19 Feb. '07 - This morning, after I had gotten Jinni off to school, I went back to bed to wait for my turn in the bathroom where Chuck was shaving and dressing.  (We are still in Room 7).  Chuck left the room and went downstairs and not five minutes after he left, I heard someone walking back and forth in the hallway, rattling doorknobs.  I looked and did not see anybody.  I went downstairs to find Chuck to tell him about it and he told me that he had been walking from dining room to keeping room to kitchen and back again because the doors downstairs kept opening and closing.  He thought I was going around and around looking for him, but I was upstairs wondering why he was rattling doorknobs! 

26 Feb. '07 - Last night, about 10:30pm, I was reading in bed in Room 7, Chuck was at work and Jinni was asleep.  I heard a doorknob rattle some where on the second floor, probably Room 6.  Then another doorknob rattled, closer this time, probably the closet door.  Then the doorknob on Room 7 rattled.  That was all, but it was funny listening to it come closer and closer.

1 Mar. '07 - This morning, from 1am to 4am, Chris Moon was a guest on Coast to Coast AM on the radio.  Chuck and I stayed up to listen to the program on the radio in the dining room.  At first, we got the station okay, but when Chris came on, the station would become so full of static that we could not understand much.  Then the channel tuner would go up and down and back and forth and we had a hard time staying on the channel.  During the commercials, we could hear just fine, it was only during the time Chris was talking that the radio would act up.  I recorded the program on our digital voice recorder, but when I played it back, it was so full of DER scratches and pops, that I can't make out the radio.  I wonder if the spirits heard Chris and was trying to use the radio like a Frank's Box, and then they used the recorder like an EVP.  Chuck called in and talked on the show for the last 30 minutes.  He was in the keeping room, away from the static, and I stayed in the dining room trying to hear the program on the radio.  During that time, there was alot of popping and clicking and creaking sounds coming from the far end of the dining room.  As soon as the program was over, the sounds stopped, and the radio cleared up.  I hope the spirits enjoyed the program.  To listen to the program, click here: http://www.hauntedtimes.com/c2c.html   Chuck is on the 4th hour session.  To read the transcript of his interview, click here.

11 Mar. '07 - This morning, during breakfast, Jinni peaked into the dining room where our one guest was eating, and she asked me "Where are the girls?  Why aren't they eating breakfast?"  We had no girls as guests, so I asked her "What girls?".  She said that when she had left Room 7 this morning, she had seen girls playing in the hallway on the second floor.  One was taller than her and they both were wearing nightgowns, the taller one's was purple.  She wanted to know why they were not eating breakfast.  I told her they probably weren't dressed yet and she accepted my answer.  She does not realize they are ghosts, she just thinks they are regular people, guests, and she was concerned about them.

20 Mar. '07 - Yesterday morning, about 6am, I heard someone running in the hallway upstairs.  (Chuck, Jinni and I are still in Room 7.)   I woke Chuck so he could hear it also, and we lay there and listened to the thumping, banging, and bumping sounds for about 45 minutes, until the alarm rang and we had to get up.  As soon as I got up, the noises stopped.  I looked in the hallway and the door to Rooms 4 and 6 were closed.  I opened them, but later, about 3pm, I found them closed again.  So I opened them again.  This morning I found them closed again, and I opened them, and so far they have stayed open.  I found little hand prints on the bed in Room 6, too small to be Jinni's.

28 Mar. '07 - This morning, about 6:30am, I heard a door close somewhere on the second floor, and when I got up I found the doors to Rooms 6 and 4 closed again.  Today we moved back downstairs. 

30 Mar. '07 - Last night, the lady who stayed in Room 5 did some "automatic writing" and had some interesting findings.  Mary invited her to come upstairs to see her, but the lady did not want to go.  Amanda came through and wanted to play.  The lady offered her some shiny costume jewelry, and Amanda told her to cover her eyes, but Amanda did not take anything. 

9 April '07 - There was a couple in Room 5 this weekend who were doing EVPs and the lady said she heard a whispering in her ear during one of the sessions.  Her husband was across the room and the recorder was between them, so it did not pick up the voice.  She said the hairs on her neck stood up and she looked to see if anyone was there, but did not see anything.  During the night, about 3am, she heard a loud thumping noise coming from the third floor.  Several people have reported this same noise at about the same time.  I wonder if that is when Mary died up there in her rocking chair, and the noise is the re-creation of her hitting the floor.  Also, last Thursday night, I was in the dining room watching TV when I heard the door knob rattle.  We did not have any guests and were not expecting any, but sometimes we get people walking in off the street, so I went and looked but did not see anybody.  I went back to the dining room and a few minutes later it rattled again.  I peeked out to the foyer, just incase.  A little later it did it again, three times between 8 and 9 pm.  After I told Chuck about it, it quit doing it.

