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Gilson Road Cemetery is one of the most unsettling and fascinating cemeteries in southern New Hampshire.
It features…
- Very old graves
- Unexplained flickering lights
- Paranormal energy fields at the back of the cemetery, and
- Weird anomalies in photographs.
In other words, it’s an ideal location for paranormal research.
Is Gilson still haunted?
Yes! Although one book reported otherwise, the Gilson site is still very haunted, day and night. Use caution when you visit it. During investigations, we’re not certain whether some of the entities are okay—or hostile.
This website, Hollow Hill, was the first to report ghosts at Gilson Road Cemetery. I’m proud of my original research, which has been one of my largest projects for over a dozen years.
Before your first visit to this site, you may want to skim my article, Gilson Road Cemetery – Driving Directions and Legends.
The Investigations
To learn more about my earliest research at Gilson Road Cemetery, use the following links.
- Odd hole in a headstone at Gilson Road Cemetery
- 5 Nov 1999, our earliest visits
PHOTOS
- Photo of purple-streaked anomaly
- 26 Nov 1999, experimental photos on a damp night
- Eerie, swirling mist…but is it an anomaly?
- Mist rising from a grave, just creepy enough.
- What IS this…? Baffling, swirling mist and…? It’s one of my most popular photos online.
- It was too humid to insist that these two photos show ghost orbs at Gilson. However, my ghost photo research suggests they might be. To be honest, I have no idea whether these are ghostly anomalies, or just reflections of damp air.
- Orbs at Gilson, 21 May 2002.
- Orbs continue, 18 June 2002.
RELATED PHOTOS – NOT GHOSTS
- Flowers tied to Gilson, 20 Apr 2002 – Prank or something else?
- But these are natural wildflowers at Gilson in the springtime.
RESEARCH MAPS
- Scan of a sketched map of anomalies at Gilson (with one error in the name at a grave)
To read more offline:
See the Nashua Telegraph newspaper article about Hollow Hill, Gilson Road Cemetery, and local haunts, published on 27 Oct 2000.
Note: One section of Gilson Road – not part of Gilson cemetery, as erroneously stated in one ghost book – has been on the Federal hazardous waste Superfund list. As far as I know, there are no toxins or hazardous materials at the actual cemetery.
Gilson Road Cemetery is the usual name of this haunted site. However, we’ve seen several people spelling it “Gilson cementery” or “Gilson cementry” or even “Gibson cemetery.” So, I’ve added those spellings, here, so they’ll find the articles they’re looking for.
For even more trivia and insights, use the Search form at this website, and search for “Gilson.” (In some articles, I just call it Gilson Road, sometimes Gilson cemetery, and so on.)
My friends and I recently went to gilson but we didn’t encounter anything of the paranormal, however we did find an old pair of childrens underwear sitting in front of what might be a tombstone. It’s not that significant but it was creepy.
Thanks for the update, Derek. That’s far creepier than any ghosts we’ve encountered there.
I used to go here very stoned with my friends at night. we’d would get all freaked out and leave after a few minutes. the further towards the back you go, the creepier (which is understandable, haunted or not) i went there by myself about a week ago, in the rain, in the middle of the night. i sat by the baby gilson’s for a few minutes. it felt really good. and then i left. i don’t really believe in lingering spirits, but I do find cemeteries to be fascinating. they’re good places to go and think about life or get freaked out.
If anyone wants to visit a haunted cemetery than this is the one. I use to do some ghost hunting (didnt have anything fancy,just camera and tape recorder) and this is the one with the sounds (children laughing in the woods at 11:30 at night in March,angry mob sounds,rocks smacking together),temperature change(like a tropical wind blown upon you in March),and the 2 strange photos of what looks like a mist type ghost looking into my camera in 2 different shots.Plus that feeling of being watched. Hollow Hill is right. There’s plenty going on here.
Sean, thanks for the review of Gilson! I love hearing others’ reports about that cemetery, and your encounters sound like the kinds of things we regularly encounter at Gilson. It’s one of my favorite places for research!
I just wanna say I was at a cemetery last night taking pictures. This “mist” looks exactly like the cigarette smoke that came up in my pictures. If you have email I can send you the pictures and you can compare this “mist”. I call bluff. Sorry. Im a huge believer in paranormal. Ive experienced many things in unusual places. But those pictures are easy to debunk.
Jenna,
You’ve commented at the general Gilson index page. I’m not sure which photo or photos you’re commenting about, and claiming are a “bluff.”
I’m in the process of completing a book, Ghost Photography 101, and it shows what people can expect from cigarette smoke — both cloves and regular cigarettes — as well as cigar smoke, incense, and many other factors that can result in false anomalies.
Until you’ve completed similar, lengthy tests, a one-time visit to a cemetery is probably not sufficient foundation to debunk a professional’s photos.
No one was smoking when I took any of my mist-related photos. I am very careful about that, and always have been; and, that’s not just because I’m allergic to smoke and highly sensitive to the slightest waft of it.
I also verify weather conditions, including humidity and dew point.
If you’re talking about my “what is this…?” picture: Just three of us were in the cemetery. No one was smoking. Further, we’d been in the cemetery for over two hours, so I would know if anyone had smoked in the area shortly before the pictures were taken.
Most of my Gilson photos were taken when Gilson Road Cemetery was surrounded by woods, years before the subdivision arrived. There were no nearby houses, and no wood fires.
When we’ve seen paranormal evidence of torches in the woods behind the cemetery, we do not see mist in our photos.
Smoke was not a possibility in my photos.
