Dumack Engineering has been occupying the "Hollyleaf Inn" since march of 2004. The original building dates back to 1756 where it reportedly was a tannery.  Over the years there have been numerous reports of sightings and unexplained events.  While we have experienced only minor unexplained events, like noises and movements out of the corner of your eye. 

We have yet to spot any full blown apparitions or paranormal events, but the testimony below from the previous owners helps to document the history of the building.  We look forward to maintaining the existing building, being caretakers of the building, rather than the owners.

"By his own admission, Richard Butkus is gregarious."  That would ensure that a stay at the Hollilief Bed and Breakfast on the Durham Road (Route 413) in Wrightstown will be filled with clever banter and ebullience.

Perhaps some of Richards conversation may even spill over into the supernatural.

Richard and Ellen Butkus have never seen anything themselves, but several of their best guests have had encounters in the 18th century farmhouse rooms-some encounters this :family" publication cannot fully address.

The couple purchased the "Hollilief"  ("We inherritted the name," Ellen said.  "The holli part is because of the holly tree out front and the "lief", we are told, means "beloved" in Norwegian.") in 1990 and were told by the previous owners that with the B&B came a boo or two.  Ghosts, that is.

It's interesting to note that Richard Butkus is an accomplished dowser.  And, at the drop of a hat, he'll instruct anyone who asks in the fine art of using a divining rod.

It was a dowser who also used his skills to identify some of the energy within the walls of the beautifully decorated fieldstone home and on the more than 5 acres of grounds.

Richard said that although he's never witnessed an apparition in the Hollilief, he has often heard something.

"I'll be by myself in the living room and I'll hear floorboards squeaking in the upstairs hallway when there's nobody up there.  At first i disregarded it, but then i started paying attention and it made me wonder."

Those former owners told the Butkuses that a guest there had told them that they saw a filmy form of a long haired woman in Room four.

Strange things have happened in that same room and at least two others.

Ellen remembered a couple who spent their wedding night and then their fifth anniversary night in the Hollilief.  When they checked out the second time, the woman told Ellen that she had witnessed the rocking chair in the room rocking gently back and fourth in the middle of the night while her husband was sound asleep next to her.

Another woman once reported seeing a misty figure gravitate down the central hallway.  As she stared, the figure compressed and slid under the door of room three.

And room one was the scene of a most bizarre encountered which was reported by a male guest.

He told the innkeepers that sometime during the night a female ghost came through the door - through the door, that is, and sidled up to the bed.  Then it sidled up to him in the bed and, well...we'll leave it there.