, "I don't belong here," then it fell behind me.

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The Canopy Room continues...

Last night an American soldier back temporarily from Baghdad visited the Grand Midway Hotel for a tour. It was his first time here. He was about 28. He told all kinds of crazy stories about what it is like being there in combat. His best friend got hit in the neck with shrapnel and the medic got shot next in the neck a second later and this guy watched as the two of them died right in front of him, both their eyes bulging, as he tried to save them simultaneously, one palm on each neck trying to stop the gush of blood from both necks. He said the movie that reminded him most of his experience there is Black Hawk Down.

So anyway, he said he'd like to do the tour of the hotel. So I took him around a bit. It was about 3 AM. On the second floor, when he stepped into the Canopy Room (#3) he said, "Whoa! Something about this room..." We went around the rest of the hotel. Then he returned to the Canopy Room, and said it again.

I asked, "All the crazy things you've seen in war, and you're telling me this room is effecting you?"

"I'm just saying there's something about that room. I felt it the moment I stepped in there. And I felt it again when I returned to it later. Instantly. It's really strong, the energy. It was oppressive, like, I didn't want to be in there."

My Dream - Jason Bafile

The dream began with myself and a few other people having a conversation within the canopy room. We were drinking and chatting when Blair came into the mix and started telling us stories about the canopy room and how lately there had been a fair amount of activity going on. Well, me being the way I am I began to try to debunk anything and proclaiming that I do not believe in ghosts or anything supernatural.

Everyone proceeded to leave the room as Blair took the other guests on a tour of The Grand Midway while I stayed behind. Just as the guests left the room I noticed the flowing canopy start moving very very slowly, almost with a certain degree of elegance. I continued to watch it flow this way and that way as the canopy danced around the room. It was to uniform to be a draft blowing through the room or walls.

Just as I was about to get up to find the group, I noticed a face press through the flowing material and completely freaked out. The canopy took a life of itself on and began to try to wrap itself around me, almost like the arms of an intruder frantically trying to grab hold of their fleeing victim.

The canopy continued to chase me no matter where I went through The Grand Midway. Finally, I found Blair and the rest of the group on the third floor. Just as I was about to tell everyone about what happened, the canopy slithered right through the floor boards behind Blair --- I noticed that Blair noticed but wasn't taken back at all...like he was aware of the canopy and even greeted it with open arms...

That was the exact moment I woke up.