HGB Ep. 401 - Haunted Hannibal

Moment in Oddity - Sophia McLachlan Grave (suggested by: Tim McCrimmon)

Sophia McLachlan was a young girl who died in 1879. A plaque erected near her grave in Nova Scotia tells the sad story and odd circumstances around her death, "Sophia aged 14 apprenticed to a Mrs. Trask, dress maker, carrying on a business at what is now the site of 242 Lincoln Street, was accused by her employer of the theft of a princely sum of $10.00. Pleading her innocence Sophia became ill, often observed lying on her sister's grave near here. Sophia's grief was added to by her mother's acceptance of Mrs. Trask's story. Sophia's condition worsened, confining her to her room at what is now the site of 169 Pelham Street. At the insisting of a friend, a doctor was called, but he could not prevent her death. Amid much speculation by members of the community, a coroner's jury was summoned to hold an inquiry into Sophia's death. The unanimous decision for the cause of her death was by 'paralysis of the heart brought on by extreme agitation and peculiar circumstances.' The passing of Sophia was not forgotten and sometime afterwards, Mrs. Trask's son admitted to the theft. Mrs. Trask and her son moved from Lunenburg and no record of their place of residing exists. Sophia's family maintained their residence in Lunenburg where Sophia's father plyed his trade as a shipwright. Those who knew Sophia remembered her as a pretty girl who will not be forgotten." A young teenage girl dying from what was basically ruled a broken heart, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - "Battle of the Sexes" Tennis Match Held

In the month of September, on the 20th, in 1973, the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match was held and Billie Jean Kong won. The match was held between Billie Jean King, who was the top women's tennis player at the time, and Bobby Riggs, who was a former No. 1 ranked men's tennis player.  King was 29 at the time and Riggs was 55. Riggs was a self-proclaimed male chauvinist and that women couldn't compete against men and that even at his age, he could beat any female player. King took him up on that challenge and the event became a huge media event with over 50 million people viewing worldwide and 30,000 spectators watching in-person at the Houston Astrodome. Riggs road onto the court in a rickshaw pulled by female models and King was carried on a gold litter carried by men dressed as ancient slaves. Howard Cosell reported the match in which King won in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. King continued her push for women's rights, which included fair pay and in 1973, the U.S. Open was the first major tennis event to pay both genders the same amount of prize money.

Haunted Hannibal (Suggested by: Christina Orf)

Hannibal, Missouri is known as "America's Hometown" and author Mark Twain helped to put it on the map as this was his boyhood home. This was a quintessential river town with many men traveling here to make their fortune and they did. Many stately homes that were built during its heyday are still around today, some of them are beds and breakfasts that you can book for a stay. And many of these have ghost stories to go with them. Join us as we share the history and haunts of Hannibal, Missouri!

Hannibal was founded using two land grants issued after the mighty earthquake of 1811 destroyed the small town of New Madrid in Missouri and caused the Mississippi River to change course and flow backward for a time. The town was surveyed in 1819 and Moses D. Bates cleared the land and started constructing buildings. Hannibal got its name around 1800 when Spanish surveyor Don Antonio Soulard drew a map of the area. The town had a slow start with only a couple of dozen people arriving to settle in its first decade. By 1860 it was thriving though, particularly with the arrival of the railroads. Lumber would become the top product coming through Hannibal. Logs would be floated down from Minnesota and Wisconsin and sawmills at Hannibal would mill the lumber and then float it south on the river or ship it by rail to the west. Lumber barons would build their mansions in the town.

But what really makes Hannibal a famous place is Mark Twain. He grew up here and based his book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" on his childhood growing up in the small town. He writes about many of the superstitions and spiritual beliefs of both the white citizens and those of color, some of whom had been slaves. This is also a river town with lots of limestone. We talked about a limestone cave in Hannibal in Ep. 342 that featured Doctor McDowell who put his daughter in a copper tube in that cave. Mark Twain wrote of this, "There is an interesting cave a mile or two below Hannibal. In my time, the person who then owned it turned it into a mausoleum for his daughter, age 14. The body was put into a copper cylinder filled with alcohol and this was suspended in one of the dismal avenues of the cave. The top of the cylinder was removable, and it was a common thing for the baser order of tourists to drag the dead face into view and examine it and comment upon it." Perhaps because of the river and limestone, there are a few haunted places in this town!

