Halloween is the time for tales of things that go bump in the night, but for some Oxford residents nocturnal knockings happen all year long.
Residents of the apartment building at the corner of Pontiac and W. Burdick streets often hear the pitter-patter of little feet on the entry stairs after midnight.
‘The building used to be a church school and is over a hundred years old,? said tenant Drew Guirey, who admits both he and his wife have had many unexplained episodes in the building.
Doors slam in the basement, yet no one is there. Cupboard doors open . . . radios randomly change to classical music . . . hallway lights flicker on-and-off . . . children can be heard laughing all through the night. All of this has been witnessed by Guirey, an admitted night owl whose normal bed time is 4 a.m.
One night, both Guirey and his wife, Bree, awoke to the sound of the dead-bolt chain on their door being unhooked.
Guirey said he got out of bed, hooked the chain and went back to bed. As soon as he got beneath the covers, the couple heard the chain unhook again.
Three more trips to the door and Guirey’s wife shouted into the darkness, ‘All right, knock it off ! We’re trying to get some sleep!? The hoax immediately ended.
Sisters Hair Care at 19 N. Washington St. is not housed in a century-old building, but co-owner Blanch Warfield-Kinney said there is an unseen visitor who often makes her presence known in the shop. They’ve even named their ghostly guest ‘Margaret.?
‘The manicurist has had several customers say they feel someone touch them on the back, but no one (is) there,? Kinney said. ‘It happens all the time. All times of the day.?
In the 14 years they’ve been in the building, sisters Blanch and Chrystal Warfield have heard heavy metal doors open and close, when no one is around. Customers often say they feel like someone is looking at them or right in their face, but again, nobody is there.
Unafraid of the experiences, the sisters affectionately call their mysterious visitor ‘Margaret? because the building used to belong to a Margaret Hathaway.
Chrystal said she’s also had unexplainable experiences in her home, which is located near one of Oxford’s cemeteries
‘The phone rings in the middle of the night and the caller ID reads the call is coming from the home base,? said Warfield.
She said once her boyfriend’s wine glass flew off the table and shattered on the floor. When he went to the garage for the broom, he returned to the kitchen and the cupboard doors were all open.
Sometimes the lights at Warfield’s house turn on by themselves and once the front door was frozen shut for three straight days.
‘The morning I called a repair man to take the door off the hinge, it opened,? said Warfield with a laugh.
Halloween or not, village homeowner Viki-Su Toll said she realized her 100-year-old home (?? Mechanic St.) came with guest when she and her husband, Glenn Schultz, moved in four years ago.
‘We were told when we bought it that it was haunted,? Toll said. A neighbor told her there had been several articles written about supernatural occurrences at the home. A relative of Toll’s relayed spooky stories from a friend who owned the home in the late 1970s. The former owner also claimed things went bump in the night.
‘We often hear murmuring voices like there are a lot of people in the room,? Toll said adding that when they first moved into the home her son, Cody, was often startled awake by a greenish glow in his room.
Early on, Toll said overnight guests reported hearing footsteps on the stairs, wooden buckets rattling, the coffee pot clinking, and objects flying off shelves.
Although activities have settled down in the last year, Toll said her personal items have been a fetish of the phantoms and continue to disappear.
Not to worry, the items always turn up ? months later.
‘I find missing shoes lined neatly in the closet. A necklace missing from the bathroom counter turned up six months later in the middle of my bedroom. A missing basket of clean laundry showed up in the bedroom,? according to Toll.
An urban legend on the internet speaks of a Confederate ghost who inhabits the basement of Rob’s Place in downtown Oxford, but owner ‘Red? Voikos said she’s never encountered a southern spirit in gray.
Urban legend or not, Halloween is the perfect time for frightful tales of things that go bump in the night.
What was that?
There’s something behind you.
Look out!