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	<title>This Eclectic Life &#187; Ghostly&#8211;Mostly</title>
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		<title>Good Golly, Miss Molly&#8217;s Is Haunted!</title>
		<link>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2010/04/24/hauntedmiss-mollys-fort-worth/</link>
		<comments>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2010/04/24/hauntedmiss-mollys-fort-worth/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:40:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shelly Kneupper Tucker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ghostly--Mostly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My Neck Of The Woods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fort Worth]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thiseclecticlife.com/?p=12640</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When we arrived at Miss Molly&#8217;s Bed and Breakfast, on Exchange Street in Fort Worth, I told the innkeeper that we wanted to seek the ghosts that haunt the place. &#8220;Oh,&#8221; she chirped. &#8220;Then, we need to close all the Bibles. I keep an open Bible in every room to tell the ghosts who is [...]]]></description>
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<p><span title="W" class="cap"><span>W</span></span>hen we arrived at Miss Molly&#8217;s Bed and Breakfast, on Exchange Street in Fort Worth, I told the innkeeper that we wanted to seek the ghosts that haunt the place. <div id="attachment_12645" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 250px">
	<a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/opened-Bible.jpg"><img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/opened-Bible.jpg" alt="opened Bible" title="opened Bible" width="250" height="190" class="size-full wp-image-12645" /></a>
	<p class="wp-caption-text">Protection.</p>
</div> &#8220;Oh,&#8221; she chirped.  &#8220;Then, we need to close all the Bibles.  I keep an open Bible in every room to tell the ghosts who is Boss, and there isn&#8217;t as much activity when they are open.&#8221;  We went into every room and closed them <em>all</em>.  She even had them in the bathrooms, and some rooms had more than one opened Bible.<br/><br/><br/></p>
<p>I wonder how many people pass this pink door on their visit to The Stockyards and notice nothing more than the cheesy John Wayne cut-out?  Little do they know that beyond that pink door is a bed and breakfast that is reportedly one of the most haunted places in Fort Worth.  It&#8217;s called &#8220;Miss Molly&#8217;s,&#8221; but it isn&#8217;t named for a person &#8212; the lead cow on a cattle drive was often called &#8220;Molly.&#8221;</p>
<div id="attachment_12641" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 450px">
	<a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Miss-Mollys-door.jpg"><img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Miss-Mollys-door.jpg" alt="door of Miss Mollys B&amp;B" title="Miss Molly&#039;s door" width="450" height="676" class="size-full wp-image-12641" /></a>
	<p class="wp-caption-text">This way to the ghost hunt, Pilgrim.</p>
</div>
<p>On weekends the innkeeper often greets her guest dressed in the guise of an 1890&#8242;s &#8220;saloon girl.&#8221;  We were there on a Monday, so we weren&#8217;t treated to that spectacle, but I saw a picture (and she looks remarkably like Miss Kitty from Gunsmoke).  Unfortunately, that doesn&#8217;t really fit with the history of this building, although I&#8217;m sure it makes a good show (and it&#8217;s what the tourists want to see).  </p>
<p>The building that houses this bed and breakfast inn wasn&#8217;t built in the days of the Wild West, but in 1910 to serve as a boarding house.  By then, Fort Worth was a bustling metropolis with two meat packing plants at the other end of the street.  The cattle were probably brought to the slaughterhouses by train &#8212; not on a cattle drive.  Although there <em>might</em> have been some &#8220;cowboys&#8221; roaming the streets, they didn&#8217;t tote six-guns on their hips.  I imagine that the first residents of the building were cattlemen, businessmen, and salesmen who were on business trips to the Stockyards.</p>
<p>In the 1920s, Miss Amelia Eimer ran the place, and it was called &#8220;The Palace Rooms.&#8221;  It later became known as &#8220;The Oasis.&#8221;  I&#8217;m told that there might have been a &#8220;speakeasy&#8221; in the building during the time of Prohibition, but it wasn&#8217;t until the 1940&#8242;s, when Miss Josie King took over, that this building became a bawdy house known as &#8220;The Gayette Hotel.&#8221;</p>
<div id="attachment_12653" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 450px">
	<a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/stairs-at-Miss-Mollys.jpg"><img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/stairs-at-Miss-Mollys.jpg" alt="stairs at Miss Mollys" title="stairs at Miss Mollys" width="450" height="675" class="size-full wp-image-12653" /></a>
	<p class="wp-caption-text">You had to REALLY want to go there.</p>
</div>
<p>&#8220;Gentlemen&#8221; climbed these stairs to find a small sitting room where they sat upon couches as &#8220;ladies&#8221; paraded before them and they chose their &#8220;companion&#8221; for the evening (or the next hour).  Surrounding the sitting room are nine bedrooms, each connected by interior doors, which form a circle.</p>
<div id="attachment_12662" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 450px">
	<a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Miss-Molly-Parlor.jpg"><img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Miss-Molly-Parlor.jpg" alt="Miss Molly&#039;s Parlor" title="Miss Molly Parlor" width="450" height="300" class="size-full wp-image-12662" /></a>
	<p class="wp-caption-text">My husband already had a partner for the night.  That is Paula in the middle and her friend, Carla, on the left.</p>
</div>
<p>In the 1960s, the building housed an art gallery (each artist purchased a space in one of the rooms) and it wasn&#8217;t until 1989 that the building was converted to The Star Cafe below and Miss Molly&#8217;s above.  Eight of the nine rooms are decked out in antiques and available for guests &#8230; or ghosts.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes, Shelly &#8230; but enough history &#8230; get to the <em>ghosts</em>.&#8221;  I heard that.  And, people have heard plenty of ghosts at Miss Molly&#8217;s.  They have also <em>seen </em>ghosts.</p>
