Harlee House

A young family from Palmettopurchased and restored the Harlee house on the Manatee River. The new buyers found a love letter in one of the closets, only it was from Mrs. Harlee to the house. She loved the house so much, that some say her hospitable spirit still lingers in it, preparing meals for her new guests.

When the new couple went away on a trip, they had both grandmothers stay to babysit. Grandmother #1 and her friend were sleeping in the upstairs guest room while the Grandmother 2 stayed in a room downstairs. The two women upstairs were awakened by the clamorous sounds in the kitchen.

“We heard all this carrying about and I thought (Grandmother 2) was making us breakfast. When we got down stairs she was fast asleep. Well, we just laughed. We w just laughed and said that was the ghost of Mrs. Harllee down there makin’ all that racket in the kitchen.”

On another occasion,the husband of the young couple was playing with their baby outside so the wife could take a nap. She was awakened by heavy footsteps on the second floor.

“I yelled up there sarcastically, ‘I’m awake now! You can come down!’” she said.

She then went into the kitchen and found that she couldn’t get the light turned on so she again yelled up the stairs for her husband.

“I said ‘ I need your help. Please come down’, I heard him walking to the staircase and so I waited. Then I yelled his name’ as I walked up and see what was keeping him. But when I got up there, the room was empty,” she said. When she looked out the window her husband was still playing with the baby outside.