Do you believe in ghosts?

Many people believe that The Colonial Inn, located in historic Concord, Massachusetts, has visitors (not of this world) staying at the Inn and in some of its other buildings...


This beautiful old Inn is located in the heart of Concord Center.


...so when Amanda and I headed to Concord last Friday we knew the Inn would be one of our stops.


The Colonial Inn has been the subject of many articles and TV specials on ghosts (I'll provide links at the bottom of this post so you can read more if you'd like)...


You don't have to be a guest of the Inn to enjoy their lovely restaurant. While Amanda and I were visiting lunch was being served and - oh my gosh - the aromas!! We really wanted to stop and have a bite because it smelled soooooooo good! But we had a lot of ground (all over Concord) to cover in very little time so we passed, promising ourselves we'd head back to the Inn restaurant in the very near future.


I love this door knocker on the restaurant door...


All of the doors leading into the Inn are painted bright red.... they're all so striking that I photographed all of them!


A close-up of the etched glass panes...


As luck would have it Room 24, where most of the ghostly activity takes place, was empty. One of the desk clerks was kind enough to bring us upstairs. This is one of the hallways that leads to Room 24. (Ever since The Shining, long hallways in old hotels give me the shivers!!)


Unfortunately, I forgot to change my camera setting once we were inside so all of my photos were taken on the Landscape setting - therefore out of focus and the tint is off... But here is Amanda at the door leading to Room 24.


The room itself is so bright and cheery...


...and on the day we visited, nothing was out of order... The room was very quiet and peaceful. We didn't even capture a single orb (more than I can say about my own house lately, as I showed you in last week's posts!!)

So... would I stay in this room overnight? I dare say I would!! How would I react if anything out of the ordinary actually happened? Now that I don't know!!

You can click on any of these links if you'd like to know a bit more about the Inn:

1) SunCast You Tube Video: A ghost in the Inn (it's the first segment of a short show)

2) Colonial Inn website - Haunted Inn page (scroll all the way down to watch Cambell Brown of the TODAY show's segment on Room 24)

2) Forbes: Transcendental Comfort

3) Boston Globe article: Historic Inn Scares Up a Ghost Story

4) Ghostvillage Radio: Episode 61: The Colonial Inn

5) Spirit Encounters Research Team (SERT)

6) LA Times: Where Redcoats and Walden Pond Meet

7) NY Times: Journeys; 36 Hours - Concord, Mass.

Happy Halloween, everyone!!!!!

Donna

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery...

...in historic Concord, Massachusetts. A perfect place to visit on a crisp October afternoon.

(click any photos to enlarge)

(Am I the only one who sees irony in the "One Way" stone marker above?)


Come along as we head up to Authors Ridge ....


Here we are at the top of Authors Ridge, facing the Alcott family plot...


...where Amanda stopped at Louisa May Alcott's grave.


The monument marking the Alcott family plot is intricately carved...


...but the individual markers are very simple.

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."

(Louisa May Alcott)

Here is the Thoreau family plot...


...where Henry David Thoreau's simple headstone is adorned with gifts left by visitors...

"An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."

Henry David Thoreau

The Emerson family plot....


Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke at the dedication ceremony for Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in 1855.

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Hawthorne family plot...

...where, again, visitors have left gifts for Nathaniel Hawthorne.

"Our Creator would never have made such lovely days, and have given us the deep hearts to enjoy them, above and beyond all thought, unless we were meant to be immortal."

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Miles family plot...

And a beautiful marker for Lucy R. Davis...

SLEEPY HOLLOW by William Ellery Channing

(which he read at the Sleepy Hollow dedication ceremony in 1855)

No abbey's gloom, nor dark cathedral stoops,

No winding torches paint the midnight air;

Here the green pines delight, the aspen droops

Along the modest pathways, and those fair

Pale asters of the season spread their plumes

Around this field, fit garden for our tombs.

And shalt thou pause to hear some funeral bell

Slow stealing o'er thy heart in this calm place,

Not with a throb of pain, a feverish knell,

But in its kind and supplicating grace,

It says, Go, pilgrim, on thy march, be more

Friend to the friendless than thou wast before;

Learn from the loved one's rest serenity;

To-morrow that soft bell for thee shall sound,

And thou repose beneath the whispering tree,

One tribute more to this submissive ground;—

Prison thy soul from malice, bar out pride,

Nor these pale flowers nor this still field deride:

Rather to those ascents of being turn,

Where a ne'er-setting sun illumes the year

Eternal, and the incessant watchfires burn

Of unspent holiness and goodness clear,—

Forget man's littleness, deserve the best,

God's mercy in thy thought and life confest.

I highly recommend a visit to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery if you find yourself in the Concord area. In my next post I'll share some other photos from our little day trip to Concord, including The Colonial Inn (haunted?) and Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women...




Donna

Orbs... Dust? Or Loved Ones?

I honestly have no idea, but I'd like to believe they're loved ones....

Orb Story #1

While taking Amanda back to college in Feb. 2005, we took a little detour so I could drive her past the apartment I lived in as a kid (from summer 1959 - summer 1960). What are the odds that it was vacant with a FOR RENT sign on it? We called the phone # listed and the landlord agreed to let us view the apartment "for old time's sake" (sooo nice of him!)... My sister happened to be with us, so that made it even more special! Before the landlord showed up to let us in I silently asked my mom, who we lost almost 13 years ago, to join us as we revisited our old home...

