Speaker 1: Welcome to the Berkshires, a place in western Massachusetts of
Speaker 1: stunning natural beauty, where rolling hills cradle quaint towns, and
Speaker 1: a rich cultural history echoes through the valleys. But look closer.
Speaker 1: Beyond the vibrant, foul foliage and the celebrated art festivals,
Speaker 1: lies another more mysterious landscape, a world of whispers and
Speaker 1: shadows for history and folklore intertwine. The ancient hills of
Speaker 1: the Berkshires keep secrets. They tell tales of spectral soldiers
Speaker 1: still marching to revolutionary posts, of railroad tunnels haunted by
Speaker 1: the ghosts of those who built them, and of strange
Speaker 1: lights that dance in the sky, defying all explanation. In
Speaker 1: this video, we'll journey into that other Berkshire, exploring ten
Speaker 1: of its most enduring and unsettling legends. From the tragic
Speaker 1: to the terrifying, these are stories that remind us that
Speaker 1: even in the most idyllic places, the veil between our
Speaker 1: world and the unknown can be unnervingly thin. The evening
Speaker 1: of September one, nineteen sixty nine, settled over the rowing
Speaker 1: hills and quiet towns of Berkshire County, Massachusetts like any
Speaker 1: other late summer night, It was labor day, a final
Speaker 1: general exhalation before the crisp arrival about him. Families were
Speaker 1: returning from picnics and into seasoned swims. The air filled
Speaker 1: with the scent of cut grass and the sound of crickets.
Speaker 1: But as dusk bled into darkness, an inexplicable and profoundly
Speaker 1: strange series of events unfolded that would forever mark the
Speaker 1: region and the lives of those who witnessed it. What
Speaker 1: occurred that night would become known as the Great Barrington
Speaker 1: UFO Incident, one of the most credible, compelling, and widely
Speaker 1: witnessed UFO sidings in American history. At the heart of
Speaker 1: the incident are the harrowing accounts of multiple independent groups
Speaker 1: of people scattered across several towns, including Sheffield, Great Barrington,
Speaker 1: and Stockbridge. While dozens, if not hundreds, of people saw
Speaker 1: something unusual in the sky, the most detailed and startling
Speaker 1: testimonies involved claims of close encounters and even abduction. The
Speaker 1: most famous of these is the story of the Reed family.
Speaker 1: Nine year old Thomas Reid was in the car with
Speaker 1: his mother, Nancy, his grandmother, and his younger brother, Matthew.
Speaker 1: They were driving home from their family restaurant, heading toward
Speaker 1: the iconic covered Bridge in Sheffield. As they approached the bridge,
Speaker 1: a silent, ethereal glow began to illuminate the trees. From
Speaker 1: within the woods, the light intensified, coalescing into a solid,
Speaker 1: luminous object that rose into the air. In interviews years later,
Speaker 1: Tom Marid would describe it as a self contained glow,
Speaker 1: an orb of light that seemed to move with intelligent purpose.
Speaker 1: As their car crossed the bridge, the object was upon them.
Speaker 1: The interior the vehicle was flooded with a brilliant white light.
Speaker 1: The family experienced a sensation of profound silence and a
Speaker 1: strange change in barometric pressure, as if they were in
Speaker 1: an eye of a hurricane. What happened next is a
Speaker 1: mosaic of fragmented dreamlike memories. Tom recalls being in a
Speaker 1: vast hangar like space, seeing his mother and brother on
Speaker 1: separate tables, and feeling a sense of calm despite the
Speaker 1: bizarre circumstances. His next conscious memory was being back in
Speaker 1: the car with his mother, now driving on the opposite
Speaker 1: side of the road from where the encounter began. An
Speaker 1: inexplicable period of time roughly two hours had passed. The
Speaker 1: family was disoriented and shaken, unable to fully process the
Speaker 1: impossible event they had just endured. They spoke little of
Speaker 1: it for years, the memory of confusing and frightening secret.
Speaker 1: Just a few miles away in Great Barrington, another young
Speaker 1: boy named Tom. Ten year old Tom Warner was playing
Speaker 1: at a neighbor's house. As he started to head home,
Speaker 1: he saw a saucer shaped craft hovering silently over the
Speaker 1: field next to his yard. A beam of light shot down,
Speaker 1: and he found himself paralyzed, running in place but going nowhere.
Speaker 1: He felt as though he was lifted off the ground.
Speaker 1: His next memory as of being back in the field
Speaker 1: with the object gone. Like the reads, He was left
Speaker 1: with a profound sense of confusion and a story too
Speaker 1: incredible to share. The sightings were not limited to these
Speaker 1: two families. At Lake Mansfield, teenager Melanie Kertchdorffer and her
Speaker 1: family were in their car when a blinding light engulfed them.
Speaker 1: The light seemed to rise from the lake itself. Her father,
Speaker 1: startled and curious, began to chase the object. Melanie's memory
Speaker 1: of the event is fractured, but she recalls a feeling
Speaker 1: of levitation and being inside a craft, seeing other children there,
Speaker 1: before waking up alone by the lake, having to walk
Speaker 1: home in a daze. Adding further credibility to the event
Speaker 1: was a testimony of Jane Green, a respected local citizen
Speaker 1: and radio host. That same evening, she was driving with
Speaker 1: a friend when she saw the object. She stopped her
Speaker 1: car along with several other drivers, and watched as a massive,
Speaker 1: silent craft hovered at high level just a short distance away.
Speaker 1: She described the experience as the most profound of her life,
Speaker 1: leaving her with no doubt that she had witnessed something
Speaker 1: not of this world. The consistency in the descriptions from
Speaker 1: these disparate witnesses is striking. All described a silent, large
Speaker 1: luminous object, either at saucer shaped or glowing orb capable
Speaker 1: of hovering motionless before moving away at incredible speeds. The light,
Speaker 1: it admitted, was brave but not blinding, and many reported
Speaker 1: the strange sensation of a dead, enveloping silence during the encounter.
Speaker 1: In the immediate aftermath, there was a strange lack of
Speaker 1: official documentation. No police reports or official media accounts from
Speaker 1: that night have ever been found, leading some to speculate
Speaker 1: that the records were either never made or were subsequently erased.
Speaker 1: For decades, the witnesses remained largely silent, fearing ridiculed in disbelief.
Speaker 1: It was only as adults that they began to find
Speaker 1: each other and share their stories, discovering the powerful corroboration
Speaker 1: in their shared experiences. The tide began to turn in
Speaker 1: the twenty first century. As the witnesses came forward, their
Speaker 1: stories gained traction, culminating in official recognition. In twenty fifteen,
Speaker 1: the Great Barrington Historical Society formally acknowledged the nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: nine incident as a significant, credible historical event. The monument
Speaker 1: was erected near the ship Field Bridge to commemorate the encounter,
Speaker 1: a testament to the town's acceptance of its strange and
Speaker 1: important place in UFO lore. The case was later brought
Speaker 1: to a global audience when it was featured in an
Speaker 1: episode of the Netflix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries, allowing the
Speaker 1: witnesses to tell their stories in their own words to millions.
Speaker 1: The Great Barrington UFO Incident remains a profound mystery. Skeptics
Speaker 1: have tried to explain it away as misidentified aircraft or
Speaker 1: meteorological phenomena. But these explanations failed to account for the
Speaker 1: close range encounters, the missing time, and the sheer number
Speaker 1: of credible witnesses. The consistency of the testimonies, the lasting
Speaker 1: psychological impact on those who were there, and the eventual
Speaker 1: historical recognition of the event make it a cornerstone of
Speaker 1: UFO research. On that quiet labor day evening in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty nine, something extraordinary visited the Berkshires, leaving behind a
Speaker 1: let igncy, a wonder fear, and a question that still
Speaker 1: hangs in the New England sky. What did they see now?