<p>Paula, the innkeeper, lives in one room of this building.  When there are no guests, she is probably the only living soul for miles around.  I spent about forty minutes alone in the building in broad daylight, and I don&#8217;t know how she stays there alone at night.  But then, she isn&#8217;t really &#8220;alone.&#8221;  </p>
<p>She has quite a few stories to tell!  She has heard shuffling footsteps when no one else is in the building.  Guests have heard that, too.  Several people have noticed a lingering scent of perfume that comes and goes.  Sometimes people have heard unexplained laughter coming from the rooms (when no one is inside).  Often people see movement out of the corners of their eyes, but turn to find <em>nothing</em> moving.  Of course, people have felt &#8220;someone&#8221; sit on the bed with them &#8230; the mattress depresses, but no one is there.</p>
<p>More than one person has seen the apparition of a young girl, who stands near the head of the stairs.  She&#8217;s dressed in clothing from the early 1900s and she doesn&#8217;t seem to be in a very good mood!  She stamps her little feet, and whines, &#8220;I don&#8217;t <em>like</em> dancin&#8217;!&#8221;  Nothing worse than a whiny ghost!</p>
<div id="attachment_12661" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 450px">
	<a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Miss-Joseys-room.jpg"><img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Miss-Joseys-room.jpg" alt="Miss Joseys room" title="Miss Joseys room" width="450" height="300" class="size-full wp-image-12661" /></a>
	<p class="wp-caption-text">Is Miss Josey still hanging around here?</p>
</div>
<p>We stayed in &#8220;Miss Josey&#8217;s Room,&#8221; which is supposed to have a lot of activity in it. We didn&#8217;t choose it for the activity, but because it was the only room with a private bathroom.  That bathroom has a delightful clawfoot tub, and a toilet that has been known to flush <em>all by itself</em>.  </p>
<p>The fleeting image of a ghostly woman is said to occasionally be seen in the room;  people have noticed perfume fragrance that shouldn&#8217;t be there; and a lamp supposedly turns on and off without human hands on the switch.  While we were there, we didn&#8217;t experience a thing &#8212; except a mattress that was uncomfortably soft.</p>
<p>Paula calls one room &#8220;Jake&#8217;s room.&#8221;  She was working alone in the house one day, when she saw a man walking toward that room.  She had just finished cleaning it and had turned out the light in the room.  Wondering how in Thunder he got inside, she called out, &#8220;Hey, you!&#8221;  She ran toward him but he slammed the door.  When the doors close, they lock.  Paula got the key and opened the door to find it empty.  But, the light and the ceiling fan were on!  &#8220;Jake&#8221; is a regular guest at Miss Molly&#8217;s.</p>
<div id="attachment_12665" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 450px">
	<a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Jakes-room.jpg"><img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Jakes-room.jpg" alt="Jakes room" title="Jakes room" width="450" height="676" class="size-full wp-image-12665" /></a>
	<p class="wp-caption-text">Jake didn't visit ... or did he?</p>
</div>
<p>I sat watching Jake&#8217;s room in the morning light, and twice I saw a shadow cross the headboard.  It was tall, as if a person had walked in front of the window.  Pigeons on the windowsill could not have made the shadow, but was it Jake?  I have no clue.</p>
<p>There are three bathrooms available for all the guests to use, but <em>one</em> of them is very creepy, according to Paula.  She says she won&#8217;t take a bath in the tub in there, because she gets the feeling of being &#8220;watched.&#8221;  Guests have reported that as well &#8230; and they have reported hearing someone whistle at them and being touched!  I was glad we had our own bathroom!</p>
<a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/haunted-bathtub.jpg"><img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/haunted-bathtub.jpg" alt="haunted bathtub" title="haunted bathtub" width="450" height="710" class="size-full wp-image-12669" /></a>
<p>Paula and her friend Carla reported that often on Monday morning, after all guests have left, they go in to clean the rooms and find an odd occurrence.  It seems that <em>all</em> of the plugs in <em>every</em> room have been unplugged!  They don&#8217;t figure that a prankster <em>guest</em> did that, because those plugs are in places that are difficult to reach.  To get to some of them, you have to climb under beds!  They believe it is a prankster ghost.</p>
<p>At Christmas time, Paula decorated with jingle bells on every door, and decided that was a <em>big</em> mistake!  She went to bed that night (no guests were present) and heard a bell jingle.  Dashing into the hall in her pajamas, she found it all quiet.  As soon as she was back in bed, another bell jingled.  She finally trounced into the hall and announced, &#8220;Y&#8217;all stop it!  I want to get some sleep!&#8221;  And, there were <em>no more jingles</em>.  </p>
<p>While <em>we</em> stayed at Miss Molly&#8217;s, we didn&#8217;t have very many strange occurrences.  I saw the shadow in Jake&#8217;s room and at one point I felt a tug on some equipment I was carrying.  I <em>did</em> use that Ghost Radar on my iPhone, and got some unusual readings.</p>
<p>At one point, I was &#8220;talking to the ghosts.&#8221;  I asked, &#8220;Do you know you are dead?  Are you here?  Where are you?&#8221;</p>
<p>That eerie voice on my Ghost Radar said, &#8220;Texas.&#8221;</p>
<p>I wasn&#8217;t going to admit to this part of it, but I&#8217;ll go ahead and do it.  I think the ghost had a sense of humor.  The other humans had left the building, and I was sitting on the couch trying to get ghosts to talk to me.  I&#8217;d eaten beans for lunch, and they &#8220;caught up with me,&#8221; so to speak.  Hey, nobody was going to hear &#8230; so I &#8230; ummm &#8230; I passed gas.</p>
<p>Ghost Radar said, &#8220;Wind.&#8221;</p>
