Jack's Review:
This special includes accounts of hauntings, but as befits its origin (the Home and Garden network), its focus is also on the architecture, landscaping, and decoration of the edifices themselves. Though that split in focus is true of almost any documentary on haunted historical locales, Ghostly Homes at times seems unable to do either of its purposes justice--for me, at least, much of it wasn't creepy enough to be an effective ghost documentary nor detailed enough to be interesting as a historical or architectural account. But the death portraits featured in the Audubon House piece? The eyes in those pictures are so disturbing . . .
The Molly Brown House, Denver, CO
The Molly Brown house, built in 1894 in the Capitol Hill region of Denver, saw many society parties thrown by "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" and her husband J.J. After Molly died in 1932, the mansion became a "home for wayward girls," and had to be rescued from demolition in 1972. Now a museum, the building still houses the spirits of Molly, J.J., and some of their servants. The dining room table is the site of some activity, as the chairs not move of their own accord but one of them at least once played host to the spirit of a ghostly woman in Victorian garb. Pipe and cigar smoke are still detected in the attic and basement of this non-smoking establishment--an interesting rumor, for those are the two locations where J.J. was fond of smoking. Finally, the room that Molly herself called her bedroom is now the location of a cold spot.
The Earnest Hemingway Home, Key West, FL
A shipbuilder constructed this Early Colonial Spanish house in 1849, and author Earnest Hemingway purchased it in 1931. Now a museum dedicated to the late writer, the edifice still houses the descendants of his extra-toed cats--and the ghost of the author himself. Typewriter keys are reputed to move on their own, and people have reported strange feelings and sounds. Once, tourists waved to a man standing on a balcony, a man who looked a lot like Hemingway himself. The man waved back--and then promptly vanished from sight.
La Casa Estudilla, San Diego, CA
Located in Old Town San Diego, La Casa Estudilla was built in the nineteenth century. A structure with walls approaching four feet in thickness and arranged around a central courtyard, La Casa Estudilla was, as this show put it, "highly defensible." It is now a tourist attraction that is the site of numerous hauntings, including a robed figure and a transleucent man in an old-fashioned shirt. Staffmember Jeni Hammons also reported seeing a rocking chair, located in what used to be a child's bedroom, "definitely" moving on its own. In 1988, a group of reporters investigated the supernatural rumors of La Casa Estudilla. They experienced a cold spot, saw a floating red light, had an expensive camera lens jump from its housing, and heard a voice on a tape recorder telling them to leave.
The Audubon House, Key West, FL
The building that would later become the home of famous naturalist John Jacob Audubon was built in 1830 by naval Captain John H. Geiger. Geiger chose shipbuilders to construct his home, and as a result it is built similarly to a boat, with wooden pegs in the place of nails. Geiger was a capable seafarer, and often salvaged sunken ships; in fact, some of the items with which Geiger decorated his home were from shipwrecks. The elegant home saw tragedy during the Geiger family's stay; three of the children succumbed to Yellow Fever and a fourth died after a tree-climbing accident. All of them passed on in the children's room, which is now the location of disembodied noises and chandelier lightbulbs that refuse to stay screwed into their sockets. Security forces have been called to the Audubon House numerous times by tripped alarms and heat sensors that were triggered by no apparent being. Some of the most interesting events surround one doll that was formerly in the house, a doll made, as was one of the traditions at the time, to resemble one of the Geigers' dead children. Photographs of this doll never develop properly--at the least, pictures of it are marred by a thick black streak. One night, after an attempt to photograph it, the doll disappeared--and it hasn't been seen since.
The Villa Montezuma, San Diego, CA
Constructed in 1887, Villa Montezuma was built in several different styles. Primarily of Queen Anne design, it also has Gothic and Moorish touches. The building is haunted by the spirit of former owner Jesse Shepherd, a musician who used to commune with the spirits of dead composers. Shepherd claimed that those musicians would play piano through him, and is reported to have been able to play the works of two composers at once, one with each hand. Shepherd died at the end of a Los Angeles performance--while seated at the piano. Now, neighbors report hearing music and seeing figures moving within the house when no one is there.
Croke Patterson Mansion, Denver, CO
The Croke Patterson Mansion was ordered constructed in the 1870s by Thomas B. Croke, a man who is said to have entered the house once, only to be emotionally shaken so much that he immediately left and never returned. The mansion became an apartment building in the 1950s, then was converted into office space sometime in the 1970s. During that last renovation, workmen would arrive in the morning to find the previous day's work undone. Frustrated, they decided to leave either one or two guard dogs (accounts differ) to protect the property from the perceived intruders. The next day, they found the dogs) dead on the sidewalk--after apparently falling from a smashed third story window. Once the mansion was converted into an office building, employees observed equipment such as typewriters, copiers, and telephones operating on their own. Finally, a seance held on the property informed the participants that the haunting was being caused by the spirit of a girl whose body was entombed in the cellar. Upon excavation, workers found a hidden chamber filled with sea sand--highly unusual in landlocked Denver--but no body.
