Ghost Stories

Remember how I mentioned Quarters One is haunted?

Quarters One.  In February, 2010.  No, it hasn't snowed here in the QC as of yet.

It totally is.

It's too bad the post historian couldn't make it tonight.  He will be there for the Fall Festival on October 20th.  He knows all the stories of Quarters One.  How one night the smoke alarms all went off at once.  With no smoke.  How all the windows on the second story opened one night.  He corresponded with all the prior Aides to previous Commanders and asked them if they had any experiences in the house.  He received 50 responses.  All of their experiences matched each others and yet, none of them knew that other people had been contacted for their stories as well (preventing anyone from "synching up" stories).  They all matched from individual accounts.

SO.

The CG and his wife hosted Oktoberfest here tonight!  They do not live in Quarters One.  It *used* to be used for Commanding Generals' living quarters and now it's used for parties and weddings and such.  But families used to live here.  I couldn't believe it.  The place is absolutely HUMONGOUS.  (which makes sense since it is the second largest single family home that the USG owns - the first being the White House.)

I got a nice tour from John and met a lot of people who seemed to know who I was.  Or at least knew who John was.  Or didn't know John was married.  Teehee.  I met a lot of people.  I was actually flattered as General Fontaine and his wife remembered who I was.  I only met them once.  (back in February.)

But it was good food.  Brats, brotsch (bread), goulash (and not the American version which consists of elbow macaroni, hamburger and tomato sauce.  this was like a beef stew.  Delish!), soft pretzels, German beer, and sweet mustard.  Om nom nom!  Anyway, here is more on Quarters One....then I'll let you know my experience.

(taken from  http://eul.army.mil/rockisland/Docs/quarteronehistory.pdf)  (added tidbits from me.  of course)

Quarters One

Quarters One was designed by General Thomas Jefferson Rodman (Rodman Ave is the main road on Post)  and constructed during 1870-1871. It is situated on the north central shore of Rock Island Arsenal. It has traditionally been the home of the most senior officer stationed on Rock Island

Arsenal. General Rodman who during his tenure as commandant from 1865-1871,

devised a master construction plan for the arsenal that was implemented by his 19th

century successors. Quarters One is a superior example of High Victorian Italianate

style architecture. A massive, lavishly detailed Italianate building, the Commanding

Officer’s Quarters symbolized the importance of Rock Island Arsenal as a major

government installation and it set an architectural standard for three neighboring

officers’ quarters constructed during 1871-1874.

General Rodman never lived in the completed quarters. Unfortunately, he died on 7

June 1871 before the completion of Quarters One. He did reside for a time in a two

story wooden structure, a part of the old Confederate Prison, located near the site of

Quarters One. This and other prison buildings were razed when Quarters Two,

Three, and Four were constructed. (all housing for senior and general officers.  I think, technically, our quarters are called Quarters 92 or something like that.)  Rodman’s funeral took place on the lawn of

Quarters One and he is buried at the National Cemetery on Rock Island Arsenal along

with his wife Martha Ann.

Quarters One is the second largest single-family government residence next to the

White House. It contains 51 rooms and is approximately 22,000 square feet. (!!!!)  The

single gabled, hipped roof with flat deck and skylights, plus its tall, square

observation tower (I went up to the top tonight.  Nice view!) are prominent architectural features of Quarters One. The main block and wings are three stories tall and the tower is four stories, with an extremely tall third story. The basement contains sixteen rooms; the old butlery has limestone

counters for rolling dough, special ovens for baking bread, and niches of the butter

churns. The rooms are basically unfinished, with the exception of the trunk room

located at the southeast corner of the main section of the house.

The first floor plan revolves around a central hall in the main block of the quarters.

Opening on to the main floor is a pair of parlors, each having its own rectangular bay

windows. One twin parlors was designed for the cigar smoking men and one was

designed for the ladies to gather after dinner. The door can be drawn shut between

the two rooms when needed. There are sixteen foot ceilings in these rooms. The

parlors’ fireplaces have elaborate cut and polished light gray marble mantelpieces and

hearths. The dining room has a beautiful octagonal bay window. The original walnut

shutters still cover these windows. Also on the first floor, there is a library, a study, a

powder room, a large pantry, and a kitchen. There is a small office at the rear

entrance behind the kitchen.

The second floor corresponds closely with the first floor plan. It currently has five

bathrooms on the second floor. There are six bedrooms, two of these rooms are guest

bedrooms, and there is a seventh room in the tower at the front of the house, which

was used as a sewing room. The two guest rooms are very unique. One is called the

“Rose Room” because of the color used in the room. The other is called the

Lindbergh Room in honor of Charles Lindbergh. In 1927 Charles Lindbergh, on a

flight across the U.S. to promote commercial aviation, landed in Moline, IL. His visit

caused such rivalry between Iowa and Illinois that he stayed in Quarters One on

Arsenal Island and spoke to an overflowing crowd of local citizens in the Arsenal

Cafeteria. The Lindbergh bed, made of walnut with burl inlays, contains a plague

commemorating this historic visit.  (this is actually in the Arsenal museum now, and not in the house any longer.)

