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| Second floor of Lucketts Store before renovation. |
Once a Post Office, a general store, and a family home, The Old Lucketts Store has seen a lot in its 150+ years of existence. This time of year, we are asked if the building has any ghosts lurking about.
I'll tell you one of the stories, and let you decide...
It was quitting time one fall evening and Jennifer, one of our dealers and "worker girls", was working alone and closing up the shop. She counted the cash drawer and closed the money out, rearranged her dealer space, then went up to the third floor to do a quick check for misplaced items and to be sure no customers were still in the building. On the second floor, she glanced out the window and saw another car in the parking lot. This meant a customer was likely browsing around the shop's porch or pavilions. The inside of the building looked good and no customers were inside. Time to go.
Jennifer then went to shut off all the breakers, which are in the front room. In the colder months when the sun sets earlier, this means you may need to walk the 50 or so feet back to the lobby in semi-darkness. She locked up and noted that the customer's car was gone from the parking lot. She went home.
The next morning a customer called asking for a price on an urn on the porch. We found the price and the woman thanked us. Before she hung up, she added, "You know the oddest thing happened to me yesterday. I knew you were closed but I saw your lights still on and went to the door, hoping to get a price. The door was locked. A woman was behind the counter just standing there. I knew she could see me because we made eye contact, but she just stared at me with a stern look on her face. I figured she couldn't hear me, or wasn't going to help me. Maybe she spoke another language? The whole thing just felt odd, so I left." We asked a few more questions and realized quickly that it wasn't Jennifer she was talking about at all. The customer then went on to describe a middle-aged woman in a long dress with an apron. The description fit Mrs. Lucketts, the wife of the store's original owner, perfectly.
We've been told that since the family lived upstairs and the business was downstairs, when it was quitting time, it was time for everyone to go home so the family could to sit down to dinner, and Mrs. Lucketts always made sure of that. Apparently she still does...
well, that just gave me chills.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by John!
DeleteWow..what a story..chills also!
ReplyDelete: )
DeleteWow so neat!
ReplyDeleteCreepy but cool! I'll have to be sure and say hi to Mrs. Lucketts the next time I'm in the store! Hugs, Leena
ReplyDeleteThanks Leena. See you soon!
DeleteThe store I sell my items at,Moore & Garrett Antique Mall downtown Belton Texas....Ok Mrs Luckett could talk to Mary...our location is 100 years old...with rock walls still showing upstairs and wide plank floors...Now my space is upstairs and many times I do not feel alone when turning lights off...and with the history of general store twice, family original living with this store, a funeral home at one time, 2 fires and one shooting during time as a bar...several who have been int the building for years...say they have felt cold, and had stuff moved around that made no sense...
ReplyDeleteThere must be something going on in that location too Kathryn. I would probably get a little creeped out too after hours there!
DeleteVery cool...Jennifer should thank Mrs. Luckett for making sure she got out of there on time. :)
ReplyDeleteHa! That's what a few of us said! : )
Deleteomg omg omg, i have goosebumps. how crazy. i hadnt heard any supernatural stories surrounding the old store... are there many?!?
ReplyDeleteThere are a few Bethany....one actually happened a few days ago too : )
DeleteGoosebumps! Sometimes I had strange things happen when I worked there. They always happened at closing and goodness do I ever remember closing in the winter when it was almost dark out. One night when closing I had closed up. Did my check of the store for any people still inside and got ready to to leave. I heard the biggest crash ever! Sound like an entire shelving unit fell and all the glass came crashing down. I turned the lights back on and headed through the store to find out what happened. I checked the ENTIRE store and not a thing was out of place. No glass on the floor, nothing. I got my butt out of there as fast as I could! LOL!
ReplyDeleteCristen
Cristen - I would have screamed or frozen in place....or not looked for what made the crash at all...creepy!
DeleteThat is crazy stuff!!! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Erika!
DeleteMaybe Mrs. Luckett is there as a reminder to all of us that we work to live, not live to work...go home and have dinner with your family, be together, it's the most important 'thing' we have.
ReplyDeleteKris
www.CricketAcresStudio.blogspot.com
PS. I sell my items at shop that used to be a cooperage, and we actually had the tv show 'Ghost Hunters' do a segment on it. Wouldn't you know they had a light turn on and off by itself(?) that was sitting on our table-and that table never sold! (haunted/cursed??)Happy Halloween!
Creepy....I think you're right about her message. She knew the different between work time and family time apparently.
DeleteChillbumps! Shared once and will share again! Thank you for the fun story! Rebecca@YouAreTalkingTooMuch.com
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by & sharing Rebecca!
DeleteLoL Very cool! I love the "before" pic of the store. I'm wondering... do you have more of those you could share? You've done an awesome job breathing new life into it -- and pictures like that tell a story in and of themselves. I'd love to see them - I'm always imagining how that building was and the faces it has seen in its lifetime. :-) ~ Kara, The Silly Hen Antiques
ReplyDeleteI think you should have a ghost investigation done in the general store to see what else (who else) is hanging around after all the shoppers and store help leave...really interesting and thanks for relaying the story.
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