HAUNTED TAYLOR
ALEX LOWE
Special to the Press
Editor’s note: With Halloween fast approaching, the Taylor Press offers readers a continuing series about ghostly doings in town.
Mike Kaspar is a guide for Taylor’s Original Ghost Tour and can tell you all about downtown Taylor’s haunted hotspots.
But one haunted location you will not hear about on his tour is his own home.
The Kaspar House at 219 E. Eighth St. today is a very popular Airbnb destination and has been in the Leshikar-Kaspar family for over 70 years. Originally purchased by Kaspar’s maternal grandfather, Willie Leshikar, it became a place of great childhood memories for Mike and his family.
“When my mom got married to Joe Kaspar, they moved in with Grandma Adela and Grandpa Willie for a while. I have a lot of fond memories of sitting in the upstairs room with my Grandpa Willie as he recited Scripture,” Kaspar said. “Later in life, he became burdened with arthritis and required a cane to help him get around. Eventually, my grandparents moved away, and it became our house.”
His grandfather died in 1978.
The house became family property after Mike Kaspar’s mother passed away. Kaspar and his relatives decided to turn it into an Airbnb and started extensive renovations. On one occasion, Kaspar and five others ran into some technical difficulties trying to wire the home for Wi-Fi when they were congregated in Grandpa Willie’s old second-floor room.
They went downstairs to tackle another project.
“When we got downstairs, I realized that I had forgotten something upstairs, so I headed back up to the room,” Kaspar said. “When I got to the door, I stood there in disbelief. There, hanging on the doorknob, was my Grandpa Willie’s walking cane.”
Kaspar found himself getting emotional as he recounted the incident.
“When I took the cane downstairs to show to everyone, none of them remembered seeing it hanging on the door and each one of us had passed in and out of that doorway. We were stunned,” he said.
Nobody took credit for hanging the walking stick on the doorknob.
“The cane was easily recognizable as having belonged to my grandfather,” Kaspar said. “It was old and worn down and had tape in all the spots I remembered it having been taped. The thing is that my grandfather died in 1978, and my family members lived in that house for years after his death and nobody had seen that cane since his passing. We all thought it had disappeared after he moved away.”
Most of the guests who stay at the Airbnb have no knowledge of Grandpa Willie and come away extremely happy with their visit. But there are those rare occasions when particularly sensitive guests have told Kaspar they sense a presence in the house.
“There has been some mention of sensing a presence in one of the closets,” Kaspar said. “My daughter also felt it, and she was in her 40s when she had that experience.”
Kaspar recalled incidents he experienced as a boy while living in the home that preceded his grandfather’s death, which may indicate there is more than one spirit in the house.
“I can recall being home alone on a few occasions and hearing
things like drawers being opened and the sound of silverware clattering around, which should not have been something that could happen,” he said.
As far as the spirit of his grandfather is concerned, Kaspar has an answer for the sudden reappearance of Grandpa Willie’s cane.
“I like to think it is his way of letting us all know that he is here watching over us,” he said.
To learn more about the public tour, which is sponsored by The Taylor Conservation and Heritage Society, visit facebook.com/taylorheritagesociety. org/.
