Having lived in Bosnia while the country was torn by war, Nuspahic had carried the dead and injured in his arms.
Sure, the new owner had heard stories of the Franklin House’s ghost (or ghosts), but he wasn’t concerned — nor was he prepared for what happened after his family moved into the 18th-century stone building three years ago.
“I never thought it would affect me,” he said while sitting at a table in the bar area of the restaurant he runs on the first floor.
What happened?
“Really, really weird things,” he said. “You can feel energy.”
Nuspahic recalled standing in an upstairs hallway with his wife, Vesna, one summer. He had recently installed new carpet in a room, and the uneven floor made it tough to close the door leading from the hallway.
“The house is old,” he explained. No doubt about that; the main portion of the structure was built in 1746. “The floor is not level.
Suddenly, the door slammed shut.
“Why is that possible?” Nuspahic asked. “It was summer. There were no drafts.”
Vesna insisted there were no ghosts; Halid wasn’t so sure.
“I said, ‘Look, you made it angry,’” he said.
Sometime later that summer, about 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning, Nuspahic was sitting at a table, doing paperwork after closing the bar.
“I saw a shadow underneath the door,” he said. “I thought it was the cat. I opened the door. He wasn’t there. I left the door open.”
Nuspahic returned to his table.
“I saw something pass the door again,” he said. “Vesna said, ‘Maybe it’s the cat.’”
Couldn’t be. Sylvester was sleeping on a chair.
If it were a shadow, something or someone had to be causing it. And if it wasn’t a shadow ...
“A lot of employees tell stories,” Nuspahic said. “Some are a little afraid to go on the second floor.”
Not too long ago, a ghost hunter paid a visit. The man and his wife stayed in a third-floor room. They left around 3 a.m., Nuspahic said. Too many noises.
Schaefferstown residents have heard the stories, too.
Marshall Kramer lives a block away from the Franklin House.
“My wife, Linda, worked here in the late ’80s and early ’90s,” he said. “She’s seen and heard things. Noises, like walking. Stuff happening when she was out of a room and then would come back and the arrangements (place settings) would be changed.”
Allison Ebersole, like Kramer a lifelong Schaefferstown resident, said ghost reports are relatively recent, starting after the Backenstose family sold the Franklin House a couple of decades ago.
“My grandpa used to live here,” Ebersole said. “I asked him if he heard ghosts. He told me I was crazy.”
The waitstaff had stories, though. Last Halloween, they shared some of them, and Ebersole had an idea.
“I said, ‘Why don’t we open it up to the public?’” Ebersole said.
She and Kramer, with Nuspahic’s approval, set up “The Ghosts of Franklin House: A Night of Ghostly Tales and Hauntings,” which was held Friday night and drew a full house.
Berks County author Charlie Adams, one of the nation’s leading experts on ghosts, came to the Franklin House to spin some spooky stories. (Do an Internet search of “Charlie Adams + ghosts” and you’ll find plenty of sites.)
Ghosts or no ghosts, Nuspahic said he is happy to be in Schaefferstown, running a business he loves.
