The Victorian House
Museum:
My First Visit &
Investigation:
The Victorian House
Museum in Millersburg, Ohio, is a hidden gem in the heart of Amish Country! So,
what makes this house so special? THERE ARE SO MANY REASONS! Some of which I
wouldn’t even come to know until my second visit there.
After
stumbling upon an ad on Facebook for the Victorian House Museum, the house
simply called my name. In an instant I thought, “I don’t care how far away this
place is, I am going!”
Soon
I was scheduled for my investigation and interview of the staff for my blog. I
was so excited!
When I arrived at the house, I began to
interview Mark Boley, director of the Holmes County Historical Society, and the
seven members of the Victorian House Ghost Guild. The Ghost Guild is a
paranormal team that leads the private paranormal investigations for the house.
The group also conducts its own paranormal investigations in the home
collecting their own evidence. Everyone was there to tell me about their
paranormal experiences as well as reveal their passions for the beautiful
Victorian home. Each volunteer is highly educated about the history of the
house and wishes to share The Victorian House Museum’s resident ghosts with the
world.
Additionally,
visitors who have come to see the house, and may not know it is haunted, have
experienced mind-blowing paranormal activity! According to Society Director Boley,
he believes the skeptics who tour the house are the ones who have the most
powerful experiences! Especially with Lena, who is one of the resident ghosts
and last owner of the Victorian home.
That’s
right – from shadow figures, disembodied
voices, batteries drained, sudden loss of internet during public events, rolling
blackouts (electrical outages rolling throughout the house during public
events), to the unexplainable movement of displayed objects locked in a glass
cabinet! (SEE YOUTUBE VIDEO AT BOTTOM)
Also,
full-body apparitions of a little girl, a Civil War surgeon, and the last
resident, Lena Lee, who is known to suddenly appear in your face, scaring
non-believers, have appeared. And last but not least, YOUR OWN RELATIVES coming
through during a paranormal investigation! Yep, you read that RIGHT! This house
is well-known by the Ghost Guild for paranormal investigators experiencing
their own relatives visiting them during investigations in the house. Sometimes
these loved ones even give information from beyond the grave solving family
mysteries!
But
first here is a brief history of the Victorian House Museum:
The
Victorian house is a Queen Ann style designed by Cleveland architect Fenimore C. Bates. It was built
by L.H. Brightman, an industrialist from Cleveland, for only $10,000. Construction began in 1900 on the home and it was occupied
sometime in 1901 however not completed until 1902. The family celebrated their first Thanksgiving in
the house in 1902. The house has 28 rooms.
Brightman
had 12 children; however, only eight lived in the residence, two died in
Cleveland before the house was built. The Brightmans’ residence was short-lived
for Mr. Brightman was an inventor and manufacturer of mill machinery shafts.
His business simply outgrew its facility in Millersburg in 1903 and he moved to
Shelby, Ohio. That move was also short lived and three years later the family
moved to California, where they remained.
 |
| L.H. Brightman |
Then
in 1907, C. W. Kochenerfer and a Dr. Lewis purchased the home turning it into a
sanitarium for alcohol and drug addicts, rheumatism and convalescent patients,
and those with other health issues. The sanitarium was marketed to patients who
simply wanted the comfort of home with rest and quiet. However, the small business failed leaving the
house empty for a few years until it was sold in 1909 to H.C. Lee, co-owner of
Lee & Griggs Construction Co., and the home remained in the Lee family
until 1971 when the last resident, Lee’s daughter, Lena Lee, left the home and
went to live in a nursing facility.
Lena
Lee loved the house; however, after three failed marriages, Lena fell into a
deep depression becoming known locally as the woman in black, because she wore
only black dresses after her third marriage. Lena was neither physically nor
financially able to keep the home up and closed most of the home down in order
save money on heat, only living in two rooms on the first floor. This left the
house is disrepair and covered in black soot from its coal burning stove in the
basement.
 |
| Harkness (H.C.) Lee and Lucy Ellen Payne |
 |
| Lena Lee |
Harry, the leader of the Ghost Guild, along with Paul and Melissa, took us
(my investigator friend Evan and me) into the Victorian House Museum, and we
were given a tour through the gorgeous home. We were also shown pictures of
ghostly activity caught on film over the years and were shown the known paranormal
hot spots in the house.
Soon
the Ghost Guild left us to our explorations, but they stayed in the house in
case we needed them later. Evan and I went up to the third floor to start our
investigation.
