Perhaps the most common question asked by visitors to the Greene County Historical Society Museum is, “Is the place haunted?” To that I always give a very certain yes; our museum is remarkably haunted.
Construction on the building began in 1857 and things were largely completed by 1900. In 1861, this facility became the County Home, and as one can imagine, an institution like that has an interesting and occasionally bloody past – circumstances ripe for creating a good haunting.
However, our ghostly presences are not just limited to and attached to the building itself, but particular artifacts carry energy all their own.
Our West Wing, especially the second floor, is and always has been the most active part of the building, at least as far as paranormal activities. Many of the rooms on the second floor in the West Wing are dedicated to storage. During multiple paranormal investigations, the last room in the West Wing has always drawn a lot of attention.
Temperature fluctuations can be felt and the room suddenly becomes dramatically cooler or warmer than the surrounding areas, feelings of unease are common, and when the door is shut occasionally you can hear rustling around inside and even knocking on the door as if someone would like to be let out.
Some of our investigators have attributed the activity in this room to a specific artifact that is stored there. What looks to be a typical old wash bucket has been linked to the spirt of a woman named Margaret who apparently inhabits that storage room as her home in the afterlife. Whether or not Margaret was a former resident of the County Home who just attached herself to this item or is the spirit of someone who used this specific wash bucket in her lifetime is unknown. Either scenario is possible; the area of the building this storage room is located in was formerly the female dormitories. For now, at least, our staff and volunteers will continue to respectfully greet Margaret when they are working in that part of the building, enjoying the times when Margaret reminds us of her presence.