THE PARANORMAL WORLD DATABASE       MASSACHUSETTS   COLONIAL INN (CONCORD) BACKGROUND: The Inn was originally three separate buildings – the earliest dating back to 1716. It is best known for the role it played in the events of April 19, 1775, a day that led to the birth of a new nation. During the period of unrest leading up to the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the middle portion of the Inn (which is now the front desk of the hotel and gift shop) served as an arms and provisions storehouse for the local patriots. When the British soldiers arrived to seize and destroy all their supplies, the Minutemen were gathered at the North Bridge, just a half mile from the Inn. They were alerted of the British presence by the rising smoke and came to defend both their town and supplies. At the time of the battle, Dr. Timothy Minot Jr. lived and worked on the western side of the building, which is now home to the Liberty Restaurant. On April 19th 1775, Dr. Minot opened up his home to care for the wounded Minutemen. He used the Liberty Room as a hospital, one of his bedrooms, now “Room 24”, as an operating room and “Room 27” as the morgue. In 1799, Ammi White sold his portion of the house to John Thoreau, grandfather of Henry David Thoreau. John Thoreau’s son, also named John, worked for Deacon White in the store next door as a youth. In 1835, the younger John moved his own family, including his sisters, back into the house to live for the next two years while his son, Henry David, attended Harvard. PHENOMENA: In room 24, in a letter from Mrs. Judith Fellenz to former innkeeper, Loring Grimes, after they had celebrated their wedding night in June 1966. Mrs. Fellenz wrote that she had awoken in the middle of the night and seen a “grayish figure” at the side of her bed. It remained still for a moment, then slowly floated to the foot of the bed, in front of the fireplace.” Other guests have reported lights flickering in the room or turning on and off completely on their own. One guest woke up in the middle of the night and every light was on in the room, as well as the television! Guests hear hushed whispers coming from the closet and have seen the door to the room slam shut on its own. A few guests have felt someone gently tucking them into bed. Apparitions of both a middle aged woman, supposedly a nurse named Rosemary, and wounded soldiers have appeared in the room, only to disappear moments later. Both an older woman and a tall, slim gentleman with a top hat have been spotted in the sitting room and a young girl wearing a bonnet has been seen walking around by the front desk of the hotel. Guests and staff have spotted spirits in colonial attire sitting in an otherwise empty Liberty Room. Things fall off of shelves and items go missing without a trace for weeks, only to turn up in the strangest places. Guests and staff have heard voices coming from right behind them – only to see nothing when they turn around. https://www.historichotels.org/hotels-resorts/concords-colonial- inn/ghost-stories.php DANVERS STATE HOSPITAL (DANVERS) BACKGROUND:  It was built in 1874, and opened in 1878, under the supervision of prominent Boston architect Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee, on an isolated site in rural Massachusetts. It was a multi-acre, self-contained psychiatric hospital designed and built according to the Kirkbride Plan. Most of the buildings on campus were connected by a labyrinth of underground tunnels. Many of the Commonwealth institutions for the developmentally delayed and the mentally ill at the time were designed with tunnel systems, to be self-sufficient in wintertime. Massive budget cuts in the 1960s played a major role in the progressive closing of Danvers State hospital. The hospital began closing wards and facilities as early as 1969. By 1985, the majority of the original hospital wards were closed or abandoned. On June 27, 2014, Avalon Bay Communities, Inc,. sold the property for $108.5 M to the DSF Group. The DSF Group released plans for the property to undergo further renovations. PHENOMENA: Apparitions of former patients have been seen and there is a very eerie atmosphere in the grounds too. The building itself was always guarded to stop avid ghost hunters from entering and only one group to this day has ever been granted access to it at night. There’s only been one eyewitness report to surface over the years. Jeralyn Levasseur stated she saw a ghost when she lived there as a child. The ghost pulled the sheets off her bed and it manifested as an older, scowling woman. Levasseur said she never felt threatened by the ghost. She also confirmed it only appeared one time. https://www.ghostlyactivities.com/danvers-state-hospital-hauntings/ DEERFIELD INN (DEERFIELD) BACKGROUND: When the Deerfield Inn was originally opened in July 1884 by two brothers, whose earlier inn on the village common had been destroyed by fire, a plague of grasshoppers was devouring its way across a drought-stricken Franklin County. Not surprisingly, there is nothing written about the actual opening date, but in the Gazette and Courier, July 14, 1884, a reporter noted that “Mr. J.M. Bradley has a good business at the new hotel.” During the first 15 years of its operation, guests arrived by stagecoach, carriages, and on horseback. Later, a trolley line ran through the village – stopping right in front of the inn as an old photograph hanging in the inn shows, and by the turn of the century automobiles began to rumble in. https://www.deerfieldinn.com/about-us.html PHENOMENA: There are said to be multiple spirits here but two stand out. One is bossy and inquisitive, one is mischievous and gets excited when children are staying. Some of the common experiences include; tissues found on the floor, people getting pinched on their behinds, tugs on guest’s pillows, objects moved from one place to another and knocks on the door late at night. On one occasion an experienced waitress had a bowl of soup flipped on her, another staff member went to replace it while she cleaned up and when he approached the same table, he too felt his serving arm being pushed up. On another occasion the same male staff member thought he had misplaced his order pad and went back