Fourth Street phantoms
<p>Laura Quesnell stands in the dining area of her home on Tuesday where she has experience multiple strange and out-of-the-ordinary events, such as dogs not wanting to go into the kitchen and staring at the wall, to doors being opened and dog food thrown onto the floor for no apparent reason.</p>
<p>Laura Quesnell recounts encounters her and her family have had with suspected spirits in the upstairs hallway of her Coeur d'Alene home.</p>
<p>Quesnell holds coins dating back to the 1940s that were found in the ceiling in the basement of her home, which was built in 1921.</p>
<p>Quesnell says she has seen a man wearing a brown suit and dress shoes standing at the top of these stairs that lead to the third floor of her Coeur d'Alene home.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE — Unexplained phenomena have been known to occur in Laura Quesnell's Coeur d'Alene home.
She and her kids have seen strange things, like the apparition of a woman in the hallway and a man who stands at the top of the stairway leading to the third floor.
“I’ve seen feet at the top of the stairs,” Quesnell said Tuesday evening. “A guy in a brown suit, or wearing brown suit pants.”
Lights turn on and off. Mostly on, Quesnell said, as though someone doesn't like being in the dark.
"Just the other day, I could have sworn I turned that bathroom light off three times," she said. "I came back out of my room, it’s on again. It’s like, ‘Are we going to play this game this morning? I have to go to work and pay the bills, can you leave the lights off?'"
Animals sometimes have weird reactions in certain rooms. Her own mild-mannered dog, Sneakers, finds unusual places to disappear and take naps, but other dogs have reacted to things no one else could see. She dogsat for a friend not long ago, and she said that usually sweet dog was not acting normal.
"He refused to go into the kitchen," she said, adding that the canine cocked his head as though listening to an unheard voice. "Occasionally the hair would stand up on his neck. He wouldn’t walk past a certain point and he would just sit there and stare. He would not go into that kitchen, and he ended up having a bad episode when he was here.”
Quesnell's labyrinthine Fourth Street home has many hallways, twists and closets where ghosts would feel at home. It was built in 1923 and had multiple renovations as it has changed hands several times in its 92-year existence. Quesnell said she fell in love with the place the moment she crossed the threshold six years ago, but the eeriness began to stir about six months after she and her three kids moved in.
About three years ago, Quesnell said a boyfriend of her daughter's was in the house alone and had an unforgettable experience.
“He was sitting here on the couch watching TV and the dining room light turned off and the dog food (container), which stands inside the basement door, ended up out here on the dining room floor,” she said. “He was freaked out — he wouldn’t be here after that unless someone was here.”
And just a couple years ago, Quesnell's brother was doing some work in the basement and found old coins from the 1940s stashed within the beams above his head.
“They were up in the ceiling with some empty containers," she said. "I don't know if someone lived here and they were pilfering from their family members or what.”
Quesnell and her kids have had weird experiences, but they've never felt terrified or the need to move. Quesnell said the only time she ever got creeped out was once in the creaky third-floor hallway. The hair on the back of her neck stood up.
“I’m the guest,” she said. “That’s the way that I see it — I’m the guest.”
Quesnell said she does talk aloud when she feels the need to, and it doesn't matter if she's just talking to herself. She keeps her sense of humor about possibly sharing her house with unseen residents. She said if anyone is there, she feels that they like her and her family.
“We get along with them,” she said, grinning. “I’m kind of curious as to what their names are, but I kind of like not knowing. There is a man and a woman, very older dressed. You know it’s funny, people die today, why don’t their spirits hang around? Where’s the ‘GQ’ ghost?”