In Room 5, one woman saw a man wearing a flat brimmed hat standing at the foot of her bed.  She saw him again on Friday night and the lady in Room 4 reported that she had felt a cat jump onto her bed and curl up against her back.  It was kneading the pillow and once it started kneading her back but got a bit carried away with the claws and  poked her.  She felt around, expecting Smokey who had been following her around, but there was nothing there.  On Saturday night, the Expo attendees went on ghost hunts in buildings throughout the village.  I have not heard yet any reports about the other buildings, but here at the Mason House there was some interesting things.  Two ladies went up to Mary�s room on the third floor and, seeing the door was closed, they knocked and asked if they could enter.  There was a very empathic �NO� that came from the other side of the door.  They said that if she wanted them to go away, she should knock twice.  Immediately, there was a loud KNOCK KNOCK from inside the room.  But the women went in anyway, thinking it was a trick, and found no one there.  Another woman saw a child run down the hallway and we watched on the IR cameras as the little orbs flew around her in the hallway.  In the Parlor, Patrick Burns was demonstrating his �Paranormal Puck� which is a version of the �Frank�s Box� but the �Puck� is a type of microphone  that the spirit talks into and then the words are printed out on the computer screen.  He had some EMF detectors that had some lights that would light up when an electrical field is detected.  He invited the children to play with the device and showed them how the lights would blink.  He put two of these on the floor a few feet away from him and in a little while the lights blinked and the words �Christmas lights� came up on the computer screen.  Later in the evening, when people were laughing and having a good time, the lights on the detectors went crazy.  I guess the spirits were having a good time too.  

30 May '08 - There was a couple here a few nights ago who said she was descended from a Native American Shaman and she could feel the aura of things.  She said the Inn had a good feeling and there was no evil in the place.  But there was a picture in her room that made her feel uneasy and so I took it out.  Several people have said the room has negative energy, but she thinks it is the picture not the room itself.  So I took out the picture and put it somewhere else.  If people now think that room has negative energy, we'll know it is the picture and I'll get rid of it.  She is going to send me a nice needlepoint rose picture to put in its place. 

       The people who stayed in Room 5 last night felt like they were being watched.  And they heard what sounded like furniture or boxes being moved around on the third floor.  I guess Mary is busy up there again.  I told them about a lady who stayed in Room 5 last weekend, and she was going into the room to get something when she heard a man and a woman in the room talking.  The woman made a comment about "Look at this mess, these people are such pigs."  The lady thought it was Chuck and me in there cleaning, but when she opened the door there was no one there.  So I told the man last night, maybe Mary is checking to see if they were going to be messy too.   They brought a toy for Josephine to play with, we'll see if it gets moved.

1 June '08 - Well, Josephine did not play with the toy, but Misty certainly enjoyed it!  The couple in Room 5 took a nap on the twin beds around 2:30pm when they heard some shuffling sounds just outside the door.  They heard a child say "Momma?" and then the footsteps ran down the hallway.  They thought it was someone checking in with a child, but nobody was here at that time except them and me, and I was downstairs at that time.

     Nothing happened on the night of May 30.  The only guest we had was a woman in Room 1 and she took out her hearing aides and slept well through the night.  Last night we had three ladies in Room 6 who heard Harold tapping during the night and again this morning when it got alot louder.  When one lady said "Good morning, Harold" the tapping stopped.  I guess he was happy to be acknowledged at last.  Another lady in the same room kept feeling like her nose was being touched.  She finally got irritated enough to pull the sheet over her face, but the feeling kept on right through the sheet.  They used a pendulum to talk to Harold and when they asked how many people were in the room: One? 'no'   Two? 'no'  Three? 'no'  Four?  'yes'  -- the three ladies and him makes four! 

