Sherman House ghosts heard, but not seen

There may be spirits in the house of Maj. Gen. David Halverson, Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill commanding general, and his family, but the Halversons are brave souls. Not only did they hear about ghosts in the Sherman House before moving in, but they welcome the visits.

Sherman House was built in 1871, two years after the post was established. Many commanding generals and their family members have stayed in the quarters, and the previous commanding general's family shared many stories with the Halversons.

"The people who lived here before us, the Vangjels, had quite a bit of strange stuff happen. They heard music playing a lot, which they said was very loud, so we were excited about that. Her daughter said she even levitated in a room," said Karen Halverson. "In fact, my older daughter insisted on taking what we call the levitation bedroom but nothing has happened."

Although her husband may not believe in the spirits, it seems their family pets do. Mrs. Halverson said they don't like the back staircase for some reason and often sit at the bottom of the stairs looking up.She also said their cat, Patches, doesn't usually make any noises but he becomes very vocal when he's upstairs.

"We joke that the ghosts are levitating him all around the upstairs," she said.

Halverson said the Valcourts, former residents, also saw an old woman in a rocking chair in the living room of the house. So, when they moved in they placed a rocking chair in the same spot to "encourage" her to come back. So far, she hasn't.

Although there have been no ghost sightings, what they do hear are unexplainable noises. More specifically: footsteps (among other things). Mrs. Halverson explained that part of the upstairs was used as a ballroom in the past. This could explain the shuffling she and her daughters have heard, as if a ghostly party is dancing the night away.

The other footsteps don't seem to have any rhyme or reason.

"One night we heard lots of footsteps running up and down these stairs. I was in the back of the house on the computer and my girls were in the TV room so we were in opposite ends of the house, and we all heard this. I came out and looked and, of course, no one's on the stairs. I went to ask the girls if they heard it, and they were all under covers in the TV room. They were like, 'Mom are you hearing that'' It sounded like a lot of people," said Halverson.

She said one of her daughters also heard whistling in the back room and then whispering upstairs in a bedroom. Although these were singular occurrences she said there was another event that all three women of the house experienced.

'We were watching a movie. Actually, I was reading at the same time and then it dawned on me I was hearing something that wasn't a part of the score of the movie. So I said to my daughter, 'Mute the movie.' And she said 'Oh my gosh you hear it, too! They were trying to ignore it. So we muted the movie and we could hear a drumbeat from upstairs. Not like an Indian tom tom. And, it wasn't like a snare drum from a marching band. It was just a rhythmic drumbeat and then it stopped," said Halverson.

She said they're very distinct sounds and could not be confused with artillery as they know what artillery sounds like from living on post for so long. She did notice however, that all the events occurred in the evening and she thinks it might be because that's when the family settles down and the house is finally quiet.

"You know we have two teenaged girls who live here and the ghosts could be making noise all day long, and I think we just don't hear it because the kids are loud," said Halverson.

Whatever is causing the noises Halverson said she is never frightened and if anything she always has company. "I never feel alone in the house even when I am alone, but it's not a scary feeling."