The Anchorage ft. Melisa Viva Farris (Historic Hauntings Series)

[00:00:02] From the darkest reaches of space to the deepest corners of your mind. Welcome to From The Void.

[00:00:18] Welcome back to the From The Void Podcast. I'm your host, John Williamson, and this is our second episode of our three-part series on historic haunted locations.

[00:00:27] This week, I bring you the anchorage in one of my favorite spooky towns, historic Marietta, Ohio.

[00:00:34] Why Marietta, you ask? Well, first off, it's got a ton of really cool history.

[00:00:39] Marietta was founded in 1788 by pioneers to the Ohio country. It was also the first permanent settlement in the newly established Northwest Territory, or what would later become the state of Ohio.

[00:00:51] The name Marietta is in tribute to Marie Antoinette, the then Queen of France, in honor of the aid provided by the French in the American Revolution.

[00:00:58] The land where Marietta was founded was already inhabited by a number of native tribes of the Hopewell tradition,

[00:01:05] who built the Marietta earthworks, a complex more than 1,500 years old, whose Great Mound and other major monuments were preserved by the earliest settlers.

[00:01:14] One really cool place you can visit is Mound Cemetery, unique because the cemetery is built with the Great Mound at its center.

[00:01:22] Other interesting facts about Marietta is that it is home to the largest concentration of Revolutionary War officers' burial sites in the entire nation.

[00:01:32] After the Revolutionary War, the United States continued to grow as a country and soon made plans for a capital city,

[00:01:38] and Marietta was included in the list of potential locations.

[00:01:42] It was actually one of seven potential contenders back in the 1780s to become the nation's capital, but obviously lost out to Washington, D.C.

[00:01:52] In later years, Marietta also played a pivotal role in the Underground Railroad during the American Civil War.

[00:01:58] Today, Marietta has a population of a little more than 13,000 people and embraces their rich history.

[00:02:03] Beyond the Anchorage, there is a ton of other establishments that purport to have ghostly activity as well.

[00:02:09] A couple of those places include the Lafayette Hotel and the Hackett Hotel just around the corner.

[00:02:15] Shout out to Amber, who tends bar at the Lafayette, and to one of the best burgers I've ever eaten in my life from the galley, the restaurant at the Hackett.

[00:02:22] In this episode, we'll focus on the Anchorage Mansion, though.

[00:02:25] We've taken a couple visits to Marietta over this past year, and on our first trip, spent a good deal of time at the Anchorage,

[00:02:31] and had an experience we'll discuss later in the episode.

[00:02:33] On our second visit, we had the pleasure of sitting down with the incredible Viva.

[00:02:38] Viva is one of the amazing folks who give regular tours at the Anchorage, and is part of the Hidden Marietta Tour Company.

[00:02:44] What you're about to hear is our conversation with her, recorded live at the Anchorage,

[00:02:48] where we actually set up on the second floor, where there are all sorts of reports of ghostly activity.

[00:02:55] So, if you hear any strange noises during the interview that aren't us, let us know at thefromthevoidpodcast at gmail.com.

[00:03:03] And as I said, we'll also tell you about the experience that we had on the third floor that, to this day, we can't quite explain.

[00:03:10] But I'll let you be the judge.

[00:03:12] Here's Viva talking about the history of the Anchorage.

[00:03:16] Well, firstly, my name is Viva. I'm one of the co-owners with Hidden Marietta.

[00:03:21] We partner with the Washington County Historical Society to be able to run tours and events out of the Anchorage Mansion,

[00:03:26] which is in Marietta, Ohio.

[00:03:29] In regards to the history of the house, it is over 160 years old,

[00:03:33] which means that it was built in 1859 by a gentleman named Douglas Putnam.

[00:03:37] He built it for his wife, Eliza Putnam, and both of them, obviously, were madly in love.

[00:03:43] But Eliza was only able to enjoy the house for three years before she passed away here due to heart failure.

[00:03:49] The room that she actually passed away in is just behind this wall here, so that room over there.

[00:03:55] That would have been the room that her and Douglas both shared.

[00:03:58] Eventually, after she passed and some time went by, he did end up remarrying.

[00:04:04] And he lived here a lot longer than she got the chance to.

[00:04:09] And then eventually, he did end up passing away here as well in that same bedroom.

[00:04:15] Luckily, a little side note as well, the castle here in town, which is located on 4th Street,

[00:04:21] they have a storage unit that they were going through and cleaning up and stuff.

[00:04:26] And they actually found Douglas' original bed, like his bed frame.

[00:04:30] So we now have his bed frame inside of that room, too.

[00:04:33] So we don't know if that's the bed frame that him and Eliza both shared.

