DANIEL
The property that Captain Grant’s sits upon was originally the John Pickett Farm. In 1707 John Pickett sold the land to a man named Samuel. In 1754 a descendant of Samuel’s, either Zachariah or Samuel Jr., built the home now called Captain Grant’s.
Daniel was a son of one of these men. I didn’t know which one, so I decided to ask Daniel about it in an interview.
We first became aware of Daniel when guests reported hearing someone walking in the attic with heavy boots on. It usually happened around 4:00 a.m. I didn’t know who it was or how to communicate with the spirit at that time. The incident that made us go public about our spirits involved Daniel.
As I recounted earlier, in 1998 a New York City detective reserved the Adelaide room for a Friday and a Saturday night. On Sunday morning he came down to the kitchen at 7:30 and asked for his rental money back. He clearly was not a happy man.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I think that you and your husband are two of the rudest innkeepers I have ever met.”
“What did we do?”
“You know darn well what you did,” he said vehemently.
I stood there with my mouth open, just looking at him and feeling numb. I think my lack of a response prompted him to tell me what had happened. He said that at 4:00 a.m. my husband had started walking back and forth in the attic above their bed with boots on. Apparently this had lasted for nearly an hour. He went on about his anger at being kept awake for the rest of the night.
I apologized. I knew this was it. The time had come to let the cat out of the bag. “Why did he have to be a detective?” I thought. Anyway, I considered alternative answers for a couple of seconds but decided that it was time to fess up. I said, “We have a ghost in the attic and I will prove it to you after breakfast,” and then I held my breath again. I was certain that he would think I was nuts.
He didn’t and told me that he would accompany me up to the attic after breakfast when the other guests had cleared off the breakfast deck.
An hour and a half later, breakfast was winding down. Guests were now mingling in the parlor. People were in the yard taking pictures, and the time had come to take the gentleman up to our attic.
We went up through the outside staircase and entered the attic through a side door. Turning to my left and looking toward the back of the home, I pointed down and said, “Your bedroom is right down there.” He nodded and just stared at the floor. It was completely covered from end to end with eighteenth-century lumber stacked about two feet high. The lumber had been thrown on the floor in a haphazard way. It was obvious that no one could have been walking around on the floor. They wouldn’t have been able to balance.
Our detective guest went downstairs and rebooked for our Halloween special. He stayed with us two times after that. Daniel continues to pace the attic floor, but now only on rare occasions.
The next big incident with Daniel happened when Psychic Kids filmed their show at Captain Grant’s. The children’s mentors took them up to the attic at night. Only flashlights were used. The children were scared. They said that a man who was mean to children when he was alive was occupying the attic. The adults instructed the children on how to get rid of a spirit such as the one they were encountering. They were counseled on how to take charge and were told that the spirit couldn’t be in charge if they, the children, let the spirit know that he was not in charge. In this case the children ultimately took charge and sent Daniel away. Soon after, the children were led downstairs by their mentors. Daniel didn’t return for nine months.
When I first started using the L-rods, I decided to talk to Daniel. Due to the historic survey that put Captain Grant’s on the National Register, I knew the last names of the families that had lived in the house. This made it easy to get Daniel’s last name. I asked if he was a Grant, and that was a no. Then I asked if he was a son of Samuel, and that is when I got a yes. I asked him a few more questions and decided to ask him if he had been mean to children when he was alive. The rods pointed straight ahead, and that was the end of Daniel talking to me. He was certainly unhappy and perhaps more than a little peeved. I apologized and went downstairs. That was the end of that interview. I didn’t know if he would ever talk to me again.
I knew that Daniel was Samuel’s descendant, but I had no idea what his first name was. One morning after breakfast, I was giving a ghost communication lesson when I got the name “Daniel.” Previously, a guest at Captain Grant’s had been out to the old cemetery and had found a grave marked with the name Daniel. So I figured it was the perfect time to find out if that was the spirit’s first name.
When I asked the spirit if he would speak to me, he said yes. I asked him if his name was Daniel, and indeed it was. I also asked Daniel if he was trapped at Captain Grant’s and he stated that he was. Actually he stated that he was trapped on the property that was owned by Samuel’s family. That was a substantially larger piece of land than Captain Grant’s is on today. Captain Grant’s is currently about five acres in size. The original property was one hundred acres. This allowed Daniel to wander next door and to other nearby areas of Poquetanuck Village.
Daniel is now a constant spirit at the home and is more than willing to communicate with me. I believe that someday soon he will be reincarnated and then he will no longer be with us.
Before describing my interview with Daniel, I want to mention some things about spirits. They are not gods, saints, or fortunetellers. You cannot see their expressions or hear their voices. The spirits at Captain Grant’s consist of energy and claim to be souls. This makes it very difficult to know if they are telling the truth. In the case of Daniel, when I interviewed him, I was not sure if he was elaborating, telling the truth, or downright lying.
Synopsis of My Interview with Daniel
I had been researching the early owners of Captain Grant’s and found that the original owner of the home was Samuel. Samuel had purchased the land in 1707.
For this interview, I sit in the kitchen and ask the spirits if Daniel could speak to me. The rods answer with a wide-apart yes.
The interview begins with a conversation about Daniel’s family. He verifies for me that he was Samuel’s son. I had long thought the original owners of the land were farmers due to having a hundred acres of land, but Daniel states that his father was a blacksmith and that the blacksmith shop was in the home next door. This is the current Avery house. I had been told that the front of the Avery house was originally from the 1600s. This was somewhat verified by knowing that two fires occurred in what is now the Holly room. The beams in this room are like iron after having being burned.
I wish to know about Daniel himself and guide the conversation in that direction. I suspect that the spirit of Daniel is a young man. This leads to questions about his age, how he died, and if he was ever married. It turns out that Daniel was twenty-one when he perished in an accident at his father’s blacksmith shop. In his short life he managed to have two children with a woman who was married to another man. His parents never found out about the affair, and neither did the woman’s husband.
Daniel believes that he will be reincarnated. It is now well over two hundred years since he was killed in the accident. I think that this might give him some credibility in the spirit world.
We talk about reincarnation, and Daniel states that it occurs if you have something to atone for or correct. He also states that the soul enters a child at the exact time of birth and leaves at the exact time of death.
The spirits need energy to communicate with us, and not everyone gives off enough energy for this to happen. Daniel verifies this theory as well as my question about electric shocks. I had a college professor tell me that most people who have contact with the spirit world have had a shock at some point in time. This is not a constant, since some psychics have an innate ability given to them at birth.
At this point I end the interview to make my husband dinner. I am given a hug by Daniel.
When we meet again, I ask Daniel more extensive questions about his affair. These questions and answers are in the Appendix.
Since writing this chapter, we have had living descendants of Samuel stay with us. When I asked them if he was a farmer, they said no. I then asked them if he was a blacksmith. To my astonishment, they answered in the affirmative. Daniel had been telling me the truth.