In the spirit (so to speak) of making another haunted post during Halloween week, I decided to walk my schnoodle, Tabby, past a couple of buildings in Herkimer which I had read might possibly harbor ghosts.
I was a little flustered when we started out, because I had many things to do that evening and was approximately halfway through them. But I needed a blog post for Wednesday (today), and it is too early in the week to go lame (so to speak) (for new or sometime readers: that is a reference to Lame Post Fridays).
We headed to the Historic Four Corners, which holds the 1834 Jail and the Herkimer County Courthouse, both of which are reputed to be haunted. I thought I might also stroll by the other two corners, the Herkimer Reformed Church and the County Historic Society, just in case.
The Reformed Church seemed like a good bet, with the graveyard and all. Tabby was more interested in sniffing a handy patch of marigolds outside the yard. I started to pull her along, then I noticed a sign in front of the church that said, “Be still and know that I am God.” It’s one of my favorite Bible quotes, and it was so apropos for the moment. I stood still till Tabby had finished her sniff.
I saw a light on in the church, so I did not walk into the graveyard after all. I did not want to be caught creeping around gravestones looking for spooks by people doing church business.
We crossed the street and walked up the steps to the door of the 1834 Jail. I felt somebody watching me and waiting for them to ask me what I thought I was doing there. I was all ready to say, “Just checking if there was a ghost,” but nobody asked. Then when I looked, nobody was there. It was not until later that I realized the significance of that. I felt somebody watching me, but nobody was there. Hmmmm… Only,do ghosts go out onto the sidewalk in front of buildings they haunt? I suppose it would depend on the ghost.
We walked across Main Street to the courthouse, which is still in use for the purpose for which it was built. When we got to the top of the steps, I saw a couple of current notices taped to the door. Very prosaic. We walked back down the steps in time to greet a very cute little dog walking with his person. Tabby was less than thrilled when he wanted to sniff her butt. They all do.
I started to walk up the sidewalk next to the courthouse. It bordered a parking lot so did not look like any place I was not supposed to be. I did not notice anything unusual, but Tabby pulled me very insistently back to the Main Street sidewalk. She was not at all interested in checking out the Historic Society but kept pulling in the direction of home. I could not help wondering if she saw something I did not. In any case, I figured she had been nice enough to accompany me two places ghost hunting, I would let her decide where the rest of the walk took us. She took us straight home. I only made her wait for traffic when we crossed a couple of streets.
We passed one pedestrian on our own street. Tabby barked a little angrily at his ankles as we crossed paths, which is unusual for her.
“What’s that all about?” I asked her. The odor of tobacco drifted back to me, so I wondered if Tabby had taken exception to his cigar. Then I remembered that some ghosts announce themselves with a scent such as tobacco. Maybe that guy was a particularly solid looking ghost. Dogs are supposed to know these things. Unfortunately, there was nobody else around to ask if I was the only one who had seen him. That would have been another sign.
I suppose now I’m being silly. Or else really reaching to invest my little expedition with haunted excitement. Oh well, how else am I supposed to get a Halloween blog post out of a twenty minute walk?
