Bees

     Ever since we moved into this house we have had a hive of honeybees that nest between the walls between and above the front second story windows. They have never been intrusive but on very hot summer days they will swarm onto the cone of the front part of the roof. This swarm is usually 4 or 5 foot across and who knows how deep. Bee keepers tell me it would be next to impossible to extract the hive and highly illadvised as there is probably a great deal of honey which would then attract less wanted vermin. Besides, so I'm told, this is a rare colony, as most old colony bees were killed off in recent bee killing parasite epidemics. Either these bees escaped the problem or were immune to it for some reason; so the pollinators stay on. Nothing ghosly about that, unless something is protecting the hive. Recently we had painters doing the woodwork around the windows. They reported that those were the tamest bees they had ever incountered, nary a sting.

The cellar

    Our cellar is a dank,dark,forbidding, area best left alone. Aside from eating the cat, the cellar personifies a dreary dungeon. Originally a spring ran through this cellar; in that remote past this was quite a plus for the house as the occupants could keep their milk, cream, and other goods fresh longer in the cold spring waters. You must remember that when this house was built , refrigeration had not yet been invented. Well, having a spring running through your basement is no longer a plus. Previous owners have tried to stop the springs flow with only partial success. So the basement is wet in places and damp everywhere, except in the furnace room. The cellar is so forboding that a sliding bar lock was placed on the cellar door permiting it to be securely locked from inside the kitchen. A lock on the inside basement door, interesting, don't you think? My only experience with the basement was the disappearance of our cat which I noted in an earlier entry.

The Green Room

     The greenroom has three doorways, one to the mainhall, one to the front hall and winding staircase, and one to the upstairs porch. It was a hot summer night. My wife suffering from the heat decided to see if the porch off the Green room could offer any cooler conditions. As it was rather late at night the air was a bit cooler and a slight breeze helped. She says that as she sat there she heard the bedroom door open and footsteps up to the door leading to the porch; she then heard the screen door squeek as it was being opened. Thinking it was me she said,"Yessss, I'm out here; is something wrong?" Recieving no answer, she looked up and saw the screen door was closed. She immediately got up to see where I was. I was sound asleep; didn't hear about it until the next morning. Over the years, my wife has refused to sleep in the Green Room, even though the three-quarters size antique bed that once graced a room at the famous Zoar hotel, has a new mattress and is quite comfortable. Because of her work schedule, which often requires her to be up before dawn, she sometimes uses the Noah room because her getting up so early can get our dog going if she uses the masterbedroom. Even though the bed in the Noah room is less comfortable than the one in the Greenroom. The Noahroom got its name from my wifes collections of Noahs Ark figures and paintings that abound in that room. Which is tan and brown by the way.

Strange house continued

     The previous owner of this site had what she called an "office" that was partitioned from an inner room. There were no windows in the office. One night , after the office was turned into a downstairs bedroom, a guest was scared out of his wits by flashing lights that were bouncing around the room. He swore he'd never stay there again. The daughter of the previous owner said she was pushed down the cellar steps...she felt the hand on her back. If the present owners have had strange occurances, they haven't mentioned it. But they do have lighted electrical candles in every window of this many windowed house.

Strange house

          There is another house in this town that makes mine downright boring by comparison. Built during the same period of time (1857), this brick structure is larger by three rooms than mine. It also has a widows walk on the roof. Previous owners of the house would never venture to the third floor after sundown. They claimed you were never alone there, on the third floor, and the guest not only walked, but opened and closed doors, and physically moved objects. Their ghost manifested as woman, heavy set, average height, dressed in navy blue or black, long victorian gown. She was also frequently seen on the stairs to the attic (third floor). I've been in that attic, during daylight hours; its the same as my own house, except it was divided into several rooms whereas mine is just two large rooms. I and others with me, have heard the steps in the upstairs hall. We witnessed an indian feather cloak rise and stand straight out in front of an upstairs doorway and no breeze was felt, and as heavy as that cloak was, it would have taken a downright stiff wind to raise it. The cloak was intended to block-off a part of the house during a tour; needless to say it was quickly replaced.

Fire Department

     Firemen in the local fire department report that a spector of a very well known and liked, deceased, fireman is often seen near the lockers. The interesting part is that he is seen by new members who neither remember him or knew him. The apparition stays around long enough, sometimes, to elicite a salutation from the observer.

Village Park

The village has a park, just noth of mainstreet. Not much there, a couple of shelters for picnicers and a restroom. Surrounding the park on three sides is forest. Walking in this forest (there are a few trails), is usually a pleasant experience. Nighttime is problematic because the trails are not well worn; but noone thinks anything of walking most of this forest at night; its quite peaceful. Except for the forested area on the western side of the park; which for some reason has given several people intense feelings of fear. Why just this single area, no one knows. 