[00:04:38] We don't know if that's the bed frame that he would have passed away in or anything.

[00:04:43] But it did come with, like, information that was authenticated and known to be signed off by Douglas Putnam.

[00:04:52] So that would have been a Putnam bed.

[00:04:53] So we're very happy to be able to have that in our possession again.

[00:04:56] But now, the house was supposed to just be a residence.

[00:05:02] It went from owner to owner after Douglas had passed away.

[00:05:07] It's very unfortunate that it didn't stay within the Putnam name.

[00:05:12] But a few of the owners did love and take care of the house as best they possibly could with a house this massive.

[00:05:18] But the second longest owner of this home was that of Eddie McTaggart.

[00:05:24] He was an oil and gas man here in the area.

[00:05:28] He lived here, I think, from 1911 to when he passed away in 1953.

[00:05:32] So he would have been the second longest owner of the household.

[00:05:36] And him and Douglas, we kind of see them both as the men of the house.

[00:05:41] So they kind of both carry that crown or sit on that throne or what have you.

[00:05:48] Douglas was in love with the area, in love with the community.

[00:05:52] He was in love with this sort of architecture, Eliza more so.

[00:05:56] She saw the beautiful, like, Italian at homes that they had in New England when she went to go visit a friend.

[00:06:02] And she came back here and she didn't see anything like it.

[00:06:04] So, of course, her knowing how easy and easily pliable Douglas was, she pretty much just batted her eyes and said,

[00:06:14] Pretty please?

[00:06:14] And he gave her exactly what she wanted, which is always really nice, you know.

[00:06:19] It's always good for a guy to kind of give you what you want.

[00:06:22] But he gave her exactly what she wanted.

[00:06:25] And this was a combination between both of their brains put together and as well as using John Slocum, who was a local architect here.

[00:06:39] He built this house as well as the castle, as well as Henderson Hall, which is over in West Virginia.

[00:06:47] And I do believe he also had a hand in several of the churches here in the area as well.

[00:06:53] So he was very well known, very well utilized in the area as being a very, very good architect.

[00:07:01] Now, the history of it, for the most part, like I said, especially when it comes to the residents here,

[00:07:08] all the residents were very community-based, charity-based.

[00:07:12] Douglas and Eliza were known to be very open-minded.

[00:07:15] They believed in women's rights.

[00:07:17] They believed in the freedom of slaves and everything.

[00:07:22] Of course, a lot of people speculate that this house was one of the stops on the Underground Railroad.

[00:07:29] Now, of course, we can't confirm or deny that.

[00:07:31] But we do know that Douglas would have had very strong opinions about setting people free

[00:07:35] and treating everyone as equals in some way, shape, or form.

[00:07:40] And his brother, David Putnam Jr., was a known abolitionist in the area.

[00:07:46] He lived just next door, right through the trees.

[00:07:50] So there was no way with his brother living right next door, doing the stuff that he was doing,

[00:07:54] that he wasn't going to help his big brother out.

[00:07:56] So, yeah, it's known that the Putnams would have been very charitable, very open-minded people.

[00:08:06] Several of the owners beyond them would have also shared that same sort of love.

[00:08:11] And it continued on all the way through with Eddie Van Taggart.

[00:08:14] He was a big lover of music, so he ended up actually funding Marietta College here in town.

[00:08:23] And after he passed away, he willed a large portion of his fortune over to the Marietta College,

[00:08:29] and they created a music program that's named after him now.

[00:08:32] But, of course, even with all of those wonderful things,

[00:08:36] after the residency history of the house stopped, it was turned into a nursing home in the 60s.

[00:08:44] It was bought by a Christian church here in the area,

[00:08:49] and it was known as the Christian Anchorage Nursing Home.

[00:08:53] It was a nursing home for 26 years, and there was a lot of...

[00:09:00] Oh, what's the best word for it?

[00:09:03] People weren't very well taken care of after time went on,

[00:09:07] which was pretty commonplace when it comes to medical facilities back then

[00:09:12] and asylums and prisons and stuff like that.

[00:09:15] Just the sheer amount of people that were being admitted into medical facilities and stuff

[00:09:22] and going to prisons and everything,

[00:09:24] eventually the resources start to dwindle down.

[00:09:26] Eventually the staffing starts to dwindle down,

[00:09:28] and that pretty much just leaves no real care when it comes to those individuals.

[00:09:35] But, yeah, the facility was supposed to hold about 30 people

[00:09:41] and ended up holding maybe double that.

[00:09:43] So it was definitely overrun with people.

[00:09:46] Of course, when it comes to the sheer size of the house, it is massive.

