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!

           

      

       ©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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4NIE-sLXYE&feature=youtu.be

My Return to Bennett’s!

    I was so excited to be invited back to Bennett’s Publical Family Sports Grill in Miamisburg, Ohio, after Gov. DeWine lifted the statewide lockdown in response to COVID-19. (To read about my first adventure at Bennett’s click here:  http://myhauntedtravelblog.blogspot.com/2020/05/bennettspublical-family-sports-grill-i.html) I found out the restaurant was finally open – not only for pizza but so I could investigate the second floor, which the manager was opening up just for me! I couldn’t wait!

          I walked through the doors and was sweetly greeted by the manager and bartender, who were soon leading me upstairs to the second floor. As I stepped up the last stair reaching the second floor banquet area, I felt two spirits down the hall toward the back of the building.

          The first spirit I could feel was on the right. It was the male I had originally felt the very first time I entered this building years ago while having dinner downstairs with my daughter. This spirit was a nice man who unfortunately had died tragically in a fire. The manager told me that where I stood was the very spot where, years before, an older women, who was a guest at one of the banquet gatherings being held on the second floor, refused to go any further into the room or even sit with other guests at the banquet table. She had felt the male spirit and informed the staff she didn’t wish to be closer. I was impressed because I was standing in the same spot and I also sensed him. That moment was really awesome!

          Then there was the second spirit directly across the hall from the large banquet room behind a locked door. To me, this felt like a menacing, negative entity that had energy about it that you could feel throughout the hall.

          How odd that I hadn’t sensed this spirit during my last few visits to Bennett’s! As a sensitive, I normally can feel spirits in a building after I’ve been in it for a few minutes. “Hmmm, that is strange. Perhaps it was hiding from me,” I thought. I collected my things and walked down the hallway into the larger banquet room where I felt the male who died in the fire resided.

          I set up my equipment and began my EMF sweep. As I did, the manager and bartender of the restaurant began telling me about their experiences in the room. Then suddenly we heard a large creaking sound from the chandelier located above my head near the fireplace. I asked the two staff members behind me if they had heard it too and they confirmed they had.

          Finding nothing during my EMF sweep, I began asking questions aloud to the man. Then I heard, “you already know the answers.” Determining that he was not in the mood to talk, we all walked across the hall to the room with the locked door. Before unlocking and opening the door, the manager and bartender warned me about the negatives that came with entering this locked apartment.

The manager pushed open the door and I was swiftly hit with a blast of raw emotion. “Wow!” I said aloud to the two staff members as I took a deep breath and cautiously stepped into little apartment. Inside, it felt very oppressive and still – like someone was watching us and wanted to harm us but was deliberating how.

          As I walked around the small space, I could tell the manager and bartender were definitely getting emotional being inside the apartment. Obviously, this little place had impacted them greatly. I asked them to tell me about what happened here that was getting them so upset. Their stories about several experiences while within the space poured out of them with emotion and tears.

          The bartender first spoke up telling me that she had asthma and was fine anywhere else in the building except in this apartment. She said each time she entered the room, her asthma was triggered and she felt like she couldn’t breathe. “It’s as if someone is choking me!” Then I suddenly remembered she began coughing once we got on the second floor, especially as we got closer to the locked apartment. While telling me her story, she began coughing very hard and had shortness of breath. In fact, she started to cough so hard that we thought she might pass out. Excusing herself from the room, she went into the hallway and, within twenty minutes, began to catch her breath and breathe normally again. Even her emotions, which were really showing in the small space, dissipated as soon as she hit the hallway. She reported that this always happened while in that room and she felt sad and depressed when inside. “It’s like someone is trying to suck the life from you.”

          Knowing the bartender was okay, the manger and I went back into the small apartment and she began telling me why she feared the space. The female manager had two boys who occasionally worked at the restaurant and used to come up to the empty apartment to rest on a couch after a long night, in between shifts, or during breaks. The manager explained to me that her sons often experienced wild things and acted differently or unpleasantly after resting in the space. So much so, that she begged them to never rest in the little apartment again. She also removed all the furniture so the boys could no longer sleep between shifts or while on breaks.

          Later on, I interviewed the manager’s younger son, Ben, about his experiences in the apartment. This is what he told me. While sleeping, he said, he dreamt about the ceiling fan in the room going extremely fast and the light was on. The fan quickly began to form into a circle shape ball of light that spun, and then he felt someone holding him down with so much force that he couldn’t move or breathe. He said he told himself to wake up and tried to move but couldn’t. That’s when he heard a male voice scream at him. He said he couldn’t make out what it said but he woke up fast and ran from the room. When Ben returned to his shift, the bartender noticed he was very moody and not acting like his normal self. He reported to me that he felt very negative and felt like all his energy was gone – like someone had just taken the life out of him. He said he will never go into the apartment again.