23 April '07 - Today I was sewing up on the third floor when I heard a man call my name, "JOY!", very loudly.  It sounded like Chuck was on the second floor landing calling for me.  But when I looked, Chuck was not home and nobody was in or around the building.  Then, when I went back up to the sewing room, the channel had been changed on my radio.  I wonder who had called me and who does not like the oldies station.

27 April '07 - Last night we had a couple who stayed in Room 5.  The woman said that after they had checked in, they went for a walk and then came in around 9:30pm.  On their way upstairs, she looked down and saw a dark shadow of someone standing in the foyer and then it zipped really fast through the wall into Room 1.  They said they did not set the alarm clock, yet it rang at 12:40am.  Then the man got very cold and the blankets were tugged on near his feet.  The woman started taking pictures into the dark and got a large, bright orb sitting on one of the twin beds.  I wonder if one of the children was having fun with them.

4 May '07 - This afternoon, when Chuck and I were eating lunch in the dining room, we heard a loud POP! sound that seemed to be in the air over us.  This is a new sound.  Harold usually taps or knocks, not pops.

8 May '07 - We had a Ghost Hunt University class this past weekend and had some good results.  We learned that Markie is now a technician for Chris in his Frank Box.  He says he is happy and thanked Chris for sending him to the light.  He saw his mother there, and now he is at peace.  Amanda said she misses him as a playmate.  Harold says he is more likely to interact with our guests if they are interesting and have alot of energy.  He leaves the boring guests alone.  Mary thinks my new "toy" on the third floor is "too big"!  That it is!  We asked about the radio changing channels and she said I had left the room and she tried to turn the radio off because she does not like the noise.  It was Harold who called my name because I was ignoring him.  He had messed the bed in Room 6 and I had straightened it without acknowledging his effort.  From now on I will have to mention out loud that I noticed.  Harold also said that it was him that made the pop sound in the dining room, he wanted us to say his name.  Amanda said that she and Harold and Carolyn went with Jinni to the Special Olympics basketball competition.  Harold said he kept closing the doors to Rooms 4 and 6 because it was too cold in there and he wanted it warmer.  We talked to Frederick Hancock up at the cemetery and again in Room 5.  He admitted to hiding slaves on the Underground Railroad and also named some other people he knew were doing it.  He said there is a tunnel still under the ground east of the hotel, it was under the woodshed (that is no longer there).  When asked if the caboose was on that spot now, he said "east of the locomotive".  He said three people were hiding in the tunnel (probably more of a hidey-hole)  when it collapsed and they could not save them.   To rescue them would mean they would be returned to slavery and probably killed.  It was a wrenching decision to leave them there.   Frederick wanted us to find them and get them out.    To read the entire transcripts of these sessions, click here.

10 May '07 - Last evening, I was talking to my son, Jeremy, on the telephone in the dining room, when I heard a loud knock on the wall across from me.  I asked if it was Harold and immediately there was another loud knock a little further down on my right.  I told Jeremy to say hello to Harold and as soon as he did, there was loud static in the phone.  I wonder if Harold was trying to talk to Jeremy.  Then, last night, at 4:40am, I heard two loud knocks on the wall above my head.  I was asleep but coming up out of a dream, when I heard it.  I jumped and Chuck shifted also, so I know he heard it although he does not remember it.  I said hi to Harold and waited for more, but that was it.

11 May '07 - Today I was upstairs doing laundry and cleaning when I heard some footsteps in the hallway.  Thinking Chuck was looking for me, I looked into the hallway and did not see anybody.  This happened three times, once when I was in the laundry room, when I was cleaning Room 6, and when I was in the closet.  Each time I heard the shuffling footsteps, but no one was there.  I came downstairs and found Chuck.  He said he had been outside and did not go upstairs.

16 May '07 - This morning, our guests ate breakfast and then went back up to their room (6) to wash up before leaving.  I was clearing the table and overheard their conversation.  Apparently they had left the room door open and unlocked when they came down for breakfast, and now it was closed and locked and they did not have the key with them.  I went and got the extra key and unlocked their door for them.  As they were leaving they were still puzzling about how the door got closed and locked from the inside when they did not do it.  Harold's up to his tricks.  Did he not want them coming back into his room?