into the kitchen to find it. When he reached into his back pocket again, the pad was there where it should have been. DOGTOWN (GLOUCESTER) BACKGROUND: Once known as the Common Settlement, the area later known as Dogtown is divided between the city of Gloucester and the town of Rockport. It was first settled in 1693, and according to legend the name of the settlement came from dogs that women kept while their husbands were fighting in the American Revolution. The community grew to be 5 square miles, and was an ideal location as it provided protection from pirates, and enemy natives. It is estimated that at one point 60 to 80 homes stood in Dogtown at the peak height of its population. In the mid-1700s as many as 100 families inhabited Dogtown which was stable until after the American Revolution. Various factors led to the demise of Dogtown including a revived fishing industry from Gloucester Harbor after the American Revolution had ended. The area had become safe again from enemy ships which allowed cargo to move in and out of the new fishing port. Dogtown eventually became an embarrassment with its dwindled reputation, and some of its last occupants were suspected of practicing witchcraft. One such inhabitant named Thomazine "Tammy" Younger was described as "Queen of the Witches" by Thomas Dresser. She intimidated people passing through so much that they left her fish and corn to allow them through. The last resident of Dogtown was a freedman named Cornelius "Black Neil" Finson, who was found in 1830 with his feet frozen living in a cellar-hole. He was removed and taken to a poor house in Gloucester. PHENOMENA:  Over the years, there have been alleged sightings of werewolves, huge black cats tought to be connected to the witches and a mysterious lady in black who disappears when approached. In the early 1980s a schoolteacher was bludgeoned to death in the woods, a homeless man was found beaten to death and a man was found to have buried a dead friend here. There have also been multiple suicides committed here. In 2015, a woman and her husband discovered a number of stuffed animals arranged in odd formations. FORT WARREN (BOSTON) BACKGROUND: Fort Warren is a pentagonal bastion fort, made with stone and granite, and was constructed from 1833–1861, completed shortly after the beginning of the American Civil War. Fort Warren defended the harbor in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1861 through the end of World War II, and during the Civil War served as a prison for Confederate officers and government officials. The fort remained active through the Spanish–American War and World War I, and was re-activated during World War II. It was permanently decommissioned in 1947, and is now a tourist site. The fort is named for Revolutionary War hero Dr. Joseph Warren, who sent Paul Revere on his famous ride, and was later killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. PHENOMENA: “The Lady in Black” or the late Mrs. Melanie Lanier was the devoted wife of a Confederate soldier. After she received a letter from her husband stating that he was imprisoned at Fort Warren on George’s Island, Mrs. Lanier was so moved to free him from captivity that she made the arduous journey from Georgia to Hull, Massachusetts – just minutes away from George’s Island. One dark and stormy night, Mrs. Lanier, dressed as a man and sporting a new short haircut, decided to row from Hull to George’s Island with a pick axe and a pistol. As her jailed husband hummed a southern tune to signal her, Mrs. Lanier made her way ashore to his cell with the help of some sympathetic Confederate soldiers she had befriended. After being discovered by a Union officer, Mrs. Lanier captured him and held him at gunpoint, but the officer gained control of the pistol. The pistol went off, accidently killing Mrs. Lanier’s long-suffering husband.  Mrs. Lanier was sentenced to death by hanging. She was granted her final request of being hung wearing female clothing, but all that could be found were black robes. She was executed and buried on George’s Island in these old robes. Her ghost has been seen many times wandering the grounds. https://www.theboxerboston.com/blog/local- legends-tale-fort-warren-ghost/ FREETOWN STATE FOREST (ASSONET) BACKGROUND: The forest lies mostly in the center of the town of Freetown (about a third of the town) dividing Assonet, East Freetown, and Fall River's northern most boundary. The forest land includes Profile Rock, a granite outcropping which local Native Americans believe to be the image of Chief Massasoit, and a 227-acre Wampanoag reservation. The state first acquired land in Assonet for forest purposes in 1913, purchasing approximately nine acres on Forge Pond from Levi Churchill of Berkley. The Freetown State Forest has been the location of several crimes and incidents. Due to these events, the forest has become associated with the so-called "Bridgewater Triangle" PHENOMENA: The forest sits squarely within the infamous “Bridgewater Triangle,” a 200 square mile area within southeastern Massachusetts that is the epicenter of a mind boggling array of inexplicable bizarre phenomena reported since colonial times, including strange creatures, Bigfoot, UFOs, ghosts, specters, ominous black helicopters, mysterious orbs of light, strange disappearances, giant snakes, poltergeist activity, and cattle mutilations, to name but a few. The forest is also said to be home to a race of diminutive humanoid creatures known as Pukwedgies, which have long been known by the native Wampanoag tribe. These creatures are described as being troll- like beasts around 2 to 3 feet in height and with smooth, hairy gray skin that is said to glow on occasion. The Pukwedgies have a notorious reputation for mischief and mayhem, and are said to intentionally startle people, throw rocks or sand in their faces, push or shove them, kidnap them, hurl them from cliffs, wrestle with them or even attack them with knives or spears.  