While I've heard a lot of ghost stories over the years, I cannot say that I hear that many deliberate (for lack of a better word) ghost stories.
The other day a woman, a professional Washingtonian, and her daughter joined me in the Garden District. They lived in Northern Virginia and their visit was a treat for her daughter's high school graduation.
The woman told me that when her older kids were young (before the daughter with her had been born) every time she and her husband would sit down to dinner at the dinning room table and have a conversation about religion the chandelier above them would swing. They were Catholic and it would be anything from prayer to angles, whatever. Any secular chat and the chandelier was completely still.
She also said that many nights when they were upstairs in bed, it would sound like a cocktail party was going on downstairs. It happened for a while before she mustered up the courage to ask her husband, "Is it just me, or does it sound like someone is having a cocktail party in our living room?" he paused, then said "yep."
For all the consistent activity in her house, none of it was frightening. On the contrary, she found it a comfort, not unlike being a child and knowing that you can count on your parents being downstairs if you should need them.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The hallway in Meraux
A woman who'd grown up in Meraux, Louisiana, joined me the other night. She brought her son with her; she was showing him around her birthplace. If memory serves, she'd left on account of Katrina.
In one of the houses she'd lived in she had repeately seen a young woman in a white dress. The figure was young, 18-20 years old, and the white dress was long and flowing. As a young woman, she would often see this figure float down the hall.
Her mother told her she was crazy. Until one day they were sitting together in the living room and she saw the figure pass in the hallway again. She turned to her mother. "Did you see that?" Her mother nodded.
In one of the houses she'd lived in she had repeately seen a young woman in a white dress. The figure was young, 18-20 years old, and the white dress was long and flowing. As a young woman, she would often see this figure float down the hall.
Her mother told her she was crazy. Until one day they were sitting together in the living room and she saw the figure pass in the hallway again. She turned to her mother. "Did you see that?" Her mother nodded.
This is wild
A tour guest took this photo a few days ago. There is nothing but air where those two balls of light are. The post is just a post that I walk past everynight. I don't know that anything has ever happened in this location, but it is Jackson Square--anything could have happened there.
Friday, June 1, 2012
No boys allowed
Number 3
A family of four from Panama City was also on the tour tonight, but the woman has gone to college in Hays, Kansas. In school she and a friend rented a two story house next to a frat house. The story around town was that a couple bought the house in the early 20th century and both were happy there until a fraternity took over the house next door. The woman wasn't happy but the fraternity just kept growing and she wouldn't move. After her husband died she became even more unhappy, but still wouldn't leave the house.
When the woman and her roommate wanted to rent it the landlord interviewed them. He said, "I'm sorry but I have to ask you some strange questions." Then he went on to ask about how often they had young men over and did their boyfriends spend the night. The young ladies thought it was rather strange but maybe it was just that the town was very Catholic. He said that he couldn't seem to rent the house to boys; they just never lasted. The young ladies answered the questions and got the house.
The day they unpacked they arranged the kitchen, glasses above the sink, spices to the right of the stove, etc. The next morning the woman went into the kitchen and everything was in a different cabinet. "Why did you move everything?" she asked her roommate, but the roommate hadn't moved a thing. They changed everything back. Sure enough, the next morning everything had been rearranged again.
The woman had brought her family's old furniture into the house and set a rocking chair in the library surrounded by books. When she would walk down the hall, she would turn to glance in the library and the chair would be rocking all by itself.
The landlord couldn't find any women to rent the basement apartment, so he finally rented it to a few guys. Over the course of the school year, three sets of young men moved in and moved out. And every boyfriend that they ladies had over would spend the night once, and that was it. They would insist on having the girls come to their house. They guys could never explain why.
That summer the woman worked at a dairy farm. Everyday she went over and milked cows. One beautiful day she decided to leave all the windows open to air out the house. Her roommate was gone, the land lord was gone, everyone was out of town. She was the only person within miles who had a key to the house. While she was milking cows a storm blew through, no one saw it coming. She was frantic, there was no time for her to go back to the house and close all those windows she had left open. That evening she went home dreading all the mopping she would have to do, but when she arrived every window, every screen, every storm window, was closed and sealed shut.
A family of four from Panama City was also on the tour tonight, but the woman has gone to college in Hays, Kansas. In school she and a friend rented a two story house next to a frat house. The story around town was that a couple bought the house in the early 20th century and both were happy there until a fraternity took over the house next door. The woman wasn't happy but the fraternity just kept growing and she wouldn't move. After her husband died she became even more unhappy, but still wouldn't leave the house.
