"When I first came here," Gloria said, "it was a very elegant home. But, it was a very cold home, too.

"In the process of putting my own personal touches in, adding and enhancing things, there was one particular room which had a heavy rose scent.

"When I would go in to clean, the rose scent would leave, but when I'd come back, the scent would be there again. This went on for three to six months, so I felt that whoever or whatever the scent was coming from was quite comfortable that the house was being taken care of, and was getting a warmth to it."

The aroma would fade in and out, returning in full strength, Gloria said, at times when she felt most stressed, angered or ill.

"It seemed to be concerned for me. There was never any apparition, but always some sort of a presence."

Gloria came to call this unseen force "The Rose Lady." She would talk about her experiences freely, and some of the guests in the Alden House Bed and Breakfast operation told her they hoped they would encounter the elusive and aromatic entity.      That entity eventually became more evident.

"There were times when lights would go on unexpectedly, showers would run - particularly in one back room. Curtains would draw back for no reason," she continued.
    In time, Gloria started to question the benevolence of the energy that seemed to fill certain spaces of the circa - 1850 home.

She remembered the time a visitor from abroad came to the inn and had an experience with what could have been the true spirit of the Alden House. "It was a very important person," Gloria stressed, "one whose name I could never reveal for security reasons.

"She thought she was sleeping, but told me that she shook her head, rolled her eyes and looked again. She was definitely not sleeping and the spirit was definitely there on the floor.

"Then, she said she turned away for a second, and it was gone."

What had begun as the innocuous scent of roses and the invention of the innocent "Rose Lady" legend had become a more worrisome power which, she felt, must be dealt with.

"Upstairs," Gloria noted, "there was always a very cold, almost sinister kind of feeling. It got to the point where it bothered me tremendously. I asked the reverend next door to please come over and pray for the house or do something.    

"He came over, and started at the extreme top of the house, anointing and trying to cast away whatever mischievous spirits were there.

"We did this the whole way down the house, in every room, and the day after he did it, all you-know-what broke out!

"Something happened to just about every toilet, we could not get the showers to shut off all the way, the curtains fell down, and other things."

These pesky problems continued for about three days, Gloria said, and then everything came to a complete halt.

Are the spirits of the Rose Lady or the sad boy still in the Alden House? Gloria Adams says things have been pretty quiet since she combined her own, strong faith and will with the blessings bestowed by the minister.

Still, she keeps her ears perked for any unexplained sounds, her eyes open in case the weeping lad's ghost would come again, and her nose ready should the Rose Lady make another fragrant visit.