Old Houses and Ghost Stories
For every old house I have owned, the walls seem to tell a story. In addition, there are odd occurrences that sometimes don’t make any sense, but I shrug my shoulders and say, “well, it IS an old house”. You know, the door that slams by itself, with no wind, for example. The old antique marble that is now on the stair step I just vacuumed. The basement light that go on by itself.
We always hope for what I call the “good ghosts”, the happy memories of those previous owners and their lives that permeate the walls. In my life, I have lived in several historic homes, ranging in age from the 1700s to the early 1900s. And each one had its “ghosts” or own personality.
But I need to share this story with you that happened this week, because I am baffled with no logical explanation for it.
Some history first. If you have followed my Restoration Chronicles, you know our home is 110 years old. Most of it is original, but new sections have been added to bring it up to today’s standards.
The kitchen is a new addition we built in 2000. So it’s 20 years old, but “new” compared to to the rest of the house. The kitchen is on the west side of the original house, and the new construction is built beyond the original structure.
As you also know, we are currently in an appliance crisis, with way too many things breaking at the same time. This past week, our dishwasher, even though the water is turned off, kept filling with water. Unfortunately, it overflowed and ruined a large section of hardwood floor in the kitchen.
Finally, we yanked it out because we could not shut off the source of the water. The plumber came back AGAIN and replaced all the shut-off valves. This finally did the trick. If you look closely, you can see the dark water damage marks in the flooring.
Please keep in mind that the kitchen is new and before it was built, there was nothing in its place. However when my husband removed the dishwasher, he found a gold locket on the floor with a beautiful monogram on the front.
No one in our family has ever seen this locket before. The initials look like KMK~~~again nothing familiar to us. These are not the initials of the previous owner. From 1945-1957 the Korrick family lived here, but no one with these initials. It looks rather old, right?
So I opened the locket, and found this picture inside! Certainly not a contemporary photo!
So how does a locket, with a picture of a man taken decades ago, find its way under our dishwasher, in a kitchen that was built from all new materials 20 years ago?
I can honestly say I found all this a bit disturbing, only because we have had a series of so many unfortunate events lately. Here is list of the quirky things that have gone wrong in the last 14 days:
- Flood in the basement due to water heater splitting; flood alarm on the floor did not alert us.
- Dishwasher floods with no water going to it. Plumber turned off the water and it continued to fill for the next 6 days. Ruined the hardwood floor
- Clothes dryer at cabin stops working.
- Ice maker in refrigerator quits
- All the electrical outlets in master bedroom at the cabin stop working all at once
- My Nespresso coffee machine is leaking water. First time ever.
- The driving lights on the car go on and off, but never when we take it into get fixed.
- The desk light at the cabin randomly goes on and off. I would turn it off and it would go on by itself. Repeatedly.
- The fire alarm apparently went off yesterday. No one heard it. The fire department showed up at our gate.
It is becoming a pricey month. So I am blaming all of this on Mr. Locket Man. Isn’t this so strange? Mr. Locket Man is sitting next to my religious statue in the breakfast room until I can figure this out.
In the meantime, I am trying to reach the previous owner’s daughter to see if she recognizes this locket or photo. A bit of a mystery as it doesn’t explain how it got under the dishwasher.
Have you had any unexplained experiences in your home? Well, this makes for fun dinner conversation if nothing else!
Enjoy your Saturday and weekend! We just picked our son up from the airport, which is why I am a bit late posting today. We are blessed to have him here for the next two weeks!
If you have not read the prior posts of The Restoration Chronicles, links are below.
The Restoration Chronicles Chapter 1
The Restoration Chronicles Chapter 2
Just a reminder that any words that are italicized bring you to the source. If it is a product on Amazon, please note that I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you purchase something through my website, I receive a small (very small!) stipend, which doesn’t affect the price you pay at all. My goal is to make sourcing the items easy for you. Thank you for your continued support.