Speaker 1: In the rugged northwestern corner of Massachusetts, the Hoosack Mountain
Speaker 1: stands as a formidable barrier of solid rock, a geological
Speaker 1: challenge that for decades thwarted the dreams of westward expansion
Speaker 1: to the state's burgeoning railway system. To conquer it, engineers
Speaker 1: and labors embarked on one of the most ambitious, dangerous,
Speaker 1: and ultimately tragic construction projects of the nineteenth century, the
Speaker 1: Hoosick Tunnel. Completed in eighteen seventy five after nearly a
Speaker 1: quarter century of relentless effort, The nearly five mile long
Speaker 1: tunnel was held as a marvel of modern engineering at
Speaker 1: the time, but the triumph was paid for in human lives,
Speaker 1: and the dark, damp boar through the mountain earned a
Speaker 1: grimm and enduring nickname, the Bloody Pit. It's the name
Speaker 1: born from tragedy and from the ghosts that are said
Speaker 1: to linger as permanent testament to the tunnel's horrific human cost.
Speaker 1: The project began in eighteen fifty one, and from the
Speaker 1: outset it was plagued by disaster. The work was grueling,
Speaker 1: the technology was primitive, and the dangers were constant. Men
Speaker 1: toiled in near total darkness, their weight lit only by
Speaker 1: faint lanterns breathing air thick with rock dust and the
Speaker 1: fumes of black powder. Cave Ins, floods, and equipment failures
Speaker 1: were common. The death toll began to climb almost immediately,
Speaker 1: but the true horror was unleashed with the introduction of
Speaker 1: a new, terrifyingly unstable tool, nitroglycerin. The housak Tonal was
Speaker 1: one of the first major American construction projects to use
Speaker 1: the voltile explosion on a massive scale. While it did
Speaker 1: dramatically speed up the work, it also multiplied the dangers exponentially,
Speaker 1: leading to catastrophic explosions that killed dozens of men in
Speaker 1: an instant that Nearly two hundred workers perished during the
Speaker 1: tunnel's construction, their lives sacrifice to the relentless push of progress.
Speaker 1: From this litany of death, specific tragedies merged that would
Speaker 1: form the bedrock of the tunnel's haunted lore. One of
Speaker 1: the most foundational tales is that of Ringo Kelly, Ned Brinkman,
Speaker 1: and Billy Nash. On March twenty, eighteen sixty five, the
Speaker 1: three miners were working deep inside the tunnel when Kelly,
Speaker 1: a demolition expert, accidentally detonated a blast prematurely. Brinkman and
Speaker 1: Nash were killed instantly. Kelly survived, but he was ostracized
Speaker 1: by the other workers, who blamed him for the deaths
Speaker 1: of their friends. A year to the day after the accident,
Speaker 1: on March twenty, eighteen sixty six, Ringo Kelly's body was
Speaker 1: found deep within the tunnel at the exact spot where
Speaker 1: his colleagues had died. He had been strangled to death.
Speaker 1: No comfort was ever found, and the authorities were baffled.
Speaker 1: The miners, however, had their own theory. The vengeful spirits
Speaker 1: of Brinkman and Nash had returned from the grave to
Speaker 1: exact their revenge. The most infamous disaster occurred on October seventeenth,
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty seven, at the tunnel's oneenty twenty eight foot
Speaker 1: deep central shaft, a vertical access point used to excavate
Speaker 1: the tunnel from the middle out. Thirteen men were working
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the shaft when a napped lamp
Speaker 1: ignited flammable gas that had accumulated in the shaft. The
Speaker 1: resulting explosion sent a fireball rocketing up the shaft, destroying
Speaker 1: the hoist mechanism and setting the timber frame building at
Speaker 1: the top of blaze. The fire ran down a torrent
Speaker 1: of flaming debris, white hot tools, and sharpened drill bits
Speaker 1: onto the men trapped below. Rescue attempts were impossible. The
Speaker 1: shaft was choked with smoke and poisonous gas, and with
Speaker 1: a horse destroyed, there was no way to reach the bottom.
Speaker 1: After a few attempts, the workers on the surface assumed
Speaker 1: no one could have survived the inferno and the subsequent
Speaker 1: lack of oxygen. Months later, after the shaft was finally cleared,
Speaker 1: a grim discovery was made. The workers found the bodies
Speaker 1: of the thirteen miners, some of whom had clearly survived
Speaker 1: the initial blast. They had fashioned a crude draft to
Speaker 1: escape the rising water at the bottom of the shaft,
Speaker 1: and had waited in vain for a rescue that never came.
Speaker 1: The official cause of death of most of them was asphyxiation.
Speaker 1: The discovery of their desperate, failed attempt at survival horrified
Speaker 1: the public and cemented the tunnel's reputation as a place
Speaker 1: of profound tragedy. Even before the tunnel was completed, stories
Speaker 1: of hauntings began to circulate. Workers terrified to inner certain
Speaker 1: sections reported hearing the agonizing moans of the dead, the
Speaker 1: clang of spectral tools against rock, and the disembodied whispers
Speaker 1: of their fallen comrades. Apparitions of miners, their faces grim
Speaker 1: and their bodies sometimes horribly mangled, were said to appear
Speaker 1: in the flickering lantern light, only to vanigh into the
Speaker 1: oppressive darkness. Now these weren't just idle tales. The fear
Speaker 1: was so palpable that it led to work stoppages and
Speaker 1: made it difficult to retain laborers. Since its completion, the
Speaker 1: legend of the Hoosack Tunnel's ghosts has only grown For
Speaker 1: over a century, railroad workers, maintenance crews, and paranormal investigators
Speaker 1: have shared chilling accounts of their experiences inside the tunnel.
Speaker 1: The whales of the thirteen men trapped in the central
Speaker 1: shaft are said to echo through the tunnel, particularly on
Speaker 1: cold October nights. The ghostly figures of miners, still carrying
Speaker 1: their lanterns are seen walking the tracks forever, on their
Speaker 1: way to a shift they will never complete. Visitors report sudden,
Speaker 1: inexplicable drops in temperature, the feeling of being touched by
Speaker 1: unseen hands, and an overwhelming sense of sorrow and dread.
Speaker 1: Disembodied voices are a common report, sometimes whispering warnings to
Speaker 1: get out. The Hoosack Tunnel stands today as a dual monument.
Speaker 1: It's a testament to the indimitable will and ingenuity of
Speaker 1: the nineteenth century engineers and workers who conquered a mountain,
Speaker 1: but is also a sprawling, fire mile long tomb, a
Speaker 1: permanent memorial to the nearly two hundred souls who were crushed, dround,
Speaker 1: blown to bits, or suffocated within its rocky confines. Whether
Speaker 1: one believes in ghosts or not. The stand at the
Speaker 1: mouth of the tunnel is to feel the weight of
Speaker 1: its history. The cold, damp air that flows from its
Speaker 1: dark maw seems to carry with it the echoes of
Speaker 1: the past, of suffering, of sacrifice, and of the stories
Speaker 1: that ensure the men who died in the bloody pit
Speaker 1: will never be forgotten. In the heart of the Berkshires,
Speaker 1: nestled amidst manacred gardens and serene woodlands in Lenox, Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: stands the Mount. It was a cherished home of Edith Wharton,
Speaker 1: one of America's most celebrated authors, a woman of formidable
Speaker 1: intellect and refined taste who designed the house herself as
Speaker 1: a sanctuary for creativity and intellectual pursuit. Yet for all
Speaker 1: its beauty and elegance, the Mount is imbued with a
Speaker 1: profound and unsettling atmosphere, a place where the veil between
Speaker 1: worlds feels thin. It's widely considered one of the most
Speaker 1: haunted historic homes in all of New England, a reputation
Speaker 1: deeply intertwined with the life and psyche of its famous
Speaker 1: former resident, who, despite her sophisticated worldly persona, harbored a
Speaker 1: lifelong paralyzing fear of ghosts. Wharton's terror of the supernatural
Speaker 1: was not a casual superstition. It was a deep seated
Speaker 1: phobia that began in her childhood. She traced its origins
Speaker 1: to about of typhoid fever at age nine, after which
Speaker 1: she was plagued by what she described as a nameless,
Speaker 1: formless dread that lurked just beyond the veil of perception.
