Living With Ghosts – Literally!

Part Two: Talking to your ghostly companions

Last time, we spoke about how to listen to your spectral roommates. Providing tools for proper communication is very important, but communication is a two-way street, so in addition to listening, you also need to be able to speak to your paranormal pals.

There are many methods for speaking to spirits, but I’ve found the best one is just to speak to them like any other person. You may be tempted to use a spirit board (aka a Ouija Board), a pendulum, a tarot deck, or some other method often advertised as a way to communicate beyond the veil, but please PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION when using those. It’s never guaranteed that you’re …

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History of the Colonel Williams Inn, Part 1

The Foundation Built

In the mid-18th century, the land of Marlboro (and everywhere else in southern Vermont) was a dense forest of fir, birch, oak, pine, hemlock, oak, and (later, the most important) maple trees. The area was untouched and unsettled, used mainly as hunting and gathering grounds for the Western Abenaki people.

In 1751, Benning Wentworth, the Governor of the Province of New Hampshire, chartered what were called the New Hampshire Land Grants: an attempt by New Hampshire to claim land west of the Connecticut River, which was strongly contested by the state of New York, who felt they had claim to that land. On April 29th, 1751, the first round of the charter granted the …

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Living With Ghosts – Literally!

Part One: Listening to your spectral roommates

A lot of people ask me what it’s like living with ghosts:

“Are you scared all the time? Do they bother you? Have you thought of getting rid of them?”

While I understand the sentiment, it’s a shame that so many people only know the bad behaviors of spirits and not the reasons behind them or the positive aspects. Anti-social antics, disconcerting deeds, and irritating incidents are all signs that your paranormal pal is bored and not mentally stimulated.

When I first moved into the Carriage House, I encountered the multiple spirits who reside here. They were quite rascally – throwing things, leaving bruises, whispering in my ear – these were things I …

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Pineapple Coconut Muffins and You!

There are a lot of awesome things about running a B&B here in Vermont (and a couple not so awesome things, tbh), but one of the best is how much time I get to spend baking, experimenting with baking, and eating baked goods. Which is why my New Year’s Resolution is to run a 5K everyday. But I digress.

Certain recipes are requested over and over again, and I’m happy to share them. Someday, I’ll even finish the much delayed cookbook (maybe 2024 is the lucky year!). Today’s recipe is for Pineapple Coconut Muffins. I almost always make these using King Arthur measure-for-measure gluten-free flour. Because the pineapple and the coconut bring structure and moisture to the muffins, that slightly …

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“Your Ghost Sucks” & Other Scary Things

So – what do you do when you find out that not only do you have a haunting, but the haunter is a perverted, homophobic, jerk? In other words, what do you do when your ghost sucks? That is the question we are asking ourselves after the culmination of the investigation by and airing of “Carriage House Creeper” on the Travel Channel show Kindred Spirits.

The first thing I must say is that Amy (Bruni) and Adam (Berry) – the chief investigators – along with the entire crew, are the kindest and most competent team we could have asked for. The investigation and research was incredibly thorough, and the filming (four whole nights and a half-day) was efficient and …

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Well, It’s been a Minute

Well, hello. How are you? Things here – well, let’s just say that time flies even when you aren’t having fun.

I’m going to get this out of the way: 2020 just sucked. For almost all of us. I hope that you and yours have had a better beginning to 2021, and are looking forward to brighter days. We are for sure.

We finally reopened fully on Memorial Day weekend, after being almost completely closed from March 15, 2020. We took the time to make some needed repairs and upgrades (yay new stove!), and to binge watch 1990’s era SciFi series. (Seaquest DSV and Stargate, if you must know).

We also took the time to grieve. Even though being closed …

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A Haunted House

The most frequently asked question we hear at the Colonel Williams is “what is the wifi password?” But running a close second is the inevitable: “is the house haunted?” Short answer – yes. We actually live in a 250-year-old haunted house. I wasn’t really a believer in such things, but over the past few years there have been several weird – and frankly unexplainable – goings-on here. Guests tell us stories: some with vivid, terrifying detail and others that are, well, not loquacious and told on their way out the door. In the much-missed (at least in our house) Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmastime, I’d like to tell you about our latest incident. (If you are interested

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Breakfast Casserole for Breakfast Casserole Haters

Confession: I hate breakfast casseroles. The ones made with frozen hash browns are just a big no, and using bread with eggs – no matter how strong that bread is – generally makes my tongue retract back to my tonsils. However. There are weeks where I prepare more than 100 individual breakfasts. When facing my 100th breakfast, the siren song of a breakfast casserole is almost too much to resist. Mix up a bunch of ingredients, stick it in the fridge overnight – then have a semi-relaxing morning? Yes, please. Many thanks to all of our guests who have joined me as I serve experimental breakfast casseroles to you. Like Arthur in pursuit of the Holy Grail, I thought …

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Winter, Witches, and Blueberry Pancakes

“How in the world did you decide to move to Vermont and run a B&B? From Austin?!?!?!”

Welcome to the #1 question asked of us. The basic answer is pretty simple: we needed a change, Vermont offered a big one, and here we are. The truth – the whole truth – is a little more complicated.

Enter: Hermione Gingold, British actress extraordinaire, who has had a far greater effect on my life than even I realized. You probably know her as the indomitable Madame Alvarez from the classic musical “Gigi,” or as Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn in “The Music Man.” Star of stage and screen, her career spanned almost 80 years. But I digress. (You should definitely read more about her

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How to Have a Really Terrible Wedding – Part 2

Still with us? If you are deep in the planning phase – or just starting to dream – trust us: there are definitely things that will ensure your big day is a disaster. How to Have a Really Terrible Wedding – Part 2.

4. Allow other people to ruin your day

tl;dr – Everyone has an opinion, but you and your fiancé have the final say. We all know that “too many cooks spoil the soup:” everybody has an opinion – and especially regarding a wedding – they want it to be heard. Your cousin skipped the bouquet toss, and never forgave herself – you just HAVE to do that! Your BFF has 124 yards of left-over taffeta that you …

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