Bringing Back Sligo

Breathing new life into an Italianate home in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Bringing Back Sligo
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    • The “Haunting” of Sligo

      Posted at 9:57 am by Lauren Tepaske, on August 4, 2021

      Since we’re still in limbo waiting for orders to move to Singapore I thought I would write about something else that is in limbo and answer a question I get asked from time-to-time: Is Sligo haunted and have we had any “experiences?” The easy answer is “yes and no.” As far as I know, Marcus hasn’t had any experiences but keep in mind he’s an engineer and Dutch which makes him doubly pragmatic and logical. Both of our daughters claim to have experienced what they thought was the cat walking in their room only to turn and see nothing. The youngest also claims that things move in her room and there’s a ghost boy named “Gary or Larry or Peter” (now I really don’t believe her). She’s also the one most likely to crawl into bed with us in the middle of the night but whether it’s an 8-year-old imagination or something really going on, I don’t know. What I can say is that her room is the same room a previous resident slept in and had many experiences though I have never told her that (I’m all about being open and honest with the kids but the last thing I need is a child in my bed every night).

      What I can tell you are my own experiences, some of which are more compelling than others. So, let’s get started. One of the first events that happened was the skeleton key to our front door went missing for a month or so. I found it eventually stuck in a mint julep cup on the mantle and while I or the children or even Marcus could have done it and forgot I’m not convinced it wasn’t the spirits. Also, please note, we don’t use our front door so missing the key for a while was not critical. In this same room where the key was eventually found is also the same room where electronics go off (always in the middle of the night which really gets the heart rate going). Now, the logical part of me thinks that this is bound to happen because the majority of the electronics are stored and charged in that room. The less logical side of me thinks “ghosts!”

      For the most part, I rarely experience anything but for a period of time in the fall I was constantly seeing shadows or movement from the corner of my eye. One particularly startling moment was seeing a full body shadow just outside of the youngest’s bedroom. I have also had the same experience as the girls thinking the cat was in the room but finding nothing. Also, sitting on the couch in the living room I have a viewpoint of the small hallway outside of the half-bath. From the couch I would constantly see movement and even at times the feeling that someone was walking from the kitchen into the hallway. I feel as if my youngest daughter’s room and the area just outside of the half-bath have more energy than other spaces in the house.

      One of the most compelling things to happen though involved the dog. As I was calling her to go out one night I was standing near the hallway to the half-bath. From the corner of my eye I saw a shadow fly across the space and at that exact moment, the dog came trotting through and looked directly at the spot where I had seen the shadow. For me, that exact moment solidified all I had thought I had been seeing and experiencing. There was also a strange moment when the cat was hissing towards the top of the stairs and behaving as if the dog had materialized and was about to pounce even though the dog was not there. She could have been on high-alert because she and the dog did not get along but it was weird nonetheless.

      A few friends with more of a sixth sense have walked through the house and determined that the energy is calm. When we had C & C Paranormal come through (which you can read about here, here, and here) they spent time in the basement releasing the energy and now, when people stay down there, they claim to have had the best sleep of their lives. Whether that is all associated or not, I don’t know? There is a lot of “I don’t knows” when it comes to the question of whether the house is haunted or not. I do think there is an energy here but I do not think it is haunted in the way we typically think of such. We don’t have “broke-neck ladies” or vengeful spirits doing harm but given the age of the property and it’s experiences (i.e. as a small-pox hospital, a slave owned property, and the Civil War) it’s foolish to think there is nothing lingering.

      Posted in Basement, Grounds, Haunted, History, Hospital, Life, Main House, Slaves and Servants, Wars | 3 Comments
    • Put Me in Blogger Jail

      Posted at 12:15 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on April 6, 2021

      I am sorry. I have been a terrible blogger (bloggess?). Months have passed since my last entry and so much has happened during that time but none of it so interesting or exciting I felt it necessary to share. Actually, that isn’t fair. A LOT has happened and I am realizing if you are a follower of my blog that doesn’t necessarily mean you are a follower of my Facebook or Instagram accounts. I’ll do a little catching up.

      In the fall we “foster failed” a puppy we named “Lulu.” She was the last of her litter and the Squishy Face Crew desperately needed her to be in a foster home. I went and picked her up and within 24 hours I had fallen in love. She had the prettiest face and ears that are indescribable. My girls quickly fell in love with her too as she was very generous with her kisses and her butt wiggled uncontrollably when she saw them. It took a few days of working on Marcus to agree to keeping her and I swear I saw the look of defeat in his eyes the second he realized he had lost the battle. In his defense she can still be a little wary around him. I don’t know what her life was like for those first 4 months before we got her but she’s uncomfortable around new people and especially men.