29 May '07 - Today Chuck was working at the table in the dining room with the door to the keeping room open.  He saw a grey cat walk from the keeping room to under the table where he was sitting.  Thinking it was Tiger, he looked under the table and saw  nothing there.  We found Tiger outside.  Chuck must have seen Josephine!  He is so excited!

4 June '07 - This afternoon, Chuck and I were upstairs making beds.  I asked him to meet me in Room 6 and I went to the laundry room to get the sheets.  On my way back to Room 6, I glanced into Room 5 and saw a man standing by the east window, looking out the window.  It was just a quick glance and I thought it was Chuck, so I said for him to meet me in Room 6.  Then I saw that he was in Room 6, so who was in Room 5?  I went back and looked again and saw no one.  The man was wearing brown pants and a creamy white shirt.  It must have been Curtis.  (I don't know why I thought it was Chuck, I knew Chuck was wearing jeans.)

5 June '07 - The phone keeps ringing and no one is there.  This sometimes happens with computer calls, so I did not think any thing about it, until I heard the DER sounds.  Harold has done this before.  He gets into the phone and makes zip, pop sounds like we hear on the voice recorder when we do EVP recordings.  When I heard the zip - pop sounds, I asked "Is this you Harold?"......zip - pop.  "Are you playing with the phone?"........zip.   "How nice to hear from you."......zip zip pop.  Then the phone starts beeping like it does when it is off the cradle.  It is funny that he is trying to talk to us through the phone.  Next time I will try to record it and see what we get.

6 June '07 - Today I was upstairs, on the third floor, sewing when I heard someone whistling for me.  (Chuck does this when he needs me to come down, he stands on the second floor landing and whistles.)   So, I heard the whistle that Chuck does and I went and looked down the staircase and saw no one.  I went back to my sewing and a little later I heard it again.  This time I ignored it and it got louder, I still ignored it and it got really loud.  So I thought maybe it really was Chuck this time and I looked down the staircase, and there was no one there.  I went and found Chuck and he said it was not him.  We had no guests in the house and Jinni can't whistle, so I wonder if it was Harold or Curtis. 

21 June '07 - The lady who stayed in Room 5 last night said she kept seeing something like white fabric out of the corner of her eye, but when she looked there was nothing there.  It happened several times during the evening.  She also heard a cat purring sound coming from somewhere in the room.  She tried to locate where the sound was coming from and could not find a source.  It just seemed to be coming from no particular spot.  I wonder if Josephine and one of the children was playing with her.

7 July '07 - Yesterday, after our guests checked in and went to dinner, I was in the dining room watching TV and I heard the front door open and close.  Thinking our guests had returned early, I looked and saw no one and there were no cars and no one walking around town.  I went back to the dining room and again I heard the door open and close, and again I looked and there was no one there.  Then, last night in our bedroom, I heard some creaking and popping and banging sounds coming from around the TV and bathroom area.  One was so loud that it woke Chuck and he sat straight up in bed.  This  morning the ladies who stayed in Room 5 said that they had checked in and went straight to dinner and when they got back they found the lights on in their room.  They thought I had turned them on so that they would not come back in the dark, but it was not me.  They were afraid of having a ghost experience and had even asked me to remove the rocking chair that sometimes rocks by itself.  But they had an experience anyway, and they did not even know it!

     Then, this morning, I was in the kitchen making breakfast and I heard someone walking around in the dining room.  Thinking one of the guests was in there looking for coffee, I looked and saw no one.  I went back to the kitchen and heard it again, and again no one was there.   The front door was still locked, so I knew it was not the Caboose people, and the Room 5 people said it was not them.  I wonder if Fannie is back.  It was not the �boots on hard wood floor� sound like Harold makes.

15 July '07 - This morning I over heard the man, who had stayed in Room 1, tell his friends that he did not get any sleep last night.  He said he heard children running up and down the stairs and back and forth in the foyer outside his bedroom door all night long.   He said it was very annoying, as soon as he dozed off, they would run by again.  There were no children guests, he had heard the ghost children playing. 