[00:09:51] When you think about just living here, like just two people living here, a couple,

[00:09:55] it's a lot of house to try to take care of.

[00:09:58] Even if you have kids, it's still a lot of house to take care of.

[00:10:02] But when you think about a nursing facility or a medical facility,

[00:10:06] you think about not only people, but you also think about beds.

[00:10:10] You think about wheelchairs.

[00:10:11] You think about bedside commodes, and you think about the smells,

[00:10:16] and you think about the mental disabilities some people might have,

[00:10:21] and you think about all the different challenges that come with having a facility like that.

[00:10:24] It was even more so in a place like this because this house wasn't made to be a nursing home.

[00:10:31] It was made to be a place where people lived.

[00:10:34] Unfortunately, there were several people that passed away when this was a nursing home.

[00:10:40] During our research, we found about 79 patients that have passed away.

[00:10:46] But it could possibly be, well, it definitely would be more than that simply because HIPAA is a thing.

[00:10:54] And because of HIPAA, we can't get to some of those medical records and whatnot.

[00:10:59] So it makes it a little bit harder to be able to kind of give an actual number on that sort of stuff.

[00:11:07] So unfortunately, 79, as far as patients go, we know passed away here.

[00:11:13] And then, of course, you have Douglas and Eliza.

[00:11:16] They both passed away here.

[00:11:18] Eddie McTaggart, he didn't pass away here, but he is still known to kind of wander throughout the house.

[00:11:26] And after he passed away, he willed the house over to his sister.

[00:11:29] And his sister lived here for 10 years.

[00:11:31] She was the very last resident that lived here in the house.

[00:11:34] And she passed away here as well.

[00:11:37] As far as the cast of characters, there are obviously the main characters.

[00:11:43] I kind of look at it like as a movie where you have the main characters and you have the extras.

[00:11:50] So we have Douglas and Eliza, obviously the man and woman of the house.

[00:11:54] They are absolutely here.

[00:11:56] Eliza would have been the very first one to continue to stay here simply because this was her dream home.

[00:12:03] She was the first one to pass away here.

[00:12:05] And she's not going to part with this place whatsoever.

[00:12:08] Douglas would have been the second one after that.

[00:12:10] And there was a carriageman that passed away back in the servants' quarters as well.

[00:12:18] I think this was late 1800s, early 1900s.

[00:12:23] It was right about that time where the century was transitioning.

[00:12:27] But he had passed away while he was sleeping.

[00:12:30] He inhaled the fumes from a gas lantern.

[00:12:35] The flame went out and the fumes, he just breathed it in and passed away when he was sleeping.

[00:12:41] But he passed away back in the servants' quarters.

[00:12:46] And then, of course, Eddie, his sister Sophia, and then it was just a bunch of patients.

[00:12:51] So we do have the three main ones, Douglas, Eliza, and Eddie.

[00:12:58] Sophia, his sister, likes to come out from time to time.

[00:13:00] Most of the time she stays in her room, which is just over here.

[00:13:04] But we do also have two little girl spirits that hang out here in the house as well.

[00:13:10] And their names are Henrietta and Clara Bell.

[00:13:13] And both of them are known to kind of wander throughout the entire house.

[00:13:19] So we usually will have, like, toys and stuff all over the place just for them to be able to play with something.

[00:13:25] And not fuck with our stuff in the shop.

[00:13:30] To say the least.

[00:13:32] That's putting it nicely.

[00:13:34] There have been several times we'll be sitting downstairs in the shop and we'll have, like, a book fly off the shelf.

[00:13:39] Or we'll have a chest that has crystals.

[00:13:44] Like, you get, like, a little scoop of crystals put in a little baggie.

[00:13:47] And we'll have a crystal come launching across the room at you.

[00:13:52] We'll have stuff just move.

[00:13:55] Like, misplace and move around and stuff.

[00:13:57] And it's like, what the heck is happening?

[00:14:00] Like, what the heck is happening?

[00:14:01] But it's just normal for them to just do things like that.

[00:14:05] And the way I see it, they're comfortable here.

[00:14:07] They're happy here.

[00:14:09] So we're just going to continue to let them be kids, you know.

[00:14:13] Of course, we don't know how Henrietta came to be.

[00:14:16] We know that there were two Henriettas that passed away here when this was a nursing home.

[00:14:20] But Clara Bell was actually a patient here.

[00:14:23] She was in her mid to late 40s, but she had the mental capacity of a child.

[00:14:27] So she passed.

[00:14:28] She didn't pass away here either.

[00:14:30] She passed away at a different nursing facility.

[00:14:32] But when she was living here, she would always say that there was a little girl that would visit her named Henrietta.

