Haunted Real Estate Blog

Today’s post is shared by Dennis Byron, a friend of mine and  a Broker (and Realtor) of Byron & Associates in Los Gatos, CA.  Over coffee last week, he shared this story with several local agent friends and he kindly agreed to retelling it for my readers here.

In the early eighties I owned, with investors, the Jeffery Hotel, the
Magnolia Saloon and most of the other buildings in Coulterville, California.

The Hotel and Restaurant had been closed for years. I was working on
remodeling the hotel at the time and the restaurant was to be the last of
the items I was going to work on. It still had the chairs and table in the room just as it was after Ed Sacket, the former owner, died. He had owned
it since the 40’s.

I had stayed over in the hotel with one of my investors named Jim. I had
just come down stairs and was walking around the porch, which circles the building, enjoying the morning air, when I saw Jim standing by the front door of the restaurant. He did a double take and asked  “How did you get out here?” I replied, “what do you mean?” Jim informed me that he saw a man sitting in the restaurant and assumed it was me. I told him that I hadn’t been in the restaurant in days. He insisted that he had seen someone sitting in there. We went into the bar, where a picture of Ed Sacket hung and Jim said that’s the guy he saw in the restaurant.

Of course it couldn’t have been, since Ed had been dead for years….or could it have been?

Dennis Byron
Byron & Associates
(408) 395-6900
http://www.byronandassociates.com
Contact online (form)

We were ending our weeklong family reunion in Cape May, New Jersey, and stopped in Philadelphia for some sightseeing before returning to Virginia to see more family en route home to Silicon Valley.  Here please enjoy a photo taken by my daughter, Clair, of the staircase inside of Independence Hall. I think these orbs may be more than just particles of dust. Have a look and see what you think. (Image has been cropped along right side and is smaller than original size to fit in post but otherwise is unaltered.)

Next, a closeup of the upstairs room where we were free to roam. (I cropped out any faces so as not to horrify unsuspecting tourists who were there on July 5th, 2008.)

Sorry for the long pause between haunted real estate posts. We’ve been busy on the family front with serious illness and hospitalization (my dad) and blogging about ghosts has been a luxury that my time  budget couldn’t afford. But now I’m (we’re) getting a little break with a visit to the east coast to see family and with that breather I’m able to investigate a little and blog a little.

Today my family and I toured Fort Delaware (on Pea Patch Island) in Delaware. It’s now a state park but was a Civil War POW camp and is supposedly the most haunted place in the state.   It was made even more famous by having an episode of Ghost Hunters feature it.

A friendly docent named Scott Debski told us a bunch of interesting stories about the place, and I’m afraid my blog post really won’t do his storytelling (or the ambiance of the place) justice.  Even so, I’ll give it a shot.

One sad, salient story relates to the death of a child near the entrance of the fort. During the Civil War era, a young Italian boy named Stefano ran errands for the captured officers. One ran the poor boy ragged!  During one race down the slipperly granite stairs, Stefano took a bad tumble, badly injuring himself as he rolled down the bent stairway until he crashed at the base of it - dead or mortally injured and dead soon thereafter.

The spot where Stefano landed is oddly darker than the stone pavers around it, which I hope will be visible enough with the photo taken with my Treo.

There’s a long, darkened walkway where some have experienced hints of hauntings. We walked through (and I borrowed my son’s new digital camera to snap a lot of pics) but saw/felt nothing. (Unfortunately, an extremely boistrous group of enthusiastic primary schoolers was just a few feet behind us. I don’t begrudge them being there in the least, but would have preferred a quieter walk through the place.)

Toward the end of our stay on the island, I asked Scott if he’d ever heard, seen, or otherwise experienced a ghost at the fort.  He regaled us with two stories from his first night there (happening at around 3am) in which there were distinct sounds (a fife playing and a woman crying) with no natural explanation. Both came from directions in which the sounds were impossible. (He tells it better.)

More to come soon!

