Nothing I'd like better, Greg, and if the opportunity presents itself, you can bet I'll take you up on your offer. I'm a casual historian and I'm sure I could learn a lot from you about historic preservation.
Summer Plans II
- Thread starter oldhouseman
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The abstract! That's the history-of-ownership document I was referring to; However, if you're only the third owner, I guess you already know the history. I'm amazed it stayed in the same family for so many generations prior to your purchase of it.
oldhouseman
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I finally
got the floor sanded and the mantel painted. The floors turned out well I think. In the period the house was built the floors were not "finished". That type of treatment did not occur until after 1870. Floors were simply swept and mopped with lye soap and had a white look. That was the standard of the time. I still have to paint the doors. It feels good to be in the home stretch of this project.
got the floor sanded and the mantel painted. The floors turned out well I think. In the period the house was built the floors were not "finished". That type of treatment did not occur until after 1870. Floors were simply swept and mopped with lye soap and had a white look. That was the standard of the time. I still have to paint the doors. It feels good to be in the home stretch of this project.
oldhouseman
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A detail
of the grain painting in progress.
of the grain painting in progress.
oldhouseman
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And
finally finished (at least the mantel). The mirror is to small for the space, I need a large gilt over-mantel one. The Argon lamps work well. I can't wait to get the furiture moved in.
finally finished (at least the mantel). The mirror is to small for the space, I need a large gilt over-mantel one. The Argon lamps work well. I can't wait to get the furiture moved in.
oldhouseman
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Brian
to answer your question..
Sometimes we hear what sounds like someone walking upstairs when we know nobody is up there. And the sound of doors closing. This past spring I was in my bedroom and heard the door in the kitchen. There was a rainstorm in progress with lots of strong winds blowing. I thought I had forgotten to close the kitchen door going out to the garden. As I stepped into the dinning room I saw the back door was closed. But the door going into the kitchen from the dinning room moved very slow and opened into the kitchen -then slammed shut. I felt an ice cold breeze move past me. The dogs growled and scattered and went running back to my room.
I know several people have died in the house. Two children died of typhoid fever in the 1840's (upstairs bedroom) and every generation of owners were born and died in the place. A dozen Confederate soldiers died in the back yard in 1864 when Shermans troops swept through.
I don't give up equity easy. If there are any spirits in the house they need to start doing their share to keep the place up -otherwise I am happy to exercise their a** out!
to answer your question..
Sometimes we hear what sounds like someone walking upstairs when we know nobody is up there. And the sound of doors closing. This past spring I was in my bedroom and heard the door in the kitchen. There was a rainstorm in progress with lots of strong winds blowing. I thought I had forgotten to close the kitchen door going out to the garden. As I stepped into the dinning room I saw the back door was closed. But the door going into the kitchen from the dinning room moved very slow and opened into the kitchen -then slammed shut. I felt an ice cold breeze move past me. The dogs growled and scattered and went running back to my room.
I know several people have died in the house. Two children died of typhoid fever in the 1840's (upstairs bedroom) and every generation of owners were born and died in the place. A dozen Confederate soldiers died in the back yard in 1864 when Shermans troops swept through.
I don't give up equity easy. If there are any spirits in the house they need to start doing their share to keep the place up -otherwise I am happy to exercise their a** out!
filter-flo_rob
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Ah yes ... spirits.
Our house was originally built as one room ca. 1745 and remodeled into a saltbox in 1771 by a distant relative.
We have an assortment of 'em, and co-habitate just nicely. The dogs and cats are even more aware of them then we are. Only once did we have a problem: Dogs barking uncontrollably in the kitchen only to walk in and find all four electric burners on the stove on high. I yelled STOP THIS, and there was never a dangerous-type problem after that.
Any others care to chime in ...
Rob.
Our house was originally built as one room ca. 1745 and remodeled into a saltbox in 1771 by a distant relative.
