Ghost Stories of Berks County
by Charles J. Adams IIIBob said he never actually saw this ghost he calls Lizzie. The
incidents he recalls are more of a poltergeistic nature, but others who lived in the home
for however brief a period from time to time have indeed seen apparitions, as witnessed in
the previous paragraphs and more to come.
While he never actually saw Lizzie, Bob would certainly feel her presence:
He'd be playing the electric organ and suddenly the power would shut off - the cord
jerked from the wall socket by an unseen force.
He'd be reading a book on a quiet night and the lamp's plug would be pulled from its
socket.
The water heater would mysteriously switch itself off.
The swimming pool filter would shut down.
Outdoor spotlights would switch themselves on and off.
He'd misplace a book and several months later find it
stuffed deeply between the box spring and mattress of his
bed. He knew he didn't put it there.
He'd misplace his car keys and find them weeks later in the
freezer section of his refrigerator.
Believing that some of the occurrences may have been the result of electrical
malfunctioning, electricians were called in to check the system. They reported that
everything from the pole to the fusebox to the interior wiring was in fine shape.
"Other time, I'd be playing the organ and - you know when somebody walks up behind
you and just stands there and you can just feel it? Well, I felt that many times while
seated at the organ. I had tow Dobermans and they'd go berserk. These things were annoying
- nothing frightening, nothing had ever happened - but I would just talk to her. You know,
I'd say 'Okay, Lizzie, knock it off. Leave me alone!"
When company came to call, Lizzie would be at her most demonstrative best.
"Apparently she didn't like changes. When I had company, she'd turn to lights on
and off, and it would get a lot more serious than that. Some friends from Morgantown
stayed in the house one-half of one night and NEVER came back again - daytime, nighttime,
no time!
"The people came to stay overnight, but in the middle of the night
they came out of the room screaming, yelling, carrying on. They told me the big
four-poster bed was jumping up and down off the floor. This happened three times. Well,
they left and never came back. The same thing happened to me later on. The bed raised up -
honest to God - but it wasn't shaking, it wasn't wiggling. It actually raised up off the
floor a few feet and dropped and started pounding - boom...boom...boom!"
As Bob tells the story today, his speech is charged with emotion. It seems obvious that
something had happened that shook his nerves at their very roots.