Mo(u)rnings Hurt

After having started as Shaker’s official videographer, Bob had suggested I spend the night in the 3rd-floor penthouse. I was so excited – staying overnight in such a notoriously haunted space was a thrilling opportunity that I could not wait to jump on. I was so excited, in fact, that I agreed to share the experience with an absolute stranger.

I was having some drinks at Shakers one night when a girl I had just met and had been conversing with told me that she wanted to do the overnight stay in the Dead Hookers Bedroom. Who’s to say if it was my eagerness or the number of drinks I’d had, but I told her I wanted to do it with her.

As Shakers approached bar close, we headed upstairs for our haunted slumber party. We chatted both amongst ourselves and with any present spirits in the room using the divining rods. At one point, we heard three knocks on the window behind us on the couch in the sitting room. It was not a windy night. There was another instance where we were sitting on the bed, and heard loud stomping right at the end of the bed – like someone was having a tantrum, or simply trying to get our attention.

Several strange occurrences and glasses of champagne later, we decided to try and get some sleep.

I am not the type of person to have too much trouble sleeping. I don’t typically wake up in the night at all. But that night, it was different. I had very broken sleep all night – waking up several times and feeling this weird pressure on my chest. After about the third time, the other girl and I realized we were BOTH in-and-out of sleep, waking up at the same time each time.

Morning came, and that’s when the real terror happened. Down the hall, near the bathroom, I heard a heart-wrenching cry of a man.

“Did you hear that?” I asked my new friend. She said that she did.

We heard this deep, moaning sobbing. You know how it hurts your soul to hear a grown man in your family cry? Like your dad, or your grandfather? It made me feel that same way. It shook me to my core.

After inspecting the whole floor, we found no one there.

We were spooked – but curious, so we took our sweet time getting ready to leave. At about 10 AM, we heard footsteps coming up to the third floor. It sounded like a woman wearing heels. We assumed that it was most likely one of the employees coming to wake us up and let us know that we needed to leave soon. No one arrived. Maybe they were just getting into work and walking around.

Eventually, we gathered our things and exited through the bar. No one was there, either.

- Brooklyn W. Shaker's Videographer