<p>Now, y&#8217;all may think that I&#8217;m full of &#8220;hot air,&#8221; but Miss Molly&#8217;s is a fun place to explore.  It <em>could</em> actually be haunted.  The Discovery Channel had some ghosthunters film there and noticed &#8220;high EVP&#8221; readings in every room (especially that bathtub!).  The Texas Paranormal Society has visited, and you can even read <a href="http://www.texpartparanormal.com/investigations2008.htm" target="_new">their findings, </a>although you have to scroll way down the page.</p>
<p><div id="attachment_12677" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 250px">
	<a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/earplugs.jpg"><img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/earplugs.jpg" alt="earplugs" title="earplugs" width="250" height="167" class="size-full wp-image-12677" /></a>
	<p class="wp-caption-text">Don't pop 'em in your mouth!</p>
</div>I plan on going back to visit, but if you&#8217;d like to go there, let me assure you that you don&#8217;t want to go on a weekend!  The place is surrounded by restaurants and honkytonks.  Between the living revelers and the dead, it can be pretty noisy around there.  <br/><br/></p>
<p>Paula keeps a bowl of earplugs on the table <em>just in case.</em></p>
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<p><small>&copy;  for <a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com">This Eclectic Life</a>, 2010. |
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		<title>Ghost Tour Of Galveston</title>
		<link>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2010/04/10/ghost-tour-of-galveston/</link>
		<comments>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2010/04/10/ghost-tour-of-galveston/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:34:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shelly Kneupper Tucker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ghostly--Mostly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My Neck Of The Woods]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thiseclecticlife.com/?p=12468</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I waited in the wind in front of the Railroad Museum near The Strand. The website for Ghost Tours of Galveston had said that I should arrive fifteen minutes early, so I did. I&#8217;m the most punctual person you will ever meet. Not another living soul was there. The minutes ticked away, as I wondered [...]]]></description>
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<p><span title="I" class="cap"><span>I</span></span> waited in the wind in front of the Railroad Museum near The Strand.  The website for <a href="http://www.ghosttoursofgalvestonisland.com/" target="_new" rel="nofollow">Ghost Tours of Galveston</a> had said that I should arrive fifteen minutes early, so I <em>did</em>.  I&#8217;m the most punctual person you will ever meet.  Not another <em>living</em> soul was there.  The minutes ticked away, as I wondered if this was going to be a &#8220;bust.&#8221;  A few people started arriving just before the tour time.  But, where was this Dash Beardsley character, decked out in his black duster coat, who was supposed to lead the tour?</p>
<p><a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/tour-guide.jpg"><img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/tour-guide.jpg" alt="tour guide Ghost Tour Of Galveston" title="tour guide" width="250" height="376" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-12470" /></a><br />
As the tourists got restless, a quiet and unassuming young woman stepped up and said, &#8220;I&#8217;m Stacey.  I&#8217;ll be your tour guide.&#8221;  My initial reaction was disappointment &#8230; I mean on the <em>website</em> it makes it seem like this very outlandish man was going to be leading the tour.  That sounded like fun!  Quite frankly, I didn&#8217;t think this child would live up to the hype.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s what I get for thinking!<br />
<br/><br/><br />
Stacey was a wonderful guide and a <em>darned good </em>storyteller.  She told us right off the bat that this was a &#8220;story&#8221; tour, and we probably would not be accosted by ghosts.  Since I didn&#8217;t expect to see ghosts in a crowd, that was alright with me.</p>
<p>She began with the chilling history of Galveston from gruesome accounts of the days when the Karankawa Indians (who were reported to be cannibals) lived on the island to the tales of the pirate Jean Lafitte.  Then began the tales of The Great Hurricane of 1900, which was one of the worst tragedies in this neck of the woods.  We needed all that history in order to understand the ghost tales she would later tell us as we walked down the streets of Galveston.</p>
<p>The tour material is copyrighted, so I couldn&#8217;t use my Flip camera to video.  In the dark I didn&#8217;t take many pictures.  And, I don&#8217;t want to spoil the tour for any of you who might go on it by telling about any of the ghosts.  Suffice to say, it was a delightfully engaging experience.</p>
<p>I had my Ghost Radar application on my iPhone, and just before each stop (where Stacey would tell another ghost story) the red dots began to flare on that radar screen.  It made the trip more &#8220;chilling.&#8221;  Again, I don&#8217;t know if that application is &#8220;real,&#8221; but you might want to look at some of the comments people have left on the <a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/10/01/haunted-by-ghost-radar/" target="_new">post about Ghost Radar</a>.  They are telling me about their experiences with it.</p>
<p>As for Ghost Tours of Galveston, it&#8217;s supposedly rated the number two ghost tour in the United States.  I haven&#8217;t been on enough ghost tours to verify that, but it was well worth my $15.00.  Put it on your &#8220;bucket list,&#8221; if you enjoy this kind of activity.</p>
<p>Have you been on this tour before?  Is there another haunted tour you&#8217;d recommend that I put on <em>my</em> bucket list?  I&#8217;m going back onto the streets of Galveston tonight alone to visit the sites again.  There is one place she told us about that we didn&#8217;t visit:  a haunted bathroom in a local bar.  I think I could manage to visit that bar &#8230; just for research purposes, of course.</p>
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<p><small>&copy;  for <a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com">This Eclectic Life</a>, 2010. |
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		<title>A-Hunting We Will Go</title>
		<link>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2010/03/28/ghost-hunting/</link>
