Before we left on vacation, we talked about going out to Alcatraz. I’ve visited the bay area frequently throughout my life, but have never done the touristy things, so hadn’t been out to the rock. Hubs wasn’t sure it was a good idea because Alcatraz has a reputation for being haunted and I happen to be super sensitive to vibrations in places. And if you think about the history of the place and the prisoners who made Alcatraz their home for a period of time, the vibrations wouldn’t likely be good ones. But we were extremely fortunate to be able to get tickets – it was sold out for several weeks, so I figured that was a good enough indication… we were going. We entered the intake room and walked toward the area where the arriving inmates would receive their blankets, clothes, and be showered before being led to the cell. Apparently I paled because hubs asked me whether I was going to be okay continuing on, but we did and I’m glad we did.

The audio tour is an excellent presentation and would highly recommend going through the cell block with the presentation. Toward the end of the tour, we were in the administration area, and were told to exit to the patio area outside of the administration area. There was a light house to our right and the ruins of the warden’s house to the left. Directly ahead was the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the skyline of San Francisco. At the top of the steps leading the edge, I stopped to take a picture of the bay and skyline. Because of the glare, I couldn’t really see what was on my screen, so pretty much held the phone up, snapped, and then retreated to see whether the picture was decent. This meant I was watching what was happening in front of me instead of the screen. I saw a lady to the right and a group of people making their way to the rail.

I tried to look at the picture, but still couldn’t see the screen well (brightness was turned down), but I saw a weird white disc in the picture, so went to the shade, upped the brightness and found a girl carrying wheels of something, wearing heavy gloves, and carrying some shears of some kind. I showed hubs and his reaction was the same as mine. Where did the girl come from? She definitely was not someone I saw (I would have waited to snap the pic so as to not have her in my shot.) The other question I had was where was she going? The direction she was heading was toward the Warden’s house, which was nothing more than ruins. To come into the cell blocks, she would have passed us — and that didn’t happen. So hubs wanted me to take another picture (at the top of the post) to see what happened. I got the picture I had intended to from the beginning.

Why did I get this picture? *shrugs* Maybe to highlight the Indian Occupation of Alcatraz from 1969-1970. Maybe just to give us something to talk about. Maybe because the main character I’m working with right now happens to be half-Cherokee, and I’ve been researching Indian issues to help me with her background.

Speaking of my main character, I’d better get together with her and get some words down on the page.

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The day finally came and hubs and I took off for San Francisco, destination: Nob Hill Inn. Despite a slight delay in flight departure due to fog in San Francisco, our trip got off to a smooth start. We arrived too early for check in, dropped our bags off and started exploring the city. After a good lunch, we returned to the hotel, both of us ready for a nap — the result of a late night followed by a 4 AM wake up call.

We brought our luggage up, and hubs started the process of unpacking. I unpacked the laptop after taking a few pictures of our quaint room. I don’t even remember why, but at some point during the unpacking process, I sat down on the edge of the bed, hubs and I still carrying on the conversation we were having. Then I had a sensation that made me think I might have a migraine starting to trigger. I saw flashing lights.

Then I realized, I wasn’t getting ready to go into the land of never-ending head pounding, but that the overhead light was actually flickering. I brought hubs attention to it, thinking we might have to let the front desk know there was a short in the light. It was either a short in the light OR we have a ghostly visitor or two. As I watched the light, the flickering became more manic… like it was trying to convey a message through Morse code. When I looked at hubs, it stopped flickering for a few moments, so he decided to ask if there were spirits in the room with us.

It flickered twice as soon as he finished asking the question. I laughed. They were happy to tell us they were there and to have us recognize their presence. The flickering started again, and since there was nothing to be done about it, and I had to finish up the unpacking, I rose from the bed. The flickering stopped. At that point, I turned the light off because we desperately needed a little shut eye.

After rising, we went back out and wandered around some more, getting our bearings and enjoying the cool breeze after the blistering heat we left behind. When we returned, we turned the light on again and I was prepared to turn it off and use the table lamps should the light start flickering again, because eventually the pulsing light would cause a headache and since this is vacation, I’d love to not have a headache for the duration. The light has remained steady as if it had never flickered in its life. We tried having me sit on the end of the bed again, but I told hubs I didn’t think they were with us. I did a search and yes, Nob Hill Inn is listed as one of the haunted properties in the San Francisco area, with jovial spirits. I expect since they greeted us so soon into our visit that they will be back to have some more fun.

And there you have the beginning of our vacation. Hubs insists spirits follow me wherever I go… I just tell him I can’t travel without my characters.

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