On the Home Front

 Ghosts at the Simmons' House

A few of the more interesting things that have happened:

The Lady in Red

One afternoon a psychic friend was visiting. She walked out of my office into the living room and I heard her gasp. She asked me if I had a woman ghost who wore a red dress, and said that the woman looked like a saloon girl. At that point in time, I’d just returned from the St. James Hotel in Cimarron, NM, and there was a mural with a woman like she described in it.

                     Ghosts in the Living Room

One night my uncle, Terry, and I sat up late in the living room watching videos of some of the trips Belle and I had made. Our house has twelve-foot ceilings, and each room has a ceiling fan. The ceiling fan in the living room was on, as were the lights in it. I also had two candles burning on the fireplace mantel, and they kept going out. Each time, Terry would insist that I re-light them, since he said as soon as they went out, he got cold chills and felt that someone besides the two of us was there. The next morning, the ceiling fan blades worked, but we could not get the lights to turn on.

My husband and Terry both examined things to see what the problem was. They even removed the switch plate and checked the wiring, but everything seemed fine. Finally, they brought in a tall ladder to examine the fan. They even changed the light bulbs, then removed the cover on the wiring on it, but nothing worked. There are two pulls on the fan, one for the lights, one for the blade speed. The blade speed one is about three feet long, but the one for the lights is only about three inches long. Eventually my husband decided to see if the pulls had anything to do with the problem. The one for the blade speed worked fine, but when he pulled the one for the lights, the lights came on! There is no way those lights could have been switched off with that pull unless someone had used the ladder, which was out in the garage all night. They were on the previous evening and the fan and lights were turned off via the wall switches, not the pull switches on the fan. Later, I took a picture in the living room, and the orb in it may be the spirit who likes to play with the ceiling fan.

One evening I was in my office working while my husband, Barney, was watching television in the living room, which is adjacent to my office. Suddenly Barney stuck his head into my office. His face was deathly pale and he asked, "Do we have a little girl ghost?" I confirmed that we did; that her name was Shannon. Barney asked, "Does she have long, blond hair and wear a white party dress?" I replied that yes, she did. Barney said that something in the far corner of the room drew his attention away from the television. He saw a little girl get up off the chair in the corner, float across the room and go right through the wall beside him.

Teddy

Shortly after we moved here, several guests began seeing a man in the guest bedroom and bath. They described him as being dressed in clothing similar to those worn by Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, including the hat, so we began calling him Teddy. Teddy appears to enjoy taunting male guests the most. One morning Terry was in the bathroom and suddenly he heard someone laughing at him. He looked over at the window, and there stood Teddy. It didn’t take Terry long to get out of the bathroom!

Another night my twelve-year-old cousin, Cody, asked if he could spend the night. He only lived two houses away, but really wanted to spend the night with us. After the usual warnings about ghosts, Cody was still adamant that he wanted to stay. The next morning, Cody wasn’t here. We assumed he’d got up early and gone home. However, Cody came down later and told us: He had to get up during the night to use the bathroom. When he turned around from the using the commode, there was a man standing behind him, laughing at him. Cody tore out of the bathroom and out of our house to his, where he spent the rest of the night.

Kitchen Ghost

One morning I was up early and working in my office. After a couple cups of coffee, I needed to go to the bathroom, which is on the other end of the house. I walked out of my office, through the living room, and started through the dining room toward the hallway to the master bedroom. I glanced in the kitchen as I went by, and a woman stood by the dishwasher in the corner of the room. She was a little under five foot, dressed in gray with a old-fashioned, long apron over her dress, her gray hair pulled back into a bun. She smiled lovingly at me, and I instinctively murmured, "Good morning," and kept going… but only for one step. I halted, because I realized that I was the only one in the house and I didn’t know the woman. But when I looked back at the dishwasher, she was gone. I later caught an orb in the kitchen on film, which may be the little lady.

Another afternoon, I was digging in the refrigerator for something when the phone rang. I hurriedly closed the refrigerator door and turned to rush to the phone…and walked straight thorough the little lady I’d seen before. She had a rather shocked look on her face, and I was rushing so fast that I passed straight through her before I could stop. On the way to the phone, I glanced over my shoulder and apologized, but she was gone.

The Dining Room Ghost

Several times after we moved here, both Belle and I would see a very sad lady in the dining room.  She wore a wedding gown and just cried and sobbed.  We came to understand that her name was Annelise and that her intended husband had been killed on the day of her wedding.  One night my friend Santiago came out and we had a séance.  During the séance, Annelise crossed into the light and we haven’t seen her since.  We assume she was searching for her husband and has now found him and is happy.

Guest Bedroom Ghosts 

Several ghosts besides Teddy appear to occupy the guest bedroom and guests have both seen and experienced them.  Once my son and daughter-in-law spent a couple nights here while the air conditioning at their house was being repaired.  My daughter-in-law said that something sat down on one of her legs, and she assumed it was one of the cats.  However, when she reached down to pet the cat, there was nothing there, and she didn’t see a cat anywhere in the bedroom.  She grabbed my son and woke him up to tell him what had happened.  My son just patted her on the back and said, “Don’t worry. It’s just one of Mom’s ghosts.”  They went back to their own house the next morning and used fans until the air conditioning was repaired.