When the woman and her roommate wanted to rent it the landlord interviewed them. He said, "I'm sorry but I have to ask you some strange questions." Then he went on to ask about how often they had young men over and did their boyfriends spend the night. The young ladies thought it was rather strange but maybe it was just that the town was very Catholic. He said that he couldn't seem to rent the house to boys; they just never lasted. The young ladies answered the questions and got the house.
The day they unpacked they arranged the kitchen, glasses above the sink, spices to the right of the stove, etc. The next morning the woman went into the kitchen and everything was in a different cabinet. "Why did you move everything?" she asked her roommate, but the roommate hadn't moved a thing. They changed everything back. Sure enough, the next morning everything had been rearranged again.
The woman had brought her family's old furniture into the house and set a rocking chair in the library surrounded by books. When she would walk down the hall, she would turn to glance in the library and the chair would be rocking all by itself.
The landlord couldn't find any women to rent the basement apartment, so he finally rented it to a few guys. Over the course of the school year, three sets of young men moved in and moved out. And every boyfriend that they ladies had over would spend the night once, and that was it. They would insist on having the girls come to their house. They guys could never explain why.
That summer the woman worked at a dairy farm. Everyday she went over and milked cows. One beautiful day she decided to leave all the windows open to air out the house. Her roommate was gone, the land lord was gone, everyone was out of town. She was the only person within miles who had a key to the house. While she was milking cows a storm blew through, no one saw it coming. She was frantic, there was no time for her to go back to the house and close all those windows she had left open. That evening she went home dreading all the mopping she would have to do, but when she arrived every window, every screen, every storm window, was closed and sealed shut.
Neosho Underground
June 1, 2012
Number 2
A woman from Neosho, Missouri also joined me this evening. Famous as the capital of the Confederacy, for one day. Her grandmother's house had been part of the Underground Railroad, but the tunnels had long been sealed up.
Still, when the woman visited her grandmother she would hear people whispering in the basement. Just a girl at the time, it was unmistakable. Her father had heard the whispering too, when he was growing up. Sometimes when he was in the basement he would even see a person out of the corner of his eye, then he would turn and look and nothing.
Number 2
A woman from Neosho, Missouri also joined me this evening. Famous as the capital of the Confederacy, for one day. Her grandmother's house had been part of the Underground Railroad, but the tunnels had long been sealed up.
Still, when the woman visited her grandmother she would hear people whispering in the basement. Just a girl at the time, it was unmistakable. Her father had heard the whispering too, when he was growing up. Sometimes when he was in the basement he would even see a person out of the corner of his eye, then he would turn and look and nothing.
Equator Estates
June 1, 2012
Number 1
What a busy evening for ghost stories. I had a regular tour group, but they were full of great stories.
A mother and daughter joined me this evening. The mother said that while her father was growing up in Equator in the 1950s, he and some friends visited a big fancy estate in the country. The house was built in the 17th century. The estate one of many granted by the Spanish government in the 16th century. Her father and his friends were teen-agers and they were taking a tour, visiting one of these estates then bicycling to another.
One of their friends went on his own. He was on his bicycle and got lost. A man was walking ahead of him, so he cycled up to the man and asked for directions. The man gave him detailed instructions on how to get there and soon the young man arrived at the estate. His friends were waiting on him and when he arrived they all took a tour of the house. Above the mantle in the library was a beautiful painting of the man he had asked directions from on the road, right down to the clothing. The owner shook his head, no way, that was one of the old owners, dead for at least fifty years.
Number 1
What a busy evening for ghost stories. I had a regular tour group, but they were full of great stories.
A mother and daughter joined me this evening. The mother said that while her father was growing up in Equator in the 1950s, he and some friends visited a big fancy estate in the country. The house was built in the 17th century. The estate one of many granted by the Spanish government in the 16th century. Her father and his friends were teen-agers and they were taking a tour, visiting one of these estates then bicycling to another.
One of their friends went on his own. He was on his bicycle and got lost. A man was walking ahead of him, so he cycled up to the man and asked for directions. The man gave him detailed instructions on how to get there and soon the young man arrived at the estate. His friends were waiting on him and when he arrived they all took a tour of the house. Above the mantle in the library was a beautiful painting of the man he had asked directions from on the road, right down to the clothing. The owner shook his head, no way, that was one of the old owners, dead for at least fifty years.
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