Press Room

Sunday, March 21, 2004

By KATHLEEN DREESSEN
Register Correspondent

Stories have abounded for years that the former Hatt Mill Building, now the site of the Napa River Inn, is haunted. This former warehouse and feed store is currently the setting for a luxury hotel -- the pressed tin wainscoting, once rusty, has been re-gilded; fine silk and satin chairs have replaced the burlap bags stuffed with grain. The rooms, formerly strung with pulleys and conveyor belts, are joined the electronic age with cable TV and data ports.

How would the new management respond when asked about a ghost that walks the halls at night? Napa River Inn General Manager Nancy Lochmann doesn't bat an eye. She politely inquires, "Which ghost?"

It seems the Inn is visited by more than one otherworldly being, at least as reported by several self-described reliable witnesses. Lochmann, who has worked at the hotel for five years since its planning stages, explains the history of the first ghost, the son of the building's original owner, Captain Albert Hatt. Originally from Germany, Hatt had been a sailor since the age of 14.

"Captain Hatt married Alma (Hogan) and had six children," Lochmann said. In 1884, he purchased the Napa River land from William Coombs and built the Hatt Building. The building was used as a bonded warehouse with an upstairs roller-skating rink built of White Rock maple. In 1887, the silo section was built for storage and another building housed machinery for crushing and cleaning grains.

It might be difficult to imagine Napa in the mid-1800s, but the river was then a bustling focus of trade in the valley. Industrial plants lined the shores and the waterway was used to transport raw and manufactured goods as well as people. Captain Hatt's buildings, on more than two acres with adjacent wharves, were positioned in the midst of the activity.

"Captain Hatt's son, Albert Jr., married Margaret (Riley) in 1889," said Lochmann. "They had five children. Margaret died in 1906."

At age 46, apparently overburdened with the responsibilities of caring for his five children, despondent at being sued over the ownership of a company steamboat and in poor health, Albert Jr., hung himself from a beam in the warehouse on April 1, 1912 in the area now occupied by Sweetie Pies Bakery.

The first ghost sightings, Lochmann says, were visions of a woman. "A woman in a white dress, who seems to be searching, looking for someone," said Lochmann. "It might have been Margaret, so much in love with her husband, perhaps trying to stop him (from taking his life)." Lochmann smiled and shrugged. "That's the first ghost we heard about."

Lochmann admits to unusual occurrences that she can't explain. "Strange things happen. In one room, a guest complained that someone kept turning off the fireplace and the room got very cold," she said. "A visitor from UC Davis said it got so cold in a room that it felt like the air conditioning was on."

After the hotel was featured on a Travel Channel television program, "Haunted Hotels," "People came who wanted to stay in the scariest rooms," Lochmann said and laughed. "Guests are always mentioning that they hear things."

Larry Otis, the hotel's maintenance engineer, didn't think much at first about the idea of a ghost roaming the halls. "I thought it was interesting, I enjoyed the stories," Otis said.

Last year, in preparation for a celebration for the Napa River Inn being named in the National Trust of Historic Hotels, the building was decorated with many old photographs of the Hatt family. "I'd set up pictures on easels and family members were arriving," Otis said, recalling the feeling of expectation surrounding the celebration. "I was in the storeroom, cleaning my painting supplies in a deep sink."

"Above me stacked on the shelves were plastic glassware bins," he said. "They suddenly flew off the shelves as if someone had kicked them." Otis paused a moment, remembering the sight. "Literally and honestly, there was no explanation. It was pretty odd that would happen during a time of great agitation (at the hotel)."

Otis added that he felt no malevolent force.

"Maybe it's just a good excuse for the staff," Lochmann said.

Staff? Does Lochmann mean that more people have reported unusual events? "Oh, yes," she said, seemingly untroubled by a specter wandering the property.

Jerry Hollaway also has been with the hotel since prior to its official opening, first as a security guard and night auditor. He is currently the senior bell captain. Hollaway, 62, retired from a civil service job before working for the inn and speaks in a no-nonsense manner of the period before the hotel was open for guests.

