HAUNTED
(Discussion Board Files
courtesy of Matt Muller)
Subj: Haunted House
Date: 95-05-03
From: aa103516@dasher.csd.scarolina.edu
From:
aa103516@dasher.csd.scarolina.edu (Stretch)
To: THOR181@aol.com
Here's some info on a house
in
looking for:
On
beautifully restored
to the public on Mondays for
cleaning and maintenance. My guide,
Neill Rose, agreed to give
me this private tour because we shared
an interest in the
paranormal and because he was slated for losing
his tour-guide job due to
city budget cuts. Whereas before, he was
reluctant to tell what he
knew, now he was ready to show-all, tell-
all. I was allowed to see
the basement, the attic and was even
allowed to probe around on
the rafters behind the attic walls. I
must say that while in this
mansion, I never once felt any strange
sensations that you would
imagine would accompany such a visit. I
did my darndest to "be
sensitive" to the spirits in order to catch
a glimpse of the afterlife
in action. My hour and a half visit
during that rainy morning
was NOT a waste due to spiritual in-
activity. Just being in the
presence of where paranormal activities
were reported was reward in
itself. During my visit, the following
stories were relayed to me
with the utmost of seriousness.
HAMPTON-PRESTON HAUNTED HOUSE
TOUR
ROCKING CHAIR BY
RE-ENACTMENT SOLDIER: There was recently a civil
war re-enactment of
on the grounds and basement
of the Hampton-Preston mansion. There
were about a dozen
re-enactment soldiers that spent the night in
the basement. The next
morning, the soldier who slept near the
staircase leading to the
first floor, complained to the tour guide
(who was also participating
in the re-enactment), that he had been
unable to sleep soundly due
to, what sounded to him, to be someone
squeaking the floor-boards
by rocking in a rocking chair. The
soldier had no prior
knowledge that the house was "haunted". The
tour guide unlocked the door
leading to the first floor and took
him upstairs to the first
bedroom at the head of the stairs. By the
doorway to the bedroom stood
the antique rocker. There had been no
one beyond that locked door
all night.
GRAY
presence of
just getting started with
her tour and had the group with her in
the foyer on the first
floor. One of the members of the tour was an
Air Force officer dressed in
his military uniform. The tour guide
directed their attention to
the beautiful banisters when coming
down the stairs appears the
faint image of an elderly woman shaking
her fist. She seemed to be
singling out the Air Force officer
because of his blue uniform
that reminded her of the
uniforms. She disappeared
before their eyes before she reached the
bottom of the staircase.
They elected to discontinue with their
tour and departed
immediately.
FIRE MARSHALL WITNESSES
CANDLES RE-LIGHTING ON THE BANISTER:
During the Christmas season,
there are candle-lite tours of the
mansion. A prerequisite to
this event is the presence of a City of
Columbia fire marshall with
fire fighting equipment should there be
an unexpected fire start.
Numerous candles were affixed to the
banister of the spiral
staircase to illuminate the way to the
upper floors. At the
conclusion of the candle-lite tour, it was the
job of the Fire Marshall to
see that all fires were extinguished
before the house was vacated
for the night. Starting at the top of
the spiral staircase, he
snuffed out each candle as he made his way
down the stairs. when he
reached the bottom of the stairs, he
turned around to check on
the job-well-done only to find the
candles re-lighting
themselves on-by-one starting at the top and
continuing all the way down
to where he stood. He then ran out of
the building in haste,
violating a city fire ordinance, and has
never set foot back inside
the mansion.
VELOUR CHAIN COVER
DISAPPEARS & REAPPEARS BEHIND TOUR GUIDE'S BACK:
The original candle
chandeliers still hang from the ceilings of the
downstairs rooms. The
ceilings in each room are easily 20 feet
high. The cleaning crews
assigned to keep the building in order
used to clean the cobwebs
that gathered on the brass chains that
suspend the chandeliers. At
some point, it was decided that a
velour chain-cover would be
a better solution to the cobweb
problem. Each chain-cover
could be easily removed, cleaned, then
replaced each time the
cleaning crew came through the house. A
missing chain-cover was a
sure sign that the cleaning crew was
presently in the house, or
that they had forgotten to re-install
one after they were done.
Each day before the house is open to the
public, the tour guide
inspects the house to see that all is in
order for viewing. On one
such day, the guide noticed that the
velour chain-cover was
missing and immediately suspected that the
cleaning crew had forgotten
to re-install it, since he was the
first to open the house that
morning. He immediately notified his
superiors that there was a
missing chain-cover and the cleaning
crew would have to come back
and re-install it quickly. He learned
that they had not been out
to the mansion lately. He went to show
his superior that there was
indeed a chain-cover missing, only to
find that it had been
re-installed during his brief absence.
CHILDREN HEARD PLAYING IN
THE ATTIC: There have been instances
where tour guides heard the
sounds of children playing wildly in
the attic, only to find no
one up there.
CHILD'S FACE SEEN IN ATTIC
WINDOW FROM VISITOR ON THE GROUNDS:
During an Autumn-fest
celebration, the mansion was host to a
minstrel group that played
out on the back patio. Hundreds of
people were dancing and
mingling on the grounds. Although the
mansion was strategically
lit from the inside, it was off-limits to
the general public. Several
of the guests on the grounds noticed
that a child's face could be
clearly seen peering out on the
activity below, from the
attic fan-window. A quick check of the
attic made only to find it,
as well as the rest of the mansion,
unoccupied.
