Ghost Story Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday
May 10th, 2006
I haven’t posted recently about the ongoing ghost stories unfolding at our humble abode, because I really don’t know how to pick up where I left off. It’s a good not-sure-where-to-pick-up, not I’m-so-freaked-out-I’m-afraid-to-write-about-it kind of thing. It’s all evolved into much more than just a good party story. LET’S JUST SAY.
After my house reading with Tree, my curiosity about Mr. Pipe and Mrs. Kitchen reached fever pitch. I packed up my little Nancy Drew notebook and headed for the local library, where I spent several afternoons hogging the microfilm machine and pestering the reference librarians to haul 1890s and early 1900s maps of our town out of the refrigerated vault.
Fortunately, the reference librarians were not skeptics. When I told them what I was up to, they in turn told me spun some excellent yarns about the library’s ghostly activity, including furniture that would move itself and barricade one staff member’s office so she couldn’t get in in the morning, a toilet that frequently flushed itself, and a dark-haired woman who liked to appear in the bathroom mirror from time to time. Needless to say, I waited to tinkle until I got home. Where I could be observed by our friendly ghosts. Much better.
So as I was saying, the librarians were absolutely super about helping me on my quest to figure out 1) who lived in the house before us and 2) what the hell the library had on hand that might help with that. It felt a bit like I was looking for a proverbial needle in a haystack, except I didn’t actually know that I was looking for a needle, and would probably have been happy to find a thimble or a Pomeranian in all that hay instead.
I hit the maps first, to see if our house appeared anywhere before 1903, which is when we were told the house was built. Surprise! Our house was on a 1900 map, with beautiful old penmanship on top: Beer & Dowlin.
To make a long story shorter, I found out with a little more Nancy Drew Nerdwork that Beer & Dowlin were attorneys and real estate developers at the time, and most likely neither lived in the house.
So I dove into the town directories. Without anything else to go on, the only thing I could figure out to do was scan the endless columns of names (and their occupations) and hope I saw our address somewhere before my eyes hemorrhaged and I died of that and paper cuts from the microfilm rolls.
I got lucky. My eyes held out, and then they nearly fell out when I found our address in the 1901 town directory. Our address, and a name: William E. Richmond. Occupation: engineer at the gas light company four blocks away from our home. His home.
If anyone had tried to take a turn on the microfilm machine at that point, there would have been another ghost walking around.
Crazy-excited, I then proceeded to scan through as many directories as I could. I am saying I WENT THROUGH A LOT OF TOWN DIRECTORIES. I scoured every directory I could find from 1894 to 1957, to see if there was anyone else besides Mr. Richmond (and presumably, his family). But there he was, every single year until 1944…when his widow began to be listed: Emma.
I followed Emma at our address until 1954, and then the directories skipped to 1957. I knew the name of the family who sold us our house, and it was their name listed from 1957 on. Which makes us, most likely, only the third family to live here.
In 1957, the Richmonds disappeared from the directory. They may appear in later ones, but I haven’t gotten past 1957 yet.
And that’s just the beginning.
Now, if you’re a person who likes spoilers, or you read the last page of a novel first, you should go read what dear, magic Tree wrote about meeting our house in person. Mind you, I had never before set foot in our attic, not once in the five years we’ve lived here. But with Tree, it was time, and it was more than okay.
Oh, heck, you should read it even if you don’t like spoilers, because I don’t know when I’ll get around to saying more. What gets me the most? By your thirties, you start feeling like you can’t be surprised by much anymore. And I have been surprised so grandly, well, I forgot how lovely it can be to really be surprised. And moved. Deeply. How about that.
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized, Boo! (Our resident ghosts)
33 Comments
1. Pink Rocket | May 10th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
that’s so exciting that you’ve found some information! going to go read what tree wrote now!!
2. Spot the Wonder Dog | May 10th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
You know, if you’d gone to the county Register of Deeds’ office you could have learned the entire title history of your property in about 10 minutes…
3. the Mater | May 11th, 2006 at 5:44 am
Spot, I’ll let Jenn answer you regarding your comment but I’m thinking that the county office may have not been as convenient as the local library considering that Jenn needed to choreograph her time around the girls’ daily schedules and pickups.
Jenn, so glad you’re back to telling us about the amazing ghostly Richmonds and your other ghostly encounters … especially as Mother’s Day draws near :>)
I wish we had a fireside or campfire to gather ’round and listen to you and Tree … or would you feel more at home at the local cemetery? hehehehe
4. Contrary | May 11th, 2006 at 6:31 am
For once, one of y’all has spooked me out before I go to work, instead of 5 minutes before I go to bed. Which is nice. Now I don’t have to spend the next hour telling myself (sometimes, out loud), ‘think of something else! anything else!’.
