08/31/2010: An anonymous contributor shares her story about a lonely presence in the bathroom stall of the ladies room at Stephen’s Lounge in downtown Marysville. She had always felt something was there but thought it was just her imagination until she saw and heard something unexplainable.
there is a little hole-in-the-wall bar in downtown Marysville called Stephen’s Lounge. I have had several experiences in the ladies room, of all places. The women’s restroom is a one-stall bathroom, when you walk into it, the door opens up to the sink and vanity. To your right is a bench – there are often long waits to use the facilities – and to the left is the stall. On at least a dozen occasions in the 13 years that I have been old enough to go in this bar, I have thought that someone was in the stall when no one was. It felt so much like someone was in there that I actually waited. I would wait for a few minutes and then realize that I couldn’t see the shadow of their feet or head. That’s what you see in that stall, you can’t see the actual feet or head, this is when a living person really is in it, I mean. So I would try the door and sure enough no one was in it. I am what I call a skeptical believer. I have had a lot of personal experience with the paranormal, so I know things happen that can’t be explained, but I also know that people, myself included, will let their imaginations run away, so I always dismissed it.
One night I was in this bar with one of my friends, and the place was pretty empty. I went to use the bathroom, and had the same feeling that someone was in the stall. I heard a faint rustle, maybe TP or a tissue or whatnot, so I sat down on the bench, and I saw the shadow of feet and a head. So I waited…waited…waited. I realized finally that it had really been some time since I had gone in, and also that I didn’t hear anything else, but I still saw the shadow. At this point, I’m not thinking ghosts, I’m thinking I’m gonna have to go get the bartender because some chick was passed out on the toilet. I’m also more than a little concerned for the person at this point. I can pick up the emotions of both the living and dead alarmingly easily, and I got loneliness, sadness, and despair, in that order of intensity. So I try the door, and as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, there was no one in the stall. I wasn’t really scared, she wasn’t scary, she was lonely. I actually kinda grinned a self-satisfying grin. It hadn’t just been me all those other times, I was actually having an experience before, just without the more solid evidence, like the rustling and the shadow. As soon as I opened the door, I felt alone. It was so strong and immediate that I actually felt the absence of her presence. I presume it was a woman, it felt female.
I don’t know who she was, but that is really sad to me that she would choose – my personal theory on hauntings – to stay at this bar, and in the freakin’ bathroom! Seriously? I went back out to the bar and my friend asked me what took me so long, and when I told her, she confirmed to me that she “never felt alone” in there.