Speaker 1: This sphere was so intense that for years she could
Speaker 1: not sleep in a room with a book containing a
Speaker 1: ghost story, and had to be accompanied in a room
Speaker 1: after dark. This profound anxiety would paradoxically fuels for most
Speaker 1: masterful writing. Wharton became one of the finest ghost story
Speaker 1: writers in the English language, ending tales like The Eyes
Speaker 1: and Afterward, which are celebrated for their psychological depth and
Speaker 1: chilling ambiguity. She understood that the most terrifying ghosts are
Speaker 1: not those that rattle chains, but those that rise from
Speaker 1: the depths of the human mind, from guilt, regret, and
Speaker 1: unspoken desires. It's this very understanding that makes the alleged
Speaker 1: hauntings of her own beloved home so compelling. The Mount
Speaker 1: was Wharton's sanctuary from nineteen o two to nineteen eleven,
Speaker 1: a period of immense literary productivity. It was here she
Speaker 1: wrote some of her most famous novels, including The House
Speaker 1: of Mirth and Ethan from, but it was also a
Speaker 1: place of personal turmoil. Her marriage to the affable but
Speaker 1: mentally unstable Teddy Wharton was deteriorating, and the house bore
Speaker 1: witness to their growing estrangement and Teddy's descent into middle illness.
Speaker 1: It is this potent mixture of creative energy, intellectual passion,
Speaker 1: and profound personal sorrow that paranormal enthusiasts believe charge the
Speaker 1: house with a lasting spiritual energy. Since the mount was
Speaker 1: restored and open to the public, staff, visitors and paranormal
Speaker 1: investigators have reported a wide array of unexplained phenomena. The
Speaker 1: activity seems to concentrate in several key areas, most notably
Speaker 1: Edith Wharton's own bedroom and library. In her bedroom, people
Speaker 1: have reported feeling a distinct, intelligent presence. Figures have been
Speaker 1: seen sitting on the edge of the bed, and disembodied voices,
Speaker 1: often female, have been heard whispering when no one is there.
Speaker 1: The scent of floor perfume, like the kind Wharton favored,
Speaker 1: has been known to suddenly fill the air. The library,
Speaker 1: the intellectual heart of the home, is another hub of activity.
Speaker 1: Misters have felt unseen hands brush against them, heard the
Speaker 1: faint rustle of address, and seen books inexplicably move on
Speaker 1: the shelves. The most common report is of a shadowy
Speaker 1: figure seen moving through the room or standing near the fireplace,
Speaker 1: believed by many to be the spirit of Wharton herself,
Speaker 1: still presiding over her beloved collection of books. Teddy Wharton's
Speaker 1: presence is also said to linger His former bedroom, known
Speaker 1: as the dog Room for the canine portraits that once
Speaker 1: hung there, is often described as having a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.
Speaker 1: People have reported hearing heavy masculine footsteps pacing the floor
Speaker 1: and the faint, melancholic sound of a man's sighing. It's
Speaker 1: as if his unhappiness and turmoil left a permanent stain
Speaker 1: on the space. Perhaps the most unsettling claims come from
Speaker 1: the third floor, which once served as the servant's quarters. There,
Speaker 1: it has a darker, more foreboding reputation. During a period
Speaker 1: when the house was used as a dormitory for a
Speaker 1: girl's school, residents reported terrifying activity, including doors slamming, objects
Speaker 1: being thrown by an unseen force, and ghostly apparitions that
Speaker 1: cause students to flee in terror. Pairanormal investigators from shows
Speaker 1: like Ghost Hunters have captured numerous electronic voice phenomena or
Speaker 1: EVPs in these rooms, disembodied voices responding to questions that
Speaker 1: are only audible upon playback. These voices have been described
Speaker 1: as both male and female, suggesting a number of spirits
Speaker 1: may inhabit the old house. The spirit of a former
Speaker 1: governess or nanny is also said to haunt the premises,
Speaker 1: often seen as a gentle, caring presence in the nursery rooms.
Speaker 1: Her apparition is sometimes accompanied by the sound of a
Speaker 1: woman softly humming a lullaby. What makes the hauntings of
Speaker 1: the mount so fascinating is their deep connection to Edith
Speaker 1: Wharton herself. Did her intense spear the paranormal somehow make
Speaker 1: her home a magnet for spirits, or did her own
Speaker 1: powerful spirit so deeply connected to the house she designed
Speaker 1: and loved, choose to remain there after death. The phenomenon
Speaker 1: reported the intellectual energy of the library, the personal sorrow
Speaker 1: in the bedrooms, the very act of a writer of
Speaker 1: ghost stories seemingly becoming a ghost herself, are layered with
Speaker 1: a poignant literary irony. Today, the mount fully embraces its
Speaker 1: haunted reputation, offering popular ghost tours that draw crowds of
Speaker 1: curious visitors. Whether the apparitions are genuine spirits, psychic residue
Speaker 1: from a turbulent past, or simply the product of imagination
Speaker 1: in a creaky old house, the experience of walking through
Speaker 1: its darkened halls is undeniably chilling. It's a place where history, literature,
Speaker 1: and the supernatural converge, leaving one with the distinct feeling
Speaker 1: that Edith Wharton, the master of the American ghost story,
Speaker 1: is still at home. Covering over sixteen thousand, five hundred
Speaker 1: acres of rugged Terraine, October Mountain State Forest is the
Speaker 1: largest state forest in Massachusets, A vast and untamed wilderness
Speaker 1: sprawling across the towns of Washington, Beckett, and Lenox. Its
Speaker 1: dense woodlands, deep valleys and remote swamps are haven for hikers, hunters,
Speaker 1: and natured lovers. But beneath the canopy of its towering trees,
Speaker 1: a darker, more mysterious reputation has taken root. For centuries,
Speaker 1: this sprawling forest has been the empicitor of one of
Speaker 1: the Berkshire's most enduring and unsettling legends the tale of
Speaker 1: the wild Man of October Mountain. The stories are as
Speaker 1: old as the settlements that first cautiously pushed against the
Speaker 1: forest edge. The earliest accounts, dating back to the nineteenth century,
Speaker 1: speak of a strange, solitary figure roaming the deepest part
Speaker 1: of the woods. These initial reports were often vague, describing
Speaker 1: a man living in a primitive state, covered in hair
Speaker 1: and avoiding all human contact. An eighteen seventy nine article
Speaker 1: in The New York Times reported on two young vermont
Speaker 1: men who, while hunting in the mountains south of Williamstown,
Speaker 1: encountered a wild man about five feet tall and completely
Speaker 1: covered in hair. The men were so terrified by the
Speaker 1: sight that they dropped their guns and fled, never daring
Speaker 1: to return for their belongings. This account and others like it,
Speaker 1: painted a picture of a feral human, a man who
Speaker 1: had either been raised in isolation or had forsaken civilization
Speaker 1: for a life in the wild. As the twentieth century progressed,
Speaker 1: the legend began to evolve, Merging with the growing North
Speaker 1: American phenomenon of Bigfoot, The wild man became something larger,
Speaker 1: more powerful, and distinctly less human. Sightings began to describe
Speaker 1: not just a hairy man, but a massive bipedal creature,
Speaker 1: standing between six and eight feet tall, covered in dark,
Speaker 1: matted fur, and possessing an immense physical strength. His eyes
Speaker 1: were often described as blowing an eerie red in the dark,
Speaker 1: a detail that became a terrifying hallmark of the modern legend.
Speaker 1: One of the most well known modern encounters occurred in
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies. A group of men camping deep within
Speaker 1: the forest were awakened in the mill of the night
Speaker 1: by strange noises just outside their campsite. When they went
Speaker 1: to investigate, their flashlights caught a glimpse of a towering,
Speaker 1: hairy creature moving through the trees. Later, as they were
Speaker 1: hastily packing up to leave, their car's headlights illuminated the
Speaker 1: beast again, lurking behind the thicket of bushes. They described
Speaker 1: a creature that stood fully erect, with a powerful build
Speaker 1: and glowing red eyes that seemed to burn in the darkness.