(feel free to click any orb photos to enlarge them )

This apartment holds wonderful memories (I fell in love with windowseats because of this room!). I took many photos that day. It wasn't until I got home and looked at them on my computer that I realized I had multiple orbs, something I'd never had in any of my photos up until that day. Here's one in the dining room (I've tried to put arrows wherever I spotted them in the photos)...

But it was this photo of Amanda that I found amazing! She was like an orb magnet! Perhaps my Mom took me up on my invitation to join us and also brought along my Nana, Gamp, aunt, uncle, and other loved ones who Amanda never met!

Maybe that explains why they're clustered all around her!

Orb story #2

A couple of weeks later when dad was over, we were talking about visiting the old apartment and how we wished he had come with us that day. While we were talking about it, the dining room light started flickering and I jokingly said to dad, "Mom must be here!" I told him I was going to take a photo of him, just for the heck of it, to see if anything showed up (I still couldn't get over the orbs in my apartment photos!)... Well, I didn't really expect to get another orb but, sure enough, there one was right between dad and the dining room chandelier that had been flickering...

Orb story #3

My sister cut this Family Circus cartoon out of the paper for me back in May of 1997, five months after our mom passed away. She knew it would remind me of Mom, who loved going to all of the girls' recitals, performances, or school plays... I love it so much that twelve years later I still have it hanging in my office.

(copyright Bil Keane)

A few years ago, when Court was still in high school, she was in a school play (naturally I took photos at those performances!)... When I opened up the following photo on my computer, I immediately thought of the Family Circus cartoon... I captured several orbs in the auditorium seating section, and I've often wondered if what I really captured was departed loved ones who had come to watch their children or grandchildren perform that evening, just as Bil Keane had depicted.

I've tried to put arrows where I spotted them.

After the play was over, more photos were taken out in the lobby, where this was taken...

There's an amazing orb pressed right up against Court's ear, and I love to think it's my mom whispering to Court that she did a fantastic job!

After all, mom and Court did have a special "ear to ear" connection... When Court learned to whisper she didn't quite grasp the concept of "lips to ear," so she'd put her little ear next to Mom's and whisper away, much to my mother's delight!

So again... dust or loved ones? I'm voting for loved ones!!

Donna

Herbs and Orbs....

On Thursday I took advantage of our 70 degree weather to wash windows (if the slider looks dirty to you, it's because I didn't get to it yet!). I started in the dining room and since I had to remove the herbs from the DR bay window in order to Windex away, I decided to just move them into the family room.


I brought this old carpenter's bench in from the deck (and none too soon! Just look at the rainy weather we're having today! That deck was swept clean yesterday and just look at all the leaves that came down overnight!)

I've had this rustic beauty since my prim decor days, and it's always been used out on the deck... To say it is weathered is an understatement.

I'm using a piece of old Battenburg lace valance as a table runner... There's something about the look of crisp white Battenburg lace paired with old, distressed wood that makes my heart skip a beat...

There's also a handy little shelf section on the bottom - just the right size for the basket that holds peanuts for our Sammy's, Chips, and birds (this basket is a treasured gift from my awesome friend, Jill, who got it in Amish country just for me!! How luck am I??)

So after I took my closeups to share with you, I stepped back to take some shots of the herbs in front of the slider. I usually take 2-3 shots of everything now that I blog, just to make sure I get at least one good one!! Okay, so this is the first shot....

(click photo to enlarge)
And then I took this one. Now I sure didn't notice anything unusual in the viewfinder when I snapped, but when I loaded the photos onto my computer there was no denying that I captured something in the above photo! Above the rosemary on the right is either an orb or the biggest flying dust bunny I've ever seen! I may not be the greatest housekeeper, but I'm not that bad!! At first I thought it might have been something flying by on the outside (big bird maybe?)... But it's definitely on the inside because it's blocking my window grids...

So... any experts out there who can help me figure out what I captured here? I've heard that experts can tell the difference between dust, glare, and real energy/orbs! (Oh, and I wasn't using a flash, so it's definitely not a reflection from that)...

And stay tuned for my upcoming posts (which are perfect for the week leading up to Halloween!)... I'm going to share another post just about orbs as well as my awesome day trip to historic Concord, Mass, on Friday (which included a visit to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery!)...

COMMENT UPDATE #1: Our house was built in 1981, so it's not what you'd consider an 'old' home; also, we're the only ones who have ever lived here... And yes, we have had a couple of things happen here but I've just mentioned them to family and friends for fear of what I must sound like when sharing these stories!

COMMENT UPDATE #2: I'm getting chills!! The carpenter's bench is very old. I purchased it many years ago at a junktique shop and it was quite old and weather-worn even back then. I never even thought of there being a possible connection between the bench and the orb! It might be going back out on the deck very soon!!

Donna

They're everywhere! They're everywhere!

I don't know how many crows they're scaring...


...but these guys are popping up...


...everywhere I go!


All of these lovelies are located in Weston, MA....

I get to see them every time I go in and out of Boston...

...and since they're right on the road I take to the Mass Pike, I get to see them quite often....

I took these photos a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately the foliage hadn't really started to turn ...

This farm stand behind the field looks so cute. I really need to stop in sometime...

Well, I don't see a single crow, so these guys must be doing a good job!

I do have to admit, though, that when I drive by late at night...

... and there are no other cars on this dark road, they look a little bit spooky!!!

And if you're ever driving through Northborough, MA...

...these guys are right off Main Street...

...lined up in front of the playground....

Blue jean babies, for sure!

....but that's where the similarities end... They each have their own distinctive personalities!

Scarecrows... a sure sign that autumn is upon us!


Donna