8 June '08 - Yesterday, while I was cleaning in Room 4, I heard a shuffling outside the doorway.  I knew it was not Chuck or Jinni because they were not home.  I said out loud that it was okay for whoever it was to come in the room, and I saw a small shadow, about three feet tall, peek around the door and then pull back fast.  I wonder which one of the children it was.  Then, last night we had some ghost hunters here from Night Watchers.  They taped a radio show while they did their investigations.  Early in the evening, one of the men heard a child giggling behind him in the Parlor.  In Room 7 they got a picture of a ghostly figure sitting on the rocking chair.  One of the women, Serenity, is a psychic and she said she could hear the little girl saying, 'rocking, rocking, rocking' in a  sing-song kind of voice.  Later in the night, the people who slept in that room saw the chair rocking.   In Room 5 during an EVP session, the group heard a woman and some children talking in the hallway, but everybody from the group was in the room.  Serenity said they were welcome to come in and join the group and a child size shadow entered the room a short way.  When it ran out again, it brushed up against the leader of the group who said he felt it as it brushed by.    Later that night, as Serenity slept in the big bed, she heard a woman and man talking in the room.  She felt it was Mary and Frank and that Mary was upset that someone was in her parent's bed.  Serenity asked them to be quiet so she could sleep and then the bathroom door slammed shut.    When we did an EVP session in the Parlor, we heard a knock sound in the dining room.  Serenity went to look to see who was in there and she saw a man with shoulder length hair and wearing a light colored long sleeved shirt.  Sounds like Curtis.  She said he was just standing there watching us.    Other things that happened were that three rooms had locked doors when the people in them did not lock them.  And they got an interesting picture of a tall, thin black shadow standing on the staircase.  They said they got some good EVP and video evidence too.  This morning, about 6:30, I heard three hard knocks on the keeping room door.  I thought maybe someone was looking for me to make them some coffee, but when I looked, there was no one there.  I asked at breakfast if somebody had knocked on the door and they all said they were still asleep at that time.

19 June '08 - The Des Moines River flooded here in Bentonsport, starting last Saturday, so we have been closed for guests since then.  Thank you to all our friends and guests who have been wondering if we're okay.  The river got up to the sidewalk in front of the Inn, but the sandbags stopped it from coming into the Inn.  The pumps in the basement kept the water from getting too high in there.  The river is slowly going down now, so we are open for business again.  People keep asking me if the flood has affected the ghost activity, but there has been nobody upstairs for a week, so there has been nobody to report anything.  As for down stairs, there has been some knocking sounds in the dining room like always but not any more than usual.  I will tell you about something that happened last Monday night.  Chuck and I slept in Room 1 for several nights so we could listen for the pumps and make sure they kept going all night.  About 1am on Monday morning, I had a very vivid dream that a girl in a nightgown was standing beside the bed.  She said "I can't hear the pump anymore.  Maybe you should wake up and check it."  Immediately I was awake and, indeed, I could not hear the pump going.  So I got up and checked it and it started again.  I had the name Anna in my head as to who the girl was.  We will ask at the next GHU class who Anna is and how she knows what a pump is.

22 June '08 - There were some ladies staying in Room 6 this weekend and the lady who slept in the twin bed said that after she turned off the light, she could see some little bright lights flying around the room.  It lasted several seconds and then quit.  Later that evening, she was awakened by her bed shaking like someone was pushing against it.  She said it was fun and not scary.  She admitted that she was a little intrepid about staying here (it was her sister's choice), but now she is very intrigued and wants to come back again with her husband.

25 June '08 - The people who stayed in Room 6 last night said they had set up IR cameras and voice recorders throughout the house and let them record all  night.  They will let me know if they get anything good on them.  As for personal experiences, the man felt a hand push him in the back, and he saw a moving shadow that he could not explain.  He said it looked like someone peeked into the room and then pulled back.  The woman felt a tug on her collar but there was no one behind her.  They both saw Room 4's bedroom door move and when they asked for it to move again, it did twice more.  When they did some temperature readings in the parlor, the gold chair was reading about 6 degrees lower than the rest of the furniture in the room.  I wonder who was sitting on the chair.  Earlier in the day, when I put the cookie jar in Room 6, I had noticed that the ring and two rocks on the little shelf had been moved, so I put them back together.  The woman said that later that night, she noticed that the ring had been moved away from the rocks, so she moved them back again.  Then, this morning, she noticed that the ring had been moved again and one of the rocks is completely missing!  She looked all over around the little shelf but could not find it anywhere. 

