THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 29, 1995 TAG: 9510270215
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Olde Towne Journal
SOURCE: Alan Flanders
LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
In the late afternoon this time of year, shadows seem to grow longer just before sunset and some stay around long enough to blend with the coming night.
Dusk in autumn has always been the legendary time for ``ghosts'' to make their appearance, and rightly so around Halloween time. For the rest of the year, any thought about apparitions disappears in the shadows of closets and attics as scary costumes are put away for next year's haunting.
But sometimes a ghost decides not to leave, but rather to take up residence year-round.
Take for instance the house at 323 Florida Ave. in Port Norfolk.
The official occupants of this three story 1907-vintage home are Betty Freedman and her 7-year-old black cat, Sam. She and her late husband, along with their three children, moved from Pinner's Point in 1967 to what was then known as the old Shufflebarger house after the death of the original owners.
There was just one hitch, Betty Freedman found that the house was still occupied. To hear her and her children, Steve and Jan, tell it, at least one of the first occupants decided to stay and ``watch'' over his home and on occasion make his presence known.
The Freedmans have grown rather accustomed to having an extra house guest from the spiritual world.
None of the Freedmans has a problem admitting their home is haunted and that they are on rather intimate terms with the ghost they have identified through actual sightings as the original owner himself, Fred Shufflebarger.
They've become so used to having the ``extra-terrestrial'' around that they can't remember the exact moment he first made contact with them. But they all agree that from the day they moved in, they knew something was strange about the place.
``As a child growing up here, I just knew that something eerie was here,'' Jan recalled. ``I would be sitting in the family room watching television, and suddenly I felt an eddy of very cold air flow by. It didn't matter whether it was in the heat of summer or the dead of winter, you could feel the hair on your arm stand straight up.''
According to Betty Freedman, the ghost that her family has identified as Mr. Shufflebarger's spirit gets more restless during the holiday season that runs from Halloween through Christmas.
``We had a series of direct contacts with the ghost when we put up the Christmas tree over by the bay window adjacent to the family room,'' said Freedman. ``We noticed the next day that it appeared to have been dragged further over to the window as if someone had pushed it or pulled it.
``So we secured it with wire to the wall and floor so it could not collapse the next night. However, the following morning we found the tree had literally fallen as if someone had exerted some real effort this time.
``We tried to prop it better the next evening and even added more wire, and once again we found the tree in a prone position the next day,'' she said. ``Well, after three times, we got the message and moved the tree into the front parlor - never had another problem that Christmas.''
When they told an elderly neighbor about the moving Christmas tree, she calmly told them Mr. Shufflebarger would never have a Christmas tree anywhere else in the house but the front parlor.
``You know, for the next several Christmases we tried tying the tree in the bay window and every time we got the same results until we placed it where Mr. Shufflebarger wanted it,'' she said.
Steve Freedman has also had some up-close and personal contact with the family ghost.
``I remember well to this day the night I had a school friend over to watch TV and closed my upstairs bedroom door snugly to keep the noise down,'' he said. ``All of a sudden, the latch popped and the door, which was tightly closed, swung open.
``My friend was ready to leave at that moment, but I tried to explain that Mr. Shufflebarger prowled all over the house. Then the window next to our room raised without anybody near it. Since the window is an old-fashioned counter-weighted kind, I knew and so did my friend that it didn't move upward on its own.''
Betty Freedman's daughter Jan has the most detailed description of the specter she swears is ``an older man, not very tall, with gray hair.'' She first ``met'' the ghost as he sat rocking calmly in her mother's favorite rocker in the family room.
``I remember very well inviting a friend over to have dinner and I walked past this room toward the kitchen and for several seconds, I caught this figure out of the corner of my eye. I simply froze right there. A man in his 80s was rocking away in mother's chair.
``I remember vividly that he had a red - very deep red - cashmere-like sweater on with dark trousers,'' she said. ``When I walked into the kitchen to tell my friend, I noticed a complete look of astonishment on his face as well. He blurted out, `Jan, do you have an older gentleman house guest rocking in the family room?' I knew then and there he and I had met Mr. Shufflebarger.''
Sometimes the Freedmans watch as lights turn off that were left on in other parts of the house. The smell of Old Spice or Bay Rum wafts through the air and then disappears. Bed sheets are mysteriously pulled off to the floor. Things left on the kitchen table are rearranged after a morning outing, and then there is the omnipresent ``eerie'' feeling that another being is among them in the house.
For many this would be enough to have the resident spirit ``exorcised'' from the premises, but neither Betty Freedman nor her children have any plans of serving ``their'' ghost with any ``spiritual'' eviction notices. On the contrary, they seem to like him.
We want him to stay, the Freedmans admitted in unison.
``He doesn't mean any harm,'' Betty Freedman said. ``This is his home and this is where he belongs for now.''
Rather than deny his presence, the Freedmans have had to come to terms with events in their own home that defy logic. Instead of being afraid or angry, or going into denial, they simply try to explain that Mr. Shufflebarger is there, in his ``own'' home for a reason beyond their comprehension.
``When you see him, you have to believe in him,'' Freedman calmly explained. ``We've grown comfortable with him around, and he seems comfortable around us. He's part of the family and, in a way, we're part of his. After all, for now we share the same house.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MARK MITCHELL
Strange things are happening at the house at 323 Florida Ave. in
Port Norfolk.
It allegedly has a ghost, the spirit of the original owner.
Photo by ALAN FLANDERS
Betty Freedman decorates for Halloween with black cats.
by CNB