Saturday, September 5, 2009

The Charmed Basement

It's not every day that you go to the Archives for some routine research and get a clairvoyant reading about your Oma that is 100% accurate...right down to the fact that she unfortunately had a colostomy bag in the last years of her life. Still ...in shock.

The Archives is a strange and wonderful and charmed place. When you are there alone in the basement, the whole place is charged with energy and presence, even at dead silence. You are acutely aware of your surroundings, and it feels as if you are not alone, though you are. It's like when you put a photo into Photoshop or iPhoto and crank up the sharpness a little bit--everything looks sharper and more immediate than normal. To me, at least.

In addition to doing research in the Archives today, Dusty D also roamed the museum, after a pleasant chat with today's docent, looking for Mystery Artifacts for the coming month. I headed first for the second-floor tool room, a place I've been a thousand times.

Approaching the tool room, Dusty D felt the same completely illogical one-microsecond flash of panic and fear that I ALWAYS feel when glimpsing the toy room to the left, on the northeast corner of the second floor. It's not because of the contents of the room, though I could do without the mannequins and dolls. It's just a Bad. Vibe. Oh, call me fanciful or over-imaginative--could be. There's not an earthly reason in the world to feel edgy around a happy room full of wonderful old fun toys and games. But if you offered this miser a thousand dollars to spend the night in there, I'd decline, thank you.

At any rate, I got some awesome M.A.'s and was delighted to leave the quiet, still second floor and traipse back down to the archives, where two friends happened to be today. Ahhh. So much better! In chatting with one, the talk led to this person (name withheld for privacy) giving me the clairvoyant reading, and I'm still reverberating from it hours later and thinking it over.

The Archives is a charmed place...

5 comments :

James said...

The basement is a charmed place, with a warm feeling and purpose. The toy room however, makes many nerviness. Some say the toy room gives them a feeling of sadness. No one can say why. There are those who say they have seen a gray lady in the space, but no one knows who she is.

Dusty D said...

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one! Yes, I do get a feeling of sadness and...danger? from that spot.

Oh, is this room where Minerva has manifested? Did it used to be her bedroom, I wonder?

Dusty D said...

While doing a search on "Minerva Dow," I found this story in an old issue of the Gleanings by George Ridenour. It pinpoints the children's room as a place where multiple people have seen apparitions or felt great sadness.

Wow. I hadn't read this 2007 story before my own experiences with the toyroom.

Anonymous said...

STRANGE YOU HAVE BAD FEELINGS IN THE TOY ROOM. THAT ROOM WAS MY GRANDMOTHER ANNA ROGGENKAMPS BEDROOM WHEN SHE LIVED THERE. IT WAS A SMALL ROOM, THE WALL BETWEEN IT AND THE KITCHEN HAS BEEN TAKEN OUT TO MAKE THE ROOM BIGGER. THE GRAY LADY WELL I AM NOT SURE WHO SHE WOULD BE. MRS ROSS WHO OWNED THE BUILDING COULD PASS FOR A GRAY LADY. I WAS ALWAYS ALITTLE FRIGHTEN OF HER. SHE ALWAYS WORE A LONG GRAY COAT EVEN IN SUMMER. I REMEMBER HER COMING BY ONCE WHEN I WAS THERE,NOT SURE WHAT SHE SAID TO MY GRANDMOTHER BUT AFTER SHE LEFT GRANDMA AND HER SISTER MINNIE HAD QUITE A DISCUSSION IN GERMAN. THEY ALWAYS SPOKE IN GERMAN WHEN IT WAS SOMETHING WE WERE NOT SUPPOSE TO HEAR.

sleeplessnmi2u said...

I was there visiting and am sensitive. Funny I should run across your findings. I felt these locations in the house peak my interest right off the bat. What I DID find was that an 8 yr old boy that is claimed to be seen in the basement did die in the area in 1935 and the murderer never found and recently reopened. The master bedroom I have found a bit uncomfortable but reason unknown. I am doing research to find out why. also the bible/music room where a union uniform from the civil war was hanging. After research I found a fire had happened in this town where civil war soldiers called the Tompson Building "home" and used as a barracks before they headed off to war. Spirits can attach to objects. Question is....what else will we find