So quiet

The house is so quiet it's almost scary. Christmas is almost here and I've done almost nothing a accent the day. I put up a wreath on the front door. I set up a manikin dressed like a Victorian lady carrying a small basket and knocking at the front door. I placed a four ft. lighted (snow covered) Christmas tree on top of a column beside the front door and stars adorn the tops of the spears of wrought iron railing about the front windows. I did get a rather large poinsettia for a table in the parlor. That's about it. Losing my buddy has really put a damper on the season. But I sincerely hope the rest of you have a grand CHRISTMAS.

House is quiet

The house is quiet as a tomb, After a noisy week there is no longer any sounds except those made by myself my wife and our little black schnauzer. It's so quiet its nerve wrecking. I sat up the spy camera in the library. I got 30 some pictures of a green chair in the library. I guess the only strange thing is; I had reloaded the camera with fresh alkaline batteries and they were almost run out. In the kitchen I got 2000 shots before depletion of the batteries. In the library only 30? At the moment everything seems strange and unnatural. Possibly its due to the loss of our elder dog. We still haven't gotten over that shock. I'm presently debating where to try using the camera again.

Lost my little male schnauzer and now the house is really noisy

We were going to take the schnauzers for a Sunday drive. They love to see and bark at the cows, horses, geese, deer, and other critters along the way. My wife wanted to pick up a few items at Walmart first and as the weather was cool 65 and heavily overcast we thought they would be alright. Rowdy was in the front seat and Shadow was in the rear and the windows were down a couple of inches. We were gone less than 20 minutes. When we returned to the car Shadow was bouncing in the rear seat and Rowdy appeared to be asleep on the front seat, We unlocked the door and my wife said to Rowdy, "We're back sleepy bones". But Rowdy did not react. Touching him gained no response and that sickening feeling overcame both of us. He was dead. No signs of trama, nothing to indicate how it happened. We are both physically ill over this. He was only 12. Several years ago the Vet said he had a hearth murmur and we best keep an eye on it. The Vet checked him at every visit. This is the only thing we can fatham that might have been a cause. Perhaps someone got too close to the car and he started barking and they thought it funny so they egged him on.....to much. We really do not know but a dog you've had 12 years can take a tremendous amount of your heart when they leave you. Even though we still have Shadow this big old house feels empty and incomplete. And As I was saying the house has been even noisier since we buried Rowdy on Monday morning. A lot of it is probably me; but I hear rustling noises in the corner, I have detected tapping like a dog coming (the other dog was asleep) plus other nondiscript noises from all around the downstairs. I'm writing this primarily to get it off my chest. I hurt so bad I'd like to just die myself. But I have others depending on me. Perhaps God and Time will heal me.

Noisy house

There is nothing I can definitely point to and say this or that occurred. But the house has been noisy for the past few days. I suppose it could have to do with the weather. We had a week or so of rather chilly weather, especially at night. But the past few days the temperature has gone up to above average. For example it hit 70 today. It did not drop out of the 50s last night. So perhaps this ancient brick structure is just noisily reacting to the fluctuations in temperature, The noises were not walking sounds or any other sounds that could be pointed out. They are just cracks and bangs and thuds. Loud enough to get the dogs going at times. My schnauzers are my doorbell. Anyone rings the front doorbell and the dogs go nuts. Because of the solid structure of this place (walls three and more bricks thick) we often don't hear the door bell; but our dogs do. Our house was noisy enough that the dogs reacted like they heard the doorbell and there is no shutting them up until you go to the door and prove no one is there. I had three occasions this past week when this occurred. Why do old houses react so strangely? Expansion and contraction, I suppose. Other noises that I report here are not the same as I am hearing at present. The walking like boots on hardwood floors (we have mostly carpet) the opening and slamming of doors, the mumbling and the harpsichord music are not the same as this weeks sounds. So far the more familiar noises haven't occurred recently. But racket coming from someplace in your house can be quite disconcerting when you have no idea of the origin.

Strange happenings with Halloween pictures

What I'm about to write is true, To me its extremely weird. I'll try to explain it as forth right as I can. I use a digital camera which I'm certain most of you realize utilizes a chip. At Halloween I shot a dozen or so photos of my Halloween decorations and a few of the hundreds of trick or treaters. I also have a small printer made especially to make prints off this chip. Today, I finally got around to printing some of the shots I took for Halloween. All of the shots came out good except one. This single photo looks sharp on the monitor. It is a picture, up fairly close to the front door and the creatures around it. When the photo was first printed it looked fine and I laid it aside with others I had already made. I made a couple more prints of some of my more elaborate goblins and when I laid the photos up to cure I noticed the one I had taken of the creatures around my front door was no longer right. Some of the creatures, my talking skeleton butler, my hobgoblin with a tray and my Elvira standee had gone blurred even though others in the same print were respectfully sharp. So, wanting a good print of that particular scene I tried again to print the picture. This time when the print came out of the machine it was sharp. But as I sat there holding it in my hand I watched the same three figures go blurred again. This makes no sense to me. The three figures are standing across the doorway with the Elvira and Butler on one side and the goblin on the other and yet the two statues of schnauzers (about life size) that are permanently kept on the front entryway were perfectly clear. Anyway I went ahead and finished printing the rest of my Halloween pictures. Then I got the (not so) bright idea of printing one more attempt of the offending door. But this time I used the back side of the printing paper. The back side is nonglossy and I figured more absorbant. Again the print came out perfectly sharp and again I sat and watched those same three creatures blur. Like the first two, some of the figures were blurred and some were sharp. Luckily I had another shot of the same view from a different standpoint that did come through in good order. Whatever, you have to admit, it is all a bit strange.