is also littered with places that seem to be possessed of some dark power. Perhaps the most infamous of these is an 80 foot deep rock quarry known as the Assonet Ledge, or simply as “The Ledge.” This area was once owned by the Fall River Granite Company, and has become associated with a range of weird phenomena. The quarry has an inordinate amount of abandoned cars left here, and is the location for numerous suicides. Visitors to The Ledge have reported being overcome with an urgent, unshakable sense of dread and foreboding when venturing near the quarry, and the area has been rumored to be an alleged hot spot for satanists and strange cults, as well as ghost sightings. There are numerous reports of people seeing ghosts jumping from the ledge only to disappear before they hit the water, or merely standing ominously at the top of the ledge. The list of weirdness to be found within Hockomock Swamp encompasses everything from ghosts, to UFOs, to strange beasts lurking within its depths. Some of the creatures said to be spotted here are giant, pterodactyl-like creatures, giant, red-eyed dogs that attack ponies, and the glowing eyes of unseen creatures hovering in the darkness. There are also numerous reports of a shaggy, ape-like creature within the swamp. https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/06/the-cursed-forest-of-massachusetts/ HAMMOND CASTLE (GLOUCESTER) BACKGROUND: The castle, which was constructed between 1926 and 1929, was the home and laboratory of John Hays Hammond, Jr. He was an inventor who was a pioneer in the study of remote control and held over four hundred patents.  It was in England where a young Hammond, Jr. discovered a fascination with castles. This move occurred when he was twelve years old. Eventually, the family would move back to the United States. This is when young Hammond would meet Thomas Edison for the first time in New Jersey. Edison was completely impressed with the young boy due to the fact that he was so inquisitive. He decided to become the boys mentor. At present, the castle operates as the Hammond Castle Museum, displaying Hammond's collection of Roman, medieval, and Renaissance artifacts as well as exhibits about his life and inventions. PHENOMENA: Hammond specified he wanted to be buried at the castle with his grave covered with poison ivy so he would not be disturbed. Despite his request for isolation, his spirit is said to still wander the castle and grounds. He may not be the only one who remains as it’s said the ghost of a former caretaker still wanders the grounds keeping an eye on its condition. It’s further speculated that the ghost of Mrs. Hammond also makes an occasional appearance. HAWTHORNE HOTEL (SALEM) BACKGROUND: Frank Poor, founder of Hygrade/ Sylvania Lighting Company envisioned a “modern hotel for the business traveler” in Salem. Sixteen groups competed for the highest sales honor, with more than half a million dollars worth of stock in the proposed “modern hotel for Salem” being sold in a single week in 1923.  The site was near three buildings with connections to Nathaniel Hawthorne - the Mall Street home where he wrote the Scarlet Letter; the Herbert Street home where he grew up and began writing; and his birthplace on Union Street, which was later moved to the House of the Seven Gables complex. Construction of the Hawthorne began with an expected completion date of August 1925. It was actually opened ahead of time in July of that year. PHENOMENA: Room 612 is a particular hot spot where the apparition of a woman wanders the halls outside the room, at times stopping in front of the door. Guests report having an uneasy feeling as if they are not alone in the room. Room 325 has claims of lights and faucets turning on and off by themselves, the feelings of being physically touched and the sounds of a baby crying. Elsewhere in the hotel, strange sounds are heard and objects are manipulated by unseen hands, such as the ship steering wheel in the restaurant that is sometimes turned by non-human hands. TRIVIA: The classic television show Bewitched filmed an episode in one of the elevators during the 1970s. In 1990, the hotel held a séance in the Grand Ballroom to try and contact Harry Houdini. In 2007, Syfy's popular paranormal show, Ghost Hunters, visited the hotel to investigate. HIGHFIELD HALL (FALMOUTH) BACKGROUND: Built by the Beebe family of Boston in 1878, Highfield Hall was one of the early summer mansions to grace Cape Cod and is one of the few remaining examples of Stick-style Queen Anne architecture in the Northeast. Heirs to a mercantile fortune created by one of Boston’s merchant princes, James Beebe, the Beebe siblings created one of the first expansive summer retreats on the Cape. Brothers Pierson and Franklin Beebe, along with sister Emily, lived at Highfield Hall while their brother, J. Arthur Beebe, along with his wife and children lived at Tanglewood. Both Beebe families entertained in grand fashion and embraced a genteel and formal lifestyle supported by a large cadre of servants. In 1949, the entire Beebe estate was purchased by DeWitt TerHeun, a friend of Arthur Beckhard and a great patron of theatre and opera. TerHeun launched a training ground for student actors from Williams College and, later, Oberlin College. https://highfieldhallandgardens.org/ PHENOMENA: A female spirit thought to be Mary Louisa Beebe, who died of cancer at the age of 45, has been witnessed standing in the window of the bridal room on the second floor. A former lover of one of the Beebe sons named Fay is said to have hanged herself in the theater after being rejected by him. She is said to haunt the theater and is known to play around with the lights in that building. A relative of one owner was entertaining a lady friend in a downstairs parlor when they heard the sound of a woman’s high heels coming down the stairs and stopping at the closed door to the room. When they checked, they found what they already knew. They were alone in the house. The same relative went to check on the house after a hurricane had hit the Cape. He arrived and opened the door to the mansion and saw a female apparition hovering above the second floor landing. It started to come toward him, whereupon he turned around and bolted from the property. HOOSAC TUNNEL (NORTH ADAMS) BACKGROUND: A 4.75-mile active railroad tunnel in western Massachusetts that passes through the Hoosac Range, an extension of Vermont's Green Mountains. It runs in a straight line from its east portal, along the Deerfield River in the town of Florida, to its west portal in the city of North Adams. Work began in 1851 under an estimated cost of $2 million and ended in 1875, having used $21 million. At its completion, the tunnel was the world's second-longest, after the 8.5-mile Mont Cenis Tunnel through the French Alps. It was the longest tunnel in North America until the 1916 completion of the Connaught Tunnel under Rogers Pass in British Columbia. It remains the longest active transportation tunnel east of the Rocky Mountains, and as of 1989 is the sixth longest railroad tunnel in North America. Deadly accidents during construction killed 196 workers, leading the survivors to dub the Tunnel the "Bloody Pit". Many of its victims died in explosions, most by black powder, others by the more powerful, but less stable nitroglycerin.  