A House In Archer

I haven't been able to find a ton of information on the Kasicki House (also known as the Neal-Wood-Gordon House) on the Internet, outside of a few vague blurbs, but we talked to the current owners, the Kasickis, last night. I was with a parasychology group headed up by Andrew Nichols PhD, who often works with the Kasickis in regards to their home and who has been instrumental in bringing awareness to this amazing house. After taking a tour through the house, we all sat down in the dining room and learned all about the property's history.

The Kasickis bought the house in the early nineties, and it had been previously owned at that point for some 50 years by the Gordon family, whose last remaining daughter had lived there until her death. Linda Kasicki had recurring dreams of this house before she ever even knew it existed, and when her family moved to the area, she saw it and knew it was "her house." The house, already over a hundred years old by that time, was badly vandalized when the Kasickis purchased it, with no water or electricity, and known by Archer locals as a haunted house. Some real estate agents in the area had had bad experiences inside, seeing orbs, hearing things, and they refused to go in to show it. So it sat for a while before the Kasickis found it, and they bought it despite warnings. They moved in and immediately began renovating, restoring it to the way it was when the Neal family lived there in the late 1800's. The Neal family had sold it to the C.D. Wood family somewhere around the turn of the century, and it is some of this family's members who people say now haunt the house.

Most of the phenomena occurs in the middle of the night, although things happen constantly, according to Linda Kasicki. Items are misplaced and turn up in strange areas, old photographs in particular. There is a woman in a white nightgown who grieves, and the Kasickis think she's Cora Wood, who had two children die on the property. Children's voices can be heard, playing, giggling, screaming. There's a little girl in a white gown who has appeared to visiting psychics (this house has been featured multiple times on A&E, Sightings, etc.). One of the Kasickis' daughters saw "Cora" come into her bedroom, sit down on the foot of her bed crying, then get up and disappear into a connecting room. In her sleepy haze, she thought it was her mother, because she had initally awakened to the sensation of being covered and tucked in. The Kasickis themselves have also been "tucked in." Footsteps pound on the long, narrow staircase leading to the second floor. A foglike haze has hung in the foyer with no explanation. Windows open by themselves, and sounds of wood slats being pried off the sides of the house have been heard, but when it was checked out, nothing was amiss. I believe this happened when previous owners were trying to "modernize" the home.

The most frightening occurrence happened to the Kasicki's 16-year-old daughter shortly after they moved in. She awoke to a man's face about four inches from hers, and he was talking to her, but all she heard in her ears were bells and loud sirens instead of his voice. Then he lay down on top of her, and somehow she managed to get out, and never has spent the night in the house again, having opted to finish school in another town. When she comes to visit, she stays at her sister's house nearby.

A man has also been seen INSIDE a bureau mirror, adjusting his hat and tie, like he's looking into a mirror and getting ready to go somewhere. People smell strange floral fragances, and the scent of cigar smoke and wine. A famous Japanese psychic visited the house once, and carried on a conversation with the ghost of a little girl, who held the psychic's thumb while they talked. The conversation was filmed with thermographic equipment, and when it was viewed, the filmmakers could see an extreme temperature change on the psychic's thumb, as though someone were actually holding it.

Linda K. said that she could talk for hours of subtle, and not-so-subtle, occurrences that take place on a constant basis in this house. That's what is so extraordinary about the place, that inexplicable things happen constantly, and without much rhyme or reason. There don't appear to be negative spirits present, but ones that actively involve themselves with the Kasicki family and everything that goes on in the house--as they would have when they were alive. The Kasickis like their ghosts, and are still restoring the home with love and care, and plan to live there all their days. And they're very nice, seemingly earnest people who don't mind sharing their house with professional ghosthunters.

By: jsdist@cox.net