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“Blood Cemetery” is the local name for Pine Hill Cemetery in Hollis, near Nashua, NH. That nickname refers to the ghost of Abel Blood, who supposedly haunts the graveyard.
Urban legends claim occult connections to Abel Blood. However, history portrays him as a solid, very Christian and philanthropic member of the community. We have no reason to believe otherwise.
Whoever (or whatever) haunts Blood Cemetery… it’s probably not Abel Blood.
Pine Hill Cemetery (aka “Blood Cemetery”) is a lovely place to visit, but it doesn’t have a dramatically “haunted” feeling that we find at other ghostly sites.
However, our own experiences and reliable stories from others lead us to believe that it has some paranormal activity. We recommend this cemetery for daytime ghost hunting only.
Here are some of our reports. (Some links may not be available while we’re redesigning this website.)
- The Haunting of Abel Blood (10/1999)
- An odd misty photograph (10/1999)
- How it felt in the cemetery (10/1999)
- HALLOWEEN 1999
- The Small Grey Ghost, a true story of the paranormal.
- Halloween night, a baffling experience
- November 1st, a possible Otherworldly explanation?
- More eerie events at Blood Cemetery
- Blood Cemetery’s Gothic headstone inscriptions
- Yes, it is silly: “Ghosts tampered with my gas gauge?“
To visit Blood Cemetery – Take Exit 6 (Rte. 130) from Rte. 3, go west to Nartoff Rd., and then travel north on Nartoff (which jogs right and then left) to reach this very haunted cemetery near the crest of the hill. The cemetery will be on your right. A low wooden sign suspended with chains says “Pine Hill Cemetery.” Park at the side of the road, but off the pavement to allow cars to pass easily.
Locals call this “Blood Cemetery” for its most famous ghost, Abel Blood. According to many visitors (and one of our most reliable Hollow Hill researchers, who’s seen this), Abel Blood’s headstone changes at night so the finger on the stone points down instead of heavenward.
However, the cemetery is closed dusk to dawn; the police patrol steadily, especially around Halloween. They’ve even approached us when we were photographing (legally) from the roadside.
Also, many Hollis residents don’t like the nickname “Blood Cemetery.” (We’ve had enough angry emails, thank you. We didn’t invent the nickname; we simply report the stories and folklore.) If you ask locally for directions, be sure to call it “Pine Hill Cemetery.”
There’s another reason to call the cemetery by its correct name: The Blood family name was large and widespread in New England. Many cemeteries, especially in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, include members of the Blood family.
So, if you use that name when asking for directions, you may be sent to a totally different cemetery… with its own ghost stories and Blood family graves. They all seem to be nicknamed “Blood Cemetery.”
If you’d like to visit a website dedicated to Blood Cemetery (alternately spelled “Blood Cemetary”), we recommend Blood Cemetery (Pine Hill Cemetery).
I lived in Hollis from age 7-16, and am actually about to move back now, age 18. We’re moving to a house down the road from Pine Hill Cemetery.
I have a few things to share.
First, I don’t know anyone who would really get upset at the cemetery being called ‘Blood Cemetery’ – granted, for directions, its probably better to call it Pine Hill … but everyone I know in town (and Hollis is a SMALL town, everyone knows everyone) calls it Blood Cemetery, and that is what I’ve called it for as long as I’ve known about it.
Second, Abel Blood’s headstone was knocked down in 2007 as a practical joke, and switched with one at Gilson Cemetery in Nashua. Obviously this was discovered, but the Abel Blood’s new headstone no longer has the finger that points up and down. Its a shame, a lot of people never got to see it.
Third. I can absolutely attest to that place having some very weird stuff going on. I’ve been inside the cemetery multiple times, and each time something weird has happened. One time a few years back, two of my friends and I were there about an hour after sunset, and we were near the back of the cemetery. There’s a tree of some sort right next to a block headstone, I believe it belongs to a female (can’t remember her name). We turned to leave and as we looked back, there was a weird mist coming from what looked like behind the headstone. Very weird. Another time, I was with someone and we had just entered the cemetery when we noticed a severe drop in temperature once we stepped onto the grounds – I’d guess around 10 degrees. A few steps further, my chest started getting very tight and I got a splitting headache almost instantly. We left immediately and were in such a rush that I just grabbed a key to start the car – it started, but before I put it in drive, I shut the car off and looked at the key, because it didn’t feel right. It was a house key. Freaked me out pretty good.
