Some people say seeing is believing but for a few Lawrence Countians, their belief in the supernatural is the result of a sound, a touch or just an odd, unexplainable feeling.

Many people say they do not believe in ghosts, haunted places or otherworldly phenomena. But others say they have experienced things that cannot be explained otherwise. They believe.

Old house, restless spirits

With its windowed tower and graceful lawn, the Lawrence County Historical Museum at 506 Sixth St. in Ironton is an eye-catching presence even without the stories.

Some historical society members discount any talk of ghostly encounters but others swear the old Colonel Gray residence is a place of unrest, a place where spirits of those long departed still interact with the living in unpredictable, sometimes unsettling ways.

&#8220It's just a feeling you have there,” museum member Bob Price said. &#8220You just don't stay at the museum at night. We're working on getting it ready for Christmas right now. This is not a museum decision, it is just an individual one. Some of us feel like it's just not a good thing to do.”

Bob Price said some museum society members make every effort to be gone by 9 p.m. when they are working at the old house.

Some museum members have told of feeling someone pass them in hallways or on the stairs, even though they can clearly see no one is there. Though he has never seen anything out of the ordinary, Price said he had a strange encounter a couple of years ago as he was working on Christmas decorations. Price said he was starting down the front staircase with a couple of boxes in his arms. Suddenly he felt himself slip and slide as if his feet were going out from under him. Just as suddenly, he felt something ease him down the stairs- safely to the bottom.

Ghosts all over the place

Ghost stories, whether the ghosts were real or only part of someone's imagination, are very much a part of the fabric of Lawrence County.

Some stories of unusual events have even been published in local newspapers. Local historian and librarian Martha Kounse said she often encountered old newspaper accounts of the supernatural while working in the Hamner Genealogical Room at the main branch of the Briggs Lawrence County Public Library.

&#8220When I had some spare time and ran across something I would copy it and type it up,” she said. She now has a collection of them. From one end of the county to the other, Lawrence County has a history of the strange, the bizarre and the unexpected.

In 1905, The Ironton Register published the account of a ghost in Millersport at the old, uninhabited McCown property.

&#8220The spirit first made itself known by the making of a slight noise like someone waking over a hard floor, and attracted the attention of Thomas. Baker, who was cutting weeds for his hogs in an adjoining lot,” according to The Register's story.

Baker told neighbors of his experience and soon as many as 50 children converged on the McCown place to see what they could see. A peep in the window confirmed what the children had feared: the McCown house was haunted.

&#8220Scarcely could they believe their eyes when there appeared before them a figure clad in white and standing in the center of the floor with folded arms,” according to The Register's account.

&#8220With ghastly faces they looked on in dismay for several moments without being able to speak, but finally, regaining their senses, they turned away their blanched faces and beckoned their less curious mates to come and gaze on the scene.

&#8220Several of the younger ones and some of the girls advanced to the open window to gaze spellbound upon the frightful object with abject terror. One of the little girls fainted several times before they could get her back home and finally the whole party fled in terror from the weird place.”

Kind of like Casper

His name was Mr. Ghostly and for several years when Carol and Tony Moran's children were growing up, he lived with them, a visitor no one ever clearly saw, but often heard.

&#8220It was little things,” Carol Moran said. &#8220We would hear footsteps, like someone walking up stairs, sometimes there would be a shadowy something,”

Mr. Ghostly first made his presence known when the Moran children, Susan, John, Eric and Mark, were very small and the family was living in Pontiac, Mich. Not wanting to scare the little ones, Mom and Dad made light of it.

&#8220We let the kids name him whatever they wanted and that's what they called him, Mr. Ghostly,” she said.

Never a frightening presence, Mr. Ghostly was evident, nonetheless, mainly in the form of footsteps that would walk across rooms and up and down the stairs.

&#8220Even the dogs would hear things and then go and stand and look up the stairs,” she said.

Does Moran believe in ghosts?

&#8220I believe in spirits, she said.

When the Moran family moved to Ironton and settled in a house at Fourth and Monroe streets, they discovered Mr. Ghostly had packed his bags, too, and became a Lawrence Countian, at least for a while.

&#8220After the children were grown and left, we never heard it again,” she said.

Teresa Moore is a staff reporter for The Ironton Tribune. To reach her, call (740) 532-1445 ext. 25 or by e-mail at teresa.moore@irontontribune.com.