Some of the best memories I have of flying occurred during the holidays when I was a new Skytress. I know I told you all about flying with my dear friend, Jennie Lou, at Christmastime. Those memories, along with the memories of my first Christmas flying when my crew joined our friends and family on Christmas Eve, are priceless. I’m not going to lie though. Some of my most favorite holiday memories are the memories of flying when the airplanes were empty on Christmas Day. Okay. I lied. The airplanes weren’t completely empty. No siree bob. Usually on our flights we had airline employees and their families trying to get to their Christmas destinations. Occasionally, a crew member would have their family tagging along on our trip. Of course, everyone was in a festive mood. Heck. Most of the airplane seats were still empty. It was as if we were working a Christmas charter flight. A charter flight for friends and family. No employee or family member was left behind. Yessiree. The stress of flying on stand-by status was completely absent. I cherish these memories even more now that our airplanes are filled with holiday travelers. Ah, yes. The holiday traveler who travels on Christmas. Bah humbug to the airline executive who decided passengers flying on the holiday would be a marvelous thing. I’ll admit. It was a great financial decision for our airline. However, it wasn’t such a great decision for those of us actually working on the holiday. Yessiree. Bah humbug! I remember the year working on Christmas Day changed. Our airline decided they would discount the airfares on Christmas Day to entice people to fly. Boy, did they! People came out in droves. Our passengers couldn’t get enough of the holiday fares. Ho. Ho. Ho. Holiday fares. That’s not what we called them. No siree bob. We called them the Taco Bell fares. Now, everyone knows too much of Taco Bell isn’t always a good thing. Well, the same could be said for the Taco Bell airfares. The airline employees working on Christmas Day discovered this fact rather quickly. Yessiree. An excess of Taco Bell airfares on one day was definitely a hard thing to digest.

Taco Bell once had an ad campaign advertising a person could buy an inexpensive meal for the very low price of either 39 or 49 cents. If you were feeling famished you could splurge on the 59 cent meal. The Taco Bell commercials and print advertisements were everywhere. People who weren’t particularly a fan of Taco Bell, were definitely fans of the 39, 49 and 59 cent meals. In the past, our passenger weren’t particularly fans of our Christmas Day airfares. The fares were typically the same price as the airfares the days prior to and after the holiday. However, that all changed with the Taco Bell airline airfares. A few days prior to Christmas, our airline decided to offer the deeply discounted Christmas Day airfares. Just like Taco Bell, our airline offered several options for our passengers to choose from to satisfy their flying appetites. To say I was flabbergasted when I arrived at the airport that Christmas Day, would be an understatement. Ho. Ho. Ho-ly moly. I was in Santa Shock! The airport was as busy as the North Pole is just before Santa gets airborne. I was still in Santa Shock when my crew and I walked up to our gate. Our gate agent could see the disbelief on all our faces. Before anyone of us could say anything, he whispered to us, “Welcome to to Taco Bell. We can send you anywhere for 39, 49, or 59 dollars. Just pick a fare.” Well, it seemed everyone in the gatehouse had picked a Taco Bell Fare. Sadly my dear readers, Christmas Day flying hasn’t been the same ever since. Bah humbug!

If the Grinch and Ebenezer Scrooge had conspired together that Christmas, I wouldn’t have been surprised. Passengers were beyond Christmas crabby. Amazingly, each passenger figured they would be the only smart travelers taking advantage of the Taco Bell airfares. Ho. Ho. Ho. Just like us, they figured no one would be flying on Christmas Day. Scrooge and the Grinch would have been elated. The holiday spirit was gone. Yessiree. Our merry, festive Christmas Day passengers were replaced by irritated and agitated Christmas Day passengers. People who normally slept in on Christmas morning were now trying to sleep on a crowded airplane. People who normally spent Christmas morning opening up Christmas gifts were now schlepping their gifts across the country to open them up later that day. I saw more family squabbles that day than I had ever seen flying. Sadly, most people had forgotten it was the day our Savior, Jesus Christ, was born. Yessiree. They were more concerned about finding a place for their roller blade boxes than they were about it being Jesus’ birthday. Roller blade boxes!!! Bah humbug.

