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From: <>
Subject: Happy Halloween
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 19:21:53 EST

There was a great deal of interest in the GHOST STORY book...

Phyllis Slater has just sent a story from the book .... (Thanks, Phyllis!)


Subj: A Ghost Story from Wheeling
Date: 10/31/99 7:15:15 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: PSlater113
To: LCFlu

Oct. 31, 1999 (Halloween)..From the Wheeling News Register.

Our local "Ghostbuster" Diane Davis-Darnley gave this talk on some of
Wheeling ghosts .......
MONUMENT PLACE... What most recognize as the Osiris Temple in Elm Grove,
Monument Place is a mansion steeped in history. It also happens to be
haunted, according to Darnley.
Built by Moses and Lydia Boggs Shepherd in the latter portion of the 18th
century, the building has been the property of the Osiris Shriners since
1928, although rumors of the original owner's reluctance to leave have
circulated for years.
In 1991, the mansion's caretaker and her husband had arrived late in the
evening to clean up after a party. As the couple approached the front steps
of the house. They both noticed something odd in the window to their
immediate right - a hand reaching through the sheer curtains. As they opened
the front door to the house, however, no one was standing by the window.
On another occasion, the same caretaker noticed what appeared to be smoke in
the basement area. Concerned a fire was raging below, she quickly went to
investigate. She found smoke, but no fire and no odor. The room suddenly
became very chilly and the smoke vanished as quickly as it had manifested.
The woman's husband later had a nearly identical experience and neither one
had a reasonable explanation.
The most disturbing story coming from the halls of Monument Place dates back
to a 1982 party in the ballroom. A guest had gone to the cloakroom to
retrieve something and as she stepped into the room, she saw the coat
attendant was missing.
The only person in the room was an old woman wearing a long dress and lace
dust cap, sitting quietly in a rocking chair. She was looking out the doorway
to a window facing the front of the house. The guest asked where the coat
attendant was but the woman looked very annoyed and dismissed her with the
flip of her wrist.
The guest turned to walk away and saw the attendant returning to her post.
She inquired about the woman in the rocking chair, but the attendant looked
at her with a puzzled expression.
"There's no one in that room," she said, then turned to enter. The guest
followed her and gasped - the woman and rocking chair were gone.
The guest later learned that the cloak room once was the sitting room of
Lydia Boggs Shephard...

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