21 July '07 - This weekend we had a paranormal investigation group here called the International Paranormal Research Association (IPRA), who were doing an investigation.   They were also filming an episode about their investigation for a show called Seekers of the Paranormal.   The members had some very interesting results.  They will send me a full report in a few weeks, and I will expand on this entry, but I will write some of the experiences now while it is fresh in my mind.    The group consisted of 9 people from the St. Louis and Des Moines areas.  Jacqui is the founder and leader of the group.  She was the only one to research the history and happenings of the Inn.  The others did not know anything about the place so that they did not have any preconceived ideas about what could happen.   As each person experienced something, they were to write it down and not tell the others too much so that they did not feed off each other, but they did tell Chuck and me some of the things so that we would know what was going on.  On Friday night, they arrived and did a pre-investigation to see if there was enough evidence to continue.  Some of the members were immediately overwhelmed by the psychic activity, and they had to go back outside to "ground" themselves.  But that did not help much as they felt the whole town was vibrating with spirit activity.  We started at 9pm with a planning session in the dining room.  I was sitting in a chair that faced the foyer, and I saw a child peer over the stair banister.  He/she had dark hair and that's all I could tell, the chin just cleared the railing.  He/she looked over the banister and then ducked back, then peered again, four times.  I told Jacqui about it and she said she had been watching it too.  During the evening's investigation, things that were told to us included people being touched, clothes pulled (including me), and hair played with.  Some heard a woman humming, a man whistling, children giggling, and knocking sounds (probably Harold).  During the night, several heard children running and giggling in the upstairs hallway.  Two of the men heard a woman say their name right next to their ear, when there was no one near them.  The people in Room 6 heard tapping on the walls and ceiling and felt Josephine the cat walking around on their bed.  Then, yesterday,  the group went up to the Bentonsport Cemetery and the Presbyterian Church building and some got touched and they saw moving shadows in the church.  This was during the day time.  They went back to the church at night and got several large orbs and heard someone walking back and forth up in the choir loft, even though the access door to the loft was closed and locked.   They took a walk around the village of Bentonsport and felt different locations that gave off lots of spirit energy.  They said the Rose Garden was peaceful and the Montgomery House was sad.  The Herman Greef house wants to be left alone.  And two of the men found a cold spot in an area of town where there had been a murder many years ago.  (They did not know about the murder, and we were all surprised when they told us where the bad energy was and we told them what happened there.)   They tried to find the collapsed hidey-hole that Frederick Hancock told us about, but the EMF meter and dousing rods kept going crazy and someone would take a picture, and there would be a huge orb hanging around right by the men.  It was picking up Harold who was being nosy!  So they did not get anything definite about the hidey-hole.  Then, Saturday night, the group did another investigation with EMF meters, listening devices, digital cameras and video cameras.  Some things that happened included clothes being pulled, banging and popping sounds coming from the third floor,  a whistling sound, a sound of a child whining, Harold knocking on the walls, and a man whistling.  During the night several people heard the children running  and giggling in the hallway.  Two of the women saw two blond haired little girls playing in the hallway.  Again Room 6 had Harold tapping on the walls.  The husband thought maybe it was the ceiling fan making the noise, but when he asked Harold to stop tapping so he could get some sleep, the tapping stopped even though the ceiling fan was still on.  So it wasn't the ceiling fan.  All in all the group said this was the most active place they had ever investigated, but the energy is playful and happy.  Nobody picked up anything evil or threatening at all.  Even though we already knew about the spirits, and who they are, we are happy with the investigation.  It validates what we and others have seen and heard and felt.  It is good to have somebody else say these things are happening and are real, not just us saying it.  

        Here is what one man had to say about his stay here: 

              Chuck and Joy,

      We forgot to make an entry in the notebook in our room. Mandie and I wanted to let you know we really enjoyed our visit to the Mason House and your excellent hospitality. This was the first time we ever stayed at a Bed and Breakfast. If we should visit any other Bed and Breakfast, it will be a tough act to follow. The only problem I had was when returning home we stopped and ate at a smorgasbord restaurant. After the quiet weekend, it was extremely noisy and would have put in earplugs if I had them.

    Thought I would add a little about my experience in our room. On Sunday, my wife had gotten up in the morning and went downstairs. I was laying in bed on my left side with the pillow over my head. I could smell bacon cooking downstairs and was trying to decide whether I was ready to get up. While I was laying there, I started smelling a clean soapy fragrance. The fragrance had a very pleasing smell, like someone just getting done taking a bath or shower, and would kind of come and go. I then heard a woman's voice whisper my name in my right ear. The pillow was still over my head when this happened. The fragrance then went away and soon all I could smell was the bacon cooking.  I talked to my wife about the experience and she told me it wasn't anything that she had, that had that kind of smell.

         Wish you both the best of fortune;

         Bryan and Mandie

     A few days later, Jacqui sent me three pictures that her people had drawn of the girls they saw playing in the hallway.  We showed them to Jinni and she said she did not know the first two, but when we showed her the third one, she said "Well, that's Amanda!"  In a  'don't you know?, Duh.' kind of voice.  This is Amanda's picture here......

