As a freelance photographer, I find myself traveling to many exotic places all over the world to take pictures. Recently, I decided to make a stop in the laid back Southern City of Greenville, S.C. Being a nature lover, I was attracted to the Waterfalls in the downtown area.

I checked into a local hotel that was advertised in South Carolina’s travel coupon book, the ad boasted of a Grand Opening Special with a hot breakfast, free internet, cable and more. The price was right and it was accessible to the downtown area. The room though nicely decorated, with a full refrigerator, microwave and cabinets had a dark look, even with the lights on. The drapes had heavy lining which blocked out any sunlight from the outside. This layout is great if you need to get some rest during the day, also I knew it wouldn’t be a problem for me to fall fast asleep after being tired from driving out of the state.

While in a deep sleep, I felt totally restless tossing turning and wakening up in a cold sweat after hearing screams in my dreams. I did not understand what prompted this despair that I felt. I have always paid close attention to my dreams, also keeping a Dreamer’s Dictionary for interpreting them. I didn’t know what to make of it, just realized I would follow up later.

Next, I showered got dressed and went out to one of the upscale downtown restaurants that had a nice view of the people walking up and down the sidewalk. After a wonderful dinner and a nice walk I decided to return to the hotel. Once I drove into the hotel parking lot, my heart felt like it skipped a beat after seeing a large fire truck sitting in the driveway of the hotel entrance. Some hotel guests were standing on the outside with no coats even though the weather was very chilly for this time of year. I rushed to park my car and jumped out to ask the crowd what had happened?

One man yelled out, “someone burned popcorn in their microwave”. A hotel employee standing on the outside began to mumble, “This doesn’t look too good,” then went on to say, “You know six people died here by fire and around 11 people were injured in 2004. As he continued to talk I felt numb inside. Not being from this city but living in another state I didn’t have a clue of what happened in the past at this same hotel. It was the most tragic hotel fire in the history of the city. Was the dream I experienced earlier that day trying to tell me something? Well that night I didn’t put on my night clothes. I laid there in the hotel bed in my street clothing unable to sleep, fearful of the unknown.

After, returning home from my trip I decided to research the facts about this hotel fire. On the internet I typed in the name of the hotel in several of the top search engines. No indication about this hotel fire came up. Nothing until I went to archives online of greenvilleonline.com which is an online version of The Greenville Newspaper. After reading the many headline details of the fire, one headline indicated, “If they would have had a sprinklers system in the hotel lives could have been saved”.

You would think out of respect for the victims they would have changed the name of the hotel or even had this hotel torn down. It just doesn’t sit well with me to see this hotel treat this situation as, business as usual.

Some people need to realize the power of the Blog, for if I had the opportunity to read someone’s blog about this hotel in advance, I would have never checked in.

Merle Adams, is a freelance writer and photographer writing for a variety of newspapers and magazines. Her photographic vision has led her through advertising worlds, featuring her work internationally in exhibits and publications.

You can see some of my photos at the following web link:

http://www.handicapablemedia.org/Photography.htm

Look for my future blogs about Hidden History That Cities Don’t Want Tourist to Know.