Another Halloween over

Another year and another Halloween is over. I had over 500 trick or treaters this year which is heavier than usual due to two things. First of all, it was chilly but not cold. It was cloudy but that only added to the spooky atmosphere. Probaby the main reason I had more goblins this year is because this village's leaders decided to hold trick or treat on the 31st whereas the main city in this county held their trick or treat on the 29th. So we had a heavy influx of monsters from the big burg as well as our normal group from the surrounding countryside. I shot a series of photos with my digital camera. I did not shoot any film this year. I haven't checked the results as yet; but as I haven't gotten anything unusual for the past two years, I have my doubts that I will this year either.

Something Strange

Something strange happened at the store on Friday. I hesitated reporting it; but after mulling it over in my mind for a couple of days, I know I'm right. Last Friday I arrived at the store late. My wife had already arrived and opened it for business. I wanted to stop at the downtown farmers market first, so it made me a bit late. I had several items for Halloween sale I had found at our house and I had them in a large plastic shopping bag. When I arrived at the store I retrieved the bag of Halloween items and took them into the store. In the bag, among other items, were two identical items. These two items were of a witches arm that moved out from a larger black frame. The arm and hand holds a glowing ball and the witch voice cackles "Happy Halloween" and some other cryptic vocalizations whenever someone walks in front of it. As I said, I had two of the Halloween gadgets. One was in near perfect condition and the others box showed considerable wear. Checking out BOTH figures I discovered they both worked just fine So I removed the one from the worn box, priced it, and took it out to display on the wall of the rear showroom. I then returned to the office to price the second one and, leaving it in the box, place it near the first one on a shelf. But when I returned for the second one it was NOT there. I looked under my chair, I checked my desk, the floor, I looked everywhere. The bag I had the Halloween items in was still there but not the Witch item. No one had been in the store at that time and my wife was still in the front of the store and assured me she had not even been in the office area. I put in the rest of the morning looking for the item with no luck. About three o'clock in the afternoon I told my wife I was going to run down to the local gas station as my van was really low on gas. I walked out to the van and opened door. There sitting in the middle of the dashboard, on a cooler I keep between the front seats, was the missing Halloween item. OK, you say, You just forgot you took it out of the bag and left it there. But like I said and I've gone over and over this, when I took the bag of Halloween items into the store I definitely remember testing BOTH to see if they worked and I remember choosing one to display and one to leave in its box. I also remember placing the better one on the floor beside my chair while I prepared the other one for display. So, unless I'm totally losing my mind, how did this item get back into my van?

Where did he go?

My wife had an unnerving experience at her store last Thursday. She said the day had been rather quiet only a few buyers. At one point when there was no one about she decided to take care of some paperwork, It was early afternoon and the door to the store fronting the parking lot was closed. The only other door, in front, is permanently locked. The store door has a loud bell that rings when anyone enters. We made sure it was loud so we could hear anyone coming in if we happened to be in the rear storeroom. My wife was working at the cash register area which is directly beside the door. The bell had not sounded. Quite unexpectedly a voice got her attention. A tall, slim, nicely attired middle aged man dressed in a western style even to the cowboy hat remarked how nice the store looked and went on to say he had not been "back" for quite a while and how everything had changed. My wife said they talked at some length about the area and how it use to be. At some point his eye landed on a comforter that was displayed and my wife walks around the register area to further show the piece. After discussing the matter, he finally said he needed to move on and my wife waked him to the door which he then exited. My wife says she was only three paces behind him but when she got to the door the man had totally disappeared. Those who are familiar with our store knows we have a large parking lot and there are no objects like trees or building near it. At that time, only her car was in the lot and it is parked well away from the door for customer convenience. Yet this man walks out the door and disappears before my wife, taking only three steps can see how he leaves. So what gives here? How could he disappear so quickly? There is a clear shot from our parking lot in all directions for 100 ft. or more. Unless he sprouted wings and flew, how can this be?

Answers to question

Several people have endeavored to answer my question as to why I'm getting so many empty pictures. (1) fast moving mice (2) flying insects (3)rapid temperature changes, and (4) moving shadows that cross the camera area. Well thanks folks but I don't think that answered the question. We don't seem to have mice and I have seen none of their droppings in the rooms involved. Flying insects are rare in these rooms as well and it just seems to me they would be caught, at least sometimes as a blur on the camera. As to rapid temperature changes, I really doubt we have rapid temperature fluxuations that often, if at all, in these rooms. And finally, the camera is situated well into the rooms interior and observing the area I have seen NO shadows that cross in front of the camera. The room the camera is located in has windows that only face north and a large tree blocks most of the incoming light that could be made by passing vehicles, etc. But certainly something is tripping this camera.

Checked out spy camera.

We also picked up new hardware so we can produce the spy camera's photos on the computers monitor. We rechecked the photos that appear to show me going upstairs with an unknown figure on my right. Still absolutely no clue as it what it was. There are well over a hundred shots on the new spy camera. Going over them, we spotted several that looked downright spooky, but with enlargement they turned out to be mundane. There are a couple a photos that show light trails that I can't explain unless they occurred while I was moving the camera. This camera eats batteries like candy to hungry five year old. But so far the three shots that show something going upstairs with me are the only totally authenticated photos that we absolutely cannot explain. I will continue to use and check out the spy camera and report anything abnormal.

