Do you guys remember the ghost house we stayed in?

[davsand]

I dunno if you all remember, but I was in here a couple of years ago talking about a vacation house we rented that had a resident ghost. Clocks kept resetting, the doorbell would ring in the middle of the night (and not shut off!) lights would turn on, and most important, I WATCHED a guy walk out of a wall in a locked sunporch. We stayed there twice, and the last time my daughter had horrible dreams of a man tearing apart her stuffed animals.



So, today, I had a couple in my office from out of town, and they LIVE in that town where we had rented that guest house. I made the comment that we'd vacationed there a couple of years ago, and the husband says, "You stayed in that yellow Vic across from the post office?" I said, "Yes--you know that house?" "Oh yeah--that's the HAUNTED house. Everybody in town knows it is haunted, and nobody would buy it except ___________ (the vacation rental lady)"

They went on to tell me that there were two ghosts that had been sighted there, one young man who had killed himself in the upstairs bedroom, and an old man. I about fell over when they told me all this, and then I told them about seeing the old man walk out of the wall and across the sunporch. We all had a good laugh over it being such a small world, but you have to know it was an amazing experience to have somebody confirm what I'd been saying all along.

:woohoo:



Laura

[JanusAscending]

1. OUTSTANDING !!!!

I don't recall having read your original post. Where is this house located? I'd love to stay in a haunted house someday !! I watch, and to a certain degree enjoy, Ghost Hunters every week, but come away a lot of times disappointed. They never seem to reveal the hauntings a large percentage of the time. I know they are "debunker's" a majority of the time, but for once I'd like to SEE their sophisticated equipment really pick up something visual!! They do quite well with audibles, and have presented some very convincing evidence to their clients. I wish they would do less "fooling around" on the show and give us more "meat" ! However, I believe that the spirits that be don't perform on cue! Thanks, I enjoyed this post, a lot!

[davsand]

4. I went back in the archives and found the links to the other two threads.

Here is the original thread from 2006 after our first trip:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=245&topic_id=28711

Here is the second thread after our last trip:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=245&topic_id=47156


In looking back at that first thread, I am really wondering about that lady that owns that house. If what that couple was telling me today is true, that woman KNOWS that house is haunted and she was clearly not telling everything she knows about what all goes on there. That couple told me directly that there have been people there in town that have seen things at that house, and it is "common knowledge" that it is haunted. They said that the sunporch has been a part of several stories, and I'm wondering now if maybe it is kept locked for that reason...

I think what is so very remarkable about this whole thing is that they brought up the haunting to me--NOT the other way around. This was not a matter of them leading on a tourist, it was just one of those things where they were sharing a bit of local lore with somebody that had visited that town--ya know?

On a sad note, they also told me that most of the vacation rental properties they had been renting out have been taken back by the local bank--they were unable to make the payments. How sad that is.

Have I mentioned lately that sometimes I absolutely LOVE working with the public???

:hi:


Laura

[Celebration]

2. ha!!

That is VERY interesting.

It's nice to get it confirmed, but if you stay in a house where you see people walking out of walls, or into walls, that's pretty good confirmation in and of itself!!

[get the red out]

3. Oh that is COOL!

I have always told my husband I want to go to a known haunted inn or hotel on vacation some day. So amazing to experience that, then have it completely confirmed. Really strong synchronisity in the confirmation too.

Great experience!

[JanusAscending]

5. I've wanted to go to Salem Ma. forever!!!

They say that the Hawthorn Inn there is haunted.....and I LOVE Nathanial Hawthorn!! Since as a young girl, when my parents took me to Concord. We Visited "The Manse", Emerson's home that Nathanial and his family used to rent. When I walked up the stairs and saw his portrait hanging at the top of the landing, I fell in love. It was like I knew him in a prior life. We took the tour of the house, and when we were guided into he and his wife's bedroom, we were shown a window facing the back lawn where his wife inscribed a love letter to him on the glass with her diamond ring! I thought how romantic, and felt like it should have been ME!! I could visualize my babies lying out on a blanket in the sun....naked for their "air baths"!! Whew....I get the shivers just thinking about it. I have the portrait of him saved in my favorites file. If I knew how to embed it here, I would....but I don't....so I won't!! lol (sorry, it's just me being "loony" from the full moon) JA

[I Have A Dream]

9. Here's a picture of him.

[get the red out]

10. He was HOT!

He was a nice looking man!