		<comments>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2010/03/28/ghost-hunting/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Mar 2010 12:54:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shelly Kneupper Tucker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ghostly--Mostly]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thiseclecticlife.com/?p=12275</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Not for Easter eggs&#8230;nope. And we are not going hunting with a gun. We are going ghost hunting! That&#8217;s right. It&#8217;s how we plan to celebrate our anniversary this year. My husband thinks I use the terms &#8220;we&#8221; and &#8220;celebrate&#8221; a bit loosely &#8230; but he is indulging me. Bless his heart, he always does. [...]]]></description>
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<p><span title="N" class="cap"><span>N</span></span>ot for Easter eggs&#8230;nope.  And we are not going hunting with a <em>gun</em>.  We are going <em>ghost</em> hunting!  That&#8217;s right.  It&#8217;s how we plan to celebrate our anniversary this year.  My husband thinks I use the terms &#8220;<em>we</em>&#8221; and &#8220;<em>celebrate</em>&#8221; a bit loosely &#8230; but he is indulging me.  Bless his heart, he always does.</p>
<p>I hadn&#8217;t <em>planned</em> it for our anniversary, but <strike>we</strike> <em>I</em> wanted to stay in one of the most haunted bed and breakfast inns in North Texas.  I thought it would be best to stay during the week, so it would be less rowdy (because I imagine ghosts don&#8217;t come out when the revelers do).  The dates we could get just happened to fall on our anniversary.</p>
<p>Though I don&#8217;t know if we will have a paranormal experience, we <em>will</em> have a good time.  Perhaps not a terribly <em>romantic</em> time &#8230; I mean, how romantic does it get if you think &#8220;<em>someone</em>&#8221; is watching?</p>
<p>I will be armed with <em>both</em> digital cameras and my ghost radar application for my iPhone (<em>no</em>, I&#8217;m not sure that it is &#8220;for real,&#8221; but it will add to my excitement).  I&#8217;m also working with my Flip video camera to learn a little bit about it before we go.  I will put it on a tripod and leave it running for awhile.  Don&#8217;t expect a YouTube video unless I capture something <em>really</em> exciting.  </p>
<p>I won&#8217;t play it if it only has &#8220;dialogue&#8221; like you find on that Ghost Hunters show on television.  Have y&#8217;all ever watched that show, or am I the only doofus who does?  I&#8217;m embarrassed to admit that my husband and even <em>the cats</em> hide the remote control from me now.  I&#8217;ll watch Ghost Hunters all day long if I can find it on a channel.  </p>
<p>But, at least I <em>know</em> I&#8217;m being silly.  Those shows take themselves <em>so</em> seriously!  The whole time that those ghost hunting shows are on the screen, I mock the &#8220;dialogue.&#8221;  It&#8217;s the same three sentences over and <em>over:</em></p>
<ul>
<li>&#8220;<em>Dude</em>, did you hear that?&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Whoah! No *bleeep* ing <em>way</em>!&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;What the *bleep* was <em>that</em>?&#8221;</li>
</ul>
<p>I can do better than <em>that</em>!  I&#8217;ll tell you a <em>story</em>.  You can sit in a darkened room with only the glow of your computer monitor while I try to send shivers up your spine.</p>
<p>If you like ghost stories, hang on until later this month.  I&#8217;ll tell you the stories behind this bed and breakfast inn, and let you know if we saw (or heard) any ghosts at all.</p>
<p>If you have ghost hunting &#8220;tips,&#8221; be sure to leave me a comment.  And, if you know of any haunted places in North Texas &#8230; I&#8217;d be obliged if you would share the information!  You <em>know</em> I want to go there.</p>
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		<title>Ghost Busting At The Menger</title>
		<link>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/10/31/ghost-busting-at-the-menger/</link>
		<comments>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/10/31/ghost-busting-at-the-menger/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:27:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shelly Kneupper Tucker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ghostly--Mostly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My Neck Of The Woods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ghost Radar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ghost tours]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[San Antonio Texas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South Texas Plains]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thiseclecticlife.com/?p=10425</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I felt the chill begin at me knees, and swiftly rush to my heart. I felt as if I had entered an industrial freezer, but it was only the hallway of the Menger Hotel. Gooseflesh rose on my arm as I gasped. Beside me I heard my friend Judy gasp at the same moment. &#8220;There [...]]]></description>
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<p><span title="I" class="cap"><span>I</span></span> felt the chill begin at me knees, and swiftly rush to my heart.  I felt as if I had entered an industrial freezer, but it was only the hallway of the Menger Hotel.  Gooseflesh rose on my arm as I gasped.  Beside me I heard my friend Judy gasp at the same moment.  &#8220;There is one here!&#8221; she whispered excitedly.  &#8220;Yes,&#8221; I said.  There <em>is</em>!&#8221;</p>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t the first time we had &#8220;felt&#8221; a ghost that evening.  We had walked into several &#8220;cold spots&#8221; on the third floor and on the fourth.  That shouldn&#8217;t be surprising since reportedly the historic Menger Hotel in San Antonio is haunted by anywhere from thirty-two to forty ghosts (depending on which tale you choose to believe).</p>
<div id="attachment_10430" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 450px">
	<img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Menger-hallway.JPG" alt="Haunted stairwell in the Menger Hotel" title="Menger hallway" width="450" height="300" class="size-full wp-image-10430" />
	<p class="wp-caption-text">Haunted stairwell in the Menger Hotel</p>