Speaker 1: Around the same time, a local boy scout leader reported
Speaker 1: that he and one of his scouts had also caught
Speaker 1: a fleeting glimpse of a similar creature while hiking in
Speaker 1: the same area. Lending credence to the camper's frightening tale.
Speaker 1: The legend of the wild Man is intertwined with other
Speaker 1: strange tales from the mountain. For years. Story circuit late
Speaker 1: about a reclusive woman, sometimes called the Hag of the
Speaker 1: Mountain or the Witch of Washington, who lived in a
Speaker 1: dilapidated shack deep in the woods. She was said to
Speaker 1: shinau visitors, practice folk magic, and live in a state
Speaker 1: of near total isolation. While her story is likely that
Speaker 1: of a misunderstood and marginalized woman, her presence added to
Speaker 1: the mountain's mystique, blurring the lines between human outcasts and
Speaker 1: supernatural beings. It's possible that some sightings attributed to the
Speaker 1: wild Men were in fact glimpses of this solitary woman,
Speaker 1: her form obscured by the dense forest and the fearful
Speaker 1: imaginations of those as saw. Over the years, numerous theories
Speaker 1: have been proposed to explain the persistent sightings. To believers
Speaker 1: in cryptozoology, October Mountain is a prime habitat for a
Speaker 1: population of Gigantopithecus, a creature commonly known as sasquatch or bigfoot.
Speaker 1: They argue that this vast, remote forest provides the perfect
Speaker 1: environment for such a large primate to live undetected. Skeptics, however,
Speaker 1: offer more mundane explanations, most common being misidentification. The forest
Speaker 1: is home to a healthy population of black bears, which,
Speaker 1: when standing on their hind legs, can present a startlingly
Speaker 1: humanoid silhouette. Especially in low light, A fleeting glimpse of
Speaker 1: a bear crashing through the underbrush could easily be mistaken
Speaker 1: for something more monstrous by a startled hiker. Another plausible
Speaker 1: theory is that the sightings are of human hermits. Throughout history,
Speaker 1: the vast wilderness of the Virtures has attracted those wishing
Speaker 1: to escape society. A person living off the grid for
Speaker 1: years would likely appear disheveled, hairy, and wild to anyone
Speaker 1: who's stumbled upon them. Yet no single theory has been
Speaker 1: able to fully dispel the legend. The forest itself seems
Speaker 1: to cultivate the mystery. Its sheer size makes it impossible
Speaker 1: to fully police explore landscape filled with abandoned farmsteads, forgotten cemeteries,
Speaker 1: and the ruins of old charcoal kilns, all slowly being
Speaker 1: reclaimed by nature. To wonder its trails is to feel
Speaker 1: a sense of profound isolation, a feeling that you are
Speaker 1: a visitor in a place with secrets far older than
Speaker 1: your own. It's an environment where the snap of a
Speaker 1: twig can sound like a footstep, and a shadow can
Speaker 1: take on a menacing form. The wild Man of October
Speaker 1: Mountain remains an icon of Berkshire folklore, a symbol of
Speaker 1: the untamed wilderness that still exists at the edges of
Speaker 1: our modern world. Whether it's a genuine cryptid, a misidentified animal,
Speaker 1: a human outcast, a feral human, or simply a ghost
Speaker 1: story passed down through generations, the legend endures. It's aps
Speaker 1: into a primal fear of the dark woods and the
Speaker 1: unsettling possibility that we are not always alone when we
Speaker 1: venture into them. Now, in the southern Berkshires, where the
Speaker 1: landscape softens into rolling hills and quiet valleys, the town
Speaker 1: of Egremont lies steeped in a history that predates the
Speaker 1: nation itself. Ancient stone walls criss crossed the forest, and
Speaker 1: old rhodes whispered tales of a bygone era. It's here,
Speaker 1: on the lonely slopes of Tomball Mountain that one of
Speaker 1: the regions most poignant and enduring ghost stories resides the
Speaker 1: legend of the ghostly Soldier, a solitary, spectral figure from
Speaker 1: the Revolutionary War wherever bound to his post. The identity
Speaker 1: of this phantom sentinel has lost the time. His story
Speaker 1: fractioned into two compelling, yet contradictory narratives. However, in both
Speaker 1: versions is the soldier of the Continental Army a man
Speaker 1: who met his end on the mountain during the tumultuous
Speaker 1: years of the American Revolution, But the circumstances of his
Speaker 1: death and the reasons for his eternal vigil are the
Speaker 1: subject of local debate. Romantic and tragic version of the
Speaker 1: tale casts the soldier as a loyal patriot. During the war,
Speaker 1: the Berkshires served as a crucial supply line and a
Speaker 1: source of manpower for the revolutionary cause. It is plausible
Speaker 1: that strategic cases, weapons, gunpowder, or funds would have been
Speaker 1: hidden in the remote wilderness, far from the prying eyes
Speaker 1: of British spies and loyalless sympathizers. In this telling of
Speaker 1: the tale, the soldier was entrusted with the solemn duty
Speaker 1: of guarding one such hidden treasure. He was a faithful century,
Speaker 1: steadfast at his post until he was discovered and killed
Speaker 1: by enemy scouts or tory marauders. Unaware that the war
Speaker 1: had long since ended and that his duty had been fulfilled,
Speaker 1: his loyal spirit continues its watch eternally guarding the long
Speaker 1: forgotten secrets of the revolution. His apparition, then, is not
Speaker 1: one of menace, but a profound, unwavering duty. The second,
Speaker 1: more sinister version of the legend paints the soldier as
Speaker 1: a trader. In this narrative, he was a paymaster or
Speaker 1: officer who tempted by greed abs gone with a chest
Speaker 1: of gold coins meant for the continental troops. He fled
Speaker 1: into the wilderness of Tomball Mountain, intending to bury his
Speaker 1: ill gotten treasure and return for it when the war
Speaker 1: was over. But his crime did not go unpunished. He
Speaker 1: was either tracked down and put to a demise by
Speaker 1: his own comrades, or he met a grim solitary end
Speaker 1: through accident, misfortune, or exposure on the unforgiven mountain. His spirit,
Speaker 1: now cursed by his avarice, is forever bound to the
Speaker 1: location of his buried treasure, unable to rest and compel
Speaker 1: to guard the gold he can never spend. Regardless of
Speaker 1: whether he is a hero or a villain. The descriptions
Speaker 1: of the ghostly encounters have remained remarkably consistent for generations.
Speaker 1: He's almost always seen at dusk or in the ethereal
Speaker 1: light of a full moon, a forlorn figure clad in
Speaker 1: the tattered remains of a colonial era uniform. He appears
Speaker 1: along the old, disused logging trails that wind up the mountain,
Speaker 1: or near the crumbling stone walls that mark the boundaries
Speaker 1: of forgotten farms. Witnesses often report seeing him pacing slowly,
Speaker 1: his head bowed. This has been deep thought or sorrow.
Speaker 1: Sometimes he even carries a spectral musket. Other times his
Speaker 1: hands are empty. The most unsettling accounts describe him as
Speaker 1: standing still, staring intently at a particular spot on the ground,
Speaker 1: or even appearing to be digging with his bare hands,
Speaker 1: before vanishing as the witness straws closer. He never speaks,
Speaker 1: and no sound accompanies his movements, not even the crunch
Speaker 1: of leaves or the snap of a twig. He is
Speaker 1: a silent, sorrowful apparition, a fleeting glimpse of history that
Speaker 1: leaves a lasting chill. The version of the legend involving
Speaker 1: buried treasure has predictably inspired numerous treasure hunters over the years.
Speaker 1: Armed with old maps, metal detectors, and a romance a
Speaker 1: sense of adventure, people have scoured the slopes of tom
Speaker 1: Bab Mountain searching for the revolutionary gold, yet no one
Speaker 1: has ever claimed to have found it. According to local lore,
Speaker 1: the ghost himself ensures the treasure remains hidden. It's said
Speaker 1: that he actively misleads those who come seeking his gold,
Speaker 1: causing them to become helpelessly lost on the winding trails.