[00:14:38] And they would play games together.

[00:14:40] They would talk.

[00:14:41] They would play with dolls and stuff like that.

[00:14:44] So it was really commonplace for her to see this little girl that now we know is haunting this house.

[00:14:52] And they're like joined at the hip, basically.

[00:14:56] Usually you see one, you see the other, you hear one, you hear the other.

[00:15:00] They always move in packs.

[00:15:02] They move in twos.

[00:15:04] But we're happy that Henrietta has a playmate now.

[00:15:08] And they have each other.

[00:15:09] And they really just were like, we are officially BFFs.

[00:15:14] And that's totally fine.

[00:15:16] So we do have those five main characters.

[00:15:20] Then we have our side characters like Walter.

[00:15:23] He hangs out downstairs.

[00:15:24] And he is an old man that passed away when this was a nursing home.

[00:15:28] He died in the 70s from a massive heart attack.

[00:15:32] But he has just decided to stick around and be mischievous.

[00:15:35] And he likes to scare people.

[00:15:38] Sorry, I scared you guys last time.

[00:15:41] Really, I'm so sorry.

[00:15:43] But he likes to scare people.

[00:15:45] He likes to scare people in the bathroom or in the billiard room just outside the bathroom or the main hall or the dining room and blah, blah, blah.

[00:15:54] So that's what he usually likes to do.

[00:15:56] Then we also have Casanova, which hangs out in the servants' quarters.

[00:16:02] And he is like your quintessential horny old man in a nursing home.

[00:16:08] So he's the one, even though I always tell people like we don't have any aggressive spirits here.

[00:16:13] We don't have anything malicious.

[00:16:15] We don't have anything evil.

[00:16:16] It's all just old people that are either confused or just raunchy for no fucking reason.

[00:16:24] But he's known to, I guess, be the more touchy spirit that we have.

[00:16:28] So he will grab your butt, pull your hair, hold your hand.

[00:16:33] He's grabbed people's boobs before.

[00:16:35] A lady said that she was like up against the wall and she felt like somebody was like hugging her while she was there and she was kind of frozen.

[00:16:44] He mostly shows himself as a shadow figure as well back there.

[00:16:48] And that's honestly like the second spookiest place in the entire house.

[00:16:57] But I would say that the attic is the spookiest place.

[00:17:01] Not only because of the plethora of toys that we have up there, but also because of the fact that the little girls do tend to hang out up there.

[00:17:13] There is a patient that is also up there as well.

[00:17:16] And he tends to be a little bit more aggressive with the girls, not so much people.

[00:17:21] But he's an attention whore, for lack of better words.

[00:17:23] And if you don't give him attention, he just gets annoyed.

[00:17:26] And he will like show himself or like peek around corners and stuff to try to startle you.

[00:17:34] And we've heard him like rushing up the attic steps and everything just to get people to acknowledge him.

[00:17:39] And he's just an attention whore.

[00:17:41] So we tell people not to even pay attention to him unless you absolutely want to talk to him.

[00:17:46] Don't even focus on him whatsoever.

[00:17:47] He's a pain in the butt.

[00:17:48] Because they post.

[00:17:50] But then, of course, you just have the random patients that kind of go back and forth.

[00:17:58] The one thing that I always like to stress to people is not everything is an intelligent haunting.

[00:18:04] Some stuff is just a residual haunting.

[00:18:06] So it's just something that is imprinted in a location, in the soil, the ground, the building, the object.

[00:18:14] Sometimes it's just a reverberation through time.

[00:18:17] It has to be the right time, the right energy, the right temperature, the right time of year, the right moon cycle.

[00:18:24] And that energy will reverberate out and present itself.

[00:18:29] And sometimes people do see that as an intelligent, legitimate haunting.

[00:18:37] But we do have some residual hauntings here.

[00:18:41] This is kind of like a really good place to see movement and shadow figures and stuff.

[00:18:46] And a lot of the time, those movements and those shadow figures and those noises that we hear are just something that's going to happen whether we're there or not.

[00:18:56] It's not anything that's going to interact.

[00:18:58] It's not anything that's going to do anything opposite of what it normally does.

[00:19:03] It's just going to continue on that regular path.

[00:19:05] So I always stress to people whenever they come in here to investigate is to understand the difference between an intelligent and a residual haunting.

[00:19:16] And also understand that it's an old building.

[00:19:18] And it's going to make noises.

[00:19:20] It's going to creak.

[00:19:21] It's going to pop.

[00:19:21] It's going to do all those things.

[00:19:23] It's not demons like Zach Bagans likes to present.

[00:19:27] Oh, Zach.

[00:19:28] Oh, Zach.

[00:19:29] Zach.