1 July '08 - We had another Ghost Hunting University class this past weekend.  On Friday night, the 102 class went up to the cemetery to do an investigation and then we did more investigations in the Inn.  Samuel was still hanging around (or maybe he followed us back from the cemetery again), so we could not get good reception on the Frank's Box in Room 5.  Chris Moon found that he could get some reception when he was outside, so we did the sessions out there.  We found out that Anna is a 13 year old girl who did talk to me when I was sleeping, but she said I woke up too fast and only got half of the message.  She said that we should not take down the sandbags yet as the river was likely to come up again.  That night, the only thing that happened in the rooms was that in Room 7, the lady was getting ready for bed and she took off her necklace and put it on the dresser then she went into the bathroom.  When she came out, she noticed that her necklace was missing.  She looked all over the place and could not find it.  She said out loud "That's not funny.  Put my necklace back!"  Then she went into the bathroom to see if maybe she left it in there.  When she came out, it was back on the dresser, but not where she had put it before.  During Saturday's 101 class Frank's Box session, we used Room 4 because it was getting some good reception.  We asked who had taken the necklace and Amanda admitted that she and Harold had played a trick on the lady.  But they put it back because she had asked and they were afraid she was going to cry.  Anna again talked about more floods coming and that it would be devastating.   I asked which flood she was talking about, thinking maybe she was stuck in 1903, but she said "This year, 8".  Later, Chris asked the technician, Tyler, if he thought Anna was correct about the flooding, and he said she was over reacting, there would be some more flooding, but nothing like what she had described.  Chuck talked to Samuel and asked what we could do to make him happy so he would stop blocking the box.  Samuel wants recognition, with a plaque and a ceremony.  He wants us to invite all the spirits in the house and the town and to "say words".  We'll have to do some research and see what we can come up with on his participation in the War Between the States.  If anybody who reads this can help us with information on Captain Samuel Paine, please let us know.  During the night some things that happened were that the people in Room 6 heard a voice say "Stop yelling.   Stop yelling.  Stop yelling."  It was whispered, but it was said three times.  They also heard footsteps in their room like boots walking around.  Cindi was sleeping in the Keeping Room and she heard footsteps in the hallway above her that sounded like a small child running after some adults.  She said the heavy footsteps kept going back and forth but the child went one direction (toward Room 8) and did not return.  She assumed the people in Room 8 had put a child to bed, but there was no child in that room that night.  She said it was about 3am, and some of the people up there had stayed up till 3:30am doing their own investigation, but none of them saw a child.  Cindi must have heard one of the ghost children following them in the hallway.  She said she wished she'd known it was the ghost child at the time, because it would have been more fun.  To read the transcripts of the sessions, click here.

9 July '08 - Last night there were three young ladies in Room 5 who were hoping to have an experience but did not know how to go about it or what to look for.  I loaned them my pendulum and showed them how to use it and what kind of questions to ask.  This morning they told me what happened.  I had given them a few different names to ask for, so they asked if anybody was there and started saying names.  When they got to "Amanda" the pendulum swung 'yes'.  They asked how old she was and started counting when they got to "14" it swung 'yes'.  When they asked if she lived in Bentonsport, it swung 'no'.  Which is right because she lived outside of town.  When they asked if she died here in the house, it swung 'yes', which is true since she said her parents brought her here to the doctor.  Then, when they went to bed, the girl in the big bed felt a very cold breeze blow past her and the curtains on the window started to wave back and forth.  There were no windows open and the air conditioner would not blow a breeze that far.  They were thrilled to have met Amanda and they said it was fun and not scary like they thought it would be.

13 July '08 - There were four ladies in Room 5 last night who had been to a GHU 101 class in May and they wanted to come back and try their own investigation.  They had pendulums and were talking to Harold and Amanda and Tabitha with good results.  They had voice recorders going during the sessions and when they asked Harold to show himself to them, the recorder picked up an EVP of a man saying "I am flesh."  There was another EVP by the same man's voice but we could not make out what it is saying.  When they went down the hallway to do a session in Room 8, they picked up an EVP of a young woman screaming "OH MY GOD!!"  in a very hysterical voice.  It gives me chills to listen to it.  Some of their pictures have unexplainable shadows in them.  This picture has five little orbs in it, probably children who were following the women from room to room.  They are going to review the videos and the rest of the recorders and let me know if they get anything else good.  As for personal experiences, they heard some knocks and thumps and tapping sounds around the room and on the window.  One lady kept feeling like there was a bug or a hair tickling her but there was nothing there.  One of the touches got a bit personal.  All in all they were thrilled with their night and are planning another visit soon. 