HEATING & AIR
CONDITIONING PEOPLE THAT WEREN'T REALLY THERE: One
day, the tour guide was
giving a tour. As the group went through
the house, they could not
help notice the noises originating from
the attic area. The guide
dismissed it as the heating & air
conditioning men who had
been called to come and service the A/C
unit. When the tour group
departed, the guide went up into the
attic to check on the
progress of the HVAC people, only to find
that they had not yet
arrived to the house.
HURRICANE LAMP FALLS FROM
BANISTER & NEARLY HITS TOUR GUIDE: At the conclusion of a candle-lite tour,
one of the tour guides was
narrowly missed by a small
hurricane lamp globe as she stood at the
foot of the stairs. The
globe shattered when it hit the floor. An
inspection was made of the
remaining hurricane lamps, which were
affixed to the banister of
the spiral staircase. None of the
globes were loose. None of
the globes could have vibrated loose
from their deep holders.
CANDLE MISSING FROM
CHANDELIER, NAPKIN RESTING ON PLATE: When closing the Mansion for the day, the
tour guide assigned to the
house locks himself in and
makes a room to room check for stray
guests, unlocked windows and
anything out of the ordinary. On one
particular closing day, my
guide did just so and locked himself out
as usual. The next morning,
he did his opening search of the house
prior to guest arriving to
insure that all is in order. On a sweep
through the family dining
room, he noticed that a single candle had
been removed from the
crystal chandelier that hung directly above
the dining room table.
Instinctively, he searched for the fallen
candlestick on the tabletop,
then on the floor under the table.
When no candle could be
found, he extended the search to the far
corners of the room as a
measure of over-kill. No candle was ever
found nor did any of the
motion-sensor alarms activate due to
motion in the house the
night before. It was then he also noticed
that one of the place
settings of silver and china were slightly
altered from the night before.
A single napkin had been moved from
beside the china plate and
had been laid to rest directly on top of
one of plate.
UNION RE-ENACTMENT HAT
MISSING FROM ATTIC: My guide had borrowed
Union soldier cap from a
friend in Charleston, to complete the
soldier uniform which he
would wear in civil was re-enactment which
was scheduled to take place
on the grounds. He assured his friend
that if anything happened to
the $70 cap, he would see to it that
it was promptly replaced.
After the re-enactment, my guide placed
the borrowed cap in the
attic in an out-of-the-way place until he
could make arrangements to
send the cap back the friend in
Charleston. When that time
arrived, the cap was nowhere to be
found. To his knowledge, no
one had been up to the attic since he
put the cap there and he had
told no one of it's whereabouts. He
had to buy his friend
another cap. Traditions has it that the
original owner of the
mansion hated Yankees or any resemblance of
them in her house.
HVAC MAN WITH SWING
BAROMETER NOTICES COLD COLUMNS OF AIR IN ATTIC:
During an initial visit by
the new heating and air conditioning
contractors, one HVAC man
was going through the house conducting a
heating efficiency test. One
of the tools of the trade was a hand-
held gadget called a
"swing barometer" that was used to detect
drafts and temperature
changes around doors and windows. While up
in the attic, where the old
air conditioning unit was located, he
reported that there were
mysterious columns of cold air that seemed
to be there one minute and
gone the next. Each time he encountered
the cold pockets of air,
there was a change in the reading of the
"swing barometer".
No source for the cold air was ever located by
the HVAC man.
EERIE PRESENCE FELT BY TOUR
GUIDE DESCENDING THE STAIRS: On one
occasion, a female tour
guide felt a strange presence just over her
shoulder as she descended
the spiral staircase. She would stop and
turn to see if someone was
behind her on the stairs. This happened
several times on the way
down. No one was behind her at any time
while on the stairs.
BREATHING ON NECK OF TOUR
GUIDE WITH GIVING TOUR: Another tour
guide was addressing a tour
group while standing in the foyer on
the first floor. While the
tour groups' eyes were firmly fixed on
her, she felt someone
breathe on her neck. She turned to see if
someone had been playing a
trick on her. No one was behind her. She
did not explain her actions
to the tour group. Moments later, she
experienced the same
sensation, just as before. She reached for the
back of her neck and turned,
sure that this time someone was behind
her. No one was even nearby.
EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION
CREW'S CAMERA FAILS TO WORK IN MANSION:
There was one time when an
E.T.V. crew was allowed to film the
paranormal activities that
been reported in the mansion. They were
unable to film anything
because for some reason, the cameras would
malfunction once inside the
mansion. Removal of the cameras from
the house caused to function
normally again.
The previous stories are
sworn to be true. Some can be verified by
calling the Hampton-Preston
Mansion in Columbia, SC directly:
1-(803)-252-0938 or
1-(803)-252-1770
My tour guide was Neill
Rose. His home phone number is:
1-(803) 252-9116 He was
terminated one week after giving me my
private tour. He gave me
three names to help me to continue my
paranormal search. They are:
Ann Hastings, Nancy Vodry
and Pat Mantieth. They can be reached at:
1-(803) 252-1770
Stretch
(davidm@pro-carolina.cts.com)
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From: Stretch
<aa103516@dasher.csd.scarolina.edu>
To: THOR181@aol.com
Subject: Haunted House
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