A Haunted House: The Morris-Jumel Mansion

What a fascinating beautiful place, Paul. I would love to visit. Thank you for such an interesting blog.

You're quite welcome Julia. I thought it was fascinating as well. I'm tempted to go on one of the ghost tours, but I don't want one coming home with me. I heard that happen too, lol.

Wow, what extraordinary stories - thanks for showing us so comprehensively Paul.

What a brilliant blog Paul. I really did enjoy it. I have a very dear long-standing friend who can see the spirits of people who have passed on. She would have a field day in this place!

Thanks Paul for such an interesting Blog , I'm not sure that I would what to go on a ghost tour either ,we were sure a previous house we had was haunted we even gave him a name 'Charlie ' as he died on the piece of land our house was built on .. we use to talk to him and thank him for finding things we had lost .. my hubby didn't like him blowing on the back of his head though Lol ...

I shall tell you my own ‘ghost story’ from this cottage where I live now. I actually have psychic senses myself and sometimes have prophetic dreams. I had several recurring dreams about this house long before we thought about moving. I didn’t know at the time of course...prophecy is only realised in hindsight! I find that with these recurring dreams, they stop happening when the time approaches for their fulfilment. For years I had dreams about going to the South Coast of England and of houses there. And now Rachel is moving to Dorset, and the dream stopped happening a while before she met her Fiancee. It was very puzzling at the time...but now it makes perfect sense!

Anyway, about a year or so after we moved here, and about a month after we had the Garden Pod built, I had a very disturbing dream. I my dream, I saw a group of rough farm labourers in the corner of the field behind where the pod now is. They were spreading cow dung using old pitch forks and it was pouring with rain. I approached them out of curiousity, and as I got close, one of the men looked me square in the eye and said coldly and aggressively “my name is (sounded like) Creasey. What have you done with our rain shelter?”. He had a scar on one side of his face and a really wonky eye. I was very frightened of him and immediately turned and ran. I woke up in quite a lot of distress. Since then I have found record of a man living here with the name Greenleese..it could have been him. Anyway....the next morning when we got up there had been a bad flood in our downstairs, and all the floor coverings were ruined. We had to have remedial work and new flooring etc. The boiler had leaked through the night. Our boiler had gone wrong a couple of times before this, so had had a couple of recent repairs. But when the engineer came, he found FOUR separare leaks in the system. Four. All at once. I am absolutely sure that this was the Angry spirit’s doing. I think he was unhappy about the pod and the alterations we had made in the garden. So far I haven’t been able to find out any more about him, but I have taken some steps to deal with him, and he has gone away now.

So, I am certain that spirits do manifest, in both waking and sleeping hours!

I love the interiors of the mansion, and its fascinating history.

Lol Amy...we crossed with our ghost stories!

I love a good ghost story, I don’t feel or see anything.
Amy, I never knew about Charlie and Karen, wow, what an experience, I’m going back to read again!

I hope you've seen the last of Creasey /Greenleese Karen I love listening to these stories ,I thought I had mentioned Charlie before Dawn, Our daughter didn't like staying in the house on her own but I didn't mind , strange things happened all the time for instance I needed my pinking shears for some work I was doing I went to my workbox to get them they weren't there I thought perhaps I had left them in my other box but no not there either ,I went back into the kitchen they were there in the middle of the table ,this kind of thing happened so often I would just say "Thank you Charlie " and carry on ,our daughter lost a button off her uniform we couldn't find it anywhere so looked for a suitable replacement we found one only to find the missing one on the table , Charlie use to live in the old tumble down cottage next door until it became uninhabitable he then moved into an old caravan on the plot we bought to build our house on ,A builder bought the old cottage and often has 'someone' knocking on the bedroom doors to wake them up ,his In-laws didn't like it when they visited ..
A lot of mornings our garage door would be open apparently it was where the path ran down to his garden ,I could go on and on ,when I told the person who bought our house he said " Please don't tell my wife " I wonder if she knows by now ....

Lol Amy, I was wondering how the new owners were getting on!

The Manhattan mansion is beautiful and the decoration immaculate. Did anyone else notice the clear difference between the decoration schemes there and corresponding British stately homes? I thought it was very striking.
Splendid ghost stories too, but I don't think I'd fancy staying there...

Thank you everybody for your comments & interesting stories. This property is available for catering and private parties, receptions, etc, if you want rent it out for something. They also have concerts, orchestras. I've always had an interest in the paranormal, but feel I would get into trouble.

You're welcome Sheila, Glad you enjoyed it. There is so much more to this place. When you visit, you feel as though your stepping back in time. It's not malicious in any way but the house seems to have a presence.

That's really interesting Karen. I believe you and I heard others having premonitions about plane crashes - that priest who refused to board the Titanic. I've heard that we all have a keen sense of the paranormal but some have nurtured it to make it stronger. Others just ignore those inner feelings, also called 'gut instinct' or intuition or your inner voice. All these terms are referring to the same thing - another sphere of consciousness.

Fascinating story Karen about the angry spirit. You were right to do away with him as I believe we relinquish all claims to this world when we die. As my pastor says; 'from ashes we come and to ashes we go. We never truly own anything.

Have you notice that some people give off either a positive or negative vibe?

Amy - I'm not sure I'd want Charlie blowing on my neck either. Amazing you were able to sense his presence. It's good for business anyway - these phantoms. Keeps the visitors coming. It's a fascinating house in it's own right even without the ghosts.

I'm just afraid of opening "Pandora's Box" so to speak. I think I'm a clairvoyant - I can always read people's thoughts. How do you regain control? That's what I meant about the sage - it's commonly used by mediums to cleanse a house of evil spirits. That's another topic worth researching.

Dawn - Me too, I love a good ghost story.