Speaker 1: Others claim the soldier will manifest directly, his sudden, terrifying appearance,
Speaker 1: enough to send even the most determined treasure hunter fling
Speaker 1: down the mountain in a panic. The landscape of tom
Speaker 1: Bab Mountain is a character in the story itself. It's
Speaker 1: not a dramatic, towering peak, but a rugged, sprawling hill
Speaker 1: covered in dense forests that feels ancient and secretive. To
Speaker 1: walk its pass is to feel a sense of isolation,
Speaker 1: a disconnect from the modern world. The ubiquitous stone walls,
Speaker 1: built by farmers two centuries ago and now being slowly
Speaker 1: consumed by the forest, serve as constant reminders of the past.
Speaker 1: It's an environment that easily lends itself to ghost stories,
Speaker 1: a place where the shadows play tricks on the eyes,
Speaker 1: and the wind sighing through the pines can sound like
Speaker 1: a mournful whisper. The legend of the Ghostly Soldier of
Speaker 1: Egremont endures because it taps into the very soul of
Speaker 1: the region. It's the story of the American Revolution, the
Speaker 1: foundational event of the nation, played out on a local
Speaker 1: human scale. It speaks to timeless themes of duty, betrayal,
Speaker 1: greed and loss. Whether he is the Lost Century or
Speaker 1: the cursed Thief, the Soldier represents a soul trapped by
Speaker 1: the powerful emotions of his time. He's a permanent spectral
Speaker 1: fixture in the Berkshire landscape, a lonely figure, forever marching
Speaker 1: on the edge of history is silent vigil, a haunting
Speaker 1: reminder of the stories the ancient mountains keep now in
Speaker 1: the annals of American history. There are few gifts to
Speaker 1: a president as peculiar or as grand as the Cheshire
Speaker 1: Mammoth cheese. It was a colossal, one thy, two hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty five pound wheel of cheese, a testament to
Speaker 1: the fervent patriotism of a small Berkshire town. Presented to
Speaker 1: President Thomas Jefferson in eighteen o two. The story of
Speaker 1: its creation and journey to Washington, d C. Is a
Speaker 1: well documented piece of political history, but woven into this
Speaker 1: factual account is a strange and enduring local legend, a
Speaker 1: tale of a mysterious disappearance and an even more mysterious
Speaker 1: reappearance that elevates the story from a historical curiosity to
Speaker 1: a classic Berkshire mystery. The story begins with Elder John Leland,
Speaker 1: a fiery and influential Baptist preacher in Cheshire, Massachusetts in
Speaker 1: the early nineteenth century. New England was a bastion of
Speaker 1: the Federalist Party, which viewed Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic
Speaker 1: Republicans with deep suspicion. But Leland and his congregation were
Speaker 1: staunch Jeffersonians. For them, Jefferson was a hero, the champion
Speaker 1: of religious freedom and the author of the Virginia Statute
Speaker 1: for Religious Freedom, a document that was profoundly important to
Speaker 1: minority denominations like the Baptist who had long suffered under
Speaker 1: state sponsored churches. When Jefferson was elected president in eighteen hundred,
Speaker 1: Leland sought away for a small community to make a
Speaker 1: grand gesture of support, one that would be impossible for
Speaker 1: the nation and the Federalist press to ignore. The idea
Speaker 1: was born. They would create a cheese of monumental proportions.
Speaker 1: It was a perfect symbol, just as the cheese is
Speaker 1: formed from the milk of many cows. Their community was
Speaker 1: united in its devotion to the new president. The call
Speaker 1: went out to the farmers of Cheshire and the surrounding towns.
Speaker 1: The undertaking was to be a purely patriotic Republican affair.
Speaker 1: According to the proud Lord of the town, a strict
Speaker 1: edict was issued. No milk from a Federalist cow was
Speaker 1: to be used in the creation of the cheese. The
Speaker 1: community rallied with enthusiasm. On a single day in July
Speaker 1: eighteen oh one, the milk from an estimated nine hundred
Speaker 1: Republican cows was brought to a central location. A massive
Speaker 1: cheese hoop four feet in diameter had been constructed and
Speaker 1: a giant cider press was repurposed for the monumental task
Speaker 1: of pressing the immense curd. The town turned out to
Speaker 1: watch the spectacle, a festive and deeply symbolic event. When
Speaker 1: it was finished, the Cheshire mammoth cheese was a behemoth,
Speaker 1: a golden wheel of patriotism, weighing over twelve hundred pounds.
Speaker 1: It was inscribed with the motto rebellion to tyrants, his
Speaker 1: obedience to God. The town's pride was immense. It's here
Speaker 1: between the chess creation and its celebrated journey that the
Speaker 1: story takes a strange turn into the realm of folklore.
Speaker 1: The legend introduces a character absent from the official historical record,
Speaker 1: a local Native American shaman. The reasons for his discontent
Speaker 1: vary with the tailing. Some versions of the tale say
Speaker 1: he was angered by the encroachment of the settlers or
Speaker 1: by the zealous Christianity of Elder Leland's block. Other versions
Speaker 1: speak of a more personal slight. Whatever the cause, though,
Speaker 1: the shaman, who was said to possess great power, decided
Speaker 1: to strike at the town's pride by placing a curse
Speaker 1: on their magnificent creation. One morning, the town awoke to
Speaker 1: a baffling and humiliating scene. The mammoth cheese, the object
Speaker 1: of so much effort and pride, had vanished from the
Speaker 1: cider press where it was curing. Panic and confusion ensued.
Speaker 1: How could a twelve hundred pound object simply disappear overnight.
Speaker 1: There were no tracks, no witnesses, had no explanation. Elder
Speaker 1: Leland was mortified. The grand gesture was now a source
Speaker 1: of ridicule. The town's triumph had turned to ash UMA's curse,
Speaker 1: it seemed was potent. Indeed, the disappearance, according to the legend,
Speaker 1: lasted for several days. Search parties were organized, but they
Speaker 1: found no trace of the colossal cheese. Just as despair
Speaker 1: began to set in, the mystery deepened. On another morning,
Speaker 1: the townspeople arrived at the press to find the cheese.
Speaker 1: In return, it was sitting exactly where it had been,
Speaker 1: completely intact and unharmed. There was once again no explanation
Speaker 1: for its reappearance. The shaman, having made his power known
Speaker 1: and having thoroughly humbled the town, had apparently lifted his curse.
Speaker 1: While this tale of a vanishing cheese is almost certainly
Speaker 1: a folkloreic embellishment, a piece of local color added to
Speaker 1: an already fantastic story, it has become an inseparable part
Speaker 1: of the legend. The more prosaic reality is that the
Speaker 1: cheese was simply moved to a wagon in preparation for
Speaker 1: its long journey, but the legend sists, adding a layer
Speaker 1: of Berkshire weirdness to the historical account. With the cheese
Speaker 1: safely and permanently back in their possession, Elder Leland began
Speaker 1: the artist's journey to Washington, d c. In the winner
Speaker 1: of eighteen oh one. The chiefe was loaded onto the
Speaker 1: sled and drawn by a team of horses, becoming a
Speaker 1: spectacle that drew crowds in every town had passed through.
Speaker 1: From Hudson, New York, it was loaded onto a sloop
Speaker 1: for a sea voyage to the Capitol. On New Year's
Speaker 1: Day eighteen oh two, Elder Leland proudly presented the mammoth
Speaker 1: cheese to President Jefferson at the White House. The Federalist
Speaker 1: press had a field day mocking the mammoth gift from
Speaker 1: the rusting farmers of Massachusetts, but Jefferson, a master of
Speaker 1: political theater, received it with grace and gratitude. He made
Speaker 1: a point of serving the cheese to his guests for months,
Speaker 1: and he sent a handsome payment back to Cheshire. The
Speaker 1: Cheshire Mammoth Cheese is remembered today as a powerful symbol
Speaker 1: of grassroots democracy, A heartfelt gift from ordinary citizens to
Speaker 1: the president they revered. But in the Berkshires it's remembered
Speaker 1: as something more. It's a story that perfectly captures the
Speaker 1: character of the region, a place where verifiable history and strange,
Speaker 1: inexplicable folklore can rest side by side, as comfortable and
Speaker 1: insempable as a giant cheese and a side of press.
