Genoa painting once featured in TV news story, now a subject on psychic tour

EDITORS NOTE: The following story about the "spirit painting" at the Dake House in Genoa, built by Genoa's first undertaker, was published on May, 18, 2005. Since Martha Williams, owner of the Dake House (Antiques Plus), is offering spirit tours, personal readings and seances this Halloween, I thought it only appropriate to re-run the account of the filming of the Channel 8 newscast about the house and the painting. The first tour, by spirit hunter and psychic Sandie Davis, begins at 7 p.m., and they will continue into the night. The cost is $5, plus a non-perishable food for the Carson Valley Community Food Closet. By the way, the story of the spirit painting will be re-told on Oct. 31 as well.

by Jonni Hill

Staff Writer

Reno television news anchor Terri Hendry, who is hosting a series on paranormal happenings in Northern Nevada, has come to Genoa in search of haunts.

The segment airing during tonight's 11 p.m. Channel 8 news program focuses on the Dake House in Genoa, home of The Antique Emporium and Antiques Plus, owned by life-time Genoan, Martha Williams and her husband Bob.

The Dake House, believed to be one of the oldest homes in Genoa, built in the 1870s, is the primary source of her segment's investigation concerning what is referred to as electronic voice phenomenon. Using a highly sensitive digital recorder, Hendry spent time in every room of the Dake House with the recorder there to pick up on any possible spiritual voices present in the building.

One item in the Dake House, a still life painting of roses, became the center of attention during the filming. This came as no real surprise to Williams, as the painting, executed in oil on canvas and dating back to the early 1920s, has come into the limelight many times in the past since she inherited it from her mother. The painting appears to have no signs of aging, despite its vintage.

"I never particularly cared for the painting," Williams said. "But mom loved it. In fact she loved it so much that she had her room painted in one of the shades of pink of the roses in the painting.

"It had been unframed, so as a nice gesture, I had the painting framed in an elegant antique frame for my mother. Mom was unhappy that I had done that. She wanted it just the way it was in raw canvas."

With no particular love or attachment for the painting, Williams decided to place it up for sale with the other antiques in her shop.

As soon as Williams placed the painting on the walls of her antique shop with a "for sale" tag on it, she had a series of unexplained problems with the painting. One day she came into her shop to find the painting had somehow fallen to the floor and the substantial nail, which had been pounded into solid wood, was pulled from the wall. The painting and frame were unscathed but it had hit an electrical wall plug on its way to the floor, dislodging it from the wall, leaving electrical wires exposed. Nothing had been plugged into the receptacle at the time and it was hard to imagine how a relatively lightweight painting could do so much damage to the wall and yet not be broken.

Puzzled about the event, but undaunted in her desire to sell the painting, Williams moved the painting to another room. Then, she walked into the shop one day to find the painting, nail and all, had fallen from the wall. This time it had fallen on a glass display case, breaking the glass of the case and the contents it contained. Again, the painting and the frame remained undamaged.

Then one day some customers were in her shop when they noticed the painting on the wall. They told Williams it was a replication of one they had seen hanging in the Golden Gate Church of Spiritualism in San Francisco. The original painting was considered a "spirit painting," one supposedly done by a medium while in a trance-like communication with spirits from beyond.

This account fascinated Williams, but it wasn't until the customers later produced a colored photograph of the original spirit painting, that she became totally intrigued with the implications of the painting she possessed. The original painting is signed and dated 1916, while hers was unsigned. The similarities of the two paintings are striking with only subtle differences between them. Williams now believes that she too is in the possession of a spirit painting.

In 1998, Williams made the decision to not sell the painting and since that time there has been no further incident of it coming dislodged from where it is hanging. Many people have offered to buy it and she has turned them down. It has become the focus of investigations by several scientific groups who study paranormal phenomenon. One group of voice phenomenon experts from the east coast wanted to borrow the painting for further study. After analyzing their tapes recorded in the presence of the painting which still hangs in the pink room of the Dake House, they told Williams about an audible voice on their recording which told them to leave the painting where it was.

Since an October 1998 story appearing in the Reno Gazette-Journal, the painting has garnered a lot of attention. The Discovery Channel has considered the story of the painting for inclusion in a feature story of paranormal events.

The painting may be seen at Antiques Plus, located in the Dake House in Genoa, but remember, don't even ask the price. The painting is not for sale.