I've been meaning to post to this
for a couple days but never had the time to sit down properly and do it. LOL...
so if you can all deal with another LONG haunting story I will give you a good one.
In 1992 my husband and I purchased an old farm house in central Indiana that had originally been built as a log cabin by a group of freed black slaves in a settlement called "Roberts Settlement". Our home was built by John Roberts, one of the founders of the settlement. In 1920 or so the original log cabin structure was balloon framed, becoming the basic structure of our house. In the late 50's the kitchen was remodeled after a fire in the summer kitchen, to open the summer kitchen into the rest of the house.
There was a 'kitchen' that was probably 14x22, that had a large laundry room/bedroom off of it, and a bathroom with a closet that you could walk through to a bedroom at the front of the house, and a small sitting room on the main floor. Upstairs there was the master bedroom and 2 smaller bedrooms at the top of a narrow landing. The original log frame encompassed part of the kitchen, the bathroom, and part of the laundry room.
We lived in the house for 2 1/2 years before our daughter was born. In that time we would often come home and find the front door open (deadbolted from the inside always, and we never had keys to lock it from the outside, we always used the back door, which was also locked but had to be locked from the outside using the key). Things would move around the room. We called our ghost "John" and would challenge him when weird things happened... "Ok, John, I see you have been here. Show me you are here" and things would move, such as a glass on the table, or a lighter or ashtray. When I was home on maternity leave with my daughter I decided to paint the kitchen cabinets. so I was at the 'back' of the house in the kitchen painting when the doorbell at the front door rang and the door swung open (it was LOCKED)... when I went to close the front door and returned to the kitchen, there was a man's handprint on part of the cabinet I had not yet painted. (green cabinet, white paint, definitely a BIG hand) and I was alone in the house. I told John that I wasn't scared but I needed to finish painting and asked him not to harrass me anymore until I was finished painting. He proceeded to open the front door 2 more times that day. LOL
After Amy was born, she slept in the crib upstairs in her room and I used a baby monitor to listen to her. I would often hear a child singing or humming, sort of singsong, and run upstairs only to find Amy sleeping peacefully and the door to the 3rd bedroom open (we always kept it closed as it was used for storage only) Over time I heard the singing often and finally got used to it. We never named Amy's ghost, I felt no need to address her as I knew she was also 'caring' for our baby and looking over her. When Amy was about a year old I purchased a tape of lullabies that contained a song called 'appalachian lullabye'. The first time I played it Amy started looking around the room.. she said "where sarah?" I said "Who is sarah" Amy said "she sing song". I asked her what did Sarah look like and Amy pulled on her hair and touched her face and said 'black'. So then I knew that Amy's ghost was possibly a descendant of the family who built our home.
That following spring my husband and I visited the Roberts' Settlement graveyard. John Roberts had seven children. They all died within 4 months of each other one winter. The youngest daughter's name was Sarah. She was 7 at the time of her death.
The singing continued when my son was born, although his crib remained in our room for nearly a year. I learned to sing the appalachian lullabye from the tape, and one day it occurred to me that I hadn't heard Sarah in a very long time. I like to think that she 'knew' I cared for my children and that by singing 'her' song I must have been doing something right.
We moved out of that house in late 1998. I have never stopped by to ask anyone who has owned it since if they know our ghosts.
I believe that you can live peacefully with ghosts if you acknowledge their prescense and are not threatening to them.
Carolyn