      On February 1st, the same day as our one year anniversary for living at Sligo, we lost my step-mom to cancer. The pain of losing her is still raw and hard to talk about. She was the one of the nicest, most caring, most special person in a lot of people’s lives. Honestly, I’m going to have to leave it at that…

      Perhaps this is a good time to segue into the “ghosts” of Sligo. It took a few months but I will say both my girls and I have seen shadows. Both of my girls have experienced thinking the cat has walked into their respective rooms only to look and she’s not there. I have seen many shadows, one being a full-bodied person, but always out of the corner of my eye. The most interesting experience I have had included the dog, Lulu. I was calling her to go outside and as I did so, I saw a shadow. At that exact same time, Lulu came trotting in from the other direction and turned and looked directly at the same spot I had seen the shadow. For me, that solidified it. Marcus does not endorse any of this paragraph.

      At the end of March I celebrated my *closes eyes and sighs dramatically* 40th birthday. Marcus surprised me with a gathering of near and dear friends I hadn’t seen in over a year. While Covid was constantly at the back of my mind I also could have cared less. Keeping-up virtually is just not the same as being with your friends, face-to-face. The joking and singing (oh, there was singing) and reminiscing, and catching up was all very needed.

      Also, on my 40th birthday I became an AWARD WINNING BLOGGER as I received the E. Boyd Graves Preservation Award of Excellence from the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. Now, I have tried not to let this go to my head but…I think I am what is called an “Influencer” now? It definitely means I charge a fee for showing-up places and I expect endorsement deals to come through any day now. In all actuality what I think it means is I have come full-circle with this blog. When I started writing Bringing Back Sligo it was for a few reasons: 1. I have been told, on occasion, that my friends and family like my writing. 2. I enjoy writing about Marcus’s shenanigans and the restoration of Sligo was one of the biggest shenanigan he has every pulled. 3. After doing just a little research and discovering this house had a name and had a history I was compelled to learn even more and write about it.

      Writing this blog has brought me some of the greatest joy. I have made connections with people whom I never would have met. They check-up on us and the house from time to time and it really makes me so happy. I love that over the past few years the discoveries I have made about the house have been just as interesting to you as it has been to me. With that said, it has become clear to me over the months as my writing has decreased that the blog for Bringing Back Sligo has come to a natural stopping point. I plan to continue updating the Facebook and Instagram accounts for a little bit longer but even those will have to end sooner rather than later. What I do not plan on doing is stopping my writing and I hope you will continue to follow me because we have the ultimate adventure planned and I would love it if you came along.

      Posted in Haunted, Life, Main House | 6 Comments
    • Dead Ladies

      Posted at 6:54 am by Lauren Tepaske, on October 25, 2019

      In the spirit of Halloween I thought I might post something a little macabre.  Quite a few months ago I was researching people who might have died in the house, specifically women.  As we all now know the original house was a small pox hospital at least twice, there were slaves on the property, and the Civil War played out to some extent on the property so there are some unknown factors when it comes to all of the deaths at the house.  However, for the families that owned Sligo, their deaths were documented and it turns out (not surprisingly) that a number of women and a few children died at Sligo…and may still be there *oooOOOOooooo* (those are ghostly “Os.”)

      All of the information below I retrieved from Ancestry.com.  I’m beginning to know a lot more about Sligo’s families than I do my own at this point.  One day I’ll start a family tree for myself.  Anyway, the following women or children died at Sligo, in order from most recent to the oldest recorded death.  I have yet to go beyond the beginning of the 19th century because that is when the history of the house starts to get really muddled.

      • Nora Fitzpatrick Shannon died age 63 at Sligo in 1937.  She was the second wife of Price L Shannon.
      • Lavinia Harrison Word Ferneyhough died age 43 at Sligo in 1889.  She was the wife of George T Ferneyhough.
      • Mary Ferneyhough (possibly died 1880, the initials “M. V.” are listed in the 1880 census) and Lillie Lancaster Ferneyhough both died in infancy at Sligo.  They would have been the children of Lavinia and George.
      • Frances Ferneyhough was 73 when she died in 1861.  However, she was married to an Adams and it is possible she did not die at Sligo.  She was the daughter of John R Ferneyhough, Sr. and Margaret Walker.
      • Mary Ann Ferneyhough Chesley was born 1814 and died around 1853 (age 35) because by 1860 her daughter Fannie (born circa 1852) was in the custody of Mary Ann’s father, John Ferneyhough, Jr.  Whether she died at Sligo or not is a mystery but she was married so it is possible she died elsewhere.
      • Mary Francis Gilbert died in 1830 at age 40.  Fun fact, she was John Ferneyhough Jr.’s cousin and first wife.
      • Margaret Ferneyhough was born in 1801 and died in 1827 at Sligo.  She was the daughter of John R Ferneyhough, Sr. and Margaret Walker.