 

2 Aug. '07 - This morning I was in the upstairs bathroom, when I heard two knocks on the bathroom door.  I said "Just a minute."  A few seconds later there were three more knocks.  I said "Just a minute!!"  When I opened the door, expecting to see Chuck, there was no one there.  I went downstairs to find Chuck in the downstairs bathroom, shaving.  I asked if he had knocked on the door and he said he had not been upstairs all morning.  I wonder if Herma was wanting to use the water-closet again.

 

7 Aug. �07 � We have had a busy weekend.  Chris Moon and his dad, Dennis, came for more Ghost Hunter University classes.  On Friday night we had the 102 class.  The portable Frank Box did not work well enough to do a session up at the cemetery, so we just did an open air EVP.  Chris invited the spirits to return to the Mason House with us for the Frank Box session there.   When we turned the Box on in Room 5, there were so many voices trying to come through at once, it was chaos!  Harold said there were a hundred �strangers� outside and sixty-four in the room and that it was very frustrating.  We tried to talk to Fannie, but she got cut off and left mad, according to Harold.  We asked who knocked on my bathroom door and Harold admitted that he was wanting attention.  We asked him if he recognized any of the drawings of girls that the IPRA group did and he identified the blond one as being Katie.  We had to cut the session short as it was too chaotic and hard to hear.                                        

         That night, the ladies staying in Room 8 felt Josephine walking on the bed and curled up between them on the bed.  They both felt it.  One lady heard �help me� whispered next to her ear.  She also woke up feeling someone holding her hand.  The people in Room 6 heard someone walking around on the third floor and one lady also felt someone touch her shoulder.                                                            

          Then, during the 101 class on Saturday, we did two Frank Box sessions in Room 5.  We asked who had asked for help and were told that the lady had brought a spirit with her who wanted her to not leave him alone.  She knew that she had a spirit at her house, now she knows his name.  Michael Brown was the name of the spirit that was holding her hand, because "her skin was soft".  He said he inhabits Room 8 sometimes.  He likes to watch the children jump on the beds.  He said that our grand-daughter, Aurora, was also jumping on the bed with the children, and she had indeed been jumping on the bed earlier that day.     To read the entire transcripts of the sessions, click here.  That night, some of the guests heard children running in the hallway.  The people in Room 5 took a picture of the Frank Box that was still sitting on the desk, and there was a huge orb sitting on the chair where Chris had just been sitting.  They also heard someone walking around up on the third floor.  Then, when Hans was putting Aurora to bed, she was crying and saying she wanted to "play with my friends".  Hans heard a girl say "It's okay, Aurora, don't cry."  He thought it was Jinni, but Jinni was in her own bedroom and no where near their room.

         Last night, we had some college kids here doing a ghost hunt of their own.  They got lots of orbs in their pictures.  Three of the kids heard someone humming.  Two thought it was a man and one thought it was a woman.  They heard thumping coming from the third floor, children running in the hallway and tapping on the walls.  One of the girls was touched on her arm and two had their feet played with. Two of them experienced somebody trying to open the bathroom door, but everybody was accounted for at the time.  They had lots of fun and little sleep.  They want to make it an annual get-together.  One of the young men, Jeff, took this picture of an orb in the stairwell.

12 Aug. '07 - The people who stayed in Room 4 last night said that they had laid a pendulum on the bed and after a few minutes, it moved about an inch.  Right after that the door to the bedroom swung shut by itself.  That door drags on the carpet, it cannot close with out help.

20 Aug. '07 - Today I was going up the back staircase to do some cleaning on the second floor, and as my head came level with the second-floor floor, I saw some brown boots standing on the landing.  This startled me some because I knew for a fact that Chuck was working on the computer in the office.  I looked up to see who was standing there, and no one was there.  I looked back down and the boots were gone.  So I went on up to the laundry room and grabbed some sheets and continued down the hallway to Room 6.  As I passed by Room 7, I saw a man wearing black pants and coat sitting in the rocking chair.  He had his head down like he was sleeping in the chair.  This surprised me and I did a double-take and nothing was there.  I wonder why they are doing this "now you see me now you don't" thing with me.

