“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables and every tacky fall-themed sign on Etsy.

I've always loved October. The colors and the crunchy leaves and jacket weather makes me really happy and nostalgic for my childhood.

So when I was little, my parents didn't really monitor what I watched on TV so I spent a lot of time watching horror movies and Elvira!

Elvira Mistress of the Dark was my absolute favorite person in the entire world! My dad even bought me the model car of the Elvira Macabre Mobile for my 10th birthday. It was pretty spectacular!

So anyway, I used to watch the Elvira movie on repeat because it's this magical film where Elvira's fabulous great-aunt Morgana dies and leaves her a gorgeous rundown mansion in this weird little town. Elvira moves there and fixes the house up and terrifies the townspeople because she's an outsider with fantastic outfits and a pink poodle. The townspeople try to burn her at the stake (because they thought she was a witch) but ultimately end up embracing her because they realize that Elvira is actually incredible and was just a really fashionable person ahead of her time. I always identified with Elvira because we are both from Colorado Springs and we both know what it's like to persecuted for bold decorating choices.

I'm not sure where I was headed with all of that but my point is that Elvira is what made me interested in horror movies and haunted houses. I also grew up in a house that was terribly haunted (a story for another time!) so real estate with a history is exciting to me!

People always ask if our house is haunted because it is so old. And it admittedly looks a little creepy in the fog… like a good/pretty/sexy/haunted glamour way not a serial killer/Amityville Horror way.

It really would make the perfect set for a scary movie!

Sadly, Gaye Gardens is officially NOT haunted. Yes, I’m one of those annoying people that gets “feelings” about things. Energy never dies, it just changes form so I completely believe in ghosts and spirits. You can roll your eyes. Gary does it to me all the time. He’s actually rolling his eyes at me right now. Our house feels the opposite of haunted. Like it’s happy that someone is fixing it and giving it love. It’s very Gaye.

Admittedly, Gaye Gardens has some creepy characteristics that could pass as "haunted" so I thought it would be fun to share those as an official "Welcome to October/Halloween Season" post since I don’t really have any updates on the house projects. We are waiting for the flooring to “acclimate” before it can be installed so I’m just sitting here looking at boxes of wood. Apparently wood acclimation can’t be rushed.

Anyway, please enjoy this tour of sinister things from our beautiful home:

Yes, those are ghost chimes. They came with the basement. I figured they were there for a reason and it was bad juju to take them down. The wood things are kind of cute in a Brady Bunch goes to hell kind of way. I’m always terrified it will go off when I’m in the basement...

It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.

No, this isn’t a picture of the set from Silence of the Lambs. It’s just our basement...

It’s like a beautiful spa retreat… complete with lead sink.

The previous owners were really into safety.

Totally normal to have this kind of lock on your bedroom door.

Really. Really. Really into safety.

But look at how fabulous our barn is!

I like to think the ropes and chains are “decorative” and not because someone was murdered.

Is that urine, grease or soup? Perhaps it was a food fight?

And I saved the creepiest for last… The HVAC guys found this buried under the attic floor boards.

Haunted shoe and 1884 Omaha Clinic journal!

Why do I feel like that shoe is the missing piece of some 1884 murder investigation? Someone used the medical journal to dismember the body and then they buried it in this room: