JAN'S TALES...The Husband House Part 2

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JAN'S TALES

The Husband House Burns Down

(NOTE: Be sure to read Part One)

In an amazing and extremely saddening turn of events, the infamous Husband House made one last horrific impact on all concerned in December, 2001. On Christmas evening, it caught on fire and burned for over 12 hours, up until the next morning. The family escaped without harm but lost everything in the blaze. Only a few items could be saved from the frantic escape through the back door; part of a computer, a TV and Playstation that was connected to it and two lawnmowers that were under the carport. The mother and dad along with three children, 3 dogs and 2 cats, huddled together inside the family truck, clothed in their pajamas, and watched the house raise up in fiery fury during the next 12 hours.

Firefighters fought the blaze in below freezing temperatures, endangering themselves not only from the heat, smoke and flames from the relentless fire, but also with the treacherous ice that was formed on and all around the house from the residue of the gushing waters used to combat the inferno. Two firemen had to be ambulanced to the hospital during the episode, while the family watched in silent horror at the scene that unfolded before them.

Not only did the family witness courageous men battling the chaos, but also saw numerous mysterious faces appear throughout the smoke and flames. Faces without bodies, without flesh, screaming frames of tortured and twisted expressions, rising up, floating away with the blackened smoke and suet. Ghostly images trying to escape the burning rage around them. Some of these faces, apparitions, and entities showed up in the photos taken the next day of the ruins. Some seemed frozen in suspended animation, others appeared in one frame and then disappeared in the next. Although you will see in some of these photos misty swirls of what appears to be smoke, it is not. No smoke present. No evaporation. All was still; quiet, frozen, like a forgotten road to Hell, undisturbed, like you were walking thru a life size demonic painting that was black, stiff, crusty and crispy.

First, before explaining the photos below, I want to share with you some of the more extraordinary discoveries made in the ruins of this house the next day upon exploring the ashes and debris. The actual fire started in the laundry area behind the dryer, a room that was considered the back porch of the home. This room was attached to the kitchen and had one doorway between them both. This particular door was never locked and was always left open even though it contained the original old skeleton key lock mechanisms and an old brass slide bolt from decades ago. After the fire, this door was found shut and locked, or what was left of the door, as the burnt edges clung to the doorframe like an empty picture frame, the brass lock hanging in thin air and bolted into the frames brass eye. Some unknown source had shut the door, slid the lock into place when the fire had started, to keep it contained in the back room for it's beginning rage. The fuse box also located in the laundry area was engulfed in flames as the fire spread rapidly and silently along the back of the house and up thru the roof to the upstairs. When the electric went off the older son went to investigate and saw the hot glow of the raging fire thru the glass of the shut door in the kitchen. It was Christmas evening; most of the family was in their pajamas, preparing for bed, the two sons were awake playing in the living room. The next few moments were chaos and confusion as the fire seemed to breath enormous life into itself, almost exploding thru the home like a rabid freight train. We really believe that the door being closed gave them the extra precious moments needed to have the entire family escape as they were all in different parts of the home.

While surveying the damage the next day, we came across what was left of an antique storage trunk. Upon touching the lid it crumbled from the pressure of my gloved hand, revealing the destroyed objects inside through a gaping hole in the top. At first glance it just all resembled intricate ashes forming insane designs of black and gray. The tiny blackened faces of porcelain doll heads poked thru the rubble like tortured souls lost in the night. Their porcelain arms, some reaching upward like some hideous last call for help, lay inside the ashes of their bodies and previous apparel. They reminded me of children that had been caught in the war of a holocaust. Something gleamed white beneath the thick layer of ash and ice, and as I brushed a section away, to my astonishment laid their family Bible that had been passed down for several generations. It was untouched by the fire and only slightly damp from the layer of sooty ice that covered it.

Another discovery was what appeared to be a large, oval, lumpy thick piece of black wood actually turned out to be a destroyed baseball glove. As I was examining it, the layers of crust flaking off like devilish pastry crumbs, there inside the folds of the glove was something red. Prying it apart with little effort a small red New Testament was found unharmed and unscorched. Another book was found with only its top cover lying like black flour on the beginning of its pages, pages that were also unharmed by the fire; they were pages of Church songs.

