54 Old Military Road Address: 155 Old Military Road
Old Address: 54 Old Military Road
Other names:
Year built:
This was the home of Dr. W. Warriner Woodruff and his wife, Gertrude Woodruff.
54 Old Military Road
William Kollecker photograph
Saranac Lake Free Library, #95.45kCarlleen Barrington, RN, and her then husband Dr. Ira Schecker, lived in this home 1983-1986. Carlleen had several experiences that made her think the house may have been haunted. In Carleen's words:
The first occurrence was a distinct "cold" area in the hallway leading to the bedrooms, directly in front of the entrance of the first room on the right. I was told by the locals, that was Doctor Woodruff's office. It was only cold in that one spot, and would disappear as fast as it appeared. Then in the same area there was a stench, that also would come and go. I searched everywhere, it smelled like something had died. I remember having a repair man come to the home an look around that area....nothing.
My dog, Caroline, was a Welsh Corgi, a breed known for their intelligence. I would be in my bedroom, watching TV or reading. She would try to get behind my back, while I was sitting in bed, looking up at the ceiling. She would be shaking and crying, it would make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up! This happened numerous times.
One day I was folding laundry in my bedroom. The TVs back then had a knob to change the channels. Well as I folded, the knob began to change the channel on its own, and the channels were just showing "snow" no programs. The knobs on these old TV's were not easy to turn-- no explanation.
Now to the kitchen...
When we lived there, there was antique lighting, with globes screwed in over the bulbs. One morning, I walked into the doorway of the kitchen, and stopped dead in my tracks in disbelief. Many of the globe's were unscrewed and smashed on the floor, though my husband and I never heard anything nor did the dogs. All the doors and windows were secured.
The microwave: The microwave would switch on, on its own... I took it in for repairs, nothing was found wrong with it... but it continued to turn itself on in the home.
My husband did not believe in any super natural crazy stuff, until this next story:
We were in my husband's office (Dr. Woodruffs old office) in the home. I was telling my husband of another happening in the home. He just would not believe me, when suddenly the electric typewriter typed out a few letters, though it was UNPLUGGED!!!! Ha!
This last story really gives me the creeps, but I was told it was because the spirit did not want us to leave.
We were on the last day of packing to move back to Connecticut. We rented a U-Haul truck, I believe it was a 14-footer. The home was empty, the only thing that was left was my suitcase. The suitcase was open on the floor, in the empty bedroom. I left it open, to place my favorite one-inch, open toed light brown shoes on the top of my clothes, so I would know where they were. (They were so comfortable I really did not want to lose them. And the shoes were last to pack.
I placed the shoes on top of my clothes, neatly upside down, then zipped up the suitcase. This suitcase was the last item placed in back of the truck. I placed the suitcase in the truck, pulled down the large door, and pad locked it with this huge lock. Done, one more walk through the home...
When I got to the bedroom, once again, I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart was pounding!
My favorite, one inch opened toed, light brown shoes were sitting neatly in the middle of the empty bedroom-- I really thought I was going to pass out!
All in all, it's a very beautiful home, what ever was happening, the home was filled with warmth and love. I'm sad that our professional lives had us move on, and sad we sold this beautiful historic home.
In later years, c. 1990s, this was the home of Betsy Whitefield (Beggs), the first trained professional librarian at the Saranac Lake Free Library.
