Beekman Arms Rhinebeck New York
The Beekman Arms Inn located in Rhinebeck, New York, was established in 1766 and is recognized as the oldest operating Inn in the country. A gentile piece of history, the Inn allowed the 4th Regiment of the Continental Army to practice on its front lawn in preparation for the American Revolution. Over the years, the Inn has seen its share of action and honored guests, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benedict Arnold, William Jennings Bryan, and Franklin Roosevelt have all slept here and all of the above have enjoyed a drink at the Inn’s Tavern, including most recently Bill Clinton.
Located in the center of the Village of Rhinebeck, the Inn is charming and inviting and as an added treat, has been updated to accommodate modern amenities. The result is pleasing and comfortable and welcoming to any traveler and the Inn continues to provide hospitality with the grace and allure of the old traditions.
On a recent journey to Rhinebeck, I stayed at the Beekman in the Townsend House. The room was spacious, comfortable and to my surprise, included a fireplace, a writing desk, two wing back chairs and a decanter of sherry waiting to warm me from the evening air. The room also had an enormous walk in closet, so large that it included a sink, a mini fridge and enough room to store 10 to 12 suitcases or trunks.
Settling in to sleep that evening, I woke at 3:30 am to the sounds of hearing heavy boots stomping across the floor in the room. Alarmed, I sat up and turned on the light next to the bed, as I assumed that the sound was coming from my husband, who must be up and moving something around in the closet. As I turned the light on and sat up in bed, the noise stopped. Calling out to my husband, I heard a snorting next to me and turned to see that he was deeply asleep next to me in bed. Fully awake at this time, I sat up for a few minutes, thinking that I must have been dreaming and that the sound I had heard had come from a dream.
This further perplexed me, as I am a person who has been able to remember at least three dreams every night of my life since I was a young girl and I teach about dreams and dream interpretations. I wake each morning and review my dreams and categorize them into dreams that are teaching me something, dreams from the other side communicating with me, and dreams from my subconscious that help me to work out what is going on in my life. There are also dreams that mean nothing, that occur when one is not feeling well or ate something too heavy before going to bed.
As I sat in bed thinking about how I woke up, what troubled me was that I remembered the dream that I had been having, and it had nothing to do with a man stomping around and walking. That noise, had actually entered into my consciousness and interrupted my dream and woke me up, with the feeling that someone was in the room. Taking a sip of water, I looked at the clock which now read 3:45am and I resigned myself to going back to bed, as tomorrow was an early day. As I turned off the lights and prepared myself for bed, the stomping of the boots began again! This time, I knew it wasn’t a dream.
I could clearly hear the stomping of the boots and the sound was coming from the enormous closet room. Instead of turning the big light back on, I grabbed my little flashlight that I carry with me everywhere and walked into the closet room to investigate. As I entered the room, I ran straight into the full body apparition of a male ghost, dressed in 18th century period clothing and pacing back and forth across the room, his heavy boots making a loud sound on a floor, that looked nothing like the carpet there today.
As I continued to watch him, he was frantic in his movements. He would walk to the desk and look at a letter there on the desk and each time he would read it, he would become upset. In his hands, he held another letter and as he opened it and read the contents of that letter, it appeared that the information in the letter on the desk, was in complete opposition to the letter he held in his hand. This was causing him a great deal of conflict as he was uncertain as to what his final decision would be. As he paced back and forth in the room, he stopped midway, looking to his right. During that time, another presence appeared near him, a woman with brown hair and he appeared to be very fond of her. The mood changed in the room as he interacted with her and I could feel the love between them. This was the only time that his angry energy melted away as he reached out to stroke her cheek. This lasted only a brief moment and then she disappeared and he went back to the desk. From what I could discern as an empath, the decision he had to make between the letter on the desk and the one in his hand, would decide the fate of many people, including himself and his female companion and he was deeply torn as to which decision he would make.
At this point, I attempted to make contact with him, to determine whether or not he could see me and communicate, but he could not. What I was experiencing is called an “imprint haunting”. Basically in this type of haunted activity, something happens that is very emotional and stressful and the energy is so strong that it leaves an imprint behind in the space. The imprint creates an energy recording that is similar to a tape being recorded and it plays over and over, repeating the incident. Like watching a video, you can not interact with the people on the tape, it is just an imprint of that moment that was captured and can be viewed and felt, a little piece of history captured in that moment.
Because of this, I was not able to speak with gentleman to find out his name or what the letter contained or his connection to his female companion. I was only able to observe. As a psychic and paranormal researcher, I’ve seen a wide variety of haunted and paranormal activity over the years. The ghost of Beekman Arms is a friendly sort and I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Inn and hope to return there again. I’m sure that given a longer length of time to explore both the Beekman Inn and the village of Rhinebeck, I would find many more ghosts with tales to share.
author, intutive and talk show host Kala Ambrose
About Kala Ambrose: Noted wisdom teacher, author, intuitive, inspirational speaker, and host of the Explore Your Spirit with Kala Radio and TV Show, Kala Ambrose’s teachings are described as discerning, empowering and inspiring. Whether she’s speaking with world-renowned experts on the Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show, writing about empowering lifestyle choices, reporting on new discoveries in the scientific and spiritual arenas or teaching to groups around the country, fans around the world tune in daily for her inspirational musings and lively thought-provoking conversations.
Kala is the author of four books including the award-winning 9 Life Altering Lessons: Secrets of the Mystery Schools Unveiled, Ghosthunting North Carolina, The Awakened Aura: Experiencing the Evolution of Your Energy Body and coming September 2012, Spirits of New Orleans: Voodoo Curses, Vampire Legends and Cities of the Dead.
A highly interactive teacher on a mission to educate, entertain and inspire, Kala writes for the Huffington Post, the Examiner, AOL, Yahoo and Fate Magazine and presents workshops nationally on the Mind/Body/Spirit connection including Auras and Energy Fields, Developing Business Intuition, Haunted History and Wisdom Teachings at the Omega Institute, John Edward Presents Infinite Quest, the Learning Annex, LilyDale Assembly, and Daily Om.
