Balsam Mountain Inn guest experiences

     I'm going to try to collect here some of the experiences that have been reported by guests at the Balsam Mountain Inn. Most of these are culled from various websites so I can't really vouch for the veracity of any of them. I think it's still a helpful exercise to simply compare stories and try to get an idea of any "hot spots" within the Inn and to look for patterns within the experiences.

A guest in room 109 was awakened by the senstation of someone grabbing her foot.

Two guests in room 332 were on the porch looking up at the building when a shadow crossed by the window to their (supposedly unoccupied) room. Both guests reported seeing shadows in the room later that night, as well as hearing whispering voices. They were roused from their sleep at around 5 am by the sound of knocking, followed by more anomalous whispering.

A female guest woke to see a man in overalls looking though a suitcase at the foot of the bed. She assumed it to be her husband, but quickly realized that he was still in bed with her. She closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, the strange figure was gone.

     Above reports collected from Ghosts of America.

Haunted Places notes that two rooms in the Inn seem to be haunted: 205 and 207. Unexplained footsteps, jiggling doorknobs and other unexplained noises are reported. No personal experiences are noted.

     Haunted Places

In a 2009 interview with The State, the former innkeepers specified room 205 as the focal point of the haunting, and even give a name to the spirit that lingers there: Henry. It's also noted in the brief interview that a crew from The Travel Channel had been at the In, filming a segment of the paranormal happenings¹. One guests' experiences are related: A woman sleeping in the room awoke to find her husband rubbing her back. She turned to thank him, and then realized that he was sound asleep in the bed beside her.

     The State: Rooms with a Boo

Sheila Turnage notes room 205 again in her book Haunted Inns of the Southeast. A jiggled doorknob is again mentioned, as is a window being opened as guests slept in the room.
   
     Haunted Inns of the Southeast on Amazon

So this brief look at some publicly available experiences give us some interesting things to think about. Room 205 is an obvious starting point, and the name Henry is also an interesting tidbit. Without sounding mean, some of the stories on-line seem to be written by ninth graders. It's tempting to just dismiss some of this offhand, but I want to examine them as fully as I can. Some things (footsteps, whispering) are pretty easy to explain in a 100 year old Inn with paper thin walls. Some things are more mysterious. Hopefully this overview of reports can get us moving in the right direction, and provide a starting point for more serious research.

Notes:
1: The Travel Channel spot mentioned in the interview is episode 8 of a show called Weird Travels, which ended its run in 2006. The episode is called "Haunted Hotels: Where Darkness Dwells." I've yet to find a copy of this, but when I do, I'll review it here.