[00:19:30] But I always like to tell people, even though you want something paranormal to happen, it's always good to lead with a logical mind.

[00:19:38] Because a lot of stuff can just be explained away.

[00:19:41] A lot of stuff can just be your mind playing tricks on you.

[00:19:45] Especially if you're just starting out.

[00:19:47] It's always good to do your research about the place.

[00:19:50] Do your research about the claims.

[00:19:51] Do your research about the time of year.

[00:19:54] And see what you might be able to come up with.

[00:19:58] And this place is no different.

[00:20:00] I can honestly say that this place does have a lot of intelligent interactions here with patients, with previous owners and everything, with the kids.

[00:20:12] But there is a small chunk that is just something that is residual.

[00:20:16] And it's going to do it whether you're here or not.

[00:20:21] So as I mentioned before, Ashley and I did a ghost hunt at the Anchorage back in February.

[00:20:26] And had our own experience.

[00:20:27] We had done a tour beforehand with one of the awesome tour guides, Kristen.

[00:20:31] Whose mom actually worked at the Anchorage back in the days that it functioned as a nursing home.

[00:20:37] While on the tour, Kristen mentions Walter, the grumpy spirit who resides on the third floor.

[00:20:42] And that he specifically likes to hang out in this little room off the side from the area where the children used to play in the days it was a functional home.

[00:20:50] Kristen also points out a sign that says,

[00:20:53] Do not enter because A, the room is largely used for storage now.

[00:20:57] And B, Walter likes to throw things.

[00:21:00] And is apparently the reason that one of the glass panes on the door is broken out.

[00:21:04] Anyway, later in the evening, as Ashley and I are walking around and scouting out each area of the house,

[00:21:09] we eventually decide to go up to the third floor.

[00:21:11] We're thinking, hey, we're the parents of little girls, so maybe we can get the spirits of the two girls reported to be there to interact with us.

[00:21:18] At this point, we aren't even thinking about grumpy Walter.

[00:21:21] So we go up there and we sit down on a couple of the chairs in the room and start to play with some of the toys that are left out.

[00:21:27] At one point, I shine my flashlight near the door with the do not enter sign.

[00:21:31] And Ashley says, hey, wasn't that door completely shut before?

[00:21:35] Ever the skeptic, I blow it off because I'm convinced it was always cracked open.

[00:21:39] But Ashley is adamant.

[00:21:41] When the investigation is over, she goes up to Kristen and asks, hey, was that door closed before?

[00:21:47] And Kristen says, well, yes, it was.

[00:21:49] Well, it isn't now, Ashley tells her.

[00:21:51] And Kristen says, what?

[00:21:52] And then follow me.

[00:21:54] And we proceed to follow her back up to the third floor where Kristen sets out a recorder and proceeds to ask Walter questions.

[00:22:00] This whole time I'm recording video just in case anything crazy happens.

[00:22:04] Still convinced that the door wasn't open this whole time.

[00:22:08] It isn't until we go back to our hotel later that night and compare the pictures from the beginning of the night to the end of the night

[00:22:14] that I see the clear as day evidence that the door was very much closed and is now open by a couple of feet.

[00:22:21] I'd also like to point out that this door has no doorknob.

[00:22:24] So to close it, Kristen had to reach her arm through the hole in the pane to pull it shut again.

[00:22:29] And while doing so, we could hear the clear resistance of the scraping against the floor.

[00:22:33] So it's not as if the door blew open due to a breeze or a change in air pressure.

[00:22:38] I'll post pictures of the before and after on our website as well as our Instagram.

[00:22:42] So you be the judge.

[00:22:44] Here's Viva with some of her favorite stories from the Anchorage.

[00:22:47] Yeah, one of my favorite moments is my interaction with Walter downstairs on the first floor.

[00:22:57] It's one that I always get a kick out of telling only because it's really just the funniest thing.

[00:23:04] I was working in the shop and, you know, it was really slow.

[00:23:07] Nobody was coming in or anything, blah, blah, blah.

[00:23:09] And I'm like, you know what?

[00:23:11] Nobody's been in here for a while.

[00:23:12] I'm going to go use the bathroom.

[00:23:13] Go in the bathroom, close, lock the door.

[00:23:16] I made sure the shop door was locked and everything.

[00:23:19] Put a sign up, like, be right back.

[00:23:20] But I go to the bathroom, close, lock the door, and as I'm, you know, sitting there on the toilet

[00:23:27] and I'm swiping through my phone, I see a head and shoulders pop through the door.

[00:23:33] It was an older man, and he was balding, and you can see, like, the collar of his shirt

[00:23:38] and, like, his shoulders and stuff.

