Guns 'n' Ghosts

I am quickly learning that there is never a dull moment at Abraham Lincoln's house. Today was quite a day! We almost had to go into lock down after getting a call from the Grace Episcopal Church located at the northwest end of the park--just across the parking lot from the visitor center. The National Park Service technically owns the church building, but the congregation is leasing it from the government. So anyway, we got a call at the visitor center this morning asking for help and claiming that there was a man with a gun at the church who was threatening to shoot everyone. Yikes! Our law enforcement rangers and the Springfield Police Department rushed to the scene. It turns out that the man didn't really have a gun--just a crowbar, and they were able to arrest him before he did any harm. But that was pretty scary! Everyone was kind of on edge after that one.

A little while later I was the ranger assigned to patrol the neighborhood. It was kind of like someone opened a big can of weirdness in Springfield this morning. The first incident involved a domestic dispute. This man and woman came walking down the street right through the center of the park, yelling, screaming and swearing at each other. I don't think I've ever heard so many expletives dropped in such a short amount of time. I called law enforcement on the radio, but they had their hands full with the crow bar guy, so we had to just let the disgruntled couple swear their way out of the neighborhood. Then a drunk guy came riding through the neighborhood on his bike. He pulled up to the Arnold House, where we have some exhibits, and said in a slurred voice, "Iddis wheda mooveehowz idat?" It took me a minute to figure out what he was saying, but I finally figured it out: "Is this where the movie house is at?" Random question. Answer: No. So then he wandered around the neighborhood for a while--or should I say stumbled--and then left. Then two more guys came walking down the street and introduced themselves as "Brother Paul" and "Brother John." They were looking for a clothes store where they could buy belts and shoes. They had pretty shifty eyes, and when one of the other rangers was pointing in their direction (the ranger was just pointing out one of the other houses in the neighborhood to his tour group), Brother John said, "Hey man, he's pointin' us out. Let's get outta here." So Brother John took off, but Brother Paul was too busy telling me how wonderful history is and how Abraham Lincoln saved the world. Then he started to cry. Seriously. I was thinking to myself, "Could this day get any more strange?" Thankfully it did not get more strange. After Brother Paul finally went on his way, the rest of the afternoon was relatively uneventful--though it was very busy. But busy is normal.

Something that is not normal, however, is the weird stuff that has been going on in the Lincoln Home lately. I've heard ghost stories about the house, but during ranger training we were told that when visitors ask if the house is haunted, we are to say simply, "Not that I know of." Well, it turns out that things really aren't that simple. A number of rangers have had some pretty crazy experiences there. Lately some strange things have been happening like old deadbolts on the doors locking, things getting moved around in bedrooms, and items getting knocked to the floor when no one has been in the room. Supposedly things were especially crazy at the time of the Bicentennial back in February. I don't know quite what to make of it all, but I guess I wouldn't blame the Lincolns' spirits for being a little unrestful. But I'll stick to the story that I don't know anything :-)