Ed Maas can’t tell you much about the upcoming episode of Ghost Hunters focusing on the Orleans Inn, but he can say this: tune in.
“They definitely found some stuff that makes you think,” said Maas, who owns the inn.
Back in February a team from the popular show, which airs on the Syfy channel, spent several days at the inn after getting a tip from the chamber of commerce that the historical spot was haunted.
What they found with their high-tech equipment will be revealed on April 21 during the episode, “Inn of the Dead.”
“It was fascinating,” said Maas, of the time he spent with the two plumbers, Jason and Grant.
Most locals have heard about the ghosts that inhabit the inn and Maas and his family has gotten used to them, even attached, over the years. Maas said along with some cats that haven’t completely crossed over that occupy the closet in Room 4 there are at least three ghosts.
Paul, a dishwasher who hung himself in the basement in the 1970s, Fred, a bartender, who was found hanging in the cupola - some believe his suicide was actually murder - and Hannah who was murdered in front of the inn.
Hannah is Maas’ favorite. She was a lady of the night – the inn had quite the scandalous reputation back in the Roaring 20s.
Maas met her first, after buying the rundown establishment back in 1996. Being from Florida he didn’t know about its paranormal past.
“When we bought the inn I had no idea,” Maas said. “(People said) ‘Are you crazy? The place is haunted.”
Early on he was there one night when the power was out and heard people walking around upstairs. At first he was going to grab a flashlight and go check it out. He thought better of it and went over to the lighted comfort of Stop & Shop.
Since then he has become a lot more comfortable with Hannah, who has been known to stroll around naked. His wife, Laurie, said they had to fix the inn up so Hannah would have a place to stay.
Maas christened the ghost after he tried looking her up in historical archives and couldn’t find her name. He named her after one of the Snows, the family that built the inn back in 1875.
Historian Bonnie Snow was also interviewed for the upcoming piece and although unfamiliar with the ghosts, she regaled the crew with stories of Orleans past and “Aaron’s Folly” as the inn was called because Aaron Snow took so long to build it.
Hannah has been seen by more people than the Maas family, and was even photographed at a Chatham High School reunion held at the inn.
It remains to be seen if she’ll sit down and watch the show with the family, or if they can see her flit across their television screen.