The Presence in the Room: A Shared Experience in Venice, 2005
Venice has a way of holding onto things; history, art, water and apparently, a terrifying experience. Most people that have travelled there usually come away with some form of spooky experience, from what I’ve read. Not always dramatic, not in ways that immediately stand out, but in quieter, more unsettling ways. It’s in the stillness of hotel rooms, in the way sound carries across the water, in the strange heaviness that can settle into a space without explanation.
In 2005, my sister travelled there with her best friend, and her friend’s mum for a birthday trip. It was meant to be a simple getaway; somewhere beautiful, somewhere with deep history and culture; but something about their hotel room didn’t feel right. My sister kindly wrote her experience and I have included it in this blog in quotation marks, completely unedited. Her words, her paranormally tarty experience.
This is exactly how she described it:
“I believe I have had a very creepy experience when I went to Venice, Italy. My best friend, her mum and I went there in February 2005, shortly before my 21st and my friends 22nd birthday. A nice birthday present I think.
The hotel we stayed in was absolutely beautiful. Real vintage Italy and the food was fantastic.
Just 200 metres from Saint Mark's Square in Venice, Savoia & Jolanda is on the waterfront of Riva degli Schiavoni. It offers an elegant
Before you read on, we didn't actually tell each other what we saw or felt until we were on the way home to England at the end of the trip. And I am not lying…so rest assured.”
The First Signs Something Was Off
Nothing obvious happened at first. No sudden shock, no immediate fear, no creepy "I like your skin" muttered from a wardrobe, just a feeling; which is how most of us end up in a corner with crippling fear, clutching some kind of comforting object.
These feelings are the kind that sit quietly in the background, easy to dismiss, until it keeps returning - hopefully to a ridiculously spooky climax... the story continues:
“The first night my friend and I were in the room I felt that we were not alone. I had some strange and very disturbing feelings and I heard noises similar to someone walking around. My friend was always bothering me because she was very drained throughout the entire trip. She is never like that. I have never witnessed her be so ‘out of it’ and lacking in energy. I have since put this down to thinking maybe the spirit, if it was there, was draining her energy?
Anyway, although my friend is a relatively strong skeptic, I did get the impression, once or twice, that even she thought something strange was going on.”
It’s easy to ignore something like that at first. New place, unfamiliar surroundings, broken sleep. There’s all kinds of skeptical, rational answers we could attach. However, from what they have both mentioned, I really don't think this was something easily explained.
The Night Everything Shifted
Photo by Camila Quintero Franco on Unsplash At some point, the feeling changed from something vague into something far more direct, and likely to make anyone of us shat our pantaloons.
“The night I figured that it was possibly haunted was a very strange one. I kept waking up feeling like someone was standing at the bottom of my bed. I have never in my life before or since had such a strong feeling that someone was actually there, watching me, but that I couldn’t see. It was very surreal.
My friend’s bed was directly next to mine and I felt very nervous and too scared to look at the end of where we were lay. I couldn't rest and I had very creepy feelings and I just kept thinking about an old woman.”
Some experiences are unsettling in hindsight, others are unsettling the moment they happen, and this kind is unsettling regardless...
“So as I was trying to settle and had convinced myself it was all in my mind, my friend suddenly turned and stared right into me. She honestly scared me to death. She screamed at me to turn the light on, so I did. But, the oddest thing was that her eyes looked really weird; as though they were not hers. I know that sounds silly but I swear down they didn’t look like hers. She wouldn't tell me why she wanted the light on and just kept saying "I don't like this room!" I was scared but I didn't want to freak her out more so I just told her she was dreaming.”
What They Didn’t Say
Throughout all of this, they didn’t speak to each other about what they were separately experiencing. Not during the night. Not the next day. Not at any point during the trip. If the spirit was just looking for attention, maybe she became angry for the lack of acknowledgment? Ghost teasers are the worst kind of tarts, after all!
“On the plane home the next day she asked me, a bit sheepishly, if I thought that our hotel room might have been haunted. And I said, not so sheepishly, a bit more excitedly, that Yes I did, and that I was dying to say something but thought she'd think I was being silly.”
The Same Experience
Only when they were leaving did they begin to compare what had happened, and the details didn’t just overlap, they matched. This is an interesting point because there have been plenty of spooky goings-on in the world, and I think it’s rare to have two people experience something that terrifies them to the depths of their very souls, and then not mention anything in the moment, or in the immediate moments that follow.
“She began to tell me some very similar experiences, like feeling a presence at the end of the beds, the mirror at the end of the bed moving (which didn't happen to me but the mirror being at the end of the bed was obviously in the area I didn’t like), the bathroom doorway and sleepless nights. She told me that night she awoke with a sudden jolt, she said she actually saw an old woman stood at the end of the bed, looking angry and deathly ill! She said she felt like this old woman didn't want us in that room.
That was the feeling I had all the time there. We were not wanted there. I couldn't believe what she was saying. My mouth dropped because I had felt very similar things and the old woman comparison was just plain weird.” “It's hard to explain and it's hard to convince someone that we honestly didn't tell each other anything until we were coming home. The shared experiences were uncanny and it scares me still to this day.
I only wish I was familiar with how to investigate, because I would have tried some experiments. At the time I was only just beginning to really get into that side of the paranormal. One day I would love to go back, get the same room and see if anything happens.”
I wish to add an important detail here: I have heard the accounts of both my sister and her friend, and a detail which I find fascinating: when my sister saw her friends eyes look different, when she jolted awake, my sister says her friends eyes were open and very scary looking. However, her friend is completely certain that her eyes were closed. Make of that what you will, Spooklings!
Final Thoughts
Some experiences are easy to dismiss and I don’t think this is one of them.
There’s no single dramatic moment, no clear explanation, just a series of consistent details experienced separately, in silence, and only confirmed when it was over.
Venice is a city layered with history; there are buildings that have stood for centuries, holding onto the lives that passed through them. Most of the time, that history stays where it belongs, but every now and then, in certain places, it seems to project itself onto living visitors (flirty).
And sometimes, the only sign is a feeling; a quiet, persistent, and impossible to ignore feeling that you’re not alone...
and that you were never welcome there at all.
Let me know your thoughts... Paranormally yours, with a spook and a wink 👻❤️ ParaTart 💀💋👹