On October 17, 1867, workers were digging the tunnel's 1,028-foot vertical exhaust shaft when a candle in the hoist building ignited naphtha fumes that had leaked from a "Gasometer" lamp. The ensuing explosion set the hoist on fire, and it collapsed into the shaft. Four men near the top of the shaft escaped, but 13 men working 538 feet below were trapped by falling naphtha and pieces of iron. PHENOMENA: A man named Ringo Kelley is said to have set off the charge in 1865 that killed his co-workers too quickly for them to get clear. Kelley mysteriously vanished after that until a year later  when he was found strangled two miles inside the tunnel in the exact spot where his colleagues had died. It’s been said their ghosts took his life out of revenge. To this day, voices and the sound of men screaming are heard inside the tunnel. Those present at the time of the 1875 tragedy claimed they would hear  wailing, hazy shapes and at times, the apparitions of workers with picks and shovels around the job site in the winter leaving no footprints in the snow behind them. The experiences ended when the men were extricated and given proper burials. One modern day worker claims he was warned out of the tunnel by a disembodied voice just before a train came through. The sights and sounds appear today as they did over 100 years ago. JOSHUA WARD HOUSE (SALEM) BACKGROUND: The three-story Federal style brick house, built in 1784 for successful merchant Joshua Ward, is one of the first brick houses in Salem. The house was used in the 19th century as a tavern and was built on the same site as the former home of Sheriff George Corwin, famously associated with the Salem witch trials. Corwin also oversaw the gruesome death of Giles Corey. After refusing to comply with court procedure, the 81-year-old Giles Corey was condemned to peine forte et dure which was lying the accused on his back and piling heavier and heavier weights on a plank across his body. According to some reports, when Corey’s tongue lolled out of his mouth as a result of the weight on his chest, Corwin callously used his walking stick to poke the tongue back in. This legend goes on to claim that with his last breath Giles Corey cursed Sheriff Corwin and the town of Salem.  PHENOMENA: One investigator was almost choked to death in the basement by a pair of invisible hands which are thought to be Sheriff Corwin’s. There is also a Lady in Black that is described as having a distorted face with long unruly hair who has shown up in a famous photograph taken inside when the building housed a real estate office in the early 1980s. Employees there claimed to see shadowy figures out of the corner of their eyes along with trash cans found turned over, books pulled out of their places on shelves, candles found melted into a S-shape without ever being lit and various rooms found in total disarray. LIZZIE BORDEN BED & BREAKFAST (FALL RIVER) BACKGROUND: From 1874 to 1892, the house was the property of Andrew Borden, Lizzie's father, who was a member of Fall River high society. After Lizzie's trial and acquittal of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe, Lizzie and her sister Emma did not return to the house. Instead, Lizzie bought another house located at 7 French Street that she named 'Maplecroft'. Lizzie lived there until her death on June 1, 1927. It has operated as a bed and breakfast since 1996 under the ownership of Martha McGinn who inherited the house. Martha's grandparents purchased the house on August 4, 1948. According to Martha McGinn, the room where Lizzie's stepmother Abby Borden was found murdered is the "most requested room" of the bedrooms at the bed and breakfast. It is now owned and operated by Donald Woods and Lee-anne Wilbur. PHENOMENA: Guests and staff have reported a number of bizarre experiences in the home. Among those are the sounds of a woman crying and another wearing Victorian clothing going about her business cleaning and straightening the rooms. Overnight guests have seen various apparitions and heard sounds of footsteps on stairs and across floors as well as other related noises throughout the night. Doors might open and close themselves and the sounds of disembodied voices - sometimes in conversation - are heard in empty rooms. The indentations of a body in beds that were just recently made have been found by those checking into their rooms for the night. When returning later, they find them as if nothing happened. Lee-anne Wilbur once spent a night in the maid’s room and awoke to find a small children’s rocking chair in the corner of that room had been moved right next to her bed, as if someone spent the night staring at her. There are also reports of the sounds of young children playing in the house who were perhaps the victims of an intentional drowning next door before the Borden murders occurred. MILLICENT LIBRARY (FAIRHAVEN) BACKGROUND:  donated to the town by the family of Millicent Gifford Rogers, the youngest daughter of Abbie Gifford and wealthy industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers. Young Millicent had died of heart failure in 1890 when she was barely seventeen years old. The library was dedicated on January 30, 1893. Millie dearly loved to sketch and read. She is to have once said on a visit to Fairhaven "I wish we had a good library! When she died at such a young age, her grieving family sought an appropriate