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A Haunting Revisited

Self-proclaimed ghost hunter recalls her childhood living in Aspen Grove.

The ghost legend of Aspen Grove has been covered by the Washington Post, NBC, and a 2007 episode of HGTV’s “If These Walls Could Talk,” but never quite like it has been recently by author, medical transcriptionist, and ghost hunter Sharon Day.

In a three-part series on her blog GHOST THEOR1E5, Day relives her childhood in Aspen Grove, including details of relic discoveries, commentary on memorable events, as well as the effect the spirits may have had in the death of her family members after they moved away.

“I ask a lot questions of the field of the paranormal,” she said.  “I talk about my experiences and invite the readers in for discussions that go back and forth and inspire new lines of thought.”

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She got the idea for the blog in 2008 from her son, Alex, while bedridden from an Achilles tendon surgery. It's a “forum for the odd folk, paranormal theories, horror, humor; a real mind carnival," she said.

For Day, 48, that carnival began when she was 2 years old. She was the youngest of five children to move onto the estate. Her father worked for the postal office in Washington D.C. and her mother was an artist and historian who deeply loved the house for its illustrious past. As a child, Day roamed the property with a metal detector, finding old relics including bullets, cannonball fragments and, her favorite, a buried row of small tin soldiers.

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Built in 1750, the Aspen Grove Estate was used by the Sagar family as a station in the Underground Railroad, before being fought over as a hospital by both sides during the Civil War.  

The ghost might have been one of the many soldiers that died on the front lawn. Legend has it a barefoot Union soldier was killed on the lawn in the middle of the night. He's been looking for his boots ever since.

In her blog, Day recounts the first time she saw the chandelier begin to shake, causing the Waterford Crystal to jingle. She couldn't explain it away in a home with no heat or central air.  Day said this incident was what made her want to gather equipment and ghost hunt as an adult, something now she does every month.

Day goes on to recount hearing sounds similar to people pulling out chairs, slamming fists on the table, running up and down the stairs, and even arguing.

“I grew up thinking the things you heard or caught glimpses of were normal,” she explained. “When you're a baby growing up with phenomena, it's a part of 'normal' physics, like when a kid throws a ball in the air and it comes back down. They don't ask why. Well, a couple times I saw things move on their own and it seemed normal. I didn't question it. I was older when I realized it was unusual.”

The strange incidents didn't stop, even after the family moved out of the estate. Her father, brother and sister died in a span of 11 years, all under bizarre circumstances. Oddly enough, the new tenants insisted that they saw her father at an outdoor dinner party while he was physically lying on his deathbed in an Arizona hospital. 

Day isn't the only one with stories to tell.

Former owner Joanne McGregor told the Burke connection: “He’s a good ghost, just a little clumsy."

Bob Garfield published an article in an 1996 edition of the Washington Post about his time on the estate, claiming the ghost stories were the creaks and groans of an old house. But he couldn’t offer a very plausible explanation as to how a set of cabinets were ripped out of the wall with only his young daughter as a witness.

Today, the house is inhabited by realtor Betsy Rutkowski, who in 10 years has only heard the occasional footstep on the stairs. Twice the overhead light in the master bedroom turned on in the middle of the night, she said. Oddly enough, both Rutkowski’s stepdaughters and Sharon Day felt the same sensation of a “ghost” touching them on the feet in their sleep.

“We found out about the ‘ghosts’ after we made the offer,” she said.  “I loved the house so much, I told myself we would live amongst ‘them’ and would not bother ‘them’ if they did not bother us.”

Although Rutkowski has yet to read the blog, she occasionally exchanges emails with Day, who likes to check in on the ghosts of her past. She believes her deceased family is now there in spirit.

“My ultimate dream,” Day wrote. “Is to go there (Aspen Grove) for a hunt with my team, the right equipment and a film crew to document a hunt like no other; a predetermined hunt with spirits waiting and willing to make contact.”

It seems Day will have to wait to fulfill this desire, as Rutkowski wants no part in the exploration.

“I am open to folks visiting the house for history’s sake and appreciation,” she said. “But I would absolutely not like the idea of conjuring up spirits, ghosts… I would not want to disturb any peaceful souls.”

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