Who You Gonna Call?....

 I think I have said before that we live in a very small town with a long history. It was founded in 1859. According to Wikipedia, Rossville and Ross Township were named for Jacob Ross, a settler in the area. However, the location was first named Liggett's Grove in honor of John Liggett who built a lodging house there in 1829. Liggett's cabin was located on the Hubbard Trail, an early trading route established byGurdon Hubbard from Chicago to Danville. In 1833, this became the first state highway (now Illinois Route 1) and in 1914 was made part of the Dixie Highway. In 1838, Alvan Gilbert purchased the Liggett farm, and the next year became postmaster at the newly-established post office. Rossville was incorporated as a village in August 1859. 

And, of course, before that this land was  inhabited by Native Americans of different origins. Now, with that kind of history, if there is such a thing as ghosts, there are bound to be a few around town.

The building across the street from my house seems to be of great interest to those that do believe. It is an old Masonic Temple that was built 105 years ago. The same time my house was built.

It is a beautiful building, sadly run down, but you can imagine it as it once was. The detailing in the architecture, the windows, the red brick, is all stunning. Even the creepy guy above the door is mesmerizing. I'm sure at one time the original Masons that owned the building were very proud of it, and sad to sell it when the time came.

Since that time, the building has been a few different things. The last being an antique store. When Willie and I moved here last year, it was closed and for sale. We have spent many evenings on our front porch looking at the building and wondering what we could do with it if we had the money. We looked it up on line, the cost was meager, $15,000, less than a car. The repairs the building that would need to be done, would probably be several $100,000. Way beyond our means.

This last week or so the for sale sign has come down. This truck has been in front of the building several times since then. It you look closely it says, Indiana Ghost Trackers on it. I haven't decided if I find it hilarious or completely fascinating. A friend of mine that has lived in the area for her whole life says the building has been investigated for ghosts before.

I have joked around about having ghosts living in my houses before. To the point where I even named our ghost Ferdinand. We had a TV at one time, that would turn on and off, all by itself, for no reason. We would be sound asleep, and the TV would turn on. At first we thought we rolled on the remote, or for a long time we thought maybe the neighbor's remote might be on the same frequency and our TV was reacting to his remote. We convinced ourselves that was the case for a long time. We lived in a trailer park and our houses were very close, it made sense, a little anyway. Then a light in our front room started doing the same thing. Ferdinand had expanded his enterprise.

We moved from the trailer, which lets face it, it could have been the wiring that caused such things. We moved into a house in Danville, Il. It was older, built in the 1930's if I remember right. We left the possessed TV behind. Ferdinand still came with us. The light kept turning on and off, and he also took up residence in something else, but I can't remember what for sure.

When we moved back to Iowa and it seemed we had left Ferdinand behind. Maybe he liked the old house better, maybe it was wiring again. Maybe, he invaded my car. I have always had quirky cars. It may start out as a normal car, if I drive it too long, like a month or two, quirks always develop.  I had a car who every time we opened the back door, the dinger would go off, you know the one that goes off when you leave the keys in the car. The one that is supposed to go off when you open the front door. That was just one of its quirks.

I also drove a van for Van Meter School district, to take a child to Winterset a couple of times a week. It was fine when I started driving it. After a few months, its dinger started going off every time I hit the brakes to slow down. Yeah, that got very annoying very fast. I wonder if it still does it?

My van now, when I turn on the heater fan, the back windshield wiper comes on. Wiring on my cars always seems to get criss-crossed or something. It is never anything dangerous, just strange and obnoxious. Like someone or something is always playing jokes on me.

My cars always have quirks.  I mean, why does every single car I drive end up with strange quirks. Are they really quirks? Or do I have permanent visitors that travel with me. Does Ferdinand follow me every where I go? He has always had a thing for electrical items, and when quirks come up it always seem to be in wiring.

When I saw the truck across the street the first time I laughed and thought, what a racket, and wondered how I could get a job doing that? Then I looked up their website, wondering how much they make off of others' fears, and found that they don't charge a thing. It is a group of people who really believe in what they are doing. Not like the old movie "Ghost Busters." I would actually love to know what they "find."

What the truck has done, has made me think about, do I believe in ghosts? As I have aged, I have found myself believing things I never thought I would. Like, yes, I most definitely, not just believe, but KNOW that the full moon makes people act a little loony. Sometimes, a LOT loony. Thirty years ago, I'd have laughed in my own face if I'd have said that, but much experience has changed my mind.

So, I guess, I am much more open minded about the idea of ghosts than I used to be.  If I do have ghosts following me around, they seem to be more goofish than ghoulish. They seem to have a sense of humor and just like to play jokes on me. As long as that is all they do, I'm more than happy to share my space with them.