The Wickersham House

EPA Clip Art

The Wickersham House, on Fifth Street in Monongahela, Washington County, dates back to 1834. The Holets bought it in 1986, and it didn't take them long to find out that they weren't the only ones living there.

It's haunted by an old school marm, Harriet Moore. John & Joan Holet met her when they were renovating the house. While working downstairs, doors in the basement kept opening, and as they followed them, the path led to a Waverly School banner. Harriet, one of the home's former owners, had taught at the now closed school. It was her way of introducing herself and welcoming the new family.

Joan was in the kitchen one day and heard pleasant voices chatting. Then the oven door began to open and close. She said “Harriet, quit it!”, and the commotion died down. After all, one would expect a school marm to be polite, even when cooking for her afterlife visitors.

Harriet has company from the netherlands. Other spirits have been sighted in the house, too. There was a woman in a black cape seen roaming the home. We're still not sure who she was.

John spotted another lady, dressed in a Victorian outfit, who was so lifelike that he wondered who she was. As he turned to speak to her, she drifted up the steps towards the attic and disappeared. When the Holets followed her into the attic, they found an old trunk with women's shoes and a photograph. The girl's picture in the trunk was a dead ringer of the spirit John had seen.

(This tale was taken from the Valley Independent “Ghost Walk Draws Crowd For Tales Of The Unexplained,” October 23, 2001)