2013 Happenings

4 Jan. '13 - Our friend Darcie came by on the 2nd and we chatted for a while and then she left and did not spend the night because she had to work the next day.  That night, Chuck and I heard alot of shuffling and walking around sounds in the hallway and stairs and on the second floor.  I think they were looking for Darcie, wondering which room she was in.  This morning, Chuck went to work early and Jinni went to school and I was the only person here, so I decided to go back to bed.  Soon I heard two knocks on the wall next to the bed.  I knocked back twice and then it knocked twice on the headboard.  I knocked back.  Then I heard footsteps in the foyer hallway, and two doors slammed shut on the second floor.  It was so loud it rattled the bedroom door.   Knowing all the doors were locked and I was alone in the house, I decided I better get up before who ever it was decided to do more than knocking, slamming  and shuffling.

6 Jan. '13 - Last night two guests stayed in Room 5.  They arrived while Chuck and I were at Jinni's basketball game, and they were the only people in the house.  They said that they had entered the house with their recorders running and greeted Mary, just in case she felt like replying they could hear it on the EVP.  Then they went to Room 5.  In a few minutes, the wife said she was going to use the bathroom and the husband said he was going to go back to the car for the suitcases.  On the recorder they got an EVP of a little girl saying "Do as you please." or something like that.  (They could not remember exactly the verbiage.)  Later that night they went from room to room with a night vision camera and recorder doing EVPs.  They ran the investigation live on the internet.  By that time, we had returned and had gone to bed in Room 1 where we watched the live feed.  In Room 4 the camera showed several bright, large orbs coming in through the closed door and landing on the bed next to where the husband was filming.  After several of these, I commented to Chuck that he should move to the other side of the room because that bed was getting full.  After Room 4, they went to Room 8.  Again there were several large bright orbs zooming around the room.  There was also several loud banging sounds coming from the hallway outside the door.  They thought maybe it was Chuck or me down stairs pounding on something.  But we were in Room 1 being quiet.  I don't know what was making the noise, it is not one I recognize.  While they were in Room 8, Chuck and I heard alot of walking-around sounds up in Room 6.  It was like they were getting excited about being next.  But then the live feed froze up and we did not get to see any more of the filming.  At breakfast they told me they did get more large bright orbs in Room 6 and 7.  They have posted several of these video clips on our Facebook page, the Mason House Inn group page.  The one in Room 7 looks like Amanda's orb.  She is large and bright on the outer rim and open-ish in the middle and at times is football shaped.  This orb looks like that.  They will be back on the 19th with Darcie's class to use their camera again.

10 January 2013 - This morning, Chuck left for work at 7am and Jinni left for school at 7:30am and I went back to bed.  Soon I heard a door slam upstairs.  We had no guests, so I knew I was alone in the house.  I peeked at the clock and it was 8:00am.  A few minutes later there was tapping on the wall next to the bed.  I tapped back.  Then there were two taps on the headboard, I tapped back.  Then two doors slammed upstairs.  I got up.  I guess they did not want me going back to sleep.

14 January 2013 - Our daughter, Kristin, and her 4 month old son (our 8th grandchild) have been staying with us for a few days while her husband is gone on business.  She is staying in Room 3.  She said that while she was unpacking her suitcase this afternoon, she heard foot steps in the back hallway.  She thought it was me and wondered why I did not come into the room.  It wasn't me.  That night, she again heard footsteps in the back hallway.  They come down the hall and stop at her door and then walk away.  She says they sound like hard soled shoes, not my slippers.  Tonight she says that if it happens again she will say that she is fine and does not need to be checked on and ask them to stop.  Chuck and I have been staying in Room 1 and almost every night we hear footsteps in the foyer hallway and up and down the stairs.  This morning, Chuck had left for work at 4am and I took Jinni to catch the bus to Special Olympics at 5am, then I went back to bed.  At 7:10am I heard the door to the dining room open and footsteps came up to the door and paused and then walked back into the dining room and the door closed.  A few minutes later it happened again.  I assumed it was Kristin listening to see if I was up.  Later, I asked her about it and she said she did not get up till 8:30am.  I think the spirits thought I had over slept and were wondering why I was not getting up to get Jinni ready for school. 

21 January 2013 - This weekend we had our first "Open Public Investigation Event" with Darcie McGrath and the Quantum Psi Group investigative team leading the Hunt.  It was great!  David and Laura Lambrecht brought their "Lambrechtoscope" which is a fancy IR camera that captured some amazing orb videos.  To see some of these amazing videos, visit the Mason House Inn group Facebook page.  He has also posted some to You Tube.  During the night, the people in Room 5 saw 'light anomalies' (orbs) shooting around the room and a "white shadow" passed through the room.  Also, their door rattled like somebody was trying to open it but didn't.  A psychic medium by the name of Cat, was also in the group and she said she talked to James VanGannen, a spirit here, who introduced her to his best friend, Thomas.  After James left, Thomas said "I don't really know him all that well."  Cat also talked to three year old Katie who complained that Markie likes to pull her hair to tease her.  Cat also talked to two little girls, Sarah Elizabeth, age 7, and Emily, age 4, who like to run back and forth in the back hallway between Rooms 2 and 3.  They said Mary does not like them running in the house so they go over there to play.  Maybe that is who Kristin kept hearing.  They wondered where the little baby went, they liked him.   Here are some YOU TUBE videos from the "Lambrechtoscope" :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHG2xj7tBek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6T1rZuoEs8

