...related to Darrtown
The following story was published on page 15 of the February 27, 1914 edition of the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News.
The unnamed author begins his tale with a reference to the "sixty's and seventy's," which suggests that the event described in this story occurred in the 1860's or 1870's - when the writer was thirteen years old. Additionally, the story teller concludes his essay, by writing that "this incident occurred over 40 years ago" - i.e. - the 1870's.
PART A
PART B
PART C
"Sleeping in a haunted room, on the outskirts of Darrtown"
Story
# 1
Story
# 2
The following story was contributed by Tracy Bufler, in 2021, which she titled "Herbert's Story."
"Mommy, who's that little boy that plays in my bedroom?"
Story
# 3
"...she never wanted to stay there overnight"
Sally (Rinal) Johnson contributed the following story about the house at 4241 South Main street, in Darrtown.
"I was first in the house in 1962 or 1963, when it belonged to Margaret O'Conner. Grandma (Opal) and I went to look at the house, because her sister, Merle Trew, wanted to move to Darrtown. I fell in love with the house right off the bat. I remember Ms. O'Conner showing us a secret compartment that she had someone build into the fireplace mantle. It was accessed by removing a long nail and sliding down a panel.
Merle bought the house and moved in; but, for some reason, she never wanted to stay there overnight. She would go to the McVicker house to sleep.
"I was first in the house in 1962 or 1963, when it belonged to Margaret O'Conner. Grandma (Opal) and I went to look at the house, because her sister, Merle Trew, wanted to move to Darrtown. I fell in love with the house right off the bat. I remember Ms. O'Conner showing us a secret compartment that she had someone build into the fireplace mantle. It was accessed by removing a long nail and sliding down a panel.
Merle bought the house and moved in; but, for some reason, she never wanted to stay there overnight. She would go to the McVicker house to sleep.
When I was visiting once, I offered to spend the night there with her. I didn't sleep much that night--I was in the little room on the north end of the house in the bed my great grandfather died in. That was the only time Merle spent the night there. Our extended family did spend one Christmas Day there.
Like her sister, Opal, Merle was a grade school teacher. When she retired from a 45 year teaching career, the school (Fillmore) had her portrait done. That portrait hung in the front hallway of the house.
Merle took ill and was hospitalized at Fort Hamilton. While she was there, Grandma and I went to check on the house.
The portrait was sitting on the floor in the hall -- the nail still in the wall and the wire intact.
I could tell grandma was upset.
When I asked her why, she told me that when a picture falls off the wall, someone is going to die.
Merle never came home from the hospital."
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Several months later, our son, Trevor, who would have been around four years old at the time, came downstairs from his bedroom one afternoon and said there was a little boy playing in his room. When I questioned him about the boy, Trevor described him as wearing a baseball hat and uniform.
We had never shared with the kids my previous experience for fear of scaring them. I never said anything about this to anyone, fearing they might think I was a little crazy.
A few weeks later, I told Tom about my experience - along with my in-laws Dale and Marjorie Bufler. I was curious to know if they knew of any child that might have passed away, while living here in the family home in Darrtown. They didn't think so; but, no one knew for sure or had ever talked about such a thing.
It's now known for sure that previous generations were born here, in this house (Dale being the last, in April of 1929) and we assume that they died here as well.
After seeing this child, sometimes we would hear strange and unusual sounds coming from upstairs.
Unknown to me, my mother-in-law, Marjorie, decided to look into records at the Butler County court house and she discovered that a child did indeed die, presumably, here in the house, in 1886 from the croup. He was 4 years old.
His name was Herbert Eugene Bufler - born January 11th, 1882 - to Lizella and Joseph Bufler. He died February 9th, 1886 and would have been a brother to Frank (1879), Paul (1886), and William (1890).
"My husband Tom and I are the sixth generation to live in the family homestead here in Darrtown.
One night, while we were asleep, I felt like someone was sitting at the foot of our bed. Barely awake, it looked to me like one of our sons. So, I reached out to him, but I couldn't feel or touch him.
This child seemed to be wearing a baseball uniform with a cap and glove. I got up to check on our sons and Trevor was running a high fever and not feeling well.
Dale's middle name is Eugene and he never really knew how, or why, that name was given.
I guess now we know.
I can only guess that, when I first saw him, at the foot of our bed, he was trying to tell me that Trevor was sick and that he needed me."
As our boys got older, we never encountered Herbert again.
