The St. Francis is the oldest inn in St. Augustine, built in 1791. The inn is allegedly haunted by a slave girl named Lily and the story revolves around two 18th century lovers. Lily had a love affair with a nephew of one of the owners of the inn and they would meet up on the third floor. The nephew was a soldier and as the story is told, Lily got pregnant and the family of the nephew would not let it happen. Apparently they did not approve of the relationship. It is told that she killed herself and the baby.
It is alleged that both the soldier and Lily have been seen many times throughout the inn. Many experiences have happened in Lily's room such as being touched, sightings of Lily, and hearing voices. Numerous women have reported that their pocketbook has been found emptied out and their lipstick missing. It seems as though Lily has a fondness for lipstick.
Our experiences and observations: Throughout the evening and early morning hours there was not even a hint of anything paranormal in Miss Lily’s room. After calling it a night I retired to Miss Lily’s room sleeping comfortably and awaking around 8am.
Entering the bathroom located to the right of the bedroom, I started the shower water and just minutes in to showering I heard a loud banging like someone knocking loudly on the room’s door. I quickly grab a towel and made my way to the front room door. Opening, I found no one present. Thinking that maybe someone had knocked on a different room door I headed back to finish my shower. Within a minute the loud knocking noises resumed. I quickly stepped from the shower and stood feet from the room’s door determined to pinpoint the source of the noise. After waiting several minutes and no more noise detected I went back to showering. Once again, the loud knocking noises returned so I quickly ran to the door and waited with shower running. After about ten minutes and no return of the banging noise I returned to finish my shower with no more interruptions.
Inquiring with the desk attendant and my fellow investigator no one heard anything or had knocked on Miss Lily’s door. Water pipes were examined but the location of the originating noise was never determined.
While we captured no physical evidence the origin of the loud noises remain a mystery.