The Strange Case of the Haunted Clock

After I got out of the Army in 1981 I became involved with my local post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), serving in various offices, as Commander in 1985-86, as Adjutant for many years and as Commander again from 2004-2008. Once I closed down my business and really retired some four years ago I become even more busy helping out around the post.

The office of Quartermaster is an important one in any VFW post and it is no different here. Tom Brown was Quartermaster of the post for many years. He was very active as Quartermaster and died "with his boots on" while still in office in the early summer of 2008. I remember the call from Archie, a mutual friend. My wife and I along with my sister and brother in law were in St George, Utah, on a vacation trip when Archie called to tell me Tom had died.

I found out after we returned to Seattle that Tom had been mowing his lawn and apparently had stopped to take a rest or because he felt tired or ill. He stopped the mower but left in on the lawn, went to the house, took off his shoes at the door (as was his custom) and sat down in his easy chair. And that's where a friend found him later that evening.

He was over eighty years old so no autopsy was done but we suppose he died of a heart attack or perhaps a burst aneurysm. In any case I'd like to go the way he did, quick and easy. But not right away, mind you.

His death caused a problem at the post because there was no Assistant Quartermaster and Tom took with him all the passwords and other knowledge of the day-to-day operation of the post.

Nestor Tamayao agreed to take over as Quartermaster and filled the position for five years until I was elected and began my tenure in June of 2013.

I was helping Nestor bring the books up to date and learning the ropes in the early part of 2013 when the "spring forward" date rolled around. While setting the clocks ahead I noticed that the clock in the office was already set to DST. I didn't think too much about it but later Nestor asked if I had set that clock. Told him no, it was already set so I just set the others in the hall.

At that time Nestor told me about the strange behavior of that clock in the office. It seems that every spring and fall the clock already would be set to the appropriate time the next time he came in. The other clocks in the hall needed to be reset but the one in the office always was set correctly. I did look at the office clock to confirm that it was a plain old inexpensive wall clock with no wireless link to the National Observatory's atomic clock or other fancy time-keeping function.

Well, I thought that to be a little strange but we hadn't changed the locks for many years and there was no telling how many people had keys and could have set the clock.

As a matter of updating the security of the building we changed all the locks soon thereafter.

In the fall of 2013 I noticed that the clock in the office was set back to pacific standard time the next time I came in after the Saturday night changeover. Since the locks had recently been changed it was easy to check with all who had access. All denied being in the office let alone changing the clock.

Last year at changeover time to DST and again at return to PST the clock was changed. I called around again to confirm that no one had been in the office to change the clock. Yet it HAD been changed. We joked that Tom Brown was letting us know he still cared by coming around (in spirit) and setting the office clock.

Last Saturday night, 3/7/15, I was in the office until 1730, standard time, and then Sunday morning I was in the office at 1100 and noticed that the clock had been set to daylight saving time.All the other clocks in the hall were still on standard time.

What a puzzle. The office has restricted access and only certain people have the key. The janitor has a key but doesn't know the code to turn off the alarm. All who do have access deny resetting the clock, or even being in the office.

Well, Tom, thanks for setting the clock. It is rather difficult to get it off and back on the wall so I certainly appreciate you taking care of it.