LulaBelle's Bed and Breakfast

LulaBelle's Bed and Breakfast had been a fine dining establishment and bed and breakfast located at 111 Bird Street. It is our understanding that this location closed in 2013. This establishment has an infamous history as a brothel that was built in 1917 and run by a madame who had arrived from Chicago. Her name was Sarah Smith and men could not only enjoy the ladies here, they could gamble and drink during Prohibition. Obviously, this business flourished. When Sarah died in 1932, another madame named Bessie Heolscher bought the bordello and refurbished it, decorating with a lavish Spanish motif. Bessie took good care of her girls and paid well. The ladies here were highly sought out because of their discretion. The ladies were respected in the town and the women were happy to spend their money on the finer things.

Things went well until the early 1950s when local church leaders made it their goal to shut down the brothel and it was plagued with many police raids. Eventually, Mike and Pam Ginsberg bought the property and opened it as LulaBelle's Bed and Breakfast and a fine dining restaurant. The upper floor had six rooms with heart-shaped whirlpool bathtubs and queen-sized beds. The Ginsbergs expanded their business by buying two nearby properties. One they named the Painted Lady with two bedrooms and the Main Street Bed and Breakfast that had three rooms. Business was great for a while and people raved about the food at the restaurant, but eventually the economy just proved too hard to keep the establishment open. 

While it was open, there were stories of haunting activity. Guests who stayed on the upper floor claimed to hear disembodied footsteps and voices, to see shadowy and misty forms, to see small balls of light, to have their doors locked and unlocked by something they couldn't see, to be touched and to have furnishings and objects in their rooms moved around. Employees and guests claimed to see a Lady in White as well. One area with a lot of activity was the kitchen. Metal cooking utensils would be moved, equipment would turn on and off by itself, disembodied voices were heard, shadow figures were seen especially out of the corner of the eye and objects were thrown in the kitchen. Spirits have been seen in the mirrors that were in the dining room as well. 

The Paranormal Task Force and a crew from KZZK investigated in October of 2008 and they stayed overnight. They reported on their website, "Some heard the voice of a lady who they could not see while others heard unexplained footsteps. Moving areas of notable temperature decreases were also documented along with intelligent interaction by the unseen with an investigator's electromagnetic field (EMF) meter. One investigator was actually touched by the unseen when something softly stroked his arm with that special cold touch.  A crew member of the KZZK team actually became so frightened that she ran outside the building screaming! Intelligent communication was also received through an experimental device called the Ovilus, which was being field tested by our team at this location. The words "sex" and "pain" were said by this device multiple times. It even said the name of a KZZK crew member when he was near it on more than one occasion. Multiple Class B and C EVP's were captured."

Java Jive Coffee & Tea Shop

Java Jive Coffee & Tea used to be Java Jive and before that it was Haydon Hardware. And that is what our ghost here seems to be connected to, the hardware store. It was named for Percy Haydon who was the owner and described as a man who was a little gruff and never without a cigar in his mouth, but kind. He loved his store, which he had started in 1919. When he passed away, Jerry Adkins took over the reins and he was the first to start experiencing weird events. He was in the restroom one night when he heard someone walking loudly outside of the door. He thought an employee was fooling around and so he thought he would surprise them by jumping out of the door. He swung the door open and found that there was no one near the restroom. Adkins was closing up one evening with an employee when they heard a really loud sneeze. They looked at each other and realized that neither of them had sneezed. They checked the store for another person even though they knew they were the only ones there and, of course, they were right.

Employees at Haydon’s Hardware heard disembodied footsteps, particularly on the stairway leading to the ground floor and the lights would turn on and off by themselves. Percy seemed to be a prankster and whenever something would go wrong in the store, employees would blame Percy. One such prank disturbed a female employee when she was closing up one night. Her name was repeatedly whispered in her ear. When Java Jive moved into the space, the haunting activity continued. Those employees heard disembodied footsteps too, but their experiences went beyond just Percy. They heard women talking, the laughter of children and music that seemed to belong in a dance hall or saloon. A woman's crying is heard near the restroom. Baristas claim to have been touched by something they can't see on many occasions. The bell at the front counter rings on its own and an employee heard a male voice yell in her ear. The shadow of a large man has been spotted and Percy was said to have been an overweight man. Another employee had her purse disappear when she stopped by one night after hours. She had set it down while she used the restroom. She and her boyfriend looked everywhere for it and eventually found it in a crevice down in the basement.