I’ve never seen the ghost kids in the road, but have had some unusual experiences while driving on that road. Interior lights have turned on when just passing the border into the cemetery, and shut off just as we passed the border going by the cemetery. Cars I’ve been in have started beeping for no plausible reason at the same points, and one time a car I was in even started drifting off the road on it’s own, despite the driver’s effort to correct it. All very weird and wholly unexplainable events.
Those aren’t all the things I’ve experienced there, but I do know that I am very sensitive to things like this. It kind of runs in the family. So it doesn’t completely surprise me that these things have occurred in my presence. Just thought I’d share some of that.
Thanks, Victoria! I agree that Pine Hill Cemetery (aka Blood Cemetery) has a lot going on when it’s active. When it’s not, it’s just another old New England cemetery, although it’s a very pretty one. What we don’t know yet is the pattern of activity… whether it’s certain days of the week, certain calendar dates, certain times of day, or what. Studying that would be a really valuable project for a ghost research team.
Your experiences are great. Thanks for telling us about them! They confirm many reports that we’ve heard, as well as our own experiences. The mist phenomena may be related to what I thought was a fluffy gray cat when I was there one late afternoon, but I have also seen the mist around a few other stones. It’s very odd.
The “Blood Cemetery” name issue is common in many communities. Locals seem to be fine with their neighbors using a nickname for a nearby location, but if anyone outside the community uses that nickname, a few people get very upset. It’s okay; almost everyone calls Pine Hill Cemetery by its nickname, Blood Cemetery. I only use the proper name as often as I do, because many New England towns had members of the Blood family, so there are a lot of cemeteries with “Blood Cemetery” nicknames, especially in Massachusetts and south central NH.
The 2002 prank — swapping Abel Blood’s headstone with Walter Gilson’s — was sad. I’m the one who discovered the swap and reported it. I’m still upset about it, because it pointed a finger (no pun intended) at Hollow Hill, since — at the time — mine was the only website talking about both of those haunted cemeteries. I understand that it sounded like a fun joke to a few high school students around April Fool’s Day.
However, the students who did it didn’t consider the long-term consequences for the families of the deceased, and the people who visit those cemeteries regularly, including ghost hunters. That prank is another reason why I don’t report as many haunted locations as I used to. Some of the best haunted public sites around New England will never appear in Hollow Hill articles, because I can’t risk the vandalism or notoriety that can spoil our research opportunities. The Abel Blood incident made that clear.
I’m sorry if you felt it was a joke of some sort.
I can reassure you it was not.
switching the headstones was the only idea four mid-twenties males could think of to make sure a ghost or spirit would react.
but at last no paranormal activity was observed while the headstones were switched.
I mean if there is an afterlife and I was watching people disrespecting my burial site I would find a way to at the very least scare them off.
but this did not happen…therefor I will never believe in anything paranormal.
good-luck finding actual proof of any sort of an afterlife!
Well, “Jon Doe”… You’re in your mid-twenties now, but — years ago when it occurred — the switch was claimed by some Nashua high school students. One shared enough inside information to suggest that he (or she) was telling the truth about who did it.
(I’d heard rumors even before I taught a ghost photography class at one of Nashua’s high schools. Someone’s sister was terrible at keeping secrets… but you probably already knew that.)
Sure, it was around the time of April Fools Day, but maybe the spirits played a prank on you by not responding. Or, maybe the two relevant spirits aren’t actively haunting (or watching) their respective graves.
(Though I believe the person who told me he saw the finger pointed down, I’ve never encountered much ghostly energy around either of the graves involved. I also haven’t seen anything with glowing red eyes chase anyone out of Gilson Road cemetery, nor do I seriously think “Betty Gilson” appears on that road on foggy nights.)
But, if it wasn’t a joke, timing it around April Fools Day was a little foolish. I also didn’t appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night by some entity, insisting that I had to drive to Gilson Road to look at Walter’s gravestone. I mean, I have about 50 photos of it… it’s not as if I needed to see it again.
Having to report this to the police was no fun, either, because I was their first suspect, but I couldn’t get anyone else to help me restore the stones to their proper locations. (Even ghost hunters don’t like to move anything significant in a cemetery.)
I have never revealed what I knew about the prank, and I don’t intend to, ever. (You know that ISP numbers are recorded with each comment at this site… right? In the future, use an anonymizer when you’re saying something that could get you in trouble.)
Regarding your beliefs: Life has a way of revealing lessons when you’re ready for them. If you don’t believe in an afterlife now, that’s fine. When you revisit this question later, and I hope you take a more reasonable, scientific (and legal) approach. Or, you could just ask (privately, please) to join me on a few ghost hunts to see what really happens with the right tools, and when you know what to look for.
