Enjoy!
Haunted Places
In New England
By E. A.
Black
New England
is a hotbed of ghost activity. Whether you like unsolved murders or hiking in a
haunted woods, there are plenty of locations where the veil between this world
and the otherworldly meet. Here are a few of those places.
Lizzie
Borden House – This notorious house in Fall River, Massachusetts hosts the
second most famous unsolved murder in the world. The first is Jack the Ripper.
It's easy to understand why Lizzie might have done what she was accused of
doing because the house, although neatly furnished and quaint, is cramped and
there is little room for privacy. Lizzie's skinflint father refused to move to
a larger home, which he could have afforded. She was supposedly quite angry
over it. After she was acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother, she
moved a few miles away to the rambling Maplecroft mansion, to which she was
much more suited. Maplecroft is also open to tours but I don't believe the
place is purported to be haunted. The Lizzie Borden house now operates as a bed
and breakfast, and it is reportedly haunted by her father, Andrew Borden, and
the most commonly experienced ghost, her stepmother, Abbie Borden. She is heard
yelling, supposedly reinacting her death. Lizzie is also alleged to haunt the
house, appearing in the basement.
Snedeker
House – Southington, Connecticut. Ed and Lorraine Warren made this house and
the story behind it famous in their self-appointed roles as demonologists. The
residence used to be a mortuary but the Snedeker family moved in and called it
home. The family consisted of Allen and Carmen Snedeker and their three sons,
daughter, and two nieces. However, not long after moving in violent and
horrific events began to occur including sexual attacks, apparitions, and
disturbing personality changes in Matt, the eldest son who had been diagnosed
with Hodgkin's disease. It turned out that Matt admitted to being behind much
of the alleged haunting. Horror writer Ray Garton was hired to write a book
based on this case and he railed into the phony Warrens. When Garton questioned
the validity of what the Snedekers were telling him about their alleged demonic
experiences including conflicting testimony, Ed Warren told him to ignore all
that and just make things up. Despite the entire business being an outright
lie, the story became a popular hit movie "The Haunting in Connecticut".
For more on Ray Garton and the Warrens, please read my interview with him at
The Horror Zine.
Ocean-Born
Mary House – The story of how Mary was born at sea and a pirate saved her life
and the rest of the people on board ship when the child's parents named her after
his mother is true. The haunting is not. There is a wonderful yet fake story
about how a couple dropped by the house and were given a tour by a tall,
attractive woman with red hair. It turned out no one was home at the time, and
the description of the woman fit a description of Mary. She was a ghost who
gave a tour of her own home! Sadly, this story is not true. Mary never even
lived in the house in Henniker, New Hampshire. She lived a few miles away. A
man who bought the house was a bit of a marketing genius who kept the
"legend" alive by charging admission and telling ghostly stories
himself. He even charged a small fee for tourists to rent shovels to dig on the
property for the rumored pirate treasure supposedly buried there that no one
has ever found.
Dogtown,
Massachusetts – This five-mile stretch of woods straddling Gloucester and
Rockport, Massachusetts is the home of an abandoned Colonial settlement. All
that remain of this ghost town are granite cellar holes of about a dozen
houses. The area got its name when the male residents moved from Dogtown to the
coast to enter the fishing industry and to go to war. Women were left behind
with dogs to protect them, hence the moniker "Dogtown". Others left
behind included gypsies, war widows, former slaves, and the poor. Some of the
women were said to be witches, including Tammy Younger, referred to as the
Queen of the Witches. She charged a toll to anyone who dared to come close to
her property. Younger accepted fish as payment, otherwise she would put a curse
on those who refused to abide by her demands. Strange goings on include bizarre
equipment failures and an eerie silence throughout the forest. A large cat (thought
to be a mountain lion) was supposedly seen on the grounds. Werewolves were also
said to haunt the place. An apparition of a woman dressed in black is said to
roam Dogtown only to disappear when approached. It is said to have been the
location of a few suicides. A schoolteacher was murdered in Dogtown in 1984.
Her husband found her there with her skull crushed in. A man known to wander
the woods was convicted of her murder. Dogtown is popular with mountain bikers
and hikers. Babson boulders with sayings such as "Truth",
"Intelligence", and "Courage" are scattered throughout the
area. These boulders were carved and placed in the 1930s. I live near Dogtown
and I've walked through it several times. It's very secluded and even peaceful
albeit quite spooky. I made the mistake of hiking through Dogtown immediately
after watching "The Blair Witch Project" and scared myself silly. There
are several paths to take through Dogtown. I recommend the one by Cherry Street
in Gloucester that takes you directly to Dogtown Common (the former town's center)
and some of the Babson boulders. Park your car and then go for a walk. Just
don't do it after dark, not so much because of ghosts but because it's very easy
to get lost.