          I asked Ben if the ceiling fan was turned on when he first entered the room and he said no, it wasn’t. He also reported that his father, who used to live there and had stayed the night a few more times there since, had often told him about hearing the same screams.

          His mother also told me that on separate occasions, both boys have gotten ill three days after resting upstairs in the apartment and it’s happened more than once to each son. She was really emotional when explaining their illness and their experiences, as any mother would be, but she also told me that everyone who has lived in the apartment since the apartment was added onto the building has ended up with something tragic happening, such as a bad accident or drug addiction. And all the married couples living there were divorced shortly after leaving the space.

          While I was alone in the apartment, I was taking pictures. The two employees were in the hallway waiting for me when I saw a dark shadow shot from the doorway to the other side of the room. I shouted out to the manager in the hallway, “Hey did you two move in the hall or turn on a light?” making sure it wasn’t one of their shadows that I saw. The manager stepped inside and told me they hadn’t moved or turned on another light. That they were talking while waiting for me.

          However, later, when reviewing my evidence, I found a very tall shadow figure standing in front of the bare wall where I had seen the shadow dart. But the most fascinating thing about this picture is the figure looked like it was about seven feet tall. It seemed like it was a male with its arms at its side and I could see a translucent, self-eliminating orb floating above its head and between its legs. The shadow figure also had facets of light coming from its right side, under its arm and its feet. But this picture wasn’t the only thing I got! After taking my photos and stepping out of the room, I heard a voice say, “I likeee my kiddies.” I felt this creepy voice was referring to the manager’s two sons. Then I heard a slight chuckle which made all the hairs on my neck stand up.

I’m sure you can understand that after hearing that we all left the second floor in a hurry and went downstairs for some pizza! I couldn’t leave without having a slice or two as well as their famously delicious pretzel bits with cheddar-dipping sauce!

          I also couldn’t resist stepping into the downstairs bathroom to say “Hi” to my fellow-ghost friend who liked to hang out there. I believe it must be an older female entity. When I said this to manager, she told me that the wall in the bathroom was shared with the bar next-door, Good Time Charley’s. She said a long time ago there was a female owner of the bar who was rumored to leave her two children unattended often. A fire broke out in the bar and the two children died in the fire. So it makes sense that this could be the mother and past owner of the bar still residing near her bar, hiding in the bathroom, racked with guilt.

          While at Bennett’s, I also had the special privilege to tour their basement where it is rumored it housed a speakeasy during prohibition times. The only thing I noticed was a negative feeling coming from a corner in the basement. The manager said everyone else said the same thing too about that spot in the basement.

          So again, would I recommend a visit to Bennett’s Publical Family Sports Grill? HECK YEAH!!! In fact, if you have a large group or party and need to rent space for your gathering, guess what? THERE IS NO RENTAL FEE AT BENNETT’S but you may get an invisible guest or two at your gathering! But the more the merrier, right!

       

©Rosella C. Rowe

Disclaimer:

This article was written from the author’s personal experience and perspective only. The article itself and all in it, are not an endorsement. The views from this article are the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the: people, business, or place, and/or building of subject.

Special Guest Interview with Mark Spencer:

 A few weeks ago, I had the honor and special privilege of interviewing my favorite paranormal author, Mark Spencer, who wrote the best seller, A Haunted Love Story: The Ghosts of Allen House about his beautiful old home in Monticello, Arkansas.

          

           Spencer has been on a lot of the popular TV shows:  Paranormal Witness, My Ghost Story, Ghost Brothers, A Haunting, and several news segments regarding the Allen House. Spencer and his family have experienced many things in their home, including seeing doppelgangers, having items disappear only to find them days to years later, hearing voices, doors and cabinetry opening and closing themselves, and other phenomena since moving into their historic home 13 years ago.

          

            Spencer’s well known book, A Haunted Love Story: The Ghosts of Allen House, is about a real person: Ladell, a high-society woman who in 1948 lived in the home he lives in now. Spencer says one Saturday afternoon he was lead to his attic by Ladell’s ghost only to find many hidden love letters regarding a secret love affair between Ladell and a married man.

