Haunted Kennebunk Inn

Tavern in 1885.

This inn nestled between the Kennebunk and Mousam Rivers, in the town of Kennebunk, Maine, was built as a private home in 1799.

In 1928, this residence was converted to a tavern. During this time a man by the name of Silas Perkins was hired to be the night watchman and auditor.

The son of a sea captain, Silas was also a published poet.

Silas died, of a heart attack, in the 1940s, at the inn. He was eighty years old. Since his death, many believe that his ghost lingers.

Light mist photographed at the inn.
Click to enlarge.

In more recent years, this old tavern was converted into an inn.

Former owners of this inn, the LeBlanc’s encountered Silas’ ghost on more than one occasion.

This ghost likes to play pranks on the inn’s employees—especially on those he does not like.

At first, Angela LeBlanc was skeptical the inn was haunted. She quickly changed her mind.

Inn's bar.

One afternoon as she sat the inn’s bar, several mugs levitated off a shelf, where the bartender, named Dudley stood. These mugs hit him in the back of the head.

On other occasions wine glasses fell or flew across the bar.

Room 17 at the inn is very active. As well as the hallway outside this room.

Recently, a housekeeper was cleaning this room when she unplugged the television, to clean behind it. To her horror, this TV moments later turned on by itself.

Even though Silas is mischievous, most of the owners of the inn agree that his spirit overall is a protective presence.

He takes his role as night watchman seriously—guest often state, that he watches over them as they sleep. I am not sure if I would find this comforting or not. 

One line from a poem he wrote, entitled The Common Man, sums up his role as protector.

“I want to laugh with the common man.

Whenever he chance to be,

I want to aid him when I can

Whenever there’s need of me.”

Wyoming’s Plains Hotel

This luxury 5-story hotel in Cheyenne was opened in 1911 to provide a comfortable place for oil barons, wealthy ranchers, and Army officers to stay. 

It also catered to tourists headed to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

Plains Hotel

Sponsored by the Cheyenne Securities Company the Hotel's cost, including décor and furnishings, was $250,000.

It has a grand ballroom and a lobby that is provided with extra light from a spectacular stained-glass skylight. It has a central marble staircase, as well as rich mahogany and leather furniture throughout.

The skylight over the lobby.

When it first opened, the Mezzanine featured an orchestra that played for its distinguished guests. In more recent years, Presidents Truman, Nixon, and Reagan, all stayed at the Plains.

Each of its one hundred guest rooms has plush velvet carpet, phones, private baths, and large brass beds.

Suite

The Plains has been renovated twice, first in the 1930s, and then again in 2002. Many guests today still enjoy the cowboy-themed luxury.

People who promote the Plains Hotel are not shy about another feature it has. The violence that occurred in the hotel in the past has resulted in four resident ghosts.

Soon after the Plains opened its doors, a honeymoon couple checked in. This couple was given a suite on the 2^nd floor. They had an argument stemming from the bride’s nervousness about their marriage bed.

The groom impatient and angry left his bride and went down to the first-floor bar. While there he met a local prostitute.

Wigwam Bar

Rosie, his new wife, became concerned about how long her husband had been absent, she grabbed a gun for protection and headed toward the bar. She entered just in time to see her husband leaving with the shady woman.

She followed them up to the fourth floor and watched as they entered a guest room. Upset, she gathered her courage and barged into the room only to find her husband in bed with this lady.

Rosie angry at this betrayal raised the gun she held and shot them both. Distraught, she then went back to her room and shot herself. This double murder, suicide resulted in an active haunting.

Rosie’s ghost has been seen wandering the second floor. She wears a blue gown, and witnesses state she appears to be lost in thought with a look of disappointment on her face.

Housekeepers state they have heard phantom wailing coming from the newlywed’s room, and guests who have stayed in this suite say they have listened to the actual argument that occurred between the bride and groom before the husband left for the bar.

Rosie’s unfaithful husband is seen finely dressed. He wears 1900s formal attire, with a long black coat and polished black boots. He has on a white shirt with silver buttons.

He is seen on the 4^th floor and throughout the hotel, including the basement.

The prostitute is seen in a short red dress adorned with white lace. She is spotted on the 2^nd floor, and in the lobby area. Several witnesses have stated they have seen her in the balconies above the lobby.

Balconies above the lobby.

She has issues with brides. Several have claimed to encounter her while in the hotel. 

One Halloween, mannequins were displayed as a bride and groom. A witness saw a lady in a red dress push the bride mannequin over, then she just disappeared.

A fourth ghost is seen in the Plains is a man who killed a guest. He was involved in an argument with this guest and shoved this poor soul out of a 4th-floor window.

Witnesses state they feel anger, and a sense of dread in the area where this happened.

When these ghosts are present, guests report doors and windows open without assistance. 

Plains Hotel today.

Jean Lafitte: Pirate Ghost

In the early 19^th century Jean Lafitte was known for his piracy in the Gulf of Mexico, he was also known for his heroism during the Battle of New Orleans. 

But did his good traits cancel out his bad characteristics? 