means of memorializing her short life. Because she had been an avid reader, especially of poetry, the Rogers decided that they would build and donate to the town of Fairhaven a library named for her and given in the names of her sisters and brother. PHENOMENA: There is said to be an apparition seen here of a woman who wanders the hallways surrounded by a blue light. She’s thought to be member of the Rogers family. Once there was a worker at the library who would dress in costumes for various holidays who was found dead in the building by a staff member. Children who would go in the basement would come back upstairs saying they had seen a little man down there. After a christening of one of the Rogers family at a local church, he was never seen again, but that same night, motion sensors went off at the library and when staff and police responded, they found nothing out of place. Legend has it that Millicent Rogers was buried under the foundation of the library, but this has no basis in fact. OLD YARMOUTH INN (YARMOUTH) BACKGROUND: After it opened in 1696, while it was a restful place to stay with good food to enjoy in the 17th & 18th centuries, this establishment also was a favorite place for church goers to visit after services. The churches had no heat, and the Old Yarmouth Inn was warm and toasty inside and served refreshments; the perfect place for after-church fellowship! The Old Yarmouth Inn through its long history, also was used as a dentist office, family homes, a boarding house for the school teaching staff and perhaps a place where Revolutionary era soldiers were stationed; but this isn’t clear as the historical records were lost in a fire. Before the Civil War, the owners of the inn were part of the underground railroad, and hid runaway slaves in a secret room in the attic, which was found by the future owners, the Powell family, when granddaughter Althea was playing in the attic and discovered it. https://ghost.hauntedhouses.com/massachusetts_cape_cod_old_yarmouth_inn# PHENOMENA:  A guest awakened at 4:00 AM to see a man dressed in late 19th century clothing standing at the foot of his bed with a quizzical look on his face as though wondering who was sleeping in his room. Another male guest staying in the room awoke to someone sitting on his bed and begin to massage his feet and then violently shake the bed. The guest stayed on the front porch for the rest of the night. There is one female entity who is said to be rather playful, a male spirit who is relaxed and measured in his appearances and another who seems to take on a authoritative role in the inn. In the dining and kitchen areas, lights turn on and off by themselves, cold spots are felt. staff has their names whispered in their ears and one guest who came downstairs for an early morning cup of coffee and had trouble opening the door was told by a disembodied voice to, “Push it!” In the tavern, glasses move on their own and ashtrays seem to flip over and slide down the bar without help from living patrons. OMNI-PARKER HOUSE (BOSTON) BACKGROUND:  The original Parker House Hotel opened on the site on October 8, 1855, making it the longest continuously operating hotel in the United States. Additions and alterations were made to the original building starting only five years after its opening. Between 1866 and 1925, the hotel increased in size with new stories and additions, eventually expanding its footprint over 41,400 square feet of land. Founder Harvey D. Parker ran the hotel until his death in 1884, when the business passed on to his partners. The hotel was home to the Saturday Club, which met on the fourth Saturday of every month, except during July, August, and September. Among the Saturday Club’s nineteenth-century members were poet, essayist, and preeminent transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and The Atlantic Monthly editor James Russell Lowell, scientist Louis Agassiz, novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, poets John Greenleaf Whittier and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, diplomat Charles Francis Adams, historian Francis Parkman, and sage-about-town Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Charles Dickens resided in the Parker House for five months in 1867–1868 in his own apartments; he first recited and performed A Christmas Carol for the Saturday Club at the Parker House, then again for the adoring public at nearby Tremont Temple. Actor John Wilkes Booth stayed at the hotel April 5–6, 1865, eight days before assassinating Abraham Lincoln. PHENOMENA: It’s generally known the ghost of Harvey Parker still remains at the hotel, roaming the halls of the 10th floor annex. His misty apparition was once seen by an elderly woman outside room 1078 and as he came toward her, he simply vanished into this air. On another occasion he appeared in the room of a mother and daughter smiling approvingly as if hoping they were enjoying their stay. On consecutive mornings, a guest complained there were people whispering outside her doorway, but each time she opened the door she found no one there. Several times security has been summoned to room 1040 for a noise complaint but every time they do, the room is empty. In room 303, the smell of cigars and whiskey are reported which makes sense a s a long-time guest of the hotel who stayed there imbibed in both. Shadow figures are often seen along with strange light anomalies and the sounds of rocking chairs, though none exist in the hotel. TRIVIA: John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for Congress at the Parker House in 1946 and also held his bachelor party in the hotel's Press Room there in 1953. Then Senator Kennedy also proposed to wife, Jackie Bouvier at Table 40 in Parker's Restaurant located inside the Hotel. Ho Chi Minh claimed to have worked as a baker at the hotel from 1912 to 1913. Malcolm X, then going by the name Malcolm Little, worked as a busboy at the hotel in the 1940s. Long before he was a culinary superstar, Emeril Lagasse served as Sous Chef in the Parker kitchens from 1979 to 1981. RED LION INN (STOCKBRIDGE) BACKGROUND: According to tradition, Silas Pepoon established a small tavern on the corner of Main Street in 1773, under the sign of