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This is a tiny little free subscription ezine for friends of The Grove - it is by request only. In other words, we NEVER arbitrarily add email addresses. We also NEVER sell or share email addresses with anyone else, for any reason at any time. We hate SPAM as much as you do!
Hello from The Grove, and Jefferson, Texas! Well, here we are - Halloween! Although it doesn't mean any extra supernatural activity here at the house, you can be sure that we're going to have more Earthly visitors to the place. The first thing to mention is that on the tour last Saturday, we had a reporter from People Magazine pay us a visit. According to her, The Grove will be one of the places featured in People this week. I hear that it comes out on Thursday, but I'll be looking every single day! :)
I've already heard from several folks about this, so I feel like I have to go ahead mention it. By now you know that the Taste of Jefferson was canceled this year. I'm aware that a lot of people were disappointed; myself included - if you've been reading the ezine for a year now, you know how much I went on about it last year. I apologize to everyone who was planning on coming to town for it, and most especially to those who did so without knowing the festival's fate (it was killed with very short notice - too short, I fear). I think that I can say that you should plan on attending it again in 2006 - by one way or another, I think that you're going to find that it will be back, bigger and better than ever. I'm already starting to diet so that I can enjoy it! And the 2005 Bigfoot Conference - I have to mention that. There were about 500 in town for it, according to the newspaper, and it went from Friday night 'til Sunday afternoon. If you have an interest in the legendary animals, then make your plans to attend next October for the 2006 conference! Jefferson also had the "Boo Run" for motorcycle enthusiasts last weekend, and the police chief said that it looked like there could have been an extra 8000-10000 people in town for it. I went downtown on Saturday morning, and there were motorcycles stacked tightly on all of the historic district streets. All kinds of activities were held, and it was truly something to see. The next big thing in Jefferson is our Candlelight celebration, coming up the first two weekends in December. Everything is lit up for Christmas - there are a hundred decorated trees in Lions Park (our "Enchanted Forest"), four homes to tour with docents in Victorian dress, and too many more things to mention. A wonderful time will be had by all - plan on attending, and just email if you need more info.
Perhaps the most entertaining thing that's happened on The Grove tour lately actually had nothing to do with our ghosts. If you've been on the tour, you know that in the dining room we tell the story of the Young Family. Charles and Daphne bought the place back in 1885 and raised three kids in the house - Louise Young, their daughter, spent her entire life at The Grove. Last Sunday I was doing the tour when we all suddenly heard the screaming of a cat. I assumed that it was Daphne, our resident cat, but I had no idea what she was doing or where she was. As I apologized for the commotion I heard Tami dashing up the stairs. Suddenly Daphne came dashing back down, then lept from the landing, to the pulpit in the entryway, and stopped by the door as if to say, "Let me out!" Tami came down and reported that the door to the attic had been closed and fastened. We had no idea how Daphne got in the attic, but I fear that it wasn't a supernatural feet. Instead, I'm afraid that she has discovered a way to open one of the dormers on the roof. I guess that we have another mystery to decipher; if Daphne can get in the attic, I assume that the squirrels can too. No matter what, the folks there with me said, "You should make that part of every tour!" Along with our Ghost Walk, and the Ghost Train, there is now another ghostly attraction in town - the Ghostly Boat Ride down Big Cypress Bayou. The folks that run it invited Tami and I to their inaugural trip, and it was quite enjoyable. As you float down the river in the dead of night, with only a single light illuminating the cypress trees along the banks, the stories seem to come to life. Most are concerned with the river itself, so it is a very different experience than the other attractions. The question that we're really starting to ponder here at The Grove is: "Are there any graves on the property?" In our historical research, we haven't found anything to indicate that. In the last year, however, we've had two psychics visit the house and both of them felt like there were people buried on the property. One went as far as to say that the people weren't connected with the house - that they were buried here long before the lot was marked off by Daniel Alley in the 1850's. This got a little weirder when I was doing a phone interview to promote my book "A Ghost in My Suitcase". It was with a radio station in Dallas, and one of the DJ's said, "I went to Jefferson several years ago, and we went to a place called 'The Grove' - we had a psychic with us, and she told us that someone was buried on the grounds." The time frame that she was talking about was easily a few years before we bought the place, so it is odd to me that psychics keep telling us that someone is buried here. If that is the case, it may explain some of the hauntings; I just hope that most of the time, they're resting peacefully.
Well, that's it for the October Grovezine - happy Halloween to everyone. I hope that you all get the chance to come visit us soon, and don't forget to pick up a People Magazine this week - meanwhile, I'll talk to you next month! www.thegrove-jefferson.com To repeat our words from the beginning, this is a free subscription ezine for friends of The Grove - in other words, we NEVER arbitrarily add email addresses. We also NEVER sell or share email addresses with anyone else. To subscribe, send an email to mitchel@whitington.com with the following words in the subject line: Subscribe Grove To unsubscribe, send an email to mitchel@whitington.com with the following words in the subject line: Unsubscribe Grove |
