MONROE - The Victorian Garden Bed and Breakfast in Monroe is not haunted.
"We call it 'spirited,' " said Tia Carlson, co-owner of the establishment. "The word 'haunted' has a negative connotation and she's definitely not a negative presence."
The supposed presence of a ghost or specter within the Victorian Garden, a bed and breakfast located at 1720 16th St., is the subject of an upcoming tour by Haunted Rockford, a paranormal enthusiast group that investigates reported hauntings in the area.
The home was built in 1890 for the family of Albert Trachsel, who was the first cheesemaker of Monroe, Carlson said. Trachsel lived in the home that would eventually become the Victorian Garden with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children.
Carlson moved into the home in 2012. Shortly thereafter, she said, she noticed something strange.
"I would put things down somewhere and then they'd show up somewhere else," Carlson said.
These curiosities went unremarked for some time - "I thought my memory was just bad," Carlson said - until Carlson's husband, Tony Aurit, moved into the home in early 2015.
Carlson said a marker kept moving from place to place when nobody was looking, often to be found perched on high moldings that neither she nor Aurit could reach.
"Eventually we sat down and said, 'something's going on,'" Carlson said.
One guest of the bed and breakfast claimed to have encountered the ghost as well. A woman said she felt the presence of somebody lying next to her on a bed and saw the depression of a body resting on the bed although nobody was there.
"She asked us over breakfast if there was a presence here," Carlson said. "And we just looked at each other, and she knew right away."
Although neither Carlson nor Aurit have witnessed a ghost itself, they have seen other signs of ghostly activity such as paintings on the wall being found upside-down despite no one touching them. In the ghost's most dramatic act, the sliding pocket doors of the Garden's foyer closed seemingly on their own.
"She's just a prankster," Aurit said. "It's like she's cleaning the house."
Carlson and Aurit suspect the ghost of the Garden is the deceased Elizabeth Trachsler, who died in her home in 1946 of apparently natural causes.
Of course, Aurit said, there is no way of knowing for certain who or what the ghost is. The couple have also considered the possibility of the ghost being the remains of recently deceased family members.
Earlier this year, the couple spoke with members of the paranormal investigation society Ghost Head Soup at a ghost tour of the supposedly haunted Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum and Gardens in Rockford. After hearing about the Garden's ghost, they agreed to investigate the building.
The investigation confirmed the presence of what the investigators believed to be a ghost. In particular, Carlson said, they discovered relatively powerful electromagnetic fields in a corner of the basement that the family dogs occasionally bark at for no reason.
Of course, Aurit conceded, the basement also houses a number of electrical appliances that could generate electromagnetic fields.
But the investigators also recorded sounds throughout the house that they believed could have been Lizzie responding to the investigators' questions.
A haunted tour of the Garden on May 21 will not feature a full investigation of the home but merely a tour for enthusiasts. The event has already been fully booked.
Carlson said she would be interested in hosting regular ghost tours if the upcoming event has a positive reception.
"We call it 'spirited,' " said Tia Carlson, co-owner of the establishment. "The word 'haunted' has a negative connotation and she's definitely not a negative presence."
The supposed presence of a ghost or specter within the Victorian Garden, a bed and breakfast located at 1720 16th St., is the subject of an upcoming tour by Haunted Rockford, a paranormal enthusiast group that investigates reported hauntings in the area.
The home was built in 1890 for the family of Albert Trachsel, who was the first cheesemaker of Monroe, Carlson said. Trachsel lived in the home that would eventually become the Victorian Garden with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children.
Carlson moved into the home in 2012. Shortly thereafter, she said, she noticed something strange.
"I would put things down somewhere and then they'd show up somewhere else," Carlson said.
These curiosities went unremarked for some time - "I thought my memory was just bad," Carlson said - until Carlson's husband, Tony Aurit, moved into the home in early 2015.
Carlson said a marker kept moving from place to place when nobody was looking, often to be found perched on high moldings that neither she nor Aurit could reach.
"Eventually we sat down and said, 'something's going on,'" Carlson said.
One guest of the bed and breakfast claimed to have encountered the ghost as well. A woman said she felt the presence of somebody lying next to her on a bed and saw the depression of a body resting on the bed although nobody was there.
"She asked us over breakfast if there was a presence here," Carlson said. "And we just looked at each other, and she knew right away."
Although neither Carlson nor Aurit have witnessed a ghost itself, they have seen other signs of ghostly activity such as paintings on the wall being found upside-down despite no one touching them. In the ghost's most dramatic act, the sliding pocket doors of the Garden's foyer closed seemingly on their own.
"She's just a prankster," Aurit said. "It's like she's cleaning the house."
Carlson and Aurit suspect the ghost of the Garden is the deceased Elizabeth Trachsler, who died in her home in 1946 of apparently natural causes.
Of course, Aurit said, there is no way of knowing for certain who or what the ghost is. The couple have also considered the possibility of the ghost being the remains of recently deceased family members.
Earlier this year, the couple spoke with members of the paranormal investigation society Ghost Head Soup at a ghost tour of the supposedly haunted Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum and Gardens in Rockford. After hearing about the Garden's ghost, they agreed to investigate the building.
The investigation confirmed the presence of what the investigators believed to be a ghost. In particular, Carlson said, they discovered relatively powerful electromagnetic fields in a corner of the basement that the family dogs occasionally bark at for no reason.
Of course, Aurit conceded, the basement also houses a number of electrical appliances that could generate electromagnetic fields.
But the investigators also recorded sounds throughout the house that they believed could have been Lizzie responding to the investigators' questions.
A haunted tour of the Garden on May 21 will not feature a full investigation of the home but merely a tour for enthusiasts. The event has already been fully booked.
Carlson said she would be interested in hosting regular ghost tours if the upcoming event has a positive reception.