Garth Woodside Mansion

The Garth Woodside Mansion was built in 1871 and at the time of our recording in September 2021, it was up for sale for $1.9 million, which is down from its original ask of $2.4 million. This is a beautiful Victorian built in the Second Empire Italianate architectural style with a large wraparound veranda. There were originally six buildings on the property, but two were barns that have been torn down. Three cottages on the property were built in the 2000s and the entire property covers 36 acres. Weddings were also hosted here. The mansion was opened as a bed and breakfast in 1987 with 11 rooms in the main house and five in the three cottages. The larger cottage has two fireplaces and the main house had fourteen. Eighty-five percent of the furnishings are original to the house. The most recent owners were John and Julie.

The mansion is named for John Garth. He is thought to be the inspiration behind the character of Tom Sawyer. He was born to John and Emily Garth in Virginia in 1837. The family moved to Hannibal in 1844 where John's father got into the tobacco business. In Hannibal, John met Helen Kercheval and Samuel Clemens. The group were all students at Mrs. Elizabeth Horr’s school and later at that of J. D. Dawson. They remained friends into their adulthood with John and Helen even getting married on October 18, 1860. They had two children, John David and Annie. John went away to college, but returned to help run the tobacco business with his brother after their father died. When the Civil War broke out, the Garths left for New York and stayed there until 1871 with John making a fortune working in banking and manufacturing.

When the Garths returned to Hannibal, John started several businesses and became vice president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, eventually becoming the president. The Garths purchased a farm southwest of Hannibal and built their summer home there, dubbing it “Woodside.” They raised and bred shorthorn and Jersey cattle. John got into lumber and other business prospects. They exchanged letters with Clemens and hosted him in their home. John was probably one of the boys who provided Clemens with inspiration for the character Tom Sawyer. When Twain's book "Life on the Mississippi" was released, he sent the Garths a copy and John wrote to Twain, “Thanks for the book. Each and every one at Woodside has enjoyed it greatly.” Twain also had a copy of "Huckleberry Finn" sent to the Garths upon its release. John Garth died in 1899 and Helen died in 1923. Helen was successful in her own right, getting involved in the same businesses as her husband and she was even elected to the board of the Farmers and Merchants Bank in 1910 making her the first woman bank director in Hannibal.

Mark Twain wrote in his Autobiography about Garth’s cigars, “In those days the native cigar was so cheap that a person who could afford anything could afford cigars. Mr. Garth had a great tobacco factory and he also had a small shop in the village for the retail sale of his products. He had one brand of cigars which even poverty itself was able to buy. He had these in stock a good many years and although they looked well enough on the outside, their insides had decayed to dust and would fly out like a puff of vapor when they were broken in two. This brand was very popular on account of its extreme cheapness. Mr. Garth had other brands which were cheap and some that were bad, but the supremacy over them enjoyed by this brand was indicated by its name. It was called ‘Garth’s damndest’. We used to trade old newspapers for that brand.”

Mark Twain seems to have really loved visiting this home because his spirit is said to haunt the place. The room that has been named for him is where his apparition is seen most often. There are eerie orbs of light in there and the smell of pipe smoke.

Garden House Bed and Breakfast

The Garden House Bed and Breakfast is part of Hannibal's Millionaire Row. This is a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture and the house was built in 1895 by Albert Wells Pettibone Jr. who was heir to the Hannibal Saw Mill Co. and the Hannibal Sash and Co. Tragedy struck early for Albert and he died at the age of twenty-nine. The house was then bought in 1905 by Charles H. Trowbridge who owned the Duffy-Trowbridge Stove Manufacturing Co. The house was inherited by his son Charles Albert who lived in it in the 1920s. Will Griswold who was the founder of a furniture store was the next owner, so you can see that this home passed through many hands. The Garden House B&B opened in 2003 featuring old-fashioned feather beds and hand-sewed comforters. Today it is veteran owned and operated by Chris. This B&B was named by the Today Show as one of the top ten places to sleep with a ghost in America. Apparently they investigated the place themselves, but couldn't get their cameras to work in the attic.

The cool thing about this place is that they embrace their spirits even hanging a picture in the dining room the shows a man sitting at a table and what appears to be the ghost of a boy peeking into the side of the picture with just his face visible. The sounds of sawing are heard coming from the basement and the sound of piano music is heard on the first floor. Disembodied voices are heard throughout the house. A ghost hunter witnessed a shadowy figure walk in front of the television while investigating in 2006. Melissa Sexton was a manager at LaBinnah Bistro and she stayed a few nights at the Garden. She ended up leaving the bed and breakfast after a few nights and found lodging elsewhere because of the experiences she was having. She heard disembodied footsteps and smelled men’s cologne. Melissa had her Siberian Husky with her and he clearly started reacting to things she couldn't see. The final straw for Melissa was when she saw what she decribed as a “translucent figure which scrambled away in the kitchen that seemed to bounce off the walls and then to concentrate itself into a blue dot.” She left the bed and breakfast for other lodgings and soon after, left Hannibal. 

