Famous authors and even a president are among the guests that have visited the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. But the most famous guest is the ghost of a lady dressed in pink, who unfortunately never checked out.
The unknown woman, or “the pink lady” as she has affectionately become known as, came to visit the Inn during the 1920’s, and was a guest of room 545. Dressed in a long, pink, flowing gown, the woman fell to her death over the stone wall from the second floor. Though her body was removed, it seems that her spirit has lingered behind.
In the years since her death, employees and guests have reported seeing a pink mist, and even an apparition of a woman dressed in a pink gown throughout the lodge. Though it might seem to some a little unnerving to be sharing a residence with a ghost, no one has ever reported any malicious interactions with her.
The pink lady seems especially drawn to children. In fact, after a family visit to the inn, a doctor once wrote that his children told him that “they enjoyed playing with the lady in the pink dress”. Her pranks are child-like in nature, also; some guests have reported that their feet have been tickled at nighttime, the air conditioning has been turned off and on, as have the lights, and she has been blamed for doors and windows being opened.
Though most interactions have been mostly horseplay, every once in a while the hotel receives reports of gentle, almost nurturing encounters with the pink lady. Once she was said to wrap a guest in a compassionate embrace, and another guest reported having her hold her hand when she was scared.
Not every guest who stays in the Grove Park Inn will happen upon the ghost of the Pink Lady. But for those who do, the experience will certainly stay with them throughout their travels.