Ho. Ho. Ho-ly moly. That Christmas was the year everyone either gifted or received roller blades. The awkwardly, oversized roller blade boxes came down the aisle in waves. Tidal waves. Grandma may have gotten run over by a reindeer. But, that was nothing compared to being run over on multiple flights by irritated passengers carrying roller blade boxes. I make no bones about it. It stink, stank, stunk. My fellow Skytresses and I worked our Christmas magic trying to get all the boxes to fit in the overhead bins. Heck. Santa had barely returned to the North Pole. We weren’t going to be the first people on Santa’s naughty list for the coming year. Inevitably though, as soon as we secured everyone’s boxes in the overhead bins, a late arriving passenger would board the plane toting another roller blade box. The Taco Bell fare traveler could sense our disappointment at seeing yet another big box. Not wanting to get on our Skytress naughty list, they would sheepishly try to fit their box underneath their seat. I’ll admit. We Skytresses got a little Christmas merriment standing over them watching them struggle with their oversized box. If only we could have said, “We double-dog dare you to make it fit”, we could have made extra holiday pay that Christmas. Unlike the Grinch who’s heart grew three sizes on Christmas Day, our Skytress hearts were already ginormous. Thus, we would fling open overhead bins like we were flinging open window shutters on Christmas Eve. Just like Santa in “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”, we spoke not a word, but went straight to our work. We would feverishly rearrange luggage in overhead bins. Ultimately we would give each other a nod. Then low and behold the roller blade box would rise into a secure spot like Santa rising up the chimney. I’ve always said Skytresses and Skyters have special powers. That Christmas our special power was getting every roller blade box stowed on the airplane. Hark, the herald angels sang, “Glory to the Skytresses on the Taco Bell airfare plane”.

The following year those of us working on Christmas were prepared for the onslaught of the Christmas Day travelers. Ho. Ho. Ho. Yessiree. We were now veterans of the Taco Bell airfares. Thankfully, many of our passengers were no longer Taco Bell airfare novices, either. They knew our planes would be full. They anticipated long wait lines at security and and the airport restaurants. Happily, there were fewer Scrooge and Grinch-like passengers. Truth be known, my Christmas Day Skytress attitude was much improved the following year, too. I didn’t have a severe case of Santa Shock. No siree bob. I took it all in stride. Even though we still had the Taco Bell fares, people seemed genuinely happy. Dare I say it. Their Christmas spirit was a gift to us all. The biggest gift, however, was the gift that was missing. Gratefully, the year of the roller blade gift was long behind us. There was Peace on Earth….and at 35,000 feet.

I’m sure you, my dear readers, will be happy to know I am back on vacation. Yessiree. I went on vacation the afternoon of November 8th. Even better for me, I won’t fly again until December. Now don’t you worry my lovely friends. There will be someone working your flights these nexts few weeks. Sadly for those of you who are flying, it just won’t be me. Thankfully we have brand spanking new Skytresses and Skyters out on the line now. They will be flying Thanksgiving like I did when I was a new Skytress. Incredibly, I can only remember flying two Thanksgivings in my 32 years of being a Skytress. It’s not because I only flew two Thanksgivings. No siree bob. I flew my fair share of Thanksgiving trips. Yet, somehow, I have completely blocked out those Thanksgivings. I call it Turkey Trauma…..aviation amnesia. Thankfully for you all, I vividly remember my first Thanksgiving flying. Yessiree. It scarred me for life. So, of course, I HAVE to share this story with you.