The only thing that sucks about that cemetary is that they have added motion sensor lights around the whole area so no matter where you go the flood lights turn on. It kinda sucks and I think it has killed alot of the activity out there.
Stella,
Thanks for the updates. Regarding Blood Cemetery in Hollis, NH (aka Pine Hill Cemetery), the town has been very aggressive about discouraging after-dark visitors to the cemetery. I’m sure the motion sensor lights are more practical than the rumored attempts by the police to scare visitors. According to stories I’ve heard, the police draped themselves in white sheets and hid behind the gravestones. When someone arrived, they’d jump up and make ghostly noises. (I’m not sure what “ghostly” noises are.)
Nashua doesn’t seem so hostile to the visitors who explore Gilson Road Cemetery and “Schoolhouse” cemetery next to the Royal Ridge shopping area. Then again, Nashua probably benefits from the additional tourists/visitors (at the very least, we’re buying extra batteries as ours seem to go flat) while Hollis doesn’t have businesses near Blood Cemetery.
And, to be fair to Hollis, several gravestones were stolen from that cemetery many years before I reported its ghosts at this website. So, that cemetery had problems long before ghost hunting became popular.
Hollis is a pretty town and Blood Cemetery has some great folklore, but for an interesting place to visit, Nashua offers far more.
— Fiona
great info about pine hill. i’d love visit it, but i really wanted to go at night. if theres a way to please let me know.
thanks ryan b.
Hello Ryan,
The last time I asked about investigating Pine Hill at night, I was told very firmly that no one can go there after dusk.
It’s an interesting location. I’m really not sure what to think of it. It’s lightly haunted in the traditional sense… as much as I can tell, anyway. Odd things happen there, and I’m not sure how many of them are actually ghostly.
However, I’m fairly certain that something paranormal is going on there, after dark, and I’d really like a chance to study whatever it is.
We know that Abel Blood lived the kind of life that generally doesn’t result in hauntings. The “ghost stories” are fun, but not likely to be true. However, the person who told me his first-person experience at Abel Blood’s headstone… his stories are always reliable. So, something is going on there.
A serious, complete, and scientific investigation the only way to rule out normal (but odd) influences that only look like hauntings, and establish what’s really going on at Pine Hill.
Until someone can do that, the stories and rumors will probably continue to present problems for the police and neighbors. When it’s against the law to go there to research after dark, the people most likely to visit Pine Hill at night will be people who have little respect for the law. Sadly, vandalism and theft are among the logical results.
I’m hoping that the town’s policies will change in the near future. Until then, I don’t go there after dusk and can’t recommend it to anyone else.
Sincerely,
Fiona Broome
I’ve been to this cemetery twice in my life and have experienced several things the 1st time I visited the cemetery I was just 20 yrs old and 4 months pregnant with my 1st child. The 2nd time was in Octber 2012. I was 24 yrs old. Here is what I’ve experienced during those 2 visits.
1. @ just 20 yrs old back in June 2008, a few friends and I had gone 2 visit this cemetery from what my friends were told about it. I never heard about the cemetery until that night. It was around 10pm when we arrived. Automatically I got this not so nice feeling in the pit of my stomach, that told me something was not right. We shut the car off and just sat there. Within 3 minutes I began to hear the trees moving as if someone or something was pushing them around. There was no wind at all that night. I also began to hear children laughing and whispering all around the car. Now mind you, all of us are still inside the car. 5 minutes later we hear light tapping on the car like children were touching the car. The next 2 things that happened next scared me. (Now its not easy to scare me.) Basically you have to catch me off gard to do that. But anyway after the tapping it was complete silence for a good 30 seconds. Then all of a sudden the car is pushed forward a good 2 feet from where we initially parked. Now just a heads up…. the car was completely shut off, the keys were out of the ignition in my hands (I was sitting in the backseat behind the driver when this happened) and the car had the emergency break on. We all had scared but puzzled looks on our faces and looked around for a logic explanation for what just happened, but couldn’t find 1. Several minutes past and we were all sitting there just looking at each other. We wanted to leave but none of us could move. We were all in total shock. Suddenly I look over at the entrance to see a very tall skinny figure in a black hooded cloak. Just starting at us. Id say he was between 7 and 9 feet tall. I knew he wasn’t human because a normal human man could not stand almost as tall as the trees. It did scare me seeing this figure standing their. I could not see the face under the hood was complete darkness. But I could see the hands. The were boney white. And looked like it had no flesh on them. A minute or 2 past as I was staring at this figure. I looked away for a second and all off a sudden we heard this loud bang on the roof and windshield of the car as if someone or something jumped onto the car. That got us to up and leave. We drove off as if someone or something was chasing us. We get to the gas station and stopped. The 1st gas station you come to if the cemetery is on your left while driving past it. We turned the car off and got out. All stunned at what we had just witnessed. I turned to get back into the car after a moment of getting fresh air when I noticed the windows were still fogged. Up and when I got a closer look I saw little handprints the size of children’s hands all over the windows. And a bunch of handwriting as well. But it looked all gibberish at 1st, until I had realized it was written backwards. I wrote all the words down and sat there trying to unscramble the letters. When I finished this is what I got….
