Hollow Hill

Bradford College, MA, Ghosts – 1. Start Here

Bradford College, Bradford, Massachusetts – 11 March 2000

Pre-visit preparations

Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much at Bradford. Many ghost stories at colleges like Bradford have scant foundations, and are actually stories traded among students as a way of bonding, being part of the community, and other psychological benefits.

Samantha Farley, of Bradford College, has written an excellent study about this, The Ghostly Legends of Bradford College. Her thoughtful report sparked this visit to Bradford College.

On the morning of March 11th, I’d received a new quartz pendulum in the mail, and decided to try it as part of this ghost hunt. I wasn’t expecting much at the college, so this investigation seemed a benign site for testing the new pendulum.

Before the investigation, my very skeptical son (called “James” in most of my articles) and I tested the pendulum.

We worked independently, so our results wouldn’t influence each other. We asked questions about Bradford’s various legends and locations. We soon realized that very specific questions were necessary to get any results at all.

It’s as if Bradford — or something at it — didn’t want to reveal anything. Not at first, anyway.

We repeated our questions, sometimes several times, to see if our results would be consistent. Usually, they were.

Greenleaf House – pendulum didn’t move when asked if it was haunted.

Tupelo East – very little pendulum movement.

Tupelo West – enthusiastic circling, indicating positive hauntings.

“The Tunnels” – referring to a network of underground tunnels, connecting several of the older buildings.

When I asked about the tunnels, the pendulum remained still. When James tried a variety of questions, the pendulum finally indicated that there was “something weird” there.

Denworth Theatre, upstairs – no response.

This may be because I misunderstood the name in conversation, thinking it was “Danforth” when it was Denworth. I’d asked the pendulum if Danforth Hall was haunted.

Denworth Theatre, downstairs – delayed response, in the affirmative.

Academy – consistently even, positive response.

Based upon this, I decided that we’d start with Academy, the site of “Amy and the priest” stories, and then check the tunnels. Then we’d explore Denworth, particularly the downstairs, and finally the Tupelos. If time permitted, we’d check Greenleaf House, just in case the pendulum was wrong.

I was wholly skeptical of encountering anything notable on this casual ghost hunt. I’ve witnessed hauntings at colleges in the past. They’ve always received far more publicity than the manifestations warranted.

I packed two cameras plus extra film, a notepad, the pendulum, and my EMF meter. We left for Bradford College, to meet other ghost hunters at the campus at 3 p.m.

Next, read about our first investigations at Bradford College – Academy, first and second floors

Bradford College, MA – Tunnel Orbs

Bradford College – now Northpoint Bible College – has an eerie reputation.

From well-known ghosts in places like the college theatre and tunnels beneath the college, to the connection with Lovecraft’s Necronomicon, it’s a mysterious site.

It’s also private property, since Bradford College closed, and was sold to a new owner.

However, the legends remain. Those who’ve lived at Bradford, and those who’ve investigated its ghosts… we won’t forget what a strange, sometimes creepy place it was.

The following photos show one of the tunnels beneath what was then Bradford College, near Denworth Hall.

First photo, enhanced & annotated:
Bradford tunnel

First photo (original):
Bradford Tunnel - original photo
It was not especially damp in this tunnel, and there were no shiny surfaces to reflect the flash. Dust is a possibility, but the question is: Why do we have lots of orbs in some photos – but not in others – when those photos were taken seconds apart from each other?

In the original photo, I can see at least ten orbs. I’ve indicated many of them in the smaller photo, above. Some are clearer than others.

This is not proof that Bradford College is haunted. Orbs are not necessarily ghosts.

However, unexplained orbs usually indicate a location where we’ll hear many ghost stories.

With or without orb photos, the intense first-person stories — including those of our investigators and the students we interviewed — suggest that Bradford College (no longer at that location) — is truly haunted.

