With all of the haunted fun in Coupeville this month, Blue Goose Inn Owners David and Becky Broberg may be living the real deal.

The first weekend in October, the kickoff to the Haunting of Coupeville, the inn owners and staff say they may have had a visitor from the other side.

It was Sunday morning and all of the guests had checked out for the weekend.

Becky Broberg said she sent her cleaning staff to the second floor of the Kineth House, one of two historic homes that make up the inn.

“Two of them came back down and said, ‘Are you sure everyone left?’” Becky Broberg recalled.

THE WOMEN said as they climbed the stairs to the second floor to find a tall, thin man wearing a light jacket and bowler hat. He was standing on the landing at the top of the stairs as they passed.

The inn is secured with locks that only guests and staff have access to. People cannot just come in and out as they please.

“I checked every person out that day,” Becky Broberg said. “I watched them all drive away. When they tell you there’s a man in the house, we have to take that seriously.”

BECKY SAID she went upstairs to check on the man, but he was not there. The staff members asked the third cleaning woman who was still upstairs if she had seen the man.

He was pacing in the Mount Baker Room, she told them, so they went to look.

No one was there.

And no one heard the front door open or close.

THIS ISN’T the first odd experience for the Brobergs or their guests during the two years the couple has owned the inn.

Guests have reported hearing noises in the middle of the night, the smell of cooking at strange times and even objects moving.

While Becky said she believes there may be something supernatural at work, David Broberg does his best to debunk the claims — if he can.

Reports from guests of noisy neighbors opening and closing doors late into the night when no other guest is there?

Could be the creaks of an old house, David speculates.

ONE GUEST of the inn reported hearing what sounded like someone bouncing a ball above them late into the night. David Broberg said the only thing above that room is a crawl space and insulation.

The noise could have been the wind hitting a vent on the side of the house, he said.

That same guest reported smelling someone cooking at 3 a.m. He even got up to investigate, but found nothing.

David’s explanation? The guest commented about not having a great sense of smell. Perhaps he was dreaming about smelling food.

THERE HAVE also been experiences with weird lighting at the inn.

The Brobergs’ son was visiting one time and was reading in bed. The touch lamp next to his bed changed settings without being touched.

Becky Broberg also had an experience in the other inn building, the Coupe-Gillespie House, when she turned two lights off in a room and returned to find them on.

Did she, in fact, not turn them off? She swears she did.

DURING BREAKFAST one morning, a guest shared a story about seeing an apparition at Fort Casey, Becky Broberg said. As she was talking, two candlesticks on the mantel flew across the room.

Not just fell, she said, flew.

The event was witnessed by several people.

The Brobergs live in a space at the back of the Kineth House. One time they were witness to a spooky occurrence in their room.

“We watched our knob turn and open,” Becky said.

Could it be the latch not fully clicking and the door pushing itself open? Sure.

But the knob turning? David shrugs. Who knows?

AND THE man sighted upstairs earlier this month? He didn’t fit any description of any guest we had that weekend, David Broberg said.

Could someone have wandered in off the street?

“These are the kinds of discussion we find ourselves having,” Becky said with a laugh. “It is important to note though, I’ve never felt frightened or uncomfortable.

“When something happens, we just kind of look at each other and go, ‘look at that.’”

“Whenever we have something weird, it’s usually in the Kineth House,” Becky Broberg said.

Both houses have history, though.

The Coupe-Gillespie house was build in 1891 by James Gillespie and his wife Keturah Coupe, daughter of Coupeville founder Capt. Thomas Coupe.

It was originally built on the corner of Sixth and Main streets, but has been moved twice in its life.

Gillespie had a small shop on Front Street and worked as a meat cutter.

DAVID BROBERG said that a woman stopped by once to say she had lived in the house as a young girl. She said family members would come stay when they were sick and her mother would care for them until they died.

She viewed the residence as a type of hospice, he said.

The Kineth House was built in 1887 by John and Jane Kineth as a retirement home for one of the first pioneer families on Whidbey Island.

They first settled at Snakelum Point, south of Coupeville, with a 640-acre donation claim in 1853. They lived the pioneer life, raising six children.

JOHN KINETH is credited with bringing the first horses to the island. As pioneers, the Kineths were in the backdrop of popular Coupeville history.

They had their run-ins with Native Americans. They were here when Issac Ebey was killed. John Kineth helped build the first blockhouse.

They lived in their retirement home until John’s death in 1902.

AN OBITUARY for John Kineth found in archives at the Island County History Museum says he died of heart failure at home.

There are no pictures of him on file.

Could he be the man seen earlier this month?

Bowler hats were in fashion in 1902, according to head museum archivist Joan Peters.