Hotelier utilizes ghosts

2005-09-28 09:26

Iaine Harper

George - An enterprising Karoo hotelier has decided that his establishment's ghosts must pay for their other-worldly board and lodging.

There are rumoured to be poltergeists, the ghost of a woman who hanged herself in her lonely hotel room, as well as paintings that change character at various times of the month.

Donald Lamont, manager of the Swartberg Hotel in Prince Albert, a town at the foot of the majestic Swartberg Pass, said he, himself, had not seen any manifestations, but that several staff and guests had sworn they had had ghostly experiences.

However, a receptionist at the hotel, which was built in 1886, has told of seeing a vase flying across a room, leaving behind the flowers it had contained!

There are two huge oil paintings in the hotel restaurant and staff and guests alike have sworn these have changed character - objects depicted in the art works have moved position - at certain times of the lunar month.

Sober claims

These claims have not been after a session at the hotel's well-stocked bar, either. There also is the apparent sighting of a ghostly woman who is claimed to have hanged herself in one of the hotel bedrooms in the early 1900s.

Lamont would not say which bedroom it was for fear of being swamped by ghost-busters or superstitious guests refusing to be given that room.

Either way, he has engaged the services of Ailse Tudhope, who is steeped in local folklore to entertain guests with ghost stories in front of a warm fire in the lounge on cold winter evenings, after a good meal with warming spirits of a more-worldly nature.

The hotel also has organised a "Ghost walk" which takes in spectral aspects of the town, as well as aspects of its Victorian/Edwardian architecture.

Ailse has a font of knowledge of local legends and is called "The Story Spinner" with good cause.

Whether the hotel's ghosts are real or not is immaterial; she comes up with a good yarn or two to make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck while the hotel's good spirits warm the cockles of your heart.

- News24