Spencer describes the fateful moment in his life. “A little voice was in my head that told me to go to the attic.” When he got to the attic the voice directed him where to look, and there he found an opening in the attic’s floorboards. “I reached into the opening and pulled out a brown envelope full of postmarked envelopes and letters addressed to Ladell.” Spencer says he even found some letters Ladell drafted but never finished. Some letters were from friends of Ladell’s but the ones that stood out were postmarked October 1948 and appeared to be love letters from  a married man named, Prentiss to Ladell just before her infamous suicide.

Spencer knew right away from scanning the flirty love letters that this must have been the real reason Ladell met such a tragic end and took her own life. Spencer says after he realized this he looked up from the letters and said aloud in the attic, “I’m sorry, Ladell.” He knew the sad outcome – that she had killed herself.

Before he found the letters, Spencer says he had not planned on writing a book about his home, only a few articles for the town’s interest; however after finding the letters, the well-known author states, “that was the day I decided to write a book.” Spencer explains he never did experience hearing the voice of Ladell again, but that day certainly changed his life forever!

          

           When asked him to describe his book for my readers, Spencer says his book “is a little of everything. It’s a memoir, it’s a ghost story, and lots more.” But most of all he wanted to create a narrative book based on a real person’s life that read a lot like a fictional story.   

This isn’t the first book the dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Arkansas at Monticello has written. Mark Spencer originally began his career writing a collection of short stories in the 1980s. He also has written other novels such as: Love and Reruns in Adam’s County, The Weary Motel, and Images of America: Monticello, a local history, which he co-authored with Mary Heady.  He has earned many awards throughout his career.

After writing his popular first book about Ladell and the Allen House, Mark then wrote a second book from Ladell’s point of view after her death. In this book, titled Ghost Walking, Ladell is forced to confront her life and what it meant after learning she is dead. She seess reactions from her family and others in her small town after her suicide. She also sees her father as she journeys back through the times in her life. Now that she has died, she has the opportunity to examine her life and discover what it all meant and why she lived.

I asked the acclaimed author if he ever thought that Ladell (or her ghost) would have been upset after he had found the scandalous letters telling society why she had taken her life. “No,” he adds because she led him to find the letters in the attic. He thinks she was happy he found them.

In fact, Mark thinks Ladell is the one who lead him and his wife to BUY Allen House in the first place, which was a long battle, but eventually all worked out and the Spencer’s got the home. He states that he was even offered other jobs with a higher salary but through a series of many coincidences, Mark and his family were lead to the Allen House. Spencer trusts that Ladell did this all so he would find her letters and tell her true story.

He also states that throughout the years he has heard a popular opinion from the public that Ladell probably left after he had found the letters. But Mark says this simply isn’t true. Since finding the letters and writing his famous book, the family has found lots of evidence of Ladell during many ghost hunts and investigations in their home by TV shows and other private tours, and groups coming in their home. “She is definitely still in the Allen House,” states Spencer!

Spencer also goes on to say that he believes that, “Ladell can cross between dimensions and go back and forth which explains the difference between residual haunting and intelligent haunting.” Spencer adds his wife has witnessed on many occasions Ladell’s parents going about their everyday lives in the house – as if they were living! Once, he says his “wife saw Ladell’s father sitting around smoking a cigar and it did smell of cigar smoke. You could smell it!” says Spencer.

I addition, I asked Mark if he had ever experienced Ladell’s lover, Prentiss in their home? However he told me they haven’t and they don’t expect him to show up anytime soon.

I then asked Mark if he would tell me things that he and his family have experienced after his book was published. He described three incidents:

First, in April 2014, Mark walked into his bedroom and saw his wife with her back to him looking out the window. He couldn’t see her face, just the back of her hair as he walked up to her. “I was about to ask her a generic question and stopped behind her about to speak when she suddenly vanished as if she was never there.” After his “wife” vanished into thin air, Mark says, “a cold air swept over me. Then my real wife walked in through the same doorway I had just walked through a minute ago, and said, ’Why you standing there looking so stupid?’”

Second, another occurrence that seems to happen commonly since moving into the Allen House is that Rebecca, Mark’s wife, seems to lose small items such as her bank cards, and her cell phone. Little things seem to disappear in the house and they are found in random places, often places that they already checked previously. For example, Spencer told me of a time when Rebecca lost her cell phone. He says he came home and his wife was searching the house for her cell phone saying she had been looking for it for hours and just couldn’t find it. Mark says his thought was it must be in the attic because Allen, Ladell’s son, had been a trickster in life and liked to take and often hide their things. So he went up into the attic to look but it wasn’t there. 

