A Word from Old Friends and Other Oddities

In the beginning...

by Brenda Spillers on 07/21/10

Dear Friends,

 

    Welcome to our home! We are honored that you are visiting is either via our website or in person! This page will contain notes from me or Tom concerning day-to-day life and events at The Mangus House and in Vesuvius.

    

     Since this is our first posting, we should introduce our family! Tom and I began our life at The Mangus House October 31, 2005. We had found the property through a long series of flukes and bouts of home sickness. You see, I grew up 10 miles from here and moved to Richmond for 20 years. Trust me on this; you can never take rural living out of a country girl's soul! I met Tom around 1990; he was an orthodontist in Richmond. We decided to move "back home"  upon his retirement.

 

     My daughter and son-in-law, Brandy and Ryan, still live near Richmond and are our Webmasters. They are expecting their first (two-legged) child early in 2011. Their first four-legged child is named Sierra. We hope that someday we will be able to entice them to move here. My child, however, is very wise and knows how much work and love is involved with The Mangus House and, so far, is resisting the move. (Cheap, good help is so hard to find!) We'll keep working on it! (Love ya Brass!)

 

     That brings us to our 'babies'. We are owned by three Shetland Sheepdogs; Clancy, Ryan and Kelly along with a Sheltie mix named Jet (who is Sierra’s littermate). We also 'serve' three indoor rescued cats named Pearl, Tigger, and Kiki. Each of our children have very strong and original personalities! The have us well trained!

 

     Well... I guess that’s it... oh... except for... well... how can I say this??... Oh what the heck??... Our ghost family. The Mangus House dates back prior to 1840 and finished in 1873. The house and property have always been well loved. So loved, in fact, that some prior residents never left and are still caring for the property and us. During an investigation by a paranormal group from Botetourt County in late 2009, 40 EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon) in at least 10 different voices were recorded. See ?!? It’s not just ... even our ghost are chatty! They all seem to be helpful, kind, and protective of our interest and guests. (Except for once, and she asked for it!) From time to time you will see the names of Wallace, Mr. Mangus, Phoebe and Cassie mentioned in our postings. You see, after seeing full apparitions and experiencing so many other interesting types of visits. These folks became like family. Anybody, living or dead, that can dust a room is OK with me!

 

     So please drop by again for other updated postings. If you would like the full details of our experiences, join us for a few days! Fall is a gorgeous time to visit the area. Leaf color, festivals and hearty food along with cooler weather make for a relaxing and fun getaway. As a side line, it also corresponds with increased activity of our “more senior family members”.

 

We hope to see you soon!

Love ya!

Brenda

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