Hiram Ohio
Garfield House
Well-known and ordinary spirits share this peaceful place.
Spirits let the people know in interesting ways that they are there…
DESCRIPTION
This lovely, privately owned mansion is a three story, “Greek Revival” house. It has narrow clapboards, painted a tasteful red shade. The mansion has large, old-fashioned windows, that have white shutters, which is a nice touch to the decorum.
HISTORY
This Greek Revival mansion was built in 1836, and tuned into a boarding house for faculty members of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute College. James Garfield went to school there from 1851-1854. After going to school and getting his degree at another college, Garfield eventually returned to Western Reserve to be a teacher and principle there, and stayed in this boarding house.
His friend, Almeda Booth, who was also a teacher stayed at this same boarding house as well. Almeda may have been in love with him, but Garfield wound up marrying Lucretia instead. After marrying in 1856, he and his wife lived in the house until 1861, when he joined the union army to fight in the Civil War. James Garfield went on to be elected President, but was assassinated after only serving one term in office, on Sept. 19th, 1881.
This mansion had several owners, up until 1907, when Marcia Henry, a teacher at the college, bought the place. Because her father had been a close friend of the Garfield family, the two families enjoyed a close relationship up until Garfield’s death in office.
This mansion was willed to Hiram College, where it stayed until 1961, when the Mallones moved it to its present location.
MANIFESTATIONS
The ghosts of James and Lucretia Garfield, Marcia Henry, Almeda Booth and a boy named Andrew seem to be going about their business in this house, enjoying the mansion, and finding some peace there.
When the house was moved and fixed up, they seemed to be activated out of their dormant state.
When Mr. and Mrs. Mallone and their daughter, Pam, lived in the mansion, they experienced these occurrences.
General Activity
Whenever they left the mansion, the dining room light would pop on.
For awhile, lights in their bedroom would pop on at 3:20 AM.
Faucets would be found running.
One summer, when it was 95 degrees out, the Mallones arrived home to find the temperature in their kitchen and dining room freezing cold. The dogs refused to enter these rooms.
Objects in the house moved and flew on their own volition. For example, a candle flew off the mantle and landed in the middle of the floor, and then jumped onto the love seat.
Candles would suddenly explode, sending wax everywhere.
Mr. Mallone was watching a ball game on the TV. He had set his drink of soda on the sewing machine, that was sitting beside his chair. When he tried to pick up the glass, it hopped out of his reach. When he tried again, it skipped across the sewing machine and fell on the floor, all by itself. This incident made a believer out of the skeptical Mr. Mallone.
The Front Door
The front door had a habit of opening itself up, even when it was securely locked.
The door knob didn’t work, and the door could only be opened by a Yale lock.
One night, in May of ’86, Pam, and her parents were in the front room. The front door was locked.
Suddenly, they all heard a click, and watched in utter amazement as the door swung open by itself.
Antics of Spirit of James Garfield
Whenever Garfield’s name was mentioned, the dining room light would flicker.
Garfield loved cigars. Mrs. Mallone would sometimes smell cigar smoke so strongly that her eyes would water, and she would have to cough.
A crossword puzzle in the paper had been done over night for the living, in a handwriting style not like anyone in the Mallone family.
Comparing the handwriting in the crossword puzzle to Garfield’s handwriting, the e’s were exactly the same.
Sometimes the Mallones would let a tape recorder run, on the advice they received from Mr. & Mrs. Warren;(mentioned below), to see if they could pick up anything.
Playing back a tape, they heard a man and a woman speaking Greek, discussing where to hang the picture. Garfield was fluent in Greek, and so was his wife.
Pam’s Bedroom
Pam Mallone had the same room that belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Garfield, and she experienced a lot of occurrences.
Once, when she tried to take a nap, the light above her suddenly turned on. She felt a male presence and heard him walk across the floor. Then, the light went out.
On various occasions, she found all the pictures on her walls taken down, and placed neatly in piles on the floor. Someone didn’t approve of her taste.
In the wee hours of the morning, Pam awoke absolutely freezing cold. Suddenly a woman appeared and took the blanket on the bottom of her bed and tucked it around her. Pam thanked her, and the woman left. After finding out that her mother hadn’t done that, she looked through an old faculty picture book from the college, and identified the kind woman as being Marcia Henry.
Early one morning, Mrs. Mallone saw a tall man enter the master bedroom and go over to the window, and gaze out of it. The figure vanished into thin air before her eyes.
PSYCHIC RESEARCH
Lorraine and Ed Warren, who are well-known psychics, came to check out the house, as they had just done a lecture at the college. They found the house had a number of good ghosts, and no evil ones.
Lorraine went into a light trance and saw a very small, sickly woman with respiratory problems who moved slowly through the rooms of the house. She was dressed in a long, flowing gown. She sensed that the woman was distant from her husband who also was in the house. There was an empty cradle in the living room and a source of sadness for the couple. (Mrs. Garfield was a tiny woman, who suffered from respiratory problems. She and Mr. Garfield didn’t have a happy marriage, and were withdrawn from each other. Their first born baby had died as well.) Lorraine went into the master bedroom and “felt a strong, domineering woman, with a masculine face.” This presence was later identified as Almeda Booth.
In an effort to learn something about the ghosts, psychic Leta Berecek came to the house several times and tried automatic writing during several sessions. This is when the psychic closes her eyes, holds the pen, and lets it write by itself.
First, a woman’s small, neat handwriting wrote about the child ghost Andrew, who was not a well boy when he was alive. He used to come over to the house and work jigsaw puzzles. The second ghost to write was Andrew himself, who said that he represented the ghosts in the house who knew they were dead, but enjoyed the house so much they stayed. He said that they would leave if the living wanted them to. He requested that the Mallones would burn more candles. He also would like Pam to make strings of popcorn and cranberries for the Christmas tree. Since Pam has started doing so, the tree lights glow steadily and don’t misbehave.
On another day, in another session, Berecek, who is right handed, put the pen in her left hand. It immediately started to write. The candle near Berecek “widened to several inches in diameter, and then shot a foot into the air.”
The writing on the paper, that corresponded to the flame activity, said “I am James Garfield. If you need proof, look at the candle. I am unhappy because so-called friends had me murdered.” Garfield was left-handed.
STILL HAUNTED?
Yes. Ghosts who enjoy the mansion hang around, willing to share the mansion with the living. Most of the ghosts, when living people, had lived in the mansion, when it was a boarding house, and are used to sharing it with other people.
Marcia Henry had really loved the mansion when she owned it, and had told her nephew that she would return after she died.
James Garfield is still angry about his assassination and betrayal by his friends, and would like justice to be done. He stays around a place where he was truly happy when alive, in hopes of finding some peace, as he can’t rest because of his anger toward his killers.
LOCATION
Garfield Road
Hiram, Ohio 44234
The Garfield House can be found on a hill, overlooking Garfield Road, at the edge of Hiram, Ohio.
It was rescued from destruction by the Mallone family, who moved the whole house to its present location. The city of Hiram is in Portage county in northeastern Ohio, 25 miles southeast of Cleveland.
Our Haunted Paranormal Stories are Written by Julie Carr