There was also a large candle holder, about the size of a round homemade cake, made of clay and had the shapes of people holding hands in a circle. In fact it was called 'Circle of Friends' and was a gift from myself to the family to represent our relationship with one another. This particular piece of art was on the dining room table when the fire began. Afterwards the upstairs came crashing down in the dining room, smashing the furniture and setting fire to all in sight. This is the same table seen in a previous story where I was sitting writing a message sent from the mysterious visitor from the mirror. After the fire, while sifting thru the debris, moving pieces of the collapsed roof aside so to continue through the remainder of the home, the 'Circle of Friends' was found, unbroken and unscratched.

A few weeks later the owner, Tessa, was going thru one part of the home that hadn't been torn down yet, still sifting thru the ashes to find anything worth saving. Pieces of photos, a grandmother’s thimble, and an antique clothes iron from the late 1800's were found. But the most amazing discovery that day during her search was the piece of paper that was used on Halloween night to write down the words from the entity that hovered over us. Folded neatly, perfectly white, unscorched, untouched, lying inside a fire chewed desk, inside a drawer that collapsed into a pile of burnt wooden fragments, from the touch of a hand tugging on it. Recorded words in pencil lead stood out on the still stark white paper. Those words had painted a picture of torture, sadistic practices, slavery, and of a wicked master. These too will be remembered along with each face that made its appearance in our photos as a lasting memoir from the Husband House. The video from the Séance was found but it was a twisted lump of black melted plastic. Other photos we had taken of the home did not survive either, but thankfully I had some of my own downloaded on a computer. It was those photos that I shared with you in the previous story. The photos included in this segment will be of those I took right after the fire.

The following photos were taken from what was left of the attic. Surprisingly, a few of the stairs to the upstairs were strong enough to hold my weight as I climbed them cautiously to take a photo up there. I knew I was being watched as there was that uncanny, uncomfortable feeling nagging at me the whole time I was pilfering through the debris and ashes. Standing on those singed, charred steps gave me quite a tingling sensation also. My imagination started getting the best of me as I pondered falling through them all the way to the cellar below, which was full of water from the 12 hours of fire hoses blasting the flames the night before. I did not linger long, took a few pictures and receded back down. It was worth the endangerment, as you will see below.

The first shot you will see a large scene of one side of the attic, an antique trunk is on the bottom right hand side along with a mysterious green mist, but that is not what I want you to concentrate on. (This mist shows up again later.) You will notice what looks like three 2 X 4’s going straight up behind the trunk. I want you to look at what is peeking behind the second board. The following three photos will zoom in on the figure, and circle it for you. Do you see her? She is shyly looking around the beam, straight at the camera (or me for that instance as I was taking it.) You can see her bangs, her white forehead, her sunken black eyes, the curve of her cheek, the full lips, part of her ivory chin, the shape of her neck and the beginning of the top of her dress as it seems to fall off her shoulders a bit. On the other side of the beam you can faintly see the outline of her left shoulder and more of the dress. This is truly an amazing image and we are so blessed to see her so clearly! As San would say, “You can’t tell me there’s no such thing!”

The following two photos are of the dining room, same shot, but one enlarged. Notice to the right where a wall use to be. It appears to have twisted itself into a gaping mouth demon of some sort. Maybe this is nothing actually, but it does have the characteristics of a demonic entity, right down to the pursed red eye! It would seem that the negative energy inside the house was caught in a final death scream, and here it is frozen in the ashes and blistered residue of the house’s skeleton.

This next set of photos, deals with one shot of the debris from the house after the top floor, what was left of it as it hung in the air like a war stricken casualty, was bulldozed down. This is quite an amazing photo if you can blow up the entire scene…there are dozens of faces you can make out peering out from everywhere. In fact I’ve counted over 20 myself, but this is not what I want you to study over when you look at this particular scene, even though it will reveal an array of portraits of death. As I was going over the photo on the computer I noticed what appears to be a small girl standing up behind a slanted fallen board, middle of the photo a little to the left. There are two enlargements below along with the long shot. She looks like she has blond hair, and has a dress on. (In the second photo you will be able to see some of the other faces that pop out all over that I mentioned above.) The girl ghost just struck me the most, even though the others brought sadness as well.