Ghost photographs are only as reliable as the expertise and integrity of those who took them. If you don’t trust my expertise or integrity, you’ll probably enjoy other websites more than this one.
Any ghost photo can be “debunked” by someone who wasn’t there to verify the conditions under which the relevant photos were taken.
Expertise and integrity are the bottom line in terms of ghost photography.
I have a arsenel of mist and orb photos from this cemetary. We also heard foot steps when we were out in the woods. The place is haunted no doubt about it! When we first entered the cemetary my camera kept turning on and off so i replaced the batteries. It contuned to do that the whole time we were there and the pictures I did get are filled with orbs, not just one or two but the Whole Screen! There is lights that move and this wierd mist thing that is creeping through the woods. Freaky enough for me to want to leave quickly
i viseted gilson cemetary spring break with my aunt and i believe its haunted we sat near the baby gilson’s and my aunt said she felt as if she was being touched and we checked her arm and there was goosebumbs
i went there during spring break with my aunt she said she felt as if someone was touching her we checked her arm and there was goosebumps
I visited Gilson rd. cemetary on 12/04/2012 at dusk and took pics, amazing! I too got a pic of the white mist, and more orbs then I could count and a sqiggly thing. I grew up in that area on countryside dr. and know it well. I didn’t see orbs with the naked eye. but felt I wasn’t alone. the pics are incredable and I posted some on facebook. email if you would like to see them. 🙂
I went there last night with my friends and they were trying to scare me about the place. i never heard about it till then. When we walked in i felt very uneasy. I was using my ipod for light and it kept shuting off. We went next to baby Gilsons grave andd we then heard drums and chanting in the woods. I now believe it was like that indian battle or something. Then we heard a pack of cyotes. we sat next to the grave and it got quite cold, for me at least. my friends said it was nothing. I think it was something.
I went back again the NEXT day, Sept 12th, 2013 *** at 12:20pm with my husband after going to the dump. I captured some very strange images with my flip phone. VERY distinguished (to me) and multi faceted pictures. found mostly in the trees. Interpretation of images: (dark cloaked figure/shadow holding white rose and enveloping laying down mother holding baby, dark haired adult woman with baby and young child with adult male beside them laughing/menacing, screaming dark haired adult woman, adult male (looked like distinguised soldier in uniform), adult male with a large brimmed hat…. and then of course yesterday, the image of the dark haired girl (6-9ish) in the white dress in the tree. That one was clear as a bell. So was the adult male who appeared to be in uniform.
I guess perhaps the “devil is in the details”. Rationally I know that these images are merely how my brain organizes and sees what it wants to see, or perhaps I’m looking too closely at megapixles.. but I’m still going to try to figure out a way to print these pictures because the artwork I could do based on the images that I saw I could never possibly dream up on my own and they are INTENSE!
I went there with a couple friends last summer. Caught some very strange photos. One photo had two green diamonds like eyes starting back at us
My friends and I were staying at a place down the road and none of us had ever been before so we went to check it out. When we got to the far left hand side of the cemetery I noticed a couple of statues. Two stone figures. We didn’t have flashlights so we couldn’t really see but I swear they were looking right at us and I suddenly got a terrible feeling of dread and all the hair on my body stood up. We left soon after that because I was really freaked out and I felt like I was going to be sick. So I was telling a friend about it recently and he said there are no statues in Gilson cemetery. I’ve looked at pictures there’s just a rock where I saw the two figures. Has anyone else seen these two? I can’t find anything.
Jesse, I agree. There are no statues in Gilson Road Cemetery. Just the usual gravestones, most of them very plain from the Colonial era.
Whatever you saw… it wasn’t a statue. I’d have freaked out, too. That sounds very scary, and you made the right decision by leaving quickly.
If you go back, I’d be very interested in where the statues seemed to be, in relation to the existing gravestones. We are pretty sure there are dozens of unmarked graves in that cemetery, and the left side of the cemetery has been very active.
Thanks for posting this!
Sincerely,
Fiona
I went there tonight ,felt somthing watching me and my chest and shoulders felt super heavy. I noticed right after leaving and getting in the car I felt disconnected from everything around me and I was shaking for no reason. I’ve been to so many cemetery’s and not once have I experienced somthing as intense as this…
On Oct 2019 I stopped at Gilson road cemetery at 12:00 noon time i was randomly snapping pitchers with my digital camera, i have been a few times before and caught nothing but this time looking through my photos i had a big multi colored sphere on that bolder on the south end with 2 more in the air, the photo after had nothing in the same spot. All excited i went back a 2:00 am walking around by myself a had a photo of a big white mist of some sort i could see nothing taking the photos. And i also had a feeling i was not alone, it was very quiet and at one point i heard foot steps behind me and when i turned around i felt something brush by me. If you have an Email address i would love to send you my pitchers
John, thanks for the post. Also, thanks for the offer of photos, but I’m inundated with similar requests and – at this time – can’t respond with the thoughtfulness I’d like to.
Hello. I’ve lived around the corner from this spot for over 20 years, and I can safely discount stories on figures jumping out on the road. I’ve driven by countless times in the middle of the night with nothing unusual. Now I should admit I don’t go in for any of this haunted stuff. But I have a friend who does and you’re focusing on the wrong area. It isn’t the cemetery but the woods behind it. There is something in there, something angry, that is not friendly. I used to explore the woods (from the other side starting by the school) and despite being a complete non-believer, I get an ominous feeling. I obviously don’t have a complete picture but from what I know, I don’t think anyone who lives nearby goes into those woods.