24 January 2013 - More door slamming.  This morning, at 2:10am, I heard a door slam up stairs.  It was so loud it rattled the bedroom door.  I was going to ask Chuck if he heard it, but he was fast asleep so I guess not.  Then, at 7:30am, while Jinni and I were waiting for her school bus to arrive, we were in the dining room and we heard a door slam upstairs.  The percussion of it rattled the dining room door.  She looked a me and asked "What was that?".  I said it was a door upstairs slamming and asked her if she knew who kept doing it.  She said it was Tiger (her cat who had run upstairs earlier.)  I said it did not think Tiger could slam a door that hard.  She said "No, Tiger wants in."  I opened the dining room door and Tiger was indeed in the foyer wanting in the room.  He looked a bit frazzled like he'd been frightened.  Later, I was upstairs making the bed in Room 4 when a door slammed again.  It sounded like it was coming from Room 7 or 8.  All the doors are kept closed upstairs to keep the heat in the rooms and the cats out, so to open and close a door takes alot of energy.  I was starting to wonder if I was the only one hearing the doors like only I hear the phone ring or the doorbell ring.  But obviously Jinni heard it and Tiger too.  And it rattles the doors, so it can't be just me.

26 January 2013 - Jinni spent the night with friends last night and we had no guests in the house, but at 7:30am, I heard footsteps come down the stairs and go into the dining room and the dining room door opened and closed.  At first I just thought it was Jinni getting ready for school, but then I remembered that she wasn't even home.  I guess somebody is still keeping her schedule.

28 January 2013 - The group who rented out the house this weekend had quite a surprising night.  The ladies in Room 5 heard tapping on the wall and saw orbs shooting through the room.  Then a white mist began to form in front of the tall standing mirror.  They too a picture and there was a huge orb right in that spot.  When they showed it to me, I thought it looked alot like Curtis' orb which is very big and has lots of rainbow colors in it.  They asked what Curtis looks like and when I said he has a reddish beard, they all said that was exactly what they saw.  So I guess Curtis was going to manifest for them, but they were so surprised by it that they turned the lights on and he either left or they could not see the cloud because of the lights.  Later that night, the woman in the twin bed by the wall opened her eyes to see a woman in a long grey dress sitting on the twin bed by the wall.  I'm not sure who that was.  On Sunday, when we were all in the parlor talking, one person in the group said she could see a woman wearing a long orange dress was sitting on the brown settee, just listening and enjoying the discussion.  I got the name Emily in my head.  I can't remember if we have come across the name Emily before.

4 February 2013 - Last night, when I was going to bed, I suddenly remembered I needed something out of the upstairs laundry room, so instead of turning right to go into Room 1, I turned left and went up the staircase.  Then I heard a man with a low gravely voice say "Where ya goin'?"  Not seeing anybody around I answered "Laundry room?"  That was funny.  I guess he was not expecting me to go up.

13 February 2013 - Last night, Chuck got home from work around midnight and shortly after he came to bed, I heard footsteps walking back and forth at the foot of our bed.  (We are in Room 1.)  At first I thought it was Chuck going to the bathroom, but when I looked, Chuck was in bed asleep.  When I moved, the footsteps stopped.  Later, I heard the footsteps again.  I looked at the clock and it was 2:35am.  There was also alot of footsteps up in Room 6 above our heads.  Those footsteps were going back and forth also.  I said out loud "What is your name?  What do you want?"  The footsteps stopped and there was no answer.  This morning, about 9am, I was in the dining room eating breakfast when I heard a man's voice say "Hello?" coming from the parlor.  Chuck was not home and I knew for a fact that nobody else was in the house.  But I answered anyway, "I'm in the dining room.  What do you want?".  Of course there was no answer.  There never is. 

24 February 2013 - The people in Room 6 this past weekend were hoping for some kind of experience and at breakfast stated that they were disappointed that nothing happened.  Then the wife commented that Jinni was up and walking around upstairs at 5am.  There was alot of noise that sounded like hard soled shoes on a hard wood floor.  Then she dropped what sounded like a handful of marbles on the floor up there.  I told them that Jinni's room is not over Room 6.  There is nothing over Room 6 except for open eves and storage space.  Then the husband commented that there was also alot of tapping sounds coming from the wall behind the headboard.  But they just assumed it was the people in Room 5.  The people in Room 5 said they did not tap on that wall because there is a large dresser with a mirror that takes up most of that wall.  Then the people in Room 6 said they wish they had known that all that noise was the ghosts and they would have been more excited about it instead of disappointed.  They signed up for Darcie's hunt in June so that they might have more experiences.   The people in Room 5 had brought a white noise generator and had turned it on and then went into the bathroom.  After a few minutes, the generator turned itself off.  They looked at it to make sure it was still plugged in, which it was, but the OFF button had been pushed.  Neither of them had touched it.  Apparently, SOMEBODY did not like the noise and turned the thing off!  They took the hint and did not turn it back on.