      I wonder if any of these ladies are still spending time at the house?  If they are I hope they are prepared for the chaos that we will bring once we move in…they may want to consider moving on…

       

      Posted in Haunted, History, Life, Main House | 2 Comments
    • It Was an Interesting Night…Part III

      Posted at 7:19 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on August 1, 2019

      So, hearing a male voice when there wasn’t a male was…interesting.  As we all walked up the stairs from the basement I felt like a child again, not wanting to be the last one up and my back feeling so exposed to whatever might be down there.  Because of the male voice on the recording the paranormal team determined that perhaps the energies were more interested in communicating via EVP so we did a few more sessions in the same room of the basement.

      Carl, the only man on the team and who according to him the spirits care less to communicate with, decided to give it a try.  So Carl, my mom, and I went down to the basement.  Carl had barely started the EVP session when we heard Paris call from upstairs that the monitor had gone completely blank.  Everything else was running but the monitor had simply turned off.  Jokingly (though I took him very seriously), Carl said that whatever was in the basement wasn’t interested in talking to him.

      There were experiences that others had making it difficult for me to write about them because it wasn’t my own person having the experience.  Two people saw a shadow in the basement and asked for it to leave as it was not healthy to still be there.  Another person saw a full bodied figure walk near the Cottage.  While I did not see the shadow with my own two eyes I saw the reaction of the person who did and not even Meryl Streep could fake that.

      By 2:00 in the morning we were all wiped out.  We decided to break everything down and call it a night.  I don’t know if the paranormal team were disappointed in the lack of evidence or if this was a typical investigation for them.  Perhaps, when they get back home and review all of the video footage and EVP sessions something else will pop-up that nobody caught in the moment.

      Before the team left they assured me that whatever was in the house meant no harm.  As I looked at them wide-eyed, just a little panicked, Paula told me that when a spirit makes itself known it’s almost as if seeing a mouse; it’s totally unexpected and you may startle but then you calm down (although if I do see a mouse I know two household pets who have failed miserably at their job).  I’ll have to get back to you on exactly how I react to that first time seeing a spirit but I have a feeling it won’t be pretty.  I can say that while the events of the night weren’t so terrifying I still did not leave with a sense of belonging in the house.  Marcus travels so much and I just know the first night he is gone I’ll be calling my ride or die biatch to stay with me (because I’m fairly certain mom is out after this night).

      In the end there was just enough evidence and just enough inexplicable occurrences that there is no way to deny the existence of something in the house.  Sligo’s land is ancient, it’s foundation is nearly 260 years old, the house itself is 130 years old.  Imagine what has come and gone on that land from ancient peoples, to wars, to births and deaths.

      For a slightly more cheery end to this story both of my girls came running into my room the morning after and asked, as if it were Christmas, “Did you see a ghost?!”  When I told them I had not they left, thoroughly disappointed.  I don’t know what Marcus was so worried about.  They clearly think Casper the Ghost is there.

       

      Posted in Haunted, Life, Main House | 1 Comment
    • It Was an Interesting Night…Part II

      Posted at 7:48 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on July 31, 2019

      Man, the more I think about it the more this may be a three parter…

      So, where were we?  Marcus and I were invited to be a part of the paranormal investigation at Sligo.  It was a no-brainer for me and I immediately said “yes.”  Marcus wasn’t as into the whole thing and opted out.  Damn that logical, engineer brain of his.  We did have one mutual concern though and that was we didn’t want our house to be known as “haunted” and people find out and try to get into into it.  Once we talked it over with the paranormal team we all agreed to do this with complete secrecy.  And now I’m writing about it so, secret’s out.

      Alright, so the day of the investigation the team arrives around 6:00 in the evening and start walking through the house.  On the paranormal team were Carl, Paula, and Paris.  On my “team” were my mom (hi mom!) and my ride or die biatch, Lori.  The two women from the paranormal team were particularly sensitive and I noticed a few times there were some areas of the house that appeared to affect them as they whispered back and forth.  Meanwhile, as we all walked through the house, questions were asked about its history and eyebrows were raised as I gave information such as its use as a small pox hospital.