We have an assortment of 'em, and co-habitate just nicely. The dogs and cats are even more aware of them then we are. Only once did we have a problem: Dogs barking uncontrollably in the kitchen only to walk in and find all four electric burners on the stove on high. I yelled STOP THIS, and there was never a dangerous-type problem after that.
Any others care to chime in ...
Rob.
iheartmaytag
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My house was built in 1935
There are two spirits that are present there. One is an older woman, I would deem her as the Cook or chore woman of the house. She is very possessive of the kitchen. She likes to move the mixing bowls around.
The other is a little girl of about age four or five. She talks to my daughter, and I have seen her playing on the swing set. She also plays my daughter's toy piano. She is more of the Kennedy era age, I judge this from the pink fabric coat she wears which looks much like Jacki K's on the day JFK was assasinated.
We had a group from the paranormal research come out and spend the night back in April. I haven't seen the lady since that night. The little girl has appeared a few times since, but she is less scary to my daughter. One night I heard my daughter talking after she went to bed. I asked her who she was talking to?
"Amy" she said"
"Well tell Amy it's time for bed and to be quiet." They quit.
There are two spirits that are present there. One is an older woman, I would deem her as the Cook or chore woman of the house. She is very possessive of the kitchen. She likes to move the mixing bowls around.
The other is a little girl of about age four or five. She talks to my daughter, and I have seen her playing on the swing set. She also plays my daughter's toy piano. She is more of the Kennedy era age, I judge this from the pink fabric coat she wears which looks much like Jacki K's on the day JFK was assasinated.
We had a group from the paranormal research come out and spend the night back in April. I haven't seen the lady since that night. The little girl has appeared a few times since, but she is less scary to my daughter. One night I heard my daughter talking after she went to bed. I asked her who she was talking to?
"Amy" she said"
"Well tell Amy it's time for bed and to be quiet." They quit.
toggleswitch2
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Had a spirit in the back room.
Took over grandfther's rental apt. His bedroom furniture was placed in the back room as was the religious shrine/icons and some of his persoanl possessions.
My young nieces would not go into that room because of "the lady". Thye stopped at the threshold as if there were a force-field present. A psychic friend went into a "trance" and reported that Mother Mary was in there. (He is Jewish, so not part of his schtick, if you will.) I was a bit confused. I asked if it was aunt Mary who died on the next level up in that room. "NO" it's "THE" MARY. Why would children be intimidted by her?
Got quite a chill up my spine with that one. I have always felt a closeness for her, and here likeness/image. When I was infant I should have died. The baby formaula was indigestible to my delicate little (nervous in general) Virgo system. It is said that a great deal of prayer and placing on me an amulet of the actual cross of Christ (a splinter of it) was what worked.
In oder to live, my little soul had to agree to take on my current sexuality. (So says antother well-respected psychic). There needs to be a perfect balance in the world of opposing forces such as masculine and feminine. As the females become more (traditionally/ stereotypically) "masculine" in being, the female energy has to go somewhere.......
So all homosexuals out there, You are doing your universe a HUGE service by taking on that additional energy/burden. Espeically if you are a big nelly bottom.
Took over grandfther's rental apt. His bedroom furniture was placed in the back room as was the religious shrine/icons and some of his persoanl possessions.
My young nieces would not go into that room because of "the lady". Thye stopped at the threshold as if there were a force-field present. A psychic friend went into a "trance" and reported that Mother Mary was in there. (He is Jewish, so not part of his schtick, if you will.) I was a bit confused. I asked if it was aunt Mary who died on the next level up in that room. "NO" it's "THE" MARY. Why would children be intimidted by her?
Got quite a chill up my spine with that one. I have always felt a closeness for her, and here likeness/image. When I was infant I should have died. The baby formaula was indigestible to my delicate little (nervous in general) Virgo system. It is said that a great deal of prayer and placing on me an amulet of the actual cross of Christ (a splinter of it) was what worked.
