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Many ghost hunters know a few haunted locations that consistently provide ghostly phenomena.
One of the largest and most haunted cemeteries in Portsmouth, NH fits that description.
South Street cemetery isn’t the official name of the location, but it’s what most people call it. This lovely, slightly eerie cemetery is at the intersection of South Street and Sagamore Avenue, not far from downtown Portsmouth, NH.
Until recently, I hadn’t researched the cemetery very much. I simply knew the “hot spots” where we usually photograph ghostly anomalies, and where ghost hunters’ dowsing rods detect the strongest paranormal energy.
(NOTE: I no longer recommend using divination tools of any kind, including dowsing rods, except to identify underground streams that might produce infrasound.)
THE CEMETERY’S ‘HOT SPOTS’
We always visit the graves just outside the cemetery walls. Several headstones have been stolen from those sites since my previous visit. That’s so sad. However, the raised mounds remain, and they tend to be very good for ghostly phenomena including elevated EMF levels, apparitions and the murmuring sounds of nearby ghosts.
Note: If you visit graves at the wooded perimeter of South Street cemetery, especially at dusk, be sure to go with a group. Though the police have done a good job of patrolling the area, the woods were sometimes a temporary shelter for homeless people in past years.
Women should be especially cautious near the woods and at the graves just outside the cemetery walls. There seems to be an unpleasant male entity (ghost) there.
We also pause at one of the crypts, at a couple of locations that students usually describe as “eerie” or “creepy”, and at the smaller entrance on the far side of the cemetery.
The actual history of the cemetery has provided some good reasons why its apparent ghostly “hot spots” are so hot.
For example, our ghost hunting classes generally meet at the main entrance to the cemetery. It’s near one of the highest points on the north side of the cemetery. We almost always sense something odd — but also sacred — when we start our ghost investigations there.
Research reveals that the elevated spot is where a gallows stood in the 1700s… a site with some lurid history.
The earliest gallows was a “hanging tree” where two early executions included Penelope Henry and Sarah Simpson, “turned off the back of a cart” in 1739. (That expression meant that — after standing on a cart positioned beneath the gallows — the cart pulled away, leaving them hanging.)
From my experience, most sites of “hanging trees” tend to be haunted. People report paranormal activity at or near (within a half block) of the site.
THE UNJUST DEATH OF RUTH BLAY
One of the most gruesome stories is the hanging of Ruth Blay, a 25-year-old schoolteacher. She was convicted of concealing the death of a newborn, later found to be stillborn.
According to the charges, Ms. Blay had buried the infant beneath loose floorboards in her schoolroom. The corpse — wrapped in a cloak — was discovered by 5-year-old Betsey Pettengill and some of her friends.
Ruth Blay was immediately “apprehended” by a man named Isaac Brown, who was paid ten pounds (approximately $2000 in 2008 dollars) for his services.
The young schoolteacher’s trial was rushed, and the sentence was harsh, but the people of Portsmouth defended the popular schoolteacher. Numerous briefs were filed with the British court, requesting a reprieve for Ms. Blay.
Just one chance remained for her pardon on December 30st, 1768, the day that her execution was scheduled, but the sheriff decided not to wait. In fact, he changed the time of her hanging to an hour earlier than planned, so he wouldn’t be late for dinner that evening.
It was not a popular move. An angry mob gathered near the gallows.
Likewise, Ruth Blay did not go quietly to her death. (Note: When I see this in a history, it’s another good reason to look for a ghost.)
According to the legends recorded by journalist C. W. Brewster in the mid-1800s…
“…as Ruth was carried through the streets, her shrieks filled the air. She was dressed in silk, and was driven under the gallows in a cart.”
The crowd shouted angrily as High Sheriff Thomas Packer hastily positioned the cart beneath the gallows. He looped the noose around Ruth’s neck and then — with a brusque command to the horses — drove the cart away, leaving the young woman’s body swinging from the rope. Sheriff Packer did not stop to look back. Instead, he drove the cart to arrive home in time for his meal. He was apparently unaware that — as he drove away — a rider had arrived at the gallows with an urgent letter.