Many many photos.....few results

I'm curious about something. Perhaps a better informed viewer out there can enlighten me. On the old spy camera I had over 900 shots that showed nothing but the interior of the house, however, the camera was only activated by movement, supposedly. Now with the new spy camera, I'm over 100 shots. Once again just showing either my wife or I walking through or just the interior of the house. What is activating the camera? Our walking through the room certainly; but what about the rest of the time? Any sleuths out there have a good answer?

Television in the kitchen turns itself on/

I think I'd better check out my spy camera. My dogs and I were in the library when my wife comes in from the kitchen and tells me the television on the mantle in the kitchen suddenly switched on. This is a small set that is rarely used. Although the TV had a remote, it was misplaced months ago and we turn it off or on manually at the set. It is always on the same channel; the only one that is clear. This happened once before several months ago. Not being familiar with the workings of digital TVs I'm not aware of just what, if anything, can turn them on. My spy camera is set up in the parlour towards the front hall and not, unfortunately, the kitchen. But if the spooks are getting restless, who knows?

Spy Camera up and running

The new spy camera is up and running. Nothing to report as yet. It is still a mystery to me why a camera that only activates with movement has so many shots that show nothing that activated it. It was true with the defunct camera and it is proving to be true with the new one. I will report anything unusual.

New spy camera has arrived. I will set it up as soon as I have time to program it. Sometime this week I hope. I will us it at the foot of the front stairs to begin with as that is where I got the last weird photo. However, I intend to move it around every couple of days.

New camera ordered

I ordered a new spy camera. Once it arrives I intend to set it up again at the foot of the front stairs. I found the old chips and took them to a processing center to see if I could determine what I was photographing. Unfortunately I don't have the know-how to properly use the facility. The pictures came up on the screen but when I tried enlarging them they cut off a quarter of the picture that had the part I wanted to see. Also I couldn't figure out how to lighten the picture. I know it can be done because an attendant who was present when I did the original picture with the figure walking up the steps beside me, lighten the photo considerably. She was not working the night I took in the other chips. I'll have to make another attempt on the chips later, hopefully when I can get some help. As for the famous stair photo that started all of this. After we enlarged the photo and brightening it considerably I made several copies. We still cannot fathom what the heck the phantom is. It is quite obvious that I am ascending the stairs on the rail side. This is to be expected as I normally use the large handrail when going upstairs. The phantom is exactly beside me on the inside, next to the wall. The phantom appears to be wearing some sort of coverall, not unlike some hospital personnel wear. There is even folds in the leg areas of the "pants". Other than the fact we have established that no "living" person went up the front stairs with me and the strange figure is wearing a type of coverall that no one in my family even owns, we have no explanation for what or who this figure is. I will note, however, that this house served several years (before I purchased it) as a doctors office and then a long period of time as a rest home. Personnel would probably have used the cover all type uniform at various times. My spy camera took almost 1000 total photos while I had it in use. All of those pictures were supposed to have been taken because the camera detected movement. Nothing is seen in most of the shots. What set off the camera? I guess if you really want to drive yourself insane; just set up a spy camera a see if you can figure what sort of "whatevers" are setting it off. You might really be surprised at what develops.

Old Chip new discovery

Some time ago I wrote about setting timed cameras about this old house. On one of those cameras I got a couple mysterious pictures that were not explainable. A close friend of mine has a much better computer than I do So, I figured we use the chip on his computer to see if we could determine what the photo was showing. That chip disappeared before we could use it in the better computer. It has been missing for months. Yesterday I found the chip laying in the middle of the seat of a woven rocking chair in the Library. We had looked for this chip for weeks, finally giving up ever finding it. Then it reappears in plain sight in the middle of a rocking chair seat cushion. To top it all off, this rocking chair is located in the Library where we keep the computer. So simply finding this chip and where we found it is mystery enough; however, when we placed the chip in the better computer we got an additional shock. As I said earlier, one frame shows the legs of some sort of phantasm that must have been eight foot tall or more. The stairwell where the photo was made was rather dark. The creature obviously set off the camera in the late evening. We still could not determine what the long legged object was. The object appeared to be translucent or partly transparent. When we brought the figure up on close inspection we discovered a second more substantial figure alongside the first going up the stairs. The second figure was wearing dark trousers so they did not show up on my smaller computer. The second figure was wearing a lighter color shirt, only the lower part showing up in the flash. The second figure was ME! Sometime when I had gone upstairs for something that spy camera had taken my picture and also something going upstairs beside me. I was on the outside of the stairs next to the bannister and what ever was on the inside next to the wall. I certainly had no concept that anything had ever gone upstairs with me, but there is the picture. A most exasperating development. We could not, even with the superior computer, determine what the to legged object was that went upstairs at my side. I was not aware of it. I have a couple other shots made by the spy camera that appear to be unusual, especially one of what appears to be a rather evil whitish face coming in from the front hall to the Parlor. Now that I have access to the better computer I must find those chips and see if we can figure these weird pictures out. My spy camera broke down and as soon as I can find another I will, again, set it up to see what developes.