5. Jenn | May 11th, 2006 at 8:18 am
Spot, dude, leave it to you to be the ghostly bonekill. The Registry of Deeds wouldn’t have been half as fun (and Ma’s right, it wasn’t in town). Besides, the R of D wouldn’t list anything but the head of the household whose name was part of the real estate transaction, and I was trying to find out who else lived here (women, kids, relatives), and the occupations and names of other folks on our street back then.
6. Simon | May 11th, 2006 at 8:34 am
Almost makes me regret that I live in a bungalow with vaulted ceilings and absolutely no attic to speak of.
7. the Mater | May 11th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Ah, Simon, but what lies *under* your floors, eh?! Who knows what kind of unearthly activity may be rumbling about …
8. Lisa | May 11th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Very very interesting. I wish we had an attic full of goodies. You can bet I’d be up there. Instead I have a house full of my OWN crap. How sad!
9. Diana | May 11th, 2006 at 9:03 am
I tihnk the library was a better choice anyway, since you got to hear that you’re not the only one seeing/hearing stuff in that town!
Mater: if there ever IS a campfire with Jenn and Tree, I’m sooo there. I would love to hear these stories in person, and I’d have some to share as well.
10. kt flynnie | May 11th, 2006 at 9:05 am
damn your lucky i wanna be visited by some sort of spirit, maybe my apartment with have some special occupants?
11. Andrea S. | May 11th, 2006 at 9:35 am
This is such a great story, and you’re a great storyteller, but I can’t wait. I’m going to go see what Tree said.
Mr. Pipe Richmond. Mrs. Kitchen Richmond. What about Mr. Squash? One of William and Emma’s children? I hafta know.
12. Kirsten | May 11th, 2006 at 9:38 am
Jenn- You should have a look at the census records for more detailed information (kids names,occupations etc)….there is a map you can use to access them by address or you can use the surnames you have found.
How fun- can’t wait to hear more!
13. Jenn | May 11th, 2006 at 9:58 am
Kirsten: Ah, yes, it should be so easy, I agree. But the Town Clerk’s office says there are no such thing as census records for the town. They say the directories are all that folks back then used for census purposes, and grouchily told me to go look at the directories at the library on microfilm. When I pressed them, they very grudgingly handed over some of the actual directories, and that was neat to see, but it’s the same directories that are on microfilm.
But the library folks swear there are census records, and that the Town Clerk’s office has them. It’s quite the drama. So for now, I’ve just got the directories to work with.
And a copy of a cemetery plot deed. And a ridiculous amount of curiosity that is keeping me from doing the laundry and cleaning the house.
14. Spot the Wonder Dog | May 11th, 2006 at 10:03 am
“Spot, dude, leave it to you to be the ghostly bonekill.”
… it’s what I do, babe. B)
May I suggest that if you have a local historical society, they might have some old pictures of your house from way back when. I’ve seen some for ours, and it’s pretty awesome.
15. Kirsten #2 | May 11th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Jenn - *another* Kirsten here, and I think Kirsten #1 had a great idea….. You can look at census records online (well, I can, because I have a paid subscription at a genealogy site), and I just looked up the Richmonds - they had a son and a daughter. The son shows up on the 1910 census as 15 years old, but is not there in 1920. Perhaps you already know all this.
16. Jenn | May 11th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Kirsten #2, you rock! I don’t have one of those subscriptions (yet!), and we didn’t know they had a daughter! Does it say any more about them? Their son was born in 1895, so that’s him.
17. erika | May 11th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
What is it about Kirstens and spookiness? I know my sister (another Kirsten) reads your site and she has seen ghosts as well. How very exciting to find out more detail. I’m not sure if I would have ventured up to the attic.
18. geogirl | May 11th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
To add to the mystery….
The old house I grew up in (the one with the haunted chandelier) supposedly had a ghostly visitor but I never saw any sign of our spectral guest. In fact, the only one in the family who ever claimed to see him was my sister. Her name…..Kristin.
19. Charlie | May 11th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
“And a ridiculous amount of curiosity that is keeping me from doing the laundry and cleaning the house”
So thats what it is…..all this time I thought she (my better half) was just being lazy………but it turns out she is dealin with a ridiculous amount of curiosity aka Novellas aka spanish soap operas……mystery solved for me. Thanks Jenn.