A stay of execution had been issued by the Royal Governor of New Hampshire, but it arrived minutes after Ms. Blay’s death. If Packer hadn’t changed the execution hour, Ruth Blay would have lived.
Outraged, a mob marched to the sheriff’s house. There, they hung an effigy of Packer, and placed beneath it a sign that said,
“Am I to lose my dinner
This woman for to hang?
Come draw away the cart, my boys-
Don’t stop to say amen.”
Then, the crowd carried the effigy through the streets to be sure that every citizen knew of Packer’s cruelty, and finally — according to some versions of the story — burned the effigy in front of his home.
Ruth Blay was buried in an unmarked grave about 300 feet north of the small pond near the middle of South Street cemetery. That’s the location where we usually record the greatest number of ghostly anomalies in our photos. It’s also where people first notice that their cameras aren’t working correctly.
(Those cameras are usually fine after people leave the cemetery. This kind of problem is normal in profoundly haunted settings.)
According to legend, two gravestones glow with spectral light, near Ms. Blay’s burial spot. We’ve noticed quite a few glowing stones in that vicinity, and they drew comments during our class on Saturday, 13 Sep 2008.
Ruth Blay’s ghost may haunt the site of her death and burial. Her spirit — and perhaps the baby’s — has also been reported at the site of the schoolhouse, around 94 Main Avenue in south Hampton, NH.
Note: According to state records, Sheriff Packer was responsible for executing the only three women ever hung in New Hampshire.
Similar to Ruth Blay, the other two women — hung on December 27, 1739 (almost exactly 29 years before Ms. Blay’s death) — were convicted of “feloniously concealing the death of infant bastard child.”
The house where the sheriff lived (and ate his dinners on time) was at the northeast corner of State and Court Streets in Portsmouth. His house became Col. Brewster’s Tavern, which George Washington stayed at for four nights.
In 1813, the house burned to the ground and was replaced by the Treadwell Jenness House, built in 1818. According to some, that location is haunted.
Sheriff Packer was still in office on June 22nd, 1771, when he died. Some claim that he was buried in — and haunts — Portsmouth’s North Cemetery. It’s possible that he does. However, the North Cemetery gravestone of Thomas Packer (d. 1793) is for one the sheriff’s two sons.
Ruth Blay isn’t the only spirit with a good reason to haunt South Street cemetery. Two famous murder victims are also interred at the cemetery.
SMUTTYNOSE MURDER VICTIMS
On the night of March 6th, 1873, Norwegian immigrants Karen and Anethe Christensen were murdered on Smuttynose Island in the Isles of Shoals. Both women were strangled, and one had been assaulted with an ax. A third woman had been attacked with them, and she identified the murderer as a German immigrant, Louis Wagner.
According to trial evidence, Wagner had rowed out to the island, committed his evil deeds, and then rowed back to the mainland. He was captured in Boston, but until his hanging in 1875, Wagner maintained that he was innocent.
Since then, many people have speculated about what really happened on the night of the murder. One of the most famous stories supporting Wagner’s innocence is the best-selling novel, The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve.
Though Wagner was buried in Maine, the graves of the murder victims are in the Harmony Grove section of South Street cemetery.
We haven’t investigated their graves yet, but recommend them to other ghost hunters in the Portsmouth area. When questions linger after a murder, we often find reports of paranormal activity around the graves.
HISTORY OF PORTSMOUTH’S SOUTH STREET CEMETERY
South Street cemetery is actually at least five cemeteries: Cotton Burial Ground (1671), Elmwood Cemetery, Proprietors’ Burial Ground (1831), and Harmony Grove (1847), and Sagamore Cemetery (1871).