Arif Dagin stayed at the bed and breakfast and helped out the Innkeeper Chris as an assitant from 2006 to 2010. Arif was left one weekend in charge. There was only one guest that first evening and Arif came down the following morning to find the usually fully set dining room completely amiss with silverware scattered all around the tables. He thought the guest had done it. That guest left and there was a new one that evening. Arif came down the following morning to once again find the dining room messed up and he knew it wasn't possible that he had two guests that rude right in a row. This happened on a third morning and Arif was the only person in the house, so he knew at this point that something weird was going on here.

Arif was home alone again in 2007 and he was awakened after midnight by the sound of footsteps stomping around downstairs. He was scared because he thought someone had broken into the house. Arif locked his bedroom door and grabbed a nearby bottle to use as a weapon. He listened as the footsteps came upstairs and went into the room next to his. He summoned his courage and went out into the hallway. The door was unlocked, so he pushed it open and flipped on the light. There was no one there. Arif called out "hello" and then he searched the room. He found no one in the house and so he returned to his room, but soon heard footsteps running down the stairs. He quickly ran to the stiars and heard the footsteps stop halfway down the stairs. There was no one on the stairs. Arif searched the house and when he went to the front door he found that the screen door was still locked from the inside. When Arif told Chris about this experience, Chris said, "You know that’s the ghost."

Someone wrote in 2019, "My wife and I slept in the West Room at the Garden House in Hannibal Missouri both Thursday and Friday nights February 21 and 22, 2019. Thursday night, both of us woke up hearing men in lengthy conversation in low voices downstairs. We were the only guests in the house and Chris, the proprietor assured us he was not in conversation with anyone that evening. My wife also reported to Chris that there was no spoon at her breakfast place-setting Friday morning...just after being told by Chris that it had been a common occurrence for guests to notice missing pieces of flatware the following morning at breakfast. We never felt threatened in this wonderful period mansion and would definitely like to return for another stay at the Garden House."

Rockcliffe Mansion

Rockcliffe Mansion is a gorgeous Gilded Age estate that sits on a limestone bluff overlooking Hannibal. The mansion was built by St. Louis architectural firm Barnett, Haynes & Barnett for lumber baron John J. Cruikshank, Jr. Construction lasted for two years between 1898 and 1900 and the house was done in the Georgian Revival architectural style. The house features double-bricked walls, so this house was built to last. No expense was spared on the interior. Windows featured Louis Comfort Tiffany stained-glass windows and there were also chandeliers by Tiffany. The fireplaces featured South African pink marble and the walls and stairways featured hand-carved and ornate woodwork made from walnut, mahogany and oak with lemonwood sideboards in the Reception Room. The plumbing fixtures were the finest made and the lighting fixtures were custom-made offering power via both gas and electric. Several rooms had gilded wallpaper and the Green Room had the added touches of gold leaf and garlands, lace and velvet drapes and white onyx around the fireplace. The Music Room had a grand piano on each end.

John lived there with his wife and four daughters until his death in 1924 and then it seems that the family moved out and left the house abandoned. This wonderful mansion sat for 43 years with only a caretaker there. Parts of the house were deteriorating until three families bought it to prevent it from being demolished in 1967. These families restored the house and even got many original pieces from one of the Cruikshank daughters. The mansion was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and is open for tours and runs as a bed and breakfast with thirty rooms. It has passed through many hands through the years. There was Mary and Jerry McAvoy, then Ken and Lisa Marks and then Warren Bittner and Juan Ruiz-Bello of Florida who took over in 2010.

There are several spirits at the mansion. The main one belongs to John Cruikshank who died in the house. He appears as a small man wearing a brown felt hat and a period suit with a goatee and mustache. His ghost is seen all over the mansion and many guests report seeing him standing by the bar in the kitchen on the ground floor and floating through the grand music room. One of the first people to see John's ghost was Mary McAvoy who was caretaker at the mansion from 1993 to 2005. She was two years into the job when she was sleeping alone in a second floor guest room. Her husband had lived at the house too, but he was away on a trip. She heard someone open the door to the servant's entrance and she sat up and looked at the clock. It was 2am. She then heard footsteps walking up the back staircase and heading to John's old room. There was no one else in the mansion when she checked. This routine has happened several times in the house and people figure John is returning to the large canopy bed where he breathed his last breath. Many times tour guides come into the house in the morning and when they check the bed, they find the impression of a person left on the bed they had fluffed the night before.