</div>
<p>We were standing in this stairwell between the third and fourth floors.  <em>No</em>, we were not feeling a draft from the window.  I <em>checked.</em>  There were <em>no</em> air conditioning vents nearby.  And, I couldn&#8217;t take this picture with my camera until after about ten minutes of trying.  </p>
<p>This happened to me before when I was in a <a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/02/10/resistance-part-three-of-the-ghostly-adventures-at-the-woodbine/" target="_new">haunted area</a> &#8212; my camera wouldn&#8217;t take a picture, but just said, &#8220;Busy.&#8221;  I could turn it different directions and snap a picture.  If Judy stood in front of the camera on the stairwell, I could take a picture (I swore upon my mother&#8217;s grave that I would not show you pictures of her &#8230; <em>those pictures</em> were doggone scary!).  Otherwise, all I got was &#8220;Busy.&#8221; </p>
<p>I snapped the picture above when a group of giggling teenagers approached.  At that moment, Judy looked at the Ghost Radar application on my iPhone and said, &#8220;It says, &#8216;gone.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
<p>We could no longer feel the cold, and I could easily snap pictures after the teenagers arrived.  We decided to move to another part of the hotel and search for more.  The halls are like rabbit warrens, turning every direction and branching out.</p>
<div id="attachment_10434" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 450px">
	<img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Menger-hotel-stairway.JPG" alt="There is definitely a ghost in this area!" title="Menger hotel stairway" width="450" height="300" class="size-full wp-image-10434" />
	<p class="wp-caption-text">There is definitely a ghost in this area!</p>
</div>
<p>We felt another area of extreme cold on this stairwell.  It ended in a &#8220;T.&#8221;  I snapped the picture above and pivoted to take a picture down the hallway.  At that moment, I saw something &#8220;flit&#8221; past that table.  It was the size of a bat.  I turned to tell Judy, who was turning to tell me that <em>she</em> had seen something flit past, <em>too</em>!</p>
<p>At that moment, there was a thunderous crash inside a locked closet beside us.  We almost jumped out of our skins.  Judy was backing away, but I walked up to the closet below and tapped on the door.  I said, &#8220;If you are in there, tap back.&#8221;</p>
<div id="attachment_10435" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 450px">
	<img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/haunted-closet.JPG" alt="Haunted closet?" title="haunted closet" width="450" height="300" class="size-full wp-image-10435" />
	<p class="wp-caption-text">Haunted closet?</p>
</div>
<p><em>Drat!</em>  Nothing happened.  I guess I was too sassy to the ghost.</p>
<p>Around another hallway, where we once again felt that chill, I stepped ahead of Judy.  She called out, &#8220;Ghost radar is saying, &#8216;tea.&#8217;  T. E. A.&#8221;  At that moment, I almost tripped over a room service tray laden with a teapot, teacups, and teabags.  Judy had <em>not</em> yet stepped around the corner to see it!</p>
<p>I snapped picture after picture all through the night, but we never found an &#8220;orb&#8221; in any of them.  I think that&#8217;s because my camera kept saying, &#8220;Busy.&#8221;  The ghosts wouldn&#8217;t <em>let</em> me take pictures of them!  </p>
<p>But, we had a blast (a very chilly one at times) on our very own haunted ghost tour of The Menger.  It was MUCH more fun than the tour we had tried to take earlier in the night!  The one we paid $15 each to endure.</p>
<p>If you go to San Antonio, AVOID <a href="http://www.alamocityghosttours.com/" target="_new" rel+"nofollow">The Alamo City Ghost Tours</a>.  These people were so greedy for money that they booked more than 100 people to go on a tour with ONE TOUR GUIDE!  They herded us like cattle through the streets of San Antonio, and we couldn&#8217;t hear a <em>thing</em> the man was saying.  You would <em>think</em> they could have hired an extra guide or two.  It wasn&#8217;t very professional, but I don&#8217;t think they cared.  At $15 a head, that tour group made out like bandits!</p>
<p>We had some fellow tourists who were as fed up as we were.  One of them called out to us, &#8220;We are going to go haunt a bar!  We are going to Durty Nelly&#8217;s.&#8221;  We had decided to ditch the tour, too, but had no intention of going to <em>that</em> bar!  I&#8217;ve been to <a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/06/06/durty-nellies-on-the-san-antonio-riverwalk/" target="_new">Durty Nelly&#8217;s</a> once, and that&#8217;s all I need.  But, I didn&#8217;t tell them that!  <em>They</em> looked like the type who would enjoy a rowdy bar!  </p>
<div id="attachment_10437" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 450px">
	<img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ghost-busters.JPG" alt="Ghost Busters in San Antonio" title="ghost busters" width="450" height="300" class="size-full wp-image-10437" />
	<p class="wp-caption-text">Ghost Busters in San Antonio</p>
</div>
<p>Our jaunt through the haunted hallways of The Menger made up for the earlier event.  If you plan to ghost hunt there, however, I would suggest a time other than Halloween.  There were so many giggling kids in there that it scared away the ghosts!</p>
<p>Did I sleep well knowing that I was surrounded by spirits?  Heck, <em>yes</em>.  That bed was so comfortable that I slept like the dead!  Except &#8230; the dead don&#8217;t &#8220;sleep&#8221; at The Menger Hotel!</p>
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		<title>Scaring Ourselves Silly in San Antonio</title>
		<link>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/10/27/scaring-ourselves-silly-in-san-antonio/</link>
		<comments>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/10/27/scaring-ourselves-silly-in-san-antonio/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:11:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shelly Kneupper Tucker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ghostly--Mostly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[San Antonio Texas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South Texas Plains]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Texas Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YouTube]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thiseclecticlife.com/?p=10370</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Menger Hotel in downtown San Antonio is our destination this Friday night. I did tell you it is haunted, didn&#8217;t I? My friend Judy and I are getting excited! We have our room booked (we are going to share a room, because we are a couple of scaredy cats) AND we are scheduled to [...]]]></description>
