52 Ancestors Week 45: Ghost Story

 From Amy Johnson Crow: This week's theme is "Ghost Story." Any haunted houses in the family or an ancestor who is supposed to be haunting one? Let your imagination run with this one!

Sometimes **** happens. Someone has to deal with it and
who're you going to call?

    It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the city of Haverhill has had many ghost stories and sightings over its almost four hundred year history. Several of its cemeteries have been reported to be haunted like Hilldale Cemetery where the ghosts of the original settlers are said to roam the twenty acre property. Civil War era ghosts have also been sighted there as well. There are so many sightings that the city has even organized "ghost tours" every Halloween night. Here's a video of one such tour! Watch if you dare! MWAHAHAHA!

    Other cemeteries and homes in the city are also said to be haunted like Walnut Cemetery where a fourteen year-old girl known as "The Lady in White" is said to wander the grounds. Scary, huh? I wonder if she ever ran into the Felkers and my great-grandmother who are among the many members of my family buried there. Who can say? I've never stayed at those cemeteries after dark and it's not like I've never had an experience with the paranormal. I have. Gather 'round, everyone. It's time for a ghost story for the ages!

Grandma Ollie.

    I've long felt that there are things in this world that defy explanation. We don't know everything and sometimes things just don't make any sense. We may never know the answer to several questions like "Why do we hear a bump in the night?" Is it really just the house settling or is it something more?

     I know I've told this story before and it is a good one! When my grandmother Ollie passed away in 2002, I definitely felt some presence in her house when we were trying to sell it and various odds and ends at a yard sale. I think it's time to go more in depth into this story!

    This is a really personal story and I don't think I'll ever forget it. It's not just because I was upset over losing my grandmother. Who wouldn't be? I loved her and I saw her practically every week or two since she lived very close by. To say I was close to my grandmother was a bit of an understatement.

    Grandma Ollie taught me so much about my grandfather since he passed away when I was four. She and her sisters all talked to me about their parents. Ollie cooked a lot of great food and was generally a great person. No other words could describe her!

    So, when she passed away in February of 2002, I was a bit upset. My parents did their best to cheer me up since I had my college graduation that May and my brother's wedding in August to look forward to. They had a point. However, I still felt like something was missing. I couldn't explain it. Everyone mourns in their own way. But, I just felt like something was off. I definitely felt that feeling when I stepped into her house for the first time and not seeing her greeting us. It just wasn't something I was used to, you know?

Is Grandma's house still haunted?!

    By March of that year we were getting ready to sell the property and we had a yard sale after we brought home several of the things we wanted to keep like the infamous box and several photographs. For details of those contents, please check this blog out.

    I didn't have much to do other than organize the remaining photos we were going to take home with us. I remember looking at a picture of my great-grandfather, Giuseppe in the living room and suddenly hearing a woman's voice calling my name. At first I dismissed it and put the picture away. I thought it was nothing and went about my business. The house wasn't that old. So, I didn't think there was a ghost--At first!

    A bit of house history for you! Grandma Ollie's house once belonged to my great-grandfather Vincenzo and his second wife, Fortuna. It was left to my grandfather, Marco in 1970 when Vincenzo passed away and the rest is history. House history!

    I sat down to do some reading on the very couch where my brother and I once played with our toys whenever grandma would watch us. Memories actually came flooding back from out of nowhere and I felt like I was suddenly transported seventeen years or so into the past. I suddenly remembered which Transformer I was playing with on the couch and again heard a woman's voice and this time it clearly said my name, "Christopher."

    My grandmother never really called me "Chris". It was always, always just "Christopher" and no it wasn't because I was in trouble or anything. She always called my brother "Little Jimmy". But, that's another story! I shook my head and started to read again and when I tried, I heard the voice call my name again. "Christopher", she called and this time it sounded exactly like grandma Ollie! I was freaking out at this point and I called for my mother who was working on something in the kitchen.

    My mother came into the living room to see what I was up to and I told her I was hearing grandma Ollie's voice and I stopped for a second. Grandma Ollie had a very specific scent from the perfume she used and I could smell it in the air. I looked at my mom and she said she thought she smelled something in the living room, too.

    Here's where things go into "Paranormal Activity" territory. We told my dad what was going on and he tended to believe in the supernatural based on a few experience he had. For example, when he was working in the basement in our house or at grandma's he could sense his father's presence. He had a particular odor, I guess, and he just felt like he smelt him nearby. My dad said it was the strangest thing. I believe him. So, here's where things took a turn into the paranormal. We needed to put theory into practice!

I think this pic speaks for itself.

    My grandmother was known to have a bit of a sweet tooth. She loved chocolate and she would always keep a tissue around to clean herself up with. Knowing this, my father decided to put a Hershey bar on the kitchen table just in case anything were to happen to the candy. The bait was set and we locked everything up before we left. The front, side and back doors were all locked up tight and we went on our way.

    A day passed and we went to the house to check on the candy bar. To our surprise all that was left of the candy bar was the wrapper and next to it was a tissue that was folded up very neatly next to it.

    Now, you might think the place had been broken into but keep in mind that all the doors and windows were completely locked. There were no signs of any intrusion. The remaining furnishings were not stolen. There was no sign of any crimes. There was just an empty wrapper and a tissue on the table. That was it!

    My father smiled and he knew it was probably his mother's ghost that ate the candy. I think we should all be relieved it wasn't a poltergeist or something from "The Frightners". That wouldn't have been cool because we sold the house shortly thereafter and I don't think selling a house with a vengeful spirit residing in it would be a GOOD idea. Do you?!

Who IS that adorable baby?! ;)

    Whatever the case is, I'm pretty sure I ran into a spirit from the other side who was trying to talk to me. Was my grandmother trying to tell me that things were going to be okay? I'd like to think that she was. It is a mystery. 

    The supernatural is one of those things we may never truly figure out and I can't really talk to my grandmother about it unless I had access to a medium or a Ouija board.

    I do wonder something, though. Did her spirit pass on to the other side after that day? Or is she, along with my grandfather, at my parents' house? I haven't heard her voice call my name. So, maybe not. Whatever the case is, it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Perhaps not all experiences with the paranormal should be frightening. In an odd way, perhaps it was comforting.

    In the end, I think I'll take that as such. Like I said before, I was really close to my grandmother for a variety of reasons. Maybe hearing her voice was her way of telling me I was going to be okay without her. That's what I'll take from my encounter with the supernatural. At least I knew for a fact she was a friendly ghost. =)

See ya next time!