[00:23:40] And the door was closed, so he popped directly through the door.

[00:23:44] And I just paused the video I was watching, and I looked out the corner of my eye,

[00:23:49] and I'm like, Walter, it is not the time.

[00:23:52] And his head and shoulders just popped right back through the door,

[00:23:56] and it was maybe a five-second interaction.

[00:24:00] And I always tell people, you know, realistically, for something that wild to happen,

[00:24:06] the best place to be is in the bathroom.

[00:24:09] So it would have been the perfect time, because if you shit yourself, you're already right

[00:24:12] around the corner.

[00:24:13] That's true.

[00:24:14] So you have nothing to worry about.

[00:24:16] That's right.

[00:24:16] You can clean up.

[00:24:17] Yeah.

[00:24:18] You've got a great story.

[00:24:19] Exactly.

[00:24:19] And no mess.

[00:24:21] No mess.

[00:24:21] Exactly.

[00:24:22] So, yeah, it was definitely a very funny story, and I love telling that story, because

[00:24:28] it's just so silly.

[00:24:31] And I think a lot of times people, when they think of the paranormal, when they think of

[00:24:36] ghost stories and stuff, it has to be something sinister and something creeping in the night,

[00:24:41] and there's something out to get you.

[00:24:42] It's like, dude, I was taking a shit.

[00:24:46] And he was just like, what you doing?

[00:24:48] You need any toilet paper?

[00:24:50] You know?

[00:24:50] Yeah.

[00:24:51] They were just super random.

[00:24:52] It is not the time.

[00:24:54] And he was like, okay, boundaries.

[00:24:56] You know?

[00:24:56] And he called me right back.

[00:24:57] And he didn't bother me for the rest of the day.

[00:25:00] I was here in the house.

[00:25:02] So, yeah.

[00:25:02] It's a funny story, and it kind of gives you a different perspective when it comes to

[00:25:09] the paranormal, because it's not all scary.

[00:25:11] It's some of the stupidest, silliest stuff that could possibly happen.

[00:25:17] And I think you have to kind of look at certain paranormal interactions in that sort of way,

[00:25:23] and not so much as like, oh my god, that was terrifying.

[00:25:26] It's just like, what the fuck was that?

[00:25:29] You know?

[00:25:29] It's just like, oh my god.

[00:25:33] But I love telling that story, because so far, that's my funniest interaction here in the house.

[00:25:42] Sometimes I will have, like if I'm doing the flashlight tour or something, I'll have the girls pull on my shirt or tug on my hand or what have you.

[00:25:53] So that's pretty commonplace.

[00:25:55] I have two boys.

[00:25:56] I have two kids, so I know what a child tugging on your clothes feels like.

[00:26:01] So whenever I know that they're pulling or something or tugging on me, they're just wanting attention, or they're just lonely or what have you.

[00:26:10] So a lot of times, I'll just put my hand behind my back, you know.

[00:26:13] Just whether I can feel it or not, just so they know that if they want to hold my hand, they can hold my hand and everything.

[00:26:18] And it's not anything dangerous.

[00:26:21] It's not anything malicious.

[00:26:22] It's not anything scary.

[00:26:23] It's just sometimes they get lonely, you know.

[00:26:26] And they've just got to pop in, and they've got to check in some time to just see what the vibe is like.

[00:26:32] You just gave us a really funny one and then a really sweet and very good.

[00:26:36] Yes, exactly.

[00:26:36] That's really good.

[00:26:37] Exactly.

[00:26:38] And that's the good thing about this place, too.

[00:26:40] I always tell people it's a really good place for beginners, especially if you're just starting out in the paranormal field, you don't want to go to a prison.

[00:26:48] You don't want to go to an asylum.

[00:26:49] Like, if you do, that's fine.

[00:26:52] Kudos to you.

[00:26:53] But if you're really just wanting to start out and get the feel of things and understand it and take your time with the equipment and take your time with the spirits that you're interacting with, this is the perfect place to do it.

[00:27:06] Because we have pretty much kind of your quintessential haunting.

[00:27:12] We get pulverized activity.

[00:27:15] We get pulverized activity.

[00:27:15] We get shadow figures.

[00:27:16] We get full-bodied apparitions.

[00:27:17] We get disembodied voices.

[00:27:19] We get all sorts of stuff.

[00:27:20] But they're on such a minimal level.

[00:27:24] The intensity is not as high as a lot of people would have, like a prison or an asylum or something.

[00:27:32] And I think it's attributed to the fact that, one, we always make sure that the spirits feel comfortable here.

[00:27:39] This is a happy place.

[00:27:41] That's how the Putnams wanted it.

