Our Ghost Story

For most of our lives, we were skeptics about the topic of ghosts and the paranormal. Over the years at Bunker Hill Vineyard, however, our opinions have changed and we have grown more open minded to what could possibly be out there.

Sightings

There have been many unexplained encounters here at Bunker Hill Vineyard and Winery. Items have been moved, voices have been heard, people have been touched, and many more. We hope that we can eventually find the answers to why these odd occurrences keep happening by telling our story and continuing to investigate the property.

Owner, Lenora, on two separate occasions has had her name clearly and loudly called. Each time, she has been completely alone with no one in sight or nearby. Not only has she had her name called, but a voice, very loudly, exclaimed “where are you?” while she had been alone near the processing room. In addition to this, Lenora was in the wine fermenting room checking out a carboy of wine one day when she was tapped on the shoulder. Thinking it was her husband, Larry, she responded “yes?” When there was no reply, she turned around and discovered that no one else was in the building with her. She has even felt a gentle brush on her face as though from a hand she couldn’t see.

Larry has also had personal experiences of strange happenings. Larry was in the small workshop of the vineyard using their electric drill for a project and at the end of the day, Larry set the drill on the workshop table and closed up for the night. The next day when he returned back, the drill was gone, but the electric cord was still exactly how he’d left it before. After spending some time searching all throughout the workshop to find the drill with no luck, he asked Lenora when she returned from errands if she had seen or moved the drill. She hadn’t and when they went back to the workshop, the drill was neatly plugged into the cord and laying exactly how Larry had left it the previous evening.

On a Sunday afternoon, Larry and Lenora were both sitting in their kitchen finishing up an early dinner when, off to the side past their laundry room, the back screen door handle depressed and the door opened and closed. It was as if someone entered or exited the house.

Early one morning, Lenora went outside to feed their two cats just like usual. She then left to run errands and shortly thereafter received a call from Larry asking where she had fed the cats that morning. Having fed them in the same place she always had, Lenora was shocked to find out that the heavy plastic bowl that the cats ate out of had been moved 128 feet away from its original spot. Placed neatly, empty, and upright, the bowl was now in front of the property’s flagpole, Southwest from where it had been before. Oddly enough, every time an object becomes displaced on the property unknowingly, they always seem to end up Southwest from the spot they originated from.

On several occasions, many of the buildings have been home to bizarre events. Quite often, the Wine Cave somehow ends up locking on its own from the inside so a spare key needs to be carried at all times just in case this happens when someone needs to get inside. Additionally, the lights always need to be double checked before closing up any buildings for the night because it isn’t unusual to catch a glimpse of light shining from under the locked fermenting building door from the main house. Even the floodlights on the outside of the buildings will somehow be turned on at night even though they are not motion censored, but require a switch that needs to be flipped.

Placed across the property are numerous solar lights which illuminate the property at night. One night, several of the lights were moved, had tops unscrewed, and went missing. This went on for a few nights and then stopped with many still missing to this day.

A 157 year old Laurel oak tree once stood in the center of the property, but in 2017 after hurricane Irma swept through Florida, the oak tree unfortunately died. To commemorate the tree, a chainsaw sculptor came and was given free reign over what he thought would be best for the tree. After spending some time on the property, the artist was able to clearly see a vision of what the tree should become; a Cavalry soldier, Native American woman, owl, and an angel to represent the spirits that live at Bunker Hill. 8 solar lights were later placed in a ring around the tree to light it up and at least twice a week, the spot lights are turned over and turned backwards.

Toward the back of the property and just outside of the wine processing room, there is a section of land dedicated to passed family pets. Each burial spot is marked with a small cement handmade tombstone. One evening, Lenora stepped outside of the wine processing room and discovered that one of the tombstones seemed to have been moved about 10 feet and the ground where it had been before was disturbed. Thinking that an animal might have been the cause, she replaced the tombstone and went back inside. Several minutes later, Lenora walked back outside and noticed that the tombstone had yet again been moved. She then got Larry, who was in another part of the vineyard at the time, to come take a look. They replaced the stone once again and set up their motion activated wildlife camera. They later called their daughter to tell her about what happened and found out that earlier that day, their granddaughter had drawn pictures of the animal. When they checked back on the camera, they found that several photos had been taken and the brand new battery they put in needed to be replaced. Once they opened up the photos on the computer to take a look, they were faced with only blank white photos.

Many months after the initial movement, two tombstones began to move. The wildlife cameras were still set up and continued producing blank white photos as well as continuing to drain its batteries. Not long after, a family friend came to visit and when told about the strange occurrences, she laid bamboo next to each burial. Since then, the stones have yet to be moved again.

Investigations/Evidence

Guests of Bunker Hill Vineyard and Winery are often from all over Florida, the U.S., and even the world. One day, a woman came to visit and asked if we had any strange things happen on the property. We began to explain the things we had experienced and she told us that she had felt the presence of an 80 year old man whose name was Gerald with a “G.” She then asked Gerald to go to the light. Some time and research later, an email response came in from an individual who had previously owned the land many years ago. He stated that his father had died suddenly at the age of 56 and because his father had loved the land, his ashes were spread along the banks of the creek found at Bunker Hill. This individual also shared that his fathers name was Jerald. Although his name was spelled with a “J,” if he was still alive, he would have been the age of 80 at the time we received the email.

There have been two separate investigations done by professional paranormal groups at Bunker Hill Vineyard and Winery and from the evidence that they collected, these groups have stated that BHV is one of the most active places they had ever visited.

BHV continues to investigate the paranormal occurrences personally and through the Spirit and Orb Walks that are held on the property.