Ghost researcher's home a real haunt
By Kristina Kregiel, Staff Writer
Thursday, October 13, 2005

Linda Davis' quaint California home is typical of that of any wife's,
mother's or grandmother's.
Childrens' toys lie in a corner of one room and family photos decorate
the walls.
But muffled by the background noise of the living room television set
and resting beneath those toys and knickknacks lives a presence of
energy rarely visible to the naked eye.
Linda's neighborhood has a past -- that includes tragedy.

As a little girl, Linda knew many of the area's residents -- including
the couple she affectionately knew as "Mom" and "Pop" -- from her visits
to her grandmother's house.
Today, she now knows the couple on a more personal level.
She claims they, and 26 other spirits, coexist with the Davis family in
their ranch-style abode -- Mom and Pop's old home.

Pop and his daughter both died on the property -- the daughter from a
brain tumor and Pop after falling off a riding lawnmower and breaking
his neck.
Linda says the ghosts of all three former residents frequently are seen.
"When I'd go downstairs to wash clothes, Mom would come down."

Pop prefers to lie on the couch and watch television rather than helping
with the household chores, she says.
Their daughter usually remains behind closet doors, but has been known
to come out when Linda's grandchildren stop for a visit.
Though spirits have been known to run some homeowners out of their
homes, the opposite is true for Linda. Instead, the house considered to
be the most spiritually active in California attracted her.

Linda says she has been able to see things
since she was young.
Though not as receptive to the spirits as Linda, her father, Edgar
Harris, shares his daughter's excitement and interest in the paranormal.
Both belong to the Mon Valley Ghost Research Society, a group of ghost
hunters who investigate places where there have been reported sightings.

Linda's house being one of them.
Before the Davis family moved in, they were given permission to
investigate the home.
Under the fine eye of a Sony Night-shot camera, strange orbs of light
were seen in the basement.
Linda says they heard the sound of footsteps and furniture sliding
across hardwood floors --despite the home's wall-to-wall carpeting --
and one ghost even had to be chased out of a window for acting up.

That particular ghost has been the only one that has given the
neighborhood any kind of grief.
According to Edgar, the spirit is believed to be that of woman who
thought her husband was cheating on her. Emotionally upset -- and
driving recklessly -- the woman died in an accident after wrecking her
car along a lonely stretch of road.
A series of unexplained suicides within a quarter-mile radius of the
accident scene -- just over the hill from the Davis home -- followed her
death.

It's said her spirit invaded the weak-minded, convincing them to take
their own lives.
Those who were more strong-willed complained only of sleeping
difficulties.
"If you have tendencies, they can amplify them for you," says Edgar.
"She was mentally disturbed... troubled in life and in death."
The haunts alone would be enough to cause most people to run for the
hills, but what about those who live it on a daily basis?
Linda, whose house appeared on ABC's "World Scariest Ghosts Caught on
Tape," says she rarely gets spook-ed.

"The guardian angels keep watch."
Edgar, however, sometimes feels differently.
"Maybe a little bit," he says, though his mild uneasiness hasn't stopped
him from accompanying ghost re-searchers on investigations.

Over the past seven years, Linda and her father have been actively
involved with the society in investigating haunts such as Nemacolin
Castle, Conneaut Lake Hotel and Dixmont.
But for these two ghost-lovers, there really is no place like home.