10/08/2007: Thanks to an anonymous contributor for submitting their first-hand account of the odd activities that take place in the oldest house in the area of Pleasant Home in Wayne County. Lights turn on and off and there is a presence in the un-renovated upstairs. To top it off, an exploration of an adjacent church found an old coffin in the basement, complete with skeleton!
My husband’s parents own and live in the oldest house that is still standing in the area. It dates back to the mid-1800s and can be verified by the county historical documents. Behind the house, in the woods, is the site of an old church campground – revival area what was very popular in the 1800s – the early 1900s when it stopped being used and is now privately owned and occupied. Our parent’s home is very unique. The rooms of the house are very irregular and the upstairs (which is not fully renovated) still has some of the horse hair wallpaper and the original gas lights and lines from the gas furnishings. The original ‘kitchen’ still stands beside the house and is used for storage. The history of the house dates it back as a boarding-type house.
They bought this house back in the mid-seventies, when my husband was in elementary school. As a child, my husband recalls many strange occurrences, which I later myself witnessed a few of these, when I moved in with his family in 1993. Whoever haunts the house is or are unknown, but friendly and never caused any harm. Lights turn off and on, as well as fans do without anyone being in the rooms. The upstairs is where most occurrences happen. There is a constant presence upstairs who likes to rock in a large old wooden rocker that belongs to my husband’s mother.
There is a very old, small one room church adjacent to our family’s property. When my husband was in junior high school, the church stood temporarily abandoned. Boys like to go on “adventures,” and he and his friends would enter the church to play. They eventually discovered a door to a basement. Once down there, they had taken a flashlight to see what was to be seen. They discovered an old coffin containing an unknown human skeleton. They told their parents and the coffin with the skeleton became property of the school system here. It was used for years in the science labs and the annual haunted house (they no longer put on the annual haunted house). The skeleton is now being kept by one of our family members who has been on the school board for many years. The church is now currently in use and no longer stands abandoned.
This is not a scare story, just a bit of history and true events. This area is very old and there have been many odd happenings in and around this town. I have many more stories to tell of the area, with some of the stranger ones being documented in public papers, etc.