Working at the Mansions
Having worked in the event industry
for
over twelve years, in historic mansions, I have seen and heard
things
that are inexplainable.
There was a certain office manager who reportedly claimed hearing 'voices', and said to have witnesses to back her up. The first time she heard strange voices occurred while she sat in the piano room of the Boettcher Mansion nestled on top of Lookout Mountain. It was built in 1912, as a summer hunting lodge by Charles Boettcher, one of Colorado's famous entrepreneurs. Admittedly, I thought to myself that the woman was a nutcase! My respect fell short for her and I must say that I had made fun of her account several times.
Coincidently, the voices heard by the office manager happened within a week or two proceeding the death of a Boettcher heir. In fact it was notably a suicide. Having met the Boettcher family personally, worked the memorial service and spoke on occasion to past caretakers of the house, I want to tell this story with care and respect. The Boettcher legacy has been a Colorado endearment, as The Boettcher Foundation has done so much for Colorado and its people.
Now picture this, I am sitting at the desk in the entrance of this incredible Arts and Crafts mansion...alone...about ready to close the house at dusk when, suddenly I HEARD THE VOICE!
Stricken with absolute fear, as what I heard was the most saddest cry (from the hallway, fifteen feet away)...it was a woman's voice. Could it have possible been the voice of the mother's who grown child has just died?
If having to 'eat your own words' isn't revenge enough, don't know what is!
At that moment, it felt as though my temperature dropped, I was paralyzed and I couldn't move my hand to press one button to call the on site caretaker. Once I could breath again, I did phone the caretaker to come over and investigate the house.
This occasion was the beginning to many moments of having to call the caretaker. He has his own strange stories as well that are not explainable, but he's still not convinced as to the place being haunted.
Many nights I would be working late alone and had heard footsteps in the kitchen. Often times I would run down the stairs to scare the person, I thought may be trying to scare me, yet to no avail - no one would be there. If it is quiet at night and no one is around, the house seems to come alive as all old houses do with insane sounds that give you chills. But how does one explain hearing footsteps around 8:30 each evening in the kitchen. The footsteps were always behind me, but I continued to work through the noise as fast as I could. On occasion, when the sound of footsteps would get to me, I like a child would call my mom and tell of the happening...she'd insist I leave...
but work always prevailed.
Some people during parties would report seeing women in 20's style clothing, or men outside standing by a nearby car. Sometimes psycics would come through on a tour but they always hesitated to tell me what they felt. I have been gone for quite some time and currently the house is undergoing renovations, including the nemesis kitchen. The upstairs offices, once servants bedrooms, always gave me the creeps. I still have strange dreams about the house. I always wondered what would happen during an investigation.
One of the last strange things that happened before I left, was again while working late, during an October, cold and foggy night...all the lights off in the house except my office, and startlingly the grand piano played by itself! My explanation for this is that at the time, there was a small radio used in the fireside room and sometimes a jazz radio station would play while even being turned off. It was due to the radio towers on top of Lookout Mountain. The jazz station has interfered with weddings and other events. So that's my rational explanation of the night I heard the soft lilt of the cheery piano tune.
Other co-workers have experienced weird and creepy things, that have made them go home early and not finish projects! Boettcher Mansion has also taped past family members account of living there and former servants and caretakers who I've been privileged to meet have all stated their accounts of strange and irritating occurrences.
So in the end, I have learned not to judge people so harshly...as now my family thinks that I am the crazy one!
Working also at the Grant Humphreys and Byers Evans House Museum, I can truly say that really nothing creepy or unnerving got to me. Again I worked many late nights alone, but felt comfortable at those locations. Caterers would tell me their stories of past employees who will never work at Grants again due to the encounters they experienced.
While closing down the house the beautiful hand painted portraits of the family members were perceived to be staring at you from every angle of the room, but I was told that portraits used to painted that way on purpose!
There was a certain office manager who reportedly claimed hearing 'voices', and said to have witnesses to back her up. The first time she heard strange voices occurred while she sat in the piano room of the Boettcher Mansion nestled on top of Lookout Mountain. It was built in 1912, as a summer hunting lodge by Charles Boettcher, one of Colorado's famous entrepreneurs. Admittedly, I thought to myself that the woman was a nutcase! My respect fell short for her and I must say that I had made fun of her account several times.
Coincidently, the voices heard by the office manager happened within a week or two proceeding the death of a Boettcher heir. In fact it was notably a suicide. Having met the Boettcher family personally, worked the memorial service and spoke on occasion to past caretakers of the house, I want to tell this story with care and respect. The Boettcher legacy has been a Colorado endearment, as The Boettcher Foundation has done so much for Colorado and its people.
Now picture this, I am sitting at the desk in the entrance of this incredible Arts and Crafts mansion...alone...about ready to close the house at dusk when, suddenly I HEARD THE VOICE!
Stricken with absolute fear, as what I heard was the most saddest cry (from the hallway, fifteen feet away)...it was a woman's voice. Could it have possible been the voice of the mother's who grown child has just died?
If having to 'eat your own words' isn't revenge enough, don't know what is!
At that moment, it felt as though my temperature dropped, I was paralyzed and I couldn't move my hand to press one button to call the on site caretaker. Once I could breath again, I did phone the caretaker to come over and investigate the house.
This occasion was the beginning to many moments of having to call the caretaker. He has his own strange stories as well that are not explainable, but he's still not convinced as to the place being haunted.
Many nights I would be working late alone and had heard footsteps in the kitchen. Often times I would run down the stairs to scare the person, I thought may be trying to scare me, yet to no avail - no one would be there. If it is quiet at night and no one is around, the house seems to come alive as all old houses do with insane sounds that give you chills. But how does one explain hearing footsteps around 8:30 each evening in the kitchen. The footsteps were always behind me, but I continued to work through the noise as fast as I could. On occasion, when the sound of footsteps would get to me, I like a child would call my mom and tell of the happening...she'd insist I leave...
but work always prevailed.
Some people during parties would report seeing women in 20's style clothing, or men outside standing by a nearby car. Sometimes psycics would come through on a tour but they always hesitated to tell me what they felt. I have been gone for quite some time and currently the house is undergoing renovations, including the nemesis kitchen. The upstairs offices, once servants bedrooms, always gave me the creeps. I still have strange dreams about the house. I always wondered what would happen during an investigation.
One of the last strange things that happened before I left, was again while working late, during an October, cold and foggy night...all the lights off in the house except my office, and startlingly the grand piano played by itself! My explanation for this is that at the time, there was a small radio used in the fireside room and sometimes a jazz radio station would play while even being turned off. It was due to the radio towers on top of Lookout Mountain. The jazz station has interfered with weddings and other events. So that's my rational explanation of the night I heard the soft lilt of the cheery piano tune.
Other co-workers have experienced weird and creepy things, that have made them go home early and not finish projects! Boettcher Mansion has also taped past family members account of living there and former servants and caretakers who I've been privileged to meet have all stated their accounts of strange and irritating occurrences.
So in the end, I have learned not to judge people so harshly...as now my family thinks that I am the crazy one!
Working also at the Grant Humphreys and Byers Evans House Museum, I can truly say that really nothing creepy or unnerving got to me. Again I worked many late nights alone, but felt comfortable at those locations. Caterers would tell me their stories of past employees who will never work at Grants again due to the encounters they experienced.
While closing down the house the beautiful hand painted portraits of the family members were perceived to be staring at you from every angle of the room, but I was told that portraits used to painted that way on purpose!