27 Aug. '07 - We have had some excitement this past weekend that has nothing to do with the spirits.  We had a flood warning and we had orders to evacuate Bentonsport.  But the river never went past the road in front of our place, so we are okay.  Now I will catch up on what happened before the flood scare.  We had a young couple stay in Room 6 for three nights.  The first night nothing happened and they were very disappointed.  I told them that they had to have energy for the spirits to "feed" off of, and they admitted that they did not have any energy after driving 8 hours to get here.  The second night they played a fun game, laughed, and talked to Harold and that night they heard the tapping sounds.  They felt a cat walk across the top of their pillows, and felt a tugging on the bed covers.  They were so happy!  The third night, they had bought a pendulum and so they tried it.  She asked "Harold, are you here?"  Tap Tap.  "I have a pendulum, do you see it?"  Tap Tap.  "Do you want to play with it?"  Tap.  "Are Amanda and Josephine here?"  Tap Tap.  "Do they want to move the pendulum?"  Tap.  And it went on this way with Harold tapping his answers and no one moved the pendulum.  I guess it was easier for Harold to tap than to move something.  They were disappointed that the pendulum did not move.

8 Sept. '07 - Things have been relatively quiet around here lately.   Most of our guests have been in the outer rooms.  Those who do stay upstairs have reported the tapping sounds but not much else.  One husband kept insisting it was the fan while the wife insisted it was coming from the wall, not the ceiling.  One prior guest called me today and said that when she stayed with us a few nights ago, she heard the coins on the dresser being played with, but she could see they were not moving.  She said it sounded like coins being dropped into a glass piggybank.  But she could not tell where it was coming from.  When we had a town meeting here last Tuesday night, I felt someone poke me, rather sharply, in the left shoulder blade.  I thought maybe it was Chuck who was behind me to my left, but I could see him out of my peripheral vision and he had not moved.  When I got poked again, I knew it was not Chuck and no one else was behind me.  So I whispered "Hi Harold" and it did not happen again.  Later that same night, I heard a strange sound that was not quite a pop or creak or crack or anything like I had ever heard before in the dining room.  It happened 4 times in about a half an hour, so I finally said "I hear you Harold" and then it did not do it again.  I guess once I acknowledge him, he is happy.

9 Sept. '07 - Finally we had someone stay upstairs!  The man in Room 5 last night said he felt someone tugging on his bed covers.  He was in the twin bed by the wall.   Julia claims that area.    And the lady in Room 7 said she woke up because she was freezing and she saw the silhouette of a person standing by the window.  It scared her so much she closed her eyes and turned over "so I wouldn't have to look at it."  Next thing she knew, it was morning.  Scared her so much she went back to sleep!  She said she did not notice if it was a man or woman because she did not want to look at it that closely.   Then, when Chuck and I were cleaning Room 7 today, we heard footsteps in the hallway.  We both heard it.  It sounded like it came from the laundry room end of the hallway toward Room 7, but then it stopped before it got to the doorway.  We looked, but no one was there.

15 Sept. '07 - We had a guest in Room 8 last night who felt something touching her on the side of her neck.  She thought it was her husband, but he was facing the other way.  There was really no explanation for it.  We told her how Michael Brown was holding a woman's hand in that room because her "skin was soft".  She did not know the place is haunted and was so intrigued.

23 Sept. '07 - Today we went on our annual canoeing and Church picnic outing.  While I was preparing our supplies for event, Jinni came into the kitchen and asked me if Amanda could come too.  I asked if Amanda was one of her friends from Church, and she said "You know, the girl from the ghost hunt."  I said Amanda was welcome to come and did she want to come canoeing too?   Jinni looked toward the kitchen door for a second and then answered "No, just the picnic, at the outside tables."   Jinni knows we call  it the 'shelter house'.  Later I asked her if Amanda came to the picnic and she said Amanda had fun and sat beside her at the picnic table.

27 Sept. '07 - A pair of kittens have adopted us.  They play around outside and we feed them on the kitchen porch.  We've named them Misty and Smokey, they are sisters a few months old.  Today they followed some visitors into the house and were nosing around.  After the visitors had left, Misty followed me up the front staircase, but then she stopped and hissed.  She had her back up and all her hairs were standing on end.  She was staring up the stairs to the third floor, her eyes as big as pies!  Then she turned and ran down the stairs and frantically tried to get out the front door.  I let her out and she ran and hid under the porch.  I wonder what she saw that scared her so much.

