Spirit still waits for deceased husband to return home

Emma Jones loved her home, her husband and her dogs. She also suffered from dementia, and couldn’t remember her husband wasn’t on a business trip. He was dead. Fifty years after her death, she’s still waiting for him to return to their home on North First St. in Rockford, near St. James School.

“Emma Jones is a very sad story,” said Mark Dorsett, a medium familiar with the legend and Jones herself.

“I find with people who have had Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, or were in a coma before they passed, sometimes when their physical body dies they’re still in that fog, so they kind of have blinders on in terms of what’s going on around them,” he said.

Jones didn’t die in the home she haunts. Instead, she spent her final years in a nursing home, suffering from a cognitive disorder, said Kathi Kresol, a local librarian, researcher, and founder of the Haunted Rockford group, which hosts haunted tours and events throughout the year.

“The story is that after her family put her in the nursing home, she would get out sometimes and wander back to the home. Neighbors would call the nursing home and they’d come get her and take her where she was supposed to be.”

After her death, she continued to return to the home.

“The first couple that bought the house came into the main parlor area and saw a little old lady standing there saying, ‘What are you doing in my house?’ (She) then turned and walked out the front door,” said Kresol. “When they talked to the neighbors about it, the neighbors said, ‘Oh. You have to call the nursing home. Emma got out again.’ When they called the nursing home they found out Emma had passed away.”

Another story involves a Realtor showing the house to a young couple. Realizing the power was out, he went to the basement to check the fuse box. “As he lit a match, he saw a little old lady standing next to him. The match went out,” said Kresol. “When he lit another match, there was nothing there.”

Kresol said people have also reported hearing the sound of dogs’ toenails on the hardwood floors, and their tags jingling as they go up and down the stairs.

“There’s also the story of a gentleman who bought the house several years later,” said Kresol. “He was woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night, and a little voice that sounded very far away said, ‘Am I dead?’ After a couple more calls like that he decided he couldn’t take it anymore.”

Dorsett said Jones’ spirit is stuck between this world and the next. “She had no idea she was dead, but she’s getting better,” said Dorsett. “I’ve been working with her. Every time I get over to that area, I communicate with her and try to help her understand so she can cross over.”

Jones’ story is sad and bittersweet because she’s still waiting for her long-dead husband in their beloved home.

“From what I understand,” said Dorsett, “he has tried to come help collect her, but she’s just not ready yet.”