The first record for Cotton Burial Ground appeared in June 1671:
“It was agreed with Goodman William Cotton to fence the town’s land that lyeth by Goodman Skates, for a trayning place, to cutt down all the trees and bushes and to clear the same from said ground by the first of April next, and for his soe doeing he and his heirs shall have the above feeding and use thereof as a pasture only, for twenty years–and the said land shall still remayne for a trayning field and to bury dead in.”
(The military training field may explain why Sean, one September 2008 student, saw ghostly soldiers marching at the eastern end of the cemetery.)
In the 1850s, after a fire at South Street church, several graves were moved to Proprietors’ Burial Ground, including the 1761 graves of Samuel and Margaret Haven, children of Rev. Samuel Haven.
(When any grave is moved, we quite often note odd, sometimes ghostly energy around the body’s new location.)
In addition, the Cutts-Penhallow family cemetery was moved in 1875 from Green Street to a grove of trees near the center of the South Street property. Many visitors to the South Street cemetery comment on this peculiar, dark section of the cemetery. We’re not sure if it’s haunted, but it’s certainly creepy at dusk.
SUMMARY
Portsmouth’s South Street cemetery is an ideal location for ghost hunting. It offers a wide range of paranormal phenomena in a convenient seacoast location about 10 minutes from US 95.
According to the sign at the main entrance, the cemetery closes at 6:30 p.m.
The police patrol the area regularly. During one of our September 2008 classes, we were stopped by the police. We explained that we were there to take photos. One student’s backpack was inspected, before we could continue the class. (It was only 5 p.m., so I’m not sure why we drew attention.)
However, the cemetery is a popular park for bicyclists, joggers, people walking their dogs, and ghost enthusiasts. We recommend it for research; the stories in this article barely scratch the surface of the tales that could suggest ghosts.
Wear shoes suited to walking; the cemetery is huge. Also bring bug spray and a spare camera. Most of us had camera problems at some point during the evening, and a backup camera was useful.
If you’re hoping to take some good “ghost photos” or encounter other ghostly phenomena, visit Portsmouth’s South Street cemetery.
In addition, if you park in the small lot at Little Harbor Road, be sure to notice the energy as you enter the cemetery. (It’s a slightly wooded entry, sometimes overgrown with vines and branches. Many ghost hunters comment on unique phenomena there.)
References
Among Old New England Inns, by Mary Caroline Crawford, p. 303
Brewster’s Rambles #59, SeacoastNH.com
Haunted Portsmouth, by Roxie J. Zwicker
An Old Town by the Sea, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Portsmouth Cemeteries, by Glenn A. Knobloc, p. 73
Provincial and State Papers of New Hampshire, p. 206
Re: More info on Ruth Blay, by samanthabalsavage1
Smuttynose 101 – A Quick Murder Study, SeacoastNH.com
The Tragic Story of Ruth Blay, SeacoastNH.com
Washington’s walk about city put a stir in the crowd, by Amie Plummer, Fosters.com
When living near Portsmouth some years ago, I brought my two sons to the cemetary just down the road from South Street, following a report that one of the stones glowed in the moonlight due to the type of stone it was made of. We didnt find the glowing stone, but my young son, who was 3 1/2 at the time, saw the ghost of a boy poking his head out of a gravestone near where we parked the car. He was inside the car while my other son and I got out to look for the stone – and he was upset when we came back, describing the boy ghost who was “angry because I am alive and he is not”. My other son, who is never cold, all of a sudden stated he was very chilly, and felt something was in the car with us. Needless to say, we left the cemetary right after that.
Thanks for the comment, Nora. I have mixed feelings about bringing children to haunted places. On one hand, children seem to be very perceptive about paranormal phenomena. On the other, they can become frightened at an impressionable age, and that could be a negative influence in the future.
I generally leave it up to the parents to decide. In my opinion, there are far scarier things on TV than in haunted locations, but… it’s an individual issue.
That said, even my teenaged son was startled when he thought that he saw the ghost of a little boy in one haunted cemetery. So, it’s not just little guys who are affected.
