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Rest for the Wandering Soul

by Traute Klein, AKA biogardener

A haunting is a desperate attempt of a lost soul to get your attention. You can bring peace to that soul, sending it to eternal rest, and put an end to the haunting.

http://suite101.com/article.cfm/canadian_tourism/76147 THE HALFWAY HOUSE HAUNTING Author: Mary Alward Published on: October 31, 2001 When I was a child, Dad often took us for a drive on Sunday afternoons. A regular stop on these outings was Gammick’s Gas Station. It was located on #2 Highway, south of Hamilton in southern Ontario. While Mr. Gammick filled Dad’s ’56 Ford with gas, Mom would go into the store and buy an ice cream cone for each of us. This often was the only treat we had. We lived in a rural area and only went to town once a month. These outings were special to us. My brother and I loved to visit Gammick’s. The store was on the main level. Mr. & Mrs. Gammick lived above the store. Even if the store were closed, Mr. Gammick would hobble down the stairs when a car pulled in. I will always remember him making his way down those stairs, his striped overalls over a plaid flannel shirt. When Mr. Gammick died suddenly, his wife closed the store and gasoline station and moved to town to live with her son. My siblings and I were saddened. We missed Mr. Gammick’s twinkling blue eyes and cheerful smile. We also missed the peppermint sticks that Mrs. Gammick used to slip to us when our parents weren’t looking. I grew up, married my childhood sweetheart and moved to town. We both missed the farm but because we didn’t have a car, we had to remain in the city to be close to our jobs. After three years, we saved enough money to buy a ’59 Buick. Not long afterward, we replied to an ad in the local newspaper for an apartment on #2 Highway. By this time we were expecting our first child. We didn’t want our children to be city raised. To our surprise, the apartment was the upper story of the old Gammick place. It had been completely renovated and we were delighted to find a familiar place not far from our parents. We moved into our old childhood haunt. Little did we know then how much of a haunt it really was? Shortly after we moved in, our daughter was born. We had just brought her home from the hospital when we awoke one night to footsteps on the stairs. The old staircase on the outside of the house where Mr. Gammick used to hobble down to greet us had been removed. The new stairs descended from the upper hall to a shared foyer. Thinking that someone had mistakenly entered our apartment, we got up to investigate. Those were the days when doors were never locked. We found no one in the apartment, so settled down to sleep once more. As we drifted off, we again heard footsteps on the stairs. Upon investigating, we found no one. We were baffled and assumed that we had heard someone in the lower apartment. The unusual footsteps continued to wake us each night, just after midnight. Though we were disturbed by this course of events, we tried to tell ourselves we were imagining things. Then one day I mentioned the incidents to our downstairs neighbor, Cassie. She looked at me, a frown furrowing her brow. "Oh, that’s just the resident ghost. That’s why no one stays in the upper apartment. They have a lot of trouble renting it. We hear footsteps but the ghost never bothers us. Only the people who live upstairs." I was shocked! I had heard many ghost stories in my day but had never believed any of them. Cassie looked at me oddly. "You didn’t know?" I shook my head, somewhat confused. If no one would rent or stay in the upper apartment, there must be some truth in the story. But ghosts? I wondered if Cassie was baiting me. I looked at her. She was dead serious. After that, the strange happenings seemed to increase. At night, after the lights were off, a shimmering orb would float down the hall and into the room where our infant daughter, Michelle, slept. As soon as it entered, she would begin to scream. When I went to her room, there was nothing there. I kept telling myself it must be headlights from the highway. One day when Michelle was ten months old, I left her in her playpen in the center of the living room while I went outside to hang clothes on the line. I had done this a hundred times before. Cassie always kept her ears open and if Michelle cried, she would call me. Before I even had half of the clothes hung, Cassie called out, "Michelle is screaming. Sounds like she’s hurt." I raced upstairs, heart pounding. When I entered the living room, I was terrified at the sight before me. Michelle was in her playpen, an extension cord wrapped around her neck. Beside her lay two extra diaper pins that I kept on a shelf near the change table in her room. How had they made their way to the living room? In fact, how had the extension cord, which ran along the wall under the carpet, gotten wrapped around Michelle’s neck? The living room was 12 x 15 feet. The playpen was in the middle of the room and she was too young to escape its confines. Fear slithered along my spine. The hair on the back of my neck seemed to stand on end. Something was terribly wrong. That night the orb of light came down the hall, as usual. But instead of entering Michelle’s room, it seemed to pass through the door that led to the attic. Eerie noises seemed to fill the apartment. My husband and I decided it was time to investigate the weird happenings that we were witnessing. We were scared to death. The next day, I left Michelle with my Mom and took the bus to town. I went to the Registrar’s Office and then to the library. What I found amazed me. In the late 1800’s and early 20th Century, the old Gammick place had been a Halfway House on what was then known as the King’s Highway. In the early 