Fall is upon us. This means many things: apple picking, crunchy leaves, pumpkin spice everything, sweater weather, football, but one of the biggest parts of this season is Halloween. If you’re tired of the normal Halloween events, such as costume parties, decorations, and the like, and you want to have a truly spooky experience, here’s a list of some haunted houses and locations in Western MA.
1) Adams Cemetery (Athol): The site of the former Adams Cemetery, where it is rumored a mad scientist named Dr. Adams dumped his failed cross-breeding experiments with domesticated animals. At night it’s said the “canary-pigs” come out and dance.
2) The Belchertown State School (Belchertown): The Belchertown State School, which was a school back in the early-to mid-20th century for developmentally disabled children. Ghosts have been seen running between the dormitories (presumably of former students), windows break, ghostly screams are heard, swings will move when nobody is in them, and there are patches in the woods off the property where nothing grows.
3) The Deerfield Inn (Deerfield): The Deerfield Inn, which was built in 1885 and is still functioning as an inn. Some of the general manifestations noticed here are flickering lights, knocks on doors by unseen hands, moving tables, and falling books. There are said to be three (benevolent) ghosts here. One named Cora, a strong female presence, one is named John, who is believed to be Cora’s husband, and one is named Hershel, who is known as the “silly” one. Cora is often seen as a dressing gown, and Hershel often manifests as a bright box of bouncing light.
4) The Old Burying Grounds (Deerfield): The Old Burying Grounds, which is a tourist attraction from April to November due to its history. During Queen Anne’s War in 1704, the town was attacked by French and Abenaki forces, leaving 200 dead. They are buried here, and two ghosts are most often seen. One is Eunice Williams, who is a restless spirit looking for her children, and another is the entity of a pregnant female woman.
5) Gravity Hill (Greenfield): On Old Shelburne Road after the Route 2 overpass and before it goes into the forest, there is what’s known as a gravity hill. If you just above a little dip in the road before an incline and throw your car in neutral, it will roll down the first part, get to the dip, then roll up the incline like it was being pushed. The story says that a school bus stopped here where the railroad formerly was, and despite the kids’ best efforts to push the bus, a train crashed into them killing the children, and now they like to push the cars.
6) The Hadley Farm Museum (Hadley): The Hadley Farm Museum, which houses a benevolent entity of one of its former residents, harbors some interesting signs of ghostly activity. There are sometimes indentations in empty bedsheets where the ghost may have slept, a sound of a spinning wheel comes from the attic, and children who lived at the house in years past would notice her tucking them into bed.
7) The Martha Wilson House (Northampton): At Smith College, the Martha Wilson House has been reported to be haunted, with footsteps being heard, doors opening and closing, and opening windows when nobody is there. This house used to serve as a passage on the Underground Railroad before Smith College was founded, and the manifestations may be of passing slaves.
8) Abbey Chapel (South Hadley): At the Abbey Chapel at Mount Holyoke College, sometimes the organ plays on its own accord, and a girl can be seen walking amongst the pews when there’s nobody there.
9) Mary Lyon House (UMass): Some on-campus hauntings have been reported here. Many happen in Mary Lyon House in Northeast, where a student died of diabetic shock about 6 years ago and in the 1970s a student hung herself in the back stairwell. Residents have noted electronics flickering on and off, clanking pipes, and cold patches. The Old Chapel, given its long history in student affairs, also may harbor a few ghosts.
10) The Ashley House (West Springfield): The Ashley House has been a hotbed of activity. Medium Ceil Leionchuk noticed some ghosts in the basement, smoking and talking, and said they were members of the original owners’ family. The other is the ghost in the restaurant on the first floor of a previous owner named Vincent. Manifestations include an odd-smelling 4’ x 4’ square, where the smell is imperceptible elsewhere, white wisps that float through the dining room, moving papers, glasses, and utensils, and footsteps. If you want to grab dinner while you’re ghost hunting, check this place out.
Note: some of these places are blocked off to the public, while some are freely open. Please check with local authorities if you’re unsure.
Have fun ghost hunting, collegiettes!