Although his wife Charlien hadn't seen the home before he bought it, she forgave George for the non-consultation and the couple restored the manor to its 1890s glory after over four years of work.

It's hard to think how the story of Historic Falcon Manor could get any better ... but it does. Tuesday, PBS television out of Cookeville, the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, and assorted other media gathered to meet with Ghostbusters at the manor.

Unfortunately, due to national events the ghost hunters didn't show up, but the ghosts - which are of the friendly type - occasionally do make appearances and there are even photos of the unexplained visitors.

For many years, Historic Falcon Manor used to serve as a hospital and sanitarium where many used to come to get well or stay in as a nursing home. Could it be some of these guests stuck around?

"The ghost is of a friendly nature," Charlien McGlothin said. "Most of the appearances have centered around the staircase and Mr. Faulkner's room."

Clay Faulkner was the original owner of the mansion which he built with all the "modern" conveniences of indoor plumbing, electric lights, telephones, central steam heat, a spring water system for refrigeration and air conditioning, closets and solid brick walls going all the way to the bedrock.

"According to an obituary, Faulkner died in the mansion in 1916," Charlien said.

It was after this the ghostly visitor made its first appearance. In 1919, Faulkner's grandson was playing out back and came around with a branch from a tree. It was believed the man who gave it to him was his deceased grandfather Clay Faulkner and although he is now 85, he remembers it vividly.

George McGlothin also related reasons he thought the suspected visitor might be Clay Faulkner. Charlien's mother stayed at the mansion for some time before she died in the 80s, and reported hearing footsteps on the stairs, always stopping at the door to her room, which used to be Faulkner's.

"She was in full possession of all her faculties," McGlothin said. "She would always hear the footsteps stop at her door. Being a Victorian gentleman, we figured he didn't want to enter a lady's room."

George said later, after Margaret "Granny" Piper died and the room was empty, odd things started happening inside the room. Guests would report small things were moved from where they were left, but the McGlothin's stopped letting people stay in the room when a woman complained someone had moved her lingerie.

Faulkner is still believed to be hanging around the mansion. Recently when Christmas decorations were going up, someone was whistling a Christmas carol on the stairs ... in perfect pitch. This happened when everyone was accounted for downstairs.

But Faulkner, who always appears to be just curious about the people living in his home, isn't the only vaporish visitor the manor has seen. A woman who is reported to be wearing a high-necked dress and carrying a lantern has also been seen in an upstairs' window.

"There was a woman who used to live here named Mrs. Morford when it was a nursing home," Charlien said. "She had bone surgery and used to stay in the parlor." It is this woman who the McGlothins suspect might be the woman in the high-neck dress.

There are also some interesting photos which you can see if you visit the gift shop at Historic Falcon Manor. There is one where a woman in a high-neck dress can be seen in one picture in a series of two, looking out a second-floor window. There are also pictures where a strange orb has appeared in photos of the parlor. The McGlothins thought the orb was just a glitch in the film, but were told later that ghostly entities tend to take this form as it is the easiest one for them to maintain and keep at their energy levels. The orb is a frequent sign of paranormal activity.

George McGlothin has seen the effects of his visitors first-hand before, while Charlien says she has not experienced any phenomenon. George reports he and another worker were painting when someone mysteriously lifted a drop cloth high into the air. The cloth stayed "picked up" for some time, even after George checked around for a cause and found none.

"There was no breeze ... nothing," he said.

The ghost hunters, who didn't make it Tuesday, were going to try and track down the visitors with sophisticated ghost-hunting equipment. Special cameras and audio equipment can more easily detect any ghostly phenomenon in the home.

The McGlothins aren't sure when the visit will be rescheduled. When the PBS crew was doing a story on Historic Falcon Manor before, they even had an unexplained happening. They talked to George on the porch, asking questions about the manor's past and were doing a history on the building. Everything went fine until they got the tape back to the TV station.

"It sounded like a bunch of wind on the tape," said Rick Wells, PBS crewman. "You couldn't hear what we were saying, but it was a perfectly calm day out. When we played it back, it sounded like a hurricane." Wells said the equipment was working fine, and didn't know what the cause might have been for the strange noise.

Historic Falcon Manor isn't the only supposedly haunted house in Tennessee. Tourist development officials list Bellwitch Cave, Carter House, Victorian Village and a hotel in Rugby where even the townsfolk won't stay in overnight as other area haunts.

For more information on the various haunted tourist attractions, you may check out the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development's web site at www.tnvacation.com. or for more information on Historic Falcon Manor, go to www.falconmanor.com or call 668-4444.

• Story originally published by:
Southern Standard & The Smithville Review, McMinnville / TN | Steve Warner - Sept 16.01

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