Chapter 8: Ghosts and Goblins

We traveled back to our home in Kansas and rested there for several months. But we all became ready to go on another adventure. Over the winter, in early January, I received a letter from a woman in Kansas City, Missouri. She lived in a very large mansion that she had lived in for over twenty years, she and her husband had five children, all grown and moved away. Her problem was that after her husband had died, she started hearing voices, footsteps and doors opening and closing even though she was the only person in the house. She had servants during the day, but they would leave after her supper. Twice she had seen apparitions in the hallway outside her bedroom and once in the garden below her bedroom window.

She didn’t believe in ghosts, she suspected that someone was trying to scare her to death or drive her insane. She wanted for us to find out who and why they were doing this and bring them to justice! Her name was Mrs. Charles M. Harding, but went by Gladys. She was forty seven years old and was as spry as a teenager, she had a quick mind and a bawdy sense of humor!

We caught the first train going north to Kansas City. There we hired a Barouche and driver to take us to Mrs. Harding’s house in North Kansas City. It was a very large place, there was a fourteen foot brick wall around the property, a wrought iron gate was open and a driveway led to the front of the house. A carriage house with servants quarters over it was behind the house. They were no longer in use.

By prior arrangement we were posing as distant cousins of her husband that were visiting to inquire about entering into a business deal using some of her money. If money was the endgame of the haunting they were not going to like us at all! She had sent us a list of people who were nephews of her husband. We adopted the names of a set of children about our age. I was Arthur, Nan became Cynthia, and Gail became Olivia.

Mrs. Harding let it be known that we were her heirs and would be receiving the bulk of her estate. That would most certainly paint targets on our backs. Our hope was that having been recognized as the recipients of her will, that they, whoever was trying to spook Mrs. Harding, would try not to kill us and kidnap us instead.

Our rooms were down the hall from Mrs. Harding’s bedroom and across the hall from one another. Nan and Gail, rather, Cynthia and Olivia were sharing a bedroom. After we had retired for the night we all began hearing the footsteps, wailing and screaming that Mrs. Harding had been hearing. It was definitely eerie! But at least to me it sounded man made! Like maybe it was the sound from an out of tune violin or fiddle.

I moved up to the third floor, the stepping sounds were louder but still muffled somewhat. I moved down the hall and quietly checked the rooms on both sides. I stopped when the sound was louder, slowly I opened the door. There was no one in the room, the sound was coming from the attic floor.

I went to the stairs that ascended into the attic. A door was set in the floor of the ceiling, had to be opened, the doorknob was set at the top of the door. I tried to turn it, but it was locked! I produced the keys that Mrs. Harding had given me and tried them one at a time. The third one fit and unlocked it. Once again I tried to turn the knob, this time it turned and I pushed on the door, it slowly opened. After opening four or so inches, one of the hinges screeched like a rusty coffin lid! The walking stopped and I heard a shuffling sound, then the sound of a door opening and closing. Then there was silence.

I opened the door, which was counterweighted. I ran up the stairs and stepped into the attic. There was a lantern hanging from a nail. I lit it with a safety match and walked toward where the room would be under the floorboards. There were numerous boot and shoe prints in the accumulation of dust that was everywhere. There were also hand prints of a size equal to my own. They did not belong to a woman!

The boot prints led to a door, I carefully opened it and found a staircase, it was narrow. I followed the boot prints in the dust, there were many of them, it led to a narrow passage between the inner walls of the house. There were peep holes so that a person could look into a bedroom and watch what went on the bed. Each bedroom had at least one, some had two or even three. There were also holes in the bathroom. At the far end was another staircase that went down. The same peepholes were in evidence there too. At the far end there was another staircase, the passageway went past the living room and then a staircase went down one more level into the basement. It opened into a room that had other doors that went to staircases that led to different parts of the house, including the bedrooms on the opposite side of the hallways. Another door was locked. None of the keys I had been given would open it.