30 Sept. '07 - Last night we had two couples in Room 5 and Room 6 who were both hoping something would happen to them.  And a couple in Room 7 who did not know the history of the building.  The people in Room 6 heard some knocking sounds that they could pin down where it was coming from.  They also got some good orb pictures.  The people in Room 5 reported nothing except a good night's sleep.  But the people in Room 7 (who did not even know what was going on) had their bed covers pulled on and they heard a loud bang noise about 4am.  I also heard the loud bang at 4am, it came from the second floor and sounded like something large and heavy hitting the floor.  (Chuck jumped in his sleep so I know he also heard it although he does not remember it.)   At breakfast, the guests all exchanged experiences and the couple in Room 7 had dumbfounded looks on their faces when they found out it had been a spirit that pulled their covers!  Later, Chuck and I went upstairs to clean the rooms and we found the bedroom door to Room 8 closed.  I slammed the door hard and that was indeed the sound I had heard.  There really is no explanation for the door closing, the window was not open and the door drags on the carpet a little, so it did not close by itself.  I wonder who slammed it so hard and why.

1 Oct. '07 - Last night our bedroom door kept opening and closing, over and over again.  Then, about 12:30am, I heard a whisper in my ear that said "This is for Chuck" and then there was two loud knocks on our bedroom window.  The door bumped shut one more time and that was it.  I gave Chuck his message this morning and he thinks it was Markie because they had set up a signal to let us know when he is in the house.  Markie was to knock twice to let us know he is home.

20 Oct. '07 - It has been really quiet here lately, mostly because our guests have been in the outer buildings instead of upstairs.  But last night the ladies in Room 7 heard someone walking back and forth outside their door at about 5am.  They said it sounded like boots on a hard floor (the hallway is carpeted).  And the ladies in Room 5 said their doorknob was jiggled and turned about the same time.  They could tell someone was trying to open the door and were all excited about it.  They also got some good orb pictures in the room and up at the cemetery last night.  These are two of the pictures they took.

 

26 Oct. �07 � Last night, about 1:50am, I had gotten back in bed after taking a phone call, and I heard four loud knocks on our bedroom door.  We had no guests in the house.  Chuck did not jump, so I know he did not hear it.  I did not answer it.  Then, this morning, I found the kitten, Misty, in the parlor.  She was hunched up and wagging her tail furiously and making a squeaking mewing sound, her eyes were big and round and she was staring at the fireplace in the dining room.  I looked toward the fireplace and saw a dark grey �something� streak across the floor from the fireplace to under the middle dining room table.  I looked under the table and did not see anything.  The �something� was bigger than the usual orbs I have seen and faster than something footed.  My guess is it was Josephine, since that�s the way Misty acts with other cats that she doesn�t like.

28 Oct. '07 - Last night we had our annual "Ghost Walk" evening, although it was too cold to "walk" anywhere.  So mostly, we just gave a presentation about the kinds of things that go on around here.  Most of the 18 people got orbs in their pictures.  (One man had a sophisticated camera that had an "auto correct" feature and it kept filling in the orbs.  If your camera has this feature, take off the "auto correct".)  Some of the people went for a walk up to the bridge and got lots of orbs there.  They took pictures of the Greef Store and got a large, bright orb in front of the store.  During the night, the people in Room 5 had one of the medical instruments, that are hanging on cup hooks under a shelf, flew about 6 feet across the room and landed on their bed.  This was quite startling.  In Room 6, they heard some tapping on the wall, and they heard what sounded like someone walking around and around up on the third floor.  (There is no one except Mary up there.)  The wife in Room 4 heard tapping on the wall and the husband had his hair played with.  During the dinner, one lady heard tapping on the wall behind her in the dining room.  All in all, an eventful evening.

4 Nov. '07 - Last night there were six ladies who stayed in Room 5.  They had psychic ability and they told me about some of the things they saw and felt.  One lady, Angel, said she sensed a boy in knickers (probably Morris), and she sensed a woman named Charlotte outside the building.  She was drawn upstairs to my sewing room because some one wanted to show her something.  When she entered Mary's room on the third floor, Mary told her "Look at this contraption", meaning my quilting machine.  Angel said Mary was intrigued with the machine because she was a quilter too, but she had hand quilted all her quilts.  Another of the ladies had put her black laptop computer on the vanity desk in Room 5 and was getting a sense of several people wanting to talk, "talk now,  want to talk now".  So they did some EVP sessions but did not have the results from that at the time she was telling me this.  I realized that when Chris Moon comes and does his "Frank Box" sessions it is a black box and he always sets it on the vanity table in Room 5.  Maybe they thought she had a "word box" too.  The whole group got many orbs in the house and around town, especially on the bridge and up at the cemetery.  During the night they heard tapping sounds, sounds coming from Mary's room, and at one point they could not get the lamp to turn on and they asked Harold to turn the lamp on and it came on.  About 2am, there was a rustling of a plastic bag in the room and that surprised many of them.  If they report more findings from photos, video, or recorder, they will let me know and I will report it here.

