HAUNTED HOUSES
FOURTH EDITION
HAUNTED HOUSES
CHILLING TALES FROM 26 AMERICAN HOMES
NANCY ROBERTS CONTINUED BY TARYN PLUMB
GUILFORD, CONNECTICUT
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Lanham, MD 20706
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Copyright © 2020 The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Roberts, Nancy, 1924-2008., author. | Plumb, Taryn, 1981- author.
Title: Haunted houses : chilling tales from 26 American homes / Nancy Roberts continued by Taryn Plumb.
Description: Fourth edition. | Guilford, Connecticut : Globe Pequot, 2020. | Summary: “Ghostwriters Nancy Roberts and Taryn Plumb spin fascinating tales about 26 haunted houses all over America. Based on stories told by first-hand witnesses, these stories of ghostly goings-on will keep you on the edge of your seat-and possibly up all night! Read about San Diego’s Whaley House, whose former residents maintain an active presence, as does Yankee Jim, a hanging victim over whose gallows the house was built. Learn about the house in Massachusetts that once belonged to eccentric millionaire and brilliant inventor John Hammond, Jr.-whose practice in spiritualism, say some, continues long after his death. And relive the terrifying battle that claimed the lives of 1,700 Confederate soldiers whose battlefield became their final resting place on Tennessee’s Carnton Plantation”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020008095 (print) | LCCN 2020008096 (ebook) | ISBN 9781493047130 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781493047147 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Ghosts—United States. | Haunted houses—United States.
Classification: LCC BF1472.U6 R634 2020 (print) | LCC BF1472.U6 (ebook) | DDC 133.10973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008095
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008096
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
CONTENTS
Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Contents
PREFACE
CALIFORNIA
A Shot in the Dark, Hotel del Coronado, Coronado, California
The Haunted Hotel, Hotel Ione, Ione, California
Return of the Hanged Man, Whaley House (Museum), San Diego, California
The House the Spirits Built, The Winchester Mansion, San Jose, California
SOUTHERN US
A Plea from the Grave, Cedarhurst Mansion, Huntsville, Alabama
The Ghostly Greeter, Lucas Tavern, Montgomery, Alabama
The Pirate’s House, Savannah, Georgia
The House of Spirits, The Myrtles, St. Francisville, Louisiana
House of Tragedy, Carnton Plantation, Franklin, Tennessee
The Free Spirit, Ashton Villa, Galveston, Texas
NEW ENGLAND
The North Room, Red Brook Inn, Old Mystic, Connecticut
The Governor’s Haunted Mansion, Woodburn, Dover, Delaware
The Romantic Inn by the Sea, Inn by the Sea, Cape Elizabeth, Maine
Where You Never Dine Alone, John Stone’s Inn, Ashland, Massachusetts
Where History Comes Alive, The Old Manse, Concord, Massachusetts
The Hatchet Murders, The Lizzie Borden House, Fall River, Massachusetts
John Hays Hammond Jr.—Peculiar in Death Just as in Life? Hammond Castle Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts
The Ghost Lover, The Alexander–Philips House, Springfield, Massachusetts
MIDDLE AND SOUTH ATLANTIC STATES
How to Kill a Spy, Seven Stars Tavern, Woodstown, New Jersey
The Thing in the Well, Old Fort Niagara, Youngstown, New York
The Dreaded Meeting, White Oaks, Charlotte, North Carolina
The Phantom Lady, Mordecai House and the Andrew Johnson Home, Raleigh, North Carolina
Beware the Lights of Loudoun, Loudoun House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Hermitage, Near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
A Drum for the Dead, Berkeley Hundred, Charles City, Virginia
The Tramping Feet, The Gaffos House, Portsmouth, Virginia
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
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Guide
Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Contents
PREFACE
Start of Content
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
PREFACE
THERE ARE HOUSES that you and I should, perhaps, never enter—houses that can be lived in with only the greatest understanding and tolerance. Within them we may encounter ghostly presences, soft touches from invisible fingers, eerie sounds, the echoing footsteps of unseen inhabitants, pervasive fragrances, or even vile stenches.
There are those of us who are skeptical, but there are others who would not mind saying that, perhaps, these houses are haunted. Where are they, and what is it like to live in one of them? How do the owners adjust to curiosity seekers, to the skepticism of their friends, and, most of all, to sharing their home with an apparition?
The pages of this book contain stories written in a style that not only will be easy to read but also especially suited to being read aloud. They are accounts of hauntings, presences, and spectral appearances obtained from interviews conducted across the country. If you were to ask me what sort of people I talked with, I would have to describe them as ordinary people. They were down-to-earth, intelligent, and, probably, very much like yourself. In this book, I have let them tell their own unique stories.
There is often an impression perpetuated—intentionally, I believe, by so called “ghost hunters”—that spirits return because of violent circumstances or for revenge. I would say this is not necessarily true and is entirely too limiting and unimaginative. As a writer who probably has researched more ghost stories based on personal interviews than any other author, I have become convinced through conversations with those who claim supernatural encounters that there are as many reasons for the appearance of a ghost as there are kinds of people—or should I say spirits?
Nor do I believe that these ghosts are necessarily tragic spirits trapped somewhere in space, unable to enter either heaven or hell. Rather, I believe that they are sometimes the recipients of an occasional and very special dispensation.
I have just returned from the most recent in a series of excursions that have taken me all over the United States in search of special houses with memorable ghost stories. Tonight, I sit writing by the light of a small brass-and-emerald-glass student lamp that belonged to my great-aunt. It is a reminder of the many times I lay beside her in bed at night as a child and coaxed, “Aunt Jess, tell me a story.” From her prodigious memory she would hold forth, and I was enthralled.
Not all of the narratives herein are suitable for bedtime, but that will be up to you to judge. Here
