Hey guys!
Today I’m sharing a post that’s sort of off-topic, but I’ve had it on my mind since Halloween, when a friend of mine brought up one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me. I got to thinking about how I’ve never talked about it on the blog before. I want to share this story partly because if there are other people who have experienced the same thing, doing some Googling would hopefully lead them here.
I also want to preface this by saying that I’m fully aware that this story might sound kind of unbelievable to some people – as paranormal stories often do. Hell, if you would have told my husband this very story prior to him experiencing it himself, he would have just thought you were crazy. Well, now that I’m probably weirding you all out, here goes with my scary story…
It was January of 2010, and my hubby and I were driving a Uhaul cross-country from New Jersey (where we’re from) to California (where we now live). We had made a fun trip out of it, spending time in places like St. Louis along the way. We had just come from spending New Year’s Eve in Colorado with a few friends of ours, and the plan was to drive to Arizona, sleep at a hotel for the night, then head to the Grand Canyon the next morning.
We pulled into Williams, Arizona when it was already pitch black out. We drove through the sleepy town and looked for a place to crash for the night. We settled on an Econo Lodge located along Route 66 – a kind of dinky and plain place like many motels in random places around America are. We checked into a room, took showers, and crawled into bed around 11:30, exhausted from driving all day.
About an hour later, I remember being in that weird state between being awake and asleep – that hazy period you sometimes find yourself in for a few moments when you’re sort of conscious but not really awake.
I heard a deep, demonic voice – one I had never heard anything like and have not heard anything similar to compare it to since – yell, “SOMEBODY GET HER!”
And the next thing I know, I hear someone screaming at the top of their lungs – yelling for him or it to get off of her.
It only took a few seconds for me to realize that that someone was me. Something was on top of me in my hotel bed, furiously holding my arms down and pulling at my legs. I snapped back into consciousness and my fighter instincts fully kicked in. It was completely black in the room and I couldn’t see what that something was, but I shrieked and cursed and fought as hard as I could to get it off of me…and then my husband yelled, “STOP STOP STOP!” and it somehow did all just stop.
He turned the lights on, made sure I was okay as I caught my breath, and looked everywhere around our hotel room. Nothing to be found.
After trying to make sense of this surreal thing that had just occurred without any success, we laid there the rest of the night, neither one of us sleeping a wink. The TV and lights were kept on, and we both remained in a hyperactive state, ready for some demon to try to attack me again. It was one of the most bizarre, unexplainable situations of my life.
We tried not to freak each other out the next couple of hours before getting the hell out of the room as soon as the sun came up. I felt some sort of ghostly presence near the table and chairs that sat adjacent to the bed. I could just feel something sitting there, staring at me – a feeling that Adam also admitted after we left. And once we left the hotel room, this freaky, confusing occurrence got even freakier.
First, when we checked out of the room, I asked the desk attendant if anyone had ever talked of supernatural experiences in the room, and the conversation went something like this:
Him: “Well… there were guests on both sides of you, maybe you just heard someone.”
Me: “No sir, something really weird happened to me within that room last night….”
Him: “Well… don’t go starting rumors or nothing!”
That was my cue to get the hell out of there! I immediately wondered how no one could have heard me screaming if there were people on both sides of our dinky room.
On our drive to the Grand Canyon, things only got scarier. For one, Adam confirmed that he heard the same demonic voice saying that same thing right before I was attacked. I started Googling to see if anyone else had ever experienced something similar, and what I found was disturbing. Remember, we had no prior plans to stay in Williams – had never even heard of the town before, and knew nothing about it beforehand – and apparently the tiny town is known to be haunted.
Williams was the last town to have its section of Route 66 bypassed, and today it offers “haunted” attractions like ghost tours. On the gas station on the way out of the town, the attendant there told me that a school in Williams is thought to be haunted because one of the teachers had committed suicide. Someone else also added that it’s widely believed that ghosts of train conductors and passengers from back in the days of Route 66 haunt the area.
