Throwback Thursday: Hauntings at Morris Jewelry

All Hallows Eve is just one more sleep away. Finishing up our spooky paranormal throwbacks for the month of October is more tales of hauntings in Downtown Bowling Green. Morris Jewelry, the oldest business in town, since 1881, sits on Fountain Square on East Main Ave. The Morris building is known for its iconic outdoor sign and beautifully-decorated storefront window displays.

But not everything is shine and sparkles inside the historic building. Built before the Civil War, the Morris property has lived through multiple world wars, the rise of the automobile, and the creation of the internet. It all started with Mr. Frank Maier, the first jeweler to inhabit the building. His daughter married into the Morris family, and the name stuck. But staff say there are signs Mr. Maier never really left the jewelry store behind.

The Maier family was of German descent. If patrons happen to speak in German, or if staff happen to say any German words, Mr. Maier’s spirit seems to be nearby. One current staff member recalls a time when he spoke a German phrase and an item seemed to jump off a shelf and onto a glass display case. That’s not how gravity works. Items don’t jump off shelves of their accord. Whenever odd circumstances hit the main storefront, staff just kindly reminds themselves that “Mr. Maier did it.” He is now the scapegoat.

Moving onward in history, when the Civil War hit Bowling Green, there were nearly 20,000 Confederate troops swarming the city by mid-1862. The building was also home to a hardware store around that time. The nearest fort was just up Main Avenue atop Reservoir Hill. What’s left of where the fort was is now marked by a new wooden fence that reflects what fortifications would have looked like during that war.

An apartment sits on the second and third floor of the Morris building. Its tenants say that sometimes, while they’re sitting around the living room area on the building’s second floor, they may hear the sound of heavy boots walking on the main floor downstairs. Soldiers’ boots were extremely heavy in those days. Soldiers shopped or traded at the old hardware store. It seems some soldiers’ spirits do indeed still walk the first floor hardwoods.

Speaking of the apartment above the store, tenants have also reported hearing movements from the third floor while they’re sitting on the second floor. One night, a tenant ran up to the third floor as soon as the noises were heard and noticed a figure standing in the room. It appeared to be a woman, staring out the third floor window, looking out over Fountain Square. When the tenant managed to turn on the light switch, the figure was gone. Who was she?

Be safe tomorrow as you celebrate All Hallows Eve when the spirits of the dead come visit for the night.