In 1914 Francis R.E. DeHart, then mayor of Kelowna, built the DeHart House. In the entrance way there is the enscription Brookside above a large D with a little heart inside. It became known as the DeHart House. The DeHart family could not keep the house and in 1937 it was sold to W.A.C. Bennett. F.R.E. DeHart died in 1935 and his son Francis, born in 1897, sold it to W.A.C. Bennett. Years later there were stories of an old man in a grey suit seen by members of the Bennett family, known as the DeHart ghost.
During WWII Winnie Earle noticed the shape of a young man sitting on the bed about the time one of the DeHart sons had been killed in battle.
In 1965 Mrs Bennett stayed at the DeHart House alone over night with her two dogs. She had gone to bed and heard something outside the bedroom door. The dogs immediately started barking. The doors were locked...
About 1980, soon after my grandfather died, over breakfast, my grandmother, May Bennett, asked me, "Why does'nt the devil speak?" She replied, "Because his mouth is full of people." The ability to see ghosts could have come from both grandparents.
It happened about 1981 and Andrew Bennett relates his ghost story: "The house keeper, we lovingly called Aunt Winnie, was leaving at 5PM and said to me that my grandmother would be away for a few days staying at her sister's in New Westminister, and perhaps I would feel more comfortable staying in Westbank with my parents. She told me there were stories of ghosts and I said I was not scared of any old ghost, I would be OK.
11PM I decided to go up to bed. While I was in my room getting ready to turn in, I heard footsteps up the stairway beside my bedroom. There was shuffling feet, rubbing on the bannister, and heavy breathing as from an old man climbing the stairway. They reached the top by my door. There was silence for a minute. Then a loud knock jolted me. Of course, I froze. There was no sound. Morning could not come soon enough. I rose at sunrise."
When praying intently in my bedroom, the Spanish room where hung a picture of a Spanish admiral to the BC coast - whose eyes seemed to follow you wherever you went, there was a loud crash of clothes hangers in my closet. I went to see what had happened and three or so clothes hangers were bent near the top and swinging wildly. You can see them here. This picture was taken some years later. They are rearranged but at least one is obviously bent. I gave one of these clothes hangers to a friend, Glenn Weigel, in engineering at UBC. He said the bend in the neck of the clothes hanger was from a force of five to ten pounds.
I was praying about Jewish ancestry. Years later, in 2010, DNA proved there was Jewish Cohen ancestry.
At that moment Winnie Earle came in with a letter from our elder minister Ernest Nelson. In the letter Ernest wrote of Naaman being cleansed and David being saved from Saul.
Just after this there was a call to the door and I drove my uncle Bill Bennett to the airport as he had just called the election for the province of BC - April 7, 1983.
One night before going to bed I looked towards my grandfather's chair and could see the familiar outline of his face in the shadows.
One day I looked into the far corner of my grandfather's bedroom, the room was dark because the windows had heavy drapes that Aunt Winnie had made, and saw the outline of a lion man being. This being had ears like an elephant, arms by his side, hairy all over and a face like a lion.
What people call Big Foot may be this same creature. Even I saw an invisible "Big Foot" imprint being left on a puffy blanket the size and shape of a bear paw. Thus, this creature may have a physical opaque appearance to Big Foot, and leave the print of Big Foot.
One of my cousins looked up into the attick, and said he saw a ghost standing at the top of the stairs.
Another family member stayed over night, and the door to the bedroom openned by itself.
After my grandmother had passed away and there was no one at the house, the security guards noticed the horses in the pasture nearby seemed spooked by the house.
About 1991 - 1994 when no one was staying at the DeHart house, the security guard Rodney Higgins would come in and look things over every night. One night the elderly guard drove by and looked up to see a white figure waving to him from the balcony above the entry way, as Mrs Bennett had done many times before. That was too much, the gentleman quit his job right then and went into retirement.
Years later I repeated this story to a close friend who had been the security guard about this time. He would not admit it was him, he just said "pretty hairy!". Just recently I talked to his brother and he described quite a bit more of his brother's description and alarm. Also, the brother lived 300 miles away in Vancouver. They must have talked on the phone at the time it happened. So for Rodney to even mention it to his brother Dave, the event must have been very striking.
In July 1997 Richard of All-Rite Security looked the house over at 8PM (They always make sure it is day when they enter the house! And Richard was a big, young and strong man not afraid of anything!). He saw something behind him and gave chase. Moments later he left the house running and screaming. When he returned to the cottage next door he was as white as a ghost!
Before TV people would sit around the table and tell ghost stories, thrillers!
These verses were mentioned by Harold Cumming at the time. His opinion this was not a ghost. Not something to pursue or confront.
Job 4:10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
4:11 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.
4:12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.
4:13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
4:14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
4:15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
4:16 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,
4:17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
4:18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
4:19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
4:20 They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.
4:21 Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.
Daniel 7:3 "And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it."
King Wan's dream: "The great decree is removed: Yin cannot enjoy it longer. The powerful spirits of earth have left it; all the spirits are whistled away.'"
The Annals of the Bamboo Books, Part V the Dynasty of Chow p.143, The Chinese Classics.
Here you can see the porch entry:
On February 23, 1979, my father received a call that his father, WAC, at the Kelowna General Hospital was unconcious. My mother and father went to the hospital in hopes he may recover. My grandmother and my Aunt Anita Tozer were there also. About 11 PM, February 23, 1979, at Kelowna General Hospital, my grandfather passed away.
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