This is one in a series of articles about the ghosts of Bradford College

Gilson Road Cemetery, NH – 6. First Follow-Up Visits (Nov 99)

During November and December 1999, a couple of us returned to Gilson Road Cemetery. We went back several times after our first formal investigation at Gilson. The following are notes from some of those 1999 follow-up visits.

8 Nov 99

Who: Two of us

When: Early afternoon

Purpose: To check for daytime phenomena, also for things that may have caused anomalies in first rolls of film that came back.

The photo at left has a small, reddish orb above a grave, and at the far right side of the photo there are a couple of “eyes” just above the wall. I enlarged them in the right photo. Results: Didn’t find anything to explain the “eyes.” I expected to find mushrooms or something similar. Energy seemed to be building at left corner of cemetery. Hiked to back wall past the cemetery, took photos. No anomalies.

9 Nov 99

Who: Two of us

When: Early afternoon

Purpose: To check for gypsy moth nest, or anything else in trees that accounted for “sparkles,” some of which showed up in photos.

Results: The trees were nearly bare, with nothing to explain the reflections/sparkles of the 5th. Energy building, not so much as on the 8th, but still coming from the area past the back left corner of the cemetery.

25 Nov 99

Who: Two of us

When: Late morning

Purpose: Just to check it out

Results: Saw a ghostly figure that vanished. Sensed two or three entities (male forms) in wooded area past back left corner of the cemetery. Saw, in our time, an adult-sized figure in a dark capote, probably brown-black suede. Figure was about 30 feet past back wall of cemetery, had to be near swamp. He was there for a few seconds, walking through the woods. He passed in back of a narrow tree — narrower than his body — but didn’t emerge out the other side. I couldn’t believe that he vanished. I walked around, looking for him, still thinking he was a hiker or something. Nobody was there.

Otherwise, very low spectral energy. Average for an apparently haunted cemetery in bright sunlight.

26 Nov 99 (1)

Who: Two of us at first, then a third person

When: Dusk

Purpose: To take some photos

Results: Encountered what seemed like ghosts. Misty night produced questionable photos, but some anomalies other than orbs. Saw steady phosphorescent flickering around one headstone at top of cemetery. Flashes of light, bands of blue-white color, in woods behind cemetery. Most appeared to be about ten feet behind wall, determined by which trees lights were behind and which they were in front of.

Energy building, especially at back left corner of cemetery. Bands of spectral energy along left wall, and apparently across the street. Spirits (as “people”) arriving one or two at a time, from far right, behind cemetery. Flurry of violence perceived, then totally quiet again.

Our late 1999 research reports continue at part two, Gilson Road Cemetery – 1999 follow-up visits

Gilson Road Cemetery, NH – 7. More Follow-Ups (Nov 99)

26 Nov 99 (2)
Who: Six of us When: About 8:30 p.m., for about a half hour

Purpose: To use disposable cameras (one for each person) and random photos. Goal was to estimate how many “ghost photos” a beginner can expect, using the cheapest disposable camera available, with almost no how-to instructions, and on a random night…which turned out to be too damp for reliable results.

Weird photo from Gilson Cemetery

Results: Many ghost photographs. Averaged three anomaly photos per roll of 27 pictures. Orbs were discounted due to damp conditions. Anomalies included unexplained lights, particularly a blue line in two of Alan’s photos that corresponded to similar lines in my photos and one other person’s pictures, as well. Other anomalies included some odd mists.

The best photos of the night were a dense mist rising from near two graves, and a baffling, swirling mist at another grave.

Note: With what I’ve learned from my photo research since then, the photo might show my own breath. I’d say that’s a 50/50 chance, since I haven’t been able to fully duplicate it, but came close. Maybe.

ADDITIONAL VISITS

28 Nov 99

Who: Two of us When: About 7 p.m., for 10-15 minutes

Purpose: To use spray bottle of water to try to duplicate the damp conditions of the 26th, and compare with “dry” photos taken at same time on the 28th.

