Pendleton house is hauntingly curious

PENDLETON, Ind. (AP) - It started out innocently enough - items were misplaced, lights were turned on and small things seemed to move.

But then stranger things started to happen. Doors started to open. Music started turning up on its own. Heavy furniture started to move.

For a lot of filmmakers it may seem like the perfect inspiration for a paranormal flick, but for The Story Shop co-owner Luke Renner, it's a mystery that may never be solved.

"Some people are like, 'You've got to get your kids out that house,'" Renner said. "I'm like, 'Come on guys, it's not a horror movie at my house.'"

When Renner and his wife, Adrian, first looked at the home on Huntsville Road, they thought about how old houses are stereotypically considered haunted.

But Renner is a skeptic, and the house - built circa 1840 - was perfect for them in every way.

They attributed the small incidents - like misplacing keys or thinking they turned off the light - to just silly mistakes and human forgetfulness.

But just weeks after they moved into their Pendleton home in the spring, more noticeable things started happening.

The master bedroom is connected to his youngest daughter's bedroom, which Renner often walks through as a shortcut to the bathroom.

One night on his way to bed, as his daughter Phoenix lay sleeping, he couldn't get her door open from the hallway. When he walked around and came into her room from his own, he saw her dresser blocking the other door.

He struggled to move it back in place by himself.

"I think the natural first reaction in this kind of thing in this day and age is to assign every scary movie you've ever seen to this and think, 'Oh my god, we're all gonna die,'" he said.

As startling as some of the instances were initially, Renner and his family feel like the strange happenings are just part of their new home's character.

Renner thinks there may be a spirit of a woman protecting the kids - like blocking his daughter's door so she wouldn't fall down the stairs right outside her door - and a man who just wants to make sure the house is taken care of.

Renner was hesitant to share the strange stories with friends on Facebook, but now the house has its own Facebook fan page with more than 200 "likes."

"The thing about this I found ironic is I'm the one saying my house is haunted, but then when you tell me that it's a dog spirit (making my son fall), I think you're crazy," he said. "So I'm a skeptic at heart - I really am very skeptical - but there are things that happen in this house that I just don't know how to explain. Can't explain."

He's researched more about the house's history, including the original owner, Enos Adamson, and some people have sent him information since he started the Facebook page.

Renner doesn't feel threatened or like there's anything in the home to harm the family. If anything, he just finds the mystery fascinating.

"This house is one of those places that remind you that you don't know it all," he said. "You don't have all the answers. You can't have them even if you want them really badly.

"You just have to deal with that - you just have to be at peace with that."

Certain things like going down to the cellar or having new visitors at the house usually trigger activity, but for the most part the activity has calmed down, or at least the family isn't noticing it as much.

Whatever is the cause, Renner said he feels safe and more intrigued than anything.

"This gives me a little bit of just that sense that there's more, maybe a little sense of hope," he said. "... While it may scare another person, to me it makes me think there's more and that's exciting to me.

"I don't know. I find comfort in it."

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Source: The (Anderson) Herald-Bulletin, http://bit.ly/1R9INNv

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Information from: The Herald Bulletin, http://www.theheraldbulletin.com