This set of photos deal with a green mist that appeared in the attic photo and then the one below of the side of the house where the stairs once stood, this was after they were bulldozed down. You can use your own judgment of sight on this one as there are several different descriptions you can try and make out yourself as to what is trying to manifest in this shot. I actually see two separate beings in the lower right hand corner of the photo. One is located on the white part of the fallen wall, and reminds me of the upper torso of a woman holding a baby in her arms. She may have a large hat on, or have her hair wrapped in a scarf. The other figure to the extreme right of the bottom corner, seems to be someone sitting…I can make out a head that is looking down, a large belly, two arms in front of it like it’s holding something and two bent legs…this figure is sitting facing to the left towards the corner of the fallen white wall. Maybe you will see something else. You decide on this one, but there is definitely something paranormal going on there.

These photos deal with one side of the kitchen and a particular cabinet door that is still standing. As we zoom in on the image with the enlargements you can make out the image of a woman on the front of the cabinet. She will be hard to see at first but if you look at the last photo, and you will see a perfect white small circle about an inch down from the top of the photo in the middle going downward; that would be where her nose would be, her eyes are touching the top of the circle, her nostrils of her nose just below the circle, then her lips, almost in a smile. If you can make out the face, then you will be able to see her hair to either side of her face and it actually comes down on her right shoulder (Left side in photo) and you can make out a shoulder, a neckline and dress that comes up to her bosom. You can even see her right arm hanging down and part of her lower arm and hand. There appears to be ruffles around the edge of the dress and they run straight down the front. Again, start from the white circle where her nose would be. Once you study the photo for a while you will see her. Everyone else has seen her that I’ve showed this too, I hope you will also.

The following two photos deal with another side of the kitchen and two unearthly images. They were hard to spot at first but as I blew them up, two faces stared back at me, and the one on the right was a most sinister image. The first is the original shot. In the second one, I have them circled again for you to concentrate on, the one on the left appears to be a full head of a man, with a widows peak at the hairline, a prominent left eye, large nose and portly cheeks and chin. The image in the lower left hand corner is a bit more menacing, in fact, it rather chilled me to the bone I’m sorry to admit. I did re-adjust the focus a bit so you could see more detail in this particular vision. The last photo is a close up of the wicked looking one which looks like a side view of a devil. It has a prominent nose, the perfect outline of the side of a face looking to the left, deep set eyes, a mouth, and a chin with a cleft in it, and it appears that a light is shining from below right up into the face giving it a slight white glow to the already very red flesh. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget the horn like shape protruding out of the top left of the head. The figure seems to be in a black cloak surrounding it’s head, and you can just make out part of the neckline where a spot of green is showing just below the white cleft chin. Indeed, this is a rather chilling scene to have captured.

In this set of photos, you will see a shot of the burned out fireplace and the scorched and blackened mirror above it and what is left of the mantel clock. The next two photos are zoomed in for your easier viewing. The objects are circled for you to concentrate on. The image on the left appears to be a very scared persons face, not sure if it is a female or a male, but it does have a crooked nose, sort of looking to his left, has a droopy right eye and an opened mouth with well outlined lips. The center image that is circled, well, you got me, but it sort of resembles a cat. There are other faces you can spot also within the same photos, but these two popped out at me while going over this particular photo.

These two photos are from the remains of the back porch. Again, there was no smoke or smoldering going on, but that is not what I wanted you to look at anyway. Look to the left of the photo, just beside the first busted out window. Do you see her? Standing there in the dark? The next photo will show a zoom in on her. You can just make out her nose, chin, lips, her left eye and left cheek as her head is slightly turned to her left. There seems to be a corsage or a type of ornamental jewelry pin on her black dress up on her left side of her chest. You can make out the outline of her slender arm with a long black sleeve and right about at her elbow of her left arm you can see the indentation of her waistline in her dress. Her left hand seems to be resting on the burned out windowsill. There also appears to be a rounded black brimmed hat on her head, and you can just make out the faint line of her neck. And yes, you will see other images in the photo also, but she’s the one that beckons to you the most.

