Tony, my daughter and son-in-law were visiting the Jefferson Hotel in Jefferson Texas on their first of several more visits. The hotel is famous for its haunting. They had already experienced a presence which, though the door was locked, pulled all the drawers in the room out the same distance while they were in the bathroom readying for bed. But, the most mysterious occurrence was as they were preparing to leave they encountered a maid, dressed in traditional fashion with head bandana, long skirt, etc., with a small container of cleaning materials. She was entirely embodied, completely and pleasantly real. She suggested they could use the outside spiral stair case to leave, saying it was closer to their car. It was located at the far end of the hallway, and is still there but now blocked by a piece of furniture. They asked downstairs at the desk about the pleasant maid with whom they had talked. As you have guessed, they had no such maid. They went back up the stairs and she was not to be found. Her cleaning materials were gone. The folks at the desk said she had been seen one other time.
My daughter and husband had no doubt they had conversed with a real person - who was not to be found. My daughter concluded this was not a ghost, and the best answer was a time slip.
We have encountered typical ghost behavior there since then, but nothing at all like this.