It al happened so long ago. I did keep a record of it at the time but we have moved several times and I may or may not still have it. I'll try to piece it together from memory as accurately as possible. A local college professor (co-wrker of mine) took down the facts for a book she was writing. Her name was Ruth Ann Musak. Her best known publication was called "The Tell-Tale Lilac Bush". The story of our house was to be in her last book but she died before publication and the owner of the house got the story with drawn from the book. I guess its tough to rent a haunted house in West Virginia. I took a position as an Instructor of Art at Fairmont State College (now university) in 1971; at which time we moved to the area. Being newly married, my wife and I looked for a place to rent. We learned that there was a house fronting the Tygart river for rent only a few miles from the college. We were later to learn the house was a party house used by minor mafia bosses for a get away and relaxation. The house had been renovated from an older dwelling and was quite picturesque in a beautiful setting well away from other people except for an elderly couple who had a house with-in sight. The house had a huge "party" or living room with bedrooms and a kitchen attached. At first nothing unusual happened. My wife, was finishing up her degree at the college so she was home every day, but her classes were three days a week so she did remain, alone, at the house two days a week. I taught classes daily. The road to our rental was gravel, a bit over a mile from the main paved road. Only three residents on the road. I would come home usually in the late afternoon. The first hint of the strange was my wife telling me that she and our schnauzer (Pepper) heard me drive in at least twice but no one was there. She heard a ar pull in the driveway on the gravel but nothing was there. I aid it must have been the people in the next house. She insisted it was way too close for that. Then a day or so later I heard a car drive into our driveway and immediately opened the side door onto the driveway to see had come. There was nothing there. I could see across the way to the other house. There was no one in a car and older gentleman was mowing his lawn. My wife aid the driving in sound was so common she ignored it. Then things started getting a bit more interesting. Pepper was just about 2years old and we had been letting her run loose until she started chewing on the furniture. She seemed to only do it at night. So to save the furniture and other items, I made Pepper a bed in the kitchen where there was nothing for her to get into. A few nights later there was a commotion in the kitchen. We jumped out of bed to see what was going on. Pepper was scared out of her wits, she was pulling the leash that tied her as far as she could and was trying to slip her collar. Both faucets of the kitchen sink were turned on full blast and splashing water every where. I quickly got the water shut off and my wife was trying to calm the dog. There is no way the dog could have turned on those two faucets and what had her scared so bad? We had to move her into our bedroom and place her bed there and hope she didn't chew any thing there. Thankfully, she didn't. In the large party room was a large fireplace. We were told that in the winter we would need to keep it going as the house furnace was insufficient to properly warm the place on really cold days. I had rented a chain saw and had laid in a fair amount of wood to burn. With the onset of winter I did start the fireplace. One afternoon as I came in from outside I noticed a heavy set, dark haired, man in a business suit standing gazing into the fireplace. I was startled, I had heard no car pull in. I started to speak a greeting when the guy just disappeared. My wife came out of the kitchen and inquired as to what was the matter. I told her and we just looked at one another. I guess that was my first sighting of a ghost. As I have said before you never believe in ghosts until you see one. TV reception on the river is really bad; especially back then. Our "neighbors" said only one station was available. I got an antenna and was set to put it up. I processed two pairs of pliers. One really almost useless pair and a better pair. I wanted the good pair. We searched for half and hour for the good pair of pliers but could only find the bad ones. Giving up on finding the good pliers I climbed onto the roof with the bad pair figuring they were better than nothing. Upon reaching the chimney I swung the antenna into position and looking down on the chimney I saw my newer good pair of pliers lying there in the snow, atop he chimney, and they were not covered with snow, but made an impression on the snow. That was the first time I had been on the roof. Where did they come from? Had they been left on the roof they would have been covered with snow and rusty. I'll have to pick up on this more later.