The Old Woman in the Attic

St. Paul's Ramsey Hill consists of hundreds of grand Victorian houses, many of them restored. The house I've heard the most ghost stories about, the Chauncey Griggs House, sits among them on Summit Avenue. Outside the scrutiny of ghostlore fame, other shyer ghosts inhabit Ramsey Hill as well.

The Alexander Ramsey House (1868) in St. Paul of Ramsey Hill fame. Ramsey was the first Territorial Governor. And yes, it allegedly is haunted.

Several blocks from the Griggs house is a large late19th-century house. Its owner, a young professional man, reports that he shares his home with a woman ghost who "lives" on the third floor. When he first moved in, the ghost got his attention by repeatedly turning on the light in the upper stairwell that leads to the attic rooms.

Each evening as dusk came on, John would find the light on. He'd turn it off. The next night, he'd find it on again. He considered this a minor nuisance and thought little of it until he began hearing footsteps on the third floor and occasionally on the stairs after dark. Checks of the third floor revealed no one to be in the house but the owner. The attic remained dusty and vacant.

Far from being frightened, John felt sympathy for his home's unseen resident, whom he deduced by the soft, slow tread to be an elderly woman. He decided that they could share the house amicably, and so it has gone since that time.

Other people haven't been so kindly disposed toward the ghost. Several times when guests were visiting John, her footsteps sounded in the attic. After scaring the wits out of a couple by telling them about his upstairs ghost, John has chosen to edit what he tells visitors with jittery nerves. When someone asks him who is walking around in the attic, John replies, "the old woman upstairs," and no one is the wiser.

John even assists his ghostly housemate. When he comes home after dark, he turns on the stairwell light. Later in the evening, she considerately turns it off.

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I know from experience that if you think you have a ghost in your home, it is best to be judicious about telling overnight guests about it. In the 1990's we had an exchange student from Minsk, Belarus, stay at our house for several weeks. Zhenya was staying in the little nursery room at the top of the front staircase.

One day, I remarked casually about our resident ghost, Frank Cartwright. (One of the stories involving Frank: https://ghouliesghosties.blogspot.com/2021/12/ghost-of-winter-solstice-past.html). "A ghost?" replied Zhenya. "What's that?" We tried to explain what a ghost is, but Zhenya remained puzzled. He took out his English-Russian dictionary and looked it up. The blood drained from his face and his eyes grew big. "A Homeless One," he whispered, in complete shock.

Poor Zhenya couldn't sleep for the next week, worrying that Mr. Cartwright was going to appear by his bedside. We tried to reassure him that Frank never went into that room, that his appearances were few and far between, that he was a protective ghost, etc., etc.--all to no avail. 

Eventually, Zhenya got over his fear, and I learned my lesson: Don't mention ghosts to overnight guests. 

    "I ain't afraid of no ghosts!"