7 Nightlife Haunts in Salem, Massachusetts
By Sam Baltrusis
If I had to pick the most haunted city in Massachusetts, it would be Salem. With the city's Haunted Happenings celebration kicking into high gear, 13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts author Sam Baltrusis left no gravestone unturned in search of the Witch City's most haunted. Salem boasts a bone-chilling assortment of nightlife locales rumored to be stomping grounds for spirits—and not one of those “Lady in the Blue Dress” concoctions at Rockafellas. The list includes a bevy of unusual haunts, ranging from a former Prohibition-era funeral parlor to Salem’s independent movie theater to a restaurant located in Salem’s refurbished old jail located next to the allegedly haunted Howard Street Cemetery. According to the 13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts author, the living aren’t the only things that go bump in the nightlife.
A&B Burgers
The former home of Salem’s most wanted now serves up slammer-chic burgers and beer. A&B Salem opened in the spot formerly occupied by the upscale restaurant known as the Great Escape. According to co-owner Amy Butler, she and her business partner found the perfect location—even if it is haunted. “It would have ended up being a missed opportunity with it being the old jail,” Butler says. “When we were opening up this place, we definitely kept looking behind us. There are spots in this building with freezing-cold air.” According to psychics who have visited A&B Salem, there is a lingering energy from the building’s old-jail days, including a prison guard holding a clipboard. 50 St. Peter St. www.anbburgers.com.
Bunghole Liquors
During the Prohibition era, Bunghole Liquors on Derby Street had a past life as a funeral home. However, what was happening downstairs was enough to the raise the dead. Locals would gather next to the parlor’s embalming equipment, down some illegal booze and hangout in a spot that housed the city’s recently deceased. However, are there spirits cohabitating with the liquor store's spirits? Brandon O’Shea, the assistant manager at Bunghole Liquors, confirmed the rumors. “This place is definitely haunted,” he says. “I came here, and I heard it was haunted, but I never believed it.” O'Shea believes there's a spectral kitty and female residual haunting roaming behind the wine racks of this historic package lounge. Phantom puss in boots? Only in Salem. 204 Derby St. www.bungholeliquors.com.
Cinema Salem
Yes, the show must go on … even in the afterlife. According to assistant manager Peter Horne, the ghosts from Cinema Salem's silver screen past still linger. “Multiple co-workers have had experiences here in the theater,” he says. “In the past, we’ve had psychics, ghost hunters and paranormal investigators inside.” Horne insists a former manager spotted what looked like a man in black sitting in theater No. 3 when he was upstairs in the projection booth. “He looked down and saw someone sitting in the theater,” Horne recalls. “There was no movie playing, so he freaked out and ran down to kick them out. The man disappeared. According to him, he looked like a middle-aged man, wearing coattails. His clothing was from the Victorian era.” 1 E. India Square Mall. www.cinemasalem.com.
In A Pig's Eye
Taverns became a hotbed of illicit activity years after the Witch Trials hysteria. The strip of businesses across from the House of the Seven Gables, including Witch’s Brew Café and In a Pig’s Eye Restaurant, serviced the sailors and captains visiting Salem’s thriving seaport. Derby Street was a red-light district replete with brothels and drunken sailors. Apparently, ship captains from Derby Wharf would use the tunnels for discretion and some young men partaking in the revelrie were taken against their will. Yep, the tunnels were perfect to shanghai sailors. The waterfront area is allegedly teeming with the spirits of Salem’s maritime past, ranging from ghostly pirates mysteriously emerging from the water and walking around to disembodied voices of salty sea captains. 148 Derby St. www.inapigseye.com.
Murphy's Restaurant
The back corner of Salem's Old Burying Point cemetery closest to Murphy’s Restaurant is apparently a hot spot for the paranormal. There are reports of a Victorian-era lady in a powder blue dress and a full-bodied apparition of boy have been spotted there. The ghostly mother and son have been seen with a picnic basket. When Murphy's Restaurant was Roosevelt's, the former owner claimed he had a face-to-face encounter with a female apparition when he was working alone in the restaurant at night. He looked up and ghostly lady supposedly disappeared. And then there is the infamous casket which burst through the restaurant's walls. Tim Maguire, co-owner of the Salem Night Tour, says he’s heard stories and has seen convincing photos supporting claims that a casket did indeed break through the wall at Roosevelt’s Restaurant. “It looked like it was a casket of a small child, possibly a girl,” he claims. “The corner of the cemetery near Murphy’s Restaurant is where the Irish Catholics were buried. So, I’m not surprised that it’s extremely active.” 300 Derby St. www.murphyspubsalem.com.
