CW: Death, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Alcohol & Alcohol Consumption.
The latest episode of the Boozie Musies Podcast, “Spooky Musies: Museum Hauntings”, released on Spotify last week! Over the course of the hour, we discussed just a few cases of haunted objects and specter sightings in museums across the country. Cases ranged from “that’s faked” to #goals, while others had us questioning the use of “museum” to describe such institutions, namely one specific case in Las Vegas. To help you visualize what we were discussing, we’ve created this article to act as a Podcast Guide for you.
Feel free to rate these cases using our Glass-O-Wine-Meter, ranging from Sarah Hixson’s Let’s-Take-Shots-And-Go (0 glasses of wine) to Sarah Goebel’s Stomach-Pumped-And-I-Still-Don’t-Believe-It (10+ glasses). Or, if you’re resourceful like Morgan Smith and use canned wine. Use the following formulas for your can (C) to glass (G) ratio configurations: 2G = C or ½ C = G.
Now that we’ve had our intake of math for the day (apologies to my left brained colleagues), let’s get spooky!
The Castle Museum
(c) Wikipedia. Castle Museum (Saginaw, Michigan), 2017.
The first case comes from the Castle Museum of Saginaw County History in Saginaw, Michigan. Built in 1898, the Castle Museum has one unofficial Visitor Experience staff member who never seems to leave: The Grey Lady. She is mostly seen in the Archives space in the basement, where she has greeted visitors with a simple “hello,” from time to time. In addition to meeting the unofficial staff member, reviewers on Yelp have claimed feeling ill in other parts of the museum, as well, only to feel back to normal when leaving the area.
Glass-O-Wine-Meter Ranking
Sarah Hixson: 1 shot Morgan Smith: 2 cans Sarah Goebel: 5 glasses
The Packwood House Museum
(c) Packwood House Museum, 2021.
Our second case comes from the Packwood House Museum in Lewisburg, PA. Built between 1796 and 1799, the Packwood House is considered one of the oldest log buildings in the state. It originally served as an Inn and Tavern, and then a Hotel before being bought by Edith & John Fetherston in 1936. Instead of filling the home with children, the couple traveled the world and filled their home with their treasures with the plan to open the home as a museum upon their death. In 1976, the Borough of Lewisburg opened the Packwood House Museum to the public. The property consists of the large home, a small garden, and a separate building where guests enter and the curator/director/educator/gift shop operator/social media guru operates.
Our very own Sarah Hixson, then 13 years old, visited the museum for the sole purpose of capturing some paranormal activity with the Central Pennsylvania Paranormal Research Association (CPPRA). She had attended their “Ghost Hunting 101” course, which was co-taught by her father, where she learned the basics of investigating. During the investigation that followed the class, she was in bedroom that showcased opposing mirrors. According to Sarah, and based on the course she attended, opposing mirrors act as “portals” of sorts, creating infinite reflections within itself. In addition to the “portal”-like situation, and the hypothesis that spirits are more likely to reveal themselves to younger people (especially girls), an older woman who was in the room with Sarah began to feel lightheaded and nauseous. She stepped out of the room and felt back to normal; with a “You need to get the hell away from me”, the older woman left and Sarah followed her out of the room.
In the separate building where the superhuman of a small museum works, groups rotated up and down the stairs that led to the basement. It’s rumored that in the basement, the spirit of a man who raped and murdered young girls lingers from when the building used to be a hotel; though he is not an evil spirit, it is the spirit of an evil man. Due to the age of his victims, Sarah did not go in the basement; at 13, would you? While upstairs, Sarah’s fully charged camera went dead. She tried the outlets near by and none works. In the old building, there were only 2 in the little hallway. Her camera would not charge. When she left the building and tried to charge her camera in the main house, it didn’t take long to show a full charge.
Wine-O-Glass-Meter Ranking
Sarah: I was there, so 0. Morgan: 2 cans Sarah: 3 glasses
We’re discovering that Morgan doesn’t believe shit...
For more spooky stories, check out Part 2 of the Podcast Guide coming next Friday!