Girard Pennsylvania

The Battles Museums of Rural Life

Affable spectral members of the Battles and Reed families are still in residence…

Spectral children express themselves freely.

An accident victim is still suffering.

Old and young spirits are enjoying their afterlife.

This museum also gets decor hints from former owners.

Apparently, various items on display are shared with the spirits!

DESCRIPTION

Two different homes, The Charlotte Elizabeth Battles Memorial Museum, and the Battles Museum, are both part of The Battles Museums of Rural Life, run by the Erie County Historical Society.

The Yellow Battles Museum- Built by Rush Battles, in 1858, is a large, 2 story, solid and practical yellow farm home, with a few decorative dentils along the roofline, a decorative balcony over the front door, and a small, simple porch. It is pretty, well-made, but not extravagant.

The Battles were not fancy people, in love with their wealth, looking to put on airs! Looking in the front window, there is no grand hallway, but a simple entry, with stairs going up to the 2nd floor. Two rooms were on either side of the entry way. It served the family well through the years. By the side of the house is the customary square cellar door apart from the house, laying semi-flat on the ground, leading to the cellar storage.

The Charlotte Elizabeth Battles Memorial Museum, called The White House by the Battles, is a blue and white, beautiful Italianate style home, built by Rush Battles for his new bride, Charlotte, in 1861. While Rush didn’t go overboard, showing his wealth in the construction of this home, it is still a lovely structure, more ornate, with more bells and whistles than the original family structure that Rush built in 1858.

As improvements were needed, the home was transformed to meet the needs of the people who lived there. In the 1880’s, the enclosed sleeping porch, called the storm porch, was added to the front of the house.

In 1926, major improvements were made by Charlotte Elizabeth. A bathroom was added to the second floor, the oak floor was laid over the original pine floor throughout the house, the old roof was removed, and a new bedroom on the north side was added.

HISTORY

The Battles Museum: Yellow Farmhouse

Asa Battles Sr. came to Pennsylvania, and bought 300 acres in Girard, during 1822-1824, as an investment, and to provide a place to raise his large family of 6 children with his wife, Beth, in a farm environment. Asa sold some of the land to the city of Girard, for the Erie Extension Canal, which would bring commerce into Girard.

When Asa Sr. died in 1848, he left 130 acres of his farmland to two of his children; one of them being Rush Sobieski Battles, only 15 years old at the time. There were conditions attached to this inheritance. Rush’s responsibilities included not only caring for his family’s property, but also taking care of his mother and two unmarried sisters, Alcina and Lucina.

Ten years later, Rush Battles was now wearing three hats. He was a very successful lawyer who practiced in Girard, a caretaker and overseer of farm property and being a provider for his family.

In 1858-59, Rush used some of his built-up capital from his lawyerly earnings to build a new yellow farm house for himself and his mother and sisters. They all moved to this new home in 1859. Also in 1859, Rush, a man with a lot of get-up-and-go, invested some more of his savings and started a new venture with his partner Henry Webster, creating a bank called, Battles and Webster House of Banking, that went strong for 80 years!

Now it so happened that Henry Webster had a beautiful sister, named Charlotte. Poor Rush didn’t have a chance, as cupid struck! He started courting Charlotte in 1860, and married her, the love of his life, in March 28, 1861.

After their honeymoon, they temporarily moved into the yellow family farm house with his mother and two sisters, while Rush hired a contractor to build a new, more grander two story home close by, for his new bride. After their mother died, the sisters continued to live in the family yellow farmhouse until they died, in 1905, and 1909, out-living Rush, who died in 1904, at the age of 56.

After the sisters passed on, the Bowers family moved into the farmhouse in the early 1900s. A young Bowers child died of small pox in this house during this time. Over the years, other families also moved in, probably either other Battles family descendants, or perhaps the farmers who worked the Battles’ farmland for Charlotte, Charlotte Elizabeth and then Georgia, who all lived in the house next door, The White House.

The Charlotte Battles Memorial Museum: The White House

Rush and Charlotte, and their Family

While Rush and Charlotte had three children together, unfortunately only one, Charlotte Elizabeth Battles, survived to adulthood. Charlotte Elizabeth’s younger brother, James, and older sister, Mary, died in infancy/toddler-hood.

