"Haunted Tour" this Saturday, October 7. I doubt many folks from Kalispell actually read my blog, but it was such a great tour, that I wanted to re-print some of my blog from last year.
Charles Conrad is considered one of the founders of Kalispell, plus several businesses and a bank. His wife, Alicia (nicknamed "Lettie) moved with Charles to the Flathead Valley in 1891. They were known for their beautiful home and their hospitality. The home and contents were donated to Kalispell by their daughter in 1974, and will be maintained in perpetuity as a historic site and museum. It's a beautiful home filled with original furnishings.
AND..... the mansion is haunted, and almost everyone who has worked in the home has a story to share of objects moving, feeling a "brush" against them as they walk the stairs, and even some sightings. So the museum decided to share these stories and experiences with visitors in a haunted tour.
Here are two of my favorite stories that I published last year on November 15. I have much more detail about Charles, his home, and "ghost stories" in that post.
Story #1:
We were told the story that happened to the "former" director of the mansion. She was alone, doing some chores in the anti-room and had pulled out the sweeper. Several years ago, a stray cat named Sweety Pie "adopted" the mansion. Apparently Sweety Pie got past the director and ran up the stairs to the upper floors. The director decided she would finish her chores and then go upstairs to find the cat. All of a sudden, the cat came running down the stairs and into what they call the "Grandmother" hallway. The director looked up, and saw the ghost of Alicia (the daughter who donated the mansion) running after the cat into this hallway. Alicia loved cats, and while she lived as a child in the mansion, she had about 13 cats. The story was the director quickly gathered up the sweeper, left the house, and didn't return for 2 days. I don't know if it was at this time the director became a "former" director -- but it would make sense!!
Story #2:
There are several other guest rooms on the 2nd floor, and the best ghost story of the evening was told by an elderly gentleman who spent many hours alone in the home painting the inside of the house. It gave me "chills" listing to the tale directly from the person who experienced it.
Once when he was painting in the main entrance way, he saw a rocking chair "rocking" with no one in it. As it turns out, during Christmas (Lettie's favorite holiday), the family always had a two story Christmas tree in the entrance, and back in the late 1800's, they used 100s of real bees wax candles on the trees. A China-man would sit in that rocking chair watching that the candles didn't catch anything on fire.
But that was just the opening story. It was towards the end of the day, around 4:30, and he was looking forward to finishing work for the day and going home. He was alone in the house, in the "Violet" guest bedroom painting, and he heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and sounds of crinkling paper. He looked up from his painting to see the apparition of a lady dressed in Victoria dress, with her hair piled on her head in the style of that time. She was walking down the hallway, swinging her arm, and she stopped at the door, and looked into the room. Needless to say, the painter had dropped his jaw at this sight. The lady was Mrs. Conrad. He felt she was there inspecting his paint job. She turned and continued to walk down the hallway, and down the stairs which led to the kitchen.
He said he was shaken, and tiptoed to the doorway in time to watch Mrs. Conrad go down the stairs. Normally this gentleman was very fastidious, always leaving his brushes cleaned....but on this day he said he dropped his brush in the paint bucket and left. He was suppose to go out of the house through the kitchen and lock up that door. But instead, he headed in the opposite direction, down the main stairway, taking 3 steps with each stride. He went out the front door and did not look back!!!
As a follow-up to this story, the painter identified the dress as Mrs. Conrad's wedding gown, which, coincidentally, was found in the mansion’s basement the day after the reported Violet Room apparition.
I'm now humming "do, do, do, do, do, do, do do....". I'm sure you know that spooky tune....
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