Our dogs

          Our dogs, I've had as many as three at a time, have often reacted strangely. There have been times when they refused to go upstairs at night. Physically carrying them up, I fastened them in the vicinity if their bed which is next to ours. At these times they would lay facing down the hall emit low growls. The Schnauser I presently own will often do the same. I had a male schnauzer who lived to the ripe old age of 18. He would often sit in the dining room doorway to the darkened parlour and apparently watch something going on in the dark for rather long periods of time; his head turning as if he were following somesort of action. The periods of time when footsteps are heard seem to also be heard by our dogs who would often react to them by going to check out the source.

items disappear

      Have you ever layed a tool down, right where you are working, then not be able to find it. Tools and other objects tend to vanish in this house then turn up in totally inappropriate places. Its gotten so we say,"OK funs fun but will you please return it." The cat, however, never returned. He stayed in the basement most of the time even though he had been raised with our dogs and got along fine with them. He just preferred the basement; coming up two or three times a day to eat and sometimes play with the dogs. The cat was totally a house cat. He had no idea about the great outdoors. Had he somehow gotten out I'm certain he would have stayed near the house. One evening, while I was sitting in the library, I heard him thump something in the basement and let out a muffled meow. Thinking he might have hurt himself I went to the basement to check...no cat, nowhere. Even his favorite dish failed to produce him. If he'd died in the house he would surely have produced an oder...none such. We never saw him again.

Harpsicord music and lavender

          There are times, rather infrequent, when the sound of a musical instrument, not unlike an old harpsicord can be distinctly heard in the parlour. The music is distinct, but I couldn't tell you the name of the composition. We have checked outside, other rooms, etc. for the source. It can only be heard in the parlour. Local history buffs claim the senator who built this house played the harpsicord. There are also times when the scent of lavender is evident. Not a scent that we use in the house.

Neighbor says Goodbye

      We had a neighbor lady who was very kind, lived alone most of the time, though her brother frequently stayed over. Neither were married though both had been. She was a real character often even instigating snowball fights with whoever would join in in good fun. Quite old, our lady feel ill. She was taken to the hospital where her condition worsened. My wife and I were watching T.V. when suddenly the channels changed. This was back before we had a TV with a remote. You had to physically get up and change the channels. Perplexed I got up and changed the channel back to the program that we were watching. The next day we were informed of the death of our neighbor at precisely the same time our TV changed channels.  Weird Coincidence?

Civil war soldiers

     Our town constable told me that on several occasions, as he was on night patrol, he would hear hoof beats down the main part of town..Its a small town, mainstreet is quite visible for most of the length of it. He didn't see any horses; except on one occasion when he did see three horsemen coming toward him down mainstreet, this was about 1 in the am. He looked down to check the time, when he looked back up there was no sign of horsemen. Nor was there anyplace they could have disappeared to that quickly. Waking dream? He didn't think so.

Ghostly dog

     We had overnight guests a few years ago. When they came down to breakfast, they said, "We didn't know that you let Gamin run loose in the house at night."  I replied, "We don't; shes tied to the radiator beside our bed at night" They replied," Something was scratching he** out of our bedroom door last night. When I got up to see what her problem was, she wasn't there."  Strange and unlikely that they would both have the same dream..

The whole blamed town

I haven't covered half of the goings on in this house. Multiply that by a hundred and You will see that this place may be small, but it should still classify as one the the countries ten top haunted places. But don't tell any of the locals that I told you so. I will continue to write as more memories came into play and yes, I'll write about the town too.

Case of the Coughing Bookcase and dancing brass fernstand.

     A friend of ours was visiting; we were all sitting in the Library talking. It was  a cold winters night and it was snowing outside, Suddenly a coughing came from the built in ,ceiling to floor ,bookcase. Everyone looked startled. We were well away from the road or sidewalk. Our friend said someone must have been trying to eavesdrop on our conversation. I said, he sure didn't hear much. Our friend said I bet if we all go out we'll find his tracks. We took three flaslights and walked the entire area of the house near the library; especially the wall upon which the bookcase was built. There were no tracks but ours. As we walked our friend to the door that night we went from the library through the dining room and through the parlour but as we stepped into the hall a heavy brass fern stand with fern, started to hop up and down and rock across the floor. It was in front of us, noone was near it. The gyrations continued for what must of been better than a minute, then a heavy thud occured somewhere below us and that ended it. There is only a very narrow crawl space beneath that entryway.