Earlier,
Harry had shown us a picture of two entities caught on camera in a room named the
“Maids Room” in the middle of the third floor. In this picture
you can see a shadow of a person on the door of the small bedroom; however,
standing just outside the door in the hallway, you see a woman with an old
fashioned bobbed hair cut, wearing a black
dress with a white collar. After
seeing this picture, we simply had to check it out and started in The Maids
Room first!
After seeing this picture, we
simply had to check it out and started in The Maids Room first!
While
we were investigating, the strangest thing happened! We were asking questions when
we noticed that my EMF reader was going crazy and was at its highest level, all
the way to a 5, which is extremely rare! It was even more mysterious that it
would stay at that high level for so long.
Evan
asked to see it and, when I gave it to him, it suddenly stopped. I took it back
and it did it again, moving all the way to 5. He then took it back again, and
again it stopped. He then said into the room, “If there is anyone in the room
with us doing this could you stop so Rosella could communicate with you? We
would like to ask you questions.” I agreed with him and then the EMF reader,
still in Evan’s hand, went off in response. We were hoping this was in
agreement. Then I looked over at Evan and, behind him, saw a dark large shadow
(looking just like it did in the picture Harry had just shown me earlier) dart
across the same door where the picture was taken.
After
seeing the figure, we waited a few minutes before asking more questions. Then I
stated to anyone there in the Maids Room with us that I was there to write
their story and tell the public about the Victorian House and why it’s so
special. Evan then asked, “Did you know she was coming? Did you know she wants
to tell your story?” In return, we heard a simple “Yes!” The activity died down
after that and soon the room filled with tension and, unfortunately, the EMF reader
started to act up again shooting to 5. We took this as a sign to leave the room,
so we moved to the ballroom.
In
the ballroom we asked questions for a few minutes and soon heard a loud sound
in the hallway that sounded like the wooden floorboards were being stomped on
really hard down the hall. Evan and I jumped, not expecting that kind of activity.
Moving
on, we walked out into the hallway on the third floor and called down for the
Ghost Guild volunteers. We told them our experiences so far, showing them our
EMF readers that were now BOTH lit up on red as high as they could go! The
Guild members told us this was really strange and thought that maybe it could
be an electrical problem because normally paranormal investigation groups come
in at night, when all the electric is shut off.
So, Harry
went downstairs and shut off all the house’s electric to see if that
was it. Unfortunately, our EMF detectors still were fully lit. Harry and Paul
informed us that this had never happened before, which was my suspicion, and it
was then that I knew we were being tested! It was as if we were being hazed by
the resident ghosts.
As a
sensitive, I knew I didn’t feel right in the house. It simply didn’t make
sense! Especially after hearing about the many paranormal experiences the Ghost
Guild had. Nothing added up! I simply felt an odd energy in air inside the home
and knew I was being…..BLOCKED! This was the first time I had ever experienced something
like this.
Soon
Paul, a Ghost Guild member and volunteer, walked Evan and me down to the
basement where he proceeded to ask questions along with Evan while I did an EMF
scan of the room. We were at the back of the basement in a room full of tools.
Using
our EMF readers that had finally subsided in their unusual reactions as we
walked into the basement, we tried to communicate; however, we would only get
spikes when walking in and out of a certain area near the front of the house.
As I did, I experienced a very cold spot. Paul then directed us to move toward
the end of the basement where he thought we would have more action. We walked
back near the basement stairs and I sat down in an old chair. Then Evan began
to ask questions aloud to Hershel, an entity believed to be in the basement. “Hershel,
are you the one here with us right now?” To which Evan’s EMF spiked a bit. Then
Paul spoke to Hershel, “These are my new friends. Rosella is a writer and wants
to write a story about the house and can tell your story if you let her. Can
you talk to my new friends? They are nice people and aren’t here to harm
anyone.” Evan’s EMF reader made a little spike, again lasting a minute, and
then all went quiet. After a few moments, Paul told us he thought that the two
spirits had moved from the room and we followed him upstairs to the second
floor.
Evan,
Paul and I walked into the room designated the “Children’s Room and Nursery.”
The paranormal group and volunteers believe that children from the Lee family
and, possibly, the Brightman family, like to stay in this room. In fact, Mark Boley,
the historical society director, has had some vivid experiences witnessing a
little girl apparition in this room.
Mark
described walking into the Children’s Room to check to see if the paranormal
group visiting that night needed anything. Instead he found a blond little girl
with blue eyes dressed in a white old-fashioned night gown standing in front of
an old dresser looking right at him. He thought he was crazy for a moment,
rubbed his eyes, and walked to the master bedroom, which is beside the children’s
room, to wait for the group to come down the hall. He wanted to see if the
group saw what he had seen on their own.
