Ghosts of the SouthCoast Read online

  GHOSTS OF THE

  SOUTHCOAST

  GHOSTS OF THE

  SOUTHCOAST

  TIM WEISBERG

  FOREWORD BY JEFF BELANGER, EPILOGUE BY CHRISTOPHER BALZANO

  Published by The History Press

  Charleston, SC 29403

  www.historypress.net

  Copyright © 2010 by Tim Weisberg

  All rights reserved

  Back cover image of Lizzie Borden. Courtesy of Stefani Koorey and Pear Tree Press.

  Unless otherwise stated, all photos are by the author or from the author’s collection.

  First published 2010

  e-book edition 2011

  ISBN 978.1.61423.009.0

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Weisberg, Tim.

  Ghosts of the SouthCoast / Tim Weisberg.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references (p. ).

  print edition: ISBN 978-1-59629-142-3

  1. Ghosts--Massachusetts--New Bedford Region. I. Title.

  BF1472.U6W445 2010

  133.109744’8--dc22

  2010034446

  Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is

  offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and

  The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

  whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief

  quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  To my son, Adam, who always asks questions; and to my wife, Jennifer,

  who always puts up with mine.

  CONTENTS

  Foreword by Jeff Belanger

  Acknowledgements

  Introduction

  1. The What: A Paranormal Primer

  Ghosts

  Hauntings

  A Psychological Imprint

  Factors for a Haunt

  2. The Why

  King Philip’s War

  The Bridgewater Triangle

  3. The Where

  Wareham and Buzzards Bay

  The Tri-Town Region: Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester

  Fairhaven and Acushnet

  New Bedford

  Lakeville and Freetown

  Dartmouth and Westport

  Fall River

  The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast: The SouthCoast’s Most Famous Haunt

  Epilogue by Christopher Balzano

  Bibliography

  About the Author

  FOREWORD

  Spooktacular,” as Tim Weisberg is so fond of saying on his Spooky Southcoast radio show. It’s a great word, and it sums up the adventure that is paranormal investigating. If you don’t get excited by legends, if you’re not exhilarated by the thought of putting yourself into haunted places and seeking out the unknown, then put this book down right now. But, if like many millions of other people all over the world you do suspect there’s more to the universe than what we see, keep reading. Your journey into the supernatural side of the SouthCoast begins here.

  I’m a person who is passionate about the pursuit of the paranormal. Though I’ve been in many of the right places for unexplained activity all over the world, I’m usually there at the wrong time. I’ve had only a handful of experiences that I would truly call paranormal. One of those encounters occurred in the SouthCoast region at the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, and Tim Weisberg was there when it happened. You’ll read more about the Borden history and case later in this book, so I’ll stick to what we experienced.

  This legend trip was a dream come true for paranormal guys like myself, Tim, Chris Balzano and Matt Moniz. The four of us were alone in the Lizzie Borden house for the evening and had the chance to investigate without anyone else contaminating the environment. It was around 11:30 at night and the four of us were in the basement, just a few feet from the bottom of the stairs. We were quiet, setting up a video camera, and suddenly we heard scampering footsteps and muffled voices right above us in the side hallway leading to the kitchen. Our heads snapped toward each other, our eyes widened—but no one was thinking about ghosts.

  We raced up the stairs to the side hallway. No more than four or five seconds had passed between the time we heard the noise and the time we reached the location. We looked around frantically. No one was thinking ghosts. We were thinking some kids from Fall River had just broken in and we’re in charge for the night. We were not thinking ghosts; we were thinking we needed to call the police; we were thinking we needed to manhandle the intruders out right away—we were not thinking ghosts.

  I walked over and checked the door. It was locked and secure. Matt looked around the kitchen. Chris and Tim were also looking around the house to see if we missed anything. Nothing. Silence. The four of us looked at each other again. Whoa was the consensus. We agreed that it sounded like two sets of feet and the voices sounded like kids. But there was no one there but us. Now we were thinking ghosts. If not ghosts, I can’t possibly tell you what made those distinct sounds that all of us heard and reacted to.

  Ghosts and the paranormal are everywhere. With such a rich history and diverse population, the SouthCoast of Massachusetts is full of these legends. I can think of no better tour guide to show you this stuff than Tim Weisberg. Through reading this book, you’re embarking on a supernatural adventure. But don’t let it end here. Use this book as a jumping-off point. Get into the field and experience these places and stories for yourself. Legend trip wherever you go, because through the experience you become part of the story that is the SouthCoast.