Results: Active entity present. There was some other energy present, like something there for dinner. It wanted us to leave, so we did. Telepathic communication was almost verbal, “Get out. Get out NOW.”

On 6 Dec, some of the photos were printed. The two I took when I was getting that telepathic message, have a purple smear across them, similar to the photo I use on the opening page of this website. (It’s not a light leak; I was using a different camera, and the light doesn’t extend outside the frame.)

30 Nov 99

Who: Three of us When: About 8:45 p.m., for 10 minutes

Purpose: To check the energy levels, and take a few photos.

Results: Numerous active anomalies. Strong sulphur smell in area, probably from swamp. Something grazed the edge of my hat, sounding like a higher-pitched bumblebee, and much faster. I could feel the heat from it as it passed. Left no mark on my polarfleece hat. No other sound before, during, or after it passed.

Alan’s brand new flashlight dimmed, flickered, and then went out as if the batteries had died. It was fine immediately before and after the cemetery visit, even when we tried to make it fail again.

No significant energy, even at the back wall of the cemetery. Quite flat, in fact. Like almost every other sort-of-haunted cemetery. Nothing remarkable.

My cameras recorded some odd light effects, but I’m 90% certain it was a glitch at the camera lab. It affected four photos in a row, almost identically.

2 Dec 99 (1)

Who: Four of us When: Noon

Purpose: Verify headstones, check locations of anomalies to start compiling data relative to graves and cemetery “hot spots.”

Results: The vicinity of certain graves remains the most active for non-orb anomalies. However, photos taken near the wall itself were not productive.

2 Dec 99 (2)

Who: Three (?) ghost hunters When: After 6 p.m.

Purpose: Felt drawn to the cemetery

Results: Many anomalies. Rampant spectral activity. Whispered warning from entity. Found an unexplained warm spot over a depression/grave near the Lawrences’. Police asked group to leave, and waited while they did.

We’ve agreed to stay away from this cemetery at night, for awhile at least.

4 Dec 99

We didn’t visit Gilson again, but met a young woman who’d been there with friends about two months ago. After her nighttime visit to Gilson, she’d told several mutual friends the story she told me: She saw the black shape of a man in a hood rushing towards her and her friends, and then he vanished. The girls left the cemetery, screaming in terror. This matches with a story from about two weeks ago, when two other ghost hunters encountered an entity described as a black shape like a man in a hooded garment.

It could also be the nighttime appearance of the man that I saw during the day on November 25th. I was thinking along Colonial lines, so I described him as wearing a brown-black capote (hooded garment).

Hampton, NH – Ghost of ‘Goody’ Cole of Hampton, NH

‘Goody’ Cole is one of New Hampshire’s oldest ghosts.

cross According to folklore, she died in 1680, and a stake was put through her heart and a horseshoe added to it, to be sure that she never came back. She was accused of witchcraft at least three times, and — as a result — spent most of her latter days in jail.

She may haunt the site where she lived and died — today, that’s Hampton, NH’s Tuck Memorial Museum — and perhaps where she was buried. This is a two-part article about her life, death, and why she has haunted Hampton.

There are few records for early New Hampshire, which was very rural in Goody Cole’s era. In fact, it was still part of Massachusetts.

We aren’t even sure whether her name was Eunice (Unice, in some records) or Elizabeth. She was generally referred to as ‘Goodwife’ or simply ‘Goody’ Cole, the wife–and later widow–of William Cole.

WILLIAM AND GOODY COLE

It appears that William Cole was born in 1582 in Bristol, England. His wife (whose maiden name may have been Doughty or Doughtie) was probably born in 1607 in Hempstead, Gloucestershire, England. If our dates are correct, she was 25 years younger than her husband, which may explain some quirks in their relationship. They married in England around 1625.

cem2-bw-pd The Coles sailed from England to Boston in 1637. They first moved to Exeter, NH, and then to the Hampton area. There are records of four or five children, some born in Bristol, England, and others in Wells, Maine, just north of Hampton. However, other researchers insist that the couple had no children.

