My Haunted Travel Blog! By Rosella C. Rowe

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

In 1971, the house was bought at auction for $12,500 and gifted to the Holmes County Historical Society so the Victorian home could be restored to its true beauty! Unfortunately, all the furniture in the home had already been sold at the auction. But several of the pieces have been gifted to the society. The historical society worked for years to restore it, one floor at a time. It took three years to have all three floors open to the public. All the woodwork had to be thoroughly washed a total of six times, revealing light woodwork instead of the dark wood thought to be original to the house. The parquet floors also were thoroughly washed and scrubbed bringing the whole house back to life. And because of all the coal soot, even the ceilings had to be washed revealing the most beautiful artwork on the parlor ceiling.

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. I was told this space was used by Lena’s third ex-husband, Hershel Unkel, who was an inventor. The Guild members believe that Hershel, as well as Howard, a twin son born to Mr. Brightman and his first wife, Mrs. Brightman, reside in the basement.

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!