Part 1

Ellis East Elementary Walkthrough–May 18th.

The Tower.

The trap door to the tour pulls down into a ladder. It is wrought iron and looks to be sturdy. Climbing up now. 

Okay now. I am in the tower. Specifically this would have been a belltower back when schools would call students to school with a morning bell. There is no bell now. It is just a landing overlooking the town of Ellis Field. It’s really beautiful up here. 

Part 2

Simone: Um, hi… So, this is Simone Georgine Dewey. I’m making this recording because it seems like the only logical thing to do right now. 

[Rooibos purrs] 

Simone: Hi cat… I mean Rooibos.. [beat] Okay. So, I grew up visiting my grandparents in Ellis Field and my mom—Samantha–I don’t know why I’m telling anyone this, but it felt like a good idea to make this recording. Anyway, my mom had this mentor when she was in high school. And whenever we would visit Ellis Field, we would spend a lot of time with Dr. AG, as I called her. She was like an older aunt. And like, she was the cool adult who would always take whatever you were interested in seriously. And she lived in this cool old building. It was an old school, the school where my mom attended kindergarten through third grade. 

I loved her house. She didn’t care if I explored, and I would always take her up on that. And over the years, my interest in the building became more academic, and she took this interest very seriously, because it turns out Dr. AG was, well, a scholar of architectural history. But if you’re listening to this,you already know that. Because really, I am recording this as an introduction. 

I went to college, and studied history and architecture, and then, well, I decided to pursue a PhD, and even if she hadn’t been a leader in the field, the only person I wanted to advise me on this PhD was our old family friend, Dr. AG. 

I graduated two months ago, and then, three weeks ago, Dr. Anna-Georgina Plume passed away at the age of 77. She always said I would be her last PhD student, but I didn’t know she would be so literal. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that she left the school and all of its contents

[Rooibos meows]

Including the cat, to me. Which brings me to this preface–I found recordings she made shortly after she moved in. They’re from about 45 years ago, and I’ve been listening to them since I found them. It is quite the story. It starts with her touring the building, and chronicles her move in and getting settled, and some of the events of her first summer here. 

She must have known I would find them, because they’ve been put in a peculiar order, cutting between the initial tour and her early days in the school, and I am very close to being finished, and there appears to be a handful of files left–the next three are titled “Keynote.”

Part 3

Speaker:  Hello Everyone, I am very excited to introduce our Keynote speaker for this year’s Meeting of the American Association of Architectural History. Dr. Anna-Georgina Plume is Associate professor of Architectural History at Hollingsworth University. Her research interests focus on the history of educational architecture of the Victorian era. Her recent work  examines the history of a normal school in Northwestern Ohio where she has done extensive research into the history of the school. 

AG: Thank you,

I want to talk about ghosts. More specifically, I want to talk about haunted buildings. In my specific line of research, I am frequently privy to ghost stories. When I am researching a particular school, I conduct interviews, in addition to archival research. Even though I cannot discuss the building with the first people to use it, I am interested in reconstructing how the building came to be used over the years. While I am more interested in how the physical space evolves, they frequently want to talk, instead, about the ghosts. 

And believe me, I get it, it’s certainly more fun to think about a haunting than it is to think about what a particular room in a building was used for 50 years ago. And while I approach the ghosts with skepticism, the stories can open the answers to a lot of my questions, perhaps more easily than a blueprint. 

In those ghost stories is history, is human experience, and through them, we can learn so much about what we think is important. What they tell us goes beyond what we say about ghosts

Part 4

Simone: Okay Rooibos, let’s get you some dinner.

So, yes, in addition to everything in the beautiful three-story Victorian school building that Dr. AG left me, she also left me her cat. It’s weird though. Rooibos is, by all appearances, a rather young cat. Not a kitten, but half grown. But Dr. AG always has an orange cat named Rooibos. And if recordings are to be believed, Rooibos has been around for over 45 years. 

So I guess what I am saying is that if anyone knows anything about taking care of a maybe-immortal cat, please let me know what to do. 

Everything is in pristine condition. I could go through her possessions, but everything is in order. Maybe later i could give a tour of the place, to see what has changed since the days of her notes.  But first, let’s get back to the keynote.

Part 5

AG: What can we learn from ghost stories?

We can learn the history of a building–in those stories, there are kernels of truth. Probably not the haunting part, but if you are told that the person who built a school died in an accident and haunts the school to this day, you have a starting point. You can look into the records to confirm this–And obviously it goes beyond simply fact checking whether they get the name of the founder and the details about their death correct. But also, you can look into deaths in the building to determine if anything has happened like the incident described, in any capacity. The time period the story is set can give you some indication of when a community experienced periods of turmoil. Even if the story isn’t true, if they talk about the 1980s, what was happening then? Probably something noteworthy. 