In oder to live, my little soul had to agree to take on my current sexuality. (So says antother well-respected psychic). There needs to be a perfect balance in the world of opposing forces such as masculine and feminine. As the females become more (traditionally/ stereotypically) "masculine" in being, the female energy has to go somewhere.......
So all homosexuals out there, You are doing your universe a HUGE service by taking on that additional energy/burden. Espeically if you are a big nelly bottom.
Nice job, Greg. Those doors look beautiful.
A caution about doing the floors. I did mine in the same order as you... painted all the walls etc, then pulled up the scuzzy wall to wall carpeting and did the floors. Sanding, staining, oil based polyurethane varnish.I'd been told by a friend that this was the best way since the carpeting would act like built-in drop cloths. Well, it did that, but, wound up with some of the varnish on the woodwork/walls. Afterwards a flooring guy told me that the way he likes to do it is the floors, first, and then paint the walls etc. It makes some sense because then you don't have to get all the sanding dust off the fresh paint, and you also avoid getting varnish on it later. You might want to protect the lower walls woodwork with masking tape/paper/plastic before you break out the stain/varnish. I saved some paint for touchups but still haven't gotten around to fixing the varnish spots (they are mostly hidden).
A caution about doing the floors. I did mine in the same order as you... painted all the walls etc, then pulled up the scuzzy wall to wall carpeting and did the floors. Sanding, staining, oil based polyurethane varnish.I'd been told by a friend that this was the best way since the carpeting would act like built-in drop cloths. Well, it did that, but, wound up with some of the varnish on the woodwork/walls. Afterwards a flooring guy told me that the way he likes to do it is the floors, first, and then paint the walls etc. It makes some sense because then you don't have to get all the sanding dust off the fresh paint, and you also avoid getting varnish on it later. You might want to protect the lower walls woodwork with masking tape/paper/plastic before you break out the stain/varnish. I saved some paint for touchups but still haven't gotten around to fixing the varnish spots (they are mostly hidden).
Greg I had a similar experience in a friend's old farm house in Sonoma County. I heard slamming noises in the middle of the night, like someone angrily going through drawers in the back of the house, then footsteps coming around and towards my room. The spirit entered the room and the cat was on the bed with me. We both followed it as it came in through one corner and went around and out the door, and I felt that same cool wafting of air as it passed by.
I asked my big biker friend who owned the house about it the next morning. He said something like, oh yeah, that's Margaret and she does that sometimes. He had researched previous owners and knew a lot of the names of people who had lived there.
After he had moved from there and the place was empty and for sale, I brought my partner up there. The front door was unlocked so we went in. Every door to every room was closed. The door to the room I slept in was not only closed but locked. I called my friend to advise him. He said he had just been there the day before and as always, left every door wide open. He also advised there had never been any keys to lock any of the interior doors.
I asked my big biker friend who owned the house about it the next morning. He said something like, oh yeah, that's Margaret and she does that sometimes. He had researched previous owners and knew a lot of the names of people who had lived there.
After he had moved from there and the place was empty and for sale, I brought my partner up there. The front door was unlocked so we went in. Every door to every room was closed. The door to the room I slept in was not only closed but locked. I called my friend to advise him. He said he had just been there the day before and as always, left every door wide open. He also advised there had never been any keys to lock any of the interior doors.
oldhouseman
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Thanks Rich
We had the debate for a week before I started the project. I kept the vacuum close at hand and used it often. I'm not putting a finish on the floor. None of the floors had any kind of finish on them until the last owner had the floors stained and varnished in 1983.
Floor finishing like we are accustomed to seeing is a very late 19th/early 20th century thing. There is a Victorian in town that only has the the outer edges of the floors finished. They didn't spend the money to do the whole floor because a large rug covered it.