Another spirit here is said to belong to Mark Twain. This is not an apparition that appears, but rather manifests in the odor of cigar smoke. Guides claim that sometimes they have to leave the room because the scent is so strong. Twain was only at the mansion once and that was in 1902 to deliver his "Farewell to Hannibal" speech. So it seems a bit strange that Twain would haunt this place as he was only there a brief time. And clearly, other people probably smoked cigars in this house. Perhaps this is something residual.

Ken and Lisa Marks have written the book Haunted Hannibal and they purchased Rockcliffe. Their experiences started almost immediately. They were careful to lock all the doors because lots of curious people would stop by the mansion. So they were perplexed when they started hearing doors slamming downstairs when they were on the second floor sleeping. These weren't just regular slams either. They were really loud as though the door was opening as wide as possible and then slamming shut. Other times they would be downstairs and hearing furniture moving upstairs and disembodied footsteps. One of the tour guides told the Marks that she had seen the ghost of John three times. Two times were very brief glimpses, but the third one lingered. John was standing by the pantry and then slowly disappeared and that is how the guide knew this was not a real man.

Lisa tells the following story in Alan Brown's "Ghosts Along the Mississippi River, "We were in the office one night and we heard a crashing sound. It took us twenty minutes of searching to find out what had happened. In the girls' bedroom is a closet containing a lot of dresses. We had placed a vase of artificial flowers on a shelf in the closet. When we walked into the room, we saw where the vase had shattered. But it wasn't like it had just fallen off the shelf in the closet. It fell into the room several feet away from the closet. I picked up the pieces of glass and put them at the base of the oak tree just outside the door, almost like an offering." The Marks have had guests leave in the middle of the night because they were scared by phantom music playing or ghostly footsteps. 

When Alan stayed with his wife Marilyn at Rockcliffe, she had an experience. She got up to use the restroom around 2am. She returned to bed and heard footsteps out in the hallway. The kinds of steps that a child would make or possibly a woman. They were not heavy. And then the doorknob started to rattle. Marilyn decided not to open the door. They had been the only guests at the bed and breakfast and Lisa told them that it wasn't her or Ken either. 

Hannibal has its mysterious caves and historic locations infused with history. Many think that this is one really haunted little town. Are these locations in Hannibal, Missouri haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Podcast 29 - The Life and Afterlife of Mark Twain

Moment in Oddity - Spider-Tailed Horned Viper

A snake that originates in Iran has a unique design for its tail. The tip of the Spider-Tailed Horned Viper's tail resembles exactly what its name indicates: a spider. The end of the tail is shaped like a creme or grey colored bulb and the scales that are near the end of the tail are long and thin and branch out, resembling little legs. A single Spider-Tailed Horned Viper was first discovered in the 60s and biologists thought it was a defect in the snake, until more were found later and it was classified as its own species when it was formally described in 2006. The snake uses the arachnid shaped tail much like a fishing lure. It shakes the end of its tail, so that any creatures that like to feed on insects will be lured close enough that the viper can strike. Victims include rodents and birds. The viper is the master of disguise as well. Its entire body is bumpy and colored like the surrounding terrain in sand and brown colors. This includes the snake's eyes. Snakes and spiders are creepy enough on their own. Combine the two and you have one terrifying oddity.

This Day in History - Huaynaputina Volcano Erupts

In Southern Peru lies a small volcano named Huaynaputina with a big history. On this day, February 19th, in 1600, this volcano exploded in the most violent eruption of any volcano recorded in South America. Huaynaputina is unique in that it does not rise high in elevation like most volcanoes, which resemble mountains. This volcano is located inside a caldera that was formed by a glacier. Because of the way it was formed, no one knew that it was a volcano. It was described as a ridge by those who saw it. That all changed when it erupted in an explosion that is considered one of the largest in the last 2000 years. It has been compared to the 1883 eruption of Krakatau. Within 24 hours, the nearby city of Arequipa was covered in 10 inches of ash. Pumice and ashfall covered areas up to 310 miles away. Lava flows traveled for 8 miles to the east and hot mud flows made it all the way to the Pacific Ocean 75 miles away. The eruptions continued on into March and people compared the sounds of the explosions to cannon fire. The indigenous people of the area blamed the eruption on their lack of sacrifice. They had once sacrificed humans and animals to appease the gods and they believed this eruption was their punishment for converting to Catholicism. When the volcano finally calmed, 1500 people had been killed. It took agriculture 150 years to recover.