If you’re looking for labradorite stones, which are most likely to glow at night, check with the UNH science department. Someone in geology may have some good locations to see that very normal phenomenon, and — after being upset by ghosts — a genuinely fun trip to a cemetery may offset any lingering concerns after the South Street experience.
I live directly across from the Sagamore South st cemeteryfor 40 years and this glowing stone does not glow every this cemetery was my playground in my early years. thought was my parents house and now i have the same house and have sat on the top of the glowing tombstone i have yet to see one picture of the stone that nobody can seem to find . if it was glowing every night it would be a beacon . next time you go there bring a old tape recorder and put it face down on a grave while recording and leave it for a while later retrieve it and then listen to the tape. do this in different parts of the cemetery and see what you may here that could make you think twice about going to cemeteries anymore
Thanks, Brent!
I’ve seen the cemetery’s glowing headstones myself. I regret not noting exactly which ones they were; at the time, I was teaching a class in ghost hunting, and wish I’d paused the lesson to investigate whatever caused the glow.
I’ll try the tape recorder suggestion. During a couple of classes, students placed recorders at a crypt on the south side of the cemetery. As far as I know, they didn’t hear anything especially frightening when they played the recordings.
we are portsmouth locals and have always been fascinated by the stories and folklore we learn.my wife is quite something of a historian and recently has taken a more closer interest in paranormal activity. i am excited to join her as she has also sparked my interest! this was a very intersting article and we plan on going to the cemetery tonight. thank you!
We stopped by the cemetery on our way home from Massachusetts to do some “letterboxing.” As we walked back to our car, which was parked at the Little Harbor Road entrance, I suddenly smelled pipe smoke. My husband also noticed it. We looked all around to see if anyone had recently passed by the area with a pipe and could see no one. Then I remembered a little blurb in the letterboxing clue about the cemetery being haunted. I was just wondering if anyone else had ever noticed anything like that.
Thanks for the information, Patty! I’m an avid letterboxer as well — and didn’t realize there’s a letterbox nearby — so this gives me an additional reason to revisit that location.
I’m noticing more & more fragrances and aromas at haunted sites now. I’m not sure why that’s happening, but it’s an interesting phenomenon.
Thanks again!
Cheerfully,
Fiona
Not only is the cemetary haunted but someone should check out the Pappas Bldg.
Thanks, Suzy, that’s a good suggestion!
I had a double spiritual encounter last Oct 11th. i need to talk to you about! Also, 4 days ago, i was on the ground writing in my diary in front of headstones and i took a self pic. of me! Later that night, i could not believe what i saw!! Please contact me on this!! And if so,, when are you going to be out at that cem.?????
Thanks soooo much!!!
My name is Brent Taylor and I moved to Sagamore Ave just up 6 houses from South St intersection. Directly across from the cemetery in 1976 and the large mill pond is across from my house and I learned to ice skate and play hockey. I was 10 years old and the cemetery became my playground. I know every inch of the cemetery over the years and most of the unique tombstones. Most burials are Plague deaths. A person who wrote a story about the glowing gravestone claims it close to the pond and glows 24/7 is ridiculous. The glowing stone is more in the middle of the cemetery and isn’t flanks by two other stones. Its solitary and only viewable when it wants to be and there is only one glowing stone not three and where are all the pictures of these they claim? I have actually slept in the cemetery on various occasions for coming home drunk on my high school days and forced to sleep outside as punishment and i had a special place i would sleep up high to be safe from animals and other people and the spookies i called them. There is a mausoleum with a flat roof. There is only one that has a flat top. and i would sleep up there (I say sleep loosely). You can’t really actually sleep being dead quiet and what you hear. Many people have died in the cemetery for various reasons