Strange pounding

This time the unexplainable occurred in my wife's store which is located in a very small village in Ohio. We have had several unexplainable episodes in this old 1800's structure. This time it was pounding noises, not unlike someone pounding on the outside wall with their fists. The episodes happened several times today. We even (one of us) stayed outside to see if we could figure it out. Even with one of us in plain view outside the pounding continued. No one but us were in the store for most of the episodes but they occurred twice with customers present. One customer commented that we must have someone working next door. There is a shop next door that repairs automobiles but it is for sale and is only open sporatically. Today it was not open and besides the pounding did not sound like a hammer but more muted like a fist. Besides that the pounding sounded like it originated on the opposite side of the store from the closed shop next door. The pounding ended in the early afternoon. still unexplained. If the pounding was outside, like against the wall of our store, the person must have been invisible. The sounds erupted even when one of us was outside to witness it. The sounds seemed to be coming from the parking lot side of the store. There are no structures on that side of the store for quite some distance. If the sounds were originating from somewhere inside of the store; where? No, there are no water pipes on that wall from the side entrance to the store front. In fact, the store was built lathe over studs, a simple shell on that side. There was no wind today which is extremely rare for this area. So when the wind isn't blowing we really notice the fact. I suppose there is an ordinary explanation for the pounding; but we certainly couldn't find it.

Early memory of the paranormal

Something took place in the night when I was very young. The event has never faded from my memory even after at least 70 years. I think it was my first encounter with the paranormal. At the time my bed was still in my parents room, so I could not have been more than 3 or 4 years old. I was moved in with my older brother by the time I was five, maybe before. The episode began with my being awakened by the voice of a little girl who stayed with her aunt and uncle next door. She called my name at least twice as it was this that woke me up I recall saying "What are you doing here?". It was the middle of the night and the girl would not be wondering around and even at my young age, I knew it. Then came the cryptic message, "Mary says to get up at Moon." As she said this she moved closer to my bed and then she just disappeared. My mother was awakened by the talking and wanted to know what was going on? I tried to tell her and she said I had just had a nightmare to go back to sleep. I was teased about it the next morning at breakfast, especially by my older brother who had his own bedroom. But my mother said, "He was talking about Donna Sue and even making up her answers". Whoa, no way was I talking for Donna and if this was a nightmare how did my mother hear two voices. This episode was so vivid that I have never forgotten it. Donna Sues mother remarried and Donna went back home to live. I even saw her wedding announcement, many years later, in the paper. I wonder sometimes why this episode has stayed with me. Dreams, if such it was, are usually forgotten quickly. Yet if this dream had any meaning, I'm totally in the dark as to what it might have been. I'm guessing this took place around 1942 or 43.

Ghost of a child

As I have mentioned before, my wife uses a different bedroom due to a leg problem that that requires attention at off hours during the night. Last night we turned in about midnight; she to the room we call the Noah room and I and our two schnauzers the master bedroom. This morning my wife told me about an episode she experienced last night in the Noah room. She said her leg was bothering her and she was in the process of getting up to take care of it (she had not as yet turned on the light which is on an end table beside the bed), She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. When she looked toward the movement she said she distinctly saw a child, of 3 or 4 years of age, with long light brown hair, and dressed in a long white gown move across the bedroom and out into the upstairs hall. She did not see the child's face as it was turned from her but she recognized the gown as the type that very young children were often dressed in (both sexes) during the 1800's and early 1900's. She knew she was not having a waking dream as she went about correcting her leg problem and then got up to go to the bathroom. The Noah room is never pitch black with the lights off as there are three windows, one of which fronts main street and its street light. She was uncertain whether the child was male or female because this type of night dress was common for both in that time period. There were young children in the household of the builder and original owner of this 1857 house. Perhaps the spector was one of them. This is not the first time my wife has witnessed a "ghost", so she knew pretty quickly what she had witnessed. People generally do not believe in ghosts until they, themselves, experience it. Knowing you are seeing something extraordinary can have a profound effect on a person. The strange thing is, you are not scared, like the cartoonists imply. Curious, yes, or questioning; but not scared. Interesting.

Sounds of footsteps return

This occurred just this morning. I was up and ready for the day first. I had already come downstairs and had taken the dogs out. I had put up the screen at the bottom of the stairs so the dogs could not go back upstairs. Sometimes they are a bit difficult to bring back downstairs. My wife taking longer had stayed upstairs. But when she was ready to come downstairs she said she distinctly heard me coming back up the stairs. As the rear stairs are rather narrow and she needs lots of room to navigate them, she said she waited for me to appear. The sounds of someone coming up the stairs ended at the turn in the stairwell. As I did not appear coming around the corner in the stairs; she said, "Are you coming on up or what?" She got no reply and then she heard me talking to the dogs in the kitchen and knew I was not on the stairs. She came on down and told me about the episode. She insisted it sounded exactly like someone coming up the stairs. As the gate was still up when she reached the bottom of the stairs it was rather obvious that neither I nor the dogs were on the stairs. That it was plain enough for my wife to ask whether or not I was ccming on up indicates to me that she heard something, but what?

