History

Soon after contacting the "ghost hunters," I decided to research the history of the house. I called around town & got the name of a local historian. Finally yesterday he & I touched bases & although he didn't have any information about the actual house, I learned a lot about the town...  Since he had nothing to offer me about previous owners, he advised me to follow the house's roots back through property records & deeds. I plan to begin this quest on Monday & will keep everyone updated as I learn! Here is a tidbit of information that I did learn that may interest many of you-- The locally famous Reigel that helped shape Ware Shoals into what it is today was originally planned to be built here in Donalds. On the day that the land was supposed to be sold, the owner was drunk & decided not to humor the slick looking city men by signing away his property. They didn't have to search far to find an even better location overlooking the Saluda River! Things sure would be different without a little alcohol to liven' up the business deal!

 Isn't it interesting to think about the past? Tonight I am thinking about the history of this house in particular... How many people have lived in this house since it was built over a hundred years ago? How many Christmases scattered packages and bows around the same thin wooden planked floors that we walk on now? How many babies were born here? How many people took their last breath here? How many Birthdays were celebrated inside these walls? How many tears were shed? How many furrowed brows pondered where the next meal would come from during the great depression that we so often forget? How many feet paced back & forth, wondering how long their daughter would be outside on the porch with her latest beaux? How many men on one knee proposed here? How many soldiers spent sleepless nights overseas longing to be at home in this house?   How many little feet took their first steps here? Just thinking of the rich past that has filled this house sends chills down my spine.  I am almost honored to join in & make my own memories here. When I look at it from this perspective, it isn't scary at all. Of course these people left their mark or even don't want to leave! Of course pieces of their presence lingers on.

Now you see my predicament... I am hanging in the balance between fear, respect, feeling crazy, having definite proof that won't allow me to pass it off as "nothing," & protecting my family. We didn't tell the boys about this for a long time. We ignored it & went along with our lives, but after awhile they started witnessing things on their own. Although their videos were amusing, they are real little boys with real ideas that are being formed. Will they look back on their childhood & remember being haunted? Will they tell their own children about the fear that they felt? Will this cloud the happy memories that we strive so hard to help them form? Again, I hang in the balance. Soon, hopefully very soon, I will have some answers to these questions that I am stuck with. I want to find peace-- even if it means living with a friendly (keyword FRIENDLY) ghost. I want to stop focusing on the fear & start stock piling my own happy "past" to add into the decades & decades of pasts that permeate the very walls around me.