1920’s, a woman had left her husband and run away with another man. They had stopped for the night at the Halfway House. The woman’s husband had caught up to them there. He had gone up the outside stairway and entered their room. He and the woman’s boyfriend had come to blows. The boyfriend had drawn a knife and stabbed the husband through the heart. Then, he had run, leaving the woman to explain her husband’s death to the authorities. As I viewed reel after reel of newspaper articles on microfiche, I realized that over the years there’d been many stories published about the “Halfway House Haunting.” It seems that the mysterious happenings in the house had been going on for close to 50 years. The only time the ghost seemed to cease his violent behavior was when the Gammick’s owned the property. Why? I never did find out the answer to that question. We moved as soon as possible, fearing that some harm would come to Michelle. Was the entity in the "Halfway House Haunting," a ghost or a poltergeist, or was there another explanation for the strange happenings? I guess we’ll never know. There is one thing I do know. To this day, no one stays in the upper apartment of that house for more than a few months. It seems the "Halfway House Haunting," is still going on 33 years after we moved from that perfect little apartment on #2 Highway. ================== http://suite101.com/article.cfm/new_hampshire/81764Haunted in New Hampshire Haunted in New Hampshire Author: Christina Coruth Published on: October 12, 2001 In a town called Whitefield, in the Great North Woods of New Hampshire, there is a three-story home at the end of a narrow winding driveway. One weekend in 1965, Hans Holzer, noted author and ghost chaser, and Sybil Leek, noted psychic and medium, were drawn to this picturesque home after learning of claims that it was haunted. Now you may be skeptical, but read on. Something was happening in that house, and had been for a very long time. It surely seemed that the builder and original owner of the house, Admiral Hawley, was the culprit. The Admiral built the house after his retirement. He named it the Miz'n Top. Apparently, he and his wife were as happy as two irascible people could be. The Admiral kept busy chasing "trespassers" off his property. Finally, preceded by his wife, he died in 1933. Despite the fact that he wanted the house to stay in the family, his daughter sold it two years later to Eric and Josephine Jacobsen. The Jacobsens, with their young son Erlend, happily set about making the house their home. Everything was fine and peaceful until Mr. Jacobsen decided to turn the attic into a clubhouse for Erlend. He disposed of the Admiral's possessions, including his sea chest. After that, strange things began to happen. Years later, Erlend, a thirty-something professor at a college in Vermont; his wife, Martha; their young son, Eric; and many friends and relatives would recount the bizarre happenings for Hans Holzer. Here is a list of some of the reports - imagine if these things happened to you in your home: Sarah, the Erlend's maid, had problems with a ghost. Her bed would shake violently as if someone were trying to push her out of it. Some think that it was more than a coincidence that Admiral Hawley was bigoted and Sarah was black. She solved the problem by sprinkling holy water on the bed each night. Providing she didn't forget, she would sleep undisturbed. Martha and Erlend spent their first night as newlyweds awake and terrified listening to the sounds of heavy objects being dragged across the floor in the attic above them. After the dragging stopped, they heard the sounds of footsteps, which walked across floor, down the hallway toward their bedroom, until they reached the door - then silence. A family friend decided to check out the attic. He reached for the doorknob. It turned before his hand touched it. His dog would not enter the room. Martha was alone in the house when the kitchen door opened and closed again. A few minutes later, the front door opened and closed again. Friend of the family Miriam sat by the stove one cold November day to warm up. Suddenly, the burner rose up about an inch and then dropped back down - twice. While Erlend's father wanted nothing to do with ghost stories, his mother, Josephine, claimed that the ghost had pushed her down the stairs. And then there was the skeptic who knew nothing of any ghosts, yet slept on the floor in the living room rather than rest in a comfortable bed in the attic where he was supposed to sleep. When asked why he didn't stay in the attic, he made one adamant statement and then never spoke of the incident again: "I'm not going back up there anymore." Holzer, p. 164 After listening to these stories and many more, Hans Holzer and the others gathered, went to the attic. Sybil Leek, the medium, went into a trance and, according to Holzer, went over to the other side. She encountered a spirit and began a conversation with him. Not all the information she received was clear, but it appeared from what she did get, that the ghost was Admiral Hawley and that he was responsible for the haunting of the Jacobsen house. He had owned two houses, the Whitefield house and another in Bombay. He had sent a gift, a basket that Erlend recalled seeing when his family moved into the house, to the wrong house. He spent his time looking for the basket, which was a difficult task since he didn't know which house he was in. Holzer promised to try to return the gift to the other house - if he could find the house. Sybil discovered that the ghost didn't know he was dead. Holzer told her to tell him he was dead and ask him to leave the house. He agreed to leave. No one knows if the ghost was Admiral Hawley or if he left the house. The Jacobsens decided not to allow anyone else to look