Ghosts are where you find them, so they say. After I saw one long ago, I have been looking for them for over twenty years. In my search to find these elusive spirits, I visited the Gold Hill Hotel, in Gold Hill, Nevada. Knowing that Room #2 had a reputation for being haunted by a ghostly woman called "Rosie," and not able to resist the opportunity, I requested it for my stay.

Built of native stone in the 1850’s, the Gold Hill Hotel looks as if Mark Twain himself stayed there -- he may very well have. The room's bathroom featured a huge claw tub and that night, as my wife slept, I filled the tub and relaxed in the hot water. It was then that I smelled it. Now, mark my words when I say that it was a powerful strong smell, almost a stench – smelling overwhelming of roses. It was as if someone had dumped a bottle of cheap perfume on the floor.

Intrigued, I got out of the bath and began to smell of everything in the bathroom close-up. I smelled the soaps and shampoos but there was nothing there that had a fragrance remotely like roses. I even took a whiff of the windows and doors thinking that some trickster might be having a bit of fun with me by squirting some perfume in the room. There was nothing. Finally, just when I was convinced I had encountered the ghost--it was GONE. The smell was no longer there. Not one whiff of roses – the aroma leaving almost as quickly as it had come. I know that’s not normal. When you get a smell that powerful it’s hard to get rid of it. Nonetheless, the overwhelming scent was entirely gone.

Cold by this time, I went back into the warm water of the bath and almost discounted my experience as a dream, until it happened again. Getting out of the bath, I wrapped a towel around myself and searched not only the bathroom, but the bedroom as well. The scent was gone!