BY ADAM WALLWORTH

Maybe it’s the history of the place, or maybe it’s the lack of sleep, but there’s something about the Historic Washington County Courthouse.

Whether that something was once human can be argued, but walking the halls of the building in the wee hours, it becomes apparent why so many people throughout the years have told of experiences with the unexplainable.

Strange noises and doors that move of their own accord are common themes in the stories of those who have worked in the building and something experienced by a Northwest Arkansas Times reporter and photographer while staked out in the building after midnight on Saturday.

The sounds, though not distinct enough to recognize, were heard coming from a judge’s chambers, where others have experienced the unknown. Not quite human but not the typical groans of an aged building, the sounds were heard twice over the course of a few hours emanating from a location where one county worker reported experiencing a door being pulled from his grip, though no one was there.

Strange sounds were heard by another while working in the stairwell to the bell tower on Thursday.

Lawrence Guist, courthouse groundskeeper, told the Times on Friday of that worker’s experience. He said the man had been working by himself in the stairwell when he heard a murmuring coming from the attic, but upon investigation found no one in the area.

The sounds heard Saturday were strange, but not distinct enough to be convincingly supernatural. However, having a door pull shut on its own was a little closer to the mark.

When leaving one of the courtrooms on the third floor, it felt as though someone, or something, pulled the door closed. It wasn’t forceful, but it felt like the door was pulled away mid-swing and gently closed.

The door moved on its own with an even pace and shut securely. On subsequent attempts to re-create what had happened, the door never again moved at the same pace, nor did it close entirely. The door did not swing shut when simply let go of, nor did it close all the way with a little nudge, and with each attempt the latch bounced off the doorjamb.

Guist related another tale of a former employee of a judge who had been working late one night and watched as a door opened and shut on its own. He said the woman told him never to attach her name to the story. She also told the judge she would never again work late.

The woman’s desk faced the door, which was shut securely while she worked, Guist said. The door, however, came unlatched and swung completely open and paused for a moment before swinging closed and latching securely, he said.

Perhaps because he has been caring for the building for 20 years, Guist has had more significant experiences, though he says he has never felt threatened.

First in the building at 7 a.m., Guist unlocks the courtrooms on the third floor, and then pauses to drink a cup of water from a water cooler near the balcony, which faces Center Street. His most intense experience in the building, he said, happened one day after he opened the courtrooms.

Guist said that as he walked toward the balcony, he heard footsteps. "From out of the courtroom — whoosh. Down the stairs; thump, thump, thump," he said, pointing to the staircase on the north side of the building.

Hearing the movement, Guist said he turned immediately and ran down the stairs trying to catch up. "I felt like it was just a set of steps ahead," Guist said "I ran all the way down."

But when Guist got to the basement, there was no one to be found, nor were there any tell-tale sounds of someone bursting through an exit at top speed. He said he checked the rooms on the ground floor to no avail.

The footsteps sounded as real as anyone’s, on the old staircase, Guist said. "I could really hear it."

Guist said that while that was his most vivid encounter, it was not his first.

In the attic, where the air conditioners live, Guist said, there is something else that likes to have the light on. Over the course of six months to a year, he said, he would go up to work on something in the attic, turning the light off each time, but when he would return the light would be back on.

Sometimes it was 30 minutes and sometimes the next day but the light would always come back on. "After a while I got to thinking maybe the light needs to be on," Guist said. "The light’s been on ever since."

Guist said he has also felt an energy or presence in the building, but has never seen any apparitions or ghosts. There’s something in the building, he said, but it’s nothing that would want to hurt anyone. "The things that take place here don’t bother me. I accept that it’s that way," Guist said. "This building’s been here a long time — a lot of good things have happened here, a lot of bad things have happened here.

" I take it for what it is, "he continued." I’m not afraid. "