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Only a few people have heard this story. All of the following events were actually experienced by me.
When I was asked to work on Dead Famous, the shooting was to take place at night in Lincoln, New Mexico, which is a several hour drive, southeast of my home in Albuquerque. They didn't want me driving back in the middle of the night and I agreed, since I would have to drive through a snow storm. As a result, the production company would put me up in the only place to sleep in Lincoln...a bed and breakfast known as the Ellis Store and Inn. The cast and crew were also staying there, which made it easy for everyone.
After the shooting at the courthouse was finished, Chris asked me where I was staying. I told him at the inn and he asked which room. I said, the Billy the Kid room. He immediately asked if I knew it was haunted. I didn't. Chris said the night before, they were shooting in the room and he had discovered three ghosts in there and he wanted to show me. We got in our cars and I followed Gail and him back to the inn, which was only about 3/4 of a mile from the courthouse.
When we arrived, we parked next to each other in front of the outside door of my room. Chris went right in and entered the bathroom of my room and then proceeded to exit the bathroom through another door which I hadn't noticed earlier. This door, oddly enough, led into the bathroom of the adjacent room. This is the room that had all on the events shown in the episode. He sat down at the end of the bed and told me the events that had taken place the night before.
Silently, I was thankful that this wasn't my room. I was soon to discover that my room wasn't the safe haven that I'd hoped for. I jokingly told Chris I was going to stay up all night and investigate the room, alone. After Chris left, I discovered that I was the only person in that whole wing of the building. The cast and crew were actually staying in an old mill house on the property. The owners of the inn were on the otherside of the inn, about 100 feet away.
After hearing about the violent knocking of the camera, Gail's walk-in and Niall's contact with the unknown, I decided that I would just retire for the evening and get an early start for home in the morning. For some odd reason, I latched the door that led to the haunted room. This was just a simple latch on the inside of the door, like you'd find on a common yard gate. I slid it home and it made a distinct latching sound. The room had no TV, no phone, no radio, and no clock. I could have easliy been in 1880.
I found some magazines in the room and tried to read to make myself sleepy, which normally works. At around 11pm, I decided I would try and get some sleep. The room was pitch black and deadly quiet. The winter night held on to any night sounds. The stillness was a little disconcerting. I'm used to some noise at night, whether it was a dog bark or a car passing...something.
I must have dosed off, because I woke up and looked at my watch. It was 2am. I laid there and listened to the silence. Suddenly, coming from the bathroom on my right, I heard very low muffled voices. I was unable to make out any words.
Knowing that I was alone and the nearest living soul was far away and asleep, I had no explanation as to why there were voices coming from my bathroom area. It could have been coming from the other bedroom, since both bathrooms shared a common wall. I wasn't sure. I continued to lay there listening to this ethereal conversation. I must have dozed off.
I woke up again and looked at my watch...it was now 3:30am. The conversation was over and all was dead still until I heard whistling coming from the same bathroom area. Although this was a single note, I was able to determine that it had come from my bathroom. No doubt about it. No more than 10 feet away...someone or something was whistling. A chill ran down my spine. Thankfully, this only lasted a few seconds and I was left alone to ponder this event in the stillness of the pre-dawn morning.
I was unable to return to any type of sleep after this. I continued to lay there listening to the deafening silence, hoping and wishing, for the first light of the day.
About 30 minutes later, I heard a loud noise in the bathroom. The sound was very clear and I instantly knew what it was...the latch. I was now hearing it again and this time it wasn't me. In the coal black darkness of the room, something had slid the latch open. At this moment, any remote idea that I was going to get out of bed and investigate...was gone.
I must have dozed off at some point because the next sound that woke me up was the owner knocking on the door telling me that breakfast would be ready in 30 minutes.
I met Niall and Bernie at breakfast and sat down to enjoy the morning coffee. I told them what had happened the night before and they both told me that they wouldn't have slept in that room. The owner, David, came into the dining room to refill our coffee and he asked me how I'd slept. I told him all of the events that had happened and then he told me about the time they had a single bed in the room and a guest was tossed out of bed, when the mattress was flipped over in the night. It hadn't happened since they put a king size bed in the room. Lucky me.
I also mentioned the door latch opening sound that I had heard and he said that was the female ghost. According to him, this was all she was able to do. She didn't have the ability to actually open the door...just the latch. This was of no comfort because the latch is on the INSIDE of my room.
Chris soon joined us for breakfast and he asked me how I'd slept. Niall and Bernie both looked at Chris and then to me. I told Chris what happened and he was more excited than I was at that time. I was just excited for the morning light and the coffee. I would love to go back someday...this time...not alone. Steve Kompier
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