Charlotte Elizabeth Battles grew up to be a mover and a shaker, like her grandfather and father, with the smarts and the motivation to go after what she wanted in life. She went to Lake Erie Seminary and the Mount Vernon Seminary in Washington D.C.. Charlotte Elizabeth married the love of her life, Charles Barber, on October 16, 1886. They didn’t have any children, or perhaps didn’t have any that survived.

After mother Charlotte died, only two other owners lived in The White House (Charlotte Elizabeth Battles Memorial Museum) throughout the years; Charlotte Elizabeth and her husband, and Georgia Reed. Charlotte Elizabeth eventually inherited it all in 1920, when her mother died; including her father’s bank, both homes, as well as the family farm enterprise.

Charlotte Elizabeth wore several hats, following in her father’s footsteps. Besides being a wife and managing the farm, she was a music teacher, teaching the area’s children on her piano in the music room. She leased the piano to her students to practice on as well.

Charlotte was a talented artist, creating some lovely pictures, some of which hang in her home today. Her artistry is also on display on the wallpaper, in one of the rooms.

Charlotte Elizabeth helped to run the bank that was started by her father, and she was an active participant in the community of Girard, continuing the family tradition of developing the town’s economic outlook, as well as doing good works.

Charlotte Elizabeth had a generous heart. She donated a large sum of money to the Girard community, for the construction of schools. She was a pillar of the Girard community, honored and beloved by many who appreciated all her efforts and accomplishments. It is no wonder why they named this house museum after her.

In 1952, when Charlotte Elizabeth died, Georgia Reed, a very dear friend of Charlotte’s, inherited the Battles’ beloved home, The White House. With the help of tenant farmers, Georgia kept the farm going until her death in 1982.

Both houses and property had been put in a trust by Georgia, and willed to Erie County Historical Society, upon her passing. This organization has done a fine job keeping up with the upkeep and restoration of these homes, while opening them as house museums for the benefit of the public.

HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS

Tragic deaths can inspire hauntings.

East Stadium, Kansas State University, KS (The spirit of a football player who died from a tackle during the game, gets his chuckles at the expense of the living).

Palace Theatre, NY (A tragic mistake led to a haunting, due to embarrassment and shame).

Bee Bennett House, CA (Marcus Bennett Junior was a Three to four-year-old who died from a fall down the stairs. He must have been a handful for his nanny).

The Battles Museums of Rural Life, PA (A tragic event occurred, sometime during the history of the farming years. A farmhand, who was kicked in the head by a horse, was taken to the master bedroom, where he probably died. The accident was seen by a female occupant of the house).

Diseases, infections and untreated water killed many children in the 19th and 20th centuries before vaccines, drugs, antibiotics and treated water was available.

Collingwood Art Center, OH (In the Gerber House, a group of happy little children entities run around the hallways of the second floor, hiding from each other in the closets. They are seen and heard. Children are usually hit hard in epidemics, and perhaps these children also died in a Typhoid epidemic).

Myrtles Plantation, LA (Many residents, servants and slaves died of Yellow Fever, causing a lot of spirits to reside here).

Wood County Infirmary, OH (Eight people are known to have died from the turn-of-the-century flu epidemic. Other diseases and infections probably took other lives before the invention of vaccines and antibiotics).

Longwood House Museum, MS (Two little spirit children continue doing what they did before they died of disease, They reside in their family home with the spirits of their parents).

The Battles Museums of Rural Life, PA (Children died here from infections and diseases like Smallpox, Typhoid and Cholera).

Sometimes people love their home so much that they prefer to stay and keep an eye on the living, while continuing to enjoy their home in their afterlives.

McRaven Museum, MS (The spirits of former families who lived here are spending their afterlives in their forever home).

Glensheen Mansion and the Congdon Estate, MN (The spirit of Elizabeth must have felt betrayed because she was murdered by her daughter, who sent another to do the deed, who also killed the substitute nurse. The spirit of Elizabeth comforts both herself and her spectral nurse by enjoying the beauty of Glensheen and doing activities that bring peace and happiness).

Jame Garfield House National Historic Site, OH (Spirits of Garfield family members have strong reasons to reside and visit here).