7 March 2013 - Okay, here is something in the definitely weird category:  Chuck left for work this morning at 4am and I went back to sleep.  A short time later, I heard footsteps walking past the foot of the bed.  Thinking Chuck had come back, I looked, but nothing was there.  I looked at the clock and it was 5:33am.  I closed my eyes, but listened to see if the footsteps would start again and they did.  Back and forth and back and forth.  Then a dog barked, very loudly, and I jumped because it was so loud and close.  It sounded like it was right on the other side of the bed, inside the room!  It sounded like Lady, but of course, there was no dog in the room.  Lady died 4 years ago.  Then, as I settled down from that jolt, a small, very cold hand touched my arm.  An electric wave ran up my arm and up to my head and down the length of my body!  That was the weirdest feeling I have ever had. 

14 March 2013 - A couple of interesting things lately.  First, last Friday night, a guest took a picture of Fluffy sitting in the parlor window.  When she looked at the picture she took, she saw another cat sitting with Fluffy.  She did not see this cat when she took the picture.  We checked the window and there is a lamp sitting where the second cat was and there is about two inches of space between the lamp and the window.  There is no way a cat can fit in there without knocking the lamp off the sill.  We showed this picture to Jinni and she said it was Josephine.  She was very sure as she has seen Josephine several times over the years.  On Tuesday, Chuck left for work at 4am and at 4:12am I heard a very loud door slam from upstairs.  On Wednesday, I was up on the third floor quilting on my latest creation when I heard the dinger bell by the front door ring several times.  Ding, Ding, Ding.  I was not expecting any guests, and I thought the front door was locked, but you never know..... so I looked down the stairs and did not see anybody.  The front door was still locked.  I went back to my quilting machine and a few minutes later, ding, ding, ding.  I did not look.  Ding, ding, ding.  Okay, I looked.  Nobody there.  I yelled, I'm upstairs on the third floor.  If you want me, come on up here.  I went back to quilting.  Ding, Ding, Ding.  This went on for several more dings and then quit.  Later that night, there were three knocks on our bedroom door.  I did not answer. 

16 March 2013 - Darcie spent the night on Friday and she was the only other person in the Inn besides Chuck and me.  Even Jinni was not home.  Darcie chose Room 4 so she could listen for the children playing in the hallway.  About 4:30am, I heard a door upstairs open and footsteps in the hallway.  I assumed it was Darcie going to the bathroom which is in the hallway.  Later I asked if it was her and she said she never got up.  She asked if we had gone upstairs at 7am, because she heard footsteps come up the stairs and then go down the hallway.  She assumed it was me going to the laundry room.  But Chuck and I did not even get out of bed until 7:30am.  So we both heard something and assumed it was the other person.  That was funny.

31 March 2013 - Cindi and her family spent the night in Room 5 last night.  She said that soon after she went to bed, she felt a weight settle on the bed between her ankles.  She asked her husband if he had moved his legs at all and maybe shifted the blankets, but he said he did not move.  She said it felt like a cat had settled on the bed but when she looked, there was nothing there, but the blankets were pressed down.  At about 5:30am, I heard a girl talking on the second floor.  It was loud like she was on the landing, or maybe the door to Room 5 was open.  I thought it was Cindi's daughter, Aurora, awake and talking so I did not think anything of it.  Later, I asked Cindi if Aurora had been up at 5:30 and she said nobody had awakened until the alarm rang at 6am.  Yeah!  I finally got to hear a child playing on the landing!

7 April 2013 - Darcie brought her class here for a "field trip" ghost hunt last night.  Wow, was it active!  I thought it would be because it was really windy outside.  When ever it is really windy here, the spirit activity really escalates for some reason.  I don't know if they like it or don't like it.  Hmmm.  Anyway, every room had activity.  In Room 4, the people reported having Josephine, our ghost cat, on the big bed.  In Room 5, the ladies heard a loud bang somewhere in the building and one lady heard the other lady get up and walk across the room and open and close the door, supposedly to go investigate the noise.  In the morning, she asked her room mate about the noise and the other lady said she did not get up to investigate.  So who left the room?  In Room 6, they heard children giggling in the room.  In Room 7, they heard footsteps walking around the room and something heavy sat on the side of the big bed.  Later, they were visited by Josephine.  In Room 8, that lady was also visited by Josephine and then felt a sharp poke in the middle of her back.  But there was nobody sharing the room with her.  I think the spirits liked them.  