25 July '08 - Last night there were four ladies in Room 5 and this morning they said they saw a moving shadow in the room that they could not explain.  It was not one of them and it was not where any light from the street would have cast a shadow.  One of the ladies heard breathing in her ear and there was no one there.  They heard talking in the hallway about 4:30am, but they were the only guests up there at the time.  The lady who heard the breathing was a little intrepid when they were checking in, but now that she had experienced it, she was thrilled.

29 July '08 - It seems that Room 1 was the only people to experience anything this past weekend.  About 5:30am they heard what sounded like something very heavy hit the floor in Room 6 above them.  Then they heard the front door open and close.  At breakfast, they asked the people in Room 6 about the noise and they said it was not them and they did not hear anything.  And no one entered or left the house at that time either.

11 Aug. '08 - The people who stayed in Room 5 last night really did not expect anything to happen since it has been so quiet lately, but they got something anyway.  The wife was in the bathroom when the door handle jiggled.  Thinking it was her husband playing a trick on her, she yelled at him to stop.  It happened again and she ignored it.  The third time it happened, she opened the door really fast hoping to hit him with the door, but there was no one there.  Her husband was in the other room wondering why she was in the bathroom yelling at him.  Later, the husband was reading a book about "Ghosts of the Mississippi River"  when he scoffed at one of the stories.  Immediately he got a sharp pain in his rib like someone had poked him hard!  I know that feeling!  He was surprised that the spirits were listening to him.  Oh, yes, they listen and watch and sometimes let you know when they don't like something.  I always have to watch what I'm saying because I will get poked or they will repeat it during a Frank Box session!

 

19 Aug. '08 - Last night, Chuck came home from work about midnight and he sat at the desk and worked at the computer for a while.  I was in bed and I heard him get up and go into the bathroom.  About a minute later, I heard the desk chair creak and move.  I thought maybe I was mistaken about Chuck being the bathroom, so I looked and I saw the chair move like somebody got up from it, but nobody was there!  I ran to the bathroom to tell Chuck about it and we watched to see if it would move again, but it didn't.  Later that night, we heard Johnny playing in our room.  I wonder if he moved the chair.

25 Aug. '08 - What a full weekend we just had!  Chris Moon was here for three days of GHU classes.  On Friday night we had a 102 class and on Saturday and Sunday we had a 101 class each night.  We talked to Harold on the Box and he said he went on vacation with us and he had fun!  We went to Cedar Point, a large 'Amazement' park in Ohio a few weeks ago.  Chuck invited any spirits who wanted to come with us to join us, the rest could stay and take care of the house.  He wanted to find out if any had come with us.  Apparently, according to Harold, seven spirits came with us, but two got lost and came home.  Chuck asked him what he did on our vacation, and he said "It went up high and came down FAST!"  Which is a really good description of one of the rides.  He said he went with Kristin, and three other spirits also said "Kristin" when asked who they rode with.  Amanda said she rode with Jinni.  When Cindi asked if anybody went with her, Harold said "We did at first, but then she left and they got confused as to who to follow.  That's how two got lost.  But they're home now."  Chuck asked how they rode the rides, do they tuck themselves into the seat belt?  Harold explained that they attached themselves to Kristin's energy and hung on tight.  Harold said it was really exciting "I thought I would throw up!"  and "I thought I would break my neck!"  When asked if there were any other spirits there at the park, Harold said there were hundreds.   Harold said it was he who turned on our desk lamp and Curtis moved the chair.  Johnny knocked on the bedroom door and played in our room.    During Friday night, I felt a cat jump on our bed and walk around for a while and then settle down by my feet, I could feel the purring.  Thinking it was Misty, I reached down to pet her, but nothing was there.  It must have been Josephine.   On Saturday night, the people in Room 7 saw little golden orbs zooming around and around their room.  They had left a bracelet on the dresser, curled up like a snail and in the morning it was laying straightened out.  He also said that he had left his cell phone plugged in all night long, but in the morning the battery was still empty.  He said the screen was lit all night long and he could not come up with an explanation for that.  On Sunday night, one of the ladies in Room 5 had Josephine on her bed, she heard music from someplace in the Inn but could not place where it was coming from, and she heard a whisper in her ear from a child but could not understand what she was saying.  The people in Room 7 also heard the music and had Josephine on their bed and the light around their window shade was blocked for a short time which cannot be explained either.  Chris and Dennis, in Room 1, heard lots of walking around sounds coming from Room 6 overhead and running in the hallway.  The lady in Room 6 heard the noise in her room, but not investigate.  She also heard the running in the hallway but thought it was the other guests.  When we asked if anybody was up around 2am, everybody said they were in bed by midnight and were not in the hallway.  Chris said it sounded like hard shoes on a hard wood floor, but the floors are carpeted.  It was a busy and exciting weekend.  To read the transcripts of the Frank Box sessions, click here.