To top it all off, when I Googled the town, a website came up talking about the scariest haunted hotels in America, and the Econo Lodge in Williams was listed on it. My heart skipped a beat when I read that, and it just confirmed my experience to be legitimate. I wasn’t crazy.
Sadly enough, the Grand Canyon was a blur, because all I could think about was what had happened. To be honest, for a good year after that I had nightmares. I would wake up in the middle of the night gasping for breath, afraid that someone or something was in my room. It took me awhile to feel safe again, and even now, almost 5 years later, I still get freaked out thinking about it!
I’ve always believed in the possibility of paranormal occurrences, but having experienced it myself was something I would have never expected. Prior to this, my hubby was a skeptic about these ghostly types of things that you hear about, but after our night at the Econo Lodge, he’s much more of a believer open to the freaky possibilities of the paranormal.
Tell me… Have you ever experienced something paranormal? Do you now think I’m completely nuts??!
Ahhhhh what that’s so scary!!!! I don’t think anything like that has ever happened to me, only weird coincidences I think. I guess you won’t be going back there! haha
Ummmm NO. Ha. It’s safe to say that that was my one and only visit to that town!
Ok I am completely freaked out by your story! That is so scary! Nothing like that has ever happened to me. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and think I’m seeing someone in my room but it is always just me waking up and my eyes adjusting to the shadows. That is scary enough for me!
Ah yes, that happened to me a lot after this incident! Thankfully not lately though.
Haha well that is scary and yes it’s true that one of the teachers committed sueaside because he did it in front of the kids and I was one of the kids that know. I used to live in Williams but I know moved to surprise AZ
That is so terrifying. I don’t tend to really believe in paranormal activity but I know you’re not nuts which is why this is especially scary. I’m very easily spooked by any sort of unusual sound, person, etc. so it’s safe to say I will think of this the next time I can’t sleep at night, which may be tonight! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything quite so scary, and I hope I never do! I’m really sorry that you had to experience it! I know what town never to visit now!
Thanks, Anna. I believe in the possibility of paranormal activity, but also think that a lot of times people sort of overanalyze things or get themselves freaked out…however, when you’ve actually experienced it yourself, it’s wayyy scarier!
Wow that is such a scary story!! I would have nightmares for years too if that happened to me. I’m sorry you had to go through that!
Thanks for reading, Ali! Yeah, it was not pleasant, especially when my hubby got deployed shortly after and I home alone a lot having nightmares about it.
Oooh, I have chills! That is soo scary! Do you look back on it and laugh, or does it still freak you out?!
It totally still freaks me out!! But if I ever tell the story in person, I sort of laugh because I’m not sure how else to tell it and in general I laugh when I’m actually freaked out by something hahaha
Holy. Crap. How scary! I just got goosebumps!
Oh my gosh that’s so scary!! Wow… I’m so sorry!! I’ve never had something like that happen to me, but whenever I do get freaked out about something like that in the middle of the night or whatever I always pray for God to protect me and remember the verse, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you” in my head. Knowing that God is protecting me as His child I know that demons shudder at His name… so if that did happen to me I’d be freaking out and praying at the same time!! haha, and I don’t doubt you or think you are crazy!! Demonic spirits are real and scary!! …on an unrelated note, I did stay in an Econo Lounge once with my family. We didn’t realize how low quality it was… but I just remember my brother and I nicknaming it, “Ecoli Lab!!” Haha… so after my bad experience and your bad experience I think we will both be keeping our distance from Econo Lounges everywhere!! Haha!!
Yea, no more Econo Lodges please!!
Yikes!!!! That’s terrifying!!!!!!!!!! No more EconoLodge! Scary as all get out and I have goose bumps! I’ve never experienced anything like that, but I have friends who have.
What you experienced when you were held down, was sleep paralysis. But for the other stuff, I think that’s a real demon.
Whatever it was, I had never had it before…and haven’t had it since. I did have a lot of nightmares for awhile after this incident, but luckily not so much these days.
