Restless Nights in the Victorian Mansion

I am home now.  I am sitting in a quiet room in the Newton-Allaire house.  The house is a beautiful as ever.  It has been sitting empty for fours years now and the ghosts here are quiet.   The last time I was here my grandmother still lived here and the ghosts were loud and and robust, but years of silence seems to have lulled them into a deep sleep.   I don't feel them here like I used to.  They are a whisper hidden in quiet corners.   The ghosts were always most active here at night, making sleep challenging.  That seems to continue and the house still groans, reminding me of nights when I sat up searching for the source of strange footsteps and phantom whispers.

As I've explored the old house,  I've found bits of my history and ancestry.   The stories of the ghosts that have always lived here with us have come to light.  The house was built in 1871 by Archibald P. Newton who in 1876 was elected first president of the village of Cheboygan.  He built the stately house, with its cupalo top as a wedding gift to his bride Cornelia Allaire, who was his second wife.  We call Cornelia Allaire Aunt Newton.   Mr. Newton came to Cheboygan from St. Helena Island where he and a brother Carl in 1853 bought the island and where they built a good dock and large store.  In Cheboygan, he entered into business of processing hemlock for the sap which was an essential in tanning leather.  Mr. Newton loved to stand in his glassed in cupola atop his mansion and look out at the boats in the straights.  So do I.

Aunt Newton survived her husband after his death.  She died in 1916 leaving her entire estate to her only brother, Joseph Allaire who lived on a nearby farm.   Joseph Allaire was my grandmother's grandfather.  The house passed on to their children Charles and Bert Allaire in 1934 when Joseph Allaire died.  Subsequently the house was inherited by Bert Allaire's widow Irene Allaire.  She was my great-grandmother who we all called Nonnie.   The house is now in the hands of my mother and her 2 cousins and sister. 

I hope it will stay with us and it well re-awake into the living, breathing house I remember it to be when I was child.  Now it sleeps, but everything that sleeps can be awakened.

 

 

 

Cheboygan on Dwellable

Helio Nylonplast Inc Lawyer

I actually already serve the real "grass" community as a criminal defense lawyer. However, I am not going to be a fake grass lawyer. Let the phishermen onslaught continue.

From: Kelvin.Lee@helionylon.plast-inc.net
Subject: Request for Legal Service.
Date: August 5, 2010 12:10:38 PM PDT
To: me

HELIO NYLONPLAST INC.
14F-3, No.259, Sec.1,
Fu-Shing S. Rd.,
106 Taipei, Taiwan
www.helionylonplast.com



Attn. Counsel,


Request for Legal Service.



This is an official request for legal representation on behalf of HELIO
NYLONPLAST INC. Our company's principal activity is to sell Outdoor fabrics -
Awning / Canopy Textiles ( Acrylic fabric, Polyester fabric, Polyspun
fabrics), - Cushion Fabric (Acrylic fabric, Polyspun fabric ), - Chair
Fabric (
Polyester fabric 600Dx900D )
The Artificial Grass ( Artificial Turf ) division deals in Landscaping
artificial grass, Sport artificial grass, Recreational artificial grass.
We are presently incapacitated due to international legal boundaries to exert
pressure on our delinquent customers and we request for your services
accordingly. We got your contact information from the Online Lawyers Directory
as a result of our search for a reliable firm or individual to provide legal
services as requested.
After a careful review of your profile as well as your qualification and
experience, we are of the opinion that you are capable and qualified
to provide
the legal services as requested.
On behalf of HELIO NYLONPLAST INC., Please accept my sincerest
appreciation in
advance for your willingness to render your services as we look
forward to your
prompt response to our request.
Yours truly,
Kevin Lee
Chairman/CEO



Kindly reply me privately @ kelvinlee39@hotmail.com,thanks.

The House that Haunts My Dreams: The Newton-Allaire House

If you have followed my blog regularly,  you know my family owns a large Victorian house in Northern Michigan.   This house was my favorite place in the world as a child.  It was the cradle of all my dreams and the inspiration for my first stories.  It whispered to me in my sleep and made me believe that there was more to life than we can see, touch, and taste.  The house's ghosts were old and they followed you throughout the house.   I loved the ghosts in the house as I loved the house.  It bound me to a history I knew little of and made me part of a family that went back for generations.