14 April 2013 - The group Abnormal Paranormal was here for an investigation last night.  One lady with the group was a Shaman.  The kids really liked her.  She saw a black woman in an old fashioned dress who said her name was Nora and that she had been a slave.  She and her son were buried behind the church.  (Which church?  We had three.)  They also came across a man named Lee who said he had been blind and had worked at the furniture factory here in town.  (Mr. Lewis Mason owned and operated the furniture factory which is now the Odd Fellows Hall at the west end of Bentonsport.)  One man in the group saw Jinni going up to her room to go to bed, but as Jinni was about halfway up the stairs, the man saw her bedroom door open and a girl's voice said, "Hurry up, Jinni."  To which Jinni replied, "I'm coming."  The man thought there was a friend or a sister up in the room.  Later, when we told him there was nobody here but us, he was confused because he clearly heard another female up there.  (It was probably Amanda.)  During the night's investigation, the group had their "Ghost Radar" app going on their phone and when they played some loud, modern music, the 'radar' said "Terrible...Terrible...Terrible"  over and over.  When they played something more old fashioned, it said "Better".  One lady, sitting in the parlor, felt a sharp poke in her side and another felt what she thought was a cat's tail brush her neck.  During the night, several people heard the children running in the hallway.  Josephine visited the people in Room 5.  Also in Room 5, they saw an older woman wearing a white blouse and a long gray skirt walk through the room.  Two of the ladies smelled a flowery scent waft through the room for no discernable reason.  Several members of the group want to come to one of Chris Moon's classes.

22 April 2013 - The four people who stayed in Rooms 5 and 7 last night had quite a lot of activity.  In Room 5, one lady had her hair stroked and the other lady got poked three different times.  She also heard somebody say "Hello", when she sat on the bed.  In Room 7, they heard footsteps in the room and a shuffling noise.  They also heard somebody walking around and talking at 5am, when nobody else was up. They also got the same large orb that seemed to follow them around.   They were so excited to have had so much activity.

28 April 2013 - The couple who stayed in Room 7 last night has been here 7 or 8 times and they said they always get some kind of activity no matter what room they stay in.  On one stay, the wife asked some questions and there was knocking sounds on the walls that went around the room.  But as soon as the husband entered the room from the bathroom, the knocking sounds ended.  On another visit, the husband tried to unlock the bedroom door and he felt the lock being held and turned from the other side.  As soon as the wife tried, the door opened right up.  On this visit, the couple were talking to Chuck in the dining room and the husband felt his neck being touched.  During the night, his neck was touched again, and his arm was touched, but when his side rib cage was touched he said that was enough!  They also heard someone walking in the hallway with what sounded like boots on a hard wood floor at about 3:30am.  None of the other guests were up at that time.  In our room, I woke at about 6am with a heavy weight on my foot.  It was heavy, atleast 10 lbs!  At first I thought it was our cat, Misty, because she is that heavy.  But when I looked, there was no cat there.  Then I thought it was maybe Chuck's foot, but his feet were no where near mine.  Of course, as soon as I moved, the weight left.  If that was Josephine, she has gained some weight!  Maybe it was Purdy or a child. 

17 May 2013 - This morning I got up about 7am to make breakfast and from the kitchen I could hear my 5 year old grandson in the Dining Room, playing with his trains.  He was saying something about the train crash.  Then I heard a man's voice ask a question and my grandson answered him.  Again the man's voice and again he answered.  Thinking maybe somebody else was up and looking for coffee, I went into the Dining Room to get the coffee pots and looked for the man to ask if he wanted coffee.  No body was there except for my grandson, playing with the trains.  I asked him who he was talking to and he just shrugged and told me about the train crash.  Later I asked all the male guests if they had been up and they all said it was not them.

20 May 2013 - The ladies who stayed in Room 5 last night said they had put a motion detector next to the big bed and during the night it had alarmed.  It did this several times until they asked it to stop and it did.  Then they said it was okay to play with it again, but it did not do it again that night.  Once you say to stop, they stop.  So you better mean it. They also got a recording of a man's voice.  It was very close to the recorder, but they could not make out what he was saying.

2 June 2013 - Darcie held her Public Ghost Hunt event last night.  In Room 5, during an EVP session, several people audibly heard a man's voice.  They could not make out what he was saying, but it was very close to them.  One lady's pendulum disappeared from where she had laid it.  In the morning it was found in the parlor, under a book appropriately entitled "Gone".  The ladies in Room 6 said they heard footsteps on the third floor above them, but the eaves are up there and nobody was up there.  They also heard a knock on their door at 7am, but nobody else was up.  The bathroom door in Room 5 kept opening or closing by itself.  Each person thought the others were doing it but nobody was.  Also, when some of the ladies arrived on Saturday night, they saw a person in one of the windows of Room 5.  They waved and the window person waved back.  Upon entering the house, they asked who was up in Room 5 because that was to be their room.  I was in the dining room with two other people, and nobody else was in the house.  Who was up in Room 5? 

8 June 2013 - Last night there was a church fellowship group here having a retreat.  Some of them knew about the spirit activity here and some did not.  In the morning, the ladies in Rooms 4 and 8 both reported hearing loud boots walking back and forth above them on the third floor.  They also heard a man's voice talking up there.  All of them assumed it was Chuck as they thought our room was on the third floor.  But our room is on the first floor, not the third.  Actually, there is no room above 4 and 8, it is just attic space.  In fact, it is open rafters and insulation, no floor.  Later, I used my pendulum to ask Mary who it was and she said it was Frank.  He thinks it is funny to stomp loudly.

9 June 2013 - Our daughter, Kristin, spent the night in Room 6, and about 3am she heard loud boot footsteps outside her door.  They walked back and forth a couple times.  When she looked there was nobody there.  I think Frank was having fun with her too.

