It was just a whisper.
Isaiah Collins, a carpenter, was replacing a window when words echoed softly through the room. "You're doing just fine," a voice said.
There was only one problem. No one else was in the room with Collins. "I heard him talking at the side of my head," Collins said. "It had to be a ghost."
Collins was replacing a window inside the Pythian Castle, a Springfield, Mo., structure built in the early 1900s to house orphans. The castle is now owned by Tamara Finocchiaro, and she says it's haunted.
"We didn't know it was haunted, but we figured it out pretty quick," Finocchiaro, 41, said. "I didn't believe in ghosts when I moved here. I do now."
The 55-room castle, built by the Knights of Pythias, has been certified by the Ozark Paranormal Society as a haunted dwelling, according to Finocchiaro, who bought the castle in 2003. Among the castle's rooms is a ballroom, movie theater (the oldest in Springfield), king's room, and even a dungeon. There's also a 300-foot underground tunnel that connects to an adjoining property.
Built in 1913, the castle housed orphans until the 1940s when it was bought by the military. Stage performers such as Bob Hope entertained officers stationed at the castle.
Prisoners of war were kept in the basement. A wall in one of the basement rooms is riddled with bullet holes ? fired by military officers to make enemy combatants talk, Finocchiaro said.
In 1993, the castle was bought by a farmer. The cost? "He paid $4,000," she said. "Can you believe it?"
Weddings, murder mystery nights, tours, conventions and castle rentals are offered, Finocchiaro said. Dance classes such as salsa, ballroom dancing and swing are also availible, she said.
Before opening to the public, the castle underwent major renovations. Finnocchiaro said the cost of buying and renovating the castle was about $500,000. Many rooms still need to be refurbished, she said.
Encounters with ghosts have been numerous.
One night, Finnocchiaro's mother, M.J. Page, woke up to the howlings of their three whippet dogs. As she stumbled through the darkness, Page said she heard crates being stacked in the basement.
No one was in the basement, and the dogs refused to go in. "I wasn't going by myself, and the dogs weren't going either," Page said. "It's something you'll never forget."
One of the ghosts in the castle, A.J., dwells in the movie theater, Finocchiaro said. She said he's a good ghost; he talks to workers as they renovate the room.
A.J. was a black man who worked in the theater in the 1930s, Finocchiaro said.
Johnny Lambert, a dance instructor at the castle, said a ghost chased him through the theater one night. "I knew something was behind me; it was very weird," Lambert said. "Before that, I really didn't think there were ghosts."
Finocchiaro said she's had several experiences with ghosts, as well. At night, she says some of the ghosts talk to her. "I swear to God they've woke me up," she said. Most of the ghosts are friendly, she said. Paranormal researchers have found mostly green orbs, a signature of a "friendly" ghost, throughout the castle. Red or black orbs denote "troubled" or "restless" ghosts, she said.
Ghost hunters think she has troubled spirits in her basement. "Sometimes I get really strange feelings when I'm down there," Finnocchiaro said. She said she doesn't know if any of the ghosts are of children who lived there when it was an orphanage.
Despite the ghosts, Finnocchiaro said she and her mother love their new home. An aerial dance artist, she said she plans to expand the activities and offerings at the castle, including kids' circus training and an adult-only New Year's Eve Party.
Do visitors see ghosts?
"All the time," Finocchiaro said.
For more information, contact (417) 865-1464 or visit her Web site at pythiancastle.com.
Source: http://www.baxterbulletin.com/apps/pbcs ... 002/NEWS01
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