Weeping in the bedroom

    Whe've lived in this house for 27 years; most of what I,ve written took place during the first 15 of those. The footsteps in the upstairs hall still resound on occasion and still on hardwoodfloors, even though we carpeted that hall many years ago. Some doors still will not stay shut even, in one case, when a slide bolt was placed on it. The beastie that opens it, often does so in the winter and that can quickly make our house downright cold. You feel a sudden cold draft, you better head for the green room upstairs as the door to the upstairs porch is going to be wide open. The Greenroom is one of the more strange rooms. It was used by the Senators daughters, as they grew up. One night as I made my way from the Masterbedroom down the hall to the upstairs bath, as I passed the Greenroom I heard distinctly, a woman or girl crying. Thinking that my wife, who had just lost her father a few weeks prior, not wanting to disturb me, had gone to the green room. I stopped at the door and said "Can I help?" and stepped into the room and turned on the light. There was no one there. When I returned to bed, my wife was still there sleeping away.  A little white dog is sometimes seen, if for but a moment on the backstairs, he has brown spots and short hair, a little like a jack russell. Nothing like my somewhat larger schnauzers who are long haired and gray and white.

Breaking Glass

This house was built in 1857 by a U.S. Senator. It has two, 12 ft tall, arched windows in front. Try keepingall  these  little squares clean. You and the whole household are abruptly awakened at 2:15 am by the thunderous roll of crashing glass. Your first thought is something came through one or more of the great windows.You're wide awake anyway so you investigate first the front windows and then the whole house. No broken glass is ever found.                      It is nearly Christmas, I'm setting in the den, just off the Library, reading a book. My two Schnauzers are lying on the couch. My wife is out, I don't really expect her before 9 pm, its just dark out about 7pm. I hear someone walking from the kitchen and into the diniong room; the steps are light on hardwood floors, (it didn't dawn on me til later that the diningroom and library are carpeted), the steps turn and come into the library where I distinctly hear either keys or a glass set down somewhere on a table. The dogs jump down and run to the den doorway, then they stop and just stand there. I made some comment to my wife, no answer. I got up, I checked the whole house...noone. My wife arrived about 2 hours later.

The weird beats on

Our lights would come on or shut off by themselves. One day as my wife was talking on the phone to a friend, she saw, through the transom that the lights in the parlour had come on, shut off, and come on steadily again. Telling the friend the she intended to investigate she and our two brave schnauzers went down the main hall to enter the room where the light switch was located. She said she suddenly heard heavy boot steps coming out of the room, through the door, and down the hallway toward her. She said she "froze on the spot", but the schnauzers turned and ran (later to be found huddling under the kitchen table) anyway the footsteps went right past her along with a cold breeze, a door was heard to open and shut (at that time there were no doors on their hinges in that location.Later, the town constable ask he why we were up all night, I assured him that were were not. But he said the lights in your downstairs go off and on all night long on frequent occasions.

Our first encounters with the unexplained

Our first unexplained encounter was our only visible enity. My wife was washing the transoms above the doors. These windows above the interior doors are rather high so she was up on a stepladder. She was looking from the dining room into the kitchen. Suddenly a small black boy stepped into view, He was only wearing bib overalls but he was carrying a lantern that was much too big for him. Wondering why a child had wondered in the house, she quickly decended the ladder and went into the kitchen, now quite empty. I came up out of our dungeon like basement carrying a large lantern base I had found. My wife quickly told me what she had seen and insisted that I help her search the house for the child who couldn't have gotten past us both to an exit. The child was never located. Our neighbors assurred us the Afroamerican children had not lived in town for decades. One young couple sometimes visited, but they, as yet had no children.

Moving into a really strange house, located in a strange little town

In the light of a bright summer day, this quiet, pre-civilwar village has an old victorian charm that so many places try to make with unsatisfactory results. The streets, both dirt and paved are lined with great maples, oaks, fir trees reaching up to the cool summer blue skys. The lawns are mown, and mostly shady with the occassional yellow mottling produced by the warn summer sun .The village has two churches one built in the early 1800s and at the end of town a more modern one,   one school built in replacement of a Romanesque school structure, in the 1930s and added on to until a couple years past. The Grocery store, half new and half early 1900s; an antique store in a precivil war brick structure, a small beauty shop and many many ghost stories.                   Ghost stories fly between locals who have known each other since childhood. Unfortunately visitors or strangers will be assured that no such thing is a part of the picturesque little village.                      I moved here almost 30 years ago. I bought a three story  victorian, romanesque , brick structure that  contains 16 rooms; most of these rooms have 10 to 14 ft. ceilings, the rooms, most of them are quite large 16x22 guest parlor with built in triglobed lights ringing the walls. Obviously the electric lights replaced similiar gas fixtures. The Upstairs master bedroom is the same size of its Parlour counterpart. The strange began to happen almost from the day we moved in. The house required a tremendous amount of work, as it had once been a resthome and those huge rooms had been cubiciled off into tiny cubicles for the  patients. So the job became, simply removing all these false rooms and restoring the room back to its original condition. A very wide staircase that wound from the entrance hall door ,with colored glass windows, up to the second floor. This stair had all been enclosed and most of the ultrawide banaster ,made of mahogeny ,was missing. This all had to be removed as well.