The Archway

Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: Sports

Paranormal occurrences at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut. (MCT Campus)

It was raining as visitors stared into the night outside the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut hoping to see an apparition. After walking through Mark Twain's home and listening to stories about paranormal activity in it, visitors began looking over their shoulders to see if a spirit was among them.

Celebrated author and humorist Mark Twain, whose real name is Samuel Clemens, had a family estate in the Nook Farm section of Hartford, Connecticut. It is of Victorian design and has one of the very first phones to be installed in a private residence. The House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963. The structure and interior have been preserved to showcase his legacy and further engage interested literary fans and scholars of his work.

Twain wrote some of his most famous books at the Twain House in Hartford. These books include "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876), "The Prince and the Pauper"(1881), "Life on the Mississippi" (1883), "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884), and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (1889).

Twain once wrote of his home, "To us, our house… had a heart, and a soul, and eyes to see us with; and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies; it was of us, and we were in its confidence and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction."

Twain's home has a peaceful atmosphere, but it is believed that a number of restless spirits haunt the walls of this large estate.

Around Halloween, "ghost tours" are available to the public. Stories of paranormal activity are told by workers at the museum. From the death of Twain's daughter in the estate to restless spirits of children pulling on visitors' clothing, stories on these tours will send a chill down your spine. Each guide offers his own experiences of paranormal activity, bringing the stories to life.

The tour guide details past and present occurrences in the home that may be interpreted as extraordinary or coincidental. The lights are dimmed throughout the home to set the tone. The guide leads a small group room to room through the exceptionally large three-story residence. Background tales of the Twain family are shared.

One particular story was about Twain himself. He was extremely interested in spirituality and the paranormal. Twain felt his birth around the time of Halley's Comet's passing affected him. He was born two weeks after the closest approach to Earth of Halley's Comet in 1835. He believed that he had special powers or abilities. Twain often attended spiritual gatherings such as séances and palm readings.

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