Thursday, October 29, 2009

Happy Halloween ~ with a True Ghost Story

Happy Halloween!
~~~ A True Story from my Childhood ~~~
When I was about 10 years old my cousins (2 girls and 2 boys) moved into a beautiful stone farm house on a 100 acre property. It was the typical center hall plan layout with a staircase in the middle of the home and it had a hidden staircase at the back that went directly to the kitchen. I am an only child and loved spending the summer with my cousins. I got to be the 5th sibling. As kids, we just loved all the different ways to run around that house and play hide and seek.



The house was truly beautiful in the daylight, with the large windows on all sides and deep window wells. The gorgeous antique glass seemed too pretty to cover up with window covering. Since there were no immediate neighbours in the country the windows were left uncovered. At night the property was always extremely dark however. . . . and the shadows from all the old maple trees moving in the wind became quite spooky.




From the very first day my relatives moved into that home everyone felt that the front parlour room to the right of the main stairs had a very odd feeling. It felt occupied. Taken. Non welcoming. No one wanted to lay claim to that room. Very unusual for a large family.

It was immediately called "The Nothing Room". Since old Victorian homes don't really have basements all the non essential boxed items, that usually would have been delegated to a basement, went to the Nothing Room instead. It took a long time for those boxes to get unpacked. They were stacked and forgotten for months. The room had a pull out couch eventually, but no one ever wanted to use it. Even at Christmas time when there was a shortage of places for guests to sleep . . .no one wanted to sleep in that room. Not even the adults or any of their four cats.


My cousins family eventually began to inquire about the history of the house and who had lived there previously. We learned that a woman had indeed died in the parlour and under suspicious circumstances.



The following summer . . . the previous owners came to visit and asked if it would be possible for them to have a picnic at the rear of the property . . . where the ashes of their mother had been buried in a Maple tree. They also wanted permission to return every year on her birthday. Sure enough, they confirmed that their mother had died in the Nothing Room.


After the family's first birthday picnic my four cousins and I ran all around the 100 acre property looking for Mrs. Usher's Tree. We found it eventually. It was a hallowed out tree (rather like the one above) and marked with a small plaque.

From then on we felt a little more at ease about the house. Just knowing who "the presence" belonged to made us all feel a bit more comfortable. We still didn't ever sleep on the pull out couch though. That was for Mrs. Usher !



Although I have never seen a ghost I can certainly say I believe that you can feel a ghostly presence. What do you believe? Do you have a story to share?

11 comments:

Cindy said...

Karen, I believe that you somehow can sense something, especially if the animals would not go in the rooom. Loved the photos, want the old house. Happy Halloween, take care.

Brenda said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brenda said...

Oops - hit a wrong button!,

Hi Karen,
Wow, does that ever take me back. I remember when the small attached area at the back of the "nothing" room was turned into a laundry room, it was dubbed "Mrs.Usher's closet", because that's the area that Stewart's believed she died in. It certainly was the creepiest room ever!Thanks for the memories!

Brenda

Slop -n- Goulash: Dinner of Champions! said...

I, too, am an only child and my cousins were my designated "siblings". My cousin lived in an old farm house as well, but a neighborhood had been built up around theirs. They had a room upstairs that was "the ghost's room" and nobody slept there either. The lights turned on and off by themselves and there were lots of unexplained noises coming from there. They were not afraid though - it seemed more mischievious and not wanting to cause harm. I don't know if they ever found out who the presence was (or rather had been) but I would imagine whoever lives there now still deals with the former occupant. Fun story and gorgeous house. I love old houses with history. Happy Halloween!

Sheila said...

I most definatly beleive that you can sense and see spirits. We lived in a brand new constructed home when i was only 5 or 6 years old. My mom was vacuming the den when she saw a glimps of something out of the corner of her eye.. It was a woman dressed in a wedding dress. That was one thing.. The other thing was the dresser drawers in my sister and my room would always be oopen when we came in our room, no matter how many times we would close them they would be open.. Not in front of us but when we wuold come back in.. It ended after we had been there for awhile.. I guess they seen we were staying. lol I love how your cat was see through in your photo..

Reflections from the Stone Nest said...

Oh, I so agree with that, Karen. There is no fear like the unknown, eh? I'm sure you felt her presence. How nice for you to put it all together now.... :)

Happy Halloween,
Kitty

Draffin Bears said...

Hi Karen,

I enjoyed reading your Ghost story.
what fun!
Loved the house photos.

Have a happy Halloween.
Hugs
Carolyn

Unknown said...

What an interesting story! I also believe that as humans we can sense things our eyes cannot see. Beings whose matter is finer than what our eyes can pick up.

I don't have a ghost story, but thanks for sharing! I am tidying up my living room today and thinking of you as I look at the beautiful rectangular crocheted mat that I won from you! That was the VERY FIRST giveaway I ever won! I just want you to know that I am so glad I did win that and it came at such a difficult time in my life and lifted my spirits up. You have no idea how much that meant to me, dear Karen! Thank you. (((Hugs)))!!! Even though we do not know each other I feel a spirit of friendship between us. There, how's that for a ghost story, LOL! "SPIRIT" of friendship...get it??? ha ha ha! Although I was being quite sincere when I said that!

Happy All Saints Day!

Cathy said...

What a fun story! Thanks! I also enjoyed the other stories shared in the comments.

Cathy ♥

Nancy said...

Hi Karen...Sorry I haven't visited. Will catch up when I am home. Love your story..the pictures on this post are awsome...they evoke that kind of ghosty sense of presence.

Am enjoying the Jasper Park Lodge...so beautiful. Had a bad car accident on the way up...I'm okay...the car, not so great. Tell you more when I get back on the 19th.

Hope all is well with you.
Hugs, Nancy

Karen ~ Cider Antiques said...

Hi Nancy, Just read your message . . .Yikes! Car accidents are so scarey. I hope you are OK. Are you still able to teach your courses? Sorry about your car . . . but they are designed to protect us. Sounds like it did its job. I sent you an email. Karen