Ghosts of Coastal Maine, Part 1

Haunted coastal Maine has so many ghosts and eerie legends, I could probably spend a month researching each town. Maybe more.

Most Maine towns (and each cemetery) has at least one good “ghost story.”

Here are a few documented hauntings. (This list starts at the New Hampshire border, and continues up the coastline.)

Unless noted otherwise, these legends are from the references listed. I include them so that other researchers can investigate them, and because they’re great stories and provide starting points for further study.

For my original New England research, see our other articles at this website.

• York, Maine – Old York Cemetery

  

  According to several books, Mary Miller Jason, a “witch,” haunts the Old York Cemetery since her 1774 death. She was known as an herbalist and an exorcist in her lifetime. It is said that the crows which frequent the cemetery near her gravestone, are her “familiars.”

(Primary source: Schulte, Ghosts..Coast of Maine, p. 143.)

I believe that’s a typo in the book. During my research visit to the Old York Cemetery, I found the headstone for Mary Nasson, d. 1774, which is supposed to be haunted.

It otherwise matches the description provided by Ms. Schulte.

For more information about this “witch” grave and nearby haunts, see my articles, Haunted York, Maine – Mary Nasson’s grave, and Haunted ‘Old Burying Yard’ – York, Maine.

• Scarborough – Massacre Pond (formerly Black Point)
  The bloody ghost of Richard “Crazy Eye” Stonewall is seen at the pond where he was buried in Oct. 1697. Mr. Stonewall’s wife and infant son had been killed by Indians, and he avenged their deaths by joining the military and killing every Indian he found.

  (Source: Schulte, Ghosts..Coast of Maine, p. 125.)

  (Don’t confuse the ghost Richard “Crazy Eye” Stonewall with a New Hampshire ghost, Richard “Salt Eye” Storr.)

• Freeport – Desert of Maine

The “Desert of Maine” is now a tourist attraction, but it is the product of the ghostly work of Thomas Grayson, who bought the 300-acre farm in 1797. Upon his death, Mr. Grayson made his second wife promise to give the farm to his son, David.

Instead, the farm was given to the widow’s own son from a previous marriage.

Everything seemed fine for the first dozen years or so. Then one day, a small saucer-sized ring of sand appeared to have been pushed up from the soil near the barn. The sand grew daily, and eventually covered all of the formerly fertile land, including trees, plows, the springhouse, and even part of the barn.

At its worst, 800 acres were covered with sandy dunes and valleys.

(Source: Schulte, Ghosts..Coast of Maine, p. 119.)

• Edgecomb – Boothbay Harbor region
  Marie Antoinette’s ghost supposedly haunts the home of the late Arthur Clark and his wife. He claimed to have been part of a conspiracy to smuggle the Queen of France to Maine, and a ship loaded with the Queen’s possessions had been sent to Edgecomb. Mr. Clark’s home was soon filled with furniture, paintings, sculptures, and other valuables. It appears the late Queen of France isn’t pleased.  In addition, this story accounts for some extraordinary French antiques that appear in auctions and antique shops in this part of Maine.

  (Source: Schulte, Ghosts..Coast of Maine, p. 75.)

• Rockland – the former location of Jewell’s Boutique
  This shop, formerly a funeral home, is haunted by a ghost named “George,” perhaps George Golden, who — according to legend — was killed in a car accident on his way to serve in the military in Viet Nam. George moves items in the store, and closes doors, among other poltergeist-type manifestations.

  (Source of Boutique legend: Schulte, Ghosts..Coast of Maine, p. 15.)

  Additional notes: A reader reports that the house was originally a hospital. Then, Mr. Davis bought it, and it became a funeral parlor. Jewel’s Boutique was the third owner of the haunted house. Today, the shop is a private office.

  This reader also spoke with the former owner of the funeral home and Jewel herself. She says that the ghost is the doctor who ran the hospital. The ghost not only opens and closes doors and moves furniture, but he also pinches the bottoms of the ladies.

  The former funeral parlor owner checked his records and found no notes concerning anyone named George Golden. He reports no other stories about a man tragically killed on his way to the military during the Viet Nam era.

• Lincolnville – Mt. Megunticook Trail
  13-year-old Sarah Whitesell’s translucent apparition appears at the top of the mountain at “Maiden’s Cliff,” where she fell to her death while picking flowers in May 1865. She appeared most frequently in the 1930s and 40s. Her last documented appearance at the mountain was in 1976.

  (Source: Schulte, Ghosts..Coast of Maine, p. 21.)

• Bucksport – Bucksport Cemetery
  A friend of Hollow Hill and a former resident of Lincoln, Maine, reports that Bucksport Cemetery is very haunted. Judge Buck’s grave bears the mark of a foot, the result of a curse placed upon him when he sentenced a witch to death. During this reader’s four years in Bucksport, she recalls the judge’s headstone being changed at least twice, and the foot reappeared on each new stone, no matter what was done to remove the mark.

• Bucksport – Another cemetery
  The directions are, “Taking one of the back roads out of town, there is a large water reserve with a cemetery directly across from it.” The reader says that a young woman was decapitated in the 1960s and her head thrown in the reservoir. However, her body was not found; it’s assumed that it was washed out to sea. On foggy nights, many residents have seen the headless ghost of this young woman, wandering on this road, looking for her head.

• Bucksport – Captain’s House, Bridge Street
  Another reader has witnessed ghostly manifestations in this house, which is a captain’s house, not named the “Captain’s House.” It’s a particular style of building that allowed several wives of seafarers to live in one building, while keeping separate quarters. Today, these buildings are often used as apartments. The reader witnessed knocking sounds, a feeling as if she was being watched, and the water being turned on in an upstairs bathroom when no one was there. She reported marks like blood had dripped on the fireplace and numerous other frightening manifestations. Before she left, the spirit in the house was “sent back to Hell where it belonged,” by the prayers of several men from church. After moving out of this house, the new owner of the home found two skeletons in the basement, apparently teenage girls from the late 19th century.

• Rockport – the bridge that crosses the Goose River
  Since 1920, the ghost of Revolutionary War hero William Richardson has appeared at a bridge in Rockport, near “lovers’ lane.” Mr. Richardson is a jovial ghost, usually offering a pitcher of ale to anyone he encounters. He was killed at the Goose River bridge by three Tories who were enraged by his celebrating, at the time of the Revolution.

  (Source: Schulte, Ghosts..Coast of Maine, p. 51.)

• Tenant’s Harbor – East Wind Inn
  Haunted by the ghost of Gilbert Armstrong, co-owner of shipbuilders Armstrong & Keane in the era of the three-masted schooners. His ghost is seen climbing the main staircase, and his footsteps are heard even when nothing can be seen on the stairs. Windows are closed with a slam, breaking the glass. Doors swing, unaccountably. There may be other ghosts in the Inn, as well. In 1987, a guest cheerfully claimed that she’d been held firmly in her bed by a ghost, putting pressure on top of her.

  (Source: Schulte, Ghosts..Coast of Maine, p. 27.)

This list of legends and spooky places continues on our next page, More ghosts of coastal Maine