Haunted Houses by Corinne May Botz - Excerpt

8/9/2019 Haunted Houses by Corinne May Botz - Excerpt

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Haunted Houses

Corinne May Botz

The Monacelli Press





Copyright © 2010 Corinne May Botz and The Monacelli Press,a division of Random House, Inc.Photographs copyright © 2010 Corinne May Botz,La Casa de Estudillo courtesy of California State Park, 2010Text copyright © 2010 Corinne May Botz

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by The Monacelli Press,a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

The Monacelli Press and the M designare registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:Botz, Corinne May.Haunted houses / Corinne May Botz.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references.ISBN 978-1-58093-291-21. Architectural photography. 2. Photography of interiors.3. Haunted houses—Pictorial works. 4. Spirit photography.I. Title.TR659.B67 2010133.122—dc222010010467

Designed by Michael Worthington, Counterspace, Los Angeles

Project editor: Karen Lehrman Bloch, Grafia Books, New York

Printed in China

www.monacellipress.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition




13 The House Remembers

26 Portfolio

208 Bibliography

208 Acknowledgments

C O N T E N T S




13

Women, ghosts, and houses

One need not be a chamber to be haunted,

One need not be a house;

The brain has corridors surpassing

Material place.

E M I L Y D I C K I N S O N

WHEN I WAS BETWEEN THE AGES OF FIVE AND EIGHT,

MY SISTER AND I SLEPT IN A LARGE ATTIC BEDROOM. At

nightfall the room was filled with gypsies, who glided around in

clusters. They wore colorful, thin flowing dresses and rummaged

greedily through my drawers and books as if they were seeking to

reclaim their possessions. I lay in bed as stiff as a board, trying to

will myself invisible, praying they would not notice me looking.

Terrified and mesmerized, my eyes were fixed on these cold

strangers, studying every detail and silent movement. My sister

was only inches away from me in bed, but I was too afraid to turn

my head and get her attention. Daylight obliterated the gypsies,

rendering them as thoroughly insubstantial as they had been

real in the dark. I had a vague understanding that my vision was

private, so I never told my family what I saw. When I was nine,

my family converted the attic into proper bedrooms, and I stoppedseeing ghosts. But this experience has always influenced my belief

that the numinous is a part of daily life and that it is possible to see

what is usually considered invisible.

T he House Remembers




Private Residence No. 2, Skowhegan, Maine

D O M A N D H I S W I F E , L O U I S E ,

H AV E L I V E D I N T H E H O U S E F O R T H I R T Y Y E A R S

94

D O M

MOST PEOPLE DON’T SEEM TO LIVE IN HOMES FOR FIFTEEN, T WENTY, TWENTY-

FI VE YE AR S. They’re in a place for two years, and they may not get to experience whatever

there is in the house. Not knowing the background of the house it really snuck up on us.

We’d say, okay, somebody forgot to turn the TV off. Well, no one forgot to turn it off, it

was already off when we went to bed, but when we came down the next morning the TV

was on. Another time I walked into the bathroom and the tub was almost full of water. I

walked down the hall and said to my wife, “Why are you filling the tub with water?” and she

said, “What are you talking about?” I said, “The faucets are on full blast and the tub is almost




95




200




201

I walked in and it was like I was physically stopped.You know how if you run into a wall you physically bounce back?

That’s what it was like.

really freaked out—some servers won’t even come upstairs to use the

employee bathroom. It doesn’t usually bother me because I figure

no one is here to hurt me, but last night something happened thatfreaked me out. I was closing, and I went downstairs to turn off the

lights in the ladies’ room. I walked in and it was l ike I was physically

stopped. You know how if you run into a wall you physically bounce

back? That’s what it was like. In one split second I was going in to

turn off the lights, and it was like I hit a wall and bounced back. I

felt a presence, and every hair on my body stood up. I just knew—

somebody’s here. It really freaked me out and the feeling stayed with

me for awhile last night. I couldn’t shake it off.

Last but not least, I came here on a Monday to pick

something up. We’re not open on Monday and when I was leaving I

saw all the empty salt and pepper shakers, so I decided to fill themup. I was standing about six feet away from the kitchen door, and

for some reason I looked over and somebody walked by the kitchen

door. It sounds really cliché but it was just a white figure. Which to

me sounds stupid—someone with a sheet over them like a ghost!

But that’s what it was, and clear as day a person walked by the

kitchen door.

F O L LO W I N G :

Roehrs House, Franklin Lakes, New JerseyMoosilauke Ravine Lodge, Warren, New Hampshire

Rental House, Upstate New YorkMoosilauke Ravine Lodge, Warren, New Hampshire

Private Residence, Dobbs Ferry, New York




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Haunted Houses by Corinne May Botz - Excerpt

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