The original house was built in 1889 which was at the end of the Victoria Era, for George Janton, who was a soap manufacture and a dealer in laundry supplies. It was built in the Empire style, popular at the time, with a mansard tower, butternut woodwork, slate mantles and a large brick carriage barn to the rear.
The home stayed in the Janton family until the late 1920’s, when it was sold by Mrs. Fred Janton, widow of George’s son.
At this time it became the I Hughes and J. I. Woodyard Funeral Home. After about year one, Woodyard left and it became J. I. Hughes solely.
In the late 1930’s it once again changed hands. This time it became the J.J. Simons and Son Funeral Home in whose hands it remained until the late 1940’s. At which time it was sold to the Elks Lodge.
The Elks made many changes to the structure, tearing down the old carriage barn and building a large block addition containing a restaurant, ballroom, dance floors, stages and secondary meeting spaces. A large complex for its time and is as you see it today and still holds its original charms.
The complex was sold by the Elks to Wendy’s International in 1977. Wendy’s made a Sister restaurant on what was once the south parking lot and sold the old house and north parking lot.
At this time in 1979 it assumed its current use know as The South High Antique Mall, the first antique mall in Columbus, Ohio. Later the name was changed to the Greater Columbus Antique Mall.
The mall has had many famous visitors over the years. Such as Whoopie Goldberg, Ken Kercheval (from Dallas), Tommy Shaw (from the band Styx), Fred Schneider (for the band the B52’s), Karen Valentine (from Room 222) just to name a few. We have had many well know visitors from our own state as well; many in politics and in the media. You never know who you will run into while shopping.
For those of you who are interested in a little extra information, we have had many visitors after closing. Although many have said that they have felt something during opening hours also. So much that Channel 6 has been here on Halloween to do a show.
The Ohio Exploration Society also has taken an interest in the mall for their own reasons. They have reported to me that they have heard heavy footsteps in the hallway, have seen a small gray cat disappear around a corner, footsteps in the auditorium and dishes rattling at different times during the evening hours when they were here.
Brief History of the Elks:
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks)
The Hour of Recollection
Deceased and otherwise absent lodge members are recalled each evening at 11 p.m. when the lodge esquire intones, "It is the Hour of Recollection." The exalted ruler or a member designated by him gives the 11 o'clock toast, of which this version is the most common:
"You have heard the tolling of eleven strokes. This is to remind you that with Elks, the hour of eleven has a tender significance. Wherever Elks may roam, whatever their lot in life may be, when this hour tolls upon the dial of night, the great heart of Elkdom swells and throbs. It is the golden hour of recollection, the homecoming of those who wander, the mystic roll call of those who will come no more. Living or dead, an Elk is never forgotten, never forsaken. Morning and noon may pass him by, the light of day sink heedlessly into the west. But ere the shadows of midnight shall fall, the chimes of memory shall be pealing forth the friendly message: To our absent members."
Activity Witnessed:
There were numerous personal experiences through out the night. Many of which took place in the basement and the attic. One case in the attic 4 investigators had what appeared to be a 22 minute 'conversation' with two children via the K-II meter. The questions that they were asking were getting consistent responses. At one toward the end of the conversation one investigator asked if they (the kids) were getting tired. The response was a yes (one flash on the K-II) then the investigator asked if they were ready for bed, yes again. the investigator said OK and good night. There were no other K-II flashes after that point.
Information Collected
Investigation Summery:
The Greater Columbus Antique Mall in our opinion is haunted. Even though not much evidence was recorded the meter readings can not be discounted.
Personal Experiences:
We had a number of personal experiences. Bellow you will see many of those experiences from a number of investigators. Please under stand, we do not consider any investigator psychic. However, on this particular night, the experances of the investigators were very high.
In the room at the front of the house on the second floor I felt the presence of a young woman. The little space behind the stairs that overlooked the street seemed to be a place she would often stand and look up the street, waiting. I am not sure who or what she was looking for, but I got the sense of great loneliness or longing. The room was here room, but it has somehow been altered. I felt like she didn't spend as much time in her room as she did looking out or sitting in the little "parlor" outside her door.
Basement. Head pressure and at the same time sounds of lightly playing music.
At the top of the stairs (where that ugly fertility goddess leered at you, lol) I felt the presences of children. There was laughter, running and playing and making noises like they were playing with small airplanes or cars. It was very charged and had a great deal of energy in that area.
If you made a left at the top of the stairs and walked straight back, there was a chair in front of a wedding gown. If you sat in that chair for a few minutes, you began to feel like there was someone standing behind you. It was just a bit creepy. (This same feeling was expressed by four investigators in the same spot)
We felt something in the far corner of the room in the basement but these were our feelings only. Two of us left the room for a few minutes to go confirm with Amity about the cans going off by themselves since she and her group was in the room before us. We shut the door behind us to keep out the light for the remaining investigator. The investigator stayed for a few more minutes but said when she went to leave and open the door a board had been placed against the door and she had to push hard to get the door open.
