After hours

Second floor of Lucketts Store before renovation.

Earlier this month, I promised a little spooky story about our building.

Once a Post Office, a general store, and a family home, The Old Lucketts Store has seen a lot in its 150+ years of existence.  This time of year, we are asked if the building has any ghosts lurking about.

I'll tell you one of the stories, and let you decide...


It was quitting time one fall evening and Jennifer, one of our dealers and "worker girls", was working alone and closing up the shop.  She counted the cash drawer and closed the money out, rearranged her dealer space, then went up to the third floor to do a quick check for misplaced items and to be sure no customers were still in the building.  On the second floor, she glanced out the window and saw another car in the parking lot.  This meant a customer was likely browsing around the shop's porch or pavilions.  The inside of the building looked good and no customers were inside.  Time to go.

Jennifer then went to shut off all the breakers, which are in the front room.  In the colder months when the sun sets earlier, this means you may need to walk the 50 or so feet back to the lobby in semi-darkness.  She locked up and noted that the customer's car was gone from the parking lot.  She went home.

The next morning a customer called asking for a price on an urn on the porch.  We found the price and the woman thanked us.  Before she hung up, she added, "You know the oddest thing happened to me yesterday.  I knew you were closed but I saw your lights still on and went to the door, hoping to get a price.  The door was locked.  A woman was behind the counter just standing there.  I knew she could see me because we made eye contact, but she just stared at me with a stern look on her face.  I figured she couldn't hear me, or wasn't going to help me.  Maybe she spoke another language?  The whole thing just felt odd, so I left."   We asked a few more questions and realized quickly that it wasn't Jennifer she was talking about at all.  The customer then went on to describe a middle-aged woman in a long dress with an apron.  The description fit Mrs. Lucketts, the wife of the store's original owner, perfectly.

We've been told that since the family lived upstairs and the business was downstairs, when it was quitting time, it was time for everyone to go home so the family could to sit down to dinner, and Mrs. Lucketts always made sure of that.  Apparently she still does...
 

Posted in: In Store