I love the dark sense of humor in this, him talking to the painting, checking himself in. A man low on morals finding himself equally low on luck, also very appropriate given the more recent outing of unscrupulous behavior coming back to haunt now old men. I kinda like the implication that his tightfistedness ended up getting the place shut down. You manage to convey his lack of belief in ghosts before you even state it, simply by his attitude in hiding out there. I imagine he is also evading the tax man at this point lol - very well written!

If you are on the look out for more contests, i have one of my own with a considerably longer deadline ;)