Over the last few years, the surviving members of my family have tried desperately to sell and get rid of this haunted piece of our family history.   This week,  I'm going up to make one final plea to keep it.  My mother and I and our families will take a long drive up North.  It is a thousand miles for us and we will see if there is any hope left.  

My dream is that we could rent the house out.  It is a few blocks from the beach and one block to the bookstore and movie theater.  It is a twenty minute drive to Mackinac City and Mackinac Island.   It has 8 bedrooms and is filled with ghosts and histories.  It seems like it would be a good vacation rental and then we could stay in it during our off weeks.   We will see.  This will be an up hill battle.   Either way,  on Monday I'll post pictures of the old house and use a few of the ghost hunting skills I learned last Friday to see if I can talk to some of the ghosts in the house.  I'm hopeful.  The ghosts talked to me when I didn't want them to as a little girl.  I'm pretty sure they should be even more talkative now that I do want them to talk.

I may not blog again until I get there.   I can't wait.  The painting above is one of the many paintings I did of the house.  Even if we sell it,   the house will always be part of me.

A Southern Farmhouse Haunting

Last Christmas, when I started blogging about ghost stories,   I had been inspired by the extraordinary wealth of folklore and ghost stories that the nurses where I work and where my husband work seem to possess.   In rural Alabama,  these stories are as thick as the humidity.    I would sit and listen to the nurses and other country staff tell their stories and I thought that someone had to write these stories down.   My husband brought back stories for me from the hospital he works in, which is much more rural than the one I work in.  Yesterday,  another nurse brought me another story.  Of course,  I'm pleased as punch.   She even had pictures with her!

This nurse is young and lives in a farmhouse way out in the country.  Her farmhouse is over one hundred years old and those that have lived there have kept up with it by rebuilding it and fixing it up with modern amenities as time has past. Originally the house was a log cabin and beneath the brick and modern additions,  the old logs still stand strong.  The old farmhouse has a layered effect that tells the story of the many generations that have lived there.  Within these layers,  are ghost stories.

The nurse says that she isn't convinced her house is haunted.   She's seen things that aren't right, but it takes more than that to convince her.  Even if it is haunted, she feels that whatever is in the house is harmless.   She isn't afraid.  Her husband, on the other hand, is unnerved by the presence.   He feels as if something is always watching him.   He feels like he is never alone and  he has suggested they leave because of this.

The story that is told with the house is brilliant.   Over a century ago,   when the country was still new,   a Native American broke into the farmhouse looking for food and money.   The owner at the time was prepared for this type of event and cut the intruders head off with an axe.    The intruder's head rolled down the stairs.    According to the legend,   you can still hear the head rolling down the stairs and it is this Native American's ghost that still haunts this farmhouse.   The nurse's father says this is all made up nonsense, but even if it is, there is something in the house and that something is always watching.

Thanks, Dad

Olivia Ryan has recently had a post about the relationship between mothers and daughters and it got me thinking about fathers and sons.

Not the same is it? My dad only ever gave me one piece of advice. He was never very eloquent or demonstrative and preferred just to get on with life without analysing things too much. I'm fairly sure he was proud of me but he never actually said so. Dads didn't in those days. That was left to your mum. But he would do anything for anybody. Me and my brother were in the Boys' Brigade and, when it came to needing volunteers to transport us into the countryside for a camping weekend, he was first in line. Similarly, when I did a sponsored walk he put himself forward for marshalling duty. And this myth about modern dads being more 'hands-on' with the kids is complete nonsense. I remember him changing my brother's nappy (born 1956) and cooking our tea when he was home after shiftwork.

He died in 1989 aged 66 but he's staring at me now from a photo frame just below my PC screen. He's supposed to be egging me on with my writing but he doesn't. He's looking at me wondering why I'm wasting my time.

And the singular piece of advice? Bear in mind he came from Norfolk and had a rustic sense of humour. It was - “Never mind your arse, mind your head, boy.”
I think I know what he meant.

