I had a great deal of comment about my encounter with Sara, and some have asked me about other ghosts I had met, so I will tell you about one that happened to me when we had our restaurant in the Arcade in downtown Newark, Ohio.
First, of all, the Newark Arcade is an essential part of Newark, Ohio history. The Newark Arcade was created by the Newark Arcade Company in 1907, was one of Ohio's first indoor business streets. The Arcade also featured central heating and also electric lighting. Much of the now idle equipment sat quietly in the basement of the huge building. It originally housed restaurants, movie theaters, offices, a bakery, many shops, ten-cent stores, and took up a whole city block.
It was, for its time, gigantic, and one of the first of its kind in the country, and visitors came from all over to see this new concept.
Much of it was torn down now, but the gigantic basement, now abandoned except for some storage space. A few of the offices were occupied, some of the second floor had been remodeled, and on one end, an attorney had an office space. Their conference room had a large window, which overlooked the interior of the arcade and the wide hallway which had all of the display windows and entrances to the shops and offices.
The basement was a wealth of 100 year history, the old boilers were still there, the steam generator which furnished electricity to the entire complex when it was in its glory. So much outdated equipment, now covered with cobwebs, but once, state of the art.
On one of my excursions into the cavernous basement, I found one room that housed a hoard of water and food items, that had been stored there since the 40's, it was designated as an air raid shelter for the city, and the horde of supplies was still there. Some was even replenished during the Cuban crisis. A basement full of hundred year old history. I was in awe of it as I strolled through the many rooms and hallways.
I never found all of them, but old timers said that there was underground access to the entire downtown area. I did find two areas that had been used in the 20's as speak-easys, and the rooms that had housed floating crap games and poker tables.
I spent many hours roaming around, in awe of all that history. I can't explain why, or when it happened, but at times, I felt "something" accompanied me on my journeys. I was never frightened by it, but at times, I felt I wasn't alone.
One afternoon, I had done all the prep work for the next days, made sure everything was turned off, locked up, and started for home. The kitchen door that we used was on one of the side exits, but I was always in the habit of checking out the main aisle area, and glanced up at the darkened window of the attorneys office.
I thought it was a reflection at first, then I realized there was nothing that could reflect from that window.
There was a gray/white figure, rather distinct, and as I kept looking, an arm seemed to raise, in a slow wave of recognition. I stared up at that window for the longest time, The arcade was empty, no sounds, deathly quiet, and I seemed to be staring up, at a ghostly figure in a window.
I often thought of that figure in the window, but there was really no history of the arcade to be found, only some old-timers who had some stories to tell. One of the old timers came in for an early lunch one day, and I started questioning him about the history of the arcade, and I mentioned the incident to him.
"That was probably Jim, he said, "he was killed in 1928, I think it was, in an accident in the boiler room. A lot of people think he has been here ever since. Some say they see him in the mirror down the hall, still looking for his Jessie."
They say that Jessie cut through the Arcade, after the funeral, on her way home, and as she glanced at the mirror on her way out, got her last glimpse of her beloved Jim.
I continued to take my strolls through the empty spaces in the Arcade, up on the second floor, the basement, the old ballroom that used to house the Elks, the offices, and I often felt I was accompanied by Jim. I never talked with him, or asked him questions, I guess I was afraid he might answer, but I was never "concerned" with him. I was looking at history, and he was looking for his Jessie.
I did some research, and sometime will tell you the story of Jim and Jessie.