      Once our tour of the main house was over we stood outside and chatted a bit about what Paula and Paris had felt or seen.  It was hard for them to articulate but it coincided with what I had been told by a previous resident of the house.  To touch on that a little, I haven’t written about what the previous resident told me because it isn’t my story to tell.  With that being said, I was excited for the night’s adventure to find out if I could validate their story.

      Almost immediately at least one experience of the previous resident was validated.  The two women had seen two “elemental energies” peaking out from the attic.  From my very rudimentary knowledge of the paranormal, “elemental energy” is less the energy of a person who passed and more of a natural energy of the surroundings.  It is known to be very impish or childlike in nature.  The very presence of these energies and the room in which they were seen lined up exactly with the previous resident’s story.

      Up to this point, everything was being discussed in front of our girls who listened, eyes wide.  I thought it was a very natural conversation to be having but Marcus was less than thrilled.  I have to admit, our youngest can be difficult challenging impossible and it was right to be concerned how she would eventually react to all of this knowledge.  He and the girls left after that with the youngest believing our conversation was about another person’s house.  Crisis averted.  (Funny side story:  That day I asked the girls what they thought a person should wear to a ghost hunt.  The oldest, and more pragmatic of the two, suggested all black.  The youngest suggested I wear a sheet with eyes and a mouth cut out so I would fit in better.  She then wanted me to be sure to take a picture with the ghost.  So, quite honestly, I don’t know if she was as affected by all of the ghost talk or not.)

      Anyway, after a break for dinner we all regrouped and the task of setting-up for the investigation began.  I never asked if what the paranormal team use for their investigations is proprietary or not so I will assume that it was and leave out detailed information.  Since I used to be an avid “Ghost Hunters” watcher I was feeling pretty confident in my skills and knowledge.  That’s pretty much where it ended though because the second we stepped into Sligo all confidence was lost.

      The first area of the house we wanted to investigate was in the aforementioned second floor room where Paula and Paris had seen the elemental energies.  My heart was pounding, my hands were sweaty (also because it was no less than one million degrees upstairs), and I really wanted to look up towards the attic but was too chicken shit to do so.  Paula and Paris both took turns trying to get the spirits to communicate with various methods but with very little success.  After some time, we went back downstairs.

      Once downstairs Carl told us we had a lot of orb activity that he could see on the monitor he was watching plus he was hearing footsteps from the porch through the foyer.  The next room we chose to look in was on the first floor and judging by the monitor, heavy with orb activity.  I was using a device to detect cold spots and at one point Paris asked me to hold still.  Paris, Lori, and I were all very intently looking at it when I had the distinct feeling that someone was almost cheek to cheek with me as if part of the group, viewing the screen.  I turned my head expecting to see Lori but she was a at least one foot away.  That was my first personal and inexplicable experience of the night.

      From the first floor we made our way to the basement into one room in particular that had seriously affected Paula and Paris when first touring the house.  We conducted an electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) session which consisted of Paula, Paris, my mom, and myself standing in complete silence as someone asks questions.  After about a minute of asking questions, the session ended and we played back the recording to listen for any abnormal noises.  About 10 seconds into the recording a very distinct, male voice can be heard saying “Here we go.”  There were not any men in the basement at that time.

      Posted in Haunted, Life, Main House | 2 Comments
    • It Was an Interesting Night…Part I

      Posted at 10:07 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on July 30, 2019

      You’re going to have to excuse me and whatever I write because I didn’t get home until 3:00 in the morning and didn’t fall asleep until almost 4.  I was feeling a little wired and anxious over the night’s events and needed about an hour to crawl into bed and decompress which is why it took an hour to fall asleep.  Then, the kids, having a wanton disregard for my comfort, were awake and running into my room around 7 excited to see if I had survived the night.

      I had survived the night though I felt totally hungover.  I think it was a combination of a lack of sleep, dehydration, and (dare I say?) getting older.  I texted my girlfriend who was with me last night, “Is this a sign of aging? *crying emoji crying emoji crying emoji*” and she said it was because she’s usually the voice of reason.  Then we reminisced about how when we were in our 20s we could drink out butts off, go to bed well after 3:00 in the morning, and wake up feeling less crappy.  I don’t necessarily miss those days but I do miss having a little more resiliency.

