Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love the decorations, the ghost stories, haunted houses, pumpkin patches, and fall weather! At Studio a, we have an ongoing client that has a beautiful and very old historic home. We decorate seasonally for her. So, of course, I just love the Halloween decor we put up, but her home comes with some real-life ghost stories too. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, this home will make you a believer.
This is one of those historic homes that has a 3rd floor butler’s quarters with its own staircase up to it. Everyone knows that the butler is still there. I was told this very early on working with her. You just get used to him. We have learned that he doesn’t like to be startled. When April was is a hurry to get something from the butler’s room, she rushed in and startled him. He came up behind her and was right over her shoulder. She said she not only felt his presence but could picture what he looked like in the moment. I have tried to find an image of him without any luck. We now announce our presence when we walk up to the 3rd floor. I even saw him up there once when I came up without letting him know. He was in the utility room glaring at me. He’s definitely up there. And I say hi every time I go up now!
At one point we needed some movers at the house. The company sent over 2 guys. One immediately, before even walking into the house, asked if it was haunted. He was totally freaked out being in the home and stated that there were many ghosts here. They came back a few weeks later to move some more items and he let us know, very matter of fact, that the butler does not like to be called “the butler”. His name is Claude! How does he know this? This guy was from South Carolina and very in tune with ghosts. I’m sure he will try his best to stay away from this home as he was so freaked out.
When we were decorating for Halloween, we must have stirred the ghosts up. We had a plate fly off the wall. Not fall, fly! A large glass vase fell over with no-one touching it. Doorknobs were jiggled. Lights flickered. This was all in a matter of a few hours! I was alone on the third floor during this. Talk about spooky!
The homeowner has told us many stories too. She has heard children on the third floor on many occasions. They will giggle and run around up there. I have not heard them, but I don’t doubt they are there at all. She has also heard parties going on downstairs when she is in her 2nd floor bedroom. You know, those usual party sounds. Lots of chattering, and plates or glasses banging around. This happened one time right after a party that they had. The ghosts must have not been ready for the party to end. She has heard the party several times over the years. She has even had a doorknob jiggling incident. She told me about when I was telling her about my incident (When trying to use the bathroom!). She was in her bedroom and heard someone going down the hallway and jiggling all the knobs. She has like 6 doors all in a row on that floor. She though someone might have broken in, but that wasn’t the case. After my experience, I know that had to be a ghost! Scary thing to hear when you’re home alone.
One of these days I will go to a local historic records location and see if I can dig into this further. I’m fascinated by ghosts. I want to learn more about her home’s history. I hope you have enjoyed the few ghost stories I told along with the images of our décor we did for this home.
Happy Halloween!
Recent Comments