This experience took place in 1999 and 2000. I wish I
could give you the name of the house, it is a house built
in 1865 and is currently being considered for recognition
by a national historic society. The owners may not
appreciate me telling this.
This story is not unique, except that it is rich in
history. Tennessee is one of many states known for it's
Civil War History. In fact this story may be viewed as
more of a "connection" with the past than a ghost story.
The property adjoined a well-known lake in the area. This
house was built in 1865 by a family who aquired it from a
well-known land owner and polition of that time in
Nashville. The family owned several slaves and were very
conscious of their well-being. They were taken care of
quite well and their children stayed on the land where
they were born. When slavery was abolished, each family
was given a small piece of land. However those homesteads
were flooded when the lake was created. There were around
50 slaves in all on this plantation when slavery came to
an end.
The house as of the year 2000 had only three owners. That
in itself is very unusual. The current owners still have
photographs on the walls of the slaves and their
families. I found this very interesting and quite
unique. They also have a picture of the original owners
of the house. There are several items that are original
to the house that survied the rennovation. The front door
of the home. I find this very important. I feel it is
like the "welcome center" of the house. You get a very
warm, peaceful and calm feeling as you walk about the
rooms. It is in no way creepy or scary. It's like it is
filled with love and compassion throughout.
The orginal owners and several of their, I believe nine
children, mostly the boys/men are buried on the property
and the cemetary is somewhat kept up.
I rented a house that was built on the property by the
second owners of the "big house" for their daughter. I
had absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happen in that
house, but on the to real story.
My boyfriend and I were asked to watch the house for a few
days at Christmas when the owners were going to be away.
I thought that was great because I'd get to see the house
again and I couldn't wait. It started when we would go
into the house before dusk and turn lights on and make
sure everything was sound. We actually had to walk
through a patch of woods or up the long drive to get from
our house to theirs and by the time we'd get back to our
house, all the lights would be off again! The lights were
all you could see of the house at night through the bare
trees between the two houses. Needless to say, I wasn't
about to walk back up there in the dark and help turn them
back on, he had to do that. That's not all. Our
landlords had given us specific instructions NOT to turn
on the "Star of David" on the roof while they were gone
for fear of it causing a fire because no one would be
there to keep an eye on it and turn it off before
bedtime. Nearly everytime we got back to our house it
would be shining brightly on the roof pretty as you
please! On about the third night we relayed the concerns
about the star on the roof, but told the "occupants" that
they could do as they pleased with the lights inside. We
felt stupid and my boyfriend said he wasn't going to talk
to any ghost, but it worked. I guess they just liked the
star.
When we told my landlord, she just smiled and never said a
word.
To this day I look back on that experience the same as I
would if I had gotten to meet the occupants of that
plantation in person. It is a very fond memory.
Contact me here: tthornhill2000@yahoo.com
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