Posted on 04/19/2006 8:09:34 PM PDT by CurlyBill
BY MICHAEL BURKE
Journal Times
RACINE — It’s just possible that someday a guest of Hughes House Bed & Breakfast could glimpse something otherworldly or hear inexplicable bumps in the night.
Several people say they have seen and/or heard apparitions and other strange phenomena at 1500 S. Main St. Dan Dashner, co-owner of the house with Mike Reynolds, is one of them.
“Mike and I both have seen things and heard things,” Dashner said. He realizes that, in some people’s eyes, uttering that makes him crazy or a liar. But he stands by his statement.
Those who do believe in the supernatural take note of the fact that a previous resident of the house, Helen Kearney, died there in a fire in 1945. Another former resident, a man, died there after a long illness.
Dashner has several stories about odd occurrences during his three years in the house.
One of them starts with the night he awoke to a crash at 3:15 a.m. The glass of water he keeps on a side table each night was on the floor, shattered. Dashner had never knocked it off before but figured that’s what had happened.
The next night, the glass fell off again and broke. Dashner said he had been sleeping on his side, facing the other way, at the time. Again, the clock said 3:15 a.m.
The third night, against his better judgment, Dashner placed a glass of water on the side table. But he put it on the other side of the lamp from him, seemingly well out of reach.
When he was startled awake that night, the glass had been smashed onto the floor, with some shards of glass ending up 12 feet away. The time was precisely 3:15 a.m. Then Dashner stopped his glass of water routine.
About a year ago, he said, he was loading the dishwasher early in the morning and caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw a white, misty, formless shape moving toward the bathroom.
What Reynolds saw from inside the bathroom was a man; then he was gone.
People have also heard footsteps coming from the west wing when no one could possibly have been there, Dashner continued. He called them “definite footsteps — deliberate, very real.”
Rob Tomes, a carpenter, said he had his own strange experience in the house’s west wing about two years ago, as he worked on the second-floor landing.
“I saw some kind of movement down the hallway,” Tomes said. He thought he saw in the hallway someone who then went into the small rear bedroom.
“I thought somebody had got in,” Tomes said. “I walked down there, saying, ‘Hello, hello.’ It was upright, like a person. I thought maybe I caught a shadow of someone going into the room.”
When he entered the room, it was empty, although there is no other way out of there.
“After I heard that a lady died in the house, I thought it might be something supernatural,” Tomes said. “I’m not positive, but I know I saw something.”
Those accounts, and more, sound much like what Joyce Wilde of Racine saw while she rented part of the circa 1899 house.
About the man who died there, she said matter-of-factly, “It was his ghost that we kept seeing in the kitchen. ... It looked like him, and had the outline of his head and face, and was the same height.”
Wilde said whenever changes were being made to the house, the sightings and strange sounds would increase. “These spirits, whenever there was any kind of upset, we would see them a lot.” “You could just get a sense of their curiosity ... about what’s being changed.”
Wilde added, “I think if people were aware of the history of that house, and they open themselves up to it, I’m sure they can see (spirits).”
Dashner said he doesn’t plan to mention the strange occurrences on the Hughes House Web site. “But if people ask or comment or see something, my plan is to keep a journal.”
bttt
You do learn to trust that "hair standing up on the back of your neck" thing after a while, don't you?
Yup, you do - it's kept me alive more than once (with, um, more mundane encounters...).
It's now a separate line item in the marketing and public relations section of the B&B business plan template.
I have had several unique experiences of the otherworld in my life. I look at it as quite normal and a part of normal life, rather than 'paranormal', just all part of God's plan.
Hi, Keisha freeper from MN, I had a near death long ago, I went up in a tunnel, met my ancestors, angels , counsel etc. I know it happened, and is true, however, the devil can disguise himself, he can creep into someone's mind, so , also can he appear as white dust floating around, or make noises down a hallway, Satan, not the deceased people, is powerful, and in discounting the truth, he does these things, as that seems as if another power is present, it is , His, an evil one! He appears as ghosts, and often times white, because he knows he can only do those tricks here, he knows that the complete heaven where the Ultimate in power is, he can never be, he just tries his best in old houses etc.
If you believe in heaven or an after-life it makes perfect sense to me that there are ghosts or spirits in the next dimension. I know I would want to comfort my loved ones when I pass on if I possibly could.
My best friend was murdered and his body was hacked into pieces. The night after his death, I was lying on the couch and saw a pinprick of light across the room. The light magnified in intensity and floated closer to me until it hovered over my head.
Man, I'm getting goosebumps just reliving all this.
I was totally lucid and was studying and examining this light - awed but unafraid. It all felt so peaceful, and I knew it was my friend - it was his light. Then the light turned into what I can only describe as a ball of energy like looking inside a brilliant atomic molecule - ablaze with colors I'd never seen and pulsating.
I swear I have never taken any hallucinogenics. This was so real.
Then to my amazement the ball of light-energy descended to my feet and I felt it enter through the soles of my feet. I was overwhelmed with the warmest rolling undulations coursing through my body - like I was being washed with pure love inside. It lasted for about 5 minutes then the ball of light hovered over me again and then retreated to a pinprick and disappeared.
The same thing happened the very next night. And that was the last time. Even more interestingly, a medical condition I had never surfaced again. It's been 7 years.
Am I a believer you bet. There is no reason to scoff or be afraid of the life after.
I still miss my friend. They say it takes a second to fall in love but a lifetime to forget someone. So true.
ping
It's the reality show part that I have a problem with too. I like the show, but I'm sitting here saying "WHO CARES!" while that stuff is going on! I just want a serious, scientific, investigation. I was really looking forward to the Williard Library investigation and the bickering between Brian and that female investigator (don't remember her name) pretty much ruined it. Then they wonder why they leave with nothing.
Whatever you do, avoid the attic/basement/crawlspace...
In regards to the show;
When the two rooter guys were taunting the spirit to come out and show itslef, one of them felt a sharp pain on his backside. He found welts and a deep scratch. I dont know if it was just me but I got the impression of something evil with a claw.
Now THAT was interesting! Yes, I got the feeling that it was an evil presence too. I wonder why they didn't have a priest do a blessing on the house? Also, I wonder why they didn't try to find out what had changed since, according to what I thought I heard, things just started happening in the house after no activity for years. There was a weird looking statue sitting on a table in the background - looked like something from africa or south america. I know, I know - tin foil hat time! My ex-neighbors were experiencing strange things in their house after somebody gave them a really weird-looking figurine. They took it out of the house and trashed it and no more problems. Probably coincidence - but who knows.
I saw the same figure, clearly, twice when I was living in South America in the 80's.
Follow the money...
One would think there's more gruesome events in Motel 6's though.
As Naptowne says, go to the courthouse. Go to the County Clerk's office and ask to see the deed records. They'll either be on micofilm or the original books. Find your name entry (grantee) and whom you bought it from (grantor). Then taking the person/developer you bought it from, trace it back to whom he bought it from and so on back in time. Also, go to the plat records (maps of the county) and see what land grant your property came from to help see who the original landowners might have been. Also, check the local library for a county history book which will tell you about the people who once owned the land. Perhaps you'll find that at one time there was a house on your lot or a hanging in that big tree out back.
If it weren't for the 3 year old asking who that was, I'd say you should first look at shadows and passing cars. But that's creepy.
I took my wife and kids a couple of years ago and heard (or saw) nothing unusual, however. In a way, I was relieved. I'd hate to explain why I heard a group of men cheering nobody else could hear.
Yeah, I watched the last half of TAPS last night too, but only because there was nothing else on and it was at that famous haunted library. I too wonder why they only leave things up a couple hours and pack it in. Seems like it takes them longer to drive where ever and set up than it does for the actual "investigation". It's like the ghosts are supposed to say, "wow, there's those TAPS guys! time for my close up!" and come out smiling for the camera. Even if there were a ghost, they'd never know it flashing lights around and talking non stop.
I did laugh when whatshisface asked the spirits to make a noise and Tango (?) kicked something, lol.
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