for the ghost. They desired their privacy back. Some claim that Holzer's version of this story is less than accurate. Some people don't believe in ghosts at all. They totally discount stories of hauntings. At this time of year, perhaps it's safer not to tempt fate or the ghosts ... Reference: Holzer, Hans. Yankee Ghosts. Dublin, NH: Yankee Books, 1987. ======================== Author: biogardener Date: October 31, 2001 8:49 AM Subject: How I deal with that kind of situation. I grew up in Europe where a lot of war and bloodshed had taken place, so the story you tell sounds quite normal to me. When I was quite young, my mother acquainted me with the writings of a Lutheran pastor who had experienced many hauntings in the Thirty Year's War in which the people of northern and central Europe was decimated by constant killing and by the pest which is the aftermath of war. That pastor, I believe his name was Hahn, decided that he was going to preach to the wandering souls and tell them that they could find rest in the grace of God and the love of Jesus. His success in that area became legendary. Growing up knowing his story, I have always followed that pastor's example and shared my faith with lost souls. They have always listened to me, because they were tired of roaming and were looking for peace. Too bad you did not know this when you lived in the haunted house, Mary. You being a Christian, could have put an end to the haunted life of the poor wandering soul. In Canada, I know of Catholic priests who will deal with a haunting situation. There is, in fact, a ceremony in the prayerbooks of several churches to deal with it. Unfortunately, they are not designed to bring peace to the soul but simply to send it to another place which, of course, does not solve the problem. I know why the house was not haunted when the Gammicks lived in it. The wandering soul recognized their authority and behaved himself. I sure hope that in the meantime, someone has led that soul to peace with God. For me having grown up in Europe, this story sounds normal. When Ernie worked in Europe, he also came across many hauntings, and he felt that they were perfectly normal. Both his parents grew up in war-ravaged countries, so he felt right at home in Europe. Canada is such a new country that many people have not come across it. Dan Ellsworth October 31, 2001 10:02 AM Traute, I will consider it to be, not so much Halloween as Reformation Day when you shared that approach with me. I had long believed that, whatever kind of spirit or manifestation would ever approach me, it was not the ultimate authority for me, and I would appeal to a higher one for my own protection. Your proposal reminds me to look beyond my own protection to the good of the other. I like that. I'm not claiming I wouldn't feel "spooked"; I just wouldn't have to let the feeling be the last word. Date: October 31, 2001 10:51 AM Sandy McCollum editor of Slices of Northern Life: I agree so much with Hahn, that Traute wrote about! I'd never, ever thought of that before (ministering to the Departed), but why not? There seems to be just as great a need there. Mary Alward Date: October 31, 2001 5:48 PM Traute, I doubt that anyone has led that poor soul to peace with God. That upper apartment changes tenants about every 3 months. That gives the people long enough to move in and give their two months notice. Not encouraging. It was the scariest thing I have ever encountered, though I have met wandering spirits of a more gentle nature. Thanks so much for the interesting history of Europe's ghosts and spirits. I am now armed with the knowledge to meet any unfriendly spirits head on. Dan, Thanks for stopping by. Traute's words are very wise ones and I'm glad she shared them. However, at the time I was very young and wanted only to protect Michelle. Sandy, I would love to investigate now after 31 years to see why tenants will not stay in that apartment. Traute's words were very wise. I had never thought of ministering to the departed either. I would love to visit you and take a look at that house on the creek. I hear there are many hauntings in Alaska. Of course there are many in Ontario too but not like in Europe because we are a much younger country Virginia, I never believed in spirits until that happened to me. There were many strange things and they continue to happen to this day. Tenants will not stay in there. Whatever it was, it was not Cassie. She had 6 kids of her own and wouldn't hurt a fly. Strange things happen all of the time and there is no accounting for them. Great Grandma never believed in ghosts until she saw the ghost of her employer. After that, she believed but didn't talk of it often. Traute's advice is certainly great if you ever do encounter a strange "happening." biogardener November 1, 2001 6:16 PM Consider the facts Consider the facts. The wandering soul, as I like to call the poor departed who is unable to find rest, could easily have tightened the cord and killed the baby, but that obviously was not his intention. My reading of the ministry of Pastor Hahn has taught me that wandering spirits are desperate to find rest. They will do almost anything to get your attention, hoping that you can help them find peace. That is why they are such good listeners when you share the good news of forgiveness and salvation with them. Mary Alward November 1, 2001 6:40 PM Traute, yes, he could have tightened the cord around Michelle's neck. Thank goodness he chose not to. I would never have seen her grow into an adult or had the two handsome grandsons that I have been blessed with. I do believe the Lord had a hand in it. Thanks for dropping by and keeping up with this discussion. I appreciate you passing your knowledge of restless departed spirits to us all. It's always best to be prepared.