Ghosthunting Southern New England. Andrew Lake
was from New York and had a background in the theater. Well into the early 1970s, she wore long, old-fashion dresses that were starched and ironed to perfection. A woman who worked for Mrs. Price told Judy Phil that Eulalia was the kind of manager who would line her staff up for inspection and count the number of peas on the plates. “She was a strong character. This was her place; this still is her place,” says Judy.
The Duck Creeke Tavern is haunted by the spirits of two musicians who died while performing on the tavern’s stage.
Mrs. Price is believed to be the woman in white who has been seen at the restaurant and its kitchen. Judy saw her ghost one afternoon in the lobby area of the restaurant. She says, “I just happened to be walking through the kitchen, looking out towards the lobby and something caught my eye. I took two steps back. I then watched a very diminutive woman float from one side, with the sun behind her, cross the lobby and back again, and then disappear. It was three-dimensional, you could almost see through it and it was female.” Judy finishes by saying, “It was a very interesting moment.”
At the other end of the “Hodge Podge” is The Duck Creeke Tavern. Even though these two restaurants are attached, there seems to be a different group of ghosts in The Tavern Room. Over the years, Bob has learned of three deaths that occurred on the property. Two of those deaths happened inside the Tavern Room. Years ago, when the tavern was called The Chart Room, a husband-and-wife musical act used to play there regularly. One night while they were performing, the wife died on stage. The late singer’s husband would come to the Tavern Room in his later years and just sit and watch the stage. He would never order anything to eat or drink; he wouldn’t even ask for a glass of water. Judy used to wonder if maybe he could see his wife on the stage. A female ghost has been seen around the Tavern Room, and most feel that it is her spirit.
Musicians have reported hearing a woman singing while they were performing. One night when a piano player was on stage, Bob noticed that he was moving his head around and swatting at the air with his right hand. When he took a short break, Bob asked him why he was jerking his head and waving his hand around. He looked at Bob very seriously and said, “Because she was pulling my hair!”
Oddly enough, the woman’s death isn’t the only one to have played out on the tavern’s stage. A piano player also passed away suddenly while performing. If this pianist is haunting the stage, he might be responsible for the microphones and amplifiers being turned off while musicians are playing.
The third death known to have taken place on the property was first reported to Bob and Judy by one of their former waiters, a young Irishman named Eugene, who was a “sensitive” who could feel and see things that others could not. One vision in particular that he told his employers about was seeing a man hanging himself from a large locust tree in back of the tavern. Bob had cut the locust tree down ten years before this young man had started working for them. In June of 2010, an old man stopped by the Tavern Room and while reminiscing about the summers he had spent in Wellfleet as a boy, he mentioned that his college roommate’s father had hanged himself from a tree on the property. Bob and Judy said they had never doubted Eugene, especially when he told them that their inn was haunted by many ghosts.
The Saltworks House is the oldest building on the property. It was built in the early 1700s and was originally located by the harbor. The house is named for the grinding stones that were taken from an old salt mill and used to make its front walk and steps. The couple no longer lives in the house; it now contains five small guest rooms. During the years they did live there, Judy said she would sometimes hear the sound of someone walking around, softly, upstairs. On more than a few occasions she heard what sounded like beads from a broken necklace, bouncing across the floor, but she could never find the source.
One season, some guests who were staying on the ground floor of the Saltworks House, complained about the patter of little feet in the room above theirs. Another time, a couple had commented on hearing a baby crying in one of the upstairs rooms. A check of the inn’s register and a quick word with the staff confirmed that there were no infants or children staying in the Saltworks House when these sounds were heard.
The Captain’s House has at least three ghosts, and they seem to be the friendliest of all the phantoms. Bob and Judy are pretty sure they are the wife and two daughters of the sea captain who lived in the house. As far as anyone knows, the two daughters were seen only once, but are often heard moving about on the second floor. The Captain’s wife is reported to appear as a beautiful woman in white and also appears to be a kind soul. In the early 1980s, a female guest awoke with a scream when she found a strange woman in her room. This woman glided across the bedroom, through the furniture and up to the guest. She then placed her hand on the frightened woman’s shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, everything will be all right.” The guest was able to go back to sleep, but checked out in the morning.
About a year after that incident, the inn got a phone call from a couple who recently had stayed in The Captain’s House with their four-year-old daughter. They wanted to know the identity of the woman whom their child kept talking about. The young girl told her parents that a nice lady, dressed in white, had talked to her in their room. This woman wanted to make sure the little girl was taking her medicine. The couple couldn’t understand this because their daughter was not on any medication. The bemused innkeepers told the couple about the other guest’s encounter and left it at that. As Judy says, “Our ghosts seem very comfortable here, and we are comfortable with them.”
CHAPTER 2
Fearing Tavern Museum
WAREHAM, MASSACHUSETTS
“WELCOME TO WAREHAM. Gateway to Cape Cod.” That is what a decorative sign declares at the edge of town, on Route 28 East. Most modern maps show Cape Cod as starting east of the canal, but the folks of Wareham strongly beg to differ on that notion. Setting all local debate aside, it can be agreed that Wareham is one of the oldest settled areas in Massachusetts and if a long history of human habitation is truly an ingredient for ghostly activity, it would explain why the town is so haunted.
Friends and colleagues who grew up in Wareham have brought to my attention about half a dozen private homes and businesses they know through family, friends, and their own personal experiences are very haunted. One such ghost is believed to be the original owner of the Tremont Nail Company; he has been seen walking from the front of the factory to the little shop across Elm Street. The nail company is the oldest manufacturer of hand-cut nails in the United States, and the little shop was originally its company store.
The haunted rocking chair
Nearby, on the Cranberry Highway (Route 28), stands the fifties-style Mill Pond Diner. It is the third diner to occupy the location since the 1920s. One of the cooks, Timmy, who has been working there for sixteen years, told me that he and some of his fellow employees have seen a fast-moving form enter the back of the diner and move down the stairs to the cellar. A psychic visited the roadside eatery and claimed that there are spirits walking back and forth from the cemetery on the other side of the highway to the Fearing Tavern, which is directly in back of the diner. She said they are just passing through because the diner is in their way.
The land on which the nail factory, the company store, and the diner are located was originally owned by Isaac Bump, the miller, who built a simple, two-room house on the land in 1690. Isaac ran three gristmills, and as time went on the Bump family grew, bought land, and eventually became involved in the iron industry. Over time the Bumps sold off their holdings and moved away to follow prosperity elsewhere. (An interesting side note to the Bump family is that one of their descendents was Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump—aka Mrs. Tom Thumb).
Israel Fearing bought the three-and-one-half acre plot and its little house from Isaac Bump. In 1765 the Fearings added an upstairs floor. Sometime around 1774 it became known as the Fearing Tavern. Further additions were made in 1820,