Speaker 1: Rising to an elevation of three four hundred and ninety
Speaker 1: one feet, Mount Greylock is the highest point in Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: majestic and often cloud shrouded peak that has inspired writers
Speaker 1: like Herman Melville and Henry David Thureau. Its slopes are
Speaker 1: covered in a dense ancient forest, and its trails offer
Speaker 1: breathtaking views and a profound sense of wildness. But amid
Speaker 1: this natural beauty lies one of the Berkshire's most tragic
Speaker 1: and enduring ghost stories, the tale of the Old Coot,
Speaker 1: a heartbroken Civil War veteran whose sorrowful spirit is said
Speaker 1: to forever wonder the mountain that became his final, lonely refuge.
Speaker 1: The story begins in eighteen sixty one in the nearby
Speaker 1: town of North Adams, as the nation fractured and the
Speaker 1: Civil War erupted. A farmer named William Saunders answer to
Speaker 1: call to duty. Like thousands of other young men, he
Speaker 1: left his home, his farm, and his beloved wife Bell
Speaker 1: to fight for the Union. For about a year, Bell
Speaker 1: received letters from the front, but then the correspondents abruptly stopped.
Speaker 1: Some time later, she received the devastating news that every
Speaker 1: soldier's wife dreaded, a formal report stating that her husband
Speaker 1: had been gravely wounded in battle and was in a
Speaker 1: military hospital. It was the last official word she would
Speaker 1: ever hear of him. Alone with a farm to run
Speaker 1: and children to raise, Bell waited and mourned, But as
Speaker 1: the months turned into years with no further news, hope
Speaker 1: faded and she accepted the grim reality that she was
Speaker 1: a widow in need of help and companionship. She hired
Speaker 1: a local man to work the farm. In time, their
Speaker 1: working relationship blossomed into an affection, and eventually they married.
Speaker 1: Her new husband was a good man who adopted her
Speaker 1: children as his own, and a new, happy family life
Speaker 1: took root on the old Saunders farm. The war ended
Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty five, and the soldiers who had survived
Speaker 1: began the long journey home. One day A ragged bearded
Speaker 1: man in a tattered Union uniform stepped off the train
Speaker 1: in North Adams. It was William Saunders. He had not
Speaker 1: died of his wounds, but had endured a long and
Speaker 1: brutal recovery in a series of overcrowded military hospitals. Far
Speaker 1: from home and unable to send word it had survived
Speaker 1: the war, and with his heart full of hope, he
Speaker 1: began the final walk to his farm, dreaming of the
Speaker 1: reunion with his beloved bit well. As he approached his property, though,
Speaker 1: he saw a scene that shattered his world. Through the trees,
Speaker 1: he saw his wife on the porch, laughing with another man.
Speaker 1: He saw his own children, now older, running and playing
Speaker 1: in the yard, calling this other man Daddy. The life
Speaker 1: he had fought and bled for, the life he had
Speaker 1: clung to through the horrors of war, was no longer his.
Speaker 1: In that single devastating moment, William Saunders became a ghost,
Speaker 1: a man out of time and out of place, overwhelmed
Speaker 1: by a grief too profound to bear. He did not
Speaker 1: announce his return. He did not confront his wife or
Speaker 1: reclaim his life. He simply turned on his heel and
Speaker 1: walked away. His heart broken, his spirit crushed, he walked
Speaker 1: toward the looming silhouette of Mount Greylock, seeking solas in
Speaker 1: its vast, indifferent wilderness. High on a remote slope in
Speaker 1: a secluded area known as the Bellows Pipe, he built
Speaker 1: a crude shack and began a new life as a hermit.
Speaker 1: The war and his grief had ravaged disappearance. He was gaunt,
Speaker 1: his beard was long and unkempt, and his eyes held
Speaker 1: a permanent look of sorrow. He became known to the
Speaker 1: few hunters and loggers who frigered in the area only
Speaker 1: as the old Coot. No one recognized him as the
Speaker 1: farmer who had got off to war years before. He
Speaker 1: lived a solitary existence, hiring himself out for odd jobs
Speaker 1: on local farms that earn what Lily needed. In a
Speaker 1: cruel twist of fate, it said that he sometimes worked
Speaker 1: on his own former farm, taking meals at the table
Speaker 1: with the family that should have been his. He sat
Speaker 1: as a stranger among his own children, his identity a
Speaker 1: secret locked away behind his sorrowful eyes. Whether bell ever
Speaker 1: recognized a sad, ragged man as a husband she once
Speaker 1: loved as a question lost to history for years the
Speaker 1: Old Coot lived this lonely life on the mountain. Then
Speaker 1: one bitter winter day, a group of owners, seeking shelter
Speaker 1: from a storm, came upon his shack. Inside they found
Speaker 1: him cold and dead, But as they stood over his body,
Speaker 1: they witnessed something that would haunt him for the rest
Speaker 1: of their lives. They saw his spirit, a shimmering ethereal form,
Speaker 1: rise from his earthly remains. The ghostly figure didn't linger,
Speaker 1: but immediately turned and moved away, heading further up the mountain,
Speaker 1: disappearing into the swirling snow. This was the first sighting
Speaker 1: of the ghost of the Old Coot, but it would
Speaker 1: not be the last. Since that day, hikers and visitors
Speaker 1: on Mount Graylock, particularly along the Bellows Pipe trail, had
Speaker 1: reported seeing the apparition of a bedraggled, sorrowful man and
Speaker 1: the tattered remains of a Union uniform. He is always
Speaker 1: seen walking with a determined, mournful gait, heading up the mountain,
Speaker 1: but he has never seen coming down. He is a ghost,
Speaker 1: trapped not by a curse or by violence, but by
Speaker 1: a grief so immense that it has tethered him to
Speaker 1: the place where he nursed his broken heart. His silent,
Speaker 1: eternal journey up the Mountain is a poignant and heartbreaking
Speaker 1: echo of a soldier who survived a war, only to
Speaker 1: lose everything he had been fighting for. Now, from nearly
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty years, the Red Lion Inn has
Speaker 1: stood as the venerable heart of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. With its
Speaker 1: brawling front porch lined with rocking chairs and its iconic
Speaker 1: red Lion signed It's the quintessential New England inn, a
Speaker 1: cherished landmark that has welcomed travelers, artists, and even presidents.
Speaker 1: It has survived fires, weathered economic depressions, and born witness
Speaker 1: to centuries of American history. But beneath its warm colonial
Speaker 1: charm lies a reputation of a different sort. The Red
Speaker 1: Lion Inn is widely considered to be one of the
Speaker 1: most haunted hotels in the country, a place where the
Speaker 1: spirits of past get yes and employees are said to linger,
Speaker 1: becoming as much a part of the inns fabric as
Speaker 1: its antique furniture and creaking floorboards. The n's history began
Speaker 1: in seventeen seventy three, when it was first established as
Speaker 1: a small tavern by Silas Pepoun. Since then, it has
Speaker 1: grown changed, hands, and was even rebuilt after a devastating
Speaker 1: fire in eighteen ninety six. This long and storied past,
Speaker 1: filled with countless human dramas, is believed to be the
Speaker 1: source of its spectral energy. The very walls seem to
Speaker 1: have absorbed the motions and experiences of generations, creating a
Speaker 1: place where the past does not feel past at all.
Speaker 1: While paranormal activity has been reported throughout the sprawling property,
Speaker 1: it's the fourth floor that is known as the undeniable
Speaker 1: epicenter of the hauntings. The most famous of the Inn's
Speaker 1: resident ghosts are a pair of apparitions frequently seen on
Speaker 1: this top floor. The first is that of a young
Speaker 1: girl ups six or seven years old, often seen carrying
Speaker 1: a bouquet of flowers. Guests and staff have reported seeing
Speaker 1: her fleetingly in the hallways, a small spectral figure in
Speaker 1: old fashioned clothing who vanishes as quickly as she fears.
