Many, many years ago, in the late 70s and early 80s, I along with two others used to clear houses of ghosts.  Back then there was no specific term for what we did.  Call it ghost hunting, ghost busting (long before Bill Murray et all made Ghostbusters in 1984), house cleansing, or even house exorcists.  We went in where there was a reported disturbance and did our best to determine what the cause was.  Depending on the decision of the residents, we might be asked to send the spirit or spirits on to where they needed to be.  The three of us were actually pretty good at it.  Even when it became just two of us, we still got the job done.

Most times the ghosts were spirits of people who had lived in the house who were either unaware that they had died or knew they were dead but didn’t know how to move on.  Occasionally, we ran into a ghost who just refused to leave their home.  There was only one time in all the time that we did this that we ran into something that might be called “evil.”  That was an experience I would rather not gone through but what it did do was give me the awareness of what real “evil” felt like.

When we moved into our current home, some 28 years ago, it didn’t take us long to figure out we were not alone.  The night we moved in (it was Halloween), we were so tired we just threw a mattress on the dining room floor and went to sleep.  That’s when I met Alice.

I would later discover that Alice was the daughter of the last owners of the house who had purchased it around 1908.  Alice had been the last to life here, as an adult, after both her parents had passed away and her brothers and sisters had grown and moved away.

As I tried to sleep, after two days of moving ourselves from over 3 hours away, I was shaken awake and saw this older woman standing over me, beckoning me to come and follow her.  Realize, dear reader, that I had been experiencing this kind of phenomena since I was a child of about 4, so it was nothing new or out-of-the-ordinary for me.  So, being so tired, I waved her off and told her to come back another night.  Little did I realize that that was my one chance to find out what she wanted and where she wanted me to go  Ghosts can be finicky that way.

The ghosts here, her father also haunts the house in the downstairs, have quieted down.  I think they approve of us, after all these years, and find no need to make their presences known anymore unless we have company.  Then they might let the guests know that there are others living in the house besides us.  So, for this former ghost-buster, life has been pretty quiet as far as spirits are concerned.

My husband recently ran across information about a gift shop in a haunted mansion in Marietta, Ohio called The Anchorage.  That’s about an hour and a half from where we live so we decided to check it out.

The Anchorage is a 23 room home built by the Putnam family in 1859 that is currently under renovation by the Washington County Historical Society.  There’s lots of history to this wonderful place.  I won’t go into it here other than to say it’s thought to have been part of the Underground Railroad and in the 60s through the 80s it was converted into a nursing home.  That should give you an idea of the possibilities for hauntings in the mansion.

So, when we first went there we didn’t take the tour but, in talking to the woman in the gift shop, we found out they had had psychic investigators, with their equipment, in and now wanted to find someone who had experience to help in assessing just what kind of ghosts they had there.  As we talked and let her know of our experience she was interested in us coming back and we were equally interested to see and feel the vibrations of this interesting house.

Close to a month later we got our chance for a private afternoon tour.  There area number of ghosts still residing there.  Some are family of the Putnams.  Some are former residents of the nursing home.  There were more nursing home ghosts but they’ve been helped to move on by uncovering their obituaries and helping them realize they are no longer living and it’s time to move on.

Is there anything “evil” there?  I would say no.  There is one spirit who prefers strangers stay out of his space and he has rushed a person or two.  There’s another who was not a very nice person when alive, but I wouldn’t say he’s “evil” in the true sense of the word.

Although we didn’t experience it while we were there, there has been music heard being played from the music room and the staff have found chairs moved and drawers open in various rooms in the mansion.  I was fortunate enough to sense a younger woman sitting at the piano in the music room.  When I told one of the guides about it, she showed me a picture of, I believe, a niece of the Putnam family who love to play the piano.

So we were able to help them verify some of their thoughts and instincts abut the energies in the mansion.  That made me feel good in a couple ways:  I was able to be of service to them and I proved to myself that I could still sense the spirits.  What a wonderful win-win situation!

The Anchorage is open May through October for tours.  Hours and other information are listed on their web site.  You can find it at https://www.hiddenmarietta.com/anchorage-tours   If you live close by or plan to be in the area, you really should check it out.  (We may go back for a nightly tour just to see if the activity increases.)  I think  you’ll find it interesting and exciting!

Love & Blessed Be