It’s possible that in 17th century New Hampshire, there were two or three men in named William Cole, each with a wife named Eunice or Elizabeth. Even the best genealogical records seem uncertain about the names.

GOODY COLE, AN INDEPENDENT-MINDED WOMAN

Goody Cole was probably not a very docile wife. William Cole gave her his entire estate as a ‘deed of gift’, simply to keep her from leaving him. The 25-year age difference may have been a factor, especially as William grew older. (That 1656 gift was reversed by the courts in 1659, at William Cole’s request.)

Goody Cole was also an outspoken woman, in contrast with social rules of that time. Starting in 1645, she was on trial for ‘slanderous speeches’ leading to her first witchcraft trial in Boston in 1656.

Evidence against her included ‘scraping sounds’ heard by a neighbor outside his house, and attributed to witchcraft. Mrs. Cole was sent to a Boston jail.

Four years later, Goody Cole was back in Hampton. After calling someone a whore, she stood trial again and was returned to jail.

GOODY BECOMES A WIDOW

William died while Goody was imprisoned. In his May 1662 will, he left his estate to a neighbor, Thomas Webster (or Webstar). Goody Cole received only her clothes. Or, as William’s will said, ‘thatt unice Coule my wife shall have all Her Cloathes which she left with mee’.

In October 1662, Goody Cole was released from prison on the condition that she leave the area (the court’s jurisdiction) within one month. A destitute widow, she had no means to live elsewhere, and–in the face of renewed witchcraft charges–she was jailed yet again.

In 1665, Goody Cole–elderly by 17th century standards–asked to be released from jail. Her request was granted under the same condition: She had to leave the area with in a month. This time, she simply remained in jail; she had nowhere else to go.

Next: Goody Cole’s last days, and evidence that she has haunted Hampton – Witch’ Goody Cole, a Hampton, NH ghost.

Gilson Road Cemetery, NH – 5. And Then, We Were Scared (Nov 1999)

GILSON ROAD CEMETERY, NASHUA, NH – PART FIVE OF FIVE

And then we were scared

I think all of us were pretty rattled by what happened. Maybe we should have admitted how scared we were.

We each responded in our own way.

Most everyone headed for their cars. Some locked themselves inside.

I climbed back over the cemetery wall and tossed another roll of film into my camera. I didn’t want Nancy to feel as if we were waiting for her, so I started taking more pictures.

About a dozen photos later, Nancy was also ready to leave. She and Alice headed north in their car. Alan, Jane, James and I decided to go back to my house.

All of the way home, I kept hearing Jane’s shaky voice. She promised that she’d never joke in a cemetery again. She was very apologetic, and repeated that she hadn’t expected anything like this.

Alan slowly emerged from the apparent haze he’d been in during his first lengthy and intense encounter with the paranormal. He said over and over again that it was like a movie, but better… and worse.

James – most comfortable insisting that ghosts aren’t real – seemed to think the whole thing was pretty cool and didn’t say much.

I remember that I kept babbling, hoping to put it in a context for Alan so he’d understand the experience better.

(Also, I was still annoyed with Jane’s daytime joking in the cemetery, because I know that a flippant attitude or a vocal skeptic in the group can dash all hopes of getting good anomalies on film.)

Once we got home, Alan and Jane stayed to talk for awhile. About an hour later, Alice called from her mother’s cell phone.

Alice and Nancy had gone to Vale End (Wilton, NH), another, more famous haunted cemetery, and Alice had been chased by something dark and terrifying.

She was okay, but rattled. We agreed to talk about it later in the week.

The evening was finally over. I went to bed, but didn’t sleep well. Something seemed… wrong. Was it a premonition? I couldn’t decide, and tried to dismiss that thought.

But still… something felt wrong.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND ANOMALIES

Three days later, my film was back from the developer: Over a third of the photos had anomalies in them.