11 June 2013 - A boy was in the parlor playing with his trains when he suddenly went to the Parlor / Foyer door and opened it.  He looked around and then closed it and went back to his trains.  A couple minutes later he did the same thing.  His mother asked him what he was looking for and he said, "He's not out there."  She asked him who he was looking for and he said a little boy was calling his name and it sounded like it was coming from the foyer, but nobody was there.  That night, the lady in Room 1 said she heard a man's loud boot footsteps coming from directly above her in Room 6.  She also heard a man's voice up there.  Knowing that there were no guests in that room, she assumed it was the guests from Room 5 looking around in 6.  But when she asked them about it, they said they did not go into Room 6 at all.  Must have been Frank again.   In Room 5, the man had brought a small handgun with him and put it on the bedside table.  He said he had a permit and always took it with him for protection.  (We do not allow guns in the Inn.  Do NOT bring a gun to this house.  He did not tell us he had the gun and if he had asked, we would have told him to leave it locked in car.)  In the morning he found the cartridge had been ejected.  However, there was still a bullet in the chamber.  That frightened him a bit.  If the spirits were able to push the ejector button hard enough to eject the cartridge, then they certainly would have enough strength to pull the trigger!  Please don't bring ANY firearms into the Inn.  Our Civil War spirits are familiar with them and we'd hate for you to be shot with your own weapon!

25 June 2013 - Chuck and I went on vacation last week and our friends Darcie, Lori, Laura, and David stayed in the Inn and "Inn-sat" for us.  Thank you for doing that!  While we were gone, they reported hearing footsteps on the third floor when nobody was up there.  At one time, Darcie was the only person here and she was dusting in the foyer when she heard a woman on the second floor landing say "Oh, it's the maid."   Today, when I was in the dining room answering emails, I heard five hard knocks on what I thought was the front door.  I went to answer the door but there was nobody there.  There was nobody around anywhere.  I checked the other doors just to make sure I had the right door, but there was nobody at  those doors either.  Maybe somebody was just welcoming us back. 

26 June 2013 - This morning, about 2:30am, I was in bed but not asleep when I felt a tiny cold hand rest on my hip.  I was lying on my side facing Chuck who was also facing the same way I was, so I knew it was not him.  At first I was startled and did not move, but then the hand moved slowly up to my waist and then to my rib cage.  That was enough!  I flipped over and swatted at the hand and said that was far enough.  Nobody was there, I did not expect to see anything anyway.  But the creepy feeling of being touched by something that cold stayed for a while.

30 June 2013 - The Cedar Valley Ghost Hunter group was here last night for an investigation.  They said they did not have many personal experiences.  But then one lady said, well her hair was played with during the night.  And they did hear a bumping sound on the third floor.  They will review their EVPs and see if they got anything interesting.  They had put a camera up in Mary's room and Mary was not happy about it.  Also, there were children in the Caboose, so maybe that is where all the fun was and the spirits here are drawn to child energy.

13 July 2013 - It has been pretty quiet here lately, but seems to be picking up some now.  Some people in Room 6 reported hearing light knocking sounds but that was about it.  Last Thursday evening, I was in the dining room watching TV and Chuck was in the bedroom watching his show on TV, and Jinni was out with friends.  I was waiting for her to get home, when about 8pm, I heard some thumping upstairs.  Knowing there were no guests up there, my first thought was that Jinni was headed for her bathroom to get ready for bed.  Then I remembered that she was not even home.  In a couple minutes I heard more thumping.  It sounded exactly like when Jinni goes up and down the stairs.  I even went and looked, just to make sure she did not get home without me knowing.  But there was nobody there.  Last night, again she was not home yet, and I heard the sounds like she was.  Are the spirits imitating her sounds or is it a residual sound just because she does the same thing at the same time every night?  Or is this the thumping what I hear every night and it's not Jinni at all?

4 Aug. 2013 - Christopher Moon and his mom, Paulette, were here for their "Ultimate Ghost Hunting Adventure" classes this weekend.  That is what his new class is called now.  We do an actual ghost hunt in the rooms and review evidence.  He still does the "Telephone to the Dead" sessions as part of the ghost hunt.  The man in Room 6 asked an EVP question, "Do you want to jump on the bed?" and a small child's voice says "I want to."  It's really cute.  During the night, the couple in Room 4 had two very close encounters.  The woman woke at 3am to a man patting her leg and asking if she was comfortable.  He also wanted to know if she wanted coffee at breakfast.  She said he was wearing black pants and a white shirt and had graying hair.  She thought it was Chuck until he disappeared.  About an hour later, the man woke up and saw a child's face peering at him over the top of the woman's hip.  The man waved at the child face.  Then the face floated up like a balloon until it reached the ceiling and then it floated toward the corner and disappeared into the wall.  Later, the man was looking at the drawings of sighted people on the wall beside Room 5, and he said the child's face looked like the drawing of Katie.  The man was pretty skeptical about the whole 'ghost thing' until this happened to him.  He kept trying to rationalize and analyze the whole thing, but he could not convince himself that it did not happen.  To read the transcripts of the Telephone to the Dead sessions, click here.