a red lion. A year later, angry citizens gathered at Pepoon’s to boycott English goods and to pass resolutions protesting the oppressive Acts of Intolerance levied against the colonies. Since its earliest days, the inn was a vital gathering place for locals and has continued to play an important role in the life of the community ever since. In 1862, the inn was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Plumb, avid collectors of rare and fine items, who became renowned for their impressive compilation of colonial antiques. A fire in 1896 destroyed the building but its remarkable array of collectibles was saved and the inn was rebuilt within a year. https://www.historichotels.org/hotels-resorts/the-red-lion- inn/history.php PHENOMENA: The fourth floor, in particular, as staff and guests have witnessed  a young girl carrying flowers and a man in a top hat as two frequently seen images. Guests have awoken to the feeling of someone standing over their bed, along with cold spots, unexplained knocks, and electrical disturbances. In room 301, in 2004, one guest reported something touching his head and tugging the bed sheet. Almost one year to the day later, a second reviewer reported waking up several times to the feeling of having their toes being pulled on, the sound of footsteps and the sensation of his comforter being fluffed. A month later, a third reviewer described being woken all night by cover-pulling from the foot of the bed. When the man turned to look, he saw a man in a top hat and "olden day attire," who then vanished in a white mist. TRIVIA: One incident involved a gentleman who asked to be relocated from his room because of the sheer number of "spirited" guests he encountered. That customer turned out to be celebrity medium James van Praagh. SPIDER GATES CEMETERY (LEICESTER) BACKGROUND: The cemetery was founded in 1740. The first Quakers in Leicester were the Ralph Earle family and the John Potter family. The first burial was in 1740. The first Southwick, Amasa, didn't arrive in Leicester until 1800 and had nothing to do with the founding of the cemetery in 1740. The Southwick family probably joined in 1810 or thereabouts and became one of the largest groups to be buried in the cemetery. The Leicester Quakers closed the meeting around 1850 and transferred it to the Worcester meeting. The granite posts and iron gates were installed in 1895 under the terms of a bequest made by Dr. Pliny Earle. Their design was originally meant to represent the rays of the sun but have since taken on their more popular name of Spider Gates. The Southwick family has since had to replace one of the gates as it was stolen but an exact replica of the remaining gate was made so it is nearly impossible to tell the difference. The actual name is the Friends Cemetery and has recently been outfitted with sensors to detect movement after dark to alert the police of potential trespassers. PHENOMENA: Urban legend alert >> There are long-standing legends that surrounding it are the Eight Gates of Hell, that a boy hung himself there in the 1800’s, visitors often hear a roaring coming from the woods, a nearby cave is the scene of a brutal murder and dismemberment, there is an altar in the middle where Satanic rituals were performed and  if you walk around the grave of Marmaduke Earle ten times at midnight, chanting “Marmaduke, speak to me,” and put your ear to the ground, he will respond. S.K. PIERCE MANSION (GARDNER) BACKGROUND: Sylvester Pierce was a wealthy business man who achieved his fortune as the owner of the S.K. Pierce and Sons Furniture Company whose success led to Gardner, Massachusetts being known as "Chair City". In the late 1880s Pierce decided he would build a mansion befitting a man of his public stature and what he created was a marvel for its time. The guest list was one for the ages as the home is said to have hosted the likes of former President Calvin Coolidge, Minnesota Fats, Bette Davis, P.T. Barnum and Norman Rockwell, while also serving as a well-known meeting place for the Freemason Society. Pierce, his wife Susan, and their son had big dreams when moving into this one of a kind mansion, but their dreams fell apart when Mrs. Susan Pierce mysteriously succumbed to a bacterial illness just weeks after moving in. After a year of mourning, Pierce married Ellen Pierce, a woman 30 years his junior, with whom he had two more children. He passed away in 1888 leaving behind his new wife and their three sons. When Ellen Pierce passed away years later, the three sons bickered constantly over ownership of the mansion and the chair business. The Great Depression ended up stifling the business and eventually SK's youngest son, Edward, took control of the mansion which underwent hard times as the family fortune dwindled. He turned the mansion into a boarding home where unsavory activities such as drinking, gambling, and prostitution became the norm. There were even tales of murder. It’s said that a prostitute was strangled in the infamous red bedroom on the second floor while another boarder, a Finnish immigrant named Eino Saari, burned to death in the master bedroom in 1963. Some believe that this was a spontaneous combustion as there was little damage to the surrounding room. Another story has a young boy being drowned in the basement. https://skhauntedvictorianmansion.com/ PHENOMENA: The ghosts of S.K. Pierce, Susan Pierce, Edward Pierce, a nanny named Mattie Cornwell, a gentlemen named David who some believe to have been the red room strangler, the prostitute who was murdered in the red room, a young boy, a younger girl who was perhaps the granddaughter of Pierce, Eino Saari, and some unnamed dark entities in the basement have been described as some of this mansion's many ghostly residents. Guests have experienced voices, chanting, full body apparitions, moving furniture, screens flying off windows, slamming doors, the sounds of footsteps on the stairs and halls, sudden temperature changes, foul odors, shadow people, and an ominous roar which can shake the house, which many believe is the former Mr. Pierce imposing his displeasure with the current state of the home and its residents. Others have felt the pressure of hands actually pushing them. One