Ghost Story

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 45  (Nov 8-14 )
Prompt: Ghost Story
#52ancestors

 My paternal great great grandparents were John Golightley and Elizabeth Caroline Johnston. John immigrated from Sedgefield, County Durham, England and Elizabeth came from Canada.  They had two sons, worked hard, and became successful in Wellington, Kansas. They raised my grandfather, Johnnie.

 It is well known in my family that Johnnie was afraid of ghosts his entire life. I don’t know why or how that started but it played a part in his life’s story. 

 John and Elizabeth owned two houses in Wellington and the farm with the farmhouse between Wellington and Belle Plaine at the end of their lives. One of the houses was a two-story brick home with a basement in a nice part of town. The other house was a small wood frame house at the edge of town which included a gravel pit behind it.

 After his Grandfather’s death, Johnnie was in the basement of the brick home working on the furnace.He heard his grandfather call his name.He tried to ignore it but being skittish about ghosts to begin with he became more frightened as his Grandfather continued to call his name.He bolted from the basement and refused to ever go in the basement again.

After his Grandmother’s death, Johnnie was given a choice of the two houses in Wellington as well as inheriting a part of the farm.   Since he was sure that the brick home was haunted, he chose the smaller less affluent house on the edge of town.

 There is a rumor in the family that John had some oil and/or silver certificates hidden away. Speculation is that they were hidden in the basement of the brick house and that he was trying to tell Johnnie where they were located.