But beyond the obvious, these ghost stories tell you what a community thinks of its own history–who do they say founded the school? What do they believe is their fate? What is the general mood and tone of the ghost stories? Are they angry? Sad? Protective? What are the conditions under which the ghost makes an appearance? Who claims to see them? Even if there is not a grain of historical truth to a ghost story, you can learn so much, and gather so many starting points from the stories they tell.  Additionally, you can learn how the community thinks about stories on the whole–is the ghost story creative or just an adapted version of a story you’ve heard hundreds of times elsewhere? Is there a moral lesson underpinning it all? Is it the sort of story you would expect to tell children to scare them into–or out of–certain behaviors? Who tells the story? Children or adults? 

And finally, you can learn how they interacted with the space. When people tell haunted house stories, they give you details about the building–in fact, some of the most detailed descriptions of how a space was used were told in the interest of helping set the stage to a ghost story. You can gather useful information about how a space was used from these stories, digging into the more vivid memories.

Part 6

Simone: Okay, I thought it would be worth documenting what has changed since the recordings after Dr. AG first moved in. 

On the first floor, all of the rooms are pretty much like she described them. There is still a formal living room, a den, an office, and a dining room in the front vestibule. There is a large bathroom, complete with shower and large clawfoot tub by the kitchen, and the room labeled office is still a craft room. 

There is no carousel in the gym anymore. There hasn’t been for years. She donated it to the community of Ellis Field. They put it in a very large gazebo in the park on the northern side of town and it runs from April through October, weather permitting. During the off season, the gazebo is closed up and weather-proofed. It’s free for al to ride the carousel, Mayor Plume and Principal Dijon had worked together to create a trust for its upkeep. Carousel Daryl moved to Ellis Field to take care of it. He and Dr. AG were good friends up until her passing.

Let’s listen to a little bit more of the keynote before we venture upstairs.

Part 7

AG:  What does it look like, methodologically, to learn from ghost stories? Well let’s consider this example from my own research. 

Consider you are doing work in a school and you learn that people are afraid of the basement. When listening to the story, you learn that two people are alleged to have died in the basement–one of the school’s founders and an early faculty member. 

What can we learn from this? What does this tell us about the basement?

Putting the principles I outlined into practice, we see that they are talking about the early days of the school. Whether or not the story is true, we would look into what happened during that time period. We would also infer that the basement has been off limits or at least severely restricted for the school’s entire existence, or close to it–that is something else we would want to verify through archival research or additional interviews if possible. If it turns out that no one died in the basement, we would note that the fact that the two people reported to have died down there were important figures means that they wish to convey the gravity of the risks–so look at how the basement has been used over the years, look at blueprints to determine whether there is anything down there that would have been risky for children to encounter–boilers, electrical boxes, etc. But I would also look into the circumstances surrounding the school’s early years. If the founders are turbulent figures, maybe there was some conflict around the school’s opening.

Now, I know some of you have to think that this is simply a matter of reading tea leaves, that this method isn’t rigorous. If I were simply drawing conclusions from this, it would be. But to use it as a starting point–to ask the  question. 

In my research, I discovered that there were ghost stories surrounding the third floor of the Ellis Field School–the subject of my research, which is also my home. The third floor was removed after students were rumored to be hurt after seeing a woman in Victorian clothing on the staircase to the third floor. That is the story.

Taking this, I was able to learn the following:

• The third floor housed the office, and for a time, the apartment of one of the founders of the school, who was a woman who opened the school during the Victorian era.

• For years, after the third floor was no longer used for student instruction, it housed a vast archive that the faculty of the school wanted to keep the students away from. 

• Students did try to sneak up to the third floor unsupervised, and while it was never overtly dangerous, a student spraining his ankle when he tripped over a box of books did start a discussion about the dangers of having an empty disused space, which led to the third floor being removed

I would have never thought to look into these origins, had I not considered what happened to the third floor. We can learn so much when we listen beyond what is said.

I leave you with this thought–the ghosts are our history, our memories. Listen. 

Part 8

Simone: the second floor is largely similar to Dr. AG’s description of the floor. Though she did move her archives into the third floor. The room by the library that previously held her archives has been converted into another guest bedroom. The side hallway with auxiliary classrooms has been converted into a suite with a bedroom and another large bathroom–This one tiled in rich sapphire blue and iridescent opal motifs. This was never Dr. AG’s room, but it is the part of the house I have moved into.

The entire third floor is archives. They are quite impressive, but they are the collection of almost 50 years of working in research. 

The basement–well, I guess it doesn’t have the same problems it did back when she moved in. The basement and the sub basement are a museum of the history of the building. Many of the artifacts that Dr. AG found while she moved in have been displayed in the rooms of the sub-basement, placed into context. There is a permanent display of the life and works of Lucy Hobbes, but no mention of her brother. 

