My Visit to the Hall:

        If you haven’t heard of Octagon Hall in Franklin, Kentucky you will certainly want to look it up after reading this article and plan your visit!

           My good friend and buddy, Barry Gaunt; who is a Ghost Hunter and Shaman, happens to be a volunteer and paranormal event planner at the historical Octagon Hall & Museum.  Barry had invited me down for a visit and today I was on my way. It was a hot day in July as I drove up the grassy driveway which winds around the historical southern- property near the small octagon home.  

          Our friend Melvin (another Ghost Hunter) who lived nearby and the Museum’s volunteer, Deb both greeted me at my car. They had been waiting for me.

          As we all waited for Barry, they briefly spoke to me about the house and land. Then they took me inside and began talking to me about the history as well as some wonderful ghost stories, and experiences they both have experienced. 

          As I listened, I took out my paranormal gear, turned it on, then placed it in front of myself on the large table in the dining room area of the house. Then I picked up my pen and note pad to take notes when my EMF-reader lit up and began making noise. Trying to see why it lit up, we later found that it only went did when Deb asked me questions. Deb, who has had many experiences in the museum, then told me, that it was defiantly Mr. Caldwell, who was the past owner of the Octagon Hall. She thought that he must be trying to interact with me. Perhaps he was checking out my notes for my article.

          I learned from Deb that the property was built in 1847 by Andre Jackson Caldwell (who had just interacted with me via my EMF) who wanted a house for his family but he didn’t want a simple house. No, he wanted his house to be distinct, so he created an octagon shaped home.

          All was well until 1862 when two forts, Henry and Donelson fell and the Confederate forces evacuated Bowling Green area in Kentucky and sought refuge at the Hall. Deb informed me that there was an estimate of eight to even ten thousand Confederate soldiers camped out on the Hall’s property.  Days later, the Union army came and took occupation of Octagon Hall. These awful events left the poor Caldwell’s tortured for years by the war and the Union.

          Barry arrived at the Hall and began telling me about the property. He has been a volunteer at the Octagon Hall for 11 years. He and Melvin are friends and ghost hunters with the same ghost hunting team in the south.

          They both took me outside to the back of the property away from the house to show me a Slave Cemetery where 17 dead slaves were buried. I noticed that some graves were marked and others weren’t. “We know were some unmarked are and some we don’t,” Barry stated and simply shrugged his shoulders. You could really tell he cared for the land and those who had come before his time to the Hall and its property. He had a real passion along with Melvin, for history and the Civil War.  

          The cemetery also has 2 soldiers buried there. These were men had died tragically on the property while trying to seek refuge in the house during the raging-war. Octagon Hall was known as a safe home for soldiers seeking refuge from the enemy but some had died trying to escape. One soldier ran to the house from the railroad on a wounded foot trying to get help. The family put him upstairs in the attic to hide him while they dealt with the enemy soldier at their front door looking for him.  Tragically; the poor solider died waiting in the attic from his wounds.     

          The second solider was found at the front door of the home one morning who had tried knocking on the door trying to attempting to wake the family in the night for help, but sadly died in the process.

          Barry also told me that there were several mass graves of soldiers on the property.  The house is just a beacon for paranormal activity and I was told many stories about people’s interesting experiences; as well as their volunteers, but one story really stuck out!

          Deb, who has been a volunteer at the Hall for some time, told me about a ghost hunt her team had on the property one night. She said she wanted to go out-front and investigate a certain part of the property near the front door of the house. Barry described to me how she had asked him about it for weeks leading up to the event. However, Barry who is a sensitive and Shaman, warned Deb not to investigate the area. He said he had a bad feeling about the land and how he had seen a dark shadow-figure there one night while leaving by himself. Barry warned Deb that he felt it was something evil he had seen that night and wanted her to stay away from that part of the land on the property but Barry says that Deb was, “set on it.” Deb asked him again to come with them but Barry told her he wouldn’t go and investigate with her group. Instead, he would wait for them on the on back porch.

          Deb walked to the front of the property and got out her ghost box out and began asking, “Who are you?” However, she didn’t get the reply she thought she would get. Instead a spirit with a strange and bitter voice said, “Deb.” To which she answered back, “Yes, that is my name. What do you want?” The reply got even worse, saying: “Blood!” Then according to her fellow investigators who screamed for Barry, Deb was jumped! She suddenly didn’t know who she was. In addition, she was speaking in another language they couldn’t make out or recognize. Barry says her fellow investigators described the voice like so, low and dark, it had a demon-like tone that you might hear in a movie. The investigators took Deb to Barry who was on the back porch. Barry says Deb tried standing up and balancing herself near a tree but couldn’t and then he heard the voice himself and knew what he had to do.

          Barry quickly ran inside and got his Rosary which had a long cross on it and walked outside to his friend Deb in need. He knew she was possessed and had been taken over by a bad spirit on the property. Holding the cross to Deb’s forehead she screamed at him as he said prayers to banish the spirit. As he did this, the cross burned into the skin of Deb’s forehead and she screamed in pain. Barry, who has experienced this before, continued to pray and banish the evil- demonic spirit from his friend until it left.

          While interviewing Barry, he informed me that he knew how to get rid of it and it wasn’t his first rodeo. He also told me it wanted Deb and that’s why she wanted to investigate that area of the property because the spirit had been working on her for weeks leading up to that night. Barry and Deb believe that it wanted to posses Deb, to get into the house. Why?!  They don’t know but also don’t care to find out! Barry told me as he laughed-whole heartedly, while making his statement.

          The important thing is, Deb is safe and Barry helped a friend, doing what he does best!

          I also had an interesting experience with Barry on the property! While in the basement with Barry and Melvin, and fellow visiting Ghost Hunters from ESP: Explorers of Spirit Phenomena, Leaders; Tracy Watts and Terri Rohde; we thought we heard Barry (who was sitting at the time, right beside me) say, “I got my gun,” really loud.

          Terri and I looked at each other oddly. Then we asked him why he had said that? Barry looked at us quizzically and asked, “Said what?”

          We told him what we heard him clearly say. I even pointed out how he was right next to me and I heard him. However, he insisted he didn’t say anything at all. Terri, who had been recording the whole time then stopped her tape, rewound it, and began to play it back for us all to hear.

          To our amazement, you heard Barry speak right before it, then another voice which sounded really close to his say, “I got my gun,” in a gruff-tone, but clear as day! However, the sentence spoken hadn’t been from Barry. He was right, it wasn’t him!

          Later we all went to the 2^nd floor of the house and walked into the Master Bedroom. Tracy and Terri set their REM-Pod down on the king bed in the room, which instantly went off but wouldn’t stop. In fact, the spirit blew up the battery inside the REM-Pod!  Tracy got out the old battery and replaced it quickly, then placed the device back on the bed where it had been and same thing happened again!  The device turned on right away and wouldn’t stop and it was loud.  

          A minute later, Barry called downstairs to his friend and longtime investigator familiar with the situation, Billy Sims. Billy came running in the room and shouted to the entity (who he seemed to know well), “Please turn it off, Hon!  Don’t blow up these nice girls battery.”  No kidding, as soon as Billy said that, the spirit must have stepped away because the REM-Pod stopped and from then on, only came on at Billy’s command. 

          So does the Octagon Hall have paranormal activity? Yes, it surely does! So make sure to plan you visit to the Hall! And be sure to say hello to Barry for me!

 

    ©Rosella C. Rowe