Thursday, December 7, 2006

Governor Kaine Reports Strange Mansion Events

Governor Tim Kaine isn't ruling out the possibility of ghosts in the governor's mansion home.

He was asked on his monthly radio show on the Virginia News Network today whether he has had paranormal experiences like some previous Executive Mansion occupants, Kaine flatly answered: "Yes."

Kaine said today that the telephone rings in his family's private quarters at the same "inconvenient time" every week, and when he picks up the phone, nobody's there. He says he's researching whether "something odd happened" on the same day and hour sometime in the mansion's history.

Unlike some previous residents and staff, Kaine said his family has not seen the friendly ghost of a young woman who is said to haunt the mansion.

But Kaine says first lady Anne Holton witnessed other strange occurrences in the mansion as the daughter of Governor Linwood Holton in the early 1970s, for example, a portrait mysteriously taken from the wall and deposited in another room.

There also was a storm-related power outage that left all of Richmond in the dark except a lone light that mysteriously remained on in the mansion.