Speaker 1: Some accounts say she is sometimes accompanied by a ghostly cat.
Speaker 1: Her identity is unknown, but the prevailing theory is that
Speaker 1: she was a guest who either died at the end
Speaker 1: or is eternally searching for her parents. Her presence is
Speaker 1: generally not considered malevolent, but rather poignant and a little sad.
Speaker 1: The second prominent ghost of the fourth floor is a
Speaker 1: much more formal and sometimes more startling figure, a gentleman
Speaker 1: dressed in period attire, complete with a top hat. He
Speaker 1: is most frequently associated with Room three oh one, one
Speaker 1: of the End's most notoriously haunted rooms. Guests staying in
Speaker 1: this room have reported a range of unsettling experiences. Some
Speaker 1: have been awakened in the middle of the night to
Speaker 1: find this diactal gentlemen standing silently at the foot of
Speaker 1: their bed, watching them sleep. Others have felt a distinct
Speaker 1: sensation of their bed linens being tugged or pulled away
Speaker 1: by an unseen force. He's a more imposing spirit than
Speaker 1: the young girl, though he too seems more curious than threatening.
Speaker 1: It's believed he may have been a guest who suffered
Speaker 1: a heart attack or died in his sleep in that
Speaker 1: very room. Beyond these two famous venoms, a host of
Speaker 1: other unexplained phenomenon contribute to the End's hearted reputation. Disembodied
Speaker 1: voices are a common report, with staff and guests hearing
Speaker 1: faint whispers of their names being called in empty hallways,
Speaker 1: the sound of pantom footsteps is often heard on the
Speaker 1: old wooden staircases and long the fourth floor corridor late
Speaker 1: at night. Also, objects are said to move on their own.
Speaker 1: Rocking chairs, a signature or feature of the inn, have
Speaker 1: been seen rocking gently in otherwise empty rooms. Staff had
Speaker 1: reported setting up a room for new guests, only to
Speaker 1: return and find objects have been moved or re arranged.
Speaker 1: Even the famed American artist Norman Rockwell, a long time
Speaker 1: Stockbridge resident and irregular at the inn, is said to
Speaker 1: have once seen a ghostly figure in a window while
Speaker 1: painting the building. Now, the spirits are not limited to
Speaker 1: former guests. The ghost of a former cleaning lady is
Speaker 1: said to still be on duty, a diligent spirit who
Speaker 1: takes the work very seriously, and in the basement, which
Speaker 1: now houses the inn's pub, a more cantankerous male spirit
Speaker 1: named George has been reported. Staff had blamed him for
Speaker 1: flickering lights, mysterious electrical malfunctions, and the occasional beer tap
Speaker 1: turning on by itself. Unlike many establishments that might downplay
Speaker 1: such stories, the Red Lion Inn has long embraced its
Speaker 1: spectral residents. The staff are open about the hauntings and
Speaker 1: the Enn's reputation is a significant draw for paranormal enthusiasts
Speaker 1: and curious travelers alike hoping for a brush with a
Speaker 1: supernav The ghosts of the Red Line in are not
Speaker 1: seen as a curse, but as a unique and fascinating
Speaker 1: part of its living history. They are the ultimate long
Speaker 1: term guests, spirits who, for reasons of their own, have
Speaker 1: chosen to never check out. Whether they are tied to
Speaker 1: the end by tragedy or simply by a deep affection
Speaker 1: or place they loved in life. Their presence adds another
Speaker 1: layer of mystery and wonder to one of America's most
Speaker 1: historic and beloved ends. Scattered throughout the forests and forgotten
Speaker 1: fields of the Berkshires, hidden beneath tangled roots and centuries
Speaker 1: of accumulated earth, lies a profound architectural mystery. Hundreds of
Speaker 1: stone chambers, meticulously constructed and ancient in appearance. Not the landscape,
Speaker 1: they are silent, enigmatic structures, their origins and purpose the
Speaker 1: subject of fierce and fascinating debates that pit mainstream marcheology
Speaker 1: against alternative theories of ancient mariners and indigenous spirituality. These
Speaker 1: chambers are more than just historical curiosities. They are a
Speaker 1: puzzle in stone, challenging our understanding of pre colonial and
Speaker 1: early American history. At first glance, a typical chamber might
Speaker 1: be dismissed as a simple root seller. They are a
Speaker 1: semi subterranean built into hillsides with dry stone walls, meaning
Speaker 1: they use no mortar, and are often capped with massive,
Speaker 1: multi ton stone slabs as lentils and roofing. This is
Speaker 1: the foundation of the most widely accepted and most prosaic
Speaker 1: explanation that these structures are nothing more than colonial root sellers,
Speaker 1: built by early American farmers in the eighteenth and nineteenth
Speaker 1: centuries to store produce and keep it from freezing in
Speaker 1: the harsh New England winners. Now, this theory is certainly plausible.
Speaker 1: Many of these chambers are located on the grounds of
Speaker 1: old farmsteads, and their function as a cool stable storage
Speaker 1: space is self Evidentudents of this view argue that colonial farmers,
Speaker 1: being practical and resourceful people, simply use the abundant fieldstone
Speaker 1: to build these structures. The semi subterranean design would have
Speaker 1: been an effective and logical way to use the earth
Speaker 1: itself as insulation. From this perspective, the chambers are a
Speaker 1: testament to the ingenuity and hard work of the region's
Speaker 1: early settlers. However, for a growing number of researchers, amateur archaeologists,
Speaker 1: and historians, the root seller theory is woefully inadequate. It
Speaker 1: fails to account for a host of features that suggest
Speaker 1: a far greater antiquity and a much more sophisticated purpose.
Speaker 1: The craftsmanship alone is often staggering. The precision of the
Speaker 1: stone work, and most notably, the use of enormous capstones,
Speaker 1: some weighing several tons, seem far beyond what would be
Speaker 1: necessary for a simple vegetable seller. How critics ask that
Speaker 1: a farmer with limited tools and manpower core transport and
Speaker 1: place these massive stones with such precision. The most compelling
Speaker 1: evidence against colonial theory lies in the sky. A significant
Speaker 1: number of these chambers exhibit precise astronomical alignments. Their long,
Speaker 1: narrow entrance passages are often oriented to frame the rising
Speaker 1: or setting sun on the winter or summer sociices, or
Speaker 1: the spring and autumn equinoxes. This suggests a ceremonial or
Speaker 1: ritualistic purpose, a way of marking the changing of the
Speaker 1: seasons that was central to the spiritual lives of many
Speaker 1: ancient cultures. To the people who built them, these were
Speaker 1: not just structures, they were sacred calendars, places where the
Speaker 1: celestial and terrestrial worlds intersected. This astronomical evidence has fueled
Speaker 1: several alternative theories. The most controversial of these is the
Speaker 1: idea of pre Columbian European contact. A theory of diffusionism
Speaker 1: championed by the late Harvard biologist Barry Fell Bell and
Speaker 1: his followers argued that the chambers bear striking resemblance to
Speaker 1: megalithic structures found across Europe, such as the Dolmens of
Speaker 1: Ireland and the Passage graves of Britain, which date back
Speaker 1: thousands of years. They proposed that ancient mariners, perhaps Irish monks,
Speaker 1: flamed the Viking invasions, or even Bronze Age sailors made
Speaker 1: their way to North America long before Columbus and brought
Speaker 1: their building techniques with him. Bell even claimed they have
Speaker 1: found inscriptions in ancient European scripts like Agham carved into
Speaker 1: the stones, though these claims have been widely disputed and
Speaker 1: debunked by mainstream archeologists. A more recent and increasingly respected
Speaker 1: theory posits that the chambers are the work of Native Americans,
Speaker 1: while the Algonquins speaking peoples of the northeast were not
Speaker 1: typically known as builders of large stone structures. This theory
Speaker 1: suggests the chambers could have served as specialized ceremonial sites.
