Posted on 06/12/2004 6:11:30 PM PDT by CurlyBill
Friday, June 11, 2004
Flanders staff, artist tout legend of Emily; `No one is really frightened by her'
By WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC
Courier-Post Staff
OCEAN CITY
Her portrait on the second-floor foyer of the Flanders Hotel seems innocuous enough. Barefoot and decked out in a long flowing white gown, lengthy locks of auburn hair, Emily stands beside a piano, sheet music in hand, as if preparing to begin a recital.
As an image of a ghost, Emily is not likely to invoke gasps of horror. Then again, Emily is considered a ghost of the Casper variety: friendly. If anything, reports indicate she's afraid of the living.
Various tales explain Emily's origins as the house ghost at the historic hotel.
In one, she was an employee who lived in the dormitories across the street from the Flanders in the years when the hotel provided living quarters for workers.
According to legend, she took her life in the dorms and has haunted the hotel ever since. Another, more benign story, has Emily looking for an engagement or wedding ring she lost, hence, the white wedding gown.
In yet another account, Emily lost her lover in World War I and awaits his return.
"We hear all kinds of stories. I don't know how old the stories are or how they even got started," said Eileen Reeser, who operates Ghost Tours of Ocean City.
The Flanders Hotel, opened in 1923, takes its name from Flanders Field in Belgium, where poppies grow over the rows of graves of American soldiers who died during World War I. Perhaps the association with a cemetery triggered the story of a ghost.
"I think with such a historic building, this ghost story kind of goes with it," said Marjorie Wilson, manager of the hotel.
Her name is really unknown. Artist Tony Troy dubbed her Emily when he painted the portrait. Troy based his image on descriptions relayed by half-dozen people who claimed to have had an encounter. All the descriptions were similar, he said.
"These were normal, level-headed girls. You know when they're talking, they're not making it up," he said.
When he originally put Emily on canvas, she had a gaunt, disturbed look. After numerous complaints, however, he refashioned the image, making Emily more of a congenial happy presence.
"I fleshed her out a little bit. She looked too much like a ghost," Troy said. "Her hair wasn't as long as it is in the painting."
In the past, Flanders' staff reported seeing shadows, or feeling a friendly presence. Many of the encounters with Emily occurred near the piano on the second floor or walking through the hotel's hall of mirrors, on the same floor.
A photograph taken at one of the many weddings held in the banquet halls captured an ethereal form, a billowing cloud-like mass. Similar images showed up on a high school prom picture. Women working in the hotel office saw Emily looking through photos.
Frightened, the ghost disappeared into the walls when spotted. Another employee saw her in the basement looking through a tool box. Again, when she noticed the worker, she fled. In 1999, a staffer saw Emily singing in the basement. Still another worker attending a staff meeting in the Crystal Room on the second floor heard rattling in a closet and saw the door knob turn.
But when she opened the door, she found nothing. If something happens out of character at the hotel, Emily gets blamed, Wilson said.
Emily plays with doors and locks, unscrews light bulbs, rearranges place settings and sings happily in its halls.
Denise Marcell, a site manager at the hotel, experienced an incident this past winter which could be laid at the bare feet of Emily. It was after 9 p.m., and wind blew through the lobby. Marcell locked the front door, but kept the door to the parking lot closed, yet unlocked, so guests could enter.
She felt a cold breeze coming from the area and found the door ajar, and the footrest down. She picked up the footrest and closed the door again.
"Fifteen minutes later, I was freezing again. The door was open and the footrest down."
At the same time, security cameras in this area malfunctioned.
"I said I'm scaring myself. This isn't happening." But the situation repeated itself every 15 minutes until she locked the door for the night.
"No one is really frightened by her," Wilson said. "Some people hope they see something."
Impressed by the beauty of the hotel, Sarah and Joe Finnaran, of West Chester, Pa., bought a condo unit at the Flanders more than a year ago. Sitting in the unit one day, a window fell out for no apparent reason.
A little playful mischief from Emily?
"I can't say it was her fault," Sarah said. "But I wouldn't mind running into Emily. I don't think I'd be scared at all."
Sorry, haven't been around for a few days so missed this. Thanks for the ping! I just love these stories.
Ghost story for late evening freepin'.
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