Then, as he randomly walked through the house into their kitchen on the second floor, there his wife’s cell phone lay, clear as day, atop the kitchen counter for all to see. He knew he this room had already been searched and the phone hadn’t been there when they checked earlier.

Thirdly, when Spencer’s son was 4 years old, he would ask his dad when he got home from work if he (Mark) would take him (his son) upstairs to the attic to play with his friend. When Mark asked his son one day who his little friend was, his son said it was a little boy named Allen. Allen had been Ladell’s son who died at a young age but not when he was a child.

Another very interesting event that took place was on Ladell’s birthday. Rebecca went up into the attic to wish Ladell a Happy Birthday. She was streaming the encounter live on Facebook. As she was speaking to Ladell and interacting with her, Mark says, “Ladell answered indicating she did indeed know it was her birthday.”

FB: Ladell Birthday Video: 

https://www.facebook.com/theallenhousemonticello/videos/10156175307863788/

I then went on to ask the well-known author what the main thing he wants his fans to take away from A Haunted Love Story? Mark simply states very modestly, that he told Ladell’s life story “correctly and that people who read it reflect on their own lives and think about some things they have never thought about before.” He also wants readers to be entertained by the story and its history.

  I asked Mark if he has anything new coming out soon? To which the author replied, “No, because last fall his latest book was released An Untimely Frost.” This is quite a different genre then the author’s past works. Spencer describes his new novel as having “a bit of gruesome, a little horror, action, some psychological aspects, and some love and romance.” Spencer says his new novel “takes place on the Ohio River in Kentucky where people along the river see zombies coming out of the water. However past loved ones of the zombies, don’t see a zombie, they simply see the person they knew and loved, while the people who don’t know them see a zombie and are frightened.”

             So if you haven’t read some of Mark Spencer’s work I would definitely recommend picking up a copy of one of his books! Perhaps, A Haunted Love Story, (which is my favorite, of course), will be your choice or the author’s new book, An Untimely Frost where you can get a little zombie action! Either way, any of the popular author’s books will be enjoyable for sure!

      ©Rosella C. Rowe

For More Info:

Mark Spencer Website: www.authormarkspencer.com

Allen House Website: http://allenhousemonticello.com/Welcome.html

FB: Allen House: https://www.facebook.com/theallenhousemonticello

Bennett’s Publical Family Sports Grill:

I have been to this family sports bar and grill in Miamisburg, Ohio, many times. This place has THE BEST PIZZA EVER! However, did you know it’s haunted?

The first time I went to Miamisburg, just southwest of Dayton, my daughter and I were having a mother-daughter shopping day. We were just down the street from Bennett’s when I discovered this fabulous restaurant. The building was erected about 1917. My daughter and I walked in and ordered pizza, sweet potato fries, and mozzarella sticks. Wow! It was the best meal we ever tasted!

But, as much as we enjoyed ourselves and our meal, I just couldn’t shake a feeling that something bad had happened in the past upstairs in the building. It was very strange. Something like this had never happened to me before. In fact, it was such a strong feeling that I did something I have never done before, and told the waitress I was sensing a male spirit upstairs to the back left of the building and that he had possibly died in a fire.

My daughter thought I was crazy but the waitress didn’t. She actually was quite excited. She told me that no one else knew about the male spirit but some of the staff, and years ago the manager, had experienced seeing a man in a mirror upstairs. That man must have been the male I was sensing. Somehow, throughout our meal, I just couldn’t shake the strong feelings of sadness and being trapped.

Months later, I came back with my brother, and I felt the same. But this time it was almost like I had gotten used to the feelings. I have dined at Bennett’s many times since those first two experiences.

However, a few months ago I went back seeking evidence so I took my EMF-reader and was ready to see if there were other spirits. I had a feeling there were. I walked in with a friend who is a true sensitive and we ordered pizza, of course. Then I asked the waitress about the spirit upstairs, telling her what had happened to me years before while dining at the restaurant and told her that I was writing a blog article about these experiences. She was not surprised.

She told me that years ago, the manager had a friend who was interested in the spirit and wanted to go up and experience it herself. When they got up to the second floor, which is now used as a banquet room, they took a picture in front of a mirror. What they saw in the photo astonished them. The figure of a man was looking back at them in the mirror. This was what the first waitress had told me when I spoke about it years ago. I was comforted now that I wasn’t the only one who felt the strong presence of the male spirit on the second floor.

