Ghosts and my mom
Fall is just around the corner; the leaves will soon be changing colors as the weather cools off and Halloween is close! Are you a believer….in ghosts? There is no doubt they are real! I’ll tell you why…
When we were around 10, 11 and 12 years old all my kid friends belonged to a Brownie troop and eventually all of us became Girl Scouts. We learned to build camp fires and sat around each night looking at the stars, singing ‘Kumbaya’ and naturally telling the biggest scariest stories we could think of. Most of the time they were wild tales which revolved around ghosts. We kids somehow knew that ghosts were dead people that were caught between earth and heaven. Their spirits didn’t want to leave earth, so they didn’t! They continued to hang around mostly just to scare ya. Just saying….I believed then and now more than ever.
About 1982 my mom and dad decided to visit Marshall, Texas for the Wonderland of Lights celebration at Christmas. Falling in love with Marshall they decided not to leave but to make Marshall their forever home and started looking at old houses …the historic kind! The first one they toured was called “The Columns” located in the historical district about two blocks from the downtown courthouse. The Realtor showed them several other old houses but mom kept coming back and driving by The Columns. Guess that old three-story columned structure stole her heart.
Mom called me in Dallas and asked what I was doing and told me they were coming over. They arrived several hours later and said “come on, right now, we are taking you to Marshall”. Once they found The Columns, she was afraid if they didn’t make an immediate offer, the Realtor would sell it out from under them. “Move over, I’m driving” and we flew back to Marshall to make the offer.
The house was indeed incredible and so stately. A “colonial revival” structure, originally built by RB and Sara Grandberry Gatling in 1883 complete with a carriage house. We were told that this was the Gatling family responsible for the first gatling gun. After the Gatlings moved out, the home was purchased by Philip Manier who owned the first cotton gin in the state of Texas.
During Mr. Manier’s ownership of the house, he passed away in the middle bedroom on the first floor…..and his spirit never left!
The old house was really tired and needed so much TLC. Mom and dad started immediately to renovate the entire structure. Where do you start in a 4,400 sq ft house that needs work in every inch? Six days a week, every single day for 8 hours they tackled the house like a job. Work, an hour for lunch, work and stop at 5:00 for the day. Each day the house began to look better and better and actually seemed happy. As they got further into the renovation and rejuvenation, mom started to notice little things being moved around. Initially she wasn’t concerned but as it continued, she would ask dad if he had placed something in a different spot.
Breakfast was always in the kitchen, lunch and supper were served in the formal dining room on a large handmade dining table from the 1800’s. The table was sitting in the middle of a large area rug that was fringed on both ends. Dad sat on one of the fringed ends and mom sat to his right on the side of the table. As they were eating lunch one day mom looked down at the rug and asked dad “Why did you turn the fringe under on the rug”? From the corner, the fringe was perfectly combed out for about 18 inches, then for about 8 inches the fringe was very neatly tucked under the rug, then to the end of the rug the fringe was perfectly combed out again as normal. Dad said “why would I do that?” Mom said she didn’t do it for sure! After lunch dad got down and pulled the fringe out and straightened it.
For about two weeks every time they would go by the dining room the fringe would be turned under again, at the same place, and just as neatly as if it had been combed in place. They would straighten it out, leave the room and the next time through the room it would be turned under again! Could it have been that Mr. Manier didn’t like the rug or possibly didn’t like the fringe? Maybe when he lived there he didn’t even have a rug! After further discussion and talking to some of the other haunted neighbors they were informed that ghosts either like what you are doing and become playful or they don’t like what you are doing and become mean and destructive. They decided at that point Mr. Manier was very friendly and playing with them.
Thanksgiving was coming and mom always cooked the traditional huge meal, even if it was just the three of us. This particular Thanksgiving mom decided to ask her neighbor, and best runnin’ buddy, Ms. Pat to come have lunch with us. Close friends share lots of secrets and Ms. Pat was definitely informed about Mr. Manier. Even though she was petrified of ghosts she decided to come for lunch. The turkey was served and the conversation almost instantly turned to ghosts. All of a sudden I looked down at the rug and actually saw the fringe FLIP under the rug. I said, “MOM, THE GHOST IS HERE, I JUST SAW THE FRINGE FLIP UNDER”!!! Everyone looked up in total shock and Ms. Pat turned her chair over getting out of it and FLEW out the side door. We all laughed hysterically and mom said “Mr. Manier, Get OUTTA here”!
Another time mom was downstairs prior to going to the second floor to bed and felt something brush against her arm as she entered the kitchen. She looked around and said “Charles is that you”? No one answered. When she got upstairs dad was sound asleep in bed!
The funniest thing was mom and her loop earrings. She always told me, “a proper well-dressed lady always has on her earrings or, she just isn’t dressed!” Both she (when she was alive) and I have always worn a pair of small gold loop earrings. I do to this day! She had one pair of loops, and lost one, so she replaced the pair. Then she had three loops. She lost one of those and replaced them, then she had four but only 2 matched. One more time she lost another one and replaced them and then she had five with only 2 matching. Over several months she ended up with 7 miscellaneous gold loops. They were all kept in an old antique black box on the top of her dresser upstairs. One day several of them were missing, but she still put on the matching set. The next day several more were gone from that black box. She asked dad if he had seen her earrings and of course no was the answer. The next day all the gold loops were gone from the box except the two matching ones.
“Dad, what’s going on and where are you putting my earrings?” Dad had no idea.
That afternoon mom went downstairs to her office desk…the middle bedroom (turned into the office) where Mr. Manier had died…and there were all seven of her miscellaneous gold earrings looped together in a chain in the middle of her desk. She knew Mr. Manier had his hand in this mischief. She laughed and thanked Mr. Manier out loud for bringing all her loops back even though they were strung together in a chain and nothing matched!
They decided the ghost of Mr. Manier was happy with the changes they were making in the house and he only played funny stunts. He was never destructive or excessively loud. If something went missing, you would never know where it would turn up, but eventually it would be found.
Halloween was always a fun time, but nobody on the street wanted to come into our official haunted house. I always put a ghost figure in the front window on the third floor just to make sure Mr. Manier wasn’t alone.
If you are in Marshall over the next few weeks look around for the old house and see if Mr. Manier is still hanging out of the top floor. Have a safe and happy Halloween and watch out for ghosts. They are definitely real and do exist!