He said
they walked into the room and shouted out, “Look, there’s a little girl!” Mark
then walked into the room and stood behind the group and watched a member of
the group lie down on the floor and reach out toward the little girl slowly, so
he didn’t scare her. In turn, she also reached out and soon their two fingers
touched!! That’s when a cat apparition appeared on the bed! Mark reported that
this was the ONLY time he has ever seen the girl or the cat appear.
When Paul,
Evan and I were in the room we all sat down on the floor. I still felt like the
spirits there were blocking me. The air felt still and stale as we sat there,
and we began to speak aloud to any spirits in the little bedroom. I told the
spirits who I was and why I was there. I also told them about my children and
that I loved children’s books and toys, and my EMF reader lit up in response. I
talked about my favorite books to read to my children, one was about Lake Erie.
When I said this, my EMF reader lit up like Christmas! It really liked Lake
Erie and at the time, we didn’t understand why. However, we soon would….
I
then got out my cell phone and asked if it wanted to see pictures of my kids. I
also had some PDFs of children’s books on my phone for my own kids that I could
show the spirit if it wanted to see them. The spirit, I think was the same
little girl that Mark had experienced, lit up my EMF again. So, I started to
pull up pictures of my kids and showed them, I then showed them videos of my
kids and read then a children’s book from my phone. It loved it all and kept
responding to what I was saying again and again.
Soon
Evan also took out his phone and began showing the little spirit his cat,
because we thought it liked cats, and the spirit really loved it and lit up his
EMF and mine in unison. It was amazing!
We
knew we had to go so we wrapped up by saying goodbye. I told Paul and the little girl spirit, that I
would be coming back. I said the next time I came I could bring the children’s
book about Lake Erie with me if it wanted me to and would like that, and my EMF
lit up again with glee.
We
were walked out by all the volunteers including Mark, the director, who had
come to bid me goodbye and invite me back. I turned toward the house, and facing
the marvelous and amazing home, and said, “I will be back. Something about this
place is calling to me. It’s like it has a hold on me that I just don’t
understand yet.” But I knew that one day I would.
As
everyone looked at me, they weren’t surprised. They told me they all felt the
same way. “It’s like the house gets you and just drawls you in,” Harry said as
he looked at me. Paul nodded and soon we all were looking at the house
together.
Soon,
I was getting into my car to start my long three-hour drive back home. As I
pulled my Black Honda Pilot out of the drive and starting to drive away from
the house, I looked back at it saying aloud, “I will be back. I still have much
more to learn from you.”
Later
that night, I had a dream that the great granddaughter of the Brightman family
was in the Children’s Room. She calmly was looking around in the small room
with endearing emotion, touching the little dolls and children’s trinkets,
slowly walking about the room.
The
next day, Harry happened to call me. I told him I had a dream that a granddaughter
was coming to visit the house. Then Harry told me that Mark had to talk with me
because over the weekend something amazing had happened.
The
next day I was on my way to the house again. I just couldn’t stay away! As soon
as I walked in, Mark pulled me aside like an overwhelmed child in a candy
store, and began telling me that the granddaughter of Dorthea Brightman had
come to visit over the weekend. He said she had spent a lot of time in the
Children’s Room upstairs and even told him about an experience that she had when entering the room, she felt chills and she had also experienced another event several
years ago in the basement during another visit to the house.
She
said that she was standing near a small baby buggy (similar to one that her Grandmother
Dorthea had taken a picture with as a child that still hung on the wall in the
house upstairs). The carriage in the basement began to move slowly, and soon
rolled across the room completely on its own.
Mark
was amazed and talked to her a little bit about the paranormal activity in the
house and happened to ask her where she was from…. HOLD ON TO YOUR SEAT…!! Lake
Erie area, she told him!! Mark says and I quote, “I almost died right then!” He
said to me, still in shock. “There’s our
Lake Erie connection!” he said with emphasis to me. “Yes!” I replied. Then I told
Mark all about my dream.
Mark
was blown away. “Oh my God!” he exclaimed. “Wow, just wow. You never could have
known that she would come! That is just crazy. Just wow!”
So
would I recommend visiting the Victorian House Museum or booking a paranormal
investigation of your own at the house!! I think you already know the answer!
Until
next time…I will tell you about my return investigation to the house that
changed my life forever! Each of my visits to the home is even more fascinating
then the last! I hope you stay intrigued!
©Rosella
C. Rowe
For More Information:
Victorian House Museum Website: https://www.holmeshistory.com/victorian-house
YouTube:
Historical Video: https://youtu.be/CcIXy97PNkI
Book
A Private Investigation:
- YouTube
Ghost Guild’s Paranormal Activity at The Victorian House Museum:
