If ever there was a day that was appropriate for this story, it'd be St. Patrick's Day Halloween, so without further adieu here it is. The OC Register relayed a few tales from Lakers players who have stayed at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City--where the Lakers just got back from--which is the main choice for most visiting NBA teams who come in to OKC to play the Thunder. The hotel is "allegedly" haunted (we won't laugh at you if you believe in ghosts) and is also the same inn that Kyrie Irving claimed gave him bed bugs that forced him to miss most of a game last season, and also that Bill Simmons claimed was haunted in a 2010 column after he says he was woken up at 4:30 a.m. by a phantom baby crying.
Both Larry Nance and Lou Williams have avoided staying at the Skirvin, instead paying for their own rooms at a separate spot, after players reported seeing ghosts there. About that decision, Nance said "I prefer to stay away from the supposed supernatural. I just don’t want any issues."
However the team's most interesting anecdote came contrary to the approach taken by Nance and Williams, as Metta World Peace stood his ground and stayed at the Skirvin, where he says he was consequently violated by the seductive touch of a spirit. Basically picture that pottery scene from Ghost, except with Metta World Peace instead of Demi Moore. "The ghosts were all over me. I just accepted it," World Peace said, "They touched me all over the place. I’m taking one of the ghosts to court for touching me in the wrong places." While that may sound like a joke, World Peace insisted to writer Mark Medina that he was serious, adding "I was watching a good movie and I was tired. I didn’t want to move."
According to local legend, the hotel is haunted by the ghost of a housekeeper named Effie after she killed herself and her child following an affair with a former owner of the place. Again, we won't laugh at you if you believe in ghosts, but there's a reason that's "according to local legend," and not "according to well-documented research and news reports."
