|
"Ghosts don't haunt us. That's not how it works. They're present among us because we won't let go of them." "I don't believe in ghosts," I said, faintly. "Some people can't see the color red. That doesn't mean it isn't there," she replied. - Sue Grafton, from her book M Is for Malice
Thank you so much for being a part of this little adventure into the supernatural, and for reading the GroveZine - I hope that you have an easy summer, with cool temps and lots of rain. Talk to you next month!
Come for the show, and enjoy Jefferson for the entire weekend... tickets are on sale now!
Seatings & Performances are limited. For more information on this intriguing
Here's what's coming up around Jefferson...
07/04/2023 - Jefferson Salutes America Celebration & Fireworks
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.
Feel free to pass the GroveZine on to your friends - all I ask is that if you forward it, please include the header, trailer and everything. Thanks!
To subscribe, just go to The Grove's Website and put your email in the blank at the left bottom of the page.
To unsubscribe, although we'd sincerely hate to lose you, simply follow the directions at the bottom of the this email.
|
Okay, I think that God is trying to tell me something. Last summer we spent a week down in Galveston for our vacation, and if you've been reading the GroveZine for a while, you may remember what happened. On day 2 we got a phone call from a neighbor telling us a tornado touched down on Moseley Street in Jefferson. It did a lot of damage, snapping one of our stately, old pecan trees in half and knocking out power around town. Fortunately our house wasn't touched at all, as if someone had held their hands around it during the storm to protect it. This year we traveled to South Louisiana (a week or so ago), and you can see the headline that week for the local Jefferson Jimplecute newspaper (the 4th oldest newspaper in Texas) while we were gone.
As I said, this year we spent a week in Lafayette, Louisiana, and on day 2 we started hearing from our friends that a huge storm had swept through East Texas. It felled trees, tore down power lines, and left Northeast Texas (and some of Northwestern Louisiana) without power. An EF-1 tornado touched down outside of town, but brought with it 80 mph straight-line winds. Electricity was out in a 22-county region of Texas and Louisiana. The power company got right on it, and electricity started coming back up within the week. Although we were enjoying air conditioning and electricity down in Lafayette, Louisiana, folks back home were suffering in the sweltering heat with no A/C and no refrigeration. Five days later, the newspaper reported that about 41% of Marion County still didn't have power. The county even set up a special dumpster for people to clean out their freezers since all the food in town was spoiling. Mayor Baker and County Judge LeFlur opened up the Visitor's Center, which had electricity to run ice machines and charge phones, which was a huge help to the community.
Thankfully, the day before our vacation was over we heard that there was power back home on Moseley Street, so we finished out our trip. By the time that we got there the house was cool, and the 'fridge had re-frozen everything that had thawed making for an easy cleanup - we threw everything out, of course, and mopped up the little puddle of gunk on the floor. A little scrubbing, and everything was pretty much back to normal. We lost one small tree that was leaning against the house (you see it in the picture), and the yard was FULL of limbs (as in the other photo) - but it was nothing like last year. Our only concern is that it appears when we head out on vacation, disaster seems to strike Jefferson! Maybe we aren't supposed to take a summer vacation... or maybe I should write down the secret dates of our 2024 summer vacation, seal them in an envelope, and put them up for auction on EBay so that the auction winner can prep for the next catastrophe in Jefferson!
The best news from Jefferson is that new businesses continue to open here in town. The building across the street from City Drug on Lafayette St. was recently refurbished, with condos upstairs, and new businesses downstairs. Just a few to check out are the new Foodie Tasting Room, Port Jefferson Coffee Roasters, and Pop Culture SocieTea. Since I'm an absolute popcorn fanatic, I'll be visiting Pop Culture SocieTea on a fairly regular basis!
Also, a new O'Reilly Auto Parts store is opening up in town. It's out on Highway 59 with the intersection of Jefferson Street, and I've been very impressed with how fast it's sprung up! One day there was a vacant, sunken lot there and the next time that I went by, enough dirt had been hauled in to bring up the foundation. The next time that I went past it there was a building there, and it honestly looks like it will be open in the very near future. I have to applaud these folks on how fast they got a business up and going. There's also a new bank across the street from it, a Louisiana Fried Chicken restaurant, and a DG Market beside that - things are booming in Jefferson.