During the time when I felt an intense energy rushing past me, like a train (but the air didn’t move), I had – apparently – taken two photos with startling purple energy in them.

One of these photos – now famous – is below. Click on it to see it larger, with an article about the picture.

The roll of film that had jammed (not the one with the purple photo, above) had a perfectly reasonable explanation: Somehow, sand had gotten into my camera. A few images on that roll were scarred where the sand had dragged along the film. I’ll be more careful in the future.

None of Nancy’s photos had anomalies in them. She wasn’t surprised. She said that people who experience paranormal phenomena probably pick up things on film that others don’t.

She had studied my earlier photos and the negatives from them, and had said that they were exactly what they appeared to be: Anomalies. Things that “couldn’t be,” as she put it. But they were not developing or printing mistakes, double-exposures, or anything like that.

Nancy had hoped to capture similar anomalies herself, but she seemed content to have a few great photos from an eerie cemetery. I’ll use at least one of her photos in my upcoming book on ghost hunting.

Since then, I’ve tried scanning my Gilson Road photos from November 5th, to show the anomalies. One photo has six anomalies in it, including a black orb. (Black orbs are very rare.) However, they’re very dim, even with 800 ASA film.

I’ve abandoned my scanning efforts with most of those photos. Even looking at the originals, it’s like “Where’s Waldo?” trying to find the orbs. They’re easy to spot when you know where to look, but otherwise, you’d never notice them in most of the photos.

But the purple-streaked photos are my trophies from that evening, along with the chilling memories of what we witnessed.

Alan and I went back to the cemetery one sunny afternoon the following week, so I could compare my anomalies with the surroundings. I was looking for things to explain the odd lights and orbs in my photos.

We climbed over several stone walls, and studied every corner of the cemetery. The anomalies in my photos remain unexplained.

Alan and I left after about an hour at the cemetery. I could feel the energy building up again. Although it was many hours before dusk, I could feel the “people” gathering again. The massacre probably happens again most nights, whether the living are there to witness it or not.

Gilson Road Cemetery is the most intensely haunted place I have ever visited. Whatever lives and dies there each night, is still a very powerful force.

The ridiculous thing is, soon after our visit, a developer began building Tanglewood, an upscale community across the street from Gilson Road Cemetery. Most people consider me a fearless ghost hunter, almost foolhardy at times. However, I’m not sure that I’d be willing to live near Gilson Road Cemetery.

NANCY’S DEATH, SOON AFTER

One personal note about this story: My friend Nancy died of an apparent heart attack in the middle of November 1999, about a week after our first formal investigation at Gilson Road Cemetery.

A reader asked if there was any link between Nancy’s death and the Gilson visit. At the time, I didn’t think so, and I still don’t consider Gilson “dangerous.”

However, Nancy also went to Vale End Cemetery that same night.

I didn’t write about Vale End Cemetery for a couple of years. Then I did, and several networks and local TV stations swarmed at Vale End, claiming that it’s a “world’s scariest” place. In my opinion, it’s not especially “scary”, but there are some risks if you go there.

Since removing my reports from the website did not discourage people from going to Vale End Cemetery, I’ve put them back online. (There are four articles about Vale End Cemetery among our New Hampshire pages.) I talk about Nancy’s death in this article: Possible demons at Vale End Cemetery.

Right now, I prefer to think that Nancy’s intense interest in ghost photography was due to a premonition she may have had, about her own time drawing short.

Also, I’ve talked with many people who’ve visited Gilson Road Cemetery. Not one ghost hunter’s story, from recent or distant past, has tragedy linked to it.

In my opinion, the only dangers at Gilson Road Cemetery are encounters with boisterous party-goers (at keggers behind the cemetery), the usual risks if you visit a cemetery after its closed, and the occasional turned ankle since Gilson has many snake holes and depressions that indicate unmarked graves.

For additional reports about Gilson Road Cemetery, see our next page, Gilson Road Cemetery – Nov 1999 follow-up visits.