The Life and Afterlife of Mark Twain

Mark Twain authored some of the most beloved stories in American literature. Everyone knows the story of
Tom Sawyer, his buddy Huck Finn and about whitewashing wood fences. Not many people know the details of the life of Mark Twain though. Twain's life was one of literary genius, but it was also one of financial ruin and immense pain when it came to his family life. The Twain's owned a home in Hartford, Connecticut and Twain claimed that the years that he and his family lived in the Hartford home were the happiest years of their life. They would eventually move from the home, but did their spirits actually leave the home? Twain was a lifelong skeptic, but is he now a true believer as his spirit continues to roam on this side of the veil?

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. Samuel was number six of seven children born to John and Jane Marshall Clemens. Only four of the Clemens children survived into adulthood. John Clemens himself died from pneumonia when Samuel was twelve years old. John Clemens was a lawyer and a judge and he moved his family to Hannibal, Missouri when Samuel was four. Hannibal was a growing port city in 1839 and the setting would provide inspiration for Samuel's future writing. Childhood was tough for Samuel. Not only did three of his siblings die, but he was a sickly child who was mostly kept inside until he was nine years old. He would visit his uncle's farm in the summers and spend hours at the slave quarters listening to their tales and songs. After his father's death, Samuel decided he was done with school and he dropped out taking a job as a printer's apprentice.

The printing business proved to be a good fit for Samuel and when he was fifteen he joined the paper his brother Orion owned, the Hannibal Journal, and he served as a printer and an editorial assistant there. He started contributing articles and bits of humor to the paper and found that he enjoyed writing. Samuel decided he wanted to see the world and have adventure when he was eighteen. He headed east and found work as a printer at several newspapers in New York and Philadelphia. In the evenings, Samuel would go to the libraries where he would educate himself and study subjects he would have never had an opportunity to study when he was in school.

As a boy, Samuel and his friends had discussed and dreamed about becoming steamship captains and pilots. Steamboat pilots made a lot of money. Following those dreams, Samuel headed back to Missouri in 1857. In St. Louis, Samuel became an apprentice to steamboat pilot Horace E. Bixby and learned how to steer a steamboat on a course that went from St. Louis to New Orleans. Samuel learned the intricacies of the Mississippi River, another skill that would contribute to his future writings. He also acquired his pen name at this time using lingo from the steamboat industry. The term "Mark Twain" meant that the river's depth was two fathoms or twelve feet. Steamboats needed at least two fathoms of depth to keep clear of the river bottom. Samuel liked the term, but he would not use the pseudonym until 1861. Samuel invited his younger brother Henry to join him as he trained and Henry accepted. It would be something Samuel would regret the rest of his life. On June 21, 1858, the steamboat Henry was working aboard exploded and he was killed. Samuel would always feel responsible for the death, but he finished his training and he received his pilot license in 1859. And then the Civil War started.

Traffic along the Mississippi was impeded by the war and Samuel decided to join the fight and enlisted with a Confederate unit called the Marion Rangers. The experience only lasted two weeks. Samuel wrote an article about it called "The Private History of a Campaign that Failed." He went out to Nevada to work for his brother Orion again, who now was Secretary of the Nevada Territory. The trip was an adventure. Samuel traveled by stagecoach, met Native Americans along the way and made a stop in the Mormon community in Salt Lake City.  He wrote a book of short stories named "Roughing It" that detailed the trip. Silver mining was hot in Nevada and Samuel even tried his hand at silver prospecting, but he failed horribly and went back to writing, taking a job at the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. It was at this time that he started using the name Mark Twain.

In 1864, Twain continued west, stopping in San Francisco and wrote for a paper there. By the next year, he had a piece that made it into many of the magazines and the papers in the nation entitled "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog." The short story was a tall tale about a gambler named Jim Smiley. The plot features a bet over a frog jumping contest. Based on that success, the Sacramento Union hired Twain to go to the Sandwich Islands and report on them. His stories were widely followed and when he returned to the Continental US he embarked on a lecture tour where his knack for stage performing was demonstrated.

His travel writing continued to the east and after arriving in New York, Twain set off for Europe and the Holy Land. The stories he wrote as he traveled were later compiled into his book "The Innocents Abroad" that was published in 1869. While he was traveling, he met Charles Langdon. The two men shared stories and Charles showed Twain a picture of his sister Olivia. It was love at first sight for Twain. Twain started writing Olivia and he asked her to marry him. She refused. He asked again a couple months later and she agreed. They married in 1870. They settled in Buffalo, New York where Twain was writing for and editing the Buffalo Express.