The Battles Museums of Rural Life, PA (The spirits of family members have chosen to reside in their forever homes).

MANIFESTATIONS

Auditory Activity

Have happened in both The Charlotte Battles Memorial Museum and The Battles Museum.

The common clue of a haunting or a supervision by spirit people is the presence of footsteps in a place in the house where there is no one living to make them.

Staff and visitors of both homes have heard footsteps on the upper floors.

Charlotte Battles Memorial Museum: The sweet sound of children singing is heard in the first floor dining room.

Battles Museum: Children’s voices are heard in the yard, as they play.

Tactile Experiences

Charlotte Battles Memorial Museum:

Visitors and staff have had their clothes tugged on and touched by the little hands of children spirits while on the first floor.

Visual Occurences

Have happened in both Charlotte Battles Memorial Museum and The Battles Museum.

Objects have been moved to different spots than where they were left by the living.

Dishes and objects has been known to float around or fall by themselves.

The Battles Museum Incidents:
An antique oil lamp suddenly threw itself on the floor.
Other lamps have fallen by themselves as well.
Perhaps one of the child spirits knocked them off by accident, while playing, or perhaps someone has decor issues!

Charlotte Battles Memorial Museum Incidents:
The cats which reside in and around this house museum are attracted to and sometimes unnerved by unseen presences.
Animals can see spirits that the living can’t see.

Personal Appearances

The Battles Museum Incidents:

The spirit of an older female who is dressed in the traditional 19th century, Victorian black mourning clothes has been seen throughout the house, pleasantly going about her business at hand.
Where her apparition is seen by the living, the room’s temperature drops significantly.
The spirits of two young girls are still playing on the second floor, despite dying too young.

Charlotte Battles Memorial Museum Incidents:

The male spirit of the farmhand and the older female spirit who saw the accident: In the master bedroom, the staff have witnessed the tender scene of the farmhand laying on the bed, while the older female spirit cares for him, sometimes moving into the closet of the master bedroom to get something she needs.

The spirit of a male enjoys the view and surroundings on the second floor.

Another female spirit, who is thought to be Georgiana Reed, has been seen by staff, walking around the hallways, and standing in the bathroom addition on the second floor.

The Experience With Georgina:

A plumber was working on the pipes on the second floor, when he noticed an older, pleasant woman watching him work. He said something to her, but she didn’t say anything. When he looked up again, she was gone.

PARANORMAL FINDINGS

Staff and workmen have had many personal experiences. Paranormal investigators never leave disappointed. Pennsylvania Paranormal Investigations got some hard evidence in both houses.

In the Charlotte Battles Memorial Museum:

EVP’s have been recorded of a male spirit in the upstairs bedroom, and an older female spirit, in the front yard.

Two EVP’s of perhaps a child were recorded in the dining room.

In the Battles Museum:

In the upstairs bedroom, called the purple room, a cold spot was found, where an EVP of a small child was also recorded at the same time as the appearance of this cold spot.

On the left side of the farm house, a paranormal mist was caught on film, with a form in the middle, around 1 AM in the morning.

STILL HAUNTED?

A Big Yes Indeed!

Both old homes are indeed haunted, supervised by friendly spirit people, according to eyewitnesses, and backed up by hard evidence as well. Spirit children from toddlers to school-age still enjoy the home where they felt love and still play. Adult spirits who loved their homes have also chosen to stay and enjoy, sharing willingly with the living.

LOCATION

436 Walnut Street
Girard, PA 16507
Hours: Open by appointment. Call 814.454.1813 x32 to schedule a tour.
Admissions: $4/Adult, $3/Senior, $2/Child, $10/Family

The white and blue-colored Charlotte Battles house: (The Charlotte Elizabeth Battles Memorial Museum), and the older, yellow-colored Battles Farm House; (called simply the Battles Museum), can be found on Walnut Street, off of Hwy 20;(also called Main St E.) Traveling west on Main St, E., Walnut Street can be found between Shenango St. and Mechanics St.. Turn left onto Walnut. You will pass suburban homes, and Locust St., before you will come to the countryside, where the Battles’ 130 acre farm was located.

Our Haunted Paranormal Stories are Written by Julie Carr

Our Photos are copyrighted by Tom Carr

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