Danvers
State Hospital –Danvers State Hospital was built in Danvers, Massachusetts in
the 1880s and initially served mentally ill children, but things took a turn
for the worse in the 1920s. The place became known as a snake pit. It is said
the prefrontal lobotomy was invented there. Phantom foot steps have been heard
and shadows have followed investigators. There has been only one reported apparition
which appeared to Jeralyn Levasseur who claimed a ghost pulled the sheets off
her bed when she was a child. The ghost took on the appearance of an older, scowling
woman. The horror film Session 9 was filmed here before the place was
torn down. What remains of the hospital was turned into luxury apartments.
Betty
and Barney Hill Site – Betty and Barney Hill were the first reported couple who
claimed that they had been abducted by aliens and they said aliens had
experimented on them. Their experiences took place in 1961 and they include lost
time, nightmares, grey aliens, and alien experiments upon their bodies. Much of
their experiences were discovered through hypnosis. The Hill's alien abduction claims introduced the culture to the phenomenon
as we know it today. Their fateful journey can be traced down US 664 and Route
3 in Kingston, New Hampshire and is commemorated with a sign. The Hill's story
was turned into a movie, The UFO Incident, which starred James Earl
Jones and Estelle Parsons.
Hoosic Tunnel – This railroad tunnel in North Adams, western
Massachusetts is supposedly haunted by the hundreds of men who died while it
was under construction. It is popularly known as "The Bloody Pit". One
of the more chilling stories involved thirteen men who were trapped in the
tunnel following an explosion. While rescuers were certain no one survived,
months later workers discovered that some had actually lived for a brief period
of time, creating a makeshift raft to deal with flooding. Trains do use this
tunnel so be careful if you travel there.
Houghton Mansion - Also located in North Adams, Massachusetts,
this sprawling home was built in 1890 and was home for a time to the Masonic
temple. Ghosts include A. C. Houghton, a suicide victim, and the ghost of
Houghton's daughter Mary who died in a car accident in 1914. Incidents in the
mansion include disembodied footsteps and doors opening and closing by
themselves when no one else was in the building aside of the person who
witnessed the events.
Margaritas Mexican Restaurant, Salem,
New Hampshire – This building was home to the town jail before it was converted
into a restaurant. You may request a table inside one of the jail cells. I
recall a story written by a man who had stayed there in the drunk tank when the
place was a jail. He returned when it became a restaurant and requested his old
cell – but with the gate left open. A ghost named George supposedly throws food,
moves furniture and table utensils, drinks unattended beverages, and in general
makes a nuisance of himself, but I've never run into him. The history of the
building is fascinating enough without adding ghosts to the story. The food
isn't bad considering this is a chain restaurant. The prices are fair. Just
remember to ask your server to turn up the lights when you dine there. The last
time I went the light was so dim it was hard
to see our food.
Whether you want to dine in a jail
cell or sleep in the room where Lizzie Borden's stepmother met her fateful end,
there are plenty of spooky places in New England where you may satisfy your
penchant for weirdness. Most are open to the public. Dress your best and take a
walk on the wild side!
------
E. A. Black had enjoyed telling scary stories to a
captive audience since she was a child. She grew up in Baltimore, the home of
Edgar Allan Poe who has inspired her to write. Due to her love for horror and
dark fiction she joined Broad Universe, a networking group for women who write
speculative fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Zippered Flesh 2, Zippered Flesh 3, Teeming Terrors, Midnight Movie
Creature Feature 2, Wicked Tales: The Journal of the New England Horror Writers
Vol. 3, Heart of Farkness, and more. She won a Best Short Story mention on The Solstice List@ 2017: The Best Of Horror for
Invisible, which appeared in Zippered Flesh 3. She has written author interviews and fiction
for The Horror Zine using her real name, Trish Wilson. The Horror Zine
won first place for Best Fiction Magazine/e-zine, Best Poetry Magazine/e-zine
and Best Magazine/e-zine Editor at the 2020 Preditors and Editors poll. Her horror
story The Storm shall appear in The Horror Zine's Book of Ghost
Stories in 2020. In addition to horror, she writes erotica and romance as
Elizabeth Black. Friend her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter, where she
posts as Elizabeth Black. Check out her web site at http://eablack-writer.blogspot.com.
Sign up for her newsletter: http://eepurl.com/b76GWD She lives on the Massachusetts coast in Lovecraft
country. The beaches often call to her, but she has yet to run into Cthulhu.
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