On three separate occasions, U.S. presidents condemned and then exonerated and again condemned his actions. Some considered him a hero; others considered him a rogue. Either way, he was one of the most colorful characters in history.

Lafitte hated being called a pirate.

“I am not a pirate—I am a Corsair (owner of) a privateer.”

                                                                                Jean Lafitte

Louisiana became a United States territory in 1804 with the Louisiana Purchase. In 1805 Jean and his elder brother Pierre operated a warehouse in New Orleans—they used it to dispense the goods Pierre smuggled. 

When the U.S. government passed the Embargo Act of 1807, the brothers moved their operations to an island in Barataria Bay. 

By 1810 this new port was a success, and the bothers continued smuggling and started to engage in piracy. Through this activity, Jean Lafitte gained a fleet of ships.

President Madison put the Embargo Act in place to stop American ships from docking at foreign ports—it was hoped this act would ensure Americans would not trade with either Britain or France who was engaged in a war. 

Madison wanted to prevent the appearance that the Americans were favoring one country over the other. This put a great hardship upon American merchants and the economy, especially in the south. 

The embargo didn’t work, and in fact, it was the reason we became involved in the War of 1812 with Britain.

Jean Lafitte being an entrepreneur and astute diplomat was able to take an island in Barataria full of shiftless seafarers, and fisherman and turn them into an organized group of buccaneers, smugglers, and wholesalers. 

From the ships, they plundered off the Caribbean Coast, and the Atlantic he and his crews kept a constant flow of black-market provisions—including negro slaves who were an essential commodity to the south-- moving through the Mississippi Delta to help feed and clothe Louisiana. 

As a result, he won the praise of the local rich and poor alike, and for a time the authorities even turned a blind eye.

Boldly Lafitte advertised his market days on billboards and posters throughout New Orleans:

COME ONE! COME ALL!

TO JEAN LAFITTE'S

BAZAAR & SLAVE AUCTION

TOMORROW

AT THE TEMPLE

***FOR YOUR DELIGHT***

CLOTHING GEMS & KNICK-KNACKS

FROM THE SEVEN SEAS

“The Temple” was named after an ancient Indian sacrificial altar. Lafitte and his brother chose this spot because it was accessible and halfway between New Orleans and Barataria Bay.

Barataria Bay

Jean Lafitte was considered a gentleman pirate. He never attacked an American ship; in fact, he respected the American Constitution and American ideals. 

He was a man without a country, and he hoped that one day his Barataria island kingdom would become a part of these same ideals. 

Despite Lafitte’s shifty methods his steady supply of clothes, spices and, furniture, etc.—all sold at discount prices—while avoiding high tariffs--helped New Orlean residents survive and thrive.

In 1814 a new territorial governor, W.C.C. Claiborne decided Lafitte should not be accepted into polite society anymore. Claiborne made sure Lafitte was harassed, and that his island home at Barataria was destroyed. 

He then imprisoned Lafitte. But Lafitte proved that America meant more to him than his own personal wealth. With the War of 1812 underway, Americans needed ships and men. Lafitte and his men back at sea in 1815 helped Andrew Jackson protect New Orleans and the entire Mississippi River from the British.

Lafitte National Historical Park and Reserve

His contemporaries described Lafitte as a man of grace and elegant manners—accomplished in conversation. 

Yet this was the man who was often described as the “ferocious head of desperadoes.” Unfortunately, the nation that he trusted did not trust him. 

When he sailed away from American shores for the last time, he felt betrayed by a country that didn’t understand him. Whether he was pirate, thief, businessman, or savior—Jean Lafitte lives on as a hero.

Many witnesses in the Gulf of Mexico report ghostly sightings of Jean Lafitte and his fleet of ships. 

Workers on oil platforms throughout the Gulf state they have seen a billow of sails on the horizon before sunset, always heading east. 

Crews of offshore supply vessels describe hearing the flapping of sail riggings and the cry of phantom voices, calling out commands to their ghostly crews in the Creole patois once spoken in Barataria. 

Small boats have felt the passage of an entire ghostly fleet that is unseen but produces visible white foam where their bows break the waves—finished passing they leave a tremendous wake in the dark waters.

One three-man crew on a charter fishing boat, anchored off the Grand Isle near Barataria Bay in the dead of night reported that they all saw an apparition of a pale man, clad in black and wearing a wide-brim hat such as the one Lafitte wore, standing on the aft deck of their sport fisherman. 

They stated the apparition looked at them forlornly then turned his head in the direction of Louisiana and disappeared before their eyes.

Many believe that when Lafitte’s ghostly fleet is seen it is a protective harbinger that warns something bad or evil is about to befall the Louisiana coast. The apparition of Jean Lafitte and his fleet were spotted just before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

On dry land, the ghost of Lafitte is seen at the Blacksmith shop his brother owned in the French Quarter in New Orleans. 

While alive, Lafitte and his brother were said to plan their raids in this shop. 

Today this structure is a bar. Several witnesses have seen Lafitte sitting in the dark at a table in the rear. He holds a brandy in one hand, and the smell of cigar smoke surrounds him. When they look again, his figure is gone.

 Others state that they have encountered him in the bar’s ladies room.