          After talking with the waitress, I contacted the manager and we had a great conversation about Bennett’s. She has experienced a lot of things in Bennett’s but nothing threatening. “The spirits just like to hang out,” spoke the manager.  She says she is open and kind to the ghost upstairs when she feels his presence, which is mostly when she and the staff are setting up for a banquet on the second floor.

However, the ghost has been sensed by other customers before. I was not the only one! Years ago, when the restaurant first opened, the manager says a waitress sought her out to tell her that a guest in the banquet room, had sensed the male spirit and insisted on changing tables to be further away. “She didn’t like the feeling,” the waitress told the manager. Other customers have also told the staff that they have sensed the spirit over the years.

          But was there another spirit in Bennett’s Publical?  

          Another thing I felt the day of our mother-daughter afternoon was a strange presence in the bathroom on the first floor. My daughter and I went into the bathroom before leaving for our long drive home. While in the bathroom, we sensed we were certainly not alone!

          

           So when I went back recently, I was ready! I brought my EMF-reader and walked the long hall to the bathroom. As I walked, I started picking up on something that lit up my reader. I entered the bathroom and as soon as I walked under a large archway, my EMF-reader lit up like it was Christmas! After a few moments, the reader suddenly went dark. I did a full sweep of the bathroom and my reader didn’t go off again until I went into one of the stalls. As soon as I closed the stall door behind me, it lit up again and this time it stayed lit for 8 minutes!

After the lights went out on my EMF-reader, I walked out of the stall and did another sweep of the small space. Once again my EMF-reader lit up, but this time, over the sink! It had not done that before. I looked around the bathroom to see if was caused by old or loose wiring, or possibly high EMF, but when attempting this, it never went off.

          

           As I left the bathroom, I walked back under the large archway and my reader lit up one last time for about 2 minutes before it turned off. I think the spirit must have liked me and was simply bidding me a goodbye, until my next visit.

          

          Walking out of the bathroom, I then walked down the hallway toward the backdoor. I was doing a sweep of the area when my EMF-reader went off again right in front of an office door. Again I looked for wiring or electric outlets but there weren’t any. The spirit apparently resided in the middle of the hallway near that door. My reader didn’t go off anywhere else in the rest of the restaurant. I was not able to go up to the second floor that day, perhaps one day I will!

         

          So would I recommend visiting Bennett’s Publical Family Sports Grill in Miamisburg, Ohio? That would be a big fat YES!!! After our social distancing restrictions are lifted, of course.  If you don’t want to visit to encounter a spirit or two, you should at least go for the amazing food!  If you love the paranormal, this is truly the best spot for a bit of action while you chow down!

The paranormal spirits as well as the drinks inside the bar are nice. No matter which type of spirit you prefer, you simply MUST try the pizza!

©Rosella C. Rowe

Disclaimer:

This article was written from the author’s personal experience and perspective only. The article itself and all in it, are not an endorsement. The views from this article are the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the: people, business, or place, and/or building of subject.

 

Special Guest Interview with Keith Scales:


I had the privilege of interviewing one of the most popular paranormal authors in Arkansas this past February: Keith Scales.

Keith is the manager of the amazingly popular Ghost Tours at the Crescent Hotel, located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The Crescent Hotel is 134 years old and is billed as “The Most Haunted Hotel in America,”  and has been featured on several TV shows including “Ghost Hunters,” where the show’s investigators picked up several bits of evidence of paranormal activity.

I spoke to Keith about his exciting book House of a Hundred Rooms: Tales the Ghost Tour Guides Do Not Tell.  The book takes the reader through the history of the Crescent Hotel using stories of real people who lived and worked in the hotel, bringing the stories, people, and its haunted tragedies to life.

Scales dives into the characters who once lived and breathed at the Crescent Hotel and tells its rich history with: the Stonemason, Michael, Nurse Theodora, a little boy named Breckie who died at the young age of 6, and the infamous con-doctor: Dr. Norman Baker. Scales also tells about several other ghosts from the hotel, including a little girl in the mist and the man on the stairs. The author also goes into the history of what the hotel building was used for during its time. For example it was a women’s college, a brothel, and a hospital for dying cancer patients.

What I love best about Scales’ book is that he claims his book and his ghost tours are full of FACTS! Keith said he does not like to falsify claims for the benefit of tourism. And he surely doesn’t need to for his book because the characters surely speak for themselves: they were fascinating people whose times in history are rich with emotion and description.