The pool in the sub-basement is a functional pool. I guess she never did get that ball pit.

Part 9

AG:Audio Diary Dr. Anna-Georgina Plume, August 3rd, 6 am.

Billy: I’ve got a thermos with tea, the chairs have been placed, do we want to get up there? 

A-G: Yes, let’s get to it. [beat] Sunrise in the tower. So much easier to get here from the third floor.

Billy: I don’t want to keep asking how you’re feeling but you…

A-G: Yeah. But it’s like you said, I’ve been given a gift, I need to make the most of it. 

Billy: Sure. But how?

A-G: I don’t know that we’ll ever learn the rules, fully, but I think the important points are: I offered myself to save the school, and they were able to bring me back. You have to admit it feels so much better around here since it happens.

Billy: So what do we do now? 

A-G: We live. We research, and write, and make art, form friendships, form found families, dangle a string so Rooibos can chase it, make a Victorian hedge maze in the ball field, and see the world, and [voice wrought with emotion] love this place, because it clearly loves us back. And we stop worrying about what comes next because there will never be a better sunrise than this one.

Part 10

Simone: Carousel Daryl eventually went back to school and got his master’s degree studying carousels as American Folk Art. He serves on the board of trustees at the Merry-Go-Round Museum in Sandusky.

Sophia the Gate Lady stopped making frequent appearances around that first summer, but she would drop in every now and then to have tea and catch up on the happenings in Ellis Field

Mayor Duncan Plume served as mayor until his death. Under his leadership, people from all over the US and even the world come to Ellis Field for the public art and Gazebofest has grown monumentally. His successor has continued to honor his legacy, and the town flourishes.

Mr. Zaffre moved back to Toronto where he became the curator for a private archival collection about architecture. He regularly visited Ellis Field, where his found family welcomed him with open arms.

Dr. Helen Plume eventually updated her doctoral research reconstructing the key days in the history of Ellis Field and published it as a scholarly monograph. It enjoyed a small, but dedicated following.

Samantha Dewey–my mother–eventually got her PhD in archival studies and works as an archivist in the Library of Congress, much like she always wanted to. She curated a special collection on the history of progressive education in the United States.

Philip William Ocre stayed with Dr. A-G off and on over the years. He was instrumental in the public art movement and his writing on Ellis Field has been used as a blueprint for arts-based community revitalization. He has retired to Boise, Idaho, but travels around the country and the world at large to see public art. 

Dr. Anna-Georgina Plume was granted tenure at Hollingsworth University the year after she moved into the school in Ellis Field. She was soon promoted to full professor. She has published numerous books on architectural history, both on educational architecture and the methodology for studying how stories about architecture can be used to learn more about these spaces. In her time, she mentored numerous students, which she insists was her greatest accomplishment. She lived in the Ellis Field School with numerous dogs, several ghosts, and an immortal orange cat named Rooibos, who once saved her life.

[as if she’s speaking candidly]

What’s this? 

I have returned to my study to find a cup of tea waiting for me, with homemade shortbread, and a vase full of hydrangea blossoms.

Part 11

Ellis East Elementary Walkthrough, May 18th

Maryann: Well, what do you think?

A-G: The price you quoted me was accurate? 

Maryann: Of course. 

A-G: I think I want to make an offer.

Maryann: Oh wow. It’s not a traditional arrangement, but I think it will suit you. Let’s come downstairs and I can get rolling on your offer paperwork. 

A-G: I think this will be home.  It feels like home.

Lavender Evening Fog is a fiction podcast. This episode was written by Victoria Dickman-Burnett, direction and script supervision by Ben Baird, produced, mixed, and edited  by Nick Federinko with additional editing by Victoria Dickman-Burnett. Executive Producers are Ben Baird and Victoria Dickman-Burnett. The voice of Anna-Georgina Plume is Victoria Dickman-Burnett. The voice of Simone is Alicyn Dickman. The voice of the introductory conference speaker is Cori Lynne Hedrick. The voice of Billy is Nick Federinko. The voice of Maryann is Danielle Roberts. The Lavender Evening Fog logo was designed by Alicyn Dickman and Ms. Bitey, our carousel opossum was designed by Matt Lowe.  

This episode is brought to you by closure.. Or is it?

This episode pairs well with an aged caramel pu erh. 

This episode concludes the main story of Lavender Evening Fog. We have enjoyed sharing this story with you. However, this is not the end of us telling stories or creating auto-dramas. Continue to follow us wherever you get your podcasts for more announcements about upcoming projects. Keeping with tradition, we hope to announce our next project around Halloween 2024.