While the GroveZine isn't an entertainment guide, I did have a quick movie recommendation to make. It's on Netflix, and the title is, We Have a Ghost. When I first saw the teaser for the movie, I thought that it was going to be a campy, silly little film, so we watched it. While it does go to some ridiculous extremes (the CIA chasing ghosts, for example) it also tells an entertaining story - definitely not your typical ghost movie, and the ghost is the sympathetic character. Check it out for a fun evening... just don't expect a scare, since it's not that kind of ghost movie!
I stopped by the Port Jefferson Outpost for a scoop of Blue Bell ice cream the other day, and noticed a rack holding loaves of Sunbeam Bread beside the register. There was a sign on top that said: "We know times are tough. We would love to share with you. Just take what you need - it is absolutely fresh!" This is a wonderful gesture, since a lot of locals - a lot - eat at the Outpost's cafe and stop by their coffee bar.
Ah, but let's get onto a few ghost stories. On a recent tour of The Grove, the group had just filed into the game room. A lady asked me, "Do you ever have anyone feel weird in the dining room where we just came from?" I couldn't help but laugh, and explained that not only have we had a number of ladies get sick and leave the tour in that room, we've had a couple that actually fainted. She went on to explain that while standing beside the dining table, she started feeling warmer and warmer on one side - like she was standing beside a heater. When we walked into the game room she said that her side immediately started feeling very cold, just the opposite of her experience in the previous room. I explained that cold spots - and warm spots - are very common in the house.
To me, some of the most interesting supernatural experiences at The Grove aren't just the ones that I can't explain, but even more so the ones that I can't understand. Case in point - after a recent tour we were trickling out of the kitchen and heading back up to the front. A couple of people were lagging behind taking photos, but they suddenly came running to join us up front. They seemed excited, and said, "Something happened back in the den! We were leaving the room, walking into the hall, when there was a huge crash behind us. We thought that something big must have fallen off the wall, but when we turned around and looked, everything seemed to be okay." I was naturally concerned, so I dashed back to the den. Everything was perfectly in its place. After everyone left I told my wife about it, and gave not only that room, but the entire house, a careful going-over. Everything in the attic was in order, there was nothing on the roof or out beside the house. Nothing had fallen, and there was no explanation for the crashing noise after the tour. Like I said, things that I can't understand tend to fascinate me.
My cousin Craig - rest in peace, brother - used to come and spend the weekend with us occasionally, and he loved The Grove. Nothing thrilled him more than the evening he had a supernatural experience here, and he loved talking about it. We'd set up a blow-up bed for him in the front parlor (arguably the room with the most supernatural activity in the house), and he was getting ready to turn in. He left the front parlor lamp on - it is an old German lamp that we acquired from an estate sale at the Wurtzbaugh House here in Jefferson. Anyway, it was the only light on up front. Craig went to the hall bathroom to brush his teeth, but when he went back to the parlor, the light was off. He turned it back on without thinking that much about it. A few minutes later he went back to the kitchen to get a bottle of water, and when he got back up front, the lamp was off again. He realized that something interesting was going on, so he just said, "Fine," leaving the lamp off and going for a final trip to the bathroom. When he got back, the lamp was now on - he laughed as he turned it off, and really enjoyed telling that story.
And finally, I had a great thing happen on a recent tour. I'm protecting the couple in question for anonymity, since I think that the lady was a little embarrassed. After a tour one day, we were up front and everyone was signing the guest register, and one of the gentlemen on the tour pulled me over to the side. He said, "My wife doesn't want me to tell you this, but when we were back in the den, someone poked her butt cheek." He went on to explain that she turned around and looked at him, smiled, and said, "What are you doing?" The guy had no idea what his wife was talking about, and when she saw that, she said, "Someone just poked me in the butt cheek!" He said something like, "No one was near us, in fact she was standing in the middle of the room!" I apologized, but couldn't help but laugh. Almost all of the things that happen in the den happen to ladies, so I believe that we have a guy spirit who shows up occasionally just to cause a little mischief. Perhaps I'll do the same in the afterlife.
And another GroveZine wraps! Although I can occasionally run late, I SO enjoy getting to write the 'Zine. I especially love getting to chronicle all the supernatural things that happen at the house... mostly for future owners, I suppose. I know that I'd love to be able to read the diary of Charley Young, the freed slave that bought the house in 1885. With the GroveZine, maybe future owners can get an idea about what life was like here for my wife and I.