I think all this is really neat. My hubby and I have always talked about going to Gettysburg because of both its historic value and hauntings. Maybe we will get around to it someday.

[JanusAscending]

20. Bless you !!! That's the one!

I should have known I could count on you! Can't you "see" this fourteen year old girl in me falling in love with him?!!:loveya: P.S. It's life
size at the top of the stairs!

[MorningGlow]

11. Salem is fun

I've been a few times. Stayed at the Hawthorne once, but didn't get any "ghost action."

JA, it sounds like maybe you WERE Mrs. Hawthorne. Maybe--? ;)

Still, if you want a guaranteed haunted hotel, I can give you the name of one in New Orleans. MAJOR activity! :hi:

[JanusAscending]

21. Why am I not surprised!

I'm sure it is haunted more now, than ever! Where in New Orleans is the one you're referring to? My daught. Kirstie and I have always wanted to go to the "big easy"! Glad you guys wrote me back tonight, 'cause I've been lonely all day. I don't like long weekends anymore, especially when all my grandsons go back to college. Empathy for their Mom's I guess. Still have my Aidan lad tho'! I have to stay with him for a while Tuesday. ( Nana's TREAT )
Perhaps I could have been Mrs. Hawthorn....the house was so familiar to me. Nathanial used to duck down the back kitchen stairway whenever uninvited company arrived. He was an introvert at heart. I find that charming about him. (heard about that on the tour!! lol ) When I went back with my kids to tour Concord and Lexington I went there again.
As a result, when we got back home to the Berkshires I visited the Little Red Schoolhouse he wrote about, and read everything he wrote that I could get my hands on at our public library in Tyringham where we lived at the time!! JA

[MorningGlow]

23. Sounds quite likely, JA

When you have such a strong affinity for someone and their work like that, you know? You should do more research on the Mrs. and see if anything rings a bell!

Before MG Jr. came along, Mr. MG and I used to go to New Orleans every year (Mr. MG's freelance boss has clients there, and they would visit the company and help them out on site). The last few years we were enchanted by the Olivier House, a hotel one block off Bourbon St., which used to be a private home. The second owner's ghost, Madame Locoul, has a habit of "checking out" new guests. Quite...enthusiastically, let's say!
:rofl:

[JanusAscending]

25. Hey MG!

I took your advice and did some research on his wife. She was born Sophia Peabody (big name in New England) She was in her early 30's when they married. She had 3 children..daughter Una...son Julian and daughter Rose. She was a artist and writer and traveled the globe extensively. Google has a photo of her, and I SEE A FAMILIAR RESEMBLANCE to myself!! She was also DEEPLY in love with him, and took a backseat to him with her writing talents purposefully. she became much more prolific after his death. She met him when she worked for the publisher of his first book. She illustrated it, and he fell in love with her. They were married soon after. WOW....just WOW. I illustrated a children's book for my friend when she was working on her Master's degree in Education. The book earned her an A+ toward her final grade!! woo woo woo woo!:woohoo: JA ( still reading more on her) P.S. Julian died in 1933!! six years before I was born. He must have had "good genes" to live such a long life!

[MorningGlow]

26. Ah HAH!

Sounds like we have a distinct case of reincarnation! Sooooo you were a Peabody, eh? (Oh, excuse me--I spent two years in Boston--enough time to know it's pronounced PEEbiddy! :rofl:) HOW COOL!!!! (The reincarnation bit, not necessarily the Peebiddy part.) It's so rare that we can ever actually peg a real lifetime like that (never mind all the people who think they were Cleopatra).

One of my ties to New Orleans is that I was a Civil War vet's "kept woman". I was a quadroon; we had four children together. I lived on the far end of Bourbon Street in a house he bought us. Come to think of it, I found out about that lifetime from a very prolific session with a witch board (with some members of my former coven)--how's that for addressing two threads at once? The soul who was my Civil War officer only gave his initials; I tried a little research, but not a whole lot, and I never did find an actual person. I should make a greater effort--that's the most detailed former life I've come across (that could lead to names, I mean).

[Matariki]

6. Davsand, when you saw that guy -

did you see him and think he was an actual person or do you mean you saw him in 'spirit vision'?

Just curious.