Ralph, I come home to find doors in a different position than what I left them. When I woke up Sunday morning the door going from my bedroom onto the front porch was open. I asked my partner if he opened it during the night. He said he never went in my room that night. The really odd thing about it is that the door was locked. The deadbolt lock requires a key inside to open it. When we were having the electrical service installed the electrician called me at work one day to tell me he was getting behind schedule because he lost two workmen in a row that wouldn't go back in the house. Apparently they had seen something that unnerved them and refused to work on the place. Or even set foot in it.
I have never had what I would call a scary experience in the place. I feel very comfortable and right at home. From my first visit to the place when it was falling in I felt like the house had been waiting for me to find it and bring it back to life. If there are any extra residents they haven't bothered me yet. I wish if they were going to move things that it could be a paint brush or broom and do something to move the work along!!
We had the debate for a week before I started the project. I kept the vacuum close at hand and used it often. I'm not putting a finish on the floor. None of the floors had any kind of finish on them until the last owner had the floors stained and varnished in 1983.
Floor finishing like we are accustomed to seeing is a very late 19th/early 20th century thing. There is a Victorian in town that only has the the outer edges of the floors finished. They didn't spend the money to do the whole floor because a large rug covered it.
Ralph, I come home to find doors in a different position than what I left them. When I woke up Sunday morning the door going from my bedroom onto the front porch was open. I asked my partner if he opened it during the night. He said he never went in my room that night. The really odd thing about it is that the door was locked. The deadbolt lock requires a key inside to open it. When we were having the electrical service installed the electrician called me at work one day to tell me he was getting behind schedule because he lost two workmen in a row that wouldn't go back in the house. Apparently they had seen something that unnerved them and refused to work on the place. Or even set foot in it.
I have never had what I would call a scary experience in the place. I feel very comfortable and right at home. From my first visit to the place when it was falling in I felt like the house had been waiting for me to find it and bring it back to life. If there are any extra residents they haven't bothered me yet. I wish if they were going to move things that it could be a paint brush or broom and do something to move the work along!!
Sounds like the spirits are happy to have you there. As long as they don't cause any trouble I see no need to try and run them off. Considering how long that house was in the hands of the same family, it's no wonder the spirits are there, and I'll bet they feel they have a right to be there and have a stake in what happens to the place. That house could not have had a better person than you come along to honor its historical significance.
filter-flo_rob
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house had been waiting for me to find it and bring it back t
Can I relate to this, and I kid you not! We did not find our house; but the house found us.
We're always having something going on ... from footsteps, to the sound of parties (the first time this happened, John said to me a following morning "why did you wind up the Victrola last night." I told him I did not, and asked him the same questions, "and who came over?, etc.). Let's see, lights going on and off (now, occasionally one thinks they had turned on or off a light, but not after the third time). They LOVE electrical gadgets, especially the computerized oven (a beep here and there). I could go on and on -- this is only the begining.
Two questions:
1) do any of you have any issues occurring outside the house, on the property?
2) Shall we take this to a separate thread ... don't want to take over oldhouseman's original thread.
Can I relate to this, and I kid you not! We did not find our house; but the house found us.
We're always having something going on ... from footsteps, to the sound of parties (the first time this happened, John said to me a following morning "why did you wind up the Victrola last night." I told him I did not, and asked him the same questions, "and who came over?, etc.). Let's see, lights going on and off (now, occasionally one thinks they had turned on or off a light, but not after the third time). They LOVE electrical gadgets, especially the computerized oven (a beep here and there). I could go on and on -- this is only the begining.
Two questions:
1) do any of you have any issues occurring outside the house, on the property?
2) Shall we take this to a separate thread ... don't want to take over oldhouseman's original thread.
filter-flo_rob
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... all homosexuals out there, You are doing your universe .
Hey, what about us masculine tops!
Thanks for sharing your story, along with the rest of you. I'm enjoying reading them.
Rob.
Hey, what about us masculine tops!
Thanks for sharing your story, along with the rest of you. I'm enjoying reading them.
