## The Town’s Landmark: The Union Hotel

In the bustling heart of Flemington, toward the sunset end of Main Street, stands the formidable edifice of Designer’s Corner—an establishment of bespoke furniture and decorative delights. It’s today’s pilgrimage site for many, seeking beautiful, comfort-rendering items to transform their living spaces. Yet buried within its foundations of artful craftsmanship and timeless elegance dwells a haunting past; for the building was not always home to grand couches and mahogany tables. Once, it wore the identity of the stately Union Hotel, a prominent feature on Flemington’s map since 1814.

The Union Hotel, carved from the earliest bricks of Flemington, held an aura of nobility; an old dame among the boutiques. Within its time weathered walls, an intricate tapestry of tales stitched across the centuries unfolded. Hundreds and thousands of guests poured in and out like recurrent tides, their footprints imprinted in the corridors of time. Amid the chorus of their existence, some tales surpassed the limits of the mortal coil — they echo even today.

Among those spectral echoes reverberates what can only be described as the melody of melancholy; the legend of Mary, the phantom chambermaid. Unseen to the living, she continues to reside among the rustic charm of the old Union Hotel, forgotten by none, but remembered by all.

## The Spectral Silhouette: Mary’s Tale

Mary wasn’t always a ghostly tale — her cloth-to-ghost metamorphosis finds its roots in a pitiful event of the early twentieth century. Flesh-and-blood, she was once, with dreams as tangible as one of the grand oak tables of the erstwhile hotel. She was a chambermaid, tending to the needs of those seeking solace within the Union Hotel’s welcoming embrace. She handled her duties with diligence, her spirit unbroken by the hardships of the time.

And then, as the shroud of death fell abruptly upon Mary, who succumbed to a mysterious illness, the course of her simple life drastically altered. It was like the snap of a violent gust of wind tearing a leaf from its branch — abrupt and irreversible. Her demise transformed her from a living, breathing part of the Union Hotel’s bustling life to a spectral silhouette hugging its shadows. After her departure from the plane of the living, her soul refused to cross the threshold of oblivion, marooned in the corridors of the Union Hotel — her ghost forever wandering.

Around the stroke of midnight, especially on the building’s upper floor, Mary often reveals her spectral manifestation. She could be seen donning her neat housemaid uniform, going through her endless, spectral routine. People report the strangeness enveloping reality during these specter sightings. There’s a departure from the normal—an otherworldly deflection.

## The Paranormal Encyclopedia: Phantom Phenomena and Mary

The amplification of the bizarre commences with cryptic sounds creeping out from the corners of the old building— a low, chilling wail, a resounding sob, an unseen object shuffling across the floor, or a whisper carried by a nonexistent breeze. Every creak of the wood, every flutter of a drape, carries a nebulous strangeness.

Then come the apparitions— the faint figure of a woman moving in the peripheral vision, sudden icy gusts passing by, and the prickling sensation of being observed. It feels as if the spectral figure was real enough to touch but would disappear like fleeting smoke upon contact. The whimsical encounter with Mary leaves one with an eerie sensation, a ghostly chill that creeps up the spine. The penetrating cold seems like a plea from Mary— a plea to acknowledge her existence and perhaps, her tale of woe.

## The Midnight Specter: Close Encounters

Midnight seems to be Mary’s preferred hour, rendering an eerie mood to Designer’s Corner’s timeless aura. With only the quiet rustling of the darkness for company, the woman in her housemaid’s uniform silently treads her eternal path. Spectators note that the spectral maid does not seem vengeful but paints a picture of never-ending sorrow — a soul broken way before her time.

Each tale of encountering Mary’s specter carries a universal imprint — an ethereal touch, a timeless aura, and an inexplicable melancholic effect. Each witness is left with a disturbed peace, a chill rising from within, and an impression of an eerie haunting etched in their memory.

While some are skeptics, many believe her presence to be as real as the antique furniture pieces residing within Designer’s Corner. Mary, the woman lost but not forgotten, the figure present but never tangible, continues her spectral waltz, elegantly navigating her timeless existence.

In the heart of Flemington, Designer’s Corner stands as a testimony of a tale beyond worlds. Separated by the life-death barrier, Mary, the phantom chambermaid, continues her haunting waltz, her spectral spectacles a testament to the Union Hotel’s history — a history that has transcended the boundary of life and death.