The Washington Motel, located in Ravenswood, WV, was once a thriving Jackson County business. The family who owned the establishment spent much time there, and their three children, including Linda, grew up playing, and even sleeping over quite often, in the office's upstairs apartment. During this time, the family was already aware of paranormal activity in this section of the motel. The sound of ghostly music coming from the walls and the sounds of doors being slammed were commonplace. However, it wouldn't be until the late 1980s that a ghost named George became an even bigger part of the family!
In 1988, business in much of Jackson County was waning, and the motel was also affected. That year, the upstairs apartment over the office was fully renovated to better suit Linda's sister, Julie, and Julie's new husband. Perhaps those renovations were enough to put George over the top because the new couple soon began having all sorts of activity, including objects flying off walls, doorknobs rattling, and the sound of doors slamming. It was Julie and Linda who at this time named the resident specter George in honor of the "Washington" Motel. Anyway, in one incident, a new heating/cooling unit broke due to someone...or something...inexplicably stuffing a blanket into it. However, the most unnerving event may have occurred when both Julie and her husband heard someone call her name.
The apartment had two entrances--a private entrance from outside, and also a staircase that led down into the first floor of the office complex. One evening Julie's husband heard her mom calling her up the stairs from down in the office. When she went to check it out, it was discovered no one was there. A phone call confirmed that Julie's mother had locked up and left for the evening, and was now at the family home across town.
In 1996, Julie and her husband had already left, and Linda and a boyfriend stopped by the motel after a late-night concert. The boyfriend heard walking coming from the now-empty apartment overhead, and scoffed at the idea of a ghost...that's until the phantom footsteps were heard walking down the stairs and across the linoleum! Later, when Linda and this young man married, they had a similar incident as her sister had. One morning, they heard her mother call her from down in the office, only to find out that no one was there.
The family sold the establishment in 2005 and today it is being maintained as a low-income efficiency apartment complex, as opposed to motel. It has a rough reputation, but there have been no additional publicized accounts of a haunting as far as I could decipher.
The photo above is from Google Maps and is from 2007 before the place fell into a state of disrepair.
The motel is on fire right now.
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