Item rappears

A lot of people will think, "You just weren't looking there". But anything that obvious just was NOT overlooked. Yesterday I started work on an old 1839 four foot table or wall clock I picked up at an auction at a good price because it was in so many pieces. But the most important pieces appeared to still be there, scattered in the vast maul of the lower case. I looked the clock up on line. Luckily it was clearly marked as to maker and even had its instructions glued to be back, on the inside, of the cabinet. The works were totally brass and of a form that I was totally unfamiliar with. It was kind of like putting together a jig-saw puzzle with no picture to go by. It took a while but I finally got the works in their proper places with nothing apparently missing. Needless to sat when working on this clock it was necessary to remove the hands and face in order to get into the clockworks. When removing the hands I was very careful to place the hands in a protected area of my work table so they would be readily available when I replaced the clock face. As you have probably guessed, when I put the clock face back on the clock I discovered I had the hour hand but not the minute hand. As those hands were over 176 years old, I knew darn good and well I'd never find a replacement. I looked everywhere for that minute hand including under the work table That minute hand was simply gone. In order to try out the mechanical workings of the clock I resorted to a more modern minute hand that fit (kind of) so I could see if the mechanism would work. I wound the clock (which is run by very heavy weights) though unlike a grandfather clock, the weights are raised with a key rather than pulling a chain. I started the clock and to my utter amazement it ran. Once again I looked all around my work area for that minute hand with no luck. The temporary minute hand looked totally out of place, but it worked (kind of). Time to close the store so my wife and I closed up and went home. I left the old clock running. This morning, about 10am my wife and I reopened the store. I was very pleased to see the old clock still running though it was way slow. And to my utter amazement, laying directly in front of the clock, in absolutely plain, it cannot be missed, sight lay the missing minute hand. I was beyond surprised. Where had this minute hand come from? How on earth could it be here, in plain sight. No way did I overlook it. It was not there last night when we left. No one has a store key but my wife and I. Mice, goblins, ghosts? Where did that dang key come from? Anyone out there have any explanation?

Dogs toy at it again.

My wife relayed this story. It seems that yesterday evening, while my younger dog and I were watching TV (she was on my lap) my wife was playing on the computer with the older dog laying beside her chair. She said that suddenly a loud squeak occurred from the dining room. Keep in mind the dining room and computer room (library) are adjacent to each other and the den with the TV is opens immediately to the right of the library. She said both she and the older dog jumped. It was definitely the older dogs toy parrot that squeaked. Rowdy ran and looked around the corner of the doorway into the dining room, but advanced no further. I'm getting a bit hard of hearing so with the TV blasting rather loud, I and my pup didn't hear the commotion. Rowdy's stuffed parrot toy has to be pressed rather hard to activate the squeaker bulb; but nothing and no one was even close to the toy. My wife even got up and went to the dining room to check out the toy. No reason could be found for its sudden vocalization. That's twice, now, that that particular stuffed toy has squalled with no one or nothing near it. Both times the parrot was in the dining room. Really makes you wonder.

The customer that wasn't there.

I thought sure that I had entered this post; however, seeing it not, I must not have. Several days ago, toward the end of that last artic blast of snow, freezing rain and subzero temperatures, I had to run my wife's store alone. My wife has a serious leg problem and our house was surrounded by a frozen moat. In fact it was so bad that when I attempted to take our dogs out for necessary things I found myself flat out on my back and had no memory of falling. Only by crawling onto a mat was I even able to stand up and retreat back to the house. So, needless to say, my wife was going to stay home on this one and I had to run the store alone. Things went normally, we actually had a few more customers than I expected. By 5:00 pm I was pretty pooped. About a quarter to 5:00, considering the fact that we had had no customers for roughly a half hour or so, I started closing the store down. I shut off all display lights, brought in articles displayed outside including an open sign. Then I took care of the till and shut off the open sign in front. The last thing we do is shut off the large overhead lights. I had just gone to our second sales room and started to close a curtain that opens into a small workroom. Just as I started to pull the curtain closed I saw a rather large customer in a heavy dark overcoat come down the main aisle in the second salesroom directly towards me. I said, "Sorry sir, I thought everyone had left", and I closed the curtain and turned to face the customer. There was no one there. There was no one in that store but me. There is no way he could have walked past me in the two or three seconds it took to close that curtain. I admit I was tired; but I saw this fellow well enough and long enough to actually speak to him. Maybe I'm hallucinating. I hope not. But what did I see? I finished closing, turned off the lights, locked up and left. The next day my wife was able to make it to the store and luckily nothing more transpired.

Addition to "Haunted Dolls"

An addition to the "Haunted Dolls" story that I accidently left out. I mention that no unusual things have happened since the "wringer incident". But I had left out the "wringer incident", Refer back to the entry made on January 21st for that one. The wringer that appeared to "jump" off the high shelf and fall onto the floor. This 40 or 50 pound wringer was located directly across from the infamous dolls.

Haunted Dolls?