visitor felt that a presence was attempting to push her down the steps while another was almost forced out of a third floor window. https://skhauntedvictorianmansion.com/ TRIVIA:  Well known paranormal groups such as those from the TV shows, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, and My Ghost Story have visited this home to learn more about these possible hauntings. STONE’S PUBLICK HOUSE (ASHLAND) BACKGROUND: Building commenced on Stone's Public House in 1832 by John Stone, who called his business the Railroad House. John was a farmer and a captain in the militia, but he was also a savvy businessman, owning most of the land in the center of what was then called Unionville. When he heard that the railroad was to be built through the center of town (on his own land) he decided to build a hotel right alongside the tracks. The Railroad House (the property also included a barn and a cow-yard and later a home for his family) opened on September 20, 1834 , to an enthusiastic crowd of (some say) 300 people. John operated the Railroad House for less than two years (though he continued to live on the property), then leasing it to a long list of innkeepers. John died in 1858, and W.A. Scott bought the business in 1868. Over the years the building fell into disrepair and disrepute. The man credited with helping to return the building to its former glory is Leonard "Cappy" Fournier, who bought the building in 1976. Cappy is also the man credited with first exploring the paranormal side of the building. https://stonespublichouse.com/about PHENOMENA: A story attached to the location involves a traveling salesman named Mike McPherson who was a guest at the inn and decided to engage in a poker game during his stay. He ended up winning the overall pot and was accused of cheating by the locals who were playing. Some one known only at the “old man” convinced them to go to his room and beat him to death, take his winnings and bury the body out back. McPherson is said to still haunt the premises among others, namely, a maid named Sadie, a bartender named Will and a cook named Sam. John Stone himself is also said to remain watchful over his business, even in death. Perhaps the most notable haunting is that of a little girl named Mary Smith who, records say, was 10 years old when she was struck by a train. It’s thought the accident was witnessed by those at the inn at that time who carried her in to await the doctor. Unfortunately, she did not live very long after she was found and died before he arrived. Mary is said to stare out windows on the second floor and the kitchen and a bloody dress that is assumed to be hers is still on display in the fourth floor attic. A former patron named Burt who drank to excess and eventually passed away at the inn is said to haunt the bar area where glasses are known to fly off shelves. There is also some speculation that the inn was once part of the Underground Railroad, but this has proven difficult to prove definitively. Doors are said to open and close themselves and staff and guests report being touched on the back and shoulders by unseen hands. TAUNTON STATE HOSPITAL (TAUNTON) BACKGROUND: Established in 1854, it was originally known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Taunton. It was the second state asylum in Massachusetts. The complex was expanded at various times to include over forty buildings and structures. The main part of the hospital (known as "the Kirkbride Building") closed in 1975, and the buildings fell into disrepair. In 1999, the main dome of the administration building collapsed. In 2006, a large part of the historic complex was destroyed by fire. In 2009, the remaining parts were demolished. However, many of the newer buildings on the campus remain. Taunton State Hospital remains open and houses 48 psychiatric beds, the Women's Recovery from Addiction Program, a residential program under the Department of Youth Services, and a substance abuse program administered by High Point Treatment Center. PHENOMENA: Many of the stories related to the building may be connected with alleged experiments and treatments conducted on patients there.  Neighbors claim to have heard screams emanating from the building and lights being on in abandoned buildings without electricity. A man wearing jeans and a dark colored shirt has been seen on the grounds, but when approached he’s said to just smile and vanish from sight. Ghostly apparitions, thought to be former patients have also been witnessed from time to time wandering the grounds, with both children and adult spirits glaring at visitors to the site. A misshapen, shadowy figure thought to be a male will invade residents rooms and stand in the darkness observing them. Urban legend alert >> One notorious rumor has to do with patients being dragged to the basement where staff and doctors belonging to a Satanic cult would experiment on them or sacrifice them to the Devil. Despite the shaky premise, visitors maintain they have had some very unnerving experiences in the basement. THE MOUNT (LENOX) BACKGROUND: The Mount (1902) is a country house and home of noted American author Edith Wharton, who designed the house and its grounds and considered it her "first real home." The estate, located in The Berkshires, is open to the public and is a cultural center and historic house museum, welcoming over 50,000 visitors each year. Edith Wharton and her husband, Edward, lived in the Mount from 1902 to 1911. After the Whartons left, the house was a private residence, a girls' dormitory for the Foxhollow School, and site of the theater company Shakespeare & Company. It was then bought by Edith Wharton Restoration, which has restored much of the property to its original condition and oversees the running of the property. PHENOMENA: Edith Wharton wrote several ghost stories during her career, drawing on her own experience with and interest in the supernatural. As a child, she claimed to be "haunted by formless horrors" and as an adult she remained sensitive to the subject, until her late twenties. Later in life, she became more comfortable with the subject and would go on to write her own ghost stories. After 1942, Foxhollow residents reported unexplained noises and experiences in the living areas of the mansion. Following the school's closure in 1976, the mansion remained vacant for several years until Shakespeare & Company used it as a dormitory and performance space. Actors reported the same unexplained sounds and sightings of figures in period dress, including sightings of Edith Wharton - sitting and reading - and her husband Teddy along with reports of a ghostly young lady on the property who is thought to be a servant. The director of the troupe once heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the hall leading to his room followed by knocking outside his door. When he responded, he saw no one there. Staff and guests have experienced faces in windows, the sensation of being watched, physical contact by an unseen force and disembodied voices and footsteps.  