[00:27:43] And that's what we try to continue on for the Putnams.

[00:27:49] And two, for the most part, it's a bunch of old people.

[00:27:53] You know?

[00:27:54] Like, what are you old people going to do?

[00:27:55] What are they going to do?

[00:27:56] They're going to have some ghosts that are going to break their hip.

[00:27:59] You've got to help them up.

[00:28:00] You've got to call life alert.

[00:28:01] Or, you know, like, it's a bunch of old people.

[00:28:04] Some of them are confused.

[00:28:05] They don't know what's happening.

[00:28:06] Then you've got two little kids who are just ornery as shit.

[00:28:09] And then you've got the owners who are just like, what the hell are you doing in my house?

[00:28:13] You know?

[00:28:13] Like, it's a really good place to just kind of get your feet wet and just relax in a place that is genuinely just like your quintessential haunting.

[00:28:27] Like, I always kind of see this place as if you think of a place that's like traditionally haunted.

[00:28:35] This is a place that's just traditionally haunted.

[00:28:37] One of the things about so many of these amazing places is that all too often there are periods in their long histories where they fell into disrepair.

[00:28:45] The Anchorage was no different, as Viva mentioned at the beginning of the episode.

[00:28:49] And so the hard work of folks like Viva and Kristen go into helping to raise funds to help restore these incredible structures to their former glory.

[00:28:58] Here's Viva talking about the stark contrast between the first floor and the rest of the house.

[00:29:02] It's a complete 180 to the way that it looks downstairs.

[00:29:06] You kind of still see it as hauntingly beautiful.

[00:29:09] It showcases what not only the nursing home did to it, but also time has done to it.

[00:29:16] And it kind of is a reflection.

[00:29:19] I'm very morbid in certain ways, but to me it's kind of a reflection of life itself.

[00:29:24] How the first floor is very clean, pristine, and proper and stuff, but ultimately we will all decay.

[00:29:33] You know, we will all start to have cracks and wrinkles and discoloration and stuff like that.

[00:29:39] We're all going to be a little bit haunted on the inside.

[00:29:42] So I still see it as hauntingly beautiful, but it is a work in progress for the second floor and the rest of the house overall.

[00:29:51] Eventually, this whole upstairs will look way different, but that is somewhere down the line.

[00:29:59] So speaking of which, tell people how you guys feel about raising funds in order to restore to its former glory and how people maybe who are listening can help.

[00:30:10] Yeah, just simply coming here.

[00:30:14] We always encourage people to come here, do tours, do some of our events that we have here.

[00:30:19] And a large portion of your ticket or event cost actually comes right back into the building.

[00:30:25] It helps buy paint.

[00:30:27] It helps buy supplies to redo the floors and sanding and stuff like that.

[00:30:33] And it helps keep the light on, keeps the water running and everything.

[00:30:36] And it just kind of showcases to not only the historical society that owns the building, but it shows to the town as well that these old buildings aren't just old, decaying buildings.

[00:30:49] They can be salvaged.

[00:30:51] They can be saved.

[00:30:52] They have a purpose.

[00:30:53] They have a history.

[00:30:54] And just coming here, experiencing the house for yourself is always my first go-to.

[00:31:02] And then, of course, if you aren't able to come here, I always suggest to contact the Washington County Historical Society here in town.

[00:31:10] And people can actually sponsor a room.

[00:31:14] So if you have been here before or if you have seen pictures or videos or something of this house online, you can always contact the Historical Society and say,

[00:31:25] Hey, I would love to help beautify one of the rooms at the Anchorage.

[00:31:30] Can I donate some money, you know, to be able to help with that?

[00:31:37] And it really does go a long way because thankfully we have a lot of contractors and people here in town that will do the work here in the house either at a discounted price or for free.

[00:31:53] So they're able to have a little bit more money for the beautification and for buying furnishings and getting this and getting that.

[00:32:00] And once the room is actually complete, you get like a gold and wooden plaque in the room that has like your name and that you donated to get this room restored.

[00:32:12] Basically, the room will be named after you and the date that they were completed with the renovations and stuff.

[00:32:18] So just contacting your historic or our historical society in that regard.

[00:32:26] And also, I'd also want to kind of mention as well if like wherever somebody might be listening to this from.

[00:32:34] Also, keep in mind that your area probably has a lot of historical buildings, too, that need to be salvaged and saved.

[00:32:41] If you've never been there before, go check it out.

[00:32:44] See if you can do a tour there.

[00:32:46] Help them with donations and everything because that's basically how we started.

[00:32:52] Funnily enough, we don't get very many locals here at the Anchorage.

[00:32:56] We get a lot of tourists that come here.

