Are There Ghosts in the Cheney Mansion?

Do You Believe In Ghosts?

Back in 1997 our Historical Society received a gift. It was probably the most Historical piece of property in the whole area. It was the old Cheney Mansion that no one had lived in for a few years and the owner, who lived away from here, put it up for auction.

Enclosed in the Mansion is the “Red House” that was the first frame house in the area and was built in 1827. Several additions were added to the house over the years and it became quite a large establishment.

In 1998 I helped in the restoration of the Mansion as it had become quite run down and was in real bad condition. It was summertime and three young boys from the local high school were hired through a state program to help. As we were sitting down in the old dining room and filling out papers that were required by the State, we heard someone yell “hello” at the back door. I immediately rose out of my chair and walked to the door and not a person was in sight. We checked the front door and side door and nobody was there. We passed it off and thought no more about it.

Later that summer we were taking out the windows, scraping and sanding the old finish off and painting them. There were three young boys helping me at the time. Two of them were taking a break with me and sitting at the dining room table having a pepsi. The other young boy was out in the block building scraping paint and hadn’t joined as yet. We were working on the upstairs master bedroom at the time and of course the boys had a radio blasting away on one of their favorite rock stations. All of a sudden the station was changed to another one clear across the radio dial. We all rushed upstairs and there was no one to be found. This upset one of the boys and he didn’t show up the next day for work. His friend said that he thought the house was haunted and he wouldn’t come back.

Nothing strange happened for some time after that episode and we continued the project of restoration. After the mansion was restored and re-furnished with period furniture we started giving tours in order to raise money for maintenance. We also gave tours for the school children in the area, free of charge. After a couple of school tours, I started telling the history of the area and how the mansion came to be. The teachers were quite interested as they thought it would be can for their students to know how our community got it start and other information that I could dig up out of the town’s history books.

The mansion served a big part as an underground railroad stop before and during the Civil War and the mansion has a tower that reaches high in the air. The two favorite things that the young student, 2nd and 4th graders wanted to do was go down and get into the false cellar where the slaves were hidden and to climb up in the tower and look out the window. One of the young girls heard about the incidents that took place during the restoration about strange happenings and she asked me to tell about them. So, from then on they were labeled as being “Ghost stories” and each time I gave a school tour I had to mention them.

It’s been about five years ago when one of the City police officers approached the society and asked if a couple of friends from a neighboring town and a police officer buddy of his could stay overnight in the mansion since they had heard that strange things were happening there and they were very interested in ghost happenings. Since they were police officers they Society figured it would be okay. They brought their sleeping bags and camped out in the drawing room which was the front downstairs room of the original “Red House.” They also brought along a weejie board.

Early in the evening they sat around the weejie board and it kept spelling out; D O R O T H Y and they had no idea why that was taking place. Later as they walked through the mansion they spotted a picture on the wall. It was a picture of “Miss Dorothy” who was a nurse and nanny for the last Cheney descendant from the time he was a baby until he grew into adulthood. Now they were all excited about staying the night and with two police officers they surmised that nothing bad could happen to them.

Since they were staying awake as much as they could that evening and night they were sure something would take place to prove or disprove their inkling that the place might be haunted. The entrance hall light was left on so they could more or less navigate downstairs. One of the officers left the front room and entered the hall, just then he saw a vision of a lady in white that passed from one upstairs bedroom to the front master bedroom. He immediately yelled for the others to “come see”, but the vision disappeared. That particularly officer won’t enter the mansion again in the dark of night.

Word got out to some other persons that I would call “ghost chasers” those strange things were taking place in the Cheney Mansion. They wanted the Society to pay to have them come up and check things out but the Society didn’t think would be a good idea at that time. Every year for some time the Society has an apple festival in order to raise money for the operation of the Society and for maintenance purposes. More and more people had heard about the happenings in the mansion and more and more people became interested. So the Society thought they could possible make some money having haunted house tours.

For the last year there have been several haunted house tours and persons from quite a distance away have now become interested in the Cheney Mansion and its’ “Ghosts”. I always tell the tourist and school children that I don’t believe in ghosts, however the more I hear about the strange things that are taking place, the more I wonder if I should look into it a little closer.

They tell me that if you take a picture of a vision or ghost with a regular camera that the vision or ghost won’t show up in the printed picture. However, if you take a picture with a digital camera, it will show up. Maybe the flash on the regular camera washed out any vision that might be there. Digital cameras will take picture in subdued light. One of the tour guides says that she has a picture of a vision that was taken with a digital camera and it is very clear. I am going to pick the picture up in a couple of days and if it is so, I will scan it and put it up on the Historical Society website. The URL for the site is: http://www.jerseyusa.net if you would care to check it out.

A couple of things that have happened: Pictures are moved from one place to another, the old heavy record player was found in the middle of the music room floor instead of next to the wall. During tours, doors mysteriously open and close. One lady was pushed about three feet from the spot where she was standing and nobody human was behind her. Visions are seen standing behind or next to other persons.

I have decided that I am going to attend one of these “Haunted Tours” and see for myself if anything strange happens. I always tell the children and tourists that the ghost is friendly if there are any and they know that we are here to preserve and take care of the property.

One Note: One of the guides tells me that she always talks to the ghosts before giving a haunted tour. She asks them to be sure and show up as we need the money to care for the Mansion to keep it in tip top shape. She says they respond, not is words but in actions.

More later …………

Rob