TRIVIA: The paranormal/reality TV show Ghost Hunters investigated the claims of paranormal activity that roams The Mount. USS SALEM (QUINCY) BACKGROUND: One of three Des Moines-class heavy cruisers completed for the United States Navy shortly after World War II. Commissioned in 1949, she was the world's last heavy cruiser to enter service and the only one still in existence. She was decommissioned in 1959, after serving in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. She is open to the public as a museum ship. Salem departed the east coast in May of 1950 and on May 17, relieved Newport News as flagship of the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. During this, the first of seven deployments to the Mediterranean as fleet flagship, Salem visited ports in Malta, Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, and Algeria, and participated in training exercises in Guantanamo Bay on various occasions. Her fourth deployment was marked by Exercise "Weldfest" and by emergency relief work after the 1953 Ionian earthquake which devastated the Ionian Islands. Salem was the first American ship to arrive on the scene, and provided relief supplies and assistance. PHENOMENA: The anchor room has been reportedly an area where staff and visitors claim to have seen a figure walk the corridors and disembodied voices are heard. Shadowy apparitions have also been seen in the Ward Room, the dentist's office, infirmary. machinery room, and lower ops rooms coupled with the sounds of crew members performing their duties. Ghostly figures are also seen passing through the starboard hatches.  TRIVIA: The ship was featured on Ghost Hunters. VENTFORT HALL BACKGROUND: The house was built in 1893 for George and Sarah Morgan, sister of J. P. Morgan, to designs by architects Rotch & Tilden. A smaller home was moved off of the property and across the street prior to the construction of Ventfort Hall. This home was owned by the Haggerty family and known as Vent Fort. After the Morgans' deaths, the house was rented for several years to Margaret Vanderbilt, then purchased in 1925 by W. Roscoe and Mary Minturn Bonsal who in turn sold the house in 1945, after which it served as a dormitory for Tanglewood music students, a summer hotel, the Michel Fokine Ballet Summer Camp, and community housing for the religious organization The Bible Speaks (now known as Greater Grace World Outreach). Over the following years, the house sustained significant damage, the paneling was stripped from the walls, and part of the roof collapsed. In June 1997 it was rescued by the Ventfort Hall Association. PHENOMENA: Rumor has it that the mansion’s original owners, George and Sarah Morgan, still reside in their summer home as spirits. Some visitors admit to being touched by invisible forces, hear whispering voices, and even see doors open and close by themselves. One of the most unsettling rumors has been that of a woman’s ghostly face hovering down the staircase. TRIVIA: In 1997, the exterior of the building was used as St. Cloud's Orphanage in the Academy Award-winning movie The Cider House Rules. It was also featured on SyFy’s Ghost Hunters. WAYSIDE INN (SUDBURY) BACKGROUND: In 1716 David How began what was then called a "hous of entertainment" along the Old Boston Post Road, one of the first mail routes in the country (operating since 1673). Known as How's Tavern, the Inn was an expansion of How’s own private home. Business thrived by way of the busy coach traffic to and from the cities of Boston, Worcester, and New York. In 1746, David How passed the family business to his son, Ezekiel, a Lieutenant Colonel who led the Sudbury Minute and Militia to Concord center at the beginning of the Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775. Each generation expanded the Inn’s main building as business thrived. The Inn’s prosperity continued as Ezekiel passed the tavern business to his son, Adam, in 1796, who in turn handed it down to his son, Lyman, in 1830. During Adam's time as Innkeeper, an "e" was added to the How(e) family name. When Adam's son Lyman died in 1861, having never married, the Inn was inherited by relatives who ceased formal operation for short overnight accommodation, but continued renting out the hall for dances, and rooms for lengthier stays. http://www.wayside.org/history/hows-and-how-tavern-1716-1861 PHENOMENA: As a young woman, growing up in the inn, Jerusha Howe was known as “The Belle of Sudbury” and her musical and artistic skills were renowned. She famously owned the first piano in town and put it to frequent use for visitors. Some say she still puts it to use today, with ghostly tunes played in the middle of the night. As the story goes, she was engaged to an Englishman. The legend claims that he sailed home to England to make arrangements for the wedding, and was never heard from again. Jerusha is believed by many to be spending much of her afterlife in the bedroom she used during life, room 9. Some guests in room 9, and also in room 10, have reported smelling Jerusha’s citrus perfume or feeling her sweep past them on the stairs. There have even been claims of being awakened by her touch (sometimes for males, in rather private areas) or seeing her presence at the foot of the bed. Since the 1900s, guests have left notes detailing their experiences here, creating a “secret society” for those experiencing the paranormal. BACK TO TO PARANORMAL DATABASE