26 Aug. 2013 - Things have been kind of slow this month.  It seems that after Chris has been here the spirits are tired and take a break.  I was gone for a week on jury duty so I missed what ever happened that week.  Darcie was here with her group, Quantum Psi, doing an open public ghost hunt on Aug. 24.  There were 16 brave souls who joined the hunt.  They had a lot of K2 activity and were asking questions using the meter.  They talked to some children in Room 1.  The ladies in Room 7 also used the K2 to talk to Mary.  They thought that was pretty interesting.  David got some good orb activity with his Lambrechtoscope camera.  He posted a few to the Mason House Inn Group Facebook page.  One lady said it felt like a child sat on her lap during an EVP session.  Darcie slept in the twin bed by the wall in Room 6 and during the night she said it felt like somebody bumped against the bed.  But nobody in the room was up walking around.  Also, Laura felt something touch her hand.  She said it felt like a small finger. 

27 Aug. 2013 - There was  couple who stayed in Room 5 for the past two nights.  He is writing a book on Haunted Hotels and we will be Chapter One.  On Monday night they did some EVPs and an EMF sweep and concluded that the alarm clocks in each room put out alot of Electro Magnetic Fields.  During the night they heard what sounded like a tapping sound, but could not figure out where it was coming from.  They also heard, on the third floor, what sounded like heavy furniture being slid across a wooden floor.  Last night, about 1am, they heard music playing and men talking but could not find where it was coming from.  They were the only guests, so it was not other guests.  I had told them to tell the children to touch the K2 and see the "Christmas Lights", so they tried that and got a response.  On the recorder they got a child saying "Uh huh" in response to one of the questions.  In my room, Chuck left for work at 4am and a little later I felt a cat jump on the bed and settle down by my feet.  Thinking Chuck had let one of the cats into the room when he opened the door, I felt around for the cat with my foot so I would know where he was and wouldn't kick him.  There was no cat on the bed.  Later, when I got up, I found all the cats either in the Keeping Room or outside.  There was no cat in the bedroom.  I guess it was Josephine.  I hope I didn't kick her. 

1 Sept. 2013 - Wow, last night was pretty active!  The group who was here doing an investigation had gone out to the bridge after sundown.  As they approached the Vernon side, the young man in the group, "Troy", said it felt like somebody had just jumped onto his back like they wanted a piggyback ride.  Another person in the group took a picture of him and there are three bright orbs stuck to his back.  During the night, in Room 5, the woman in the twin bed by the wall felt somebody get into bed with her.  She was sleeping on her side, facing the wall and when she went to turn on to her back, she could not roll because there was something up against her back.  When she finally got flipped over, there was nothing there.  The woman in the twin bed by the door had kicked off her quilt because she was too hot, but in the morning she found it had been pulled up and tucked into the mattress beneath her.  One lamp in the room kept going on and off by itself and they finally unplugged the lamp, but then a different lamp started doing it.  So they unplugged that one too.  "Troy" in the big bed said he heard sounds like somebody was walking around next to the bed by the bathroom.  Also, his hair had been played with during an EVP session earlier in the evening in Room 8.  A person in the group had filmed this at the time but when they tried to show us the pictures, they found all their taped EVP sessions had been erased.  In Room 8, the woman said the alarm clock rang at 12:15am, and again at 4am.  Both times the clock was not set to ring.  In Room 7, the couple had just settled down to sleep when they heard a loud thump in the bathroom.  They looked to see what had fallen on the floor, but could not find any reason for the sound.

11 Sept. 2013 - There were two ladies who stayed three nights in Room 5.  "Eve" slept in the twin bed by the wall and "Kay" slept in the big bed.   The first night,  Eve heard Kay talking in her sleep.  She could not see her but she heard her.  Eve did not think anything of it until she heard a man talking too!  And Kay was answering the man's questions.  Kay did not remember any of it in the morning.  On the third night, Eve went to turn off the light switch and a man said in her ear "Switch".  It was so loud that Kay heard it also from across the room.  When Kay was reading, she heard a child say "Clear" very close to her.  That night, Kay heard a man and a woman talking in the hallway outside the bedroom door.  She knew they were the only guests here that night, and it definitely was not Chuck and me.  She said she could tell they were speaking English, but could not make out what they were saying.  Kay was very excited about having experienced something because it was her birthday and she wanted to stay in a 'haunted hotel' for her birthday.  She was glad something happened.

15 Sept. 2013 - The ladies who stayed in Room 7 over the weekend heard a loud thump sound coming from over head.  It happened both Friday night and Saturday  night.  One lady heard it one night and the other lady heard it the second night.  They both described it as sounding like a heavy box being dropped onto the floor.  But there is only eaves and storage above that room.  In Room 4, on Saturday night, the people in the big bed felt something like a child sit on the bed and lay down between them.  But there was nothing there.

