More Strange Things At The Museum

I have written a few stories about my work in the local museum and the strange things that happen there. Since then the activity has picked up. I have been keeping a record of the activities trying to see if there is a pattern or explanation that I hadn't noticed before. These are some of the things that really stood out for me.

I have come to believe there are at least three separate entities.

The first is in the barn. At certain times of the day if I walk past the barn I can hear voices inside of it. It sounds as though two or three men are having a conversation, but when I walk into the building to see who is there, the voices stop. Since this always happens around the same time, and it always sounds the exact same, I believe that it is something residual.

The second haunting is in the upstairs room of the cabin. This one comes mostly from feelings I've had and things others have told me. The upstairs room was where the children slept when the cabin was a family home, and today there are several little cribs there, whose former occupants have long since grown old and died. Often when I am up there alone I feel a presence in the back corner beside a crib. It feels like an old woman, a grandmother. This feeling is strongest in the morning and never moves or seems to interact with anyone, which makes me believe she is also residual, either from the cabin or attached to the crib.

My belief that she is a grandmother comes from a dream I had after working there and having this feeling for several weeks. I dreamt of an elderly woman dressed all in black, sitting by her grandchild's bed, singing it to sleep. Of course I have no way of knowing if this dream has anything to do with what's at the museum, but the feeling I had in the dream was identical to what I feel in the upstairs room of the cabin, so I feel they are connected.

The final presence is the one I believe causes all the mischief and strange things that happen. From glimpses I've seen and heard, as well as feelings I've had, I believe this ghost to be a young teenage girl (15 or 16 years old). I think she is the one behind most of what I'm going to tell.

A family came to visit the museum a while ago. One of the members was a four year old girl. While the rest of the family was looking around the kitchen of the cabin, the little girl went into the main room. She came right back out to me and, looking upset, and said "This place is spooky. There are ghosts".

Her parents told her it was just an old house and not to be afraid. She then asked me if people had died in the house. Now this is an old house, and people have almost certainly died in it, but the poor kid was young and clearly upset so I told her that there were no deaths, and then described some of the families who had lived in the cabin. By all accounts it had been a very happy family home, and that's what I told the child.

She calmed down enough that she went upstairs with her parents while her grandma stayed downstairs and talked to me. A moment later the little girl came back down and asked me if witches were bad. I was a bit confused by the random question and asked her why. The girl told me "I want to know if that witch is good or bad" She looked scared again so her grandma pointed at an old painting we have of Jesus and said "See who that is? Nothing bad is in here because He is here".

That seemed to make the child feel much better but she stuck close to her grandma until they left. That conversation struck me as odd because it was just after I had dreamt about the old woman by the crib. In my dream the old woman, dressed all in black with no teeth and lots of wrinkles, could look like a witch to a small child. I've wondered since if the little girl had seen something upstairs in the cabin to frighten her so much.

Another time a couple came to the museum, and the moment she walked into the cabin, she said to me "There are spirits here aren't there?"

I replied "Oh?" and she said "There are spirits I can feel them. Can't you?" Now I don't tell visitors about the museum seeming to be haunted (I don't want to seem crazy in front of strangers) but I told this woman that yes, some strange things happen there that I couldn't explain. She just nodded and continued on the tour.

The other day a woman came in who said she was a psychic. After looking about the museum, I asked her if she felt or saw anything (I hadn't said anything about my experiences). She proceeded to describe the different spirits she saw. They matched almost exactly to my experiences. The only difference was she said she had smelt smoke from a pipe in one of the rooms that didn't seem to come from anywhere.

About a month ago a couple bikers came to the museum. They were really interested in the history and stayed for a long time. After being there for about an hour, one of the women, when talking to me, made a joke about the appearance of someone in an old photograph.

Once she finished talking a pile of papers that were on a table flew across the room and hit the wall right behind the ladies head. It scared me and I said a few words I probably shouldn't have. The biker lady just laughed then said "I think I've offended your ghost!" She picked up the papers, put them back and then stood in the middle of the room and apologized for offending anyone.

These things spooked me out but were also a relief. Up until recently things only happened when I was alone, so having others have the same experiences made me more certain I was imagining things. Even with these events, things still seem most active when I'm alone.

A few weeks ago I was sitting in the office building, reading one of our history books, when I heard someone walk up to the door. I looked around but there was no one there so I went back to reading. I felt as though someone was in the room with me but didn't see anything. All of a sudden my left arm went icy cold. It was a very hot day and the office was about 30C but my arm was so cold it hurt.

I said out loud "Look, I'm trying to read but I can't with you on my arm like that" The cold immediately went away. Another day, as I was opening the museum, I went into a bedroom to open the curtains, when I walked back out I saw that a chair had been moved to the other side of the table in the few seconds I was in the other room without making any noise. That night, while closing up, I went into a bedroom to shut the curtains, only to find them already closed.

The latest strange thing happened only a few days ago. I was outside weeding the garden (my duties at the museum cover pretty much everything). I was at the side of the cabin when I heard a voice around the corner at the front door say "I'll see if she's there" Then footsteps came towards me.

I stood up expecting visitors, but when no one came I went to the front. There was no one there, at least no one I could see. While looking around I heard a woman's voice murmur something right beside me. It was right in my ear but I couldn't make out any words. I said out loud "I'm just pulling the weeds and I'll be done in a few minutes" I then heard footsteps run into the cabin.

It's rare for me to go into work and have absolutely nothing strange happen, and I'm becoming almost used to it. I have begun to wonder about the girl who seems to be haunting the museum. I would like to find out if she's staying for a reason or is stuck here and help if I can. I don't like the thought of a kid being trapped in this world but I haven't a clue about how to help or where to start.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.