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A HAUNTING PERFUME
By James Dotson

In a remote region of Romania, in the delicately spired summer castle of Pelisor, once lived the beloved “Saint Queen” Marie, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. When she wasn’t artfully draping herself against leopard skins, composing fairy tales, or heaving massive bouquets of lilies to her dramatically veiled face, she managed to design much of the interior of her castle in a curious mixture of Celtic, Art Nouveau and Byzantine styles. Her favorite room was the lushly ornate Gold Salon and this is the room that she chose to lavish with her mystical violet perfume both while alive, and long after she was dead. According to the tale of a faithful family servant, Gyuri, Queen Marie had first received the violet attar in a gold bottle dusted with sapphires and brilliants, as a gift from a mysterious maharajah who also gave King Carol many of the teak furnishings in the salon. This rare essence of Indian violets became her favorite fragrance for many years.
Nearly ten years after her death, in May of 1948, a committee of communist officials from Bucharest arrived at Pelisor, intent on cataloguing the decadent monarchy’s treasures, planning to remove and sell them to liberate the funds for the good of the people. On that day, as they opened the doors to the Gold Salon, the walls began to ooze with the heavy scent of violets, which then drifted down to fill every floor of the castle. In a panic, armed guards were sent scurrying from room to room to locate this perfumed intruder. But the spectral violet would appear and abruptly disappear from one room to another, playing a cruel game of cat and mouse with the increasingly pale and terrified bureaucrats. Later, it was decided that it would be best to preserve Pelisor as a museum.

Queen Marie is not the only scented ghost, though arguably the most glamorous. In fact, the presence of supernatural odors is a fairly common aspect of hauntings and other paranormal phenomenon. The general rule is that the ghost produces something that they were truly passionate about during their life: 19th century gentlemen favor fine cigar smoke, Dolley Madison permeates the Octagon House in Washington D.C. with her favorite flowers (lilacs), and the presences of the Winchester Mystery House produce the aroma of chicken soup. Unfortunately, the meaner sorts of poltergeists which throw furniture about the room tend to like to blast out smells of rotting and charred flesh. That is why it is better to stick to the classier haunted castles like Pelisor.

Have a Happy and Haunted Halloween,

JAMES DOTSON
BRON

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