Several years ago when we were in Glacier National Park for our yearly visit to this national treasure I ran into this old gentleman that told me this recollection about being a caretaker at one of the lodges...Bizarre story and he told me he was slowly losing his marbles all by himself at this place and then he had came back 50 years later...Here's the story:

I talked to one guy at Many Glacier Lodge. He said he was the caretaker one winter, 50 years ago, and it warped him for a number of years. That place has a not so well known thing about these old matriarchs from the East Coast parading around in the nude at night. I am telling you the truth.

James J Hill of the Great Northern Railroad had all these lodges built at the turn of the century and the elite of this country would spend the entire season in these lodges. There are many tales that have been related.

When you go from the main lodge to where the rooms are there is a concourse that looks out over The Lake. That guy said there were on occasion these old beauties strutting their stuff in the afternoon, early evening and late at night. They would just walk on by. He was supposed to be the only one there. He said, he definitely wasn't alone.

The wind up there is incessant. He said at first, he loved the sound of it and the old building creaking and groaning. Then he realized it wasn't going to quit. He said, "That wind can drive you crazy." Got to the point where he dreaded night. He told me that he would light a big fire in the lobby fire place every afternoon and hoped it lasted until he finally got up and went to his suite. . Nobody around then, in the summer, it was filled with fun and laughter, now completely silent. Then, watch the wind blow so hard that the large glass panes bowed. Then, the the rain hitting them. Watch the sky turn gray, then purple and fade to black. Then the fire would start playing tricks on his mind if he looked at it too long. Then after the last vestiges of daylight faded he would see faces looking in at him from the outside and then they would be gone. He knew it was just the solitude and his mind playing tricks on him, but was it??

Nothing but the crackling of the fire and having to make it thru the concourse and up to the top where his suite was at. Then, there was the stairway he was scared of, said he saw some terrible images there. He said looking out at the lake everynight just got to the point where he couldn't do it. He said he had to look away. He told me at that point it was only early December. Then the snows came, and more wind. He said that he was supposed to be spelled for January, but noone came. The phone line had got broken in late November. He couldn't find where, other than it was dead. He said he spent alot of time in the daylight trying to figure out the phone line. Never did...More about this later.

So, everyday pretty much went the same. Wake up in the morning, in his suite. Hear the wind. Look out window to see what the weather was doing. Usually very bad. Then lay in bed and think about getting some food. He said he would go downstairs, grab some stuff and cook it on the little wood grill he had out back if he could get it lit. He was scared to death of the kitchen. He told me he had a meat cleaver fall off a rack and slice a very small chunk off on ear. Probably nothing, but when you are alone, it's major. All of the food they had left was in the walkins in the lower level. He told me he only went down there in the daylight because there was a basement window the sun would shine through. He said he hated to go down there with just a bit of sunshine coming thru that one little window..Once when he was in the walk in freezer he had the door slam shut behind him..He said it was heavy and no way would it have slammed shut on its own. He would get enough for a few days and take it upstairs.

As the winter wore on he got to the point where fear had overcame him. He told me it was the incessant wind and the creaking and groaning of the lodge. He told me he had to learn to shut out the sound of the wind or it was going to consume him. Then there were other things he saw...laughing women at the base of his bed...A little girl in the hall way that looked so real asking for help to get back to her mother, one morning a guy showing up that looked so real. He said the guy said, "I am your relief, sorry I didn't get here sooner." He got packed and headed for the back door by the parking lot, saw a huge snow drift and knew he had been had or was really getting flaky. There was no way anybody had even came close to the place.He said, "He wasn't sure." Just slowly loosing it....More wind...More bad weather...

Many more fun things he had to relate. Came down to the lobby one really snowy morning and all the lights were on, fire going in the big fireplace. He said he had shut them all off the night before..Only person there was a lady behind the admissions desk. He said he was so scared he could have pissed himself. He went over there. She just said, "Mr. R. we have moved you from Suite A to Suite C, we will be doing some maintenance on your previous Suite." He turned and went back up stairs and all of his belongings were in Suite C. He then didn't know if he was getting so flaky that he had moved them or if something really odd had happened. He said he went back down stairs to confirm. Noone at the desk but the fire had been restocked and was burning. He told me he went back upstairs and stayed there for three days until the blizzard had subsided. When he came back down, there was noone around but the fire was still going, not raging, but nonetheless aglow. He said there were a few bar glasses around and ashtrays had butts in them. There were cards and score pads on a couple tables. He wondered if he could have been playing cards with himself...odd thing was that he wasn't a smoking man...Then, he told me that he felt he was about at the point of mental collapse...and the phone rings...Said he literally pissed his pants...Now remember, that phone had been out of service for quite some time. He answered and he swears there was a voice that just said, "Get the hell out of there." He said he went out back and looked the phone line was still dangling in the wind...Go figure...

He told me that was the last straw. He stayed there that night and prayed for a Chinook wind. Two days later he woke up to the sound of strong wind and a fresh smell and water running. He said he bundled up as much food as he could, got dressed for a hike, got a small tent and headed out. He had had enough. He made it back to civilization. Scared, happy, dazed.

When I talked to him by chance that day he hadn't been back since that winter along time ago. He told me he wasn't sure if he could do it, but he was going to try. One of the Suites for him. He seemed nervous, but at peace with the situation.We stood in the wind on the outside of the concourse, rain and then some snowflakes hitting us, then the wind ever stronger. The view inside was that big inviting fire, and the people.Then me looking at him..He was staring at that lake and saying, "Time to go inside."

That day was giving way to afternoon and then early evening. I asked him for sure where he was staying. He just said, "Mark, I am doing one last evening here, I have too." I knew he did and I am sure I did. But, do you suppose the memories let him sleep much. I don't know. Everyone has to slay their own dragons from the past, did he, I don't know...I think he learned to live with them, maybe understand them, maybe not, but I was rooting for him. I had to be.

Maybe not, I'll never know. We left, went to Apgar Village and went to sleep looking at the most beautiful view in this country, straight up Lake McDonald. There is nothing to compare. I still thought of him and still think of him. That night as we layed in our bed and looked straight up Lake McDonald I wondered if he was in a suite and looking out at the Lake and what he saw. Did the "Ghosts" or whatever from 50 years ago come back or did he sleep well and walk out the next morning as if nothing had ever happened? I doubt it. I'll never know, but I am honored to have met him and heard the story.

Mark