[davsand]

16. I saw what looked like a "real" guy walk out of a wall.

No mistiness, no fuzzies--it was a substantial looking man walking out of one wall, across a locked room and then out thru a wall. He did not dissolve to go thru that last wall--he just walked thru it like it was a doorway.

Most amazing thing I've ever seen.

:shrug:

Hubby (non-believer that he is) admitted yesterday (after hearing about what the couple had told me) that the house had "creeped him out" but that he'd not said anything about it at the time. He says he didn't se anything while we were there, but the house threw him a major weird vibe.


Laura

[winyanstaz]

7. at the age of 11 and until the age of 14 I lived in a haunted house..

and it was not that much fun actually.
Not only were the neighbors always mad about the player piano playing in the wee hours of the morning but there was a dark shadow that used to stand in the hallway (there was a ladder on the wall there that went to the attic) that was changed into a closet between our parents bedroom and our kid's room.
Friends would get up in the middle of the night and leave..because they got so frightened.
When the ghost(s) were around...it would get suddenly ice cold..like a freezer door opening.
The dog would bark at it or growl and watch those things go around the room and the hackles on the back of his neck would stand up...the cat refused to have her kittens in that closet and while still giving birth dragged the poor babies out and under our bed.
Once I saw a shadow of a man step into my stepfather when he came into the front room..and his face changed. (he was already evil..beating on us kids, starving us, locking us up, molesting us and he raped two of my sisters)
There was a lady that used to softly weep in the front room in the dark.
Then there was the things breaking...like the large crystal ashtray that rose up into the air and snapped in half..(now I think that one could have been me...as I was a little witch entering into puberty so a lot of the poltergeist activity could have been me..because it always seemed to happen when I was angry or upset) or all our clothes being thrown out of the dressers in the middle of the night..even though the doors were locked.
When we all heard something trying to choke my mom...we all ran into the bedroom...and we all saw her shoved deep into the bed and her arms waving around. My stepfather grabbed her and tried to pull her out of the bed but he couldn't move her. It was not until all of us children grabbed onto her as well that we were able to drag her off the bed and onto the floor. She had red hand prints on her neck and the very next morning...we packed and moved out.
Years later I heard a story about that house (it was very old) that a sargent, stationed at a near by Fort had came home (awol) and found his wife with another man...killed them both and was shot in the hallway trying to climb into the attic.
I hated that house. To come home to it was aweful...there were two large windows with stained glass bands on the top of each window..and in the dark..it looked like two great big eyes staring out of the darkness under the big cottenwood trees.
Someone bought the property and tore it down which I think was a great thing to do.

[I Have A Dream]

8. Wow. I can't even imagine going through that.

Would tearing the house down be sufficient? If a new house were built there, would it have the same problems?

I'm sorry that this happened, winyanstaz. (All of it -- both the supernatural and the horrible abuse from your stepfather. :()

[winyanstaz]

13. That is kind of you dream :)

But please don't worry or feel sorry for me. I dealt with all this many years ago..and it made me not only a stronger person but I can kick a ghost's butt with the best of them ;) hehheh
In fact, living in that house and going through the things I did made it easy for me to not only relate to others with abuse problems but to actually be able to help them as I can relate as well. My sisters and I also were finally able to bring our tormentor to justice and he will stay on parole the rest of his life (he is now in his early 90's but we will still never let him around little kids again.)
I am also able to know when a place is haunted or not..or to help ghosts that are trapped/earthbound.
The fact is...most "ghosts" are not "Uncle joe" anymore...the spirit of uncle joe has long since departed for wherever uncle Joe's karma took him...
What most people see and run into are astral bodies..which are discarded at death along with the physical and energy bodies..(as we are not our bodies/vehicles) and which astral bodies are animated by the strong intent/unfinished business of the previous tenant.
An astral body/vehicle takes longer than a physical body to "deteriorate" but they eventually do. Even though they may last a few hundred years..they eventually fade away on their own.
Some, like the one at the house of my childhood have learned to "feed" off the fear and energy of living people and need an extra effort to get rid of them.

[MorningGlow]

12. OMG! I'm so sorry you went through that, Winyanstaz!

I agree that tearing the place down was smart, but the land should also be cleansed, don't you agree?

I have lived in several haunted houses in my life--of the four houses I lived in with my parents, one had a ghost (I met him before he died, actually) and two of the three I've lived in with my husband had ghosts--but none of the experiences was negative. I don't even consider them "haunted"--instead I think of them as "houses with ghosts". The distinction I make is that the ghosts I lived with never caused trouble; they were just...there...you know?