Mary

Guest Post by Pete Chen
Pseudonym for a San Francisco Bay Area Realtor

I walked back into my apartment from the balcony.  It was a still and sunny day but since I was on the third of six floors there was never that much light inside.  I really should have been outside enjoying the weather but I was feeling pretty low-key that day.  So I turned on the TV and flipped repeatedly between something boring and something uninteresting. 

I did manage to get off the couch, if only to walk to my bedroom for a quick nap.  As usual, it was surprisingly dark but I managed to find the edge of my bed to sit down and take off my socks.  For some reason, I peered up at the bedroom door, which had begun to close.

It’d never really been drafty in the apartment and the door usually stayed put.  Whether it was the hinges, airflow, something unlevel didn’t matter.  It was no big deal and I was more interested in my nap.  But then I noticed that the door didn’t shut, it gently swung open again, then moved back as if it were going to close.  It did that two or three times before I walked up to it.  It kept going.  In a firm but almost a half-joking way, I asked, “What do you want?”  Then it stopped.  The door never moved on its own from that day forward.

My brother sent me a link this morning to a site, Medieval-Castles.com,  with information on haunted castles in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. It looks comprehensive!  Enjoy.

Bonnie Vent, of SD Paranormal, emailed me yesterday about her new approach to helping buyers and sellers of haunted real estate, so I thought I’d pass this on to you. I have her OK to copy and paste from the email. - Mary Pope-Handy

Hi Mary,

I have taken my haunted house listings to the next level.  I have a radio spot called “Paranormal News” and I am selling ad spots for those that wish to sponsor the show.  The first ad sold was from a woman in Indiana that has a haunted house for sale.  She is thrilled with the results since the ad goes out to the paranormal enthusiast communities; a targeted audience for any haunted property. 

The audio feeds are currently playing on:  

Para X Radio network - www.para-x.com

Ghostly Talk Radio - www.ghostlytalk.com

Coming soon will be Planet Paranormal - www.planetparanormal.com

As well as ITunes, Yahoo and Google and several podcast directories as podcasts.

The feeds are also stored indefinitely on my own podcast page:  www.paranormalnews.mypodcast.com

The text feeds are seen by thousands as they are on many paranormal websites, several Yahoo Groups also receive the feeds and some people also subscribe via email.  They all receive updates automatically every time I update the feed. 

Here are a few examples:

http://www.beyondrealityradio.com/westcoastnewsfeed

http://parahub.org/files/News.htm

http://www.paranews.co.uk/modules/paranews/index.php/b13 

Please pass this along to clients and fellow agents that are interested in buying and selling haunted property.  If they are interested in sponsoring a broadcast or placing an ad they can reach me at paraxnews@aol.com  I can do the ad for them or they can send a mp3 file which I will incorporate into the show. 

There are plans to turn this into a radio show.  This will of course depend on how much of a response we receive. 

Thx so much,

Bonnie Vent

San Diego Paranormal Research Project

www.sdparanormal.com

The San Jose chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution asked my friend Deb Wible to speak at their meeting last Saturday about “Haunted San Jose”. Deb invited me, and her good friend Adrienne Foster (who does wonderful reviews of haunted hotels on epinions.com) to join us and make it a panel presentation.

It was lots of fun, and the members of this group had a lot of details on the historical aspects of the locations discussed.

Thank you, Daughters of the American Revolution, for hosting us. We truly enjoyed our visit with you.

Recently I was contacted by Patty Burgess, a warm and fascinating realty agent & investor in the Philadelphia, PA area, who hosts a real estate radio show.  Having found my blog on this subject, Patty asked if I’d like to be included in tomorrow’s session on haunted and stigmatized real estate. She will be interviewing psychic medium Joseph Tittel and broadcasting from a haunted hotel in Ocean City, New Jersey!  The show will be aired live on the web, so no need to be in PA or NJ to hear what’s happening. I hope you will be able to join us - it will be fun!!

Haunted & Stigmatized Properties Interview Particulars:
Monday, March 10th 4pm EST (1pm in California/west coast)
Show begins at 4pm but the interview will start a little later, around 4:10? 4:15?
Listen live at www.wbcb1490.com/listen.htm

Want more?  Both Patty and Joseph have blogs!