[00:32:59] So I always encourage to find the historical buildings in your area first.

[00:33:06] See what you can do for your area and then branch out.

[00:33:11] It never hurts to kind of come here or go to a different place and stuff and do a tour just to see what the progress is like.

[00:33:21] And then maybe you can take that information, go back to your local historical society and say, hey, this is a similar building.

[00:33:27] This is built around the same time.

[00:33:29] Maybe we can kind of use this as a blueprint to help save or salvage this building in some way, shape or form.

[00:33:36] So history is a big thing for us, not just here in town, but just in general.

[00:33:43] So any way that we're able to help people preserve history, preserve the stories of the people that have come before us and preserve some of the hauntings as well.

[00:33:56] It's the best option because the last thing we want is for a beautiful historic home like this to be tore down and it be turned into like a gas station.

[00:34:05] And then you see a Victorian ghost by the gas pump and you're like, what the fuck's happened?

[00:34:11] Very confusing.

[00:34:12] Very confusing.

[00:34:13] It's like, is it Halloween?

[00:34:14] It's March.

[00:34:15] For both the coast and for us.

[00:34:16] It's the middle of May.

[00:34:17] What's happening?

[00:34:20] As with all the locations we highlight during this series, please consider either visiting them or donating if you can.

[00:34:26] We'll have the links in the show notes.

[00:34:29] As a bonus, here's Viva talking about some of the places to check out at the Lafayette Hotel,

[00:34:33] where we stayed during our trip and a place we highly recommend you check out as well.

[00:34:38] So I know we got to let you go.

[00:34:40] Before we let you go, though, any thoughts on the Lafayette?

[00:34:46] The Lafayette is fun.

[00:34:49] It is definitely very spooky and it's over 100 years old.

[00:34:54] We used to do investigations there quite often.

[00:34:57] But of course, COVID happened and stuff like it started slowing down.

[00:35:01] And then they ended up having a surge of business after COVID.

[00:35:05] So they've been super busy.

[00:35:08] But they actually have a bunch of ghost stories, so much so that they have a ghost book.

[00:35:15] So guests can actually write down their ghost stories in the book so you can actually ask for it.

[00:35:20] And I don't think you can take it upstairs into your room anymore.

[00:35:22] You have to read it in the lobby.

[00:35:24] But you can still see the room number, the dates and stuff like that, and all the stories from guests and everything.

[00:35:33] And then, of course, the basement is the spookiest place in the entire building.

[00:35:38] Everybody always says it's the third floor.

[00:35:40] Realistically, all the floors are spooky.

[00:35:43] But I would say the spookiest place is definitely the basement.

[00:35:48] For some reason, the women's restrooms also get a lot of activity.

[00:35:54] I don't know why.

[00:35:55] It's the one in the basement that gets stuff and the one closest to the ballroom that gets a lot of activity.

[00:36:03] I don't have any clue why.

[00:36:06] But, yeah, if they allow you to go to the basement, even if it's just for five minutes just to walk around and look, then I highly suggest it.

[00:36:19] Because you can tell just being down there, the energy just completely shifts.

[00:36:24] You can tell.

[00:36:25] It's like this place is off big time.

[00:36:29] Yeah, we wandered down there last time we were here.

[00:36:31] And we're playing with the spirit box down there as well.

[00:36:34] And felt like we got the spirit of a boy, a young boy.

[00:36:39] Yep, yep, that is Thomas.

[00:36:41] Who was, like, kind of very playful.

[00:36:43] Yes, yes, he's very playful.

[00:36:46] A lot of times, whenever we interact with him or whenever we would interact with him, we would always sit on the floor.

[00:36:52] Because he would never play with the toys on the table and stuff.

[00:36:58] Because that was very improper for his time.

[00:37:00] So we always sat on the floor at his level.

[00:37:03] And just kind of play with the cat ball and spirit boxes and K2 meters and dials and rods.

[00:37:10] So, yeah, he's a great time.

[00:37:12] We hope you enjoyed this episode on one of our favorite haunted locations, the Anchorage in Marietta, Ohio.

[00:37:18] A huge thank you to Viva for sitting down with us and to the Hidden Marietta Tour Company.

[00:37:23] We had an awesome time at the Paranormal Expo they hosted in September.

[00:37:27] We'll be back next week with the conclusion to our historic haunting series with one where we captured some pretty strange evidence that I can't wait to share with you.

[00:37:36] Until then, consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing to the show so you don't miss a single new episode and sharing with a friend.

[00:37:43] We're an independent podcast and we grow by word of mouth.

[00:37:46] So thanks so much for listening.

[00:37:47] And until next time, you've been listening to From the Void.