I live in Canada. Back in 2008, I took a trip to Albuquerque, NM with family members. We stopped to check out the Grand Canyon just at sunset then checked in to the first motel afterwards, which was econo lodge. We get 2 rooms, my mom and aunties stay in one, and me, my sister, and male cousin stay in the other. The moment we walk in I feel this gut wrenching feeling of discomfort that I feel is just stress from all the traveling and late night drives. I pick a bed and fall asleep while my sister watches tv.
I wake up… unable to move, with the feeling of something on top of me, forcefully holding me down by the chest and trying to pry my legs apart. I struggle to wake up knowing I’m in sleep paralysis mode. I’m breathing heavily and struggling hard until I can finally move and that heavy feeling on top of me goes away. My eyes remain shut this whole time bc I was scared to see what the fuck that was, or just anything for that matter. I tell myself not to feed it with fear so I count to 3 and open my eyes. Turn on a light and look around the whole place. My cousin and sister are sleeping and don’t wake to my room scan. I wasn’t ready to go back to sleep bc at this point I was filled with adrenaline so I turn on the tv and watch something until I finally get tired.
I’m able to fall back asleep thank goodness. In the morning I meet my mom for brekky and my sister and cousin join not long after. I didn’t know if I should tell anyone as I was still processing it myself. Everyone finished their brekky and it’s only me and my sister. We’re both sitting in silence (which is unusual). I start off by telling her “I think something happened to me in that room last night” then she replies “fuck off me too!”. I tell her my story then she tells me hers which was almost exactly the same as mine except she was laying on her front and felt something on her back and thrusting her from behind.
My cousin who is a guy, slept like a log. Wasn’t bothered at all. He thinks we were being dramatic but I know what I felt and that thing was something evil.
we didn’t even think to ask the front desk about that room at all. I wish we did but at the moment we wanted the hell out of that town. My memory of that trip was awesome up until that point. I don’t remember much after, it’s kinda turned into a blur as well.
Whoa. It’s interesting that you felt uncomfortable as soon as you got in the room. I can’t remember if I felt weird beforehand, but I too had been traveling all day long and was exhausted so it’s hard to say. I 100% felt a creepy presence in the room the rest of the night, and I know that it was something real. I just wonder how many other women have experienced this type of thing there… Thank you for commenting, it’s good to know that I’m not alone with this crazy, terrifying experience at the Econo Lodge!
Wait. You guys somehow managed to randomly find (and stay at) one of the most haunted hotels in America? Talk about the chances. The hair on my arms was seriously raised as I read this story, Nicole. It sounds like you stumbled into something really bad. I’ve never had any experiences like that, but I totally believe they are possible. I’m guessing that you and the hubby won’t be heading back to Williams, AZ anytime soon! I love a good ghost story, but this one scared me a bit. Glad you’re ok, my friend!
Pretty much… We had a Uhaul & were doing a cross-country move at the time, & we randomly drove into the town & stopped at the motel when it was pitch black out. Yeah, no more Williams, AZ for us – ever again! I just got an email last week from a woman who just stayed there & experienced something similar..wild.. It was a terrifying experience that took me a long time to shake!
Yes, we had a haunting and it was the most stressful event for me. Went to bed and as I was laying there I felt something laying o n top of me. I couldn’t yell or speak, started trying to fight it and finally managed to get up, very disturbing.. the whole event was distressing! Learned a lot about hauntings.
I’m definitely with you, I had nightmares for a few years after my experience. Very scary!
Hey there. I live here in town just a few blocks away from this econo lodge. Me and my brother are interested in getting a room there for some ghost hunting / surveying. This is a long shot but do you remember the room number you stayed in or where the room was located by description perhaps. Thanks in advance.
Oh wow! No, I do not remember the room number. The details I can remember on the room location are that it was on the second floor in the middle, looking out towards the street.
Thank you kindly. I’ve been exploring everything Williams after living here about a year so this post was awesome to come across!
I’m glad you found it. You wouldn’t believe how many emails I’ve gotten from people who had similar experiences at the Econolodge!