Columbus has no shortage of ghost stories.
The Ohio Statehouse is rumored to have has many ghosts, including Abraham Lincoln, who occasionally shows up to dance with a former governor’s daughter.
Other reportedly haunted spots include the former Harrison House Bed and Breakfast on West Fifth Avenue and the Ohio Governor's Mansion on East Broad Street.
But what makes old buildings such compelling backdrops for ghost stories?
Kelton House and Museum Director Jeff Lafever doesn’t mention the old Victorian's ghosts most of the year, but they float into the spotlight in October.
“We really like to talk about the history of the family and their connection to the Underground Railroad for the rest of the year, but we do let those stories out in October, because there were at least two people that passed away in the house. One being Fernando…” Lafever said.
The Kelton House spirits
Fernando Kelton and his wife, Sophia, built the large brick manor in 1852. Fernando died in his bedroom in 1866 after he fell out of an upper window at his office downtown.
Today, the pink bedroom is filled with intricately carved wood furniture.
Lafever pointed to an antique shaving mirror in the corner of the room. He said a guest once took a photo of herself in that mirror.
“And when she looked at the picture, there was an image, kind of blurry, but you can see it pretty well, of a gentleman standing behind her near the window," Lafever said.
The "gentleman" in question looked just like the downstairs portrait of Fernando, except in the photograph, the man is wearing a hat.
Lafever said there were no costumed actors in the house that day.
Guests have also reported being pushed or pulled in the upstairs hallway. Some claim to have seen Fernando’s son, Oscar Kelton, in the garden, still in his gray Civil War uniform and smoking a cigar. He was killed in battle in 1864.
Lafever himself once mysteriously smelled a woman's perfume when he was alone in the house. He thinks that could have been Grace Kelton, the last family member to live and die in the house.
Spooky traditions
Even on a normal day, with no obvious ghosts around, the beautiful Victorian home has some unusual elements.
There are several ribbons in the house made of human hair. The practice of making trinkets out of hair wasn't unusual at the time, Lafever said.
This time of year, a casket sits in the parlor, mimicking Fernando’s funeral, which was indeed held right in that room. Funerals in the home were also common practice.
The Kelton House holds a Victorian-mourning event for Fernando each year around Halloween.
Ghost stories
It’s enough to get the imagination going – and, to make matters worse, Lafever's interview with WOSU, was interrupted by a mysterious thud somewhere in the house. No one else was in the house.
After doing a quick lap of the manor, Lafever found nothing out of place.
“It sounded like something fell off the wall or something," Lafever said. He sighed. "It’s an old house.”
"The ghost that got into our house on the night of November 17, 1915, raised such a hullabaloo of misunderstandings that I am sorry I didn't just let it keep on walking, and go to bed."- James Thurber's "The Night the Ghost Got In"
The ghost that got in Thurber House
About a half mile away on Jefferson Street, Thurber House has its own ghosts.
Author and cartoonist James Thurber lived in the house in the 1910s. He claimed to have heard a ghost one night in 1915, which led to a "hullaballoo of misunderstandings."
Thurber wrote about the experience in his short story "The Night the Ghost Got In."
"Its advent caused my mother to throw a shoe through a window of the house next door and ended up with my grandfather shooting a patrolman," Thurber wrote. "I am sorry, therefore, as I have said, that I ever paid any attention to the footsteps."
Now, the literary hub that occupies the author's old home comes with a litany of ghost stories. It's no wonder, since the home was the site of some unsettling incidents.
Haunted history
Thurber House was built on the site of the former Ohio Lunatic Asylum, which burned to the ground in 1868, killing seven women. It is also where Thomas Tracy Tress, a local jeweler, accidentally shot and killed himself in 1904, while trying to prove that his 38-caliber revolver wasn’t loaded.
“To prove his point to his guests, he pointed at his chest and pulled the trigger, and it was loaded,” said Thurber House Operations Director Leah Wharton. "He ended up shooting and killing himself in one of the upstairs bedrooms."
Wharton knows all the ghost stories. She said people have caught sight of a man standing behind them in the mirror. An otherwise friendly dog took to growling at the furniture and certain parts of the room for no obvious reason. A broken clock once chimed so loudly that an employee jumped out of her chair, Wharton said.
A good story
Many reports of supernatural activity come from writers-in-residence who stay in the house’s third floor apartment. Some decide to leave after their ghostly encounters, but most stay.
"Authors – they do love a good story," said Kathy Matthews, interim director of Thurber House.
Matthews loves the creativity, but doesn't put too much stock in house's spirits.
"I don't believe in ghosts, although I kind of wish I did," Matthews admitted.
“You might become a believer here pretty soon if you spend enough time in here," Wharton said.
They agreed that the ghosts bring people into the house, from casual enthusiasts to professional ghost-hunting teams.
Capturing the imagination
Lafever thinks people look for the supernatural in old houses like Kelton and Thurber because the past seems strange and maybe a little bit creepy. Plus, those places have seen so many people come and go.
“I just think it's that mystique and our culture gravitates towards that," he said.
As his interview with WOSU wound up near the front door, Lafever glanced down and discovered the source of that mysterious thud.
“It was just the mail!” Lafever laughed.
He scooped up the bundle of envelopes below the mail flap.
“I've never been down here when I've heard that, and it probably rattled between this. See, that's why I don't know what I believe.”
