Strasburg ghost is blue, has 'ordinary apple-eating teeth' and wears shoes

By Elizabeth Libby - Daily Staff Writer

(Oct. 27, 1995) Gin Cadden knows her ghost is blue, has "ordinary apple-eating teeth" and wears shoes. And he goes by the name of Mr. Chamberlain.

The man whose spirit lives in Spengler Hall in Strasburg is thought to be a family friend who visited twice a year to hunt and fish back in the 1930s and had a deep appreciation for the house. Not long after he died in the early 1940s, a family member came tearing down from the attic and swore she had seen something blue go by. "So we know Mr. Chamberlain is blue," Mrs. Cadden said.

Later, a cousin attending Massanutten Military Academy was spending the night with some fellow classmates. When they went to bed, they put apples under their barracks caps and the next morning they awoke to find someone had taken a bite out of each apple. "So we know he has ordinary apple-eating teeth," Mrs. Cadden said.

On another occasion, while Mrs. Cadden was young, she and her mother and aunt were sitting downstairs, alone in the house, when they suddenly heard someone walk across the floor upstairs. When they went upstairs to investigate, they found footprints on the rug, but no person.

Later, while the family was in the kitchen, pool balls started shooting around the pool table in another room. There was no one in the room, Mrs. Cadden said.

Mr. Chamberlain continues to visit the family, long after his death. Just last week, Mrs. Cadden, whose great-great grandfather, Anthony Spengler, built the house in 1820, thought she heard him walk up the front steps. "There's nothing malicious about him," she said. "We're all very fond of him."

Note: This story is reprinted from The Northern Virginia Daily's Oct. 27, 1995 Real Estate section.