While in Buffalo, Langdon Clemens was born. Twain and Livy decided to move to Hartford, Connecticut and they rented a home there. Twain wanted to be closer to his publisher and at the time, Hartford was the city that had the highest per-capita income in America. Twain described Hartford as "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see, this is the chief...You do not know what beauty is if you have not been here." Tragedy would strike again for Twain as two year old Langdon came down with diphtheria. The disease killed the boy. But there was a light at that time as well when their daughter Susy was born. Twain published his novel "The Gilded Age" in 1873. The book was a social commentary on corruption and greed. In 1874, the Clemenses moved into a beautiful twenty-five room mansion they had built on Farmington Avenue. This home would see Twain's greatest successes and more tragedy.

 The Mark Twain House was designed by architect Edward Tuckerman Potter from New York. Construction began in 1873 while the Clemenses were traveling abroad and the project was plagued by delays and ever rising costs. When the family moved into the house in 1874, the construction was not yet finished. Daughter Clara was born that same year. The style of the home is Victorian Gothic Revival. It truly is a beautifully designed home and Livy played a big role in the design. Some claim that the house was designed to look like a riverboat. The decor reflected the family's world travels with inspiration from Japan, India, Morocco, China and Turkey. The top floor of the home was a billiards room and a private office where Twain did his writing and cursing. The library had embossed wallpaper, hand stenciled paneling, fireplaces from India and a large handcrafted mantel from Scotland. The children had their

own own nursery and playroom and a classroom where Livy taught the children. This was on the second floor along with the master bedroom. The entrance hall is ornate with a large wraparound staircase. The area features carved wood on the ceiling, wall paneling and banisters. In 1880, daughter Jean was born. In 1881, following the success of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," which had been published in1876, Twain decided to renovate and expand the home. The kitchen was rebuilt and doubled in size, a phone was added in the entrance hall and it was enlarged, the driveway was redone and the grounds were re-landscaped.

Twain wrote most of the works he is known for while living in this house. Out of this home came "The Gilded Age," "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "Life on the Mississippi," "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." He also started investing at this time and many of those investments would bring him to financial ruin. The typesetting machine that was invented by James W. Paige seemed like a great idea, so Twain invested heavily. Unfortunately, the linotype machine was invented at the same time by Whitlaw Reid and it proved to be a superior machine since the typesetter never worked properly. Twain also formed the Charles L. Webster & Company publishing firm. The company went bankrupt. Bank panics like the Panic of 1893 did not help either and by 1891, the Clemenses were looking for a way to get away. They decided to move to Europe.

In 1894, Twain, Livy and Clara set off on a lecture tour to try to get money to throw towards their ever growing debts. Susy and Jean stayed behind at the Hartford home. Susy contracted spinal meningitis and died in the home on August 18, 1896. She was only 24 and her death in the home made it so that Livy could not bear to return to the home. The Clemenses eventually would sell the home in 1903 and it would later serve as a school, then an apartment building and a library. The home was registered as a National Historic Landmark in 1962. The house was extensively renovated and turned into a museum dedicated to the life of Twain. In 2003, the Mark Twain Museum Center was opened and features documentaries, exhibits, a great hall, cafe and research library. Financial hardship almost closed the home in 2008, but it was back in black by 2011 after donations from the state, concerned citizens and businesses. Attendance is now record setting and the home generates millions in tourist dollars.

The years following Susy's death turned very dark for Twain and that darkness was reflected in his writing. Lectures followed suit with Twain even giving a harshly sarcastic introduction for Winston Churchill. Later works were rejected by magazines as they seemed to shed a bad light on Twain. Their were whispers of Twain turning traitor. The Clemenses lived in New York City from 1900 to 1903 when Livy became ill. Twain took her to Italy and she died in 1904. He returned to New York and then moved back to Connecticut in 1908. Twain's youngest daughter Jean died the following year from an epileptic seizure, leaving only Clara who was recently married. Twain died shortly thereafter on April 21, 1910 at the age of 74 from a heart attack. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York. Twain had paid off all his pre-bankruptcy debt even though he was no longer responsible for the debt before he died. Twain showcased in his writings a changing world whether it was via technology, attitudes about slavery, traveling, culture or observations on history. We are a better world for his gift of the written word.