I wasn’t surprised when I got the call from crew scheduling that I had a trip on Thanksgiving. However, I was surprised when the scheduler told me I would be laying over in Puerto Rico. Actually, my heart sank. I was positive I would be laying over somewhere in the continental United States. I heard numerous stories from my fellow Skytresses and Skyters about flying on Thanksgiving. It seemed every hotel across the nation had an extra-special Thanksgiving dinner prepared just for the airline crews. Yessiree. I had visions of wearing a nice fall outfit to dinner. There would be beautiful fall colors on the trees outside of the hotel restaurant. I envisioned myself sipping hot apple cider and having a slice of pumpkin pie for dessert. No. I didn’t envision myself flying to Puerto Rico on Thanksgiving. Puerto Rico didn’t have fall foliage. No siree bob. They had hot sandy beaches filled with sunbathers. Heck, I wasn’t supposed to get cooked on Thanksgiving. The turkey was!

I remember anxiously walking into the briefing room. Several Skytresses were already quietly sitting at the briefing table. I quickly learned none of us had ever flown to Puerto Rico. Even worse, all of us had barely flown on the L-1011. The L-1011, or the Tri-Star, as we also referred to it, was the biggest airplane in our fleet. It was an intimidating aircraft for a new Skytress or Skyter to fly on. Although I had only been flying for five months, I was the most senior reserve Skytress sitting in the room. Then the two senior line holder Skytresses walked into the briefing room. They were language speakers. They had only been flying a few months longer than us. At the time our airline needed Spanish speakers. Thus, these Skytresses were never on reserve. Yep. They had the great fortune of being line holders the day they graduated from training. These Skytresses didn’t have to sit and wait for scheduling to call them for a trip. No siree bob. They knew what trips they would be flying all month. These ladies flew to Puerto Rico every trip. Now normally these Skytresses would have been the most junior Skytresses on the crew. However, the senior Skytresses did what senior Skytresses do. They chose not to fly on Thanksgiving. These Spanish speaking Skytresses didn’t miss them one bit. They relished being the Senior Mamas to us reserve Skytresses. It was quite obvious to the rest of us. To say the power went to their beautiful Skytress heads,…..would clearly be an understatement.

The senior Skytresses were well versed in talking down to us. In both English….and in Spanish. However, they weren’t completely awful. They knew it was a special holiday. They even brought a treat to make it more special. Yessiree. They excitedly informed us they had brought a big cookie to celebrate, “your chicken day”. Oh how they laughed when they said this. They laughed in English….and in Spanish. I looked at the reserve Skytresses on our crew. We all wanted to roll our eyes into the back of our heads. Only it was Thanksgiving. It would have been rude to do such a thing. I regret it terribly now.

The crew walked silently up to the aircraft. Well, except for the Senior Mama’s. They were giddy. Giddy with power. When we got on the aircraft we briefed with the pilots. The pilots informed us their families would be coming on the trip with us. The senior Skytresses were ecstatic. The more the merrier as far as they were concerned. The one Skytress happily opened her cookie box. A turkey was decorated on top of the chocolate chip cookie. She proudly told the pilots she brought a cookie to celebrate, “your chicken day”. The pilots looked at each other. Then they looked at us reserve Skytresses. I’ll admit. A few eyes did roll. When the senior Skytresses walked away the Captain asked, “They know it’s a turkey right? It’s Thanksgiving. Not Chicken Day.” None of us said anything. After all, it was Thanksgiving. We shouldn’t be rude. Okay. We did roll our eyes a wee bit more. I couldn’t help it. We all knew Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. Those senior Skytresses knew the holiday was called Thanksgiving. Happy Chicken Day was getting on all of our nerves.

I walked around the L-1011 trying to look useful. Mostly, though, I was trying to figure out where everything was before the passengers boarded the airplane. The First Officer came up to me. He told me they were going to hold off boarding. There was a maintenance issue. He told me there was a good chance they would have to cancel the flight. Oh, how I prayed our flight would get cancelled. But as luck would have it, our extremely knowledgeable mechanics fixed the maintenance issue in record time. Before the Senior Mama’s could wish our mechanics a Happy Chicken Day, we were off to Puerto Rico.

