By admin 
A 6,800 square-foot Victorian house that was a funeral parlor turned home for a paranormal investigator is for sale in downtown Marion.
Read more NC GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards ends reelection campaign after sexual harassment report
Jennifer VanBoskerck of Southern Liminal Society said she decided to sell after running into red tape with the city about the restoration of the 1895 house.
She bought the former Smith Brothers Funeral home in December 2023 and began renovating the house that had been abandoned for eight years. The 2.5 acres was overgrown.
Neglect caused some damage, but most was caused by squatters and just-plain nosy people wanting to walk around a historic and abandoned building. They trashed rooms, left clothing. Some of the embalming tools were taken.
But what VanBoskerck saw were the hidden gems — intricate woodwork, a turret, the original fireplace mantels, Eastlake Victorian locks and eight working fireplaces.
And then there is the stuff left behind by a business that took care of the after-death needs of generations of Pee Dee families.
The embalming room was in place. An array of available burial suits in picture frames. Women’s clothing in boxes. Victorian era furniture.
And the spirits.
VanBoskerck counts many. There are children — a boy, a girl, an infant – a woman believed to be the “standoffish” first wife of Jesse Holliday, who built the house in 1895.
VanBoskerck and others have experienced drawers opening with no one seemingly around, a woman in a Victorian-era dress, another wearing more modern clothing and a boy floating outside a window.
Read more Data center developer wants to build own power plant. Does it need SC’s approval?
VanBoskerck said when she first went into the house, she told the spirits she was the new owner and assured them she knew this was their home. She addresses them like friends. She’s been in this sort of work for decades. Rarely is she frightened.
They are not happy about her leaving, she said.
“I’m tired,” she said of the battle with City Hall.
And broke.
The real estate listing doesn’t mention the house’s past.
Instead, it calls it a masterpiece, a proud fixture on the Historical Registry, magnificent, a property that needs a true visionary.
“This estate is a living testament to Southern grandeur. Once a breathtaking private residence and later serving the community as a distinguished funeral home, the sheer scale and character of this building offer a profound canvas for its next chapter.”
The listing price is $265,000.
It has six bedrooms, three half-baths, and a fireplace in every room.
“Whether you envision returning this property to its original glory as an unparalleled private estate, transforming it into an elegant bed and breakfast, creating a premier event space, or continuing its legacy as a commercial facility, the foundational space is unparalleled,” the listing says. “This historic gem does require restoration to realize its full potential, but the most daunting heavy lifting has already been secured for you.”
VanBoskerck spent $60,000 on a new roof and installed and replaced one of two hot water heaters.
After Holliday, the house was the site of a funeral home in 1903 and was taken over by the Smith family in the 1940s, the Collins family bought it in the 1980s and used it for a funeral home until the mid 1990s.
VanBoskerck renamed the property the Holliday House and had hoped to open it up to other paranormal groups for meetings and investigations.
VanBoskerck is not happy with some of the characterizations since the property went on the market, including podcasters who said she had a seance room.
Read more Data center developer wants to build own power plant. Does it need SC’s approval?
She does not.
And a lady in black loitering in a corner.
It was a costume VanBoskerck wore and hung on a rack.
Another called it creepy.
She called it great advertising for a business in a haunted house.
“I don’t need it now,” she said.