"I would be there by myself, and the elevator kept going up and down," said Hollaway. "Elevators can (be adjusted to) go down, but they don't go up by themselves."

"More than once I heard doors open and close," Hollaway said, certain he'd been alone in the building. "I've walked down the hall and had my hair on the back of my neck stand on end."

"A guest recently complained she'd put clothes in a drawer and closed it. When she turned back around, the drawer was open," he said. "This happened twice." Hollaway said that guests seem quite understanding when the staff explains that a ghost may be responsible for various occurrences.

One guest wrote about her eerie experiences at an online review site, and was happy to discuss it further, as long as she was referred to as "Lilly." Many people who report ghosts apparently have a tendency to shy away from publicity. She has stayed at the Inn three times.

"I heard a heavy dress sway down the hall," Lilly said in her review. "A door opened right across the hall in #208 then shut. I then heard hard footsteps of what sounded like a man. A door at the other end of the hall #207 opened then closed with a force S I heard walking down the hallway toward room 208."

Room 208 is directly above Sweetie Pies, where Capt. Hatt reportedly hung himself.

Sweetie Pies is a bustling place each morning. The aroma of coffee scents the air and conversation at the tables is lively. In the middle of the room, a grain-bagging machine remains as one of the last vestiges of the Hatt Mill. Manager Carolyn Free is good-natured about the spirit or spirits, although she hasn't experienced them for herself. "I haven't heard any late night shuffling or felt any late night vibes," she said. "Although after the Haunted Hotel show was on, a lot of people ask us about the ghosts."

Which brings up the subject of the second ghost. In November 2003, the Napa Valley Register published Napa resident John Ingram's Letter to the Editor. In the letter, Ingram relates the experience of friends who recently visited the hotel for the first time.

The couple encountered a man coming down the stairway and asked him the location of the restaurant. The man said, "This is no dining establishment, this is Napa Milling and I'm the owner, Robert Keig."

After they walked past him, they noted a "distinct smell of hay and grain." When they turned around, he had vanished. Later, they saw a photograph of Robert Keig, who purchased the Mill from Capt. Hatt in 1912. "They went ballistic," reported Ingram. "The man in the photo was the man they encountered on the stairs that night."

"It's definitely haunted," said Ingram by telephone. "My friends are reliable sources but they don't want any media attention. They stayed the night and she heard footsteps outside the door and machines running downstairs."

The Keig family operated the Napa Mill Feed Store until 1974.

Although somewhat bemused, Keig's grandson, Paul Keig, appears open-minded about all the fuss about ghosts. Harry Price, Managing Partner of the Napa Mill Development that includes the Napa River Inn, recently gave Keig a tour of the property. This was the first time Keig, a Napa native and resident, had returned to the site since his family owned the business.

Keig walked through the property and reminisced about his time there. "The skating rink area is where we stored grains and seeds that didn't move fast," said Keig. The original skating rink, its maple floor expensively and painstakingly restored by Price, now houses several guest rooms (including the infamous #207 and #208), a lobby and the Keig Board Room. Keig called the new area, "Amazing -- it's quite a difference."

Upon inspecting the bagging machinery in Sweetie Pies, Keig declared, "I bet I'm the only person in here who knows how this works." No one disputed him.

Keig has fond memories of his grandfather. "I knew him well. He was neat, a workaholic," said Keig. "I spent years and years working at the Mill."

Did anything in the mill ever frighten him? "Yes, when my father and I would have to come down at night for a late grain shipment. I was a kid and I'd have to walk through the entire dark warehouse by myself to turn on the light switch." He laughed at the memory.

What does Keig think of the current Mill? "I like it. It helps downtown Napa. The downtown is turning around now," said Keig as he surveyed the brick front of the former mill. "I'm glad it's getting a lot of use."

When Lochmann mentioned the rumor that his grandfather hadn't quite departed the premises, Keig smiles. "If you see Grandpa, tell him 'hi.' I'd be happy to see him again."