30 Sept. 2013 - My family had a reunion this past week and several people had experiences.  The grand daughter who slept in Room 8 reported that one morning she felt somebody crawl up onto the foot of the bed and she thought it was her brother.  She kicked her feet and said "Get out", and it left.  Later she found out that it was not her brother as he was still asleep at that time in Room 7.  Then she felt bad that she had maybe kicked Josephine.  My parents stayed in Room 1 for two weeks, but as there were also some people in Room 6, my Mom discounted any sounds she heard up there.  Until yesterday morning.  She heard what sounded like a child running across a wooden floor with hard soled shoes.  She said it was definitely different than the other walking sounds.  (Besides, the people staying in that room were all downstairs at the time.)  My daughter, who was staying in Room 6, said she heard alot of 'walking around' sounds coming from overhead in the eaves.  She also heard a child humming in the side of the room with the twin beds.  (Her child is 1 year old and does not hum.)  But the grand daughter staying in Room 5 wins the prize for the best Happening of the week.  She is 7 years old and a shy child, not known to make up stories to get attention.  She told her mother that she could see little bright lights flying around the room at night and wanted to know if anybody else could see them.  She said that one night, the little lights flew around the room for a while and then merged into one big ball of light and then the ball elongated until it was a man.  He was sitting on the wash stand table where I have a pitcher and bowl, but she could no longer see the pitcher and bowl.  The man was wearing glasses and had a little book with him.  He opened the book and started to read it, but then he turned his head and looked over at her Mom and Dad in the big bed.  Then he slowly disappeared.  She said she was not frightened by this but thought it was weird.  Later I told her I could see them too sometimes and so does Jinni and her cousin.  Later she told her other cousins (who were discussing monsters) that monsters were not real but ghosts were.

6 Oct. 2013 - The Minnesota Truth Seekers Paranormal Group were here for Friday and Saturday nights for an investigation.  They had some interesting personal experiences.  The people in Room 5 reported hearing people talking up on the third floor.  They said it sounded like a TV was on, but there is no TV up there.  They had some whiffle balls placed for the kids to play with and they found the all the balls had been moved except one.  Room 5's light was going off and on by itself.  Room 7's door would not open until the person asked permission to enter and then it opened.  Some people outside saw a light on in the third floor south bedroom, but nobody had been up there.  The group is going to review their EVPs and videos and let us know if they find anything interesting.

10 Oct. 2013 - A man named Jay Jones had stayed with us last year and he wrote an article about us for the Chicago Tribune newspaper.  Click here to read the article.

20 Oct. 2013 - The woman who stayed in Room 6 last night said that she had gone to the bathroom about 4am and when she got back into bed she heard a man say "Good night."  At first she thought it was her husband and thought nothing of it, but later realized he was wearing a CPAP mask and she could not have heard him.  He said he did not say it and did not even know she had gotten up.  The two ladies staying in Room 7 said they did not have any activity, but then the mother found two pennies on the floor beside her suitcase.  She thought her daughter had dropped them, but her daughter said she did not have any pennies.  I personally vacuumed that floor just before the ladies arrived and I know for a fact that there were no pennies on the floor then.  Where did the pennies come from?

27 Oct. 2013 - Last night we had our annual "Ghost Stories Dinner" with a nice group.  I think we stirred things up.  It has been so quiet here lately with the river being so low.  But last night we had some activity.  The ladies in Room 5 reported that the floor lamp in that room kept turning itself off and on.  And the mother said it felt like a cold drip of water fell on her arm and then ran down to her wrist.  But when she looked, there was nothing there.  The ladies in Rooms 6 and 7 both heard footsteps up on the third floor above the beds, but there is only eaves up there.  Their camera batteries kept dying.  At one point, all six ladies' camera batteries died all at the same time.  The man staying in the Caboose said there was no activity out there, but he had posed in the Parlor in front of the pump organ.  He had his arm out like he was hugging a buddy and asked for a spirit to pose with him.  His wife took several pictures of him posing like that and there is nothing in the first few pictures, but then an orb appears right where the man's arm is.  They were very surprised at that.

8 Nov. 2013 - Chuck and I are back in Room 1 for the winter.  Kristin and Josiah stayed here this week while their house was having some work done.  They stayed in Room 6 which is directly above Room 1.  Most of the week, it was quiet up there, but one morning Kristin heard a man and a woman talking in the hallway about 1am.  Her first thought was that it was Chuck and me as we were just down the staircase from her, but I told her we were asleep at that time.  There were no guests up there either.  She was excited to have heard the voices.  That same morning, about 5am, I heard her walking around up there and thought maybe Josiah was having trouble sleeping, but Kristin said they had both slept till 7am.  We then did an experiment and she walked from the bed to the bathroom and back while I lay on Room 1's bed and listened.  Her path takes her way past the outer wall and was not what I heard.  For me to hear what I heard, the person would have to walk into Room 5's shower, which is the part of the wall that juts into Room 6.  Historically this is correct.  Where Room 5's shower is now used to be the doorway into that room.  When the rooms were expanded in 1993, the hallway was turned into bathrooms. 