In the attic at the very back of the room on the right in the corner I "saw" a small boy, maybe about 8 years old. He was very curious about me, and what I was doing there. He was about as tall standing as I was sitting and we could "see" eye to eye. He was dressed in a beige peter pan collared shirt with brown suspenders, baggy dark brown knickers, dark socks and brown well worn and scuffed shoes. He remained a long time to see what I would do. I got the sense that there were other children up there with him, but out of my sight, and I felt like they were trying to coax him to come with them to play. But he lingered, curious, and somewhat sad. I felt very maternal toward him, like he needed a Mom.
I asked the girls to come over with their EMF and sweep the room where two investigators had been. The attic was still very active in the yellows and a few reds. We thought for sure it was the electric or something. But then I asked them to sweep the toys with the EMF in the center of the room. We were getting spikes of strong yellows and reds on all the toys, especially the metal box and a spot on the floor but the window. I think it was the daughters of the owners who came up next and the EMF readings went even stronger.
An investigator went down stairs at one point to get more batteries for the girls and was brushed in the stairway by something cold going the other way. I also noticed musty smells going up and down the stair way at on point when I was taking the owner's girls back down stairs.
Another really weird thing in the attic. You know how everybody was freaked by that doll in the small chair, it went off on every EMF meter as well. My wife and I went back the next day. I had pics from the night before on how the doll was laying down covered up. The doll was sitting up in the chair after they opened the next day.
We were upstairs on the second floor of the main building and went into a small room (maybe an old bedroom), the window faced S High St. While we were sitting on a chair in there, we were having luck with the K2 meter. I was really enjoying the responses we were getting. Then my sister, kind of jumped and grabbed her leg, but did’t say anything. When we got back to the hotel, she dropped her pants and revealed a big scratch on her leg. She said she felt it while sitting in that room, but just let it go while we were in there. She said she did’t bump anything, and she and I had been sitting in that room for about 20 minutes when she got the scratch.
In little room on the left in the Attic. Loud knock on the wall behind me. Listen to Audio.
We all went down stairs and I found Brian and asked if he would come up stairs with me and do a sweep with the video camera and his EMF. We were getting all the same reading that the girls were getting and we thought maybe something wasn't grounded correctly. We all went down stairs after that.
PPenny and I went up stairs about 10:30 and found some investigators trying to contact the spirits up there via a K-II meter. Penny and I went into the room that was so active earlier that night with EMFs but the readings went back down to one light and stayed there while they were trying to talk to the spirits. We left out digital recorders on and listened quietly to the group trying to connect with the spirits. Penny was taking a few pictures with her night cam.
The group went down stairs and Penny and I stayed upstairs to do one last sweep with the EMF meter. There was nothing! All the toys and the rooms where the meters were all going off registered only one light. If there was something there is had went away (or too bed) too which was kind of strange because even the readings on the floor where we thought there must had been electric wires or something were reading just one light. It seemed completely dead after all the people left.
Susan went down stairs at one point to get more batteries for the girls and was brushed in the stairway by something cold going the other way. I also noticed musty smells going up and down the stair way at on point when I was taking the owner's girls back down stairs.
We all went down stairs and I found Brian and asked if he would come up stairs with me and do a sweep with the video camera and his EMF. We were getting all the same reading that the girls from PA were getting and we thought maybe something wasn't grounded correctly. We all went down stairs after that.
Penny and I went up stairs about 10:30 and found Gene and some girls trying to contact the spirits up there. Penny and I went into the room that was so active earlier that night with EMFs but the readings went back down to one light and stayed there while they were trying to talk to the spirits. We left out digital recorders on and listened quietly to the group trying to connect with the spirits. Penny was taking a few pictures with her night cam.
The group went down stairs and Penny and I stayed upstairs to do one last sweep with the EMF meter. There was nothing! All the toys and the rooms where the meters were all going off registered only one light. If there was something there is had went away too which was kind of strange because even the readings on the floor where we thought there must had been electric wires or something were reading just one light. It seemed completely dead after all the people left.
The last I noticed any activity was about 11 before we went home. The girls from PA seemed to be getting high EMF reading just in front of the stairway upstairs.
The next day Susan had noticed her cell phone battery was completely dead. It too seemed to have been run dry while we were at the antique mall that night.
In addition, there were numerous reports of batteries being completely drained from flashlights, cameras, recorders and even cell phones.
Video Findings:
none
Audio Findings:
The below evp was filtered to remove any sounds above the 250 Hz rang. This will remove any investigators voices that would be considered to be in the normal human range.
We had some low voice sounds on the recordings, we are discounting these as finding as we believe they might me the voices of other investigators.
Photographic False Positive:
Dust orbs
Conclusions
In our opinion, based solely on the evidence collected at the
time of this investigation we believe this location to be:
_
No paranormal activity
_
Paranormal activity, but not enough to consider it a haunting
_
Residual Haunting
X
Intelligent Haunting
_
Benevolent Spirit
_
Malevolent Spirit
_
Benign Spirit
_
Inconclusive
Case Status
_
Follow-up recommended
_
Case Closed
Additional Comments:
Without a doubt this is one of the nicest antique malls around. When Patt says "You never know who you will run into while shopping". She might be referring to more than the living. This location is a must see for anyone interesting in antiques and paranormal activity.