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<p><span title="T" class="cap"><span>T</span></span>he Menger Hotel in downtown San Antonio is our destination this Friday night.  I <em>did</em> tell you it is <em>haunted</em>, didn&#8217;t I?  My friend Judy and I are getting excited!  We have our room booked (we are going to share a room, because we are a couple of scaredy cats) AND we are scheduled to go on a haunted tour of San Antonio on Friday night.</p>
<p>All this week I am telling ghost stories in San Antonio Middle Schools to get myself in the <em>mood</em>.  Aw, heck.  That&#8217;s a <em>lie</em>.  I&#8217;m telling ghost stories to earn money to pay for all this ghost hunting business!</p>
<p>I have my Ghost Radar application on my iPhone, too &#8212; but I don&#8217;t believe in it anymore.  A librarian at the school today downloaded it and we set our phones side by side.  You would think that they would give the same readings, wouldn&#8217;t you?  They <em>didn&#8217;t.</em>  I think it&#8217;s bogus, but don&#8217;t tell Judy because I want to <em>scare her silly</em>.</p>
<p>The YouTube video below is what I&#8217;m really using to get myself in the mood.  It shows a ghostly figure walking the halls of The Menger!  Take a look.  It sets <em>my</em> hair on end!</p>
<p><center><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hJPTKcX5pGY&#038;hl=en&#038;fs=1&#038;"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hJPTKcX5pGY&#038;hl=en&#038;fs=1&#038;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></center></p>
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		<title>Haunted by Ghost Radar</title>
		<link>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/10/01/haunted-by-ghost-radar/</link>
		<comments>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/10/01/haunted-by-ghost-radar/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:43:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shelly Kneupper Tucker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ghostly--Mostly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ghost Radar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[haunted]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPhone]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve had my iPhone for a year, and resisted all temptation to download any &#8220;apps&#8221; that were not free. I know myself well, and I could get addicted to the little games that Apple offers for that phone of mine. But, I caved. Yesterday, at the suggestion of my friend Thorne, I shelled out 99¢ [...]]]></description>
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<p><span title="I" class="cap"><span>I</span></span>&#8217;ve had my iPhone for a year, and resisted <em>all</em> temptation to download any &#8220;apps&#8221; that were not <em>free</em>.  I know myself well, and I could get addicted to the little games that Apple offers for that phone of mine.  But, I caved.<br />
<img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/GhostRadar.jpg" alt="GhostRadar" title="GhostRadar" width="250" height="250" class="alignright size-full wp-image-10057" />Yesterday, at the suggestion of my friend <a href="http://thornesworld.com/" target="_new">Thorne</a>, I shelled out 99¢ for one called &#8220;<a href="http://www.spudpickles.com/GhostRadar" target="_new" rel="nofollow">Ghost Radar</a>.&#8221;  Yes, I <em>know</em> it&#8217;s silly, but I&#8217;ve already gotten 99¢ worth of enjoyment out of it.</p>
<p>You can visit the link above to get the full scoop on it, but here is a little bit of their blurb about it:</p>
<blockquote><p>Ghost Radar employs a proprietary algorithm to analyze the quantum flux &#8230; Readings for various sensors on iPhone/iPod are analyzed to detect QUANTUM Fluctuations. Interpretations of the sensor readings are displayed graphically as blips on the radar along with numeric and textual readouts. Use your Ghost Radar to hunt for odd changes in the flux. Hunters of all types may find anomalous areas of their environment where readings simply can&#8217;t be explained. You be the judge. Are the results of your hunting evidence of paranormal activity?</p></blockquote>
<p>Did y&#8217;all just read that and think, &#8220;Do <em>what?</em>&#8221;  So did I.  I couldn&#8217;t understand a single word they were saying, so I asked my husband (who is fluent in &#8220;Technical&#8221;) to translate it into a language I can understand.  He&#8217;s from California, so he doesn&#8217;t speak &#8220;Texan.&#8221;  I asked him to translate it into &#8220;Blond,&#8221; because for some reason we can both speak that lingo, although we <em>do</em> have problems with pronunciation sometimes.  As with any foreign language, I can <em>understand</em> much more Blond than I can <em>speak</em>.</p>
<p>He said that what they mean is:</p>
<blockquote><p>The app has, like, this <strong>thingie</strong> that <strong>sees </strong>ghosts and, like, <strong>other</strong> scary stuff.  It sees dead people! And, it, like, let&#8217;s them TALK to you!</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Cool!</em></p>
<p>Now, I know y&#8217;all think I&#8217;m crazy anyway, but I have good reasons to download this application:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>For blog fodder</strong>.  I got an e-mail saying that NaBloPoMo is using the theme &#8220;haunted&#8221; this month.  If you are not a blogger, NaBloPoMo is a community of bloggers who decide to post every stinkin&#8217; day in a month.  I&#8217;m not going to do that, because I&#8217;m a bit <a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/09/30/frazzled/">frazzled</a> right now, but I like the theme.  If you are a blogger and want to join in, go to the <a href="http://nablopomo.ning.com/blogrolls/october-2009-blogroll" target="_new">NaBloPoMo site</a> to sign up.</li>