12 Nov. 2013 - Chris Moon and Paulette where here over the weekend for another terrific Paranormal Investigator Academy class.  (Which is the former Ghost Hunter University.)  We had alot of great guests and some personal experiences.  One group of three women took both classes and stayed both nights.  One of the women, M, said her arm kept getting touched.  She had a hard time sleeping because every time she dozed off, her arm would be touched again.  On Sunday, I saw M coming down the staircase and behind her was something pink following her.  It looked like some kind of fabric.  As I watched, I realized it was a little girl.  My first thought was that I did not remember any children being here.  When M got to the bottom of the stairs and turned the corner to come into the dining room, there was nothing pink with her.  I told M that there had been a little girl in a pink dress following her down the stairs.  Later, during the Telephone to the Dead session, we asked about the little girl and were told that it was Vera, a six year old who passed away in 1911.  She liked M and was the one who kept touching her arm during the night.   One of the guests lost an earring in Room 5, and we found out that Morris took it.  She offered to trade it for an apple and he returned the earring.  We asked Harold about the pistol that was disarmed in June and he said he had done it because he does not like guns.  The people who slept in Room 7 said they heard alot of knocking and clicking sounds coming from the bathroom area.     To read the Telephone to the Dead transcripts, click here.

17 Nov. 2013 - Darcie brought her class here for a fieldtrip last night.  It was stormy and windy and the spirits loved it!  Darcie slept in Room 1 (Chuck and Jinni and I went out to the Caboose), and said she now understands what we say about hearing footsteps up in Room 6.  She said the footsteps went back and forth and around and around all night long.  The man staying in Room 6 said he heard the noises over by the twin beds, but he himself did not get up during the night.  When the group was in Room 7 doing an EVP session, they audibly heard a loud sigh come from inside the bathroom.  The people staying in Room 8 got a loud "Yeah" on their recorder in response to a funny question.  It was the most active night we've had in a long time. 

20 Nov. 2013 - Chuck and I both heard the voices!  Yeah!!  We have been listening to people talk about hearing the voices for 12 years now and we finally got to hear it!  We had gone out to supper and when we got back, upon entering the house, we both heard women talking.  It was far away, like maybe in the parlor, and we could not make out what they were saying.  My first thought was that the TV was left on.   I mentioned it to Chuck and he said he had heard it also and he thought it was the TV too.   But we checked the TVs and they were all off.  Then we thought it was the answering machine, but there was no message left on the machine and it was not my voice from the machine that we had heard.  I know what that sounds like, and that wasn't what we had heard.  Yeah!!  We both heard the voices!!

30 Nov. 2013 - The man who stayed in Room 5 last night said he was startled awake at 2:50am for no known reason.  When he tried to go back to sleep, he felt a cat jump onto the bed.  He said it was white with dark grey spots.  It settled down by his feet so he went to sleep.  In the morning he thought he should let the cat out of the bedroom, but he could not find it anywhere.  He saw Patches!  He was thrilled to have seen her.  (Patches was our cat who died here about three years ago.)

8 Dec. 2013 - This morning I heard footsteps up in Room 6.  They were very heavy, slow steps.  They came across the room, and around the twin bed, and over to the big bed.  Then a woman's voice from the hallway, in a whispery voice, said "Come out of there!"  The footsteps left the room faster than they went in.  I looked at the clock and it was 1:47am.  I have been hearing a lot of doorbell sounds, but it is the old doorbell and very faint and far away.  This morning it was closer, but still the old doorbell sound.  (We changed the doorbell last summer, so it does not sound like that anymore.)   This morning I heard the phone ring, but it was right next to my left ear and the phone is on the other side of the room, on my right.  They are tuning me again.

14 Dec. 2013 - The sisters from Minnesota are here for the weekend with their family for a holiday get-together.  D was in Room 7 last night and when she was sitting on the twin bed, taking her shoes off, the pillow flew off the bed and into the hallway.  She tried to see if wiggling the bed would make the pillow fall off, but she could not recreate the happening.  In Room 6, W felt like there was a hand on his chest and he found it hard to breathe for a few minutes.  In an EVP session, D asked if Harold was in the room and a whispered answer asks "Who's Harold?"    Another time they were talking about a friend named Stevey who had passed recently and again the whisper asks "Who's Stevey?".  In Room 8 they did an EVP session and they got a girl's voice (I think it was Anna) who said "I'll talk too."

28 Dec. 2013 - Our daughters and their families were here over Christmas week.  One morning, (K and her family were up in Room 6, directly over where Chuck and I are in Room 1), and I heard footsteps go from the big bed toward the bathroom.  Since there were actual people up there, I did not think anything of it until I realized there was no water running and the footsteps did not return to the bed.  I looked at the clock and it was 4:34am.  I asked K about it and she said nobody was up until 7am.  That night, when K put her infant son to bed, he was frantically looking around and around until K said "Okay, everybody out so he can sleep."  And instantly, he calmed down and went to bed.  On Christmas morning, about 5am, I heard footsteps in the foyer hallway.  Thinking some of the kids were up and sneaking around, I stuck my head out the door and was going to tell them to go back to bed, but there was nobody there.  Later, C said her kids did not wake up till 6:30am.  I guess some other kids could not wait. 

29 Dec. 2013 - I had asked on Facebook if anybody had gotten any good EVPs here during the year that I have not noted in this Journal yet.  Kyle says that he got one that had a sound of rustling fabric in the room when they were not in it.  He also got a voice that said "They're sleeping" when he had left the recorder going overnight.  Did anybody out there, my loyal readers, get anything good you want to share here in Joy's Journal?  Email me at stay@masonhouseinn.com and tell me about it and I will include it before I close out this Journal for the year.  Thanks!

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