A Motel Mystery and Ghost Story

When I received the first email from Lisa, I was immediately intrigued. In an attempt to unravel the memories she had from years ago, she asked if I would share her story with the readers of the blog.

I do need to say, before I share Lisa’s story that we are both are aware that we are searching a large area for one particular motel. But hopefully her story will stir a memory and we can find an answer.

This is her story.

=============

“My name is Lisa and I’m hoping that you or one of your readers could possibly help me. I had something happen in the summer of 1984 that I cannot explain. Even worse, I’m not sure where we were at the time, so trying to solve what happened one evening on a family vacation has been nearly impossible. I’m hoping that someone can help me figure this all out.

First, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, the younger of two children. Every year we would go on a week-long vacation, which mostly involved going to visit either my father’s or mother’s relatives. The summer of 1984 my parents took my sister and I on a week-long journey to visit my father’s cousins who lived near Scranton. I would have been 8 that summer and my older sister would have been 12 when my parents took us across Route 6, stopping at the typical tourist spots along the way.

I wish I could remember more about the vacation, but there was one memory of the trip that stands out. One evening we stopped at this small motel along Route 6. I remember we had to drive back this narrow road which was little more than two dirt tracks in the grass and was passed through these large pine trees. At the time it seemed that it was a long drive from Route 6 to the motel, but I can remember that the road [Route 6] passed to the south side of the motel. There was only one way in and out of the motel and that was by the narrow road.

What I can remember about the motel was it was a single level in a U-shape with a pond between it and the road. The pond had cattails around it and was covered in green stuff. There was a bench near the pond and my sister and I went over and sat down on it while my parents went into the office. We were sitting there when this older lady comes running out of the office and begins screaming at us. We were not to be near the pond unless our parents were with us.

The other thing I really remember about the motel was how small the rooms were. They were so small my parents had to get two rooms that night. The only thing in our room was a bed, a floor lamp and small bathroom. It was so small that a second bed could not have fit in the room.

My parents agreed to let my sister and I sleep in one room while they slept in the room beside ours. Of course, we had to promise that we would behave ourselves and had to keep the door locked at all times.

We laid there for a while talking before we fell asleep.

At some point in the early morning hours, I had this strange dream. In it I was still in bed and I could see this boy about my age standing at the foot of the bed watching my sister and I sleeping there. This boy was bathed in a glowing blue light. The figure walked from the bed and into the bathroom. As I watched it go into the bathroom, the glowing light faded away and the room went dark.

I never said anything at the time to my sister or parents at the time, because I thought it had only been a dream.

It would not be until 2020 when my sister and I were talking about family vacations and she asks if I remembered the time we went across Route 6. I said I remembered bits and pieces of the trip.

She asked if I remembered the motel where her and I stayed in our own room for the night. I told her that I did and she asked if I remembered anything strange about that night. I didn’t answer right away and I debated telling her about the little boy in the blue light.

I told her about the strange dream.

“It wasn’t a dream,” she whispered when I had finished telling her what I had saw that night. “I saw him too.” He was standing there when she had opened her eyes and had closed her eyes tightly and tried wishing it away, but when she opened her eyes again, he was still standing there. Finally, he turned and disappeared into the bathroom. Once he was in the bathroom the light vanished.

Both of my parents are still alive and we asked them about the motel. They both just stared at us. All they would stay was “we stayed at a number of motels over the years” and “we don’t remember us staying in two rooms at any of them.” We tried to bring it up and second time and were told to let it drop because “they did not remember anything like the place we described.”

Last summer [2021] my sister, my nephew, niece, and I took a trip back across Route 6, searching for this motel. Everything had changed so much since that vacation in 1984. Nothing looked familiar and we couldn’t find a motel that fit the description of what we remembered. I really hoped the motel still existed and if it could provide some information about what had happened almost 40 years ago.

Here’s where we think this motel was located. We believed it was located between Wellsboro and Mansfield, but I’m not sure. It could have possibly been closer to Scranton but my sister thinks it was near Wellsboro. I know we had stopped at the Pine Creek Gorge on the day we stayed at the motel and we did the Susquehanna overlooks the following day before going to my father’s cousin’s house.

While the experience of the night did not frighten me, I’ve been interested more about the motel. I would like to know where we stayed that night. Maybe if I could find the old motel, I can find out what I saw that night.

Thanks for listening and I hope either you or one of your readers can help.”

After exchanging numerous emails, Lisa was able to add a couple more details about the trip they took in 1984.

“What I remember of the motel was three separate buildings. On the right was the office and maybe 2 or 3 rooms. The building on the far left had 3 or 4 rooms. I could be wrong but I believe the longer, central building had 12 rooms. I could be wrong.

You asked about the young boy. I believe he was close to my age at the time, which was 8. He had a white shirt and brown jumper. He had light hair. With the blue light that surrounded him it could have been light brown or yellow. When he walked into the bathroom, he walked. I remember seeing his legs moving. It wasn’t like he glided across the room. If it wasn’t for the blue light around him, he looked like a normal kid.

My nephew believes that the boy possibly died on the property, possibly in the pond due to how the lady acted when my sister and I were sitting on the bench. We’ve searched through online newspaper archives and have not found anything about a drowning at a motel in that region.

While I have not been able to find an answer for Lisa about the motel or the ghost, I agreed that the answer is out there. In talking with Lisa, the overlooks she believes were the Marie Antionette and Wyalusing Rocks Overlooks. This means the motel could have been anywhere in a sixty-plus stretch of highway. Despite that the motel may no longer exist, Lisa hopes that somebody is familiar with the motel and the ghost story.

If you know of an old motel between Wellsboro and Towanda, located among a pine forest on the northern side of Route 6, with a pond in front of it and a ghost story attached to it, then you have the answer to Lisa’s mystery.