<li><strong>To mess with my friend&#8217;s head.</strong>  I&#8217;m going to stay in a haunted hotel with my friend Judy at the end of the month, and we are going on a ghost hunting tour of San Antonio.  I intend to milk this application for all it&#8217;s worth!  Don&#8217;t y&#8217;all tell Judy, OK?</li>
<li><strong>To increase my &#8220;cool factor.&#8221;</strong>  I&#8217;m going to be telling ghost stories to middle school students later this month, and when they crowd around to talk to me, I intend to whip out my iPhone and show them that little old ladies can be wild and crazy, too.</li>
<li><strong>I&#8217;m weird.</strong>  <em>That</em> is the only reason that really counts.</li>
</ol>
<p>I downloaded the application and discovered that it has a radar screen, and occasionally there are colored &#8220;blips&#8221; that show on the screen.  Supposedly, these are the energies, or &#8220;entities.&#8221;  The colors range from blue (not very strong) to green (a little stronger) to yellow (stronger still) to red (<em>throw down your phone and run!</em>).  </p>
<p>Around the screen, there are numbers that keep changing all the time.  I&#8217;m not sure what those numbers mean.  But, at the bottom of the screen there are sometimes <em>letters</em> scrolling across.  I think this is supposed to be the entity trying to communicate with words.  Now and then, a mechanical voice says a word out loud and makes me jump our of my chair!  According to the website, &#8220;Ghost Radar attempts to translate the quantum flux readings into an ENGLISH spoken word.&#8221;</p>
<p>I sat in my living room giggling over this application, as blips of every color swarmed on the screen.  Now and then, my phone spoke random words, but they didn&#8217;t make any sense.  <strong>&#8220;Wooden.&#8221;  &#8220;Maybe.&#8221;  &#8220;Tim.&#8221;  &#8220;As.&#8221;  &#8220;Sail.&#8221;  &#8220;Build.&#8221; </strong> Does that make sense to <em>you?</em>  It didn&#8217;t to<em> me</em>.  I walked over to a curio cabinet filled with family heirlooms, and that voice on my phone said, <strong>&#8220;Child.&#8221;</strong>  <em>I was pointing it at some antique toys from the 1800s!</em></p>
<p>ooooEEEEEooooo!</p>
<p>The Ghost Radar website suggested trying to talk to the entity, so I said, &#8220;OK, ghost.  <em>IF</em> you are there, say &#8216;cat.&#8217;  You could do that &#8230;IF you are there.  If you say &#8216;cat&#8217; I will believe you are there.&#8221;  It didn&#8217;t.  It said all kinds of other random words.  I got bored and turned the phone off.  I needed to plug it in to charge the battery (Ghost Radar does seem to suck that battery dry).</p>
<p>When my husband came home, I turned it on to show him.  I told him, &#8220;It never would say &#8216;cat,&#8217; and I think it&#8217;s a bunch of bull.&#8221;  Just then, my large yellow tomcat cried for his supper &#8230; and my phone called out, <strong>&#8220;Cat.&#8221;</strong></p>
<p><em>Yikes!</em></p>
<p>I played with that application through the evening, until my husband&#8217;s eyes glazed over, and then turned it off.  I was still laughing about it &#8230; <em>then</em>.  Later that night, alone in my office, I decided to try Ghost Radar again.  I was sitting in the darkness, with only the light from the computer screen and my iPhone.</p>
<p>I glanced down at the phone, and there were <em>dozens</em> of RED lights on the screen.  Then that mechanical voice said:<br />
<center> <strong>&#8220;Possibly.&#8221;  &#8220;Eight.&#8221;  &#8220;Different.&#8221;</strong></center></p>
<p><em>Holy Cow!</em>  I turned off that phone and paced the office, trying to reason with myself:  &#8220;It&#8217;s a <em>toy</em>, Shelly.  Nothing more!  It means <em>nothing!</em>&#8221;</p>
<p>To prove to myself that I am <em>not</em> a chicken, I turned the phone back on and pulled up the Ghost Radar.  <em>Again</em> I saw all those blinking red lights.  I looked at the letters that ran across the bottom of the screen and saw:<br />
<strong><center>&#8220;KKKkkkkk&#8230;KKnnnn&#8230;KKnuuuu&#8230;Kkkknnue&#8230;&#8221;</center></strong></p>
<p>Have y&#8217;all ever looked at my by-line at the top of the post?  My last name was once K.N.E.U.P.P.E.R!</p>
<p>&#8220;Oh, Fudge!&#8221; I squealed.  &#8220;I&#8217;ve got a ghost who knows my name, but can&#8217;t spell it!&#8221;<br />
[OK, that's not <em>exactly</em> what I said ... I'm "fudging" about that ... but you get the drift.]</p>
<p>The hairs stood up on my neck, as my phone said:<br />
<center><strong>&#8220;Means.&#8221; &#8220;Possibly.&#8221; &#8220;Test.&#8221; &#8220;Machinery.&#8221;</strong></center><br/></p>
<p>&#8220;I.&#8221; &#8220;Don&#8217;t.&#8221; &#8220;Freakin&#8217;.&#8221; &#8220;Think.&#8221; &#8220;So.&#8221;  I haven&#8217;t turned on that application since then.  Oh, <em>sure</em> I intend to use it when I go to San Antonio, because I simply <em>have</em> to show how cool I am.  But, I&#8217;m <em>never</em> turning it on when I&#8217;m alone again &#8230; and after I have proved my coolness, I might even take it <em>off</em> of the phone.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m <em>haunted</em> by that Ghost Radar.  I know it&#8217;s on the phone and I <em>know</em> it&#8217;s just a silly game &#8230;</p>
<p>&#8230; or <em>IS</em> it?</p>
<p>Do <em>you</em> have Ghost Radar?  What do <em>you</em> think?</p>
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<p><small>&copy;  for <a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com">This Eclectic Life</a>, 2009. |
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		<title>A Ghost Story For The Haunted House</title>
		<link>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/09/01/a-ghost-story-for-the-haunted-house/</link>
		<comments>http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/09/01/a-ghost-story-for-the-haunted-house/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:04:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shelly Kneupper Tucker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ghostly--Mostly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boyd Texas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fiction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thiseclecticlife.com/?p=9789</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A couple of days ago, I showed y&#8217;all some pictures of a dilapidated old house in Boyd, Texas. I thought it looked likely to be a &#8220;haunted&#8221; house, but told you that I&#8217;d have to figure out a ghost story that would work for it. I asked, &#8220;Got any ideas for a ghostly tale to [...]]]></description>
