The "Haunted" Hotel.

So, after visiting Nagasu...Nakaga...the castle we visited today, we followed our own curiosity and a couple of brave souls across the courtyard to this strange concrete structure that we'd been eyeing from a distance:
Very odd indeed.
At first we thought it was part of the castle compound, but the architecture is entirely too modern. Still, it was strange, so we had to check it out. And, upon asking someone who'd been in it a few times, we found out that it is the legendary haunted hotel we've been hearing about.

Naturally, we had to get a closer look.

This is the rather worn sign on the front of it. "Royal" is about the only word I could make out. Now, the pic is small, but if you click on it to make it larger, you will notice a FLOATING ORB on the upper right hand corner. A ghost, perhaps???
Actually, it's just a bird.

Anyway, since this place is supposedly haunted, is completely abandoned, huge, empty, and falling apart, there was really only one thing we could do.

We went inside.
Hmm. Not exactly five-star service here, but given the circumstances, I suppose it'll have to do. We showed ourselves past the lobby and wandered down the hallways...
Every room and hallway in the building (well, from what we could see) was littered with debris: Broken glass, rusted equipment, wood, masonry, chunks of concrete, broken tiles, and plenty of stuff undoubtedly left behind by vandals. And trespassers (like us, but we left nothing behind, 'cause that's how we roll).
Another room...ooh, spooooooky...
Another long hallway...this place is flippin' HUGE...
So huge, in fact, that we didn't even get to this part of the hotel:
Mostly because someone who shall remain unnamed by goes by Eddie wussed out. Allegedly, his footwear was unsuitable because of the broken glass (well, he was wearing flip-flops), but I have my suspicions that it was creeping him out.

Can't totally blame him. The place is a bit eerie, if only from a "what if there's someone else in this building?" standpoint. Hell, even the bathrooms were a little creepy:
Oddly enough, we found out later there is someone else in the building. A monk has apparently taken up residence in the hotel and set up an altar, which he uses to keep the restless spirits of the hotel at peace.

Haunted or not, the place is cool, and I have every intention of going back to take more pictures. Maybe we'll run into the monk. Or, maybe we'll just get some cool artistic shots like we usually try to do...
Even broken glass makes for some funky shots...

So that was the end of our tour of the "haunted" hotel. On our way out, we pondered when we should come back and visit again, preferably with better shoes and fully charged batteries in our camera flashes. During this conversation, as we walked away from the strange building, I paused and looked back.

And it was then, my loyal blog minions, that I saw something I didn't notice on the way in.



The hairs stood on the back of my neck...



A chill ran down my spine...



And in a somewhat unsettled voice, I said unto my husband...



..."Oops."