This report will be a difficult one to do because I was not aware it was going on. My wife told me about it today. This all occurred in my wife's store. The report covers about 4 months. So I'll try to present it as coherently as possible. About 4 months ago, a friend of my wife brought in two dolls that her husband's grandmother had won in the Euclid Beach amusement park back in the 1940s. She was hoping my wife could sell them for her. Personally I never paid much attention to the dolls. I sell a few old dolls but mine are the older, collectable sweet and cute variety. These dolls were not even in the area of the store where I display the ones I have for sale. These dolls were placed toward the front of the store on the high shelves that run down the right side of the store. The dolls could be displayed there because the were rather large (about 4 ft tall). The friend wanted to sell them because she said they "Creep me out". They were in excellent shape and even had the original boxes they came in. I said, "What was so creepy about them", and my wife said it was the "eyes", they were large, kinda evil looking and seemed to follow you. Frankly I only vaguely remember them. I thought they were rather garish but I don't remember their eyes at all. I guess I'm not that observant. The dolls didn't sell right away and my wife said they creeped her out so much that she was ready to ask the friend to take them out of the store. So I said to my wife, They were creepy looking" is that all?" She replied, "You are going to think I'm silly but do you remember the towels we almost wrecked the store looking for and they suddenly appeared in an empty basket I had asked you to take to the backroom?" "Yes' so?" "That basket, she replied was on the floor in front of those dolls". "A coincidence", I replied. " Maybe so, she responded," however one morning when I came in and as turning on the lights around the store I almost stepped on six red candles laid out in a perfect row on the floor". The box they were displayed in was still on the shelf where it was supposed to be". "Those candles were directly under the dolls". They were not on the floor when I closed because either you or I would have seen them when we were shutting off the lights. You couldn't help seeing them because you would have stepped on them if you didn't see them". "another day as I was opening I found a candle globe broken in the floor. How did the globe get off the candle in the holder and fall on the floor and break?" I admitted I couldn't see how and she said, "That candle globe was directly under those dolls." Then she said several other items have been found on the floor. Not broken but not where they should have been. I would have said it is all circumstantial, but thought better of it. I did say, "Where are the dolls now?" My wife replied the dolls finally sold, just after the wringer incident to a lady who was traveling on south. She use to live in Cleveland and as a child had wanted those dolls very much but her Dad wasn't good enough a that game of chance to win one, although he had tried several times. She was very excited to find them in such excellent condition and my wife was very excited to get rid if them. Then my wife pointed out, "There hasn't been anything unusual happening in that part of the store since". So I guess the reader will have to decide for themselves if we were selling a couple of haunted dolls.

Dog toy

I suppose this is silly; but I did say I'd write of anything that seemed weird or abnormal. I have almost always had schnauzers for pets. I had a pup when I was so young I don't remember it and my wife and I took in an abandoned pup one cold winter day who was swiped the following summer. But as far as dogs for pets of any duration they have always been schnauzers since my wife and I married back in 1969. Of all of the schnauzers I have owned (7 including the two I now have.) I have had only one that actually played with stuffed toys. The others liked to rough house and chew on bones, even rubber ones and a couple liked to play ball, but only one, out of all of them, really liked the stuffed toy preferably, with a squeaker. The little male I now have loves to play with stuffed toys. He chases them, chews on them, and rough houses them. If he wants you to play with him he'll take a toy in his mouth and hit you with it. His most favorite toy is a gaily colored parrot. You'll find this parrot almost anyplace. Yesterday it was lying in the middle of the dining room floor. Yesterday as I was walking from the kitchen into the dining room headed for the library that dang parrot squeaked. A loud clear squeak and neither dog was anywhere near it. The older dog was coming out of the kitchen with me and the younger dog was in the library with my wife. That squeak certainly got my attention. I can't explain it. The squeaker bulb must be compressed to emit the squeak. No one was around to compress the bulb. Interesting, but probably explainable.

Nonrunning clock strikesthe three quarters of an hour

Yesterday at our store I had an unusual experience. It could have a perfectly logical explaination.In my workroom I have a four foot tall Howard Miller pendulum clock. I have it sitting on my desk as I had been working on it. It runs great but only for about 9 hours at a time. It is quite loud with the deep sounds of the Westminister chimes and strikes a deep tone on the hour. The chimes occur on the quarter hour. I haven't worked on this clock in over a month nor has it been wound during that time. In fact so many minor projects are stacked in front of the clock, I couldn't even get to it to wind it. Yesterday I was standing well away from this clock when it struck the three quarter hour. There is no mistaking that clocks chimes. I have no explaination for it. A better clock repairman than I may be able to explain it. But that clock hadn't been wound for well over a month and the pendulum was very stationary.

Book case makes strange sound.

Just now. I had just sat down at the computer. The strangest whirring growl came out of the bookcase here in the library, just to the left of me. My eldest dog barked at it. It didn't last long, 15 or 20 seconds. But here is nothing on that side of the room or in that bookcase that could make such a sound. There is nothing on the other side of the bookcase. It backs up against an exterior wall that sits beside an exterior open porch. I said it was a whirring growl, but it didn't sound mechanical. Actually it is difficult to describe. My grey schnauzer was definitely perturbed by it. I sit here looking at the bookcase which goes from floor to ceiling (about 14 ft) and is completely filled with books, and I try to figure what could have made such a sound. This is the same bookcase that sneezed at some visitors we had, coughed at us, had a sound not unlike a tin can being bounced down the inside of the case. Yet there is nothing around this case but walls and books. I once thought the walls behind the bookcase must be hollow and I tried drilling through to see. I used 24 inch bits but I encountered wall all the way. If someone out there has an ingenius method of locating hidden passages, please let me know. The house was built in 1857 along the old National Road which was the only road west when the house was built. It was a rip roaring period of history and the old bricks could very well have passages and hidey holes. I did find a small room behind a fireplace several years ago and a tight passage up the left corner of the house from basement to attic. Only a very slim person could have gone up that passage. So I figure there is possibly other such hidden rooms or passages. But I'm not able to locate any. This is, you remember, the house that ate our cat. Did it find a secret passage? If it led outside you would think someone in town would have seen it wondering around. As it was never away from the house, surely it would have remained close; especially at dinner time. This place is a mystery and I'm having no luck at solving it.