And no…her name isn’t Kirsten or Kristin…….
20. the Mater | May 11th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
Isn’t this more fun than Halloween?
And Jenn will have to get back to us soon LET’S JUST SAY that I can’t really blog about my connection to Tree until she and Nancy Drew here finish their adventures first :>)
No pressure, Jenn, no pressure … not as if you’re sick and kids are sick and you have a play running this week.
You know though that you are so wanting to sit down and entertain us with this tale. Just sayin’ ….
21. Helene | May 11th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
Just delurking to invite you to add your supermom card to the mom’s day salute;
http://hlb.blogspot.com
22. ChristyD | May 11th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
I can’t wait to learn more. And watching it unfold in the comments is surreal!
23. Kirsten | May 11th, 2006 at 11:07 pm
San Francisco Kirsten here….other Kirsten is also into Genealogy?- OHNO! I no longer have an Ancestry subscription, but I am about 15 mins north of NARA, where census, ships records etc are all available. There is a census for everywhere in US, every 10 years, with a few exceptions….anyways, if you need anything from NARA looked up or copied, just yell!
This is a very fun topic, and I look forward to hearing more :>) Spooky is fun….
24. mom on a wire | May 12th, 2006 at 2:38 am
Ok. Um. Well. I feel a bit silly.
I see now that Tree is a PERSON, not an actual TREE.
I sort of got that with the whole “Tree Hugger” reference a few entries ago, but prior to that I had pictured you sitting out on your front porch having a conversation with a kindly old oak tree in your yard. I’m not sure what it says about either of us that I not only believed that, but also didn’t think it to be all that strange.
25. kris | May 12th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
Oh how I’ve missed your blog. I very much enjoyed reading about your visit with Tree. Glad you had such a warm and wonderful experience. Your home just sounds like a lovely place… Difficult kitchen and all.
26. Geoff | May 13th, 2006 at 12:47 am
Ummm, a fifteen year old son was on the census in 1910, but disappears in 1920. I hate to break it too you, but this is hardly evidence of a ghostly presence. By 1920 he would have been 25 and most likely out of the house raising his own family. That is if he survived the First World, for which he would have been prime draftee material, and be buried in Europe, both seeming more likely than an unconfirmed, undated, unreported death, and then ghosthood.
The simplest experiments are really usually the most likely you know. .
27. the Mater | May 13th, 2006 at 10:11 am
Oh Geoff … there is much more to Jenn’s ghost story. The 15-year-old youth is just part of the tapestry. But this is Jenn’s story, not mine.
28. Elizabeth | May 13th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
I read Tree’s story first, and then came here, and it gave me chills, dude. As much as I like watching movies about the Supernatural, having actual ghosts in my house and having a psychic tell me right where they are standing? Brrrrrr! I’m really looking forward to hearing more about this story.
29. jennifer | May 14th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
happy mother’s day, jenn!
30. Rina | May 14th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
I would also hit up any local historical society you can find - if North Adams doesn’t have one, surely pish posh Williamstown does, and they should at least have some documentation of local lads who served in WWI. Does the library have the local paper on microfilm?
Ooh ooh. I love this stuff. I wish I lived near you so I could help you investigate!
Didn’t they have to include an Abstract for the property when you bought the house? That will give you information on all the past owners - not just of the house, but of the land it sits on. So maybe Mr. Pipe is some long ago settler, stretching his soul from the ghostly remains of a one room cabin?
31. bee | May 15th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Hi Jenn! I hope you all are not in flood conditions. I read the Mater’s post and I just want to let you kow that even my sister is not immune to critics. When she was working with the L W crew on Broadway no less, Clive Barnes ( I think it was he that was the worst, anyway…) totally ripped them. What does a critic know? A critic is only one voice. The roar of your positive-voiced fans, well that simply drowns out a critic! I really wanted so much to come up there and see your latest work, but I was on holiday. Eh. One day, though! Cheers!
32. Lianne | May 15th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
You know, I am not spooked by the “spiritual”, either from this world or the next. In fact, it seems the more open I become to it, the more it envelopes me. It comes to me from all sources. I listen, because I know when I hear the same thing coming from many different places, it means I need to sit up and pay attention.
I have recently met a woman who does “Angel Readings”. It was one of the most profoundly spiritual and moving experiences of my life.
we are not alone, and we are so well loved.
33. nikson | July 19th, 2006 at 10:08 pm
Great job guys… Thank for you work…
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