Mary wrote about department stores..your questionaire tweaked an experience I
had some years back..I thought I would share it ..and see if others suffer the
same "perculiar" afflictions.....I was working in B.Altmans on a dark and
dreary New York saturday long after the building had been closed; and was
waiting development.
I was doing core drillings for a woman conservator whos name now escapes me;
but I  was the only one in the entire building...being the only person in an
abandoned (all furnishings had been moved or were in dissaray ) building and a
very large building  with no lights ...and only the late afternoon light
coming in only from the windows ... makes  it eerie and sureal
I  was finishing up for the day, and decided to walk down the historic
escalators to the main floor..half way down I experienced  in the half light a
vision of a floor full of shoppers who had come in from the rain; only their
period of clothing suggested late 40's; I turned and slowly retraced my steps
to the service entrance from whence I came ( not wishing to join in at the
sales tables of course..of course)
Ive experienced such things before...I once had a similar occurance at the top
floor of the Pierre; I was installing a 15th cent. Itallian fire place for
Lady Fairfax in the old ball room she was converting for her apt and salon (it
sold last year  asking 35 million) again I was alone, it had rained all day I
sat for a minuet and suddenly visioned the ballroom awash with
debutantes,music, and their beau's circa early 50's the music was  "april in
Paris" with alot of sax  I blinked and they were gone; but like the shoppers;
for a split second could hear them.smell them and almost touch them...this
happens often on historic projects;(Ellis Island was one of the most haunted
places Ive ever been) its not paticulairly enjoyable; most often I quietly
just leave the site...and don't often want to work alone there. I asked a
plumber who worked alone in an old theater I was restoring the terrazzo in
Mississippi if he experienced anything unusual,he told me he wasn't working at
night any more because every time he thought he heard people and would look up
and no one was there....I guess those were the folks I saw looking for their
seats...kindly this is proably all the work of a creative imagination ... or I
got to cut down on the Guiness....I know what Ken willl say...but I would be
interested in any "Ghost " stories or similar experiences regarding those of
us who work such sites.

Mary Ive gone off track one of the finest Kress stores (brick and terra cotta
30's) is in Meridian Mississippi, pristine condition all details intact, not
occupied; but treasured by locals and next to it is the Meridian Opera House;
a jewel of undisturbed splendor from the turn of the century it was never
converted ; never modernized..ever...last light bulb 1929...all virgin heart
pine; in ebony black...it was closed in 1929, and sealed untill the early 80's
its what every great theater along broadway must have orginally looked
like..for more info on it and the Kress building contact Fonda Rush ,Comunity
Development , City Hall >Meridian Miss ..regards  Michael