Last week, CNN Headline News ran a short clip of a huge, allegedly haunted, pre-Civil War home being moved from Monroe, Iowa, to Prairie City — a trip of five miles. 

The behemoth structure, called Maple Hill by the locals, was the home in which I grew up. From the fourth grade, through high school graduation, and on into the Navy, Maple Hill was home. 

In fact, Maple Hill has been home to hundreds of people over it’s lifetime — perhaps thousands, at least temporarily, if you count its use as a station for the underground railroad. Four of my schoolmates, that I know of, lived at Maple Hill.