(Get out)
(Leave, now)
(Beware)
(He doesn’t want you here)
(You are making him mad)
(Please leave before he hurts you)
As soon as I finished unscrambling the last word, I looked up to reveale a huge handprint on the passanger side of the windshield. It was all boney about the size of 2 adult males hands placed in front of 1 another length-wise. Seeing the handprint and reading what I unscrambled left me wondering what had just happened and why I experience such a negative response. I had no idea id be going to a cemetery that night. No one told me. All I knew was we were all going out for a joy ride. Just to enjoy some friend time.
My 2nd experience wasn’t as scary. My brother and I had decided to go out for a ride together. Just 2 get away and spend some brother/sister time together. Since I was a mother now to 2 daughters. I needed some time away from the house. We were driving down a road at about 11pm. We got halfway down the road when the radio just turned on by itself. I thought ok that’s weird. Then we started hearing the white nosie you get when your flipping through the stations. We also heard voices but they ” were distorted. Like they were trying to communicate with us. But we just couldn’t understand what was being said. All of a sudden I look up and we are passing the cemetery which is on our left at this point. Next thing that happens is I see that same black hooded figure again. But this time he was in the middle of the cemetery facing us. I was really creeped out now. All of a sudden the radio shuts off and the car started to sputter as if running out of gas. We got 5 feet passed the cemetery when the truck died out completely. We came to a stop and just looked at each other going what the heck just happened and why did it happen? We had no idea about either question. We just sat there. My brother wondered if the truck was just over heating and needed to cool off abit before being started again. So we waited. 5 minutes later still nothing was going on my brother decided to start the truck up it wouldn’t start up. But he noticed we still had a full tank of gas and nothing else was wrong internally with the truck. My instincts were telling me it wasn’t the trucks doing. I had this oddly urge to go get of the truck.so I did and there the fure stood but now back where I originality saw it. The entrance to the cemetery. I began talking to it. My brother looked at me puzzled like I was crazy. And told me to shut up. I waved at him to quiet down. Then continued talking to the hooded figure again. I began with “why are you doing this? “We mean you no harm.” “We were just driving by.” “Please just let us go home, I promise you we will not be a nuisance to you cemetery.” All of a sudden the hooded figure disappears and the truck starts right up. My brother looks at me all confused. I got back into the truck and we left. And didn’t go back there again.
Growing up I have always been able to see spirits, but never understood why. And I never talked to anyone about it besides my own mother. I’ve been too afraid id be called a freak if I said anything to anyone. Now that I am 25 yrs old I am beginning to wonder if my oldest daughter who will be 5 yrs old November 2013 has the same ability I have or is it just her imagination. I don’t know. But I will say this. The afterlife and the paranormal is nothing to mess with. There is jot enough knowledge in this world to be able to mess with the paranormal without server consequences.
Thanks for discussing [NH] Hollis – Blood Cemetery ghosts – Ghosts101.com/HauntedPlaces.
I have lived in Nashua, NH all of my life. Locals believe that Blood Cemetery is on Old Ridge Road off of Main Dunstable Road. The Cemetery of which you posted here, located in Hollis, NH, has always been known as Pine Hill Cemetery.
Dear Ms. Bingham: I appreciate your attempt to speak for all local residents of Nashua and vicinity, but I respectfully disagree.
I lived in Nashua for many years, and whenever I mentioned “Blood Cemetery,” everyone immediately referenced the Hollis site. I have never claimed that this was the formal name of the site, and often reference its real name, Pine Hill Cemetery.
Also, during my earliest investigations of that cemetery, I heard from two locals – a father and son, both life-long residents of Nashua – that Pine Hill Cemetery was widely known as Blood Cemetery.
In addition, in many of my articles, podcasts, and books, I’ve explained that “Blood Cemetery” is a popular nickname for cemeteries throughout New England, whenever a haunted cemetery included at least one grave with the Blood surname.
I hope that explains this confusion.
Sincerely, Fiona Broome