13 Nov. '07 - This past weekend we had two classes of Ghost Hunter University 101 with Chris Moon.  The rooms were very active both nights.  To read the transcripts for the 'telephone to the dead' sessions, click here.   During Saturday night, the couple in Room 8 had Josephine on their bed.  They said there was a very heavy weight laying across both their legs, although there was no purring, and it lasted several minutes.  In Room 7, they heard some tapping sounds and one lady had her sleeve pulled back and forth on her arm several times while she watched it moving.  The lady in the twin bed said that for a short while her bed was rocking back and forth as if a child was standing on the bed, straddling her legs, and rocking it back and forth.  She said it was really a weird feeling.  One of the ladies in Room 6 heard tapping sounds and then heard "HEY!" in her ear quite loudly.  It really startled her.  The other people in the room were fast asleep.  The people in Room 1 heard a loud 'boom' on the ceiling as if a bowling ball were dropped on the floor of Room 6,  but no body in that room had dropped anything.  On Sunday night, the people in Room 8 again had Josephine on the bed, this time with purring vibrations.  They also heard what sounded like several children running in the hallway outside their door.  The lady in the twin bed in Room 7 also reported having a cat on the bed for a short time, and she also heard the children running in the hallway.  Chris Moon, in Room 4, said he also had been visited by Josephine on his bed.  The ladies in Room 1 also heard tapping on the wall, and their shower turned on for several seconds and then turned off.  The people in Room 5 said the pull chain on the fan started going around and around even though the fan was not on and there were no windows open.  But, most excitingly, the lady in the twin bed in Room 6, "Sue",  said she was awakened by a heavy feeling on her chest.  When she opened her eyes, she saw an elderly lady and a small child standing next to the bed looking at her.  Sue said they were giggling and whispering to each other.  The woman was older and buxom, and had dark hair that was pulled back.  She was wearing a white blouse and a dark skirt.  The child was about 2 or 3 years old with long blond hair.  Then the woman whispered to the child "Let's go see some other people."  and they turned a walked away.  Sue said it was not scary at all and she was thrilled to have seen a spirit, whom she thinks was Mary.  We'll have to ask at the next Frank Box session who the woman and child were.  Sue had also left a recorder running during the night and when she listened to it she found some of Harold's tapping sounds had been recorded during the night.  Later, Sue sent me this picture that she took during the class.  There is a large, bright orb.  Possibly it is Harold listening to Chuck's history lesson. 

5 Dec. '07 - Yesterday afternoon, I was cleaning in Room 7 when I, peripherally, saw a person walk into the doorway and then turn around and walk back down the hallway.  The person was wearing a light colored shirt and dark pants.  When I looked into the hallway, there was no one there.  I did not hear any footsteps.  I wonder if it was Curtis again.  Chuck was downstairs and said he had not come upstairs.  Then, this morning, about 6:45am, I felt a cat jump onto the bed.  It was really heavy, so I thought it was Tiger.  It turned around and around and finally settled down by my knees, between Chuck and me, and was purring heavily.  Then the alarm rang so I sat up to pet Tiger, and nothing was there.  If he had jumped down I would have heard it since he is a big cat.  Chuck says he did not feel anything.  Josephine is usually lighter, I wonder if there is another cat.

29 Dec. '07 - The couple who stayed in Room 5 last night told me that they had pulled the window shade partially down so they could watch the snowfall from the bed.  It had been that way for several hours when it suddenly unrolled a little bit more all by itself.  Then, in a few minutes, it did it again, and  then again.  The wife decided she was not going to get any sleep and was going to go over to the rocking chair to read, but when she was about to walk past the shade, it unrolled the rest of the way all the way to the floor!  She jumped back into bed.  They finally fell asleep a little before midnight, but then the room alarm clock started ringing.  They had not set the clock to ring because they were using their watch alarm.  They saw that the alarm button was not pulled and actually had to turn it on to turn it off.   That was pretty startling and they did not get much sleep the rest of the night because they wanted to stay awake and see what else was going to happen.  They could hardly wait to come down to breakfast and tell me about their experience.  After they left this morning, I went up to the room to try to recreate the "shade unrolling by itself" but it is on a pulley system and cannot move without someone pulling on the strings.  I bet the kids were really chuckling about that one!