Is there an update to the locket story?
ohmygoodness! I love this story. Wandered onto your site from Hometalk regarding a mailbox, then saw this story! I love a good ghost story. We live in an older home too and love/hate the quirks that go along with them. I agree the pic looks 1920s and he IS familiar-looking. Too much TV on my part probably, lol
Melanie, Thank you for coming over from HomeTalk. I just started posting projects there and am so glad you found me! Yes, the ghost mystery is still unsolved, but as a result of this blog post, I was able to connect with a previous owner’s family. Hopefully we will find the identity of the mystery man.
I do believe in ghost because I have experienced it myself in our first home. We were just married and new house built. Neighbors behind us were in their late 70’s had lived in their home for 40 years. They said it use to be metal grave markers where our house was sitting on property. When builder purchased all the land to build there was nothing indicating graves. After a week long of incidents nothing happened afterwards…..I think your Mr. Locket man is trying to tell you something about property but why 20yrs later is a mystery. I have other ghost experiences too in other homes we’ve lived. And know other people have experienced ghost.
Nancy, that sounds like the perfect plot to a mystery movie!I lived in an 1895 Queen Anne Victorian and there were lots of ghost stories associated with that home. Three years ago I restored (and sold) a 1922 Jeffersonian home in downtown Phoenix and the workers shared multiple stories of unexplained occurrences. Maybe closer to Halloween I should post some of those stories!!!
This is a fascinating story. The detective in me says, they aren’t coincidences. It was not an accident that your dishwasher broke, you were led to that locket for some purpose. The locket is a women’s locket most likely with her initials on it and her husband’s picture. If you find who owned it by using the initials as a guide, you will find a unique story there for sure. The previous owners with the last name starting with a K is a good place to start.
P.S. I LOVE that house.. we often went there to swim… (& my little toe – on a little person – was stung by a wasp on one of those occasions.)
Hi Mary –
I’m Wendy Korrick and your locket story was passed along to me by a friend. There was a Robert (aka Bobby) Korrick who was Abe and Alma’s adopted son. I’m wondering if the first letter is an “R” not “K”? My father would have known but, sadly, he passed away in 2018. He adored Bobby. I will alert my mother of your finding….
Would you be able to send this to her at [email protected] and to my sister [email protected] – both in Phoenix.
Thank you very much.
Mary, Your ghost may have traveled a short distance up Central Avenue. An hour or so after I read your ghostly story, I discovered that our water heater was leaking. I regret to say I didn’t find a locket tucked away underneath it.
WOW! I love stories like that, even though it IS a bit unnerving. We think our house had a couple ghosts when we moved in too. Renovations seemed to move them along many years ago, but lately we think one might be visiting again. 😉 For a practical answer to your locket mystery though, I’m leaning towards Janie’s explanation. (Although that doesn’t factor in the electricity, now does it!?)
We should compare ghosts sometime, but in the meantime, good luck, and tell Mr Locket Man from me to knock it off or come across with some $$! 😉
Barbara, I would love to compare ghost stories (as I do have many)! When I think back on the construction guys (no girls) that worked on this house, I can’t imagine any of them carrying such a delicate locket. Or misplacing it and not inquiring? I like your idea that Locket Man should be coming up with some $$$$. Maybe some is hidden in the back staircase (which is another ongoing project)!
Gosh I just love the locket!!! I’m very sorry for the LONG list of stuff that you’ve had to deal with. But my mind is full of story arcs revolving around that locket and the handsome man whose picture it holds.
FUN!!! Enjoy your son and may this dark cloud move along (I’d suggest South of your house!)
xxBarb
Barbara, I think this could be a good part of one of your next stories? I think it is time for a burning sage party….
Didn’t proofread! Left out “is” between “he” and “a.”
🙁
Weird! He a cute guy and looks like playing tricks is right up his alley! Could one of the builders have dropped it? Maybe had it in a pocket to take to the jewelers to get a little ring so it could go on a chain???
You’re good to try to find out to whom it belongs.
xoxo,
j
Yes, he is cute and sort of reminds me of someone but I can’t put my finger on it. I guess the age of the photo has me stumped. It almost looks 1920-ish. Anyway, I will continue to try and find the owner!!!