Homes with “Spirited” Histories

They’re baaack! ‘Tis the season when images of ghosts and zombies are appearing and remind us that we are not alone. I thought this would be a good time to tell you about the ghosts I’ve encountered in my work as a house historian — here in Santa Barbara, and in my previous lives — oops! I mean my previous life — in the Chicago area.

First encounter

I researched a home in La Grange, Illinois that had several ghosts. In my research of this large 1890’s Queen Anne–style home, I located a woman who had owned it in the 1960s.

I asked her several questions about the house, and then she asked me a question: “Do the current owners know about the ghosts?” The woman explained that when her family bought the house, it had been used as the motherhouse for a group of Catholic nuns. The nuns told her about the ghosts. 

They said that when they drove along the driveway, they could see people inside the house, but when they went inside, there was no one there. The woman talking to me said that her family also saw ghosts at the windows, but it apparently didn’t bother them at first. But, she said, eventually the ghosts began to wear out their welcome. So, she went up to the third floor, where she “felt” the ghosts the most, and had a one-way “conversation” with them. She asked that they please move to the two-story carriage house at the rear of the property. She said that her family did not see them again.

When I told this story to the current owner, she kind of pooh-poohed it. But! I met her about a year later, and she said, “They’re back!” She said she had not told her grade-school children about the ghosts, but then the kids started complaining about having strange feelings in the room where they did their homework after school. It was a small room between the formal parlor and the dining room. The owner said that when the real estate agent showed her the house, and said, “This is the morning room,” the owner thought, “Oh, I guess the sun comes in here in the morning, and it’s a nice place to have breakfast.” But no, it was the “mourning room,” the room where families traditionally laid out the dead when funerals were held at home.

This was the room where the kids did their homework, and the kids started saying, “Mom, when I’m in that room, I feel like someone’s watching me.” The homeowner burned some bundles of white sage to exorcise the spirits, and she said that the ghosts had moved out once again.

Second encounter

I was researching a modest farmhouse that was built in the early 1900s in Naperville, Illinois by an older widow. During my investigation, I found out that the widow had died in the house. I wasn’t sure if the current owner would be upset about this, or if she would want me to include this information in the house history.

I visited the owner at her home to discuss this. When I told her about the woman who had died in her house, the owner sat bolt upright on the sofa with a shocked expression on her face. I did a mental head thump, and thought, “Oh, I shouldn’t have said anything about it.” 

But to my surprise the owner was excited. She told me, “I have felt a presence in this house. A female presence. Not unfriendly. My cats have reacted as well. Now I know her name. Thank you!” Whew!

Third encounter

Here in Santa Barbara, I wrote about a house on Brinkerhoff that has a ghost named Lord Harry. Here’s where to find that column, in case you missed it: https://www.independent.com/2020/12/17/lord-harrys-house-on-brinkerhoff/.

Please do not disturb the residents — dead or living — of these homes.

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Betsy J. Green is a Santa Barbara historian, and author of Discovering the History of Your House and Your Neighborhood, Santa Monica Press, 2002. Her website is betsyjgreen.com.