      By this point, two whole paragraphs in, you’re probably wondering what the heck am I talking about?  So, I shall tell you.  A few months ago I posted on Facebook that every now and then a picture I thought I took at Sligo would not be in the gallery on my phone.  It was a semi-sarcastic/semi-serious post because it is true.  The few times a pictures has gone missing it has always only been pictures I have taken at the house.

      Anyway, the next morning I woke-up to a message from the head of a paranormal investigation team who asked for me to call him.  I did and we talked and I told him the few things I knew about the house and alluded to some experiences I knew others had.  Eventually, and over the course of a month or so, we set-up a time for he and his team to come out and investigate Sligo.  And, the best part out of all of that?  Marcus and I were invited to tag along…

      To be continued…(and yes, I have a very devilish grin right now because I just know there are are a few of you who are probably freaking out reading this).

      Posted in Haunted, Life, Main House | 2 Comments
    • Paranormal Activity or User Error?

      Posted at 12:22 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on April 14, 2019

      I have hesitated to write about my possible paranormal experience at the house because I don’t want you all to think I am crazy (spoiler alert:  I am).  In all honesty, I cannot say whether I do believe in ghosts though I love a good, real-life ghost story.  I have never experienced a haunting aside from the few times I have been walking up a set of stairs and my brain tells me someone is behind me and I race to the top to escape (and don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about).

      Last week I gave a tour of the house to my friend, her mom, and her mom’s sisters.  We made it to the master bedroom area and from there you can look down, onto the porch roof.  We added snowbirds to the roof which are there to stop ice from falling on a person’s head…I think…I mean, that’s the general idea.  There could be more to them but that’s how I understand their existence.  The ladies that were touring the house didn’t know what they were and suggested I take a picture to add them to the Instagram page with an explanation of what they are.  I did just that, took a picture with my phone and then we moved on.

      Later that evening, I went back to look at the picture and post it to Instagram but it wasn’t there.  No big deal.  User error.  I figured I would take another one next time I went to the house.

      Marcus and I went to the house this past Friday and I specifically ran upstairs before we left so I could take a picture of the snowbirds.  I made sure to check that the picture had been taken and we left.  Again, later that evening, I went to post the picture to Instagram and…it wasn’t there.  Now I don’t know what to think.  I mean, newfangled technology confuses me from time to time but taking a picture is pretty straightforward.  To take a picture of the same thing twice and to somehow lose it twice is strange.

      What do you think?  Is there a friendly spirit messing with me or is it user error?

      Posted in Haunted, Main House | 0 Comments
    • Haint Blue

      Posted at 9:30 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on March 17, 2019

      The exterior work is really moving along and one of the biggest changes has been with the wraparound porch.  The columns have been repaired, the banisters have been leveled, and everything is getting a fresh coat of paint.  I have learned that tradition dictates for the the porch floor to be painted grey and the porch ceiling painted blue.  And it is the blue ceiling that I am here to write about because I learned a little something Southern that I had never known before (yes, I’m a Virginia girl don’t judge, there are just a few too many Southern traditions and I can’t keep up with all of them…plus this one originates just a little farther south).

      The ceiling of our porch has been painted Benjamin Moore’s Harbor Haze which is a beautiful shade of pale blue that is so pale it almost looks as if the blue of the siding is reflecting onto the ceiling.  I have tried to capture it in a photo but it is so hard to do it justice with a cell phone (I’ll still share it but wanted to make sure you all understand I am not a photographer).  Take my word for it, it’s beautiful but so understated that when you finally do notice it, you point it out to everyone walking by even though they know fully well that the porch ceiling is blue because they were there when it was painted in the first place.

      So, now, on to the “why” the porch ceiling is painted blue.  Some of you may know this answer already so bear with me because I find it fascinating and I think some of our relatives in the North and Midwest will think so as well.  There are actually a few reasons it is said porch ceilings are painted blue.  One is that it keeps the bugs away because they think it is the sky.  That’s cool but kind of boring and I have yet to discover if that’s true or not.

      The second reason porch ceilings are painted blue comes from the Gullah-Geechee people in the Lowcountry of the South.  The Gullah would paint the ceilings of their quarters blue (along with doors, windows, and shutters) in order to ward off ghosts.  The Gullah believed that the blue would confuse the ghosts into thinking it was water which they could not pass through.  The word “ghost” in the Gullah language is “haint” which is where the term “haint blue” comes from.  Eventually, white Southerners adopted the tradition and while it has since lost much of it’s spiritual significance the influence is still there.

