When you talk to the Whitehead Museum’s executive director about the haunts in his museum, it sounds like the gift shop could be called the place where things go bump in the night.
Many claim to regularly see a female, who many assume to be Hanna Perry who once lived there in the late 1800’s, walking in the living area over the gift shop. The gift shop is the former Perry General Store and the space above it is the Perry’s former living space.
“We had a new employee here and on one of his first days, he asked, who is that lady walking around upstairs?” Billy Diaz, Whitehead Museum Operations Manager said. “We asked him what he meant and he said he’d seen someone walking around in there when he got to work.”
Michael Diaz, Whitehead Museum executive director said a number of people have seen a lady walking in the space over the general store. A ghost hunter television show would call it an area with a lot of activity.
“We assume it’s Mrs. Perry,” Michael said. “However, many claim the spirits get attached to items and there’s a lot of donated stuff up there a spirit could be attached to.”
Here is a video from the Perry’s living space when someone was dusting the area. The door that moves is very sturdy. It hadn’t moved in a while. There is a ceiling fan that is continually moving over it. Is it the individual going into the area that makes it move or is it something else? It wasn’t the volunteers’ first time dusting there, but it was his last. Here’s the video.
In this video, this group of youngsters have crossed into the roped off area. No one is sure exactly what happened but some assume Mrs. Perry didn’t want anyone messing with the bed in her apartment.
Michael said the upstairs living area isn’t the only area with plenty of activity
The gift shop once had a bonnet that was on a mannequin’s head on a shelf. The staff assumed that Mrs. Perry wasn’t a fan of the bonnet because many mornings they’d come in and find the bonnet and mannequin head on the floor. Security footage would show the head being tipped over during the night and the bonnet on the floor.
Finally, the staff gave up and moved the bonnet out of the building.
As Michael described this, I said, “But couldn’t it be some type of movement that causes it to fall?”
Michael pointed out, the only time it ever fell was during the night, where there was less movement than during the day.
If there are spirits inhabiting the facility, there could be a number of reasons. One reason is, less than 100 yards from the gift shop is Pecan Street, once known as Cemetery Street, because when a loved one died, it wasn’t uncommon for them to be buried in the backyard, Michael said.
Michael said he’s never seen a ghost in the facility. Michael is a guy who likes data, must see it for himself to believe it. However, quickly admits he regularly hears footsteps in the living space over the gift shop and a lot of knocks.
“It sounds like someone hitting wood with a baseball bat,” he said.
It seems like this museum, that captures the history of the area, has some remnants of the past that can’t be placed in a display case.
