Elizabeth the Prankster

This was my second time at Shakers. On my first visit, I had captured a picture of what looked like a small child crawling out of the grate with the water in the basement. That was a few years ago, and I no longer have that picture, unfortunately. I remember visiting the women's restroom and really loving howwarm and inviting it felt in there. I never felt uncomfortable or scared. I had no experiences and no physical reactions that time.

This past May, I was there with my cousin and sister. We had some pizza and Old Fashions before the tour. I was faced directly at the women's restroom. Now, it had been years since the last time I visited. I remembered there was a story in there, but really didn't remember what it was. I visited the restroom as another patron was in there, but as I was in my stall she left. As she left, a wave of panic to hurry came over me. It was never a scary restroom, so I hurried to finish and tried to get out of the stall, but the lock seemed to be locked both times I tried. I tried one way it was locked, so tried the other way and it was still locked. I got it to open after the 3rd attempt, and it opened right up. I never washed my hands so quickly, and didn't bother drying them. I just got out of there, thinking of how dumb I was for not being able to figure out a stall lock. But with that state of panic still lingering, I told my cousin and sister that I was not going in there alone anymore for the rest of the night. When we went in the women's room on the tour, our guide asked us if anyone had the door get stuck on them. That wave of panic returned and took over my whole body. I truly forgot about the little girl, and how she likes to mess with the door/locks on people. Though I didn't feel threatened, I was definitely spooked. I had to excuse myself from the rest of that tour portion to get some water from the bar. I was shaking so bad and felt like I was going to pass out. Maybe it was the realization that I was being messed with that hit me all at once.

- Teena S.

Tour attendee