Hello. My name is Teresa and I'm a new member to Majda.
I live in Charleston, WV, and have been in touch with Richard Southall
about joining the new Kanawha Valley Chapter.

Since I saw that Majda is in Ohio, I thought I'd let you know some of my
experiences in Ohio. Staying at haunted inns is a hobby I enjoy,
and I've stayed at three reputedly haunted inns in Ohio that you might
be interested in looking into further.

The Buxton Inn, in Granville, Ohio

My sister, niece, and I stayed in Room 9 there and encountered their ghost cat.
Really it was more like any old cat that likes people because it kneaded its
paws on my head as I tried to go to sleep. It curled up in the crook of my
niece's knees while she tried to sleep. And, at one point after we'd all gotten
up because we were excited and a bit freaked out by the cat, it kept rubbing
against my legs and my niece's legs. A couple of other things happened that
were odd. My sister's side of her bed (there are two rooms with a bed each in
that room) stayed cold the entire time we were there. There was a pleasant
smell that we couldn't place, and no amount of washing has been able to get that
smell out of the shirt my niece slept in. And, my sister and I both had the odd
sensation of seeming to hear many voices trying to talk at the same time in our
heads when we were trying to fall asleep.

Riders Inn, in Painesville, Ohio

The lady who owns and runs the place, Elaine, is by far the most welcoming innkeeper
I've ever met. I didn't have any ghostly encounter while there (though it has a
long and interesting history of encounters), but we had a wonderful time. She was
very willing to let me go all over the place taking pictures and seeing what I could
find/feel. I did end up with an interesting picture that showed a brilliant blue
diamond shape in the middle of the hall. I'd never seen anything like that.

Punderson Manor, at Punderson State Park (not too far from Painesville)

My husband and I stayed there the night before we stayed at Riders Inn. It's a very
nice place to stay. Around 11 or so I went around the building and grounds to take
pictures and see what I could run into. I was out on a large stone patio/balcony
(just outside the indoor pool area) and, since I was outside, I lit a cigarette.
I sat the cigarette down and turned my back to take a picture. (I didn't know the
rules about not smoking when taking pictures at that point.) When I turned back
around, my cigarette was gone. I thought maybe the wind had blown it into the grass
because I couldn't see it anywhere on the patio. I looked in the grass and didn't
see it either. So, I lit another cigarette. This time, I sat it on the ground
perpendicular to the wind's direction and watched it for a bit to make sure it didn't
move. It didn't, so I turned my head to take a picture. Again, when I turned around
it was moved, but this time I could see it.&n bsp; It had moved a couple of feet
against the wind and against slope. This made me curious about the other cigarette.
I found it in a corner where it would have had to have moved uphill from where I
laid it, also against the wind, and then moved sideways three feet to fall behind the
only thing that was on the patio.

I didn't feel like being on the patio by myself anymore, so I went back inside.
Later, when I was asleep, I was awakened abruptly by a voice. It seemed like a woman's
voice and like she must have been leaning down directly over my face. It was the most
bored, flat, monotone voice that simply said (and I'm not making this up--if I were it
would be much more entertaining), "Boo." My eyes flew open, but I saw no one there.
In the morning I told my husband that I think it's possible for ghosts to know they're
ghosts and make fun of us for looking for them. I told him what happened during the
night and he cracked up. Then, we thought maybe they were bored of haunting and called
it the ghost with ennui.

The following night, at Riders Inn, I told Elaine about it. She also cracked up and said
that she'd always heard the ghosts at Punderson's were real pranksters.

Seeing as none of them are far from Alliance, I thought you might like to think about
checking one of them out.

Teresa