31 Aug.'08 - For the last few nights I keep hearing a doorbell ring several times during the night.  It is not like any of our doorbells though and I hear it in my head instead of my ears.  Sometimes I hear the phone ring in the middle of the night, but it only rings once and it is the Keeping Room phone, not the one on the desk in our room.    I wonder if Harold is playing games with me.  Last night there was alot of rustling going on in our room and my foot was hanging over the side of the bed and I felt a cat bat at my foot, which really surprised me!  But I know for a fact that all our cats were outside for the night, so it must have been Josephine.  The people who stayed in Room 6 last night heard children playing and giggling in their room.  Room 8 also heard children playing and running in their room, but no giggling.  Josephine jumped on beds in Rooms 6, 8, and 5.  Also in 5, one boy saw a white, filmy shape sitting on the rocking chair.  It was a very busy night!  We received a DVD from the people who stayed with us on June 25th.  They got an EVP of the piano playing!  There was also boot footsteps in the hallway, and a woman's voice that said "Lay on the floor" and "one" when he took a picture.  They also got Room 4's door moving on video.  We thank them for sharing the DVD with us.

1 Sept. '08 - The people who stayed in Room 6 last night told us that they checked in about 4pm and decided to take a nap until it was time to go to supper.  But there was a man and a woman in Room 5 who were talking loudly and sort of arguing although the Room 6 people could not make out what they were saying.  But I know that the Room 5 people had left about 1pm and did not return until about 8pm.  Chuck and I were finished with our cleaning by noon, so there was no one in Room 5 from 4pm to 5pm.  I asked the Room 5 people about it just to be sure and they said they were fishing at that time.  So who did they hear?  Maybe Mary and Frank were in there.  She also said that the night was quiet, but when her husband went into the bathroom at 7am, she went back to sleep and felt a large bump on the side of the bed like somebody kicked the bed.  No one was there so she closed her eyes again and then she heard somebody walking around in the room with scuffling noises.  She thought her husband was out of the bathroom so she looked but no one was there and her husband was in the shower.  She was excited that she got to experience something in her room.  The people from Room 5 told me that their son was the one who had Josephine on his bed the night before, and last night there was alot of tapping going on next to his bed, on his pillow, and on his hand!  He would tap three or four times on the wall and Harold would tap back the same number of times.  This went on for some time and they did not get much sleep.  Here is what Natalie had to say about the experience: 

 

2 Sept. '08 - We had to put our dog, Purdy, to sleep yesterday.  She had battled cancer for two years and went downhill suddenly.  But what I want to tell you about happened last week.  Jinni loved to read to Purdy and the 14 year-old dog was a patient listener.  One afternoon last week, Jinni was reading her library book to Purdy, sitting on the floor in the Keeping Room.  I was listening to her read from the kitchen.  It got quiet for a few seconds and then Jinni said "Purdy, your mother is here.  She came to take you home soon.  She's happy there, you'll be happy too."  And then she went on with her library book.  It really surprised me that she would say that since Purdy's mother, Lady, had died two years ago.  Then, when I told Jinni to say goodbye to Purdy before going off to school, I told her that Purdy would be going to see Lady that day.  Jinni just said "I know.  Lady's been waiting for her.  She'll be happy there."  I asked Jinni to let me know if she sees Purdy or Lady in the future and she said she'd tell me if she does.  I heard the phone ring last night, but again it was only one ring and not in the bedroom.  Jinni jumped when it rang, so I know she heard it too.