[winyanstaz]

14. thank you MorningGlow

for your kind words.
I agree..the land should be cleansed but I have not been back there as of yet. They also built a road over part of the property where the house itself stood. I have not heard of any further problems.
Yes, I agree also in that some "haunted" houses are just fine and it doesn't matter as the ghosts are not causing any trouble.
One ghost I ran into ..just wanted to give a gift to her caregiver. The family of the lady that passed had given the caregiver a broken antique music box because that is all she had asked for when they had offered to give her something to remember her patient by.
I had never meet the lady before but while in her house with a friend that was visiting I passed through a cold spot and blurted out the question if someone had just died. The lady had indeed passed away on that spot.
Later on during the visit..I heard high tinkling sounds like a child's piano and I said something about it..and the lady jumped up and ran and got the music box and showed it to me.
When I opened the lid..the music box started to play and the lady broke down in tears.
We all felt that the lady that had passed had wanted to let her know she was still loved and that she had fixed the music box..as others had tried to no avail.
I made no effort to throw any spirits out as the lady that was living there still was comfortable with her deceased friend being around and everyone was happy.

[MorningGlow]

15. What a touching story!

That brought tears to my eyes, W.

We have the ghost of a housekeeper in our present place. My elder picked up the name "Beatrice." When we first moved in, she was very helpful--in fact, TOO helpful. She tended to turn lights on and let one of our cats out onto the upstairs sleeping porch and lock the door behind her (sliding bolt), leaving one confused kitty squeaking on the wrong side of the door!

She also apparently was a Prohibitionist, as she had a tendency to break our wine glasses. Nothing else, just wine glasses. Mr. MG was shocked one night when a thick, handblown Mexican blue glass goblet seemed to "explode" right in front of him as he went to fill it (it wasn't cracked). I had to ask Beatrice nicely not to break any more wine glasses, and she has accommodated my request so far. In fact, she's been pretty quiet the harder we've worked at bringing this old house back to even a semblance of its former glory. It's been neglected and abused for the past 20 years or so, and I felt like Beatrice was quite dismayed at how the previous tenants let the place go. I got the impression that, even though she was "only" the housekeeper, she felt as though the house were hers and took great pride in its appearance. The past couple of decades must have dismayed her no end. I take her silence to mean she's relieved we're not going to be another family of "house abusers" and finally is pleased.

[winyanstaz]

17. That is so much like the place I am living in now :)

But it wasn't a housekeeper in this place...it was the former owner and his sister who both passed away here (of old age).
When I asked the landlord why he didn't tell us the house was haunted..he got a funny look on his face and asked if his uncle was still slamming the toilet lid and throwing things out of the cupboard.
Well they did that for a while but since I have fixed this place up so much...they too have settled down and I haven't heard the toilet lid slam in ages :) hahaa
Just like your housekeeper...I think they are pleased that I am not tearing the place up like the previous tenants.

[MorningGlow]

18. Toilet lid! Bwaaahahaaa!

OMG that really hit my funny bone!
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I love it when spirits make their presence known in such unique ways!

I'm figuring we're doing well so far--now, if only Beatrice could show us where the gold is hidden...yeahhhh too much to ask for, I think...

[winyanstaz]

19. heheh

[JanusAscending]

27. I've purposely been holding off on replying to your post.

Mainly, because a lot of it hit too close to home, and although I've worked through most of it, I no longer want to verbalize it. Just know that I can empathize with the personal shit. Now as to the house you lived in....thanks, but no thanks!!! That's just too damn scary for me. Rather than take chances, I'll do without uninvited spirits, thank you very much! It breaks my heart that you were forced to go through what you did. No adolescent girl should have to go through what happened to you! I pray it made you a stronger person once you dealt with the demons that haunt us. BIG HUGS to you!

[NJCher]

22. yep

Oh, yes indeed, I remember those threads davsand, and in particular the guy walking through the wall. How fascinating that you ran into this couple and it's terrific that you updated us.

Anyone who wants to watch some ghost footage, head on over to the disclose.tv ghost channel:

http://www.disclose.tv/action/videolist/videonew/?cid=18


Cher

[JanusAscending]

24. Thanks Cher !

I'll check it out later!!!:applause: