Haunted Houses in Edina’s Country Club Neighborhood

What does the word “Halloween” conjure for you? Trick-or-treaters? Carving pumpkins? How about haunted houses? Do-it-yourself haunted houses (the kids-in-face-paint kind) are a mainstay of modern Halloween celebrations. And tradition usually paints haunted houses as ramshackle Victorians, alone on a hill, bathed in moonlight. But most of us don’t picture suburban Minnesota when we think of haunted houses—do we?For longtime residents of one Edina neighborhood, haunted houses are pretty darn real. The Country Club district, bordered by Minnehaha Creek and 50th Street, has been a hotspot for spooky activity over the years. John McDonald, a local real estate agent, has been showing houses in the district for more than 35 years, and lived there for a while himself. “Lots of stories,” he says with a smile, and then quotes an old local saying: “There are a lot of ghosts on Farmer Brown’s farm."Farmer Brown was Henry Brown, who owned the land that would become the Country Club district. The acres, once Browndale Farm, were developed for houses in 1924, and many of the original dwellings are still standing—along with some of the original occupants. “All these little weird things happen,” says McDonald. “They’re not all creepy,” he’s quick to add. “There are good spirits that hang out in houses.”One of McDonald’s own houses was occupied by an unexpected guest. “They said it was the spirit of a little girl who fell off her horse, hit her head and died. Her spirit was trapped in the boiler room in the basement.” Sure enough, McDonald often felt cold air waft up from the boiler room. “I couldn’t figure out what the deal was, but I was just uneasy.”Another story involves a female spirit who visited several members of the homeowner’s family. “The 5-year-old son said, ‘Mommy, tell the lady to quit talking,’ and said there was a woman who would sit on his bed,” remembers McDonald. Later, the boy’s father saw the woman, too, standing just behind him in the bathroom mirror. “He’d been having an affair, and she told him to get out,” McDonald says with a laugh. “And he did!”Many residents of the neighborhood have turned to local mediums or psychics to find out about their spooky visitors, and in some cases to have them evicted. Real estate agent Corky Weber remembers a particularly striking example. “There was one house that had been on the market for seven months,” he says, which was a long time for a house in such a popular neighborhood. Weber got the creeps every time he entered the upstairs closet. “My hair just stood on end,” he says.As it turns out, the current owner’s great-grandfather had died in the house many years before, in the room right next to the closet. “The sellers had [a medium] come in with sage to get the ghost out—and the house sold the next week.” Burning sage to banish unwanted energy is a common practice among mediums and others who work with paranormal activity, and several Country Club homeowners have given it a try. “If it helps you get rid of a pesky ghost or two . . . ” says Weber with a shrug.There are some elaborate ghost stories in the neighborhood, to be sure. But there are plenty of smaller oddities, too. McDonald and Weber say they’ve heard about lots of unexplainable incidents: garage doors opening and closing in the middle of the night, cars with parking brakes rolling down the driveway, lights flickering on a sunny day, and many more.But the energy of the neighborhood has never been a turn-off for residents, says Corky Weber. “Everybody who lives there loves it. It’s a great neighborhood for families with young kids. I think [the ghosts] are just a quirky thing about it. It’s not scary, not bad karma.”John McDonald agrees that the friendly spirits far outweigh the pesky ones. “I get people who are skeptical all the time. I certainly understand that,” he offers, “but sometimes people linger. Maybe they don’t want to leave; I don’t know.”This time of year, if you’re feeling a little spooked in your own abode, take some advice from McDonald. “Somebody’s stuck in the attic? Go up and say hi!”