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October 2006
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Section: Travel
A Spooky House
By Gail Nicholson
Recently, my upstate New York relatives toured us though Madison County, about three hours from Buffalo. Never disappointing, the ride was filled with historic detail, hilly landscapes, ponds, old buildings and farm communities — all of which I love, especially as the season changes. The regional folklore ranges from the outlaw escapades of the Loomis Gang who terrorized the residents of Central New York in the 19th century; to that of guitarist Eddie Van Halen and wife, actress Valerie Bertanelli, nearly acquiring a local 30-room limestone grand estate that, like their marriage, has since gone to seed.
This trip held a Halloween highlight — a 19th century house known as the “Spirit House” in the center of Georgetown, NY, a small village named for George Washington, and settled in 1804. The house was built by an eventual spiritualist named Timothy Brown in the late 1860s. Since the spiritualist community of Lilydale is just an hour from Buffalo, this held particular interest.
Mr. Brown adorned the tall box-of-a-house with three layers of overhanging gingerbread and handmade wooden balls dangling from each point. This, along with interior closets, placed to keep humans out of the spirit-based corners of the home, was a directive that came from the spirits, Brown claimed. The house has remained empty for years, they say, because those surly spirits make it impossible to inhabit. It was quiet, and creepy, so of course we crept around, looking in every window, hoping for a frightful sign. Boo!
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