Ghostly Prank

by Nick Coons
Apr 27, 2005

I heard an interesting story on The Jeffry O'Brien Show on KXAM this week. He was talking about this past weekend, having spent it in Prescott in the Hotel Vendome, which is said to be haunted. Jeffry, a very cynical talk show host (and I can say that because I know him), doesn't buy into any of this at all.

But he tells the listeners about a story that he told the hotel owners when he was there last weekend. He starts off by saying that he wanted to thank the owners for the great service that he experienced during his stay, especially them sending their daughter down in the morning to see if he needed any new towels or anything else for the room. He recalls a knock at the door around 7:00am, and when answering it, noticed a little girl, about 11 years old, standing outside. She asks if he needed anything, and he replied that he did not.

At this point, the owners look at him baffled, trying to figure out what he was getting at. He continued on saying that he asked who the girl was. She responded with her name, Emily, and went on to say that her parents owned the hotel. The owners of the hotel still had an awed look on their face as Jeffry continued the story. He closed the door after thanking the girl. As soon as he did, he realized that he could use some new towels, and opened the door only to find that she had quickly taken off.

It was at this point that the owners replied saying that they did not have a daughter, and that Jeffry had actually seen the ghost of the daughter, Emily, of the hotel's original owners (all of whom are long gone by now). He acted as if he thought they were trying to pull one over on him, and started laughing in disbelief.

So he left the hotel after finishing his weekend stay. At this point, the listeners, including myself, are starting to believe some of this and wonder what the rest of the story is. It turns out that the hotel has a section of books with historical information about the area. Jeffry had done some research about the hotel, finding out about the original owners and their daughter, and decided to play a prank on everyone present using his new-found knowledge.