Harrison House Bed & Breakfast

I had a wonderful interview with Lynn Varney, owner of the Harrison House B&B this week.

First of all, this house is gorgeous. If I had a need for accommodations in Columbus, I would choose this place hands down. The rooms are done up in various degrees of Victorian style, and some are jaw droppingly beautiful (assuming you like the Victorian style!). The dining room in particular looked straight out of the 1890's. You can check out their photo gallery here.

The house also lived up to its reputation for feeling homey. A friend of mine had to arrange rooms for visiting scholars for OSU, and she could not say enough good things about the place. She said the it was just like going to Grandma's house. She was right. OK, maybe not like my grandmas' houses, since they both lived in 1960's ranch houses, but the atmosphere there is very inviting.

I also appreciated Lynn's attitude towards the spirits in her home. She is very respectful and protective of them. Coming from the "ghosts are people, too" mindset myself, she gets a big thumbs up from me. She even corrected me when I referred to them as "ghosts", saying "We don't have ghosts here. We have spirits." Whoops! No offence was intended to the spirits. I use the term "ghosts" to differentiate earthbound spirits from the ones who have crossed over. What she had to say about the spirits themselves also went to confirm what I have believed for a long time about spirits just being like average folks only in a non-physical form. There is absolutely nothing to be scared of there.

I recorded the interview and will be transcribing it this afternoon. I'm kind of hoping to have picked up some evps of the spirits adding their commentary. Then next week, I'm off to do some heavy duty research on the history of the place and its inhabitants. Lynn has gotten the first names of a couple of them. It would be nice if I could help her figure out for sure who her invisible roommates are.