At the store

Sometimes I wonder if its just old age making me see things. Yet much of what occurs seems to be similar to things that other people write about. Yesterday I had to run my wife's store alone. She has a bad leg and our home has been surrounded by ice for days. It is so slick around our house that when I took our two dogs out for necessary things I fell so fast and slick that I didn't remember falling. I was leading my dogs and then I was flat out on the ground. Getting up was next to impossible as my feet kept sliding. I did finally manage to crawl over to some matting where I could stand up. So it was obvious my wife could not go to the store. So I had to run the store alone. It was a busy day and frankly I was pretty much bushed when 5 o'clock rolled around We hadn't had any customers for about a half hour and I started turning off lights to displays. I had taken care of the days receipts and was starting around the store dousing wall lights and "open" signs. The main battery of lights overhead were still on. Thats the last thing we do before we leave. I had just turned off the light to the second (rear) sales floor when a rather large fellow wearing a heavy dark overcoat came walking down the main isle of the rear sales floor. I said, "I'm sorry, sir, I thought everyone was gone". He just wasn't there anymore. I hadn't taken my eyes off of him more an a few seconds while I pulled shut a curtain that separates the rear sales floor from a small work area. No way he could have past me and no place for anyone that large to hide. He was at least my size, a bit heavy and wearing an overcoat. I cannot remember a face. He just simply was not there anymore. Like I said I was tired, but it sure seemed like someone walking directly toward me and he disappeared. My wife made it to the store today. We had no further episodes.

Cold prevention

This message has nothing to do with the paranormal I'm writing it for posterity. In 2001 when I was still teaching in grade school I developed an infected tooth root. The dentist gave me two options. I could have the tooth pulled or go he could do a root canal. He gave me medicines to clear up the infection but said I'd have to do one or the other as the infection would return. By coincidence I read an article about garlic and its antibacterial properties. I figured how much garlic would equal a low dose of penicillin. Not wanting to lose the tooth and hearing horror stories about root canals I figured I'd try the garlic first. I soon discovered that there is only one type of garlic that doesn't come out on you (make you smell horribly) It is called odorless garlic and I got it at Walmart. I began by taking 20 gels a day, every day. It took a full year but I cleared up the infection completely. One day in the teachers lounge one of my fellow educators made the comment that I had not missed any school that year. This was unusual because you can imagine just how much of a bug barn a grade school is. To top that off I was an art teacher who moved from room to room I was exposed to all of the kids. I had never escaped a year without multiple colds and often the flu before. So I continued the regimen. Then about midway through 2002 I read an article about a hospital in Akron where a flu epidemic went through all the wards but one. The ward had no cases of the flu though it was open to all the other wards. When figuring a common cause they found that only that ward was being given large doses of vitamin D. So as an experiment I cut my doses of garlic to 10 gels a day and added 200 units 0f vitamin D. That was in 2002. I've since retired but I'm still out in the public. My wife owns a store and I help run it. It is now 2015 and I've not had a cold since 2001. I haven't had the flu either though my doctor still insists there will be a flu my regimen can't block. But he hasn't even asked me if I want a flu shot now for several years. I have discussed this with two others on the web and they claim similar results. What works for one person may not work for another but it seems like a good thing to try. I was told by an herbalist that any herbal remedy takes about two months to reach full effect. Worked for me.

Ultra heavy antique wringer jumps off shelf

This is one for the armchair sleuth. Yesterday at our store in Byesville, Ohio a seemingly impossible occurrence occurred. My wife's store is primarily a store for women who want to change their homes with new curtains, vintage furniture or Victorian bric a brac. In the store's main showroom runs a shelf, about five foot from the ceiling, around the room. What the original purpose of this shelf is unknown but we use it to display vintage items that just wouldn't look right out on the floor. Amoung these items such as old sleds, lamps, toys, was a very heavy old washday wringer. Originally this wringer sat on top of an old rustic wooden tub. The wringer was made of cast iron and wood. It had a large cast iron crank on it so the lady of the house could use it to wring the water out of washday clothing, etc. The wringer was placed on the shelf roughly two years ago by two people handling it. It sat solidly on the overhead shelf and was leaning against the wall of the store. Here's where it gets interesting. My wife was at the cash register going over some orders. I was in the work area just off the side of the rear sales area. Suddenly I hear a thunderous crash and my wife's exclamition. I honestly thought the store had been struck by a vehicle. I ran from the work area to the main sales floor. My wife was moving out of the cash register area toward the middle of the sales floor. "It jumped up into the air and fell off the shelf" she was saying. I could see the wringer was half on the floor shelf and half on the floor. "What do you mean, It jumped off the wall?" I asked. Going over to the wringer, we could see the handle of the thing had managed snag two packaged curtains when it hit the lower sales shelf. Keep in mind, this wringer is heavy, I haven't weighed it, but it must weight 40 or 50 pounds. It sat flat on the top shelf and was leaned against a wall. If the wringer had simply slid down the back wall, it would have still been on the shelf. The wringer was leaning BACK against the wall but had managed to fall face forward. A small piece of wood was chipped off the wringer housing, but otherwise it was fine. My wife said she saw it "jump" before it fell. If something had jostled it that severely I would have thought that much lighter in weight items would also have fallen or at the least moved. Nothing was out of place but the wringer. This is a strange one that common sense cannot explain. Anyone out there with a good explanation is welcome to comment.