Shortage of Steel Lawyers

There must be a shortage of lawyers for steel companies.

From: Evans Green
Subject: Representatives services Needed
Date: August 1, 2010 5:28:44 AM PDT

Good day,

I am Ms Tatsuo Ikeda, I do require your legal representation on some
issues, However, being that this forum is not a secure means in which
one could transmit secure messages, thus I would surgest that you
please get in contact with me on my private email box, so we could
discuss and I could explain better on my issue.

My Private email box detail is :- nipponkoshuhasteel@yahoo.com.cnn

Regards,
Tatsuo Ikeda
President, Nippon Koshuha Steel Co., Ltd

Following Real Ghost Hunters

This Friday night I was lucky enough to follow a team of real ghost hunters.  I have played at ghost hunting.  I've done a few EVP sessions and walked around with my little gadgets, but after I spent a night with Southern Ghosts (http://www.southernghosts.com/) I realized that I was just playing.  The team I got to watch was lead by Steve and Angie who are known for their great blog http://www.ghosteyes.com/.  They are the Virginia chapter of Southern Ghosts.  Brett Burchfield from Georgia and Jeremy Morgan were also present during the investigations.

The first thing this team did when they got started at the South Pittsburgh hospital was set up camera's in all the major halls of the hospital with infrared.   They set up the cameras and connected them to the DVRs.  The sheer volume of equipment along made me feel overwhelmed.  Clearly, this was a very serious team.  They then proceeded to explain to all of us non ghost hunter types what we would be doing and we set up a game plan.  The team started in an old waiting room that had been decorated with antique medical equipment and set up for ghost hunters.   Vines crawled in from the outer courtyard through the windows so that nature itself seemed to be reaching into the room and retaking it.   The team started with the first of many EVP sessions in which team members asked questions and waited for several minutes and then asked another question.  This requires a lot of patience, which is something ghost hunters clearly possess in great quantities.

The team then split up and went to the third floor of the hospital.  Trigger objects had been laid around the hospital.  These were balls, boots, or bikes etc.  that had been laid in different locations that had been noted so that if they moved the team could see that something had happened.  They could then check video footage to see what, specifically had happened later.  When we went to the third floor, we noticed one of the trigger objects had moved.   Two members of the group went to the psychiatric ward and continued with what was a very successful EVP session and the rest of us went to surgery to do some psychic experiments.  These were interesting as well and were designed to draw the paranormal energy in the room to one person so they could describe the energy in the room.

The group was very methodical and hours were spent progressing through the hospital doing various EVP sessions.  The most interesting EVP session to me was done in the basement in a room filled with old church pews.   Team leader Steve noticed the ghosts were making the KP meters light up at different times throughout the room as questions were asked and he started asking the ghosts to answer questions by making the meters light up green or red.  This seemed to actually work and a partial dialogue was established using this method.

I was unable to keep up with the ghost hunting team, however, and by 3am I had to leave.  My eyes were drifting shut and I don't drink caffeine so I had to leave, proving once and for all that I don't have the stamina to keep up with the real ghost hunters.  They tell me that after I left they got some very interesting data, however.  I can't wait to hear more, but little Jessica went to her hotel and slept because as interesting as ghosts are,  my PJ's are bed are much more interesting at 3am.   What did I learn from following real ghost hunters?  I learned  that they are some of the most patient people I've ever met.  Not only did they have patience the night of the ghost hunt, but they have to have continued patience as they review hours and hours of video footage and listen to hours upon hours of EVP sessions.   I take my hat off to these ghost hunters, because the reality is,  it isn't the adventure you see on TV.  It is patience and persistence and determination that made this team work.  I'm not sure I have any of those qualities but it sure was nice watching others with it for the night.

You can follow the folks I ghost hunted with on twitter at @GhostEyes_Steve, @GhostEyes_Angie, @RCP_GatorFan .  I know I'll be following them closely waiting for the results from this trip.   I'll also be watching http://www.hauntjaunts.com/ because Courtney Mroch has a sensitive eye and she might have seen a lot I missed on this trip.