  Jeff Belanger

  Author of Weird Massachusetts, founder of Ghostvillage.com and host of 30

  Odd Minutes.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Big thanks go out to Christopher Balzano and Jeff Belanger, who convinced me I could chronicle the ghosts of the SouthCoast and helped me to do so; to my Spooky Southcoast cohosts Matt Costa and Matt Moniz, for being at my side while investigating and talking about the subject these past few years; to my friends and family, not only for supporting me when I started talking about ghosts but for also doing the same; to teams and investigators such as Luann Joly and Whaling City Ghosts, Eric LaVoie and Dartmouth Anomalies Research Team, Keith Johnson and New England Anomalies Research, Andrew Lake and Greenville Paranormal Research, Linda Lynch of Veils Edge Paranormal, Loren Coleman, Thomas D’Agostino, Chris Pittman, Mike Markowicz, Carlston Wood, Bob Ethier and a whole community of others to whom I have been privileged enough to work with and learn from; to Stefani Koorey, Ph.D., and Pear Tree Press for the photos; and finally to our radio listeners and the people of the region who have reported their experiences and helped make the SouthCoast just a little bit spookier.

  INTRODUCTION

  From the time the early British colonists began migrating westward from Plymouth Colony in the 1630s, they knew there was something unusual about the area that would eventually come to be known as the SouthCoast of Massachusetts.

  The Native Americans spoke of a special power that existed, and that power still has its hold on the region today. From those original inhabitants to the English of the 1600s to the Portuguese and numerous other cultures of today—through war and through civilization—the ghosts of the SouthCoast have had a direct effect on the land and its people.

  And they’ve been around since the very beginning.

  The first Englishman to visit the area—at least that we know of—was Bartholomew Gosnold, often referred to as History’s Forgotten Man. After the failure of Roanoke in Virginia a
nd other attempted English settlements in the New World, Gosnold set sail in 1602 aboard the Concord, first arriving in Maine and making his way down to Provincetown. There, he gave Cape Cod its name for the fish he observed so abundant in its waters and later named the island of Martha’s Vineyard for his daughter, who died in infancy.

  Gosnold also explored the Elizabeth Islands off the coast of Cape Cod, and while out on one excursion to Penikese Island, they encountered four Wampanoags in a canoe. When the Native Americans ran off at the sight of the British explorers, Gosnold took their canoe as a prize for England. Perhaps this affront is why, to this very day, the specter of Gosnold’s ship, the Concord, can still be spotted off the shores of the islands and even into the SouthCoast region along its chilly waters.

  This can be considered America’s earliest ghost story, and in the more than four hundred years since, the legends and lore that have sprung up from this particular area have not only given its residents chills and thrills but also became a deeply rooted part of their culture as well.

  From the forts and taverns of the Revolution to the gothic libraries and schools of the Victorian era, so many SouthCoast spots are just as well-known for their haunts as they are their history.

  As we examine the ghosts of the SouthCoast, understand that just because you might eventually leave them behind, they may not be ready to leave you. These are powerful, endearing haunts that you’ll find are more than just a good campfire story. Those associated with the SouthCoast can always expect its specter to loom over them. Even poor Gosnold, whose brief visit forever changed the lands he claimed for the English crown, met an unexplained end. In 2002, a grave was discovered just outside of Jamestown, Virginia. The remains appeared to be of a man around five-foot-three who died when he was between thirty and thirty-six years of age. There was no indication of how he died or who he was—just a captain’s staff. Thorough research has led historians to belief they are the remains of Captain Gosnold, proof that while his body may have been found in Virginia, his ghost—and many, many others—belongs to the SouthCoast.

  CHAPTER 1

  THE WHAT

  A PARANORMAL PRIMER

  Before we delve into the ghostly history of the SouthCoast, it’s important we understand a bit more about the idea of what exactly we’re talking about. The term paranormal means something that is alongside (para, as in parallel) the normal but doesn’t fall under what is currently described as normal. That definition recognizes that something considered paranormal may in fact be normal, but that we just don’t understand it enough to include it in that category just yet. It differs from the supernatural, which by definition can only exceed the natural and not be inclusive within it.

  The hope is that someday, through research and field investigation, we’ll be able to figure out exactly why the paranormal occurs, thus bringing it into the realm of the normal. Many, though, think we’re not intended to understand it.

  Either way, nothing helps sneak a little historical education into our minds like a good ghost story.

  GHOSTS

  We could list a number of different dictionary and encyclopedic definitions of the word ghost, and while many would come close to explaining the phenomenon, none would be exact.

  That’s because ghosts have yet to be clearly defined. Mankind has believed in the idea of ghosts for as long as it’s understood the concept of mortality; the understanding of the end of life leads to the desire for something beyond it. Ghosts are referenced in some of our earliest histories, including the Holy Bible and Homer’s Iliad. Every culture has a word for spirits and many have a strong belief in them.

  Through investigation of the paranormal and discussion of the topic on my radio show, Spooky Southcoast, I have found my own definition of a ghost to be forever evolving. Is it merely a discarnate soul left to wander in the oblivion that is not quite life and not quite afterlife? Or is its explanation something much more complex, involving quantum mechanics, alternate dimensions and inexplicable time slips?