I have saged my house. That is one of the things I was advised to do. It works. The atmosphere was so much better after. I used incense rather than smudging sticks. The room in question was where Rachel used to hav3 her bedroom. She was for ever telling me that there was someone moving around at night outside her bedroom, making a noise. I thought it was a fox, until we had the flood. Its gone now. :)

So interesting Karen.

I thought it was a lovely house both inside and out. Thanks for the blog and links which I'll have to look at tomorrow (it's late here now)

I could tell you some spiritual tales, especially about my friend Blodyn the cat, but I won't on here.
There are things we can't explain, and just because we can't explain them it doesn't make them untrue. Everything has not been discovered.

Thanks Hywel. I've thought about this blog a long time before getting up the nerve to actually publish it. The house was too beautiful, interesting, historical for me not to share (George Washington actually did sleep here when New York was the Capital of the New World). I've never had a supernatural experience myself, but I know there is a spiritual realm. Would love to hear your stories.

I've never heard of Sageing ,I Googled it , very interesting I would definitely have tried that when I was young living in my father's old house we all heard and felt things when living there ,I was frightened we had the old lights where you pulled a cord hanging by your bed many times I heard footsteps going round the bed and quickly grabbed the light pull but there was never anyone there ,not that I could see anyway , I clearly remember standing in the kitchen with my brother one day when we heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs we knew we were the only people in the house ,we looked at each other I picked up the poker he picked up the shovel and waited for them to appear but nothing the sound stopped at the bottom of the stairs .. My brothers had similar tales to tell .. I could go on ...

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's comments, I like this sort of thing, quite fascinating.

What a harrowing experience Amy. I have an old sword I keep next to my bed but those footsteps must have been creepy. Ditto Dawn very interesting.

Gracious Amy, that's scary.

We keep a baseball bat on the landing - hope we never have to use it . . .

Sounds as though we're all ready for any attack from past future or present Lol ...

Amy, re the footsteps, noises etc. I don't think there is anyone there, not in the present, but there was in the past & sometimes the times touch. We tend to think linearly which can make the past seem further away than it actually is. Think of time as a coil ( like one of those Slinkies the kids used to play with),only as waves & you'll see how easy it is for times to touch, especially when people are feeling tense or nervous for some reason. The human interaction therefore comes into it as well.
A vey interesting blog, I enjoyed reading all the stories & visiting this old house too. Thank you Bathgate.

I can see what you mean Ff , life's a mystery and a good job too it wouldn't do to know too much ..
I had a strange experience one day I was shopping in a market town 10 miles distant i started the car up ready to go home when a heard loud crack coming from the steering area I didn't know what it was so carried on I drove home overtaking cars lorries etc .on the busy A47 , on reaching home I turned the steering wheel to go into my drive ... absolutely nothing the wheel just went round and round in circles , it could have gone at anytime but it took me right to my door I couldn't believe it and was sure somebody was looking after me that day ..

Interesting & I think that there probably was, it was not intended that you should crash that day. We do have our guardians in the spirit world.

You are welcome ff and you just reminded me of an experience I had when I was living in Thailand. I was in some 'backward' town in Northern Thailand. One night, I got up and went out to the local 7-Eleven - a 24 hour mini market about a half mile from my hotel. To get there, I had to walk through a long alley way. It was almost complete darkness except for star light. and the place seemed deserted, no sign of life anywhere, not a sound to be heard, just a long dark alley.

I was less than half way through the long dark alley, when I began to hear mad dogs barking way off in the distance, but they were getting louder & closer to me. In the darkness, I could see a cloud of dust and a pack of vicious, hungry wolves charging after me on pure primal instinct. I was trapped in the alley way alone at night about to be eaten alive with no possibility of escape or survival. These wild dogs were hungry and locked onto me with determination. How do you survive? I looked up and said "God help me!" then braced myself for death.

Well, God helped me! He made me invisible to the dogs and the whole pack ran passed me and out the other end of the alley way leaving me in a cloud of dust. Those dogs stank, but they were gone. I continued to 7-Eleven and back to my hotel room. I know this sounds ridiculous and I know about hikers & campers being killed by wild animals. It's primal instinct driven by hunger & survival. Why would I expect any different? I should be dead, but I'm alive because of some supernatural intervention.

Sheila, apparently you should have a ball with the baseball bat to stay on the right side of the law haha, we are getting a set for under the bed lol
Bathgate- wow what a scarey experience, yikes.

A very interesting story Bathgate & a terrifying experience for you. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Your experience may have been due to you not showing any fear Paul , I once took a little rescue poodle dog for a trim at an address I hadn't been to before there was a side gate which I went through to find the parlour where the trimming took place , I hadn't gone far when a pack of 10 Dobleman pincers rushed at me without thinking I started to chat to them in a friendly way , the owners came rushing round saying how did you get in here I said through the side gate she said you couldn't have that gate is always locked ,I said it wasn't otherwise I couldn't have got in , she then said I was lucky to be alive as the dogs were trained to guard and kill , she said she thinks the only thing that saved me was that I didn't show any fear , once she told me that I started shaking ...

OMG Amy, that must have been terrifying - 10 doberman pincers mean business. They take on that pack mentality and all act with a single purpose - to kill. With me, I can only see shadows and it was really scary, especially being in a foreign country. I've never been so happy to see a 7-Eleven, lol! I'm alive! I don't know how or why. I'm glad you are too!

Thanks Feverfew. Glad to be able to share it.

Amy, I remember your doberman story, my daughter has one now and he weighs 7st 4lbs! You were so lucky as were you Bathgate

Dawn I can't tell you how scared I was when I left there ,I never went again ..I'm sure Charlotte's dog would guard her with his life which is good to know these days..

I love such stories. thanks for sharing