HAUNTED TAYLOR
Editor’s note: With Halloween now here, the Taylor Press offers readers this final installment in a continuing series about ghostly happenings in town.
The sprawling Crawford H.
Booth house, also known as the Clark Mansion, is one of the more striking buildings found in Taylor.
Located at 2112 W. Lake Drive, the home offers an unusual example of the L-plan vernacular form and features many Queen Anne details with an octagonal turret and oniondome roof, polygonal bays, arched windows, decorative shingles, a porch with spindlework balustrade and keyhole windows. Examination of the exterior would be like a visit to Walt Disney World for architectural enthusiasts.
But inside is where the action is for paranormal enthusiasts.
All manner of strange encounters have been experienced within those walls.
Shadow figures and wandering orbs have been reported.
Electronic voice recordings have been captured addressing people by name. No less than three different sets of contractors performing work inside the grand old building have seen the image of a little girl.
So, what or who is haunting the historic old house?
First, we need to explore the history of the building, which stretches from a decade after the American Civil War to modern day.
Crawford H. Booth, a Union officer in the War Between the States, started construction in 1876 and finished in 1880.
Booth would go on to establish the Taylor National Bank and St. James Episcopal Church. He also donated 30 acres for the Taylor Fair Association, which became known for a popular racetrack that drew horse-andbuggy competitors from all over the country. Daughter Bessie and her husband, Lycurgus Nelson, continued the tradition of horse racing and training.
In 1958, Johnathan and Eunice Clark purchased the home and kept it until 2018.
Under the Clark’s ownership, the building became a fixture in Taylor social life during the early 1960s. Taylor High School would often hold school dances in the southwest room on the first floor with its large, sweeping floor area and fireplace.
There was no appropriate facility to do so on school grounds.
Sherry Clark Nichols, the daughter of Johnathan and Eunice Clark, who lived in the house during those years, talked about her ghostly encounters in the home during a paranormal investigation conducted by Matt Cannon’s group, Truly Haunted Inc.
“I can remember frequently hearing footsteps moving from the kitchen to the dining room,” Nichols said. “When you would go to investigate, there would be nobody there. I can also say that we have had three different groups of workers come into the home, each knowing nothing of the other, and they have reported seeing a little girl in the house. Nobody knows who this little girl could be, but they all saw her.”
During Cannon’s 2019 investigation of the home, Nichols talked about her younger sister who liked to conduct seances in the ballroom. As she spoke about her sibling, a distinct knocking sound interrupted the interview. The noise seemed to originate from an interior wall.
Despite efforts to locate the source of the sound, none could be found.
The incident was captured on film and can be found on YouTube.
“My sister Debbie and her friend were playing cards in this ballroom once and they both noticed a tall, slender shadow figure making its way across the back wall. But there was nobody in the room at the time,” Nichols said.
Cannon’s investigation yielded impressive results. Utilizing a REM pod, which is a small device that has an antenna with its own electromagnetic field and reacts when anything gets near it, Cannon captured an alarm that sounded more than 10 times in the master bedroom over the course of several hours. Also, Cannon’s fixed camera recorded a bright, round “orb” manifesting at the top of a stairwell before floating through the air and changing direction.
“A lot of video captures of orbs can be explained away as being dust or insects,” Cannon said. “But in this case, the orb is very bright and moves, changing direction.”
Cannon and his team, which included Sherry Clark Nichols, captured several recordings of disembodied voices and whispers during the investigation.
Some of these came in the form of direct responses to questions, including one which was heard to say, “Hi … Sherry.”
Cannon believes the Crawford House contains the spirits of several members of the Clark family, including Johnathan, Eunice and Deborah. None of the spirits appear malevolent. During a conversation with investigators, the specters seemed to indicate they were together and at peace.