homeless people doing Heroin and OD’ing . Suicides mostly from what the caretaker has told me over the years On South st where the geese and sheep are is where the caretaker lives. The father did it and when he died his son continued.I see a lot of round lights of various colors in the early am. last fall i saw a single light and watched it for an hour and got my phone and turned on the camera and walked across the street to the cemetery wall about 2:30am i was about to climb over the stone wall and suddenly noticed i was enveloped in a fog of hat was moving and swirling and was becoming very thick and wet and cold . the hair on the back of my neck stood up like static and realized i made a mistake going to investigate the light i saw and then to retreat to my house quickly because this was not the usual fog from the weather. This was only in front of my house and the fog was moving with directions . as soon as i got passed the center yellow line on the street it stopped and
stayed. The entire time i video recorded everything while i was running and i wasn’t like stopped and recorded everything in a professional manner until i made it to my front porch the whole time i had my girlfriend from Thailand on Facebook video chat and she was watching the as good as she can intil i get to my porch and trying to make out what just happened and i was actually worried about my safety for a awhile. Now i have video and pictures of this fog which i now believe to be apparitions because i can see many faces in this fog and this fog was far from normal. my girl told me that i need to go quickly apologize for interfering in whatever i was not invited to see because this apparitional fog was so thick it obscured everything . i was trying to see what the single light was that was like high up midtree level and it didn’t move and being 2:30am and nothing in my area that would explain off this light as construction a street light or traffic light no houses or structures and plus this was up in the tree line and not explainable. you can actually see faces in this fog and this scares me knowing i experienced something that was real and was alive in some undead way. South Cemetery Sagamore Cemetery Proprietor Burial Ground and the many names it has had since “The City of Portsmouth”. One of the Original 13 Colonies and being Number 5 of the Thirteen. I have seen many odd headstones but they are not headstones . they are laying flat on the ground and 6’-7’ long and these special stones are very old and they are separate from the others and surrounded by tall trees and one stone has a looks different and has a big Heart engraved in stone and there are a few others that are big and flat on the ground and you can tell aren’t supposed to stand up like the regular ones. in the trees where the trail is from Clough field to the cemetery. the headstones that are on both sides of the trail in the woods before the trail comes out in the back tree line have Mason and Masonic Temple symbols Letter G and the square and compass and i noticed that some of the headstones have been neglected because the date of death has not been engraved on the stone and the day of birth is on the stone and the person would be over a 120 years old. all the symbolism is on the stone but where is the Free Masons lodge to give them a FYI about one of their own needs attention and put the date of death on this incomplete burial and take care of one of their members. There is a headstone but made from an alloy that doesn’t rust. I am a Welder and know its not made of metal but an odd alloy. not aluminum or Magnesium and its thin and hollow. Hells Angles Biker was killed and buried at Sagamore cemetery and that general location and i believe this may be his tombstone.you can tell there is some kind of symbolism with the shape material and what is written on it.there is a grave of an obese man and the used a piano shipping crate as a coffin because of how big the man was . i feel unsettled and anxious when i was in the wooded cemetery where the trail is to clough field . i feel uneasy and a feel that i shouldn’t be there for some reason and the urge to leave quickly. in this area i have family buried there that were children from 6 months old- 8 years old and five brothers and sisters they parished in a house fire in Portsmouth on islington street across from whats now Hannifords and Bank of America across the street duplex houses were built there in the late 1960s and my uncle and aunt were outside talking and having a few beers when the furnace exploded in the basement which was under the staircase to the second floor and made it impossible for my uncle to rescue any of his children and my aunt had put tall bureaus in front of the windows and were to little to move them and people outside kept my uncle from saving his children . only one child survived only because she went to the kitchen for water when the furnace exploded and took the stairs to the second floor out and emblazoned with fire
The South Cemetery at the tree line you shouldn’t go alone especially women because of a male entity . This is where my cousin are buried from being killed in a house fire and my uncle the children’s father killed him self shortly after his children died and he couldn’t live with himself and he ended up killing himself and that male entity is probably my uncle He too is buried in that area next to his children. McLaughlin is headstone name on both graves.