The house of Maiza Mooza

The house as seen in 2015.

This is the house of **Maiza Mooza.** It was built in 1842 and is beautiful. It was lived in for 98 years until 1940 when it was left empty until Maiza Mooza and her husband bought it in 1968. Some people say that it is haunted by a ghost of the last owner (before Maiza Mooza), who rumor has it that he was murdered in the house at age 79. Maiza Mooza says that she only heard a few creaks and rattles throughout the years except for about three times where more happened. The first time was when she thought she saw a ghost on the 3rd floor. It was a dark and rainy late October day in 1982 about 10:00 am, her husband had just died six months before. When she got to the top of the stairs to the third floor she felt a strange feeling approach her. She just shrugged it off and went about with daily chores. However, five minutes later she turned a corner in the hallway on the third floor and saw a shadowy figure dart around the next corner. She followed it but never caught it, then 2 minutes later the bad feeling left. The second time, on the night of November 16, 1988 at about 9:30pm, Maiza was sitting in the main living room watching TV and reading when she heard a crash upstairs. She rushed up the front stairs and walked around the 2nd floor. She never found anything disturbed or anybody up there. However she got really frightened this time and immediately got in her car and drove to her daughters house, 8 miles away. Maiza said that the reason she got so frightened was because it was night and the other time it had been day. The third time was in 1995 on a cold December night. It was about 6:00 pm and Maiza was preparing dinner. The sun was setting and it was about dinner time. After she sat down to eat she thought she heard a noise outside. Mooza got up to look out the window but saw no one out there. She finished eating and cleaned up. Then she went around the house closing the curtains and blinds. Maiza had just finished and was walking past the front door towards the living room to read and watch TV. When she walked past someone knocked. Maiza immediately answered it but no one was there! Maiza knew that it was impossible for anybody to get away that quick. Now very afraid, Maiza went in the living room and read her book. She went upstairs at about 10:00. Mooza showered and got ready for bed, she climbed into bed and read for about 10 minutes before she heard the front door downstairs slam! Maiza got very afraid, she locked her bedroom door and sat in fear. She stayed huddled in bed all night. Finally in the morning she got up and crept downstairs. The front door was wide open! This could be because somebody broke in, but not because they would have taken stuff, they would have been quieter, and they would not have left the door open. The last instance was in June 2016 at 11:00, about two months after Maiza Mooza moved out. A family was driving by, on their way home from a concert when they saw a light in the tower. They stopped to investigate and they could make out a ghostlike figure up in the tower. This was the last ghostly encounter and now the house sits vacant waiting to see what the cities future plans are for it. But for now it is much a ghost itself.

## House Structure

Mooza lived in the house until she was 107. The house has 1 stairway to the basement, 2 to the second floor, 1 to the third floor and 1 to the tower. The house was built in 1842 and was lived in by the Boltz-Hoch family until 1940 when Ephragem Hoch died under suspicious circumstances. From 1940 to 1968, the house was left abandoned and forlorn until Maiza Mooza and her husband moved in and fixed it up. The house was so old and dilapidated that it took 14 months to fix it up. They happily lived there until her husband died in 1982 and she lived there alone until 2016 when she was 107. She was sad to have to leave the house in 2016 after she fell down the stairs. Maiza pushed to have some stairlifts or an elevator added but her insurance denied it. She can still walk unassisted but tends to be sluggish and careless especially when going up and down stairs. Also she is concerned that she could fall again and "that could be it" as Mooza said. So she sold the house to the city who will probably turn it into a reception station or a tourist attraction. It has been a part of the Raleigh annual halloween ghost walk since Maiza Mooza okayed it in 2001. **See also:** Maiza Mooza

The house as seen in 1957.