  For my own purposes, I have boiled ghosts down to their very essence—energy. Living human beings are comprised of electrical energy necessary for powering the body’s various organs and systems. According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only changed. That basic scientific law is the tenet on which the concept of a ghost is built. When our physical bodies die, the energy that was used to power them—what some might refer to as the soul—needs to go somewhere. That energy was collected and concentrated within us upon birth, and usually it dissipates back out upon death. However, for reasons not quite understood, sometimes that energy maintains its human form or some element of it. Therefore, the body can still appear completely or partially in the form of an apparition, or the voice can remain reverberating through the air.

  At the risk of getting a bit trippy, it’s also important to note that such energy doesn’t have to actually occupy a human being in order to take the form or essence of one. The living can actually will a ghost into existence. Known as “thought forms”—or what the Tibetans referred to as tulpas—if enough mental energy is focused, an energetic being can be created. This was proven in the Philip experiments of the early 1970s, in which members of the Toronto Society for Psychical Research wrote a back story for Philip, an English nobleman from the mid-1600s. Although he never actually existed, through focus and many long hours spent around a séance table, his spirit eventually manifested and communicated through knocks and other sounds.

  The same exact thing could be the case with a number of the haunts we will examine throughout this book. If a place is old or creepy enough, the legend will inevitably develop that it is haunted. If enough people begin to believe it, it will be—regardless of whether any restless spirits are roaming its grounds. If people are focusing energy into the concept of an entity, that entity can become real.

  Of course, all of this is an extremely basic concept of what a ghost might be. I’m not saying it’s the correct one, either. So many other variables are eventually brought into the paranormal picture, it’s hard to stand hard and fast by any definition of a ghost.

  HAUNTINGS

  Now that we’ve got at least some idea of what a ghost is, how is it different from a haunting?

  Again, there are a number of definitions for the word haunt, but I prefer to look at it like this: Paranormal activity can occur just about anywhere. But when it is sustained over long periods of time in a specific location, then that location can be considered haunted.

  Most paranormal researchers delineate hauntings into one of two categories: either residual or intelligent. A residual haunt is also known as a replay haunt, in which the activity appears to occur over and over, like a section of videotape replaying on a loop. The activity is not interactive and goes through its process oblivious to the living that might surround it. Have you ever heard tales of how if you went to a certain location at a specific time and date—usually the anniversary of some tragedy associated with the spot—you’ll be able to see or experience the ghost? It’s probably because the activity is residual, an imprint of energy left on that location.

  The intelligent haunt is where it gets interesting, especially considering our definition of a ghost as energy that retains its humanistic form. In an intelligent haunt, the entity can and does interact with the living. It might answer questions or respond to certain questions or stimuli. It knows you are there, and it wants to you to know it is there as well. Usually, the best and most convincing evidence of the paranormal comes from an intelligent haunt. But if a ghost is just energy that hasn’t dissipated, then how can it continue to retain its consciousness?

  That’s the million-dollar question of paranormal research, and one that I personally don’t think we’re any closer to answering than we were when Pliny the Younger recorded his experiences with a phantom in Athens, Greece, in the first century AD.

  A PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPRINT

  It is also believed that if an event of enoug
h magnitude happens in a certain area, that location can be imprinted by the energies surrounding the event. Have you ever been close to where lightning has just struck? The electricity in the air is palpable, and it lingers for quite some time after the bolt itself has disappeared. The ground where it struck is singed and bears a reminder of what took place.

  Often, these haunts are the singed reminders of something that took place long ago in these locations. It can be a happy event or a tragic one, but the end result is the same: a permanent imprint on that particular spot.

  FACTORS FOR A HAUNT

  If paranormal activity can happen anywhere, why can’t it be observed and experienced everywhere? Well, after decades of paranormal research, there are a few factors that are believed to be conducive to a haunt.

  Since we’re dealing with energy, we need a way for this energy to be contained or recorded in a particular location. Quartz is the second-most abundant mineral in the earth’s crust (behind fieldspar) and is a major component of granite, which is prevalent throughout the SouthCoast region and New England as a whole. Take a look at the rocks in your backyard or out in the woods near your home. It’s everywhere.

  Many of the older locations that are reportedly haunted were built with fieldstone foundations, which would feature a great deal of granite and, subsequently, quartz. Quartz is considered piezoelectric, which means it essentially records and stores energy. That’s why it’s used in wristwatches, radios and even cellphones. When the right pressure is applied, the energy stored can be released. This is known in some circles as the stone tape theory.

  Now that we can trap the energy in a certain spot, we need a way to amplify it. Anywhere with a high level of electrical activity can help with this; some even believe that water, especially rolling water such as a stream or a river can help ionize paranormal activity. It’s theorized that when the activity amplifies, there are changes in the electromagnetic field that surrounds it. This is quantified through the use of electromagnetic field (or EMF) detectors. A spike in the EMF of an area might possibly indicate the presence of a spirit.