He says a long time ago when he took a job as a tour guide for the hotel, he was told, “just tell them anything.” But Keith didn’t like that message. So as time went on, he explained to his boss why it was IMPORTANT not tell the tourists false information. With permission, he soon began to dig into the hotel’s interesting history learning the truth about its workers, patrons, students (when it was a college), doctors, staff, and patients (when it was a hospital where a well-known con-man claimed he had the cure to cancer).

With all this NEW knowledge, he updated the ghost tour telling the correct history of the Crescent Hotel really bringing it to life. Then he thought one day, “Why not write it all down.” That’s when the idea for his well-known book was born! And not just any book but THE BEST SELLING BOOK at the Crescent Hotel!  

       

          So, who are the most fascinating spirits at the Crescent Hotel? Well, I won’t delay any longer. Scales tells me they include Theodora, Michael, and Breckie. As well as another well known character, who has not been spotted at the hotel however appears to have had many imprints in time, from none other than Dr. Baker. 

In 1937, the infamous Dr. Norman Baker claimed he could cure patients dying from cancer; however, he simply lied to them, stole their money, and watched them die. After their deaths, he would cover up their disease by cutting out the patient’s cancer or tumor as proof of success then hid the evidence by burying it on the hotel’s grounds. The current hotel gardener, Susan Benson, recently discovered some artifacts from Dr. Baker’s time on February, 5, 2019. Those discoveries prompted an archaeological dig by University of Arkansas on the grounds and is far from done. So far the collection outside the hotel consists of 500 jars containing organic matter in alcohol as well as many unidentified medicines. However, in 1940 Dr. Baker was sent to prison. The hotel then sat empty for 6 years.

 Scales also believes that Theodora, who may have been a nurse for Dr. Baker when it was a hospital, remained in the hotel after her death to serve those who were terminally ill. He says, “The patients still needed her so I think she stays to help others in the building even in her afterlife. She often is seen outside of room 419 fumbling for her keys. 

          

          Then there’s Michael, a 17 year old, Irish-immigrant and Stonemason. Michael was in charge of lowering the stones onto a narrow wall, making the outer stone walls of the hotel. Known to daydream, Michael really wished he had a girlfriend. One day on the first hot day during the summer when the sun was blazing down all the men took a longer than normal break without telling Michael. As he waited for them to come back he saw a lovely red-headed Irish girl walking by, waved her down and began showing off doing the jig while up real-high on his post. As the girl shouted for him to stop out of fear of him falling, poor Michael did just that, falling to his death tragically while trying to impress her.

          

          In addition to these spirits at the Crescent Hotel there is poor little 6-year-old Breckie who died after four days in the hospital after a bout of appendicitis.  He is often heard by guests bouncing a ball off the walls in the hallway. Still suffering from the loss of her beloved son, his mother later attended a séance to contact little Breckie. Allegedly, she did speak with Breckie who told his mother that he was happy and playing somewhere in a dream-world. Throughout the years, Breckie has been seen, only by child guests, either on the grounds or inside the hotel playing ball. Suddenly Breckie disappears into thin air while playing with the guest children staying at the hotel. When the guests ask staff members about the boy and tell them that he suddenly vanished, the staff knows it’s little Breckie. Not wanting to scare the children and tell them they’ve been playing ball with a ghost, they simply say, “He had to go.”

         

         So would I recommend, House of a Hundred Rooms: Tales the Ghost Tour Guides Do Not Tell..? Yes, I certainly would recommend it!

          

          Not only does it tell all the important history of the hotel but the book is so well written that the characters jump off the page at your heart! Paranormal-seekers and lovers will FALL IN LOVE with this book for its thrills and chills and non-believers will value it for its rich- knowledgeable history. It is even wonderfully illustrated by Keith Scales’s wife, Rebecca J. Becker, who truly brings the ghostly characters to light with her gorgeous artwork of those who lived and died at the Crescent Hotel, The Most Haunted Hotel in America!

©Rosella C. Rowe

Book by Keith Scales and other works:

-House of a Hundred Rooms: Tales the Ghost Tour Guides Do Not Tell…: https://www.amazon.com/House-Hundred-Rooms-Tales-Guides/dp/1978086881

-The Cloverleaf Development

In process: Seven Story Hotel

Other books by Keith under his pen name: Julian Keith:

-Brane Fever

-John Dee's Back Leg

In process: Red Sky at Night

-Coming Soon: Audio book (as Keith Scales) The Fool in the Forest

For more information about the Crescent Moon Hotel: https://www.crescent-hotel.com/

Crescent Hotel Ghost Tours and Events: www.americasmosthauntedhotel.com