On our drive to the hotel, the pilots asked the senior Skytresses if they knew of any restaurants that might be open on Thanksgiving. The pilots hoped everyone would join them and their families for Thanksgiving dinner. The senior Skytresses said they would ask the concierge when we arrived at the hotel. The concierge was standing by the check-in desk when we arrived. One of the Senior Skytresses informed the concierge the crew wanted to go to a really nice restaurant to celebrate our chicken day. The concierge gleefully suggested a restaurant that was open. We all decided on a time to meet in the lobby for dinner. I went up to my beautiful hotel room that overlooked the water. I remember thinking any other day this would be a fabulous layover. But, being in Puerto Rico on Thanksgiving with our snarky senior Skytresses was definitely a turkey of a trip for me.

We all met in the lobby at our designated time. We jumped into several cabs and rode to the restaurant. We reserve Skytresses huddled in one cab together. When we arrived at the restaurant we knew the concierge had diligently done his job. We were at a VERY nice restaurant. I looked at the prices on the menu when the waiter handed it to me. I was shocked. As in sticker-shock, shocked. The Thanksgiving dinner special was so expensive I actually thought in Spanish….”Dios Mios!”….my god. I looked at my fellow reserve Skytresses. They, too, were in sticker-shock, shock. There was no way I was going to pay that much for a turkey dinner. But, darn it. It was my birthday the next day. I was going to have something nice eat to make up for this lousy Thanksgiving. So, I ordered the chicken. Yessiree. Happy Chicken Day! My fellow reserve Skytresses ordered water and side salads. It was the cheapest thing on the menu. They told everyone else they weren’t hungry for anything more. I knew they were new Skytresses. They were poor. Poor and hungry. You see, they never got one bite of the cookie the senior Skytresses had brought for our chicken day. Nope. The two senior Skytresses ate the entire cookie by themselves.

I was relieved when we finally left the restaurant. Thanksgiving was almost over. The cab ride back to the hotel was something to behold. Our cab driver blared his music the entire way back to the hotel. He had all the windows rolled down because his cab didn’t have any air conditioning. Fortunately, we didn’t really notice this fact. Nope. The red ball fringe he had stapled inside the entire perimeter of cab roof distracted us. I prayed to God that he would grant me one birthday wish….. to make it back to the hotel. Thankfully, God heard my wish and granted it.

I rode up in the elevator with the First Officer and his family. His wife made a comment about it being her husband’s birthday the next day. I smiled. I told them my birthday was the next day, too. We all laughed at the birthday coincidence.

The next day I tried to keep my distance from the senior Skytresses. Wherever they were, I tried not to be. I was standing outside the galley lift doors laughing with my fellow reserve Skytresses when the two senior Skytresses turned the corner. We all went silent. The two senior Skytresses stared at me in disbelief. The senior of the senior Skytresses wanted to know why I didn’t tell them it was my birthday. I desperately wanted to tell them it was because they were so mean. Instead, I told them I didn’t want to make a big deal about it being my birthday. My two fellow reserve Skytresses were completely surprised it was my birthday. They were curious how the two Skytresses knew this information. The senior Skytresses explained the First Officer’s wife told them it was not only her husband’s birthday, but, it was my birthday, too. After the two Skytresses left, my fellow Skytress turned to me. She said if it was her birthday she wouldn’t have mentioned it to the two Senior Mama’s either. She said, “They aren’t very nice.” The other Skytress and I laughed in agreement.

The pilots were finished with their trip when we landed in Atlanta. Unfortunately, we had to keep flying. I consoled myself with the fact that my trip would be over sooner than later. The odds were, also, in my favor that I would never have to fly with these two senior Skytresses again. If I did, these two most certainly wouldn’t be the senior Skytresses. No siree bob. The REAL Senior Mama’s would be back from their holiday. These two Skytresses would be bumped back to their lowly junior status. Alleluia! My other prevailing thought was the likelihood of me having another Puerto Rico trip on Thanksgiving was slim to none. Yessiree. I would be based in Cincinnati come January. The Cincinnati base didn’t have Puerto Rico layovers.

