That time a homeowner asked me to 'just sweep the ghosts out' while I was on a job in Somerville

The old lady was dead serious, handed me a smudged stick of sage, and said her chimney had been whistling at night since she moved in six months ago, and then she asked if I could also check if the soot patterns looked like a face.

2 comments

2 Comments

oliver_mitchell18d ago

So wait, did the soot pattern actually look like a face? Because I feel like that changes everything here. I mean, sure, sweeping ghosts sounds crazy on the surface, but if the chimney is whistling and the soot is forming a face, maybe she's onto something. I had a buddy who did HVAC work and he swore that older houses in New England have a weird vibe sometimes. Not saying I believe in ghosts, but I also wouldn't be the one to test it out alone at night.

patwest18d ago

Ask @oliver_mitchell if your buddy ever saw that weird vibe turn into something physical, like a door slamming or a cold spot in a specific room. Because if the soot really formed a face, that goes way past "weird vibe" into "call the local priest" territory lol. I just can't shake the feeling that there's a difference between a house feeling off and it straight up making faces at you from the chimney.