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Haunted in New Hampshire

© Christina Coruth

In a town called Whitefield, in the Great North Woods of New Hampshire, there is a three-story home at the end of a narrow winding driveway. One weekend in 1965, Hans Holzer, noted author and ghost chaser, and Sybil Leek, noted psychic and medium, were drawn to this picturesque home after learning of claims that it was haunted.

Now you may be skeptical, but read on. Something was happening in that house, and had been for a very long time. It surely seemed that the builder and original owner of the house, Admiral Hawley, was the culprit. The Admiral built the house after his retirement. He named it the Miz'n Top. Apparently, he and his wife were as happy as two irascible people could be. The Admiral kept busy chasing "trespassers" off his property. Finally, preceded by his wife, he died in 1933. Despite the fact that he wanted the house to stay in the family, his daughter sold it two years later to Eric and Josephine Jacobsen.

The Jacobsens, with their young son Erlend, happily set about making the house their home. Everything was fine and peaceful until Mr. Jacobsen decided to turn the attic into a clubhouse for Erlend. He disposed of the Admiral's possessions, including his sea chest. After that, strange things began to happen. Years later, Erlend, a thirty-something professor at a college in Vermont; his wife, Martha; their young son, Eric; and many friends and relatives would recount the bizarre happenings for Hans Holzer. Here is a list of some of the reports - imagine if these things happened to you in your home:

Sarah, the Erlend's maid, had problems with a ghost. Her bed would shake violently as if someone were trying to push her out of it. Some think that it was more than a coincidence that Admiral Hawley was bigoted and Sarah was black. She solved the problem by sprinkling holy water on the bed each night. Providing she didn't forget, she would sleep undisturbed.

Martha and Erlend spent their first night as newlyweds awake and terrified listening to the sounds of heavy objects being dragged across the floor in the attic above them. After the dragging stopped, they heard the sounds of footsteps, which walked across floor, down the hallway toward their bedroom, until they reached the door - then silence.

A family friend decided to check out the attic. He reached for the doorknob. It turned before his hand touched it. His dog would not enter the room.

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