These next photos are of the unharmed closet door that is right under the stairs. (Note: None of these photos had anything added to them, nor were they re-touched or altered with any additional images. They are all original, only the color and focus were adjusted so that you could see the images more clearly.) In this particular shot you cannot help but notice that there are white letters appearing in the scene across the burnt wall. The letter “A” shows prominently and then the letters “E E” appear next to the ‘A’ in a smaller script size. They appear almost as if the house were screaming. They appeared in the viewfinder of the camera but I could not see them with the naked eye. I could hardly believe that it was actually captured on the camera for evidence. Notice also that the open door is untouched by the damage by the fire. This door hides a small closet that is directly behind the steps that go upstairs. The contents of the closet were in total ashes except for a few wire hangers that hung from a crooked falling metal close rod. That is not all that shows up in the photo. Look at the ghostly face that is peering from a hole in the burned out wall to the left of the door. This image is circled in the second photo.

In these last photos you will see a woman standing in what use to be the master bedroom downstairs. She will be facing to the left of the photo, and you will see a side view of her. Look about 2 inches to the left from the center of the first photo and about one inch down. She’s standing to the left of what use to be a square part of the ceiling that has fallen from above. She has long curly/wavy black hair hanging down the front of her chest and down the length of her back; you can see the outline of her shoulder underneath the hair and part of her bosom. Her face is framed with her hair and you can see the perfect outline of her face as she is looking outward to the left of the photo (Which would be her right where she is standing.) You can only see her from about her elbow up.

Such sadness these nameless entities carry in their expressions. Oh to hear each one's tale, each one's story of how they came to be in the Husband Home. What rich history lessons we could learn, what sorrows, what secrets could be unfolded, if they all could speak to us now. For here is a home that is way beyond being a hundred years old, with even two more previous foundations beneath it's own that are even older, that if it could write it's biography it would certainly make a best selling novel. These souls, the ones who have clung to the walls, the floors, the entire essence of the house, the property, for so many years, were still hanging on to what they have called home since their deaths. We feel numerous ones were released in the house blessing months ago, but many refused to have their freedom. Instead, they stayed behind, by their strong attachments to the history of the land, or by their secrets that bound them, or maybe just to see the final completion of the home being torn down, finished, to see it to the end.

But, alas, no more will the sounds of celebrating soldiers, clinking together metal steins of cheer in salute, will be heard in the dinning room. No more will the ghost of a small young girl play patty cake with the human hands of the three-year-old grand daughter of the owner that visited there daily. No longer will the protective slave woman with the red bandana be seen in the kitchen, or walking through the dinning room with her long dress brushing the floors. There will no longer be the sounds of footsteps bounding up the stairs to the attic, nor the sounds of many men having a conversation of the civil war mixed with laughter on occasions. Cold drafts, wispy breezes brushing the occupants, lights going on and off, door being mysteriously locked and unlocked, door flying open, doors slamming shut on their own, the presence of unearthly hands upon your back, all these things will be gone but not forgotten. You, the readers, who have come to know the story of this home, will remember though, as well as the family and myself. Along with knowing that the paranormal activity was so powerful that it survived a scorching inferno, demolition and a house blessing.

A new house will be built on the property but further back, steering clear of this obvious portal. Plans are being made to cover the original spot over with a spiritual garden planted on it to keep it sealed and safe, with Cedar, Sage and Sweet Grass to begin with. Topped with a statue of an angel, and blessed by various members of several religions is also a part of the plan. We shall see in the future if the spirits will still show themselves. We shall see if they are at peace, or still wander the grounds, or if they will take up residence in the new house that will be built.

No other home that I have visited so far has revealed such a history of ghosts, nor gave itself over to a photographer so willingly, to show its silent occupants within the frames of almost every picture taken. Oh what tales could be told if those spirits could converse with us. It's sad to a point, in some odd way, to put a closure on this amazing story. I know in the near future there will yet be another home to investigate, and more cemeteries to take adventures in, but I feel they will fail to compare with the intrigue and mysteries as the Husband House gave us all to ponder, study and wonder over.

-Jan Thompson.

Go to Husband House Part One