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.