Country Inn Grand Junction, Colorado

by Patricia Finn
(Demotte, IN 46310 USA)

On June 14th of 2008, my family were on our way back to Indiana after a 2 week power vacation of the Western States.

We had left Circus Circus in Las Vegas, Nevada and headed back east, traveling through Utah. We wanted to get as many miles in as we could but we finally just could not drive anymore. We came to Grand Junction, Colorado. It was Bike Week and all the hotels, motel, inns, and campgrounds were full. We pulled into the Country Inn. It was packed, but we had to try to see if they had a room for the night. The hotel said they had one room left, room 150. No one wanted the room, in fact, the couple before us went to rent it, went inside, came out, and returned the key. We were in no condition to drive so we asked for the room. It was only for the night, it was not a big deal. The front desk manager gave us the key reluctantly. When we pulled in front of the door, it was kind of creepy. There were people partying all around us, but this room looked vacant. We first noticed what seemed to be a AXE mark on the upper door. Like some one wanted in and used a AXE to break down the door. Once inside, there was no lock, there was no door chain, nothing. It looked to be torn from the door jam. We used a chair to prop it under the door knob so that no one opened the door in the middle of the night. The room smelled really bad, but we just said it did not matter, it would be only for a few hours, and we would get an early start in the morning. The room was so cold that you could see your breath. The thermostat was on but it was so cold you had goosebumps. We did nothing except plop down on the beds and tried to fall asleep. I was tossing and turning. I had set my cell phone to wake us up at 6 a.m. Nothing was plugged in, no tv, no vcr, no alarm clock, I mean nothing. The only electric was the lights and thermostat. Around 2:30 a.m. I had to use the rest room. I figured no one was up so I just ran in, left the door open because it just did not feel right. You know how you feel when someone is looking at you? Well, that is how it felt. Well out of no where I hear footsteps. Mind you, I am on the toilet. I called out to warn who was ever up that I was using the bathroom and that the door was open, to just wait a minute. Then the adjoining door to the room started to move like someone was trying to open the door. I was pretty nervous at this point. I mean with the broken front door, now the other door is starting to move...before I could wash my hands, the TV, the VCR, and the Alarm clock went off. It was like in the movies where everything turns on but it is not set to any channel and you get that static noise. All the electronics were going off, including my cell phone alarm. I screamed at this point. It was freaking me out. Just as suddenly as it all went on, it suddenly shut off. My family was still asleep, like nothing woke them. My husband did wake up shortly after the incident and asked why I turned on the tv, it was too loud. I said that I did not turn it on and showed him the unplugged extension cord. Needless to say, I did not sleep at all. The doors were rattling all morning long. I just felt that we were disturbing "someone". I could not wait for 6 a.m. After arriving home, I went onto the Inn's website and told them of my experience. I never got a response back unfortunately. But, at least I learned a valuable lesson, if one room is not rented out in a fully booked motel, hotel, or inn, then something has to be wrong with it. My family still talk about what happened that night in the Country Inn in Grand Junction, Colorado.