The Halloween mini-series opens in New Orleans, where a tech firm fresh off its IPO books one of America's most famously haunted hotels for a black tie "Night of Spirits" gala. Candlelit ballroom, brass band, custom cocktails, a hired medium drifting through the crowd, and a gorgeous spiral staircase that gives adjusters nightmares: narrow, slippery, one decorative handrail, and lighting at half what code requires.
Halfway through the night a guest in a silver dress steps onto the stairs for a selfie, leans back for a better angle, and goes down six steps. One twisted wrist, one viral video, and within minutes the internet has decided a ghost pushed her. The hashtag arrives before the ambulance does. As Jessica puts it, this stopped being a claim and became a public relations exorcism.
The walkthrough that follows is the meat of the episode. Premises liability under the general liability policy answers for the injury, but the viral video is not a covered occurrence, it is a reputation problem, which is exactly what crisis management coverage exists for: PR consultants, press statements, social monitoring. Liquor liability hovers over the bar logs, two Corpse Revivers deep with no water service. And the beautiful old staircase learns that historic property does not get grandfathered out of risk, it gets documented, lit properly, and given a second handrail.
By renewal, the hotel has brighter bulbs, an annual safety audit clause, a bigger umbrella, and a sign that reads "enter at your own risk, and preferably sober." Ghosts are fine for tourism, Jessica concludes, just not for underwriting. Negligence is real even when the ghost is not.
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