Turner's Seafood
Located in Salem’s historic Lyceum Hall, Turner's Seafood is believed to be the site of Bridget Bishop’s apple orchard. It’s also the spot where locals believe the residual energy of the first woman executed for witchcraft in 1692 still lingers. Notables such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thoreau, Emerson and Alexander Graham Bell spoke at the restaurant which had past lives as Lyceum Bar & Grill and then 43 Church. In fact, it's where Bell first revealed his plans for the telephone. Stories of ghostly apparitions continue to surround the old Lyceum building. Numerous people have reported seeing a woman in a long white gown floating above the Lyceum building’s main staircase. Her image has been seen in windows and mirrors throughout the building. Numerous people have reported seeing a woman in a long white gown floating above the building’s main staircase. Is it Bishop seeking post-mortem justice? Salemites think so. 43 Church St. www.turners-seafood.com.
Wicked Good Books
Books are literally flying off the shelves of this new kid on the block. Salem-based lawyer Denise Kent opened Wicked Good Books in the spot formerly occupied by Derby Square Bookstore's mile-high stacks. When she started renovations in June 2014, the skeptic was approached by locals asking: Is this the haunted bookstore? Kent reached out to New England Ghost Project investigator Ron Kolek who searched for paranormal activity in the mysterious tunnels beneath the shop uncovered during renovations. There’s convincing evidence of possible desecrated human remains beneath the building. Apparently, the building’s underground system connected an underground warehouse in Derby Square. It’s also where two runaway slaves are believed to be entombed. 215 Essex St. www.wickedgoodbookstore.com.
13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts
Most Haunted Series
Sam Baltrusis
Genre: Paranormal/Historical
Date of Publication: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: ISBN-13: 978-1516968350
ASIN: ISBN-10: 1516968352
Number of pages: 130
Word Count: 30,000
Cover Artist: Frank C. Grace
Book Description:
Paranormal journalist and "Ghosts of Boston" author Sam Baltrusis has traveled all over Massachusetts in search of New England's 13 most haunted. From the oldest continuously operating hotel the Omni Parker House in Boston to the beautiful but extremely active Haunted Victorian in Gardner, Baltrusis breathes new life into the long departed.
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/KHJU1ggXWfw
The
13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts
1. S.K. Pierce Mansion, Gardner
2. Freetown State Forest, Bridgewater Triangle
3. Hammond Castle, Gloucester
4. Lizzie Borden's House, Fall River
5. Houghton Mansion, North Adams
6. Joshua Ward House, Salem
7. Longfellow's Wayside Inn, Sudbury
8. USS Salem, Quincy
9. Spider Gates Cemetery, Leicester
10. Boston Light, Little Brewster
Island
11. Witch House, Salem
12. Victoria House, Provincetown
13. Boston Common, Downtown
Boston
Excerpt:
Chapter 1
S.K. PIERCE
MANSION
Gardner
Most Haunted: #1
“I was told by
intuitives that the spirits in the house have something very important to tell
me. Does that sound crazy?”
—Rob Conti, S.K.
Pierce Victorian Mansion’s new owner
A woman named
Mattie Cornwell summoned me to this house. She’s been dead for more than a
century.
In the recurring dream, I see her silhouette
from a gold-colored Victorian’s second floor. She’s upset. I can see an outline
of what looks like a tightly wound bun in her hair. Her clothing is late 1800s
school marm and she looks much older than her actual age. I would guess she’s
in her 20s. The woman is a caretaker of sorts and is protecting the home from
forces out of her control. She’s losing the battle and is calling me from the
light for help.
Think Mary Poppins but without the spoonful
of sugar. In my dream, she’s serving up daggers.
Something horrible happened in that house and
she is begging the living to help her. I could hear her singing a folk song
from the window. She was throwing books and papers at me from the home’s second
floor. She’s saying what I remember as “sefnock” over and over at a shadowy man
who is in the room with her. I’m terrified.
