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4B @uill[i{m~[j)ITT)©[jj) ___________ Th_• Po_1,_m1e_•_WH_n•_••_Y, N_••_mh_er_1s,_1,_,s (Left) This venerable, beautiful house is ho.me to more than you would imagine. (Center) Erected in the present, the welcoming sign speaks to our in- terest in the past. (Right) Rebecca and Nick relax. It's not a haunting, it's a visitation . _BY KRNT ANDERSON STAFF WRITER Fox Mulder gazes out · across a gray, dreary field, a brisk fall breeze gently flap- ping his black overcoat behind his body. In his hands he holds a cream-colored file he just finished reading. "The truth is out there, Scully," he says, solemn eyes still peer- ing· toward the overcast horizon. Perhaps the truth is even closer to the residents of Harrisville, Michigan than an episode of the popular "X- Files" television program. It · appears that the quiet, normal -appearance of the Springport · Inn Bed and Breakfast in Harrisville may veil a subtle harncteristic of the super- natural world. Built in 1877, it has an old suburban-gothic look that instantly sends the imagina- tion into the shadowy playroom of spooks, grave- yards, and things that slither under a child's bed at night. This reach out and give you goosebumbs appearance is quite fitting, for, according to : one of the inn's owners, Rebecca Stratton, it happens to be the home of a ghost. The spirit's name is (was) Joseph Van Buskirk, the man who, coincidentally, built the original structure in 1877. :Van Buskirk's physical exist- :~nce began in Munroe ~:c;ounty, New York, on April "f,onfused about life insurance? Rely on me to help you ftf make the right f choices." Agent DICK L. CALL ME BENEDICT, CLU 628 W Chisholm Alpena, MI 49707 517-356-0281 State Farm Life Insurance Companr Home Officl': Rloomington. lllinoi> 11Afl PAI■ A INIUIANC',, Like a good neighbor, Stale Farm is there.<!> 22, 1836 . He moved to the Harrisville area in 1868 at the age of 32. In the community, he was a prominent lumber baron and owned a mill that was located just a few miles away in Greenbush. Fish bar- re ls were his specialty, though he was also involved in other areas of mercantile and animal stock. A man who strongly be- lieved in his family and his community, Van Buskirk made a lot of contributions to the local Methodist church and was instrumental in bringing the railroad to the area. Though most of his years seem to have been spent as a sharp businessman, around 1904 Van Buskirk's businesses began to suffer, not due to economic factors, but simply because he couldn't seem to keep a firm grip oh things. It is believed, Rebecca told me, that he may have suffered from what we call Alzheimer's disease to- day. On October 9, 1905, at the age of 68, after having in- jured his head falling down a flight of stairs, Van Buskirk ' lapsed into a coma for a week and then died. Rebecca and Ken Stratton have been the propri- et9rs of the inn since 1988. Rebecca said that she first no- ticed the presence of Van Buskirk's ghost about a month after taking possession from the previous owners. According to Rebecca, the ghost (who she always re- fers to very plainly as Joseph) has appeared on a few occa- u.-1VE STAR" QUALITY SERVICE AWARD .DEALER. 0 LOUIS MOTOR SALES, INC. ~s~ ~ ~ ~ 194r B32 WEST CHISHOLM STREET PHONE &17•:154•4154 ALPENA_, MICHIGAN - ~9707 I() sions, sometimes just standing there. People stay at the inn and facing her. However, over and hope they will see some- a period of several visitations, thing, however, it is not up to Joseph kept holding one arm the owners as to when the up toward a specific area of a ghost will make its presence wall in the house. It turned known. out that he was trying to tell Like any other free spirit Rebecca and Ken that they had (whether it has shuffled off its water damage. mortal coil or remains tied to "He does more than just its mortality), Joseph comes appear," Rebecca said. "He's and goes as he pleases. moved things ... he whistles." Rebecca and Ken can't com- Once, she stated, she watched mand him to pop up. as a needle-point picture she Don't waste your time had crafted appear to lift itself looking for some kind of pat- off the wall and hover directly tern to Joe's activities either, in front of her. That was the for, similar to life, it seems that only time, she said, that she's a ghostly existence may con- ever seen anything levitate. · sist of going about your "He's playful, but he's not business--just doing what you menacing," Rebecca told me, want or need to. ruining my hopes of hearing a To anyone out there really terrifying story. who may be thinking of tak- Apparently, Joseph usu- ing a little trip to the inn, in ally just takes things, hides the hopes of stirring up an en- them, and then places them counter with a resident of the somewhere obvious so that astral world, Rebecca asks that you'll be sure to find them you leave your Ouija boards again. Once, Rebecca said, he and black candles at home. turned on every light in the No seances are permitted house. either. Rebecca does not want Another time, he tied her anyone trying to communicate shoelaces into a bow and set with Joseph by way of one of them at the foot of her bed. One the methods just mentioned. might think that events such as According to her, Joseph, these could unsettle, even ter- a friendly ghost, could act as rify, a person. But Rebecca told a conduit for some other me that was not so. "I've never spirit(s) to enter her home. She had anything like this happen could end up with an evil to me before, and I always spirit that might not be as thought that if it did ... I'd tum playful as her current visitor. the palest shade of white and Faced by the glaring leer disappear. But curiosity kicks of our modem, scientific age, in, I mean, it's just amazing." it may seem impossible to be- Even though they don't lieve that a ghost can exist. actively market their resident Science has been able to dis- phantom, the Stratton's do get pel many myths, but ghosts visitors who stay at their inn and some other phenomena solely because of the ghost. remain unexplained. Rebecca said, "We've had So, do you believe? people call and say: 'Are you Rebecca certainly does. "When the Bed and Breakfast that's I talk about it, I hope it is be- haunted? If we stay there, will lieved, because it is the truth." you bring the ghost out?'" "Grab the keys, Scully, The enthusiasm for expe- we're going to Harrisville, riencing a spirit visitation is out Michigan." ~ ARTIS Books • Antiques • Objets D'Art Custom Framing & Gallery Cappuccino Coffee Bar Espresso 201 N 2nd• Alpena 517-354-3401 A L P · E N A PRINT MASTER© "your thoughts in print" Phone: (51 7l 356·6 l 78 * Fax: (51 7) 354·3465 2567 US-23 South * Alpena. Ml 49707 • Resumes· • Printing • Copies • • Fax Service • PHOTOS BY POLEMIC STAFF collegiate camouflage p E y C s C I T s I u H C A R 0 M A T p B I y N A T 0 B u N A I w G A A C C T A s N 0 T 0 D G H A R s C I s y L s E E T z A I s C 0 0 y C M A w 0 G H I E p G N I T N u 0 C C A 0 L A s M M L L L N C R 0 N T y 0 E E A 0 w H C I R G C N A D A G T E F y G 0 L 0 E G s N s u L u C L A C u R A I L E R u T A R E T p H C E E p s y C H 0 Can you find the hidden co 11 ege ACCOUNTING ECONOMICS ANATOMY FINANCE ANTHROPOLOGY GEOLOGY ART HISTORY BIO-SCI LAW BOTANY LINGUISTICS CALCULUS LITERATURE CHEMISTRY LOGIC DANCE MATH Did you happen to meet this cowboy at the Stu- dent Senate Halloween party on October 28? 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