KCRag Forum

chrizow wrote: if i saw a ghost in my house i would move instantly.

Even if it was in Pendleton Heights?

chrizow wrote: if i saw a ghost in my house i would move instantly.

Hmmm, note to self:  Step 1) wait till Chrizow purchases nicely refurbished urban core house. Step 2) hang ghostlike sheet outside bedroom window. Step 3) buy house at bargain basement price at the resulting fire sale. 

LenexatoKCMO wrote: Hmmm, note to self:  Step 1) wait till Chrizow purchases nicely refurbished urban core house. Step 2) hang ghostlike sheet outside bedroom window. Step 3) buy house at bargain basement price at the resulting fire sale. 

You would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling kids.

I grew up in old northeast in a house built in 1900.  When I was 5, I was awakened in the middle of the night, by footsteps on the stairs from the basement, adjoining my bedroom. The house had been built onto and my bedroom still had a window which then looked into this stairway. 

I knew it wasn't my parents and thought it was a burglar.  I knew the creak of every step and I laid there petrified, as I knew I would be looking right at them and them right at me.  The creaks continued and as I heard the creaks that put them right into my view, there was no one there!  They continued to the landing at the top of the stairs and the noise ended.

I told my parents the next morning, and they brushed me off as having watched too many scary movies.

Around two weeks later, again middle of the night, I heard footsteps in the hallway outside my door.  The door handle turned and the door opened.  Again, no one was there.

Next morning, I told my parents again, and they laughed at how scared I was.

A few nights later, I woke up to my dad hollering at me to get out of the kitchen and to go back to bed.  I was laying in bed.  I listened and I could hear footsteps leaving the kitchen.  The kitchen had two entries and simultaneously I heard my dad stomping into the kitchen from the end opposite the exiting footsteps.
He hollared out "what the hell?" 

He came into my bedroom and hauled me out, asking what I had been doing in the kitchen.  I told him I had been in bed the whole time.  He had me follow him into the kitchen and he turned on the light.  The floor was covered with Pepsi.

My dad bought 8 packs of Pepsi, in 16 ounce bottles.  He started looking around and laying on the kitchen counter was the upper half of a Pepsi bottle, cut off cleanly.  He went to the 8 pack on the floor next to a cupboard.  The other half of the bottle was still there, full of Pepsi.

My dad looked at me and he was amazed.  He told me to go to bed.  I asked how that could happen.  He said that he was afraid that it was the ghost.  He was serious.

Never had another incident, in the 10 years I was there, or the following 10 that my parents were.  Always slept with one eye open, though.

When I was a child, I swore I heard reindeer walking on the roof above me on Christmas Eve. 
The mind is a powerful thing....

houses settle, shadows can play tricks on your eyes, the faint sound of wind blowing thru cracks between a window & wall can sound like whispering voices, dreams can be so vivid you swear they were real, etc.

If you want to believe, you can easily convince yourself.

Even if there were a such thing as ghosts, spirits or what-have-you, what is there to be afraid of?  Could they cause you physical harm? 
How do you know what they look like?  Probably because the first one you saw was in a movie.

^
I call BS on that story.  Everyone knows ghosts prefer Diet Coke.

Critical_Mass wrote: ^
I call BS on that story.  Everyone knows ghosts prefer Diet Coke.

Probably why it was poured on the floor.

Luckily I haven't been stalked by a ghost in over three years now.

Tosspot wrote: Luckily I haven't been stalked by a ghost in over three years now.

Have you been stalked by a pumpkin lately?

It is whispered by many that the undead, sporting scary jack-o-lantern heads, stalk Union Cemetery by the light of the harvest moon.  Limp carcasses of cute, little kittens, and bunnies, are often found strewn about in the morning sun.

FangKC wrote: It is whispered by many that the undead, sporting scary jack-o-lantern heads, stalk Union Cemetery by the light of the harvest moon.  Limp carcasses of cute, little kittens, and bunnies, are often found strewn about in the morning sun.

God bless us, everyone.

Tosspot wrote: Luckily I haven't been stalked by a ghost in over three years now.

was it at your apartment?

Umm, Tosspot, that might just be your shadow.

AllThingsKC wrote: Have you been stalked by a pumpkin lately?

Muah ha ha ha ha

AllThingsKC wrote: Any idea on when these were built?

Brad Finch, the local architectual photographer who did Scarritt's National Register nomination indicates they were some of the first homes built in the area now known as Scarritt Renaissance. 1887-89 I believe is the date on most of these.

For many years a guy named Kegley lived in one and owned the rest of em, with the exception of the nicer one on the north end of the block. He owned em for quite a while and through the late 80's and 90's he rented to anything w/ a pulse. They were purchased in 02-03 by the guy who owns The Mansions in Independence with BIG rehab plans. After he scavenged most of the art & jewel glass from em, he began to convert them to duplexes - then - his mommy tightened up the purse strings and they sat dormant for about 6 months.
Enter John Morris.

John lives in the area, about a block from these homes and has purchased 5 of them w/ an option on the others. He's already begun work de-converting them back to SF.

While this is a good thing, John, at times in his projects, embellishes upon the original architecture. (much like the 3622 Windsor house shown earlier in this thread) This is, in the words of a Landmarks Commissioner "false historicisation" (I can't hardly say it - much less spell it!!) 

Its interesting to note that some of the front parches were added in the early 1900's. 437 Benton Blvd (Bob Walkenhorst's [The Rainmakers, Steve, Bob & Rich]old house) is a better example of how these should REALLY look.

Either way, Scarritt's got them "protected" as part of the Historic District and they've been down-zoned to R1a so they can't be chopped up.

Now if we coiuld get someone interested in the Greenlawn Court buildings at Independence & Chestnut...

Sportster
...baby steps

I wish, as part of the City's infastructure tax, that a portion of these funds was set aside for a trust for rehabilitation of historic homes and neighborhoods in an attempt to rebuild and stabilize these neighborhoods.  The City would contract with approved historic rehabbers and sell the renovated homes at market prices to refund the effort.

This would help rebuild these neighborhoods as much as fixing the streets.

Independence has been very successful revitalizing the Truman historic district.

I've got a brilliant brainstorm.  How about *gasp* fixing up Corinthian Hall?!?!  I mean, not that it needs much, only new windows, walls, ceilings, paint, insulation, roofs on surrounding structures, wiring, plumbing, stonework, AIR CONDITIONING, lighting fixtures, landscaping, gutting of old radioactive and rotting bison (seriously, they used arsenic back then in taxidermy), and new period furniture.  Lastly, how about a purpose for people to even GO HERE?!  But I'm not bitter.  I'm sure I left a few things out.

Here are some pictures I took in early spring.  Don't get me wrong, they are pretty glamorous, but they are just lacking something...can't put my finger on it.

Shocking. 

FangKC wrote: Shocking.   :shock:

It's hard to muster up a complete sentence it's so bad!

Seriously, go inspect that place.  All those pictures were on the "closed" third floor that I tip-toed up the barricaded stairs to.  I cried a little.

Tip off one of the local reporters.