Patty’s blog: Blog, Blah, Blah….
Joseph’s blog: Spiritman Joseph

Please join us tomorrow!

 Today’s post is shared by Frances Flynn Thorsen, who is a Realtor in PA and AZ and is the managing editor of Real Town.

Ghosts? Haunted Houses? I confess that I love to read the stories here and elsewhere. I have two personal stories that may be about haunted houses. Perhaps they are NOT about haunted houses. I do not pretend to have an explanation for strange events, but I will share one story here and let you decide for yourself.

The morning was quite bleak, cloudy overcast sky threatened rain. Spirits were soaring as we approached the first house on our round of showings that day. A retired couple from Northern New Jersey was planning to move to the Lehigh Valley, PA, and we embarked upon our second appointment to view properties in search of their new home.

The first home on our itinerary was a detached, single-family, two-story farmhouse in a semi rural corner of Bangor. The house was vacant and the property listing remarks said that there were repairs and renovations underway. There was a great yard and the property had all of the features on the couple’s “Wish List.” We were cheerful and optimistic when I opened the lockbox, inserted a key, and opened the door.

There was no furniture in the house, the ladder in the corner and a set of scattered tools was evidence of work in progress. The rooms were large and windowed to a park-like setting in rear and side yards.

The male spousal unit headed for the basement for a close look at the mechanicals. A retired engineer in search of a “fix” was like a kid in a toy store with an opportunity to roam at will to trace the wires and pipes in the subterranean crevices of a hundred-year-old home.

We left him alone with the furnace and fuse box and proceeded to inspect other areas of the home. The kitchen was large and modestly appointed, and it offered a splendid eating nook with an inviting view of the patio and yard. It was time to see the second floor. As the wife and I started to ascend the stairs we heard a man’s voice. We were surprised. There was no car in the driveway when we arrived. I guessed that the voice belonged either to the owner of the home or to a contractor who was busy upstairs.

The sound of the voice became louder, it sounded like the man was very angry and he was yelling at another person there. I yelled, “Hello! I am a REALTOR and I am showing the house. We are coming upstairs.”

The yelling continued, followed by the sound of a slamming door and a series of crashes. I continued to issue loud greetings and we climbed the stairs. I was concerned that someone was seriously hurt and somewhat fearful that we heard an episode of violence.

Suddenly there was silence. We stepped into the hallway, stopped, and listened. I called out again, “Hello! This is the REALTOR. Is everyone all right?”

There was no response. We gingerly stepped down the hall and looked into the bedrooms and the bathroom. All the rooms were vacant, there was no furniture and no sign of life. The closets were empty. We were chilled. The wife and I shared a look and without saying a word to each other we retreated to the first floor. She called to the basement, “Jim, come upstairs, we are leaving RIGHT NOW!”

He sauntered to the first floor and she ushered him out the door hurriedly, ignoring his pleas for an explanation. I did not say a word. We got into my car and pulled out of the driveway. He continued to inquire about our sudden departure and his wife’s ashen face.

As we pulled onto the highway and headed to the next house on the itinerary the sky smiled. The clouds parted and a glorious ray of warm sun pierced the chilly autumn day. She and I looked at each other and smiled. We never discussed it again. I’ll have to find her e-mail address and send her this link.

Frances Flynn Thorsen
Realtor, e-PRO, SRS, ACRE
Managing Editor, Real Town

Awhile back, I got an email from someone about a childhood experience of this person’s involving ghosts at Vallco.  One other person, whom the first one knows, also had a similar experience there. I will remove the store name so as not to create a fuss for the current owner….but if this is familiar to you, please let us know!

“(I was) downstairs in the basement, I saw a group, yes group, of spirits, ghosts, I don’t know what to call them. There were about 20-25 of them, all different ages and sizes, all dressed from the previous century, and all with a far look of dread on their faces. They were standing at the glass doors that lead out to the underground parking lot…”.I’ve been there as a child, and as an adult, but did not pick up on anything. Anyone know about these ghosts from Cupertino’s past?