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<p><span title="A" class="cap"><span>A</span></span> couple of days ago, I showed y&#8217;all some pictures of a <a href="http://thiseclecticlife.com/2009/08/30/haunted-house-in-black-and-white/" target="_new">dilapidated old house</a> in Boyd, Texas.  I thought it looked likely to be a &#8220;haunted&#8221; house, but told you that I&#8217;d have to figure out a ghost story that would work for it.  I asked, &#8220;Got any ideas for a ghostly tale to match the house?&#8221;</p>
<p><div id="attachment_9762" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 150px">
	<img src="http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2875-150x150.jpg" alt="Haunted House 2nd view" title="Haunted House 2nd view" width="150" height="150" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-9762" />
	<p class="wp-caption-text">Haunted House 2nd view</p>
</div>I didn&#8217;t expect anyone to come up with a story &#8230; but I underestimated Joe, or <a href="http://spadoman-roundcircle.blogspot.com/"target="_new">&#8220;Spadoman&#8221; </a>as he is known on the internet.  When he looked at those photos, his mind began to percolate.  He started writing a ghost story for me!  I love the folks who come to my blog! <em> All</em> of you are just as amazing as Joe.  </p>
<p>I want to share the story he wrote (I <em>did</em> <strong>too</strong> ask permission!).</p>
<p>Here is Joe&#8217;s ghost story, with very minor editorial changes.  What&#8217;s the title for it, Joe?:</p>
<p><center>***</center></p>
<blockquote><p>In 1923, right around March, Montana and Nevada became the first states to enact old age pension laws. Old Roland McCallsberg, who lived in a modest bungalow in Boyd, Texas, was thinking how he’d like to have an old age pension as he was certainly up in years. Would there be a way he could collect a pension from Montana while living in Texas? &#8220;Maybe so,&#8221; he thought, for he had an idea.</p>
<p>Suppose he signed up for the benefits in Montana?  He could use the address of a friend who lived in Bozeman, an old friend and a good friend. He was sure Max Slater wouldn’t mind if he used his address. He wrote a letter to Max telling him what he was intending to do.</p>
<p>Max received the letter and sent a wire back telling Roland that he wasn’t<br />
sure if he wanted him to <em>do</em> that.  It was basically against the law and <em>he</em> didn’t want to be involved. Roland ignored that and went ahead and traveled up to Montana to get the papers and post them from up there.  He didn&#8217;t want to raise any red flags with pension request papers coming from a post office Texas.</p>
<p>The train trip was long.  Along the way, he met a woman who told him she was a widow. Roland was a single man and had never married. This woman intrigued him so!   Before he knew it, he had told her everything about his finances and his plan to accept pension. He formed a relationship with her; her name was Joyce Kensett.</p>
<p>Joyce wanted Roland to take her back with him to Texas and get married. She<br />
would take care of his needs, as far as cooking and cleaning. That’s what happened, and in a whirlwind courtship, engagement and marriage, the two settled in to life of a retired married couple.</p>
<p>The highlight of this encounter with Miss Kensett is that she had a <em>legitimate</em> Montana address. Roland did manage to sign up for pension benefits using Joyce Kensett’s address in Bozeman. The years rolled by and not too long after their third year of marriage, Roland wanted to see the statement that showed the pension deposits from the bank in Bozeman where they were deposited.</p>
<p>Joyce told him she would have to wire the bank and have them sent to them via US Mail and that it would take a couple of weeks. Thinking he was rich, as he would have the illicit pension money and his bank interest on deposits and investments in Texas, Roland planned an elaborate trip abroad for himself and his spouse Joyce.</p>
<p>Joyce left one day to go to the town and accept a postal notice. She told <em>Roland</em> she had to sign for it. She never returned. </p>
<p>Roland waited a while and did all he could do to find out what had happened to his beloved. When all was said and done, Joyce had gone back to Montana and taken all the pension money as she had signed up in Roland’s name, but used herself as a beneficiary.</p>
<p>She <em>knew</em> that Roland would expire as soon as when she left &#8230; she made a cake and a pie and laced each of them with arsenic. Roland, who devoured home made sweets in large quantities, ate both the cake <em>and</em> the pie and died. When the authorities found him, it looked like a death from old age.</p>
<p>Joyce continued to get survivors pension benefits in Montana as having been married to Roland. The house in Texas was hers <em>too</em>, except she never wanted it. She sold it.</p>
<p>The buyer, unaware of the shady dealings that Joyce Kensett did to get Roland’s money and house, was not amused when the ghost of Roland McCallsberg came nightly to see if Joyce had returned with the post from the bank in Bozeman. He sold the house soon after seeing and hearing the ghost.</p>
<p>The house went through three owners before finally word got out that it was haunted. The legend of how Roland McCallsberg roamed the house seeking his wife every night raced around Wise County until everyone knew the tale. No one ever thought of buying that house and in 1928 it was abandoned and has sat empty ever since.</p>
<p>Many years later, in 2009, a woman with a penchant for the unusual came by and took some pictures. If you look very closely, you can see Roland roaming around looking for Joyce.</p></blockquote>
<p><center>******</center></p>
<p>Thank you, Joe, for that delightful story!  You can bet that I&#8217;ll be telling that to students at schools next year.  Do you tell scary stories like that to your lovely little grandbabies?  </p>
<p>If y&#8217;all liked that story, rush over to visit the <a href="http://spadoman-roundcircle.blogspot.com/" target="_new">Round Circle Blog</a> and say &#8220;hi.&#8221;  You&#8217;ll meet Joe, and you&#8217;ll discover a blogger with a heart as big as Dallas &#8230; and a wonderful way with story.</p>
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