My dream of Mattie was in 2011. I was writing
what would become my first book, Ghosts of Boston: Haunts of the Hub. I
initially thought she was the “stay behind” spirit, the seamstress I lovingly
called “scissor sister,” who haunted my home in Somerville’s Davis Square.
I was wrong.
The dream was prophetic in a way. I didn’t
make a connection to the haunted S.K. Pierce Victorian Mansion in Gardner until
I saw a photo of the structure posted online in late 2014. My friends Rachel
Hoffman and Tina Storer from Paranormal Xpeditions were investigating the
location and I had a severe reaction when I saw a post from the Victorian
structure because I’d seen it repeatedly in my dreams.
I swore I would never go there. But here I
am—going to the very spot where Mattie Cornwell once lived. What was I
thinking?
A friend who has intuitive abilities warned
me about the shadow figure in my dreams. "That woman will suck the air out
of you,” she said during an online chat. “No. I mean it. Like sitting on your
chest. You won’t be able to inhale." She said the spirit's name is Maddie
or Matilda.
I found out recently from fellow author Joni
Mayhan that the former nanny at the haunted S.K. Pierce Victorian was named
Mattie Cornwell. Her spirit has been in the house since the late 1800s.
“Petite, with long dark hair that she wore in a bun, she once cared for the
Pierce children,” wrote Mayhan in Bones In The Basement. “Chores were scheduled
at specific times, and the children were taught to behave. Even though she was
long dead, she remained the protector of the house, keeping it safe from
trespassers and ensuring the other resident ghosts behaved themselves.”
Mayhan said Cornwell had crossed over and is
no longer bound to the haunted Victorian. “She was the Pierce family's nanny.
Mattie wasn't negative though. She was the gatekeeper and peacekeeper there,
but she was inadvertently crossed over during a house cleansing in 2011,”
Mayhan told me. “After she left, the really nasty ones came in. There are a few
nasty female entities there, but Mattie isn't one of them.”
According to Mayhan’s Bones In The Basement,
Cornwell died young. “She was born in 1859 in Nova Scotia, Canada. She was 21
when she came to work for the Pierce family as a servant in the house. Her
primary focus was caring for the Pierce children. She was firm but loving with
the children, keeping them mindful of their manners and helping them grow into
the influential men they would one day become,” wrote Mayhan. “Later research
would show that Mattie died at the young age of twenty-five from an acute
inflammation of the hip just two years after getting married. Her tragedy would
be just one among many at the Victorian mansion. It was as if the house
collected them, like some people collected old coins.”
Rachel Hoffman, my friend from the all-female
investigation team Paranormal Xpeditions, said I should be wary about the
haunted house in Gardner. “You might not be able to walk in,” explained
Hoffman. “I swear it's a pressure cooker. You will feel it as soon as you see
it. Look into the top window and tell me what you see. Then I'll tell you.”
Hoffman, who was featured in a taped
investigation at the mansion with Tina Storer and her sister, Danielle Medina,
said the experience still haunts her. She believes the location is a portal, a
vortex of sorts to the spirit world that allows both good and bad spirits to
cross over. “There’s more than one story there,” she said. “There’s a story for
every step you take.”
When PXP was investigating the mansion in
late 2014, I had a strong psychic feeling that one of the investigators, Tina
Storer, wasn’t safe. I sent a message to the PXP team warning them. Hoffman
told me later that Storer had to be escorted out of the building because she
couldn’t breath. It was like the spirits were taking the air out of her lungs.
“Tina had issues where the man was burned,”
Hoffman told me. “At one point, she did feel protected. But it was so intense.
Our temp gage was 66.6.”
Medina, Hoffman’s sister, was pregnant during
the investigation and the group uncovered an electromagnetic voice phenomenon,
or EVP, in the nursery. “We got my pregnant sister bending over to pick up a
baby in the nursery and the ovilus said ‘mama,’” explained Hoffman. “My sister
is a skeptic so this was profound.”
Hoffman and the PXP team smudged the location
with a cleansing ritual involving coffin nails and sweet grass. The usual
ceremony with the old standby sage simply didn’t work. “When closing out a
paranormal investigation, we sometimes use coffin nails,” Hoffman explained. “I
found our container used in the haunted Victorian Mansion with the bottom half
of the glass jar totally gone. I wouldn't be surprised to find the nails we
pounded in the ground embedded in a tree. Renovations and hands switching is
stirring up the activity majorly.”
Yes, construction notoriously conjures up the
long departed. Apparently, spirits don’t like change.
Rob Conti, the ringleader behind the New
Jersey-based Dark Carnival and a dentist during the day, said he always wanted
to own a standalone haunted attraction. The S.K. Pierce mansion was literally
ripped from his childhood fantasies. He says the fact that the
7,000-square-foot mansion located at 4 Broadway in Gardner is “certified
haunted” is an added bonus.
“Since I was 15, I always wanted a
single-family haunted house,” he said. “I always had a picture in my mind of
what that attraction would look like. As I got older, I tried to make this
vision a reality but there were regulations in New Jersey that prohibited it.”
Conti, who actually didn’t visit the
Victorian until the day he closed the sale on the building, said a friend
posted the real estate listing for the mansion on his Facebook page. “As soon
as I saw it, I knew the image of the house was the image I had in my head for
the past 25 years.”
The new owner said he will hash out the
details after the year-long renovations, but he plans to rent out the unit for
11 months of the year and will turn the space into a haunted attraction every
October. Since purchasing what paranormal experts believe is the most haunted
house in Massachusetts, Conti said he has been contacted by all sorts of
people.
“I’ve been told that the spirits in the house
knew who I was before I even called,” he said, sort of creeped out by the idea.
“Apparently, I’m liked by the spirits in the house, which is a good thing, I
hope.”
Conti also had a paranormal experience after
walking into the structure’s dining room, the same spot investigators believe
is a portal. “I started feeling dizzy and had to be escorted out of the
building,” he explained. Also, the Dark Carnival owner said a contractor, who
didn’t know the building’s haunted history, told him that somebody else was on
the second floor when there was no one else in the house.
“I was also told by intuitives that the
spirits in the house have something very important to tell me,” Conti
continued. “Does that sound crazy?”
Actually, no.
As I stand gazing at the house that haunted
my dreams for years, I replay the dream of the woman I believe to be Mattie
Cornwell looking out of the second-floor window. As I walk closer to my
nightmare, I’m shivering in the beauty and the madness of the moment. I think
about the word “sefnock” that she chanted over and over. I hit my head as I
quickly jump into the car near the S.K. Pierce mansion’s driveway searching for
a notepad. I write the mystery word out phonetically.
Then I had an epiphany. I gasped for air. The
woman’s cryptic, post-mortem plea is backwards. She’s demanding that the shadow
figure … confess.
Cars are driving by and passengers are
yelling things at me like “there’s someone behind you” and “this place is
really, really haunted.” My cellphone starts to flip out and, mysteriously,
seems to have a mind of its own, calling random people from my contact list. I
hear what sounds like a disembodied male voice whispering in my ear: “Get out
of here.”
I look again at the second-floor window,
expecting to see Mattie Cornwell, the spirit who mistakenly crossed to the
light years ago. Instead, I see a black bird, possibly a crow or a dark-colored
pigeon, perched on the ledge. The white-lace curtains move as if someone is
peering out of the window.
I can’t breathe.
About the Author:
Sam Baltrusis, author of Ghosts of Boston: Haunts of the Hub and Ghosts of Salem: Haunts of the Witch City, is the former editor-in-chief of Spare Change News and teaches journalism classes at Malden Access TV (MATV). He has been featured as Boston's paranormal expert on the Biography Channel's Haunted Encounters and Paranormal State's Ryan Buell's Paranormal Insider Radio. As a side gig, Baltrusis moonlights as a guide and launched the successful ghost tours, Boston Haunts and Cambridge Haunts. In October 2014, he spearheaded a boat tour called Haunted Boston Harbor. Baltrusis is also a sought-after lecturer who speaks at dozens of paranormal-related events scattered throughout New England. In the past, he's worked for VH1, MTV.com, Newsweek, ABC Radio and as a regional stringer for The New York Times.
Twitter: @LoadedGun
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