8 Sept. '08 - This morning, Jinni kept insisting that she had heard the phone ringing when she was in the bathroom.  I was up 30 minutes before she was and I know the phone did not ring.  I wonder if Harold is messing with her too.

13 Sept. '08 - Our room was very busy last night.  Chuck said he felt Josephine on the bed by his foot.  He could feel the weight and pressure against the bottom of his foot and he could feel purring vibrations.  About 3:30am, we both heard somebody run from Jinni's room, past the foot of our bed and out the latched bedroom door.  We thought Jinni had gone out, but when I looked, she was still fast asleep in her bed.  I wonder who left in such a hurry?  They would have had to turn the door handle and push on the humidity swollen door, it made quite a loud noise when it popped open.

14 Sept. '08 - Wow!  What a busy night it was!  The ladies in Rooms 4, 5, & 6 used my pendulum to talk to Harold, Amanda, and Tabitha.  They were quite successful with it.  The ladies in Room 5 said the little lamps on the dresser kept going on and off and they had not even turned them on.  They pulled the chain on the standing lamp to turn it off and as soon as they turned their backs, it turned back on.  That really surprised them!  The chandelier would swing and stop, swing and stop.  They thought maybe it was the air conditioner blowing on it, so they turned off the air conditioner and it would still swing and stop, swing and stop.  They couldn't explain it.  While they were doing the sessions in Room 5, everybody saw a place on the bed go down like somebody had sat there.  The lady sitting on the bed said she could feel the weight settle onto the bed and it went down on that side.  One lady put her necklace on the little night stand in Room 6, but when she went to get it, it was gone.  She later found it on the floor in Room 5 and she knows she did not take it in there.  One of the ladies in Room 6 said her covers were pulled on and she heard tapping on the wall above her head.    The lady in Room 4 asked questions during the pendulum sessions and found that her deceased mother-in-law, whom she was really close to, was attached to her and had accompanied them to the Inn.  It was a really touching experience for her to be able to talk to her again.  One of the ladies in Room 6 found that her deceased father had come with her also.   When the ladies decided to go from Room 5 to 6 to do another session in there, they were in the hallway landing and they saw Room 4's bathroom door open up.  Nobody came out of the bathroom, so opened the door?     The lady in Room 8 said that this morning her husband had gone downstairs to get her a cup of coffee and after a while she heard a tapping on the bedroom door.  She thought it was her husband coming back with the coffee, but when she opened the door, no one was there.  Her husband had stayed downstairs and chatted and did not go back up.  Also this morning, I was making coffee at the coffee/tea table when I heard a man call my name.  I thought it was one of the guests eating breakfast at the center table because that is where the voice seemed to come from.  But all the guests were eating and talking amongst themselves and no one was looking my way.  Later I asked them about it and they all said they had not done it.  One of the ladies from Room 5 went and got the pendulum and I asked who had called my name and it said it was Curtis.   The lady who had her covers pulled found that it was her father who had done it.  All in all it was a fun experience!   Here is what one lady had to say about it:

21 Sept. '08 - The ladies who stayed in Room 5 last night used my pendulum to talk to Tabitha and Mary.  They could not think of any questions to ask, so it did not last long.  They saw the chandelier swinging and it got annoying so they stopped it but then it started swinging again.  About 4 in the morning or so they heard what they thought was a TV with people talking.  But there is no TV on the second floor and the TV in the dining room was not on at that time.   Then they read in the notebook that other people have had the same experience of hearing people talking like from a far distance.   We talked at length with the people staying Room 1 for three nights.  They didn't know about the hauntings and were very intrigued.  They are staying one more night tonight, and they are interested to see if anything happens.  They are the only guests in the main house tonight, so any talking or footsteps they hear will be the spirits.  (They did not hear anything, but they did sign up for a GHU class to learn more about it.)

25 Sept. '08 - I just received an email from some ladies who stayed in Room 6 on the 17th.  They had set up a video recorder and a voice recorder in their room and also in the hallway.  Not much happened in their room during the night, but when they reviewed the recorders, they found some interesting items.  Here is what Deb has to say about it: