Okay so it took me a while to post this, but I spent a week in October a the house to work on it. My first time staying alone at the house! Mom and Dad were in Europe for three weeks so no option to stay there. Gotta say I was all nervous because of my sensitivity to ghosties - not sure if there were any there...but I guess this would be the time to find out. So got there about 5:00 pm on Sunday, unpacked, dragged my mattress upstairs and situated lights in every room of the house - as I am like a five-year-old, and deathly afraid of inside darkness. Outside dark - no problem I could walk around in the woods all night, inside - forget it. So I am back upstairs getting my bedroom and the bathroom situated, and I go to walk back downstairs and every single lamp I plugged in is out! WTF? Turns out as the electric is so damn old, I blew either a fuse or the sockets fried, so no lights for me down there. Luckily the dining room and the parlor have ceiling lights, so I leave those on.
Our plumbing is wacky - the toilet upstairs was clogged - so off to the hardware store for a plunger and drano - and the upstairs shower leaks into the foyer below - so a bucket and plastic will do for now to catch the waterfall coming out of the ceiling. When I walked into the downstairs bathroom - a giant mushroom is growing in the middle of the floor! And to top it off, a huge water bug is in the tub - well on that note, I shut the door and walked away, and pretend neither were there all week. Such a girl thing to do. I wonder if the mushroom will be bigger when I go back in November.
Monday I start in on the rest of the parlor, and get it totally stripped down. As I opened up one wall the wysteria plant that is growing outside is also growing up inside the walls - all the way up to the Master bedroom - ah - balloon framing. It was funny tho - me the ultimate plant lady with plants inside the walls. Luckily this trip around there were no injuries like the last trip - although the parlor window fell out, landed on my tricep- hit the floor and broke - oh well - windows being replaced friday anyway - oh and I did step on another nail- but it was a trim nail- small and no damage - luckily.
The Mexican - oh the mexicans - I can't stand em. I dont know what the deal is with male mexicans but there should be a law that they are not allowed to STARE! Monday I have to mow the lawn - there is almost two acres of lawn before the property goes to woods. I have a push mower so it is a bit of a task. Before I start ripping apart the parlor - gotta mow the lawn. Across Courtland Avenue is a commerical plumbing business, and some of the Mexicans that work there used to live in the house - they are the ones that left it like a pigstye....anyway - the minute I walk out of the house - 6 of them stop, lean against the construction trailer, and proceed to watch me the entire time I am mowing the grass - Three hours!!! Three Fucking Hours!!! So creepy - I am going to plant some Eliagnus Shrubs on my next trip down between the Crepe Myrtles and the Cedar Trees so I can block their view- and mine of them...I hate them And for the rest of the week, every time I stepped out of the house - either to go to the store or to bring construction debris out to the back - they stopped and stared! Arg!
Nighttime was a bit of a freaky thing at the house - the first night was terrible - kept waking up to the sounds of CHICKENS - yes chickens clucking and giant trucks zooming down the street. Unfortunately right now Main Street is a by-pass of Highway 55 - with a one-lane bridge -that makes lots of sense..That will be closed up once they reach that part of 55 - making it a 4-lane highway so they will close up that particular entrance to Main Street. Anyway, at all hours of the night - huge 18-wheelers would come whaling by the house - scaring the shit out of me every time. I also left my bedroom door open - I guess in the back of my mind was the ghostie thing, and I kept waking up and looking into the hallway - so after that I shut the door - much better. Also too - no TV, no Computer, so one it got dark (about 6:30) it was like upstairs, and thats that. Even to put Christie out to pee was a freaky deal. She felt it too and would not hang out downstairs AT ALL. As soon as I would let her in - zip - right up the stairs. My protector - ha! So advil pm and wine helped me along through the nighttime - like a farmer - up with the sun to work, and in bed at darkness.
Tueday - ripped down the dining room ceiling - a 5 hour jobbie - again with 100 years of dirt falling in my face and on my head as I went. After I cleaned up, I showered and went for a burger down in Oriental and M&M's....nice place - great burgers. The decision to stop after the ceiling was that a definite shadow passed me as I was working - scared the piss out of me, and I ran out of the house! I went back in and yelled at the house! Told whatever might be there that I am fixing the house and I will share the house with them, but no more scaring me! I gotta get Tracy there to see if she feels it too, as she is about 10,000 times more sensitive to the paranormal than I am.
The remainder of the week was spent gutting the rest of the dining room, more of the foyer and I started on the library. By far - that room had the most dirt, sand, dusts, and nests inside the walls out of all of them. I guess due to the fact the the Fireplace bedroom above it - it's floors need some work so a lot of dirt from over the years came to rest between the floor and the ceiling below it.
Friday - they guys were in to replace seven windows (out of the 40 that need to be replaced) and I got about 3/4 the way through the library and I was like - I am done! My hands were killing me - I had blisters on my blisters (swinging that crow-bar and hammer all week will do that to ya, I guess) and my carpal-tunnel in my wrists was really bad. So I wait for the window red-necks to leave - and oh boy were they red-necks, and I shower and think about going out. But, I am so freaked out about going downstairs in the dark - the decision took about two hours to make - to actually walk downstairs and out the door, and into the jeep. (how old are we?)
I wanted to go to the New Bern Historical District Ghost walk on Friday - I was going to even ask my neighbor, Miss Carol, to come with me, but it had been pouring all week and friday was especially torrential -- so that wasn't happening. Finally, I get up the guts - and I am going to go to M&M's for Dinner.......Being a person who is not used to locking doors in my NJ house, I didn't even think about the deadbolt lock on the front door. So I go zooming down the stairs, rush to the front door, and pull it open and proceed to rip the deadbolt right out of the door frame! Just goes to show that if someone wanted to get in a good kick to the door would have done the trick. So fuck it, I say, and hop in the Mighty Jeep - to take me away from the scary house. Well, as we have no driveway - I have been parking on the grass by the front porch....I back out and proceed to RUN OVER THE MAILBOX! ASSHOLE! Again, fuck it and go to dinner.
Now the problem is that I can't lock the front door when I get back home. John is bugging out on the phone that I need to put a board up or something - so I am in the foyer - in the dark - with a flashlight, sorry but I think flashlights make things worse when you are scared of the dark....cast a bunch of shadows. So in the end I put one of those security chain locks on. I am leaving the next day so I figure I can go out the back door, and lock the bolt behind me......well this is the true test of being in the dark.
Saturday - wake up at 5:40 am - pouring rain - sheets of rain outside. I go around and shut all the windows - forgot the bathroom tho - my father later reports to me, get all my shit in the Jeep, and I am ready to go. BUT I have to turn the electricity off at the box that is in the summer kitchen. Even in the daytime that room is DARK...so now it is Pitch Black. I have Christie on her leash, and I chain lock the front door....flashlight in hand, so I walk back to the summer kitchen, and shut the power down....by the time I get to the back door in the foyer - I am fucking sweating! The back door is also 114 years old, and has a wacky knob on it that makes it difficult to shut from the outside...well I played with the deadbolt for a long time (it was prob 3 minutes, but when panicked, time is different) Think I get it locked, and run to the Jeep in the Pouring Rain. Off we go! Idiot me did not put my back window in - I left it in Jersey, so the rain is just coming in getting me and Christie both soaked and shivering. The rain was so bad I literally could not see two feet in front of me - but eventually I drove out of it - by the time I got to Virginia, so we dried out a bit.......Home at last eleven hours later. But it took me about a week and a half to get over the freakyness of the house.
Next trip: November 25th! ..
Our plumbing is wacky - the toilet upstairs was clogged - so off to the hardware store for a plunger and drano - and the upstairs shower leaks into the foyer below - so a bucket and plastic will do for now to catch the waterfall coming out of the ceiling. When I walked into the downstairs bathroom - a giant mushroom is growing in the middle of the floor! And to top it off, a huge water bug is in the tub - well on that note, I shut the door and walked away, and pretend neither were there all week. Such a girl thing to do. I wonder if the mushroom will be bigger when I go back in November.
Monday I start in on the rest of the parlor, and get it totally stripped down. As I opened up one wall the wysteria plant that is growing outside is also growing up inside the walls - all the way up to the Master bedroom - ah - balloon framing. It was funny tho - me the ultimate plant lady with plants inside the walls. Luckily this trip around there were no injuries like the last trip - although the parlor window fell out, landed on my tricep- hit the floor and broke - oh well - windows being replaced friday anyway - oh and I did step on another nail- but it was a trim nail- small and no damage - luckily.
The Mexican - oh the mexicans - I can't stand em. I dont know what the deal is with male mexicans but there should be a law that they are not allowed to STARE! Monday I have to mow the lawn - there is almost two acres of lawn before the property goes to woods. I have a push mower so it is a bit of a task. Before I start ripping apart the parlor - gotta mow the lawn. Across Courtland Avenue is a commerical plumbing business, and some of the Mexicans that work there used to live in the house - they are the ones that left it like a pigstye....anyway - the minute I walk out of the house - 6 of them stop, lean against the construction trailer, and proceed to watch me the entire time I am mowing the grass - Three hours!!! Three Fucking Hours!!! So creepy - I am going to plant some Eliagnus Shrubs on my next trip down between the Crepe Myrtles and the Cedar Trees so I can block their view- and mine of them...I hate them And for the rest of the week, every time I stepped out of the house - either to go to the store or to bring construction debris out to the back - they stopped and stared! Arg!
Nighttime was a bit of a freaky thing at the house - the first night was terrible - kept waking up to the sounds of CHICKENS - yes chickens clucking and giant trucks zooming down the street. Unfortunately right now Main Street is a by-pass of Highway 55 - with a one-lane bridge -that makes lots of sense..That will be closed up once they reach that part of 55 - making it a 4-lane highway so they will close up that particular entrance to Main Street. Anyway, at all hours of the night - huge 18-wheelers would come whaling by the house - scaring the shit out of me every time. I also left my bedroom door open - I guess in the back of my mind was the ghostie thing, and I kept waking up and looking into the hallway - so after that I shut the door - much better. Also too - no TV, no Computer, so one it got dark (about 6:30) it was like upstairs, and thats that. Even to put Christie out to pee was a freaky deal. She felt it too and would not hang out downstairs AT ALL. As soon as I would let her in - zip - right up the stairs. My protector - ha! So advil pm and wine helped me along through the nighttime - like a farmer - up with the sun to work, and in bed at darkness.
Tueday - ripped down the dining room ceiling - a 5 hour jobbie - again with 100 years of dirt falling in my face and on my head as I went. After I cleaned up, I showered and went for a burger down in Oriental and M&M's....nice place - great burgers. The decision to stop after the ceiling was that a definite shadow passed me as I was working - scared the piss out of me, and I ran out of the house! I went back in and yelled at the house! Told whatever might be there that I am fixing the house and I will share the house with them, but no more scaring me! I gotta get Tracy there to see if she feels it too, as she is about 10,000 times more sensitive to the paranormal than I am.
The remainder of the week was spent gutting the rest of the dining room, more of the foyer and I started on the library. By far - that room had the most dirt, sand, dusts, and nests inside the walls out of all of them. I guess due to the fact the the Fireplace bedroom above it - it's floors need some work so a lot of dirt from over the years came to rest between the floor and the ceiling below it.
Friday - they guys were in to replace seven windows (out of the 40 that need to be replaced) and I got about 3/4 the way through the library and I was like - I am done! My hands were killing me - I had blisters on my blisters (swinging that crow-bar and hammer all week will do that to ya, I guess) and my carpal-tunnel in my wrists was really bad. So I wait for the window red-necks to leave - and oh boy were they red-necks, and I shower and think about going out. But, I am so freaked out about going downstairs in the dark - the decision took about two hours to make - to actually walk downstairs and out the door, and into the jeep. (how old are we?)
I wanted to go to the New Bern Historical District Ghost walk on Friday - I was going to even ask my neighbor, Miss Carol, to come with me, but it had been pouring all week and friday was especially torrential -- so that wasn't happening. Finally, I get up the guts - and I am going to go to M&M's for Dinner.......Being a person who is not used to locking doors in my NJ house, I didn't even think about the deadbolt lock on the front door. So I go zooming down the stairs, rush to the front door, and pull it open and proceed to rip the deadbolt right out of the door frame! Just goes to show that if someone wanted to get in a good kick to the door would have done the trick. So fuck it, I say, and hop in the Mighty Jeep - to take me away from the scary house. Well, as we have no driveway - I have been parking on the grass by the front porch....I back out and proceed to RUN OVER THE MAILBOX! ASSHOLE! Again, fuck it and go to dinner.
Now the problem is that I can't lock the front door when I get back home. John is bugging out on the phone that I need to put a board up or something - so I am in the foyer - in the dark - with a flashlight, sorry but I think flashlights make things worse when you are scared of the dark....cast a bunch of shadows. So in the end I put one of those security chain locks on. I am leaving the next day so I figure I can go out the back door, and lock the bolt behind me......well this is the true test of being in the dark.
Saturday - wake up at 5:40 am - pouring rain - sheets of rain outside. I go around and shut all the windows - forgot the bathroom tho - my father later reports to me, get all my shit in the Jeep, and I am ready to go. BUT I have to turn the electricity off at the box that is in the summer kitchen. Even in the daytime that room is DARK...so now it is Pitch Black. I have Christie on her leash, and I chain lock the front door....flashlight in hand, so I walk back to the summer kitchen, and shut the power down....by the time I get to the back door in the foyer - I am fucking sweating! The back door is also 114 years old, and has a wacky knob on it that makes it difficult to shut from the outside...well I played with the deadbolt for a long time (it was prob 3 minutes, but when panicked, time is different) Think I get it locked, and run to the Jeep in the Pouring Rain. Off we go! Idiot me did not put my back window in - I left it in Jersey, so the rain is just coming in getting me and Christie both soaked and shivering. The rain was so bad I literally could not see two feet in front of me - but eventually I drove out of it - by the time I got to Virginia, so we dried out a bit.......Home at last eleven hours later. But it took me about a week and a half to get over the freakyness of the house.
Next trip: November 25th! ..
1 comment:
Oh my Christine.. you definately have a house with history. Look at all those orbs in the photo with the boy sitting on the stairs.
Wishing you lots of luck in you New Home. "Happy Renovating and History Hunting too"
With Love,
Your friend Kathy K.
Post a Comment