Many Thanksgivings have come and gone since my first Skytress Thanksgiving. Like I said, most of them I have blocked out of my mind. I’ll admit, though. Whenever I spy a Thanksgiving turkey cookie, I think back to my Puerto Rico Thanksgiving. I shake my head and chuckle. I can’t help myself. I smile a great big smile. Without hesitation I laugh and think, “Happy Chicken Day!” Happy Chicken Day everyone. May you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving.

Since yesterday was Halloween, I decided I would write about ghost stories. Specifically, hotel ghost stories. Sounds spooky, eh? If you are a Skytress or Skyter staying in these hotels, it can be down right haunting.

I never thought about hotels being haunted until I became a Skytress. Early in my flying career, I flew with a crew that had stayed at the Huntley Hotel in Los Angeles. I was the extra-crew member. I flew with the crew the day after they had stayed at the Huntley Hotel. The crew told me they all shared hotel rooms on the layover. Yessiree. They were too scared to sleep in their own hotel rooms. I didn’t have to ask why they were all huddled in the same room. No, siree bob. They freely told me about the comings and goings of the Huntley ghosts. A Skytress on the crew told me she had stayed at the hotel once alone in her room. In the middle of the night she heard someone knocking on her hotel window. She told me she was on an upper hotel floor. She then stated there wasn’t a balcony outside her room either. She knew without a doubt it was the Huntley ghost outside her room. She said she was too scared to go to sleep that night. Ever since that layover, she shared a hotel room with another Skytress. She figured there was safety in numbers. Two Skytresses could definitely take on one ghost. Not this Skytress, though. I avoided this hotel after hearing all their spooky stories.

One of my favorite hotels to stay in is The Mills House in Charleston. The location is ideal for shopping and going out to eat. Yessiree. Two of Skytresses and Skyters favorite things to do. The beds in The Mills House are extremely comfortable. The hotel, also, has copies of the Charleston Wedding magazine in every room. I absolutely love flipping through this magazine on my layovers. It could quite possibly be the hotel ghosts love all these things about The Mills House, too. Yessiree. The hotel is notorious for ghost hauntings. Crews say the hotel ghosts do most of their hauntings on the forth floor. I don’t know this is a fact or not. But, I find it rather interesting. The Mills House ghosts are a fastidious group of ghosts. It’s been reported that guests hear the ghosts moving furniture around in the hotel rooms. I’ve flown with several Skytresses and Skyters that have told me they threw spare change on the desk in their rooms. Spookily, when they arose in the morning, their spare change was neatly lined up on the desk. Being a neat-nick, I get a chuckle out of this.

One day I was flying home with a Skytress I commute with. We were chitchatting about things as we settled into our seats. I asked Donna where she had been on her trip. She replied she had a Charleston layover. She paused for a moment. Then she looked directly at me and she chuckled. I knew she was about to tell me a story. And boy did she! Donna asked me if I had ever heard about The Mills House being haunted. I said I had. Without hesitation, Donna started her story by stating, “I’m just saying, this happened to me… and I can’t explain it”. She told me she had returned to her hotel room after an afternoon of shopping. She was tired. She decided she would lay down on her bed and take a well-deserved nap. Since it was still bright outside she closed her curtains to darken her room. When she woke up several hours later her hotel curtains were open. I giggled. I told Donna The Mills House ghosts were up and moving about. Apparently, they wanted her to be up and moving about,too.

