Ghost in the Mercantile

No, not a lesser known album by The Police. An actual ghost.

Months ago a student of mine told me about a furniture store in her town that’s reportedly haunted. The owners must keep it fairly quiet, because in trying to do a little research, the location doesn’t turn up on any of the “haunted places” lists available on the web. There are quite a few similar places that are always in the back of my mind under the filing “that’d be fun to check out sometime.” But priorities usually push that file mid-end of the heap.

The opportunity finally came up when a friend and I were having lunch at a cafe a few doors down from the store. We went for a walk afterward and in passing the store, I told her about the possibility of the hauntings there. She just “happened” to have her digital camera along with her. So we went in and pretended to peruse the entire shop – mostly just concerned with what wasn’t immediately visible.

browsing around

First going in I felt really nothing out of the norm. But then there was an overwhelming “change of atmosphere” about 1/3 the way to the back of the building. It wasn’t anything visual, more of a clairsentient experience. That made me know there was more to be found in there somewhere. The building has a few odd floors…so we just walked through them. All the while snapping a few photos of various views and corners. The building is very old, clearly used for something else in it’s younger days. There are windows into other rooms. Closet doors. Strange nooks. No employee even bothered to approach us once we’d left the main level.

In the last room, my friend brought up the point that there was something eerie about the closet doors. I was really drawn to them as well, but figured on security camera, we might draw too much attention by opening any of them. Although it felt like they serve for “hiding places” when customers come nosing around. Just as we were going to leave, I saw a man approach us. Very old brown pants, faded blue workshirt, suspenders. He wanted to know why I could see him, and why we were there. His name was Isaac and apparently the building was originally a mercantile shop. He had been a farmer and had ties to the mercantile.

I’m curious to take another visit with someone else who also more ultra-sensory…and will take along my own camera! Maybe the ghost in the mercantile will pose for a shot.