BATAVIA: The Elderly Visitors Of The Hoberg House

BATAVIA:

THE ELDERLY VISITORS OF THE HOBERG HOUSE

On the northeast corner of Broadway and 2nd street is a house in which Herb and Roseanne Hoberg moved into in 1946. The Hobergs were only the 3rd family to live in the house, which was built right after the Civil War. The Hobergs bought the house (along with an antique bed from Promont) for only $25. It was at this point that Mrs. Hoberg believes the unusual occurrences began.

“We had a cocker spaniel and there were times we'd be in the family room and we'd hear footsteps coming down the stairway. The cocker's hair would stand straight up. It happened a number of times and it always came out of the room with the bed (from Promont) in it.” Mrs. Hoberg said. “I was home alone one night (in the early 1970s) when I heard the door to that room open and then I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I went out in the car and stayed until my family came home.” “One Christmas season, my mother heard the footsteps and called the police. They went up into that room and the bed looked as if someone had been sitting on it.”

“I think it was 1968 when we had and Open House. A man wanted to use the bathroom and the one on the first floor was occupied and I told him he could use the one on the 2nd floor at the end of the hall. When he came back down he asked his wife if my parents lived here because he saw an old couple sitting in rocking chairs in that room upstairs. He said the woman was knitting and the man was reading the paper. He said both were well dressed in old clothes. He nodded at them and smiled and they did the same, but my parents weren't there at the time and there was no old couple in the house that I knew of.

“We moved out of the house in 1972. Kids in later families who moved into the house saw this same old man looking out a window of the house. The kids were in school and could see the old man looking across the street, they thought straight at them.” The children were so sure they saw someone in that house that they would be excused from class to see if someone had broken in to their home. They never found anyone in the house. The bed in question was removed from the house before the Hobergs moved. It is now dismantled and in storage in a barn in town.

Owners since the Hobergs moved reported unexplained scratching on the wall, doors that wouldn't stay closed, mysterious footprints and blasts of arctic air through the house on humid days. Mrs. Hoberg said one of the families went to the extent of having the house blessed by a priest, but she scoffs at most of these things.

The current owners have facetiously named the ghosts whom they have never experienced. Except... the electric vacuum cleaner has been known to have turned itself on and off on one occasion. Some evening if you're driving by and see a well dressed old man or old woman looking out a window there, just smile and nod, they're just keeping and eye on their neighbors and the possible unwelcome visitors at the respective homes.


	BATAVIA: THE ELDERLY VISITORS OF THE HOBERG HOUSE On the northeast corner of Broadway and 2nd street is a house in which Herb and Roseanne Hoberg moved into in 1946. The Hobergs were only the 3rd family to live in the house, which was built right after the Civil War. The Hobergs bought the house (along with an antique bed from Promont) for only $25. It was at this point that Mrs. Hoberg believes the unusual occurrences began. “We had a cocker spaniel and there were times we'd be in the family room and we'd hear footsteps coming down the stairway. The cocker's hair would stand straight up. It happened a number of times and it always came out of the room with the bed (from Promont) in it.” Mrs. Hoberg said. “I was home alone one night (in the early 1970s) when I heard the door to that room open and then I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I went out in the car and stayed until my family came home.” “One Christmas season, my mother heard the footsteps and called the police. They went up into that room and the bed looked as if someone had been sitting on it.” “I think it was 1968 when we had and Open House. A man wanted to use the bathroom and the one on the first floor was occupied and I told him he could use the one on the 2nd floor at the end of the hall. When he came back down he asked his wife if my parents lived here because he saw an old couple sitting in rocking chairs in that room upstairs. He said the woman was knitting and the man was reading the paper. He said both were well dressed in old clothes. He nodded at them and smiled and they did the same, but my parents weren't there at the time and there was no old couple in the house that I knew of. “We moved out of the house in 1972. Kids in later families who moved into the house saw this same old man looking out a window of the house. The kids were in school and could see the old man looking across the street, they thought straight at them.” The children were so sure they saw someone in that house that they would be excused from class to see if someone had broken in to their home. They never found anyone in the house. The bed in question was removed from the house before the Hobergs moved. It is now dismantled and in storage in a barn in town. Owners since the Hobergs moved reported unexplained scratching on the wall, doors that wouldn't stay closed, mysterious footprints and blasts of arctic air through the house on humid days. Mrs. Hoberg said one of the families went to the extent of having the house blessed by a priest, but she scoffs at most of these things. The current owners have facetiously named the ghosts whom they have never experienced. Except... the electric vacuum cleaner has been known to have turned itself on and off on one occasion. Some evening if you're driving by and see a well dressed old man or old woman looking out a window there, just smile and nod, they're just keeping and eye on their neighbors and the possible unwelcome visitors at the respective homes.