Sunday, November 7, 2010

the haunted estate sale


if you go to enough estate sales you will start to get to know the people whose business it is to run them - it's nice to walk in the door & have someone look at you and tell you the craft/sewing stuff is in the basement or down the hall in the bedroom on the right...although, that's never happened to me because I don't thrift that much! {wink - that totally happens}


anyhow, one of my favorite local teams is joni & steve - they're very funny & I always look forward to visiting with them for a little while after I finish shopping. recently I went to visit them at a sale they did of the contents of a house that had been lived in by the same family for several generations but as often happens all the things that have been carefully saved by past generations were no longer wanted & the house was no longer being lived in...well, by anyone alive.


first there were the old love letters...carefully saved but unwanted so put in a garbage bag, tied up & deposited out onto the curb by joni along with several other bags. next morning the bag with the letters had been carefully opened while none of the other bags have been disturbed.


then there were the kitchen cupboards...because there was so much stuff & not enough surface area to display things, joni & steve left many things in the cupboards & opened all the doors for people to see everything that was for sale, left the room and came back only to find all the doors closed.


at one point steve heard someone downstairs saying hello...went down & there was no one there.


okay...so yeah, there could be explanations for all that stuff, someone just happened to open that one trash bag saw what was in it & figured it was pointless going through all the bags so went along their way. maybe the hinges on the cupboard doors were loose & maybe what steve heard was a conversation drifting in from outside.


but what happened to joni isn't so easy to explain away. and the fact that she has no belief or interest in the idea of ghosts or spirits only makes it more believable.


while preparing for the sale, alone in the house with steve, joni was downstairs bent over something when she felt someone brush past behind her. she looked up & saw a figure go around the corner. she called out to steve who responded back to her from far upstairs...when she realized it wasn't him she freaked out & he came running down.


later they were going through some photographs & joni immediately recognized the woman she had seen...later, they called the family & mentioned what had happened. they weren't surprised - in fact the woman seemed almost happy they had gotten to meet her mother & told them not to worry, she was very friendly.


all I'm going to say is that is the story I was told...it didn't stop me from buying stuff, although when they told me I got goosebumps & when I left I said goodbye to them and to whoever might have been there who I couldn't see because I didn't want to be rude.


{all photos taken on my iphone with the hipstamatic app at the house during the estate sale}

10 comments:

Stacy said...

Eeek! What a house, though.

Anonymous said...

Fabulously spooky!

Percy The Black Cat said...

Ooooh what a wonderful story. I love that kinda thing, except when it's happening to me and I get all freaked out of course!

I went to my first estate sale not too long ago and it was well, odd. It felt very strange with all these people going through a house that had accululamted a families lifetime of 'stuff' and picking out what I liked. Yes the woman was a crafter and I bought all I could possibly drag home. She had some wonderful stuff from the 40's on up to the 90's. I just found that a lot of people didn't seem to have any respect for the fact that this used to be someones home and were just rude about looking at the stuff for sale.

So in my head as I was leaving I said a thank you and I'll give everything a good home. Just to keep my karmic balance in check ;)

BTW--sorry I'm rambling I know!

Whatever happened to those love letters? If they are still around, I will buy them and pay whatever for shipping. My father collects old letters, postcards, postage stamps and would completely be happy saving them from the curb.

They are probably gone, but if not let me know. But keep me in mind for other sales.

cathie (frothie51 (at) gmail (dot) com

ZenCrafter said...

Great story, and totally believable! Thanks for sharing.

Gypsy said...

How lovely. Sounds like my kind of event.

Unknown said...

Creepy and cool..and creepy.

cowboybunny said...

I love stories like these. I am such a lover of all things old, and especially when then have been treasured. I suppose it may have been hard to see her things go, and especially the love letters. She probably wanted to say her goodbyes.

jen v said...

your stories gave me the heebie jeebies! i like what percy said about saying a thank you and keeping that karmic balance in check.

Unknown said...

i have always felt that spirits exist but have never had any direct connections. recently my husband has had regular visits from his nana who died 20 years back; other spirits have followed including my gran and a little girl who died in 1864. they are all kind and generous and although i cannot see or hear them there has been physical, this world, proof to 100% convince me that my man is not mad when i find him seemingly chatting to thin air. your photos are beautiful, and mysterious as is life and the afterlife...

gina said...

thank you everyone for your comments - I'm so glad you enjoyed the post!

cathie - I asked right away if the letters had been picked up yet when I was told, sadly they had been but I would have saved them if I could :) I will keep you in mind in the future though!

percy - I too try to honor the people whose stuff I thrift, no matter if it's at an estate sale or even a thrift store by sending a big thank you out into the universe.

linda - oh my, how fascinating! my best wishes to you, your husband, his nana & your gran - it's wonderful you are all able to be reunited & that the little girl has found company with you all :)