Computer chair goes bonkers

Last night, around 10:30, my wife was using the computer. The chair for the computer is a swivel type, average backed chair with padded arms that are firmly fastened but do have some flexible movement either vertical or horizontally. I had just stepped out of the den on my way to the kitchen when my wife, directly in front of me, in the computer chair, which is in the library, exclaimed, "What the heck?" The right arm of the chair was moving in an up and down motion. Though my wife was sitting in the chair, she was not making contact with the right arm of the chair. After moving up and down on its own for three times it settled into being a plain arm on a chair again. Not a big deal but still a bit of a wonder. I've tried sitting in that chair and moving and wiggling all about, but I have had no luck making that arm on the chair move on its own. I have to physically move the arm up and down. So how did it manage to do it on its own, with witnesses no less. Interesting, don't you think?

Out of thin air

Thus things at the store get weird. The temperature today reached a balmy 7 degrees. My wife opened her store on time anyway. I had just gotten the opening duties completed and was removing the last Christmas tree for backroom storage when our first customer appeared. I didn't meet the customer as I was quite busy trying to find a spot in our overcrowded backroom to store a boxed 7 foot artificial Christmas tree. By the time I reentered the main store the customer had left and my wife franticly searching for towels with a crow design on them. She had three on the floor but the customer wanted 4. I had seen these towels before and was certain they were in the work area shelving unit. I stopped what I was doing and fairly pulled that area apart and did not find the towels. My wife had searched deligently the entire main salesroom with no luck. With the temperatures so low we were not interrupted with customers. Finally giving up we continued with other chores. Calling my attention to a large empty basket that had had lighted pictures displayed in it, my wife asked me to take it back into the storeroom as there was no longer any need for it on the floor. Frankly, at the timer, I was involved with bringing fresh merchandise out onto the floor and I forgot about it. Four thirty rolled around and it was time to start closing procedures. My wife caught sight of the basket that I was supposed to have taken back into storage. Calling my attention to the fact she went for the basket and discovered it was no longer empty. It had three of the long sought after towels in it. I had seen that basket as empty even before I was asked to remove it to the back. My wife has emptied the basket of one or two lighted pictures and nothing was replaced in the basket. When my wife and I had searched to store for the crow towels we would have passed that basket numerous times. Suddenly the missing towels are in this particular basket. How? When? by Who? If they had been in the basket earlier we would have seen them. The sudden appearance of these towels certainly startled my wife. We only had 6 or 8 customers the whole day and only one of them was interested in this particular towel. I'm glad they showed up. The customer will be notified. But once again I'm scratching my head wondering "What the heck is going on."

Strange goings on continued

So the very next night (Friday) I again turned in early, but not as early as the prior night, about 10:30pm. I usually like to read for a bit before lights out but again, like last night, I was too tired and went to sleep pretty early. Again the dogs were downstairs with my wife. I had already taken them out so all she had to do was let them upstairs. Suddenly I was awakened by frantic digging. It was loud and it was close. Thinking my wife had allowed the dogs upstairs I reached over to settle the offending digger down. There was no one there, my hand reached empty space. What's more the digging sound continued until I turned on the light. The clock said 11:37pm. I had only been in bed about an hour. At this point upon examination the covers did not appear to have been dug, actually nothing appeared to have been dug. This episode had me pretty much awake. Shortly after the inspection and a short trip to the jon I was about to turn in again when I heard the stampede of Schnauzers come up the stairs. The schnauzers roared down the upstairs hall and both hit the bed about the same time. My wife climbing the stairs somewhat later informed me she couldn't hold them back. Probably true. So what the heck was digging covers so close to me I thought I could handle it? Silly man that I am. But Criminey, I wish I knew the answers to those and other riddles about this old house.

Strange goings-on

I've had some strangeness going on over the past few days but I haven't had time to address the issues properly. First of all we have been working the store on an almost continuing fashion. Both of us were exhausted. Thursday night we came in had supper and I informed my wife that I was headed upstairs to bed. My wife decided she would stay up a while and catch up on the computer. I left our two dogs downstairs with my wife. Since her leg problem she has been using the separate Noah's room anyway. I must have really been out of it because I was asleep as soon as I hit the bed. However, at about 10pm (three hours after turning in) I was awake for a bathroom run. Then shortly after mid-night I was gently awakened by the motion of the bed. I lay there for a few minutes trying to figure what I was doing to cause the bed to gently rock back and forth. As I was laying perfectly still and I was still being rocked. This made no sense to me but I finally got up to see what was rocking the bed. Once off the bed the rocking could no longer be felt. I turned back in and discovered the rocking motion continued. I was pretty sleepy and must have simply gone back asleep. At around 4:15am I was again awakened by voices, muted, garbled, but no question voices. OK, My wife must be going to bed and is talking to the dogs. Last thing I remember thinking was "boy is she up late". I didn't awaken again until a quarter after 9:00am.So I had slept about 14 hours straight. Obviously I needed the sleep. I got up, got dressed, went downstairs only to see the stairway gate was in place and my older gray schnauzer looking up at me. Obviously my wife left the dogs downstairs. I replaced the gate and walked into the kitchen. My dogs wanted to be taken out; so I had the put on a coat, hat, heavy shoes, retrieve the leashes where I had stashed them the day before and take the mutts out. By the time I came back in, my wife was in the kitchen fixing breakfast. I chided her for being up so late and was quickly set straight. She turned about 11:30pm but as her leg was really bothering her , she had not taken the dogs out but left them blocked off in the downstairs. No wonder they wanted out so bad when I came down. I told her about the shaking bed and she reminded me that that use to happen infrequently in the past and apparently, with her, that explaination took care of it. True, there were times in the past when we were awakened by a rocking motion on the bed. As to the subunderstandable dialog I heard? Now that she had no explaination for. Then the very next night...