There is a certain time of year when humans consider the other world, the liminal space between life and death. While we may mourn all year long, the fall is where many see the veil between different planes of existence converge.

Sometimes that connection is imbued into objects from the past. Artifacts with a deep history to individuals and a time that has long since passed. Without really understanding it, they give us shiver, a sense of other worldliness that we can’t quite explain.

To explore the many forms that visitors may encounter spirits from another time, seek out these five objects and stories from National Trust Historic Sites and sites in our Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios Program.

A Crystal Ball at Lyndhurst (Tarrytown, New York )

Purchased by Lyndhurst’s fourth owner Helen Gould around the turn of the 20th century, this large quartz crystal ball was not unique for its time. In this era consulting crystal balls for divination was a popular pastime and for a short time, Gould’s ownership of this object conjured up ideas that she purchased the object to call up the spirit of her deceased father, financier Jay Gould. A newspaper at the time mentioned the crystal ball and base and how:

“Miss Gould has it set up in a much-darkened room,

Which is lit up in a much-darkened room.”

Today visitors can see this item on display at Lyndhurst every Halloween season. It is featured in their nighttime Halloween event which covers the darker side of Lyndhurst’s history, from 19th century mourning practices, to spiritualism, and the occult through the lens of the site’s owners.

Lyndhurst is a National Trust Historic Site.

The Ghosts of My Friends at the Florence Griswold Museum (Old Lyme, Connecticut )

The home of Florence Griswold, site of the Lyme Art Colony, was the center of the American Impressionism movement. One “ghostly” object is a novel autograph book that transforms handwriting into spontaneous works of art.

Friends—the book includes signatures by Florence Griswold, Arthur Heming, Frank Bicknell, Louis Orr, Lucien Abrams, Everett Warner, and other Lyme Colony artists between 1910 and 1914—were directed to write their names along pre-existing creases using a fountain pen loaded with ink. When folded, the wet ink flowed across the paper, blotting to create spidery, skeletal forms that the author Henland described as the “ghosts” of the participants in this parlor game.

The Florence Griswold Museum is a member of the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios program.

American Green Glass Eagle Dish at Villa Finale (San Antonio, Texas )

Villa Finale hosts a number of objects that “come to life” at night. One of them is an American green milk glass eagle dish (c. 1876). The eagle has red glass eyes and was made by Challinor Taylor & Company, an American business famous for milk glass, a type of translucent glass first made in Venice in the 16th century.

The piece is located in the upstairs hallway right off the Green Rooms at Villa Finale. It is in these rooms where some staff report having “interesting experiences,” including hearing the sound of footsteps. Spooky? We think so!

Villa Finale is a National trust Historic Site.

Angel of Death at Chesterwood (Stockbridge, Massachusetts )

Family Bible at the Thomas Cole House (Catskill, New York )

While the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, which interprets the story of environmentalist and artist Thomas Cole, was often referred to by locals as the “house with no people in it,” this might not be completely true. Guests at the Main House where Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and wife Maria Bartow Cole (1813-1884) lived and died have often reported strange occurrences over the years—often in the bedroom. The room contains several objects connected to the couple’s life and guests report that the room often smells of old, fragrant roses, Maria Bartow Cole’s favorite flower.