1869; The year Abraham Castetter arrived in Blair, Nebraska, serving as a realtor and banker for the newly-founded town. A house was built for him that remains in our town to this day. While the pale yellow paint may seem cheery, the Castetter House may be hiding stories far more sinister than people would think.
Around twenty years ago, Tom Kranda and his family moved into the old house. Patrick and Kathy Tripp, the home’s previous owners, warned Tom about a large rock sitting in the yard. They told him that it could never be moved from its place, as did many members of the Historic Preservation Alliance, which Tom was a member of. Adelaide Kranda, Tom’s daughter, also heard the warnings.
“We were constantly told by everyone not to move the rock,” Adelaide said.
According to legends, the rock is covering a hole in the ground, which is said to be a portal to hell. Evil spirits were believed to have come out of the portal and possessed Blair’s residents. The town gathered and determined that they would cover the portal. They sent a sacrificial horse pulling a wagon to drop a large stone on top of the hole, knowing the horse would become possessed. There’s no real evidence of this myth being true, except for the rock that remains there today.
The family embraced the house’s potentially frightening history, not being scared living there. They leaned into the stories, and naturally, the Kranda’s went all out with their decorations for Halloween.
“My dad would put ghosts around the rock to pay tribute to it,” Adelaide said.
Adelaide and her twin sister, Petra, shared a room across the hall from the elevator. They told all of their friends about the stories surrounding their home. Intrigued by the legends, they tried to contact spirits who may have lived in the house. Adelaide and her best friend, Ashley Reeh, remember contacting a female spirit who claimed to be friendly.
“We used to do the Ouija board all the time,” Reeh said.
During the Gateway to the West parade one year, an older man named Mr. Warman was sitting outside the Castetter House and asked Tom a question.
“What have you heard about the bloody handprint in the elevator?” Warman said.
He proceeded to tell Tom about an upside-down handprint found at the top of the elevator, almost as if someone had been hung. While again, there aren’t any records of this happening, many residents have had paranormal experiences near the elevator.
Besides the Ouija board, Adelaide only recalled one other strange occurrence, which was by the elevator. Around midnight, while having a sleepover with their friends, Adelaide and Petra heard a loud bang. The elevator door, which remained locked at all times, flew wide open. While their parents excused it as a draft, they believed it was something more otherworldly.
While the house having an elevator may seem odd, it was an addition built for one of the first owners of the house. A resident of the Castetter House had a disabled child who couldn’t use the staircase. The front porch, at least a couple of windows, the bow on the west side, and Central Air were, like the elevator, additions to the original building. The hot water system has not been changed since the home was built. To change anything about the house, residents had to go through the Historical Preservation Alliance to make sure it would still qualify as a historical building. Most of the structure is original, including the stables and carriage house. Located on the dining room floor underneath the table, there are buttons that were used to signal maids. There is also a very narrow stairwell for the maids that runs in between the walls of the home.
Despite all of the stories, there may be nothing strange about it except for the unique architecture. Is the Castetter House just an old building, or does Blair really have such a dark history? While no one may ever know if the stories of portals, possessions, and hauntings are true, it certainly can’t hurt to wonder.