Rob.
oldhouseman
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No
outside issues with my place as far as I know. My partner does a lot of projects outside and keeps complaining that his tools are getting moved. Considering all the people born and have died in the house as well as many deaths of soldiers in the Civil War there is just no telling about the place.
Don't worry about the thread Rob, it adds to the interest of the place.
outside issues with my place as far as I know. My partner does a lot of projects outside and keeps complaining that his tools are getting moved. Considering all the people born and have died in the house as well as many deaths of soldiers in the Civil War there is just no telling about the place.
Don't worry about the thread Rob, it adds to the interest of the place.
filter-flo_rob
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Spirits outside the house.
well ... It matters not what season or task I am doing outside, be it using a chain saw, a lawn mow or shoveling snow, but the SAME GUY is always just at the end of my peripheral vision: very tall and thin, ca. late 60s, white shirt, green overalls, thick head of white hair. I told this to some of the locals who believe in such things and they said that was old Man Elliott, one of the previous owners.
Our house was part of an original 600 acre parcel given by an act of congress in the 1730s to people who wound go out to this section, name of town not even known at that time, and farm it. Old Man Elliott was the first generation of dairy farmers on our property (ca. 1920s) -- on eBay, look up "F.W. Elliott" Dairy and see the milk bottles from the dairy. I believe the farm closed in the late 80s.
Sad, in the 50s there were 23 dairy farms in Petersham; now there is one and he no longer raises cows for milk.
Rob.
well ... It matters not what season or task I am doing outside, be it using a chain saw, a lawn mow or shoveling snow, but the SAME GUY is always just at the end of my peripheral vision: very tall and thin, ca. late 60s, white shirt, green overalls, thick head of white hair. I told this to some of the locals who believe in such things and they said that was old Man Elliott, one of the previous owners.
Our house was part of an original 600 acre parcel given by an act of congress in the 1730s to people who wound go out to this section, name of town not even known at that time, and farm it. Old Man Elliott was the first generation of dairy farmers on our property (ca. 1920s) -- on eBay, look up "F.W. Elliott" Dairy and see the milk bottles from the dairy. I believe the farm closed in the late 80s.
Sad, in the 50s there were 23 dairy farms in Petersham; now there is one and he no longer raises cows for milk.
Rob.
iheartmaytag
Well-known member
Spirits outside
The little girl "Amy" at my house was first seen by me last winter when I was shoveling snow. I saw her standing on the porch, when I looked again she was gone. Later when it was too cold for any children to be playing in the back yard I and my mother have seen her swinging on my daughter's swing set.
My daughter argues with her on occasion in her room and will come stompping out mad, saying "Amy won't let me play". You can still hear her toy piano playing in her room. We have always felt that that must have been "Amy's" room when she "lived' there.
The little girl "Amy" at my house was first seen by me last winter when I was shoveling snow. I saw her standing on the porch, when I looked again she was gone. Later when it was too cold for any children to be playing in the back yard I and my mother have seen her swinging on my daughter's swing set.
My daughter argues with her on occasion in her room and will come stompping out mad, saying "Amy won't let me play". You can still hear her toy piano playing in her room. We have always felt that that must have been "Amy's" room when she "lived' there.
oldhouseman
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I have never
seen any "ghosts" or "spirits" in my house. All events considered.
My house has become my home. It is comfortable and inviting.
I am making provision for guests to have a comfortable visit and enjoy their time with us.
An inviting home, comfortable rooms and good meals on the table. Inviting grounds and gardens as well.
I am open for ideas on the house and grounds. Please feel free to comment.
seen any "ghosts" or "spirits" in my house. All events considered.
My house has become my home. It is comfortable and inviting.
I am making provision for guests to have a comfortable visit and enjoy their time with us.
An inviting home, comfortable rooms and good meals on the table. Inviting grounds and gardens as well.
I am open for ideas on the house and grounds. Please feel free to comment.