      20190312_150146

      Oh gosh, now that I see this on a computer screen it’s hardly clear at all that the ceiling is blue.  If you look closely, you can see the blue over-spray on the white trim…that may help.  Otherwise, you’ll just have to stop by and take a look for yourself.

       

      Posted in Haunted, History, Main House | 0 Comments
    • The Mystery of the Caged Skeleton

      Posted at 10:20 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on February 21, 2019

      If you are an avid reader of this blog (Hi, Mom!) then you may remember a little tidbit about the petrified remains of a soldier being found in a cage on the grounds of Sligo.  The quote I used was from the 1937 Works Progress Administration (WPA) of Virginia Historical Inventory.  Obviously, 1937 was quite a few years after the Civil War and over 150 years after the Revolutionary War.  So, really, the information given had to be taken with a grain of salt if the person was indeed a soldier.

      A very kind reader (surprisingly not my mom because I could have sworn she was the only person tuning in) sent me a list of articles pertaining to Sligo which sent me back to the Virginiana Room at the local library.  I received a fantastic tutorial on how to use the microfilm machine and a whole new world opened up.  As I was searching for articles I had a great time scanning what was news for the late 1800s.  My personal favorite was what appeared to be an opinion piece lamenting the fact that women wanted to be more like men and, if that’s the case, then could they please give up all of their fancy hats with feathers because the bird population is suffering?!

      Anyway, that’s not why we’re here.  We want gore!  Not “birds being killed to make elegant hats” gore but “men being left in metal cages” gore!  So, as it turns out, in 1899 there was indeed the remains of a man found in a metal cage though not on the grounds of Sligo.  Whew!  I mean, I am sorry that a person died and was put in a metal cage but at least it wasn’t at Sligo.

      The part of the story that is really disturbing is the cage was in the shape of a human body and most likely the person in it was deemed a “lunatic.”  I question who it was that deemed the poor soul a lunatic and I question the tactics used for treatment.  Thank God, mental health wellness has come such a long way in the last 130 years because just a few short months ago someone might have been shoving me into a metal cage, citing lunacy.

      Below is the article which gives more information about the finding of the body and that a first body had been similarly found in King George (neighboring county) a few years prior.

      Curious find

      Article retrieved from the Fredericksburg Daily Star, April 14 1899.

       

      Posted in Grounds, Haunted, History | 2 Comments
    • A Belated Halloween

      Posted at 5:10 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on November 1, 2018

      Happy Halloween!  I know, it’s a day late and a buck short.  Is that the saying?  I tend to get those wrong.  Earlier today I told Marcus that by doing something I would only be adding “fuel to the fodder” and as I said it I knew it was wrong but I didn’t care.  And yes, it’s most redundant but let’s just go with it.

      For a hot second (now I know that’s correct) I had toyed with the idea of having a little Halloween ghost hunt party at Sligo but I lost my nerve.  Plus, it gets complicated with two little ones who actually participate in trick-or-treating and once they heard about the idea of a party they thought they would be involved and everything fell apart before it even began.

      Also, I don’t really think the house is haunted.  It is scary looking but that’s only because of its current state of disrepair.  Besides, when I took our dog into the house he seemed right at home.  He is a giant galoot but I figured if there were an otherworldly presence then an animal would be the one to sense it.  I was concerned he would start staring at something only he could see and he never did so either the house is not haunted or he was too busy being a pain in the ass to notice (honestly it’s probably the latter).

      I am surprised that we didn’t get any calls from the police this past weekend or last night.  I figured there would be kids daring each other to go up to the house on Halloween night.  One day I hope I can be at the house giving out giant candy bars to those brave kiddos who make that long walk up the driveway.  There was a house like that in my childhood neighborhood.  It was scary only because it was old and big and had a small family cemetery behind it.  I remember building up the nerve on the last Halloween living in that particular neighborhood and was greatly rewarded with a giant candy bar so now I’m ready to pay it forward.

      Anyway, on to Thanksgiving and then Christmas we go.  The plan is to be the living in the Cottage House after Christmas but at this exact moment there aren’t any walls and the floors are rotted so…maybe it will be Easter by the time we move.  Again.

      Posted in Cottage, Haunted, Holidays, Main House | 1 Comment
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    • Recent Posts

      • Preoccupied December 20, 2021
      • The “Haunting” of Sligo August 4, 2021
      • Rehabilitation Tax Credits April 27, 2021
      • Put Me in Blogger Jail April 6, 2021
      • Virginia Historic Registry and the National Landmark Registry August 6, 2020
      • My Good Boy, Axel July 14, 2020
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