Patch Blog: Country Gal/City Woman: "Ghosts, Spirits and Apparitions..."

The third in the arcadia.patch series "Once in a Blue Moon" ... (only a dedicated reader of Nora E. Roberts or Janet Evanovich will appreciate this sentence)! 

The "subject" came up as we were flying several thousand feet over the famous "Four Corners" that every pilot worth his license will announce from the cockpit as he safely points out "stuff" that can be really only seen by the passenger next to the tiniest of windows.   It came up, sort of, out of desperation, on my part. 

This was, of course, at the beginning of our two-week trek to Iowa - just in time for the State Fair - August, 2010.  As far as Mary was concerned, the Allegiant Airline plane couldn't land quickly enough....for reasons other than the State Fair.  She is the family's "Nervous Nellie" when it comes to flying.  "Are we there yet?"  Small talk about the famous "Butter Cow," or whatever famous painting, duplicated in butter, it was that would be featured on the front page of the Des Moines Register, wasn't going to "cut it" for a relaxing and/or mood enhancing conversation. If my daughter's newly-manicured nails were to survive, "Mama" had to think of something and be quick about it.  How about a ghost story?  It worked when she was ten, why not now?

So, with the famous "Four Corners" behind us and the Des Moines Airport straight ahead, I turned to Mary and said: "...about our "Bucket List. There's a "haunted house" on the outskirts of Lewis, near Atlantic.  I've seen it once, would like to see it again, and should we add it to our "Bucket List?"  Yup, that ploy still works on my girl!  And settled back and enjoyed the "friendly skies," and the peanuts but not before giving Mary a verbal mini-tour of Hitchcock House.  Her nails did great for the entire two weeks.  My waistline, not so much!

We Travelers Three chose two days for touring miles of countryside with nieces Mary Barnholdt Ray, Sherry Cranston and her two daughters, Randi and Liz, visiting cemeteries, and of course not to be left behind,  our three Guardian Angels, ending up at the now nationally-famous Hitchcock House. 

Stories of "ghosts, spirits and apparitions" have literally surrounded Hitchcock House for as long as I can remember.  It has also been home to several families before it fell into a state of disrepair, abandoned and was literally falling in upon itself when a group of concerned citizens banded together and decided this was a House that was meant to be saved..."It had a 'history' and now, by golly, it deserved a 'future' simply because of the so-important role it played as part of the Underground Railroad System during the mid-1800's."  Perhaps, one day, the honor of being listed in several National Registers as "historic."  And the labor of love began in full swing in 1983.  

I am putting those words in "quotes" into the mouths of the many men and women laboring long and hard to restore this quaint Federal-style home, of course, but "vibes" tell me I am "close" with those sentiments.

The "history" part goes like this:

The Reverend George B. Hitchcock, a minister of the Congregational faith, built this 30'x40' structure for his growing family out of brown sandstone taken from a quarry still visible from the road going south out of Lewis, just in case you are in the neighborhood someday and want to take the tour that has become one of the favorites of history buffs.  (Definitely worthy of a Google!)

Hitchcock House has always been the subject of curiosity and intrigue, in the main because it was a part of several homes along a designated route (the Underground) in which were secreted and sheltered for a night, possibly two, fugitive slaves who were being transported by sympathetic Abolitionists from one state to the next, one home to the next.

This always-secretive transfer was dangerous, not only to the slaves if they were discovered but, also, to those doing the carting and the ferrying.  Male slaves were oft-times dressed in women's clothing as if on their way to church and the occasional potluck immediately following.  Prison terms or death awaited the freedom-seeking slaves or their benefactors if caught in this act of desperation.  The sad part of this tale is that family members and neighbors would and did turn against each other. Feelings ran high as it was not a most popular cause, this moving along to freedom another human being. 

Reverend George was not to be denied his part in this movement along with his friend and fellow Abolitionist, Preacher John Brown, the latter sometimes breaking bread with Reverend George when he was out checking the Underground System with its own particular code of the railroader's terminology that signaled when the coast was clear to "make tracks."  Your Tour guide will tell you that even a specially-made quilt hung out to air on an ordinary wash day was used for communicating, a kerosene lamp in a certain window.  Fascinating stuff.  

The Hitchcock House had a secret room in the dirt basement under the first floor where the fugitive slaves would bunk down for the night, maybe two, before moving ever eastward to the borders of Canada.  How grateful they must have been to these early settlers who knew them not but understood their plight!  Can you imagine the anguish of a mother with a baby on hip, hearing heavy official footsteps upstairs?  One slight sound from baby would spell disaster for those who had slipped in for a night of rest.

And, so this is the story that awaited us as we entered the gift shop for a time to rest our feet, learn more about this beautifully restored home/tourist site.  Mary was the only family member who had not seen the House and, as her luck would have it, she was given a very exclusive tour-of-one with a tour guide eager to share with one so very eager to hear.  And her digital camera was permitted!  In a large Tour group, that might not have happened.

Remember those "ghosts, spirits and apparitions" that headlined this story? 

Just when the reputation of Hitchcock House being "haunted" began, I cannot tell you, but stories have been shared for years that "unknown presences" have been making themselves "known" to more than one or two local citizens.  In fact, during the restoration of the House in 1983, 'tis said more than one worker picked up their tools, left the premises and did not return.  (Easily verified by an unknown number of grandchildren who had to listen to these "ghost" stories.) 

Mary's camera was loaded with pictures of every room and the basement when she rejoined the group, excited by what she had just seen, amazed that each room had (as close as possible with donated furniture, clothes and utensils of that era) been made ready as it must have been made ready for the guests the Hitchcock family would welcome when they were the upstairs inhabitants.  

Eager to look at the pictures on the memory card, the minute we hit the motel room Mary was busy scrolling through the many photos, not really looking for anything more than another opportunity to look at the lovely rooms of several generations ago.

I heard "Mom!  You've got to look at this and tell me what you see!" 

Of the hundred or more pictures that we looked at in the "memory card" stage, there are two of special significance; on each of these two there is a sweep of a "gossamer" like mass.  Within each slightly different mass, we discerned faces and figures of people of different hues, dressed in the manner of that day, some sitting in groups, several by themselves and of different ages. Some figures are more distinct than others, breathtaking in appearance. 

Would "they" be there when these pictures were developed upon our return home?  "They" were there then and still are.  Not everyone to whom we show these pictures is able to see "our extended family" ...a greater number can.  

Mind-boggling is that in addition to the faces and figures we see fancifully-written names and figures as if taken from a record-keeping ledger.   All are distinct but more easily studied with a magnifying glass.  New discoveries are made each time Mary and I pick up an 8x10 glossy to take another look at what is both mysterious and, maybe to some, beyond "reasonable."   

We have checked with the Trustees of Hitchcock House, and we are assured that what we see in the pictures are NOT reflections from another picture across the small room.  Further, the readable handwriting is NOT reversed which would be the case if the handwriting, and the figures, were a reflection from a source over and behind Mary's shoulder when she was taking the pictures.  We hope to continue our determined "investigation", everything permitting.

Is it that "far-fetched" for my daughter and I to believe that these marvelous "ghosts, spirits and apparitions" have reached out into the year 2010, and now 2011, to prove their existence to us and that they, as precious human beings though several lifetimes back in another century, counted?  Not to us is it "far-fetched."  However, it does have us pondering, "Why?"

"The proof is in the pudding!"  In this case, 8x10 glossy "pudding".  There is an answer, and someday, we will discover it; but for now we are simply warmly basking in the knowledge that something very, very special happened that day at the Reverend George B. Hitchcock House...that is enough, as I said, for now!