Another layover hotel for our airline crews in Charleston was the Francis Marion. It’s a beautiful, grand, old hotel. Sadly for me, the location of the hotel wasn’t as ideal as The Mills House. Plus, each room I had there was always on the smaller side. I felt like I was constantly shuffling around furniture to get to my bed or the bathroom. Come to find out, I wasn’t the only one shuffling about the hotel. Nope. There are ghosts at the Francis Marion that shuffle about, too. My Skyter friend, Will, told me about his layover there one night. He and his crew arrived at the hotel later in the evening. The hotel clerk told them the hotel was completely booked. She explained to Will and his crew that their rooms would be on the floor that was being renovated. She further explained they would be the only guests on this particular floor. However, she said, Will and his crew would be staying in the newly renovated rooms. Since Will and his crew had a short layover, they would be long gone before the workmen arrived in the morning. Yessiree. They wouldn’t be disturbed by any construction noise. Skyter Will told me he and the two Skytresses on his crew headed up to their renovated guest rooms. They were all eager to get a good nights sleep. Will then stated he was only in his room for a few minutes when he noticed shadows coming from outside his door. Will thought it was one of the Skytresses going down the hallway. Will was curious. He opened his door to see if there was a problem with the Skytress’ hotel room. Shockingly, there wasn’t anyone in the hallway when Will opened the door. Will turned back into his room and went to close the curtains. When he did, he noticed a gentleman outside his window. Will thought it was just one of the construction workers. Then he looked a little closer. Will told me there was no logical way the gentleman could have walked outside of the hotel to his current location. It unnerved Will. Moments later his hotel phone rang. It was one of the Skytresses on his crew. She was panicked. She told Will she was spooked. She kept seeing shadows pass her door. The Skytress knew they were the only three people staying on the floor. Whenever the Skytress looked out her door, there wasn’t anyone there. Then she told Will she saw a gentleman outside her hotel window. For the life of her she couldn’t figure out how he got there. Will told her he had experienced the same things. They decided to check on the other Skytress. Will called her room. The other Skytress told Will she had a very weird feeling about her hotel room. She didn’t feel comfortable spending the night in there. Skyter Will and the two Skytresses decided to gather their belongings and go down to the front desk. They all wanted to inquire about getting new rooms. The hotel clerk was surprised to see the three of them back at the check-in desk. Before the hotel clerk could say anything, Skyter Will asked her if the hotel was haunted. The hotel clerk smiled. She informed them that some hotel guests have told stories about seeing ghosts at the hotel. The three of them recounted their experiences on the renovated floor. The hotel clerk apologized to them. She said she wished she had other guest rooms she could give them. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any available. Skyter Will and the two Skytresses were too spooked to return to their renovated floor. Instead, they stayed in the lobby and fell asleep on the couches until it was time for their van pickup. Yessiree. I believe I would have made the same decision.

We used to stay at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville. The hotel is known for being one of the grandest hotels in the United States. It’s also known amongst airline crews as being a very haunted hotel. My friend Tara told me a story about staying at the Sealbach when she was a Skytress for United. Tara told me she went to take a shower. After her shower, she planned to eat the cookie the hotel gives all its guests when they check in. Tara explained to me that she placed her cookie on the nightstand before she went into the bathroom. When she came out of the bathroom, she noticed her cookie was no longer on the nightstand. Tara was befuddled. So, she called her roommate that was flying with her on the trip. Tara asked Cindy if she had come into her room and took her cookie off the nightstand. Cindy laughed. She asked Tara how she would have done this since she didn’t have a key to Tara’s room. Tara obviously knew Cindy couldn’t get into her room. Thus, there were only two logical explanations for the missing cookie. Both explanations didn’t sit well with her. One explanation was that a rodent ran off with her cookie. The other explanation was the Sealbach ghost took the cookie. Tara and I believe the latter. Heck. We couldn’t blame the ghost. Those Sealbach cookies were delicious.

