<p>Joey Thurman: Some people would say that old houses are haunted. The Tanner House has been here since 1857. There's been four deaths. How is the Aurora Historical Society making a shift now that they can't have people in their house? I promise you, it's a spooky story. Woo.<br /><br />Joey Thurman: Now, we are standing here in the Tanner House, and there's history. I mean, I don't even think we can unpack all of the history in here. How long has this house been here, or when was it built?<br /><br />Mary Clark Ormond: It was built in 1857 by William Tanner. There's a portrait of him there, and, actually, there's a portrait of Anna, his wife, on the other side of the fireplace. Interesting tidbit to me is that four people died in this house, Mr. and Mrs. Tanner and two of their children. So, that was their life here. He died here in this house in 1892. The funeral was here. She died in 1908, I think it was. And she was buried from here, her funeral here. At that time, the family decided that the house should be given to the Aurora Historical Society.<br /><br />Joey Thurman: And four people died in this house.<br /><br />Mary Clark Ormond: Mm-hmm (affirmative).<br /><br />Joey Thurman: Is there anything weird that's happened since people passed away in here?<br /><br />Mary Clark Ormond: That's a very touchy question. As a historical society, we'd have to go by what the written record shows us, and it doesn't show us a thing. The Tanners never referenced anything of a spiritual nature or spooky, scary. However, people who lived here, their reports are mixed. The coldness in a bedroom, the depression in a bed that wasn't there the last time they were there.<br /><br />Joey Thurman: And it just comes up. I'm sure there's a plethora of stories. But how do you guys make a shift now, obviously with COVID, and still being able to get people to the house?<br /><br />Mary Clark Ormond: We made a video last year in which we took 10 years of stills from the various programs and narrated that, it was just a slide show, with some truly awesome music, and it showed the different things we did. Yeah. So we're trying to fill the gap to the degree we can with videos. I'm 85% sure next year we'll be able to return to the dramatic tours. Actually, we're going to open the house to the public again at Christmas. We always do a big blowout with various designers doing different rooms and so on. It'll be a little simpler this year and you won't go upstairs because that's where things really get tight. But we will be having at least a few open houses during the holiday season so that people can come in and see the house decorated.</p>
Murder at the Tanner House – This House Has Had Many Residents, Are Some Still There in Spirit?
The Tanner House was built in 1857 by the prominent businessman William Tanner for his family. Donated in 1936 to the Aurora Historical Society (AHS), the home is preserved and maintained by the organization still today. Some people claim it is haunted. The Historical Society can't say it is, but strange things happen within the home often. In fact, AHS holds live-action plays called "Murder at the Tanner House."
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