There are seven rooms and two baths on the third floor. The rooms that are facing the

north to the Mississippi River have an astonishing view. The wood work on this floor

is simply amazing. The third floor has a stairwell that leads to the tower. The tower

room contains a staircase leading up to the fourth floor. The Quad City area can be

seen from the tower exit to the roof of the house. Quarters One has 10 fireplaces;

four on the first floor and six on the second floor.

One of the great features of Quarters One is the north porch facing the Mississippi

River. This is a very tranquil and relaxing place to enjoy during the spring and

summer months. It is indeed a writer’s paradise. Many eagles can be seen perched

on the trees during the winter and early spring months. A full porch extends across

the main entrance of the quarters. Cut limestone piers support elaborate, cast-iron

columns typically grouped in pairs or in sets of three at corner piers. The deck and

ceiling are tongue-and-groove board constructions. Between the columns bases are

sets of ornate, cast-iron railings. At the column tops are elaborate, filigree, cast-iron

brackets. The entire porch is screened from floor to ceiling. Mr. D. C. Thompson,

master molder, supervised the foundry’s recycling of Civil War relicts (mainly

horseshoes) for iron used in the porch grillwork columns, and fencing.

The main double doorway, centered in the tower bay is walnut with a leaf pattern.

The exterior knobs have a dog’s face cast into them and the interior knobs have a

silhouette of a Renaissance solider in them. The dog motif is found on the knob

adjacent to the pantry doors from the dining room and the soldier motif is also used

on the vestibule and central hall doors on the first floor and the exterior door into the

stairway north of the main stair.

Beautiful and ornate ceiling moldings are featured all throughout Quarters One. The

main hallway, the library, and the dining room have particularly elaborate ceiling

moldings and bay windows. Additional running plaster moldings are found on the

ceilings of the parlors and the dining rooms. The third floor ceiling of the main hall

has steeply curving sides with plaster panels framed with plaster waterleaf molding.

Elaborate painted plaster ceiling rosettes are located in pairs on the ceilings of all

three main halls.

A surprising amount of original furniture, mostly walnut, remains in Quarters One.

Between the window and library doorway in the north hall is a built in walnut coat

tree with a cabinet base which is flanked by two umbrella stands. In the wall

opposite is a freestanding walnut chest with a white marble top, above which is a

walnut clock built into the wall. There is a long walnut bench in the center hallway

that was built by craftsmen at the Arsenal’s Woodshop.

The dining room retains a built in china cabinet. This china closet, which

compliments a freestanding walnut sideboard having a dark gray marble top, is set in

a shallow niche in the masonry wall. The flat-walled niche has a semicircular arch at

its top. The base contains two sets of three drawers above a larger bottom drawer.

Above the base is a shallow china case with a pair of glazed doors set in the semicircular

opening. The base contains two sets of three drawers above a larger bottom

drawer.

In a nutshell, this place is gorgeous.

And haunted.

This site documents findings from the Mississippi Paranormal Society's visit just last year.  I did not experience hardly anything compared to the experiences of these paranormal investigators.  I didn't feel anything on the main floor.  I didn't feel anything on the second floor.

But the third floor....

There are bedrooms up there, of course, right when you come up the stairs.  Then there is a hallway to the right which leads to two more rooms and a bathroom.  I looked down the hallway and just DID NOT want to go there.  But my curiosity won me over and I walked down the four steps and the hallway into the rooms.  I noticed not a whole lot.

But suddenly, it was time to go.  And it was time to go NOW.  I felt an urge to leave so strong, it was hard to say where it came from.  And we started walking back down the hallway toward the stairs.  And then there it was.  Someone was behind me.  I felt nothing.  I heard nothing.  But I knew someone was behind me.  The feeling didn't leave until I was past the second floor on the stairs and headed for the main floor.

That was before dinner.

After dinner, we all decided to go back up and explore the house.  Most of the third floor wasn't lit and the light switches weren't working (or the bulbs were burned out).  It was lit enough to make our way up to the bell tower where you were four stories up and looking out over the Mississippi which was very cool.  The party came up and down in groups.  Most of the guests had filed out and left by this time and John and I were talking to some others who worked in his building.  We were admiring all the portraits of post commanders that started in the main hallway and weaved all the way up the stairs and lined the walls of the second and third floors.  These portraits dated all the way back to General Rodman, even though he never lived there.  He died before it was finished.  The guests had been discussing a Colonel Baylor who commanded there, along with a few others, in a discussion of the history of the post and how their names also adorned conference rooms in other buildings.

Then, on the middle landing of the stairs from the second to the third floor, with absolutely no other person around it (we were at the foot of the stairs and could see the area, even though no one was looking directly at it), a portrait literally jumped off the wall.  We heard a crash, and traveled up the six stairs to the middle landing.  The nail and picture hook were still in the wall.  The wall wasn't damaged at all.  The sawtooth hanger on the back of the portrait was still in tact and sturdy.  The back of the paper was ripped, presumably from the impact of the frame to the ground, as the frame itself was damaged and one corner was no longer pieced joined together well.  The name plate had completely come off the frame.  It was as though the picture was bumped from the bottom of the frame hard enough to cause it to come off of the hook and fall to the floor.

The portrait?

Was Col. Baylor who was in command in 1896.