One day I was in the aft galley setting up the beverage carts with my Skyter friend Rick. As we were talking, Rick told me about his ghostly encounter at the Seelbach. Rick explained to me that he was in bed watching the television. His television kept turning on and off. Also, while he was laying in bed, his toilet kept flushing. Rick immediately thought about all the ghost stories he had heard about the Seelbach. Skyter Rick suspected the ghosts were in his room that evening having fun at his expense. Rick spoke out loud to the ghosts. He informed he ghosts he meant them no harm. He just wanted to watch a little TV before he went to bed. After speaking to the ghosts, Rick told me the toilet stopped flushing and the TV stayed on. I found this all very interesting. Especially how calm Skyter Rick was concerning the ghostly activity. I made a mental note to speak to any ghosts I encountered on my layovers. I, also, made a mental note to not layover at the Seelbach ever again.

A few months back I was looking at the trips in our bid packet. There was an airport code I wasn’t familiar with. The airport code began with the letter “Y”. Based on this information, I knew it was a code for a city in Canada. FYI-Canadian airport codes start with the letter “Y”. You all know by now how much I love Canada! Thus, I was compelled to find out which city the airport code, YWG, belonged to. YWG is the airport code for Winnipeg. Winnipeg?! I have never been to Winnipeg. I was intrigued. The trip wasn’t commutable for me. Nevertheless, I decided to Google the layover hotel. You know. ….Just in case I was rerouted there. After all, I am The Rerouted Skytress! The first thing I read on The Fort Garry Hotel website was that the hotel is haunted. Wow! Most hotels don’t like to disclose this information. Yet, this hotel was extremely proud of this fact. I decided I would look on our Skytress Facebook page and see if anyone mentioned the hauntings at this hotel. Yessiree. Several Skytresses gave their ghostly testimonials. Egads! They were positively frightful. There were, also, numerous stories on the Skytress Facebook page about ghosts at other layover hotels. I was gobsmacked. After reading about all the ghostly hotel encounters, I was completely spooked. I almost decided it would be safer to fly one-day trips just to avoid all the layover ghosts.

One day my Skyter friend David and I were eating lunch in Savannah. As we were talking, I saw a black hurst drive up outside. David’s back was to the window. However, when I told him a black hurst had pulled up in front of the restaurant, he was compelled to turn around in his seat. I was a little concerned when David told me the make and model of the hurst. Mostly, though, I was impressed. I was more impressed when we realized the hurst was the transportation vehicle for one of the ghost tours. How spooktacular! I informed David if I were ever to take a ghost tour in Savannah, this would be the one to take. I thought this for months. Then one day I was on a layover in another city. I watched a documentary on ghosts in Savannah. The stories weren’t happy, delightful, Casper The Friendly Ghost stories. No siree bob. These ghosts didn’t like humans one bit. The ghosts let this fact be known, too. The documentary showed several places in Savannah where ghosts tried to push people downstairs. Egads! The stories of the ghosts trying to hurl people down the stairs were the nicer ghost stories, too! I was so spooked by the documentary, I vowed never to go on a ghost tour. Especially, one in a hurst!

I flew with a pilot once that told me a story about his layover. The crew was downstairs waiting on one of the Skytresses to come down for pickup. It was getting late. So, the pilot called the room to make sure the Skytress hadn’t overslept. When the Skytress answered the phone, she sounded frantic. She couldn’t find her shoes. She had looked everywhere in the room. She was dumbfounded. She knew exactly where she had taken her shoes off when she got to her room the day before. The pilot told her he would come up to her room and help her look. The pilot and Skytress opened up every drawer of the armoire. They looked in the closet, behind the curtains and all around the furniture. They even looked under the bed and under the furniture. Exasperated, the pilot stood on a chair and looked on top of the armoire. TheSkytress’ shoes were placed nicely together on top of the armoire. The top of the armoire was too tall for the Skytress to reach, let alone place her shoes neatly on top. The pilot told me he and the Skytress had no possible explanation of how the shoes ended up on top of the armoire. Well, there was one explanation. The hotel was haunted.