Ghosts, antiques, and a cat. Yes, please! I recently stumbled across a haunted antique store called Victorian Charm Antiques (complete with a friendly resident cat named Yoda). The warm and welcoming family-owned shop is within the Murdock House built around 1900, with plenty of mystery still surrounding its history. Only recently, an entrance to an underground crawl space was uncovered in a kitchen closet and a hole in the basement wall revealed a cat skeleton surrounded by three candles and an old spike. Yikes! The kitchen crawl space contains an old box that has yet to be opened. I wonder what might be inside!
Ghostly tour
I have always been interested in the paranormal and love spending my free time around antiques. This ghost tour was a must and it did not disappoint. The paranormal stories were so intriguing and varied. The front room, which was used for wakes once upon a time, hosts a haunted cupboard filled with items deemed too sinister to not be contained behind glass doors and surrounded with protective crystals. Amongst the cabinet items are a book with a reputation for causing bodily harm, a baseball glove, a Howdy Doody doll, a clown, and a number of old photographs. Thankfully, we were joined on our tour by the adorable and loving Yoda, who was purrfect to have around if anyone felt a little too frightened.
Continuing on, we were told stories of encounters on the stairs, the front door, items being thrown, full body apparitions, toys being moved, and even a haunted painting. I had fun holding my emf detector over store items without fear of judgment and was drawn immediately to a metal tea set. Alas, my meter did not go off, only my ‘spidey senses’.
The tour took us into the basement which is also very intriguing. Not only is this where the covered hole in the wall houses the skeleton, but there are numerous objects including a mysterious mirror. The mirror, marked sold, had been cleaned the day before. Upon close inspection a shaky, “Hi” was written on the surface though no one had touched it since it was cleaned. I examined this myself and attempted to take some photos. Unfortunately, in all the photos I took, the words were not captured with my phone camera. Though, I most definitely saw it with my own eyes.
Spirit box session
I have always wanted to participate in a spirit box session, but am unwilling to do this in my own home, where I also sleep, so I was keen to try at Victorian Charm Antiques. We had a fascinating session in the basement and I was told the voices were being particularly chatty. I tried reaching out to the voices we were hearing through the phone app and some of the words and phrases we heard were quite interesting. The first word that came through was a man’s voice saying, ‘Napoleon’. I immediately confirmed that was the word spoken because my husband and I, who were married on July 14 – Bastille Day, have a collection of antique French Revolution and Napoleon themed items. I thought this was strange, but that was only the beginning.
We began asking questions and several voices male and female came through, some in English and some not, and some with noticeable accents. It sounded as though we were having conversations and even getting intelligent responses. A highlight for me was hearing the name ‘Anne’ come through clearly. In all honesty, I cannot remember the exact words that came through next, but it was something like ‘can see you’ or ‘on you’. The best part? I was wearing my Anne Boleyn hoodie! Another interesting moment was when I asked to speak to the woman again, and a female voice returned saying, ‘called’. Why thank you for coming back after I called on you!
One of my favourite moments gave us a laugh. I asked what year the woman was from and then me being me, not wanting to upset a ghost by telling them they were dead, said something like, “When were you most happy?”
The response we heard sounded like, “Tea time” in a female voice with an accent. I immediately thought of the metal tea set I felt drawn to upstairs.
I responded, “You’re my kind of person loving tea and snacks!” Overall, the spirit box session was active and quite remarkable. One of the wonderful ladies giving the tour, who is able to see full body apparitions, even said she could see a woman in an old-fashioned light blue dress with ribbons near us.
I should note that coming into the basement, I felt tingling on my left hand. This lasted about a minute and then stopped. Though, later, during the spirit box session, the tingling returned, only it was my entire left side from my arm to my toes. Again, the sensation did not last too long.
More mysteries
The basement session was followed by a peek at the newly discovered crawl space entrance in the kitchen. New photos were taken looking down into the opening during our tour. The photos show a structural beam with markings on, linking the wood to a local city where it was likely manufactured more than a century ago. This crawl space is also where the mysterious box resides. I cannot wait to find out what secrets it holds when they are able to retrieve it!
Wrapping up the tour, we had a lovely chat back in the front room swapping more ghost stories in the front room before I headed out. It was quite startling, mid-conversation, when a jug began rocking back and forth on a table full of antique kitchenware and no one had bumped the table!
My husband took a photo outside the shop with an old camera from the 1950s he restored (this is one of his hobbies), and I am looking forward to reviewing the photos when the film is developed.*
A charming day!
All said, it was an absolutely wonderful afternoon. The ghost tour fees are being donated to the local food bank and though I believe Victorian Charm Antiques certainly has ghosts, I felt mostly warm vibes and many of those were from the kind-hearted family who owns the store. Though, I admit, the cabinet of sinister curiosities was creepy! Aside from hauntings, the antique store is full of charm and the winter sun shone through the windows as we explored making it a cozy, fun, unique place to shop. If you love antiques and ghosts, then I recommend visiting Victorian Charm Antiques and/or following them online (information below). I can’t wait to see what they find next!
Bonus story: A FitBit we brought with us would not turn on while we were inside the store. My husband tried several times, but it remained off. As soon as we left and sat in our car, the FitBit turned right on. Coincidence?
*Update (Feb. 16, 2024): The photos were developed! See what we noticed here.
Further information
Victorian Charm Antiques
Website: https://victorian-charm-antiques.business.site/
Instagram: @victoriancharmtottenham
TikTok: @victoriancharmhauntings
Facebook: @victoriancharmantiques
YouTube: victoriancharmantiques9302
Published February 4, 2024.