Speaker 1: They may have been kivas or sweat lodges, or private
Speaker 1: sanctuaries for shamans to perform rituals, seek visions, or communicate
Speaker 1: with the spirit world. The astronomical alignments fit precisely within
Speaker 1: this framework, as Native American cultures possessed a deep and
Speaker 1: sophisticated understanding of celestial cycles. The primary challenge to this
Speaker 1: theory is the lack of a direct, unbroken oral tradition
Speaker 1: linking modern tribes to the construction of these specific sites,
Speaker 1: a tragic consequence of the cultural disruption caused by European colonization. Today,
Speaker 1: the debate rages on the official archaeological community largely holds
Speaker 1: to the colonial root sellar theory, viewing the alternative donations
Speaker 1: as romantic fantasy. Yet the questions persist, if they are
Speaker 1: just sellers, Why the massive capstones, why the precise solar alignments,
Speaker 1: Why is there complete absence of any mention of building
Speaker 1: these elaborate structures. In the countless diaries, letters, and farm
Speaker 1: res records left behind by the colonists, the stone chambers
Speaker 1: of the Berkshires remain an unsolved mystery, a silent challenge
Speaker 1: to our accepted historical narratives. They are a tangible link
Speaker 1: to an unknown past, their purpose lost, but their presence undeniable.
Speaker 1: Whether they're the work of resourceful farmers, ancient European explorers,
Speaker 1: or Native American shamans, they are a profound and humbling
Speaker 1: reminder that the hills and forests of New England still
Speaker 1: hold some deep secrets. In the quiet pastoral town of Sheffield, Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: nestled in the southern Berkshires, a terrifying story unfolded in
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties that seemed torn from the pages of
Speaker 1: a hard novel. It was a case that would attract
Speaker 1: the attention of the world's most famous paranormal investigators and
Speaker 1: culminate in the dramatic right of exorcism. Unlike the sorrowful
Speaker 1: ghosts or mysterious cryptis that populate munch of Berkshire folklore,
Speaker 1: the haunting of this on assuming home was attributed to
Speaker 1: something far more ancient and malevolent. A demonic infestation. The
Speaker 1: story centers on a family who moved into their Sheffield
Speaker 1: home hoping for a peaceful country life. The names and
Speaker 1: specific details of the family have often been kept private
Speaker 1: to protect them from the sensationalism, but their terrifying experience
Speaker 1: has become a cornerstone of New England paranormal lore. The
Speaker 1: activity began subtly, as is often the case in such accounts.
Speaker 1: It started with unexplained noises, footsteps and empty hallways, strange
Speaker 1: scratching sounds from within the walls and doors that would open,
Speaker 1: or clothes on their own. At first, the family tried
Speaker 1: to rationalize these occurrences as the corks of an old house,
Speaker 1: but the phenomenon quickly escalated, moving from strange to deeply unsettling.
Speaker 1: Objects began to move inexplicably. Kitchen utensils would be found
Speaker 1: scattered across the floor, and personal items woul vanish from
Speaker 1: one room only to re at another. A cold, depressive
Speaker 1: atmosphere began to permeate the house, a palpable sense of
Speaker 1: being watched by an unseen and unwelcome presence. Family members
Speaker 1: reported seeing shadowy figures darting at the edge of their
Speaker 1: vision and hearing disembodied whispers that seemed to mock and
Speaker 1: threaten him. The activity soon took on a more physically
Speaker 1: aggressive and terrifying nature. The family reported being pushed by
Speaker 1: unseen hands and mysterious scratches appeared on their bodies. The
Speaker 1: children were particularly targeted, complaining of terrifying nightmares and seeing
Speaker 1: monstrous figures in their bedrooms at night. The family's emotional
Speaker 1: and psychological state began to deteriorate under the relentless spiritual assault.
Speaker 1: They were living in a state of constant fear within
Speaker 1: their own home. Desperate and terrified, the family realized they
Speaker 1: were dealing with something far beyond their comprehension. This was
Speaker 1: not a simple haunting by lost soul. It felt intelligent, malicious,
Speaker 1: and profoundly evil. In their search for help, they turned
Speaker 1: to the one couple in the country known for handling
Speaker 1: such and streme cases, Ed and Lorraine Warren. Ed Warren
Speaker 1: was a self taught demonologist and his wife, Lorraine, was
Speaker 1: a professed clairvoyant and medium. By the nineteen eighties, they
Speaker 1: had achieved international fame for their work on high profile
Speaker 1: cases like the Amityville horror and the paren Family haunting,
Speaker 1: which would later inspire the film The Conjuring. The Warrens
Speaker 1: specialized in what they identified as demonic activity, infestations by
Speaker 1: non human evil entities, which they considered far more dangerous
Speaker 1: than human ghosts. Upon arriving at the Sheffield house, the
Speaker 1: Warrens conducted their investigation. Lorraine used her clairvoyant abilities to
Speaker 1: sense the nature of the entity, while Ed documented evidence
Speaker 1: and interviewed the family. They quickly concluded that the family
Speaker 1: was not dealing with a ghost, but was the target
Speaker 1: of a demonic entity that was attempting to break down
Speaker 1: their free will in order to possess one of them.
Speaker 1: The Warrens claimed the entity was using classic tactics of infestation, oppression,
Speaker 1: and aggression to terrorize the family and the submission. They
Speaker 1: documented cold spots, bowel odors with no discernible source, and
Speaker 1: the physical evidence of scratches and moved objects. Convinced that
Speaker 1: the family was in grave danger, the Warrants determined that
Speaker 1: the only solution was a formal exorcism of the house.
Speaker 1: They contacted a priest from the local diocese, who, after
Speaker 1: revering to evidence and the severity of the family's plight,
Speaker 1: agreed to perform the rite. The exorcism itself was reportedly
Speaker 1: a violent and terrifying ordeal. As the priests began the
Speaker 1: prayers and rituals, the house allegedly erupted in a furious
Speaker 1: display of paranormal activity. The family and investigators president described
Speaker 1: a cacophony of horrific sounds, growls, shrieks, and banging from
Speaker 1: all corners of the house. The temperature plummeted, and a
Speaker 1: powerful unseen force was said to have slam doors and
Speaker 1: thrown objects across rooms. The entity was fighting back, resisting
Speaker 1: the sacred rights with all its power. According to the
Speaker 1: Warren's account, the priest stood his ground, continuing the prayers
Speaker 1: for hours, until finally a sense of peace settled over
Speaker 1: the house. The oppressive atmosphere lifted, and the malevolent presence
Speaker 1: was god the power of prayer prevailed. In the aftermath,
Speaker 1: the family reported that the terrifying activities ceased. They were
Speaker 1: left traumatized by their experience, but were finally free from
Speaker 1: the torment that consumed their lives. The Sheffield Demon House
Speaker 1: became another chilling case file for the Warrens, the stark
Speaker 1: example of what they believed to be the reality of
Speaker 1: demonic evil in the modern world. The story serves as
Speaker 1: a dark and unsettling counterpoint to the more romantic ghost
Speaker 1: stories of the Berkshires, a terrifying reminder that some legends
Speaker 1: speak not of sorrowful spirits, but of an ancient and
Speaker 1: oppressive darkness. From the sorrowful spirit of a heartbroken soldier
Speaker 1: on Mount Greylock to the malevolent force that terrorized the
Speaker 1: Sheffield Home, the stories of the Berkshires are as very
Speaker 1: as the landscape itself. They are trails born of tragedy,
Speaker 1: of history and of the deep, primal fear of the
Speaker 1: unknown that lurks in the dark woods and old houses.
Speaker 1: Whether you believe them to beat literal truth, folkloric warnings,
Speaker 1: or simply the products of overactive imaginations, their power is undeniable.
Speaker 1: These legends have woven themselves into the fabric of this
Speaker 1: region of New England, becoming a part of its identity.
Speaker 1: They remind us that the past is never truly gone.
Speaker 1: It echoes in the rustling leaves, in the silence of
Speaker 1: a stone chamber, and in the chill that runs down
Speaker 1: your spine on the lonely country road. So the next
Speaker 1: time you find yourself in these beautiful ancient hills. Listen closely,
Speaker 1: you might just hear the whispers for yourself. I'm Steve Stockton.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.