Is there more still existing on this side of the veil in regards to Mark Twain than just his contributions through writing? Are the rumors of hauntings at the Mark Twain Home true? Before we discuss the paranormal aspects of this tour, we should touch on the spiritual beliefs of Twain.  Earlier we referred to the death of Twain's younger brother Henry aboard a steamboat that exploded. What we did not mention is that Twain dreamed about the event before it happened. This prompted him to explore parapsychology and he became interested in Spiritualism. He became an early member of the Society for Psychical Research. Spiritualism was in its heyday in the late 1800s, particularly in America. Eight million people in America and Europe belonged to the religion at that time. It was not weird for members of upper crust society to host seances in their parlor rooms.

As early as 1866, Twain wrote against Spiritualism calling it a "new and unprospected wildcat religion" in an article for the "Territorial Enterprise." But his interest in this religion grew, particularly after Susy died. He made attempts to contact her using the Ouija board. The Ouija board comes up again in regards to Twain after his death. A 1918 lawsuit was brought by the publishers of Mark Twain's writings, Harper & Brothers, against a publisher named Mitchell Kennerley who published a book named "Jap Herron." The book was written by Emily Grant Hutchings and she claimed that Mark Twain had dictated the novel to her letter by letter via a Ouija board. The case grew from a simple copyright infringement in regards to Mark Twain's name to a trial on the afterlife. Lawyers wanted to put the issue of immortality into the hands of the Supreme Court. The writing seemed to be above the level of what Ms. Hutchings usually put out, but many claimed that Jap Herron was not at Twain's level either. (To read the New York Times articles on this topic, please go here.) The case never went to trial after it was agreed that Jap Herron would not be distributed and most copies were destroyed.

Twain is a conundrum when it comes to the afterlife. Many people, including Twain himself, claim that he did not believe in an afterlife. The Mark Twain Museum currently is exhibiting "Spiritualism, Seances and Sam." The Interim Curator of the museum, Mallory Howard says on the website, "Mark Twain was fascinated with spiritualism, reveling in debunking seances as a young reporter in San Francisco, and maintaining skepticism on the subject all his life -- but sanctioning his wife Livy's attempts to seek solace in seances after their daughter's death. But the exhibition is broader than that -- it covers the gamut of spiritualism, mourning and attitudes toward death in his era and after, and how his attitudes fit into that continuum. We bring the story into the 20th century with an extraordinary collection of objects loaned by artist Calvin von Crush, and finally into the present century."

Would Twain approve? It's hard to say. Twain did write to Reverend JH Twichell, "Susy is gone, George is gone, Libby Hamersley, Ned Bunce, Henry Robinson. The friends are passing, one by one; our house, where such warm blood and such dear blood flowed so freely, is become a cemetery. But not in any repellent sense. Our dead are welcome there; their life made it beautiful, their death has hallowed it, we shall have them with us always, and there will be no parting."

The afterlife is active in the Clemenses beloved home though. Susy had died in the home and her manifestation is the one most reported by visitors and employees of the museum. She has been seen sitting on a round velvet couch in the front entryway. A young woman in a white dress has been seen floating in a hallway. A spirit was witnessed looking out of an upstairs window and even caught on film. Typical cold drafts and flickering lights have been reported as well as female giggling.

Susy is not the only female at the home. Many believe her mother Olivia resides at the home as well. She is seen wearing black with a black veil. A maid that the family had also seems to have returned in the afterlife to continue working in the home. A woman has been seen by an employee wearing a hoop skirt, but no one is sure which of the women this could have been. Clothing has been tugged and the laughter of children is heard as well.

The billiard room where Twain wrote and spent much of his time, reportedly has the smell of cigars in there on occasion and knocking is heard on the walls. Mark Twain's ghost has not been seen in the house, but supposedly has been seen walking the hallways of an apartment building in New York on West 10th Street where he once lived.  A woman claimed in the 1930s that she came into her apartment and saw a man with wild white hair sitting at a chair looking out the window. When she demanded to know who he was he told her, "My name is Clemens and I got problems here I gotta settle."

The basement is altogether another story. Reports of experiences in the basement are far from pleasant. A security guard claims that a silver serving tray was thrown at him when he was down there. Several people have reported hearing a growling sound when they are down there. A psychic exploring the basement was overcome with terror and ran from the house. Has something taken up residence here that is possibly demonic? Keep in mind that something could have been opened up with the use of seances and Ouija boards by Livy Clemens (although these were not used in the home) and paranormal investigators sometimes bring along supernatural hitchhikers with them.

Graveyard Shift tours are offered by the museum that explore spiritualism and haunting experiences. In 2009, Ghost Hunters investigated the site for their cable show and reported evidence. Has Samuel Clemens continued his writing in the afterlife? Is the Mark Twain House haunted? That is for you to decide.