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Haunted Vale End Cemetery sits, somewhat troubled, at the top of a hill in Wilton, New Hampshire. (For a map to visit Vale End, see this link.) The location is deceptively quiet. Few people visit this historic cemetery, often out of fear.
Wilton seems like a charming old New England town. Visitors may not realize that Wilton’s history has been scarred with tragedy from its earliest days.
The mysterious, repeating meetinghouse disasters
Charles E. Clark’s book, The Meetinghouse Tragedy, describes the 1773 tragedy when, during construction, the roof beam of Wilton’s new meetinghouse — and 53 workers — fell three stories in a tangle of bodies and tons of construction materials.
According to folklore, the meetinghouse was rebuilt, but collapsed again, perhaps two more times. Each time, more people died.
In one version of the story, a new meetinghouse was constructed, but fire broke out during a dance in the hall, trapping many people within its flame-engulfed walls.
Whether to avoid bad luck or for more ‘sensible’ reasons, the townspeople chose a new spot for their next meetinghouse, and moved the middle of town to where Wilton center is today.
Wilton’s quartz foundation may be the source of many hauntings. Quartz can be a magnet for paranormal forces. We’ve had a steady stream of reports from Wilton about haunted basements (hewn out of the quartz underneath each house) and possible ghost ‘portals’ throughout the town.
We know that there are many ghosts at Vale End Cemetery, and some entities that aren’t ghosts and were never human.
Vandalism — including the theft of headstones and markers such as the lovely Mary Magdalene statue shown at right — have compounded the disturbing psychic energy at Vale End.
Ghosts at Vale End Cemetery
In addition to The Blue Lady that haunts Vale End Cemetery in Wilton, NH, there are several other known ghosts. The following energies have been reported by multiple readers.
A Native American ghost — perhaps several of them — lingers around the northeast side of the cemetery. When you’re in the middle of the cemetery with your back to the entrance, look to the far left wall. You’ll see a wide opening where maintenance trucks can come and go. If you walk just outside the wall, at that path, you’ll start to sense some slightly territorial spirits. There are also some who are simply curious about visitors.
A little boy, perhaps one who’d been abused, haunts the very back of the cemetery where the ground begins to slope. He’s timid and is looking for reassurances. He’s the ghost most likely to ‘cross over’ if the right person can reach him.
The ghost of a military man and perhaps his daughter have been sensed in many parts of the cemetery. They seem fairly nice most of the time, and appear to be ‘just visiting’ their own graves.
Spirits just outside the cemetery walls are represented by gravestones several feet in back of Mary Ritter’s headstone. These graves are generally outside the walls because the deceased could not be buried in hallowed ground. They may have been accused of a serious crime such as murder, or they may have committed suicide.
Vale End features a surprising number of these outside-the-walls graves, and we suspect that many of them are haunted by the ostracized people buried there.
I will not go there again for any reason. Whatever else is there… it’s not a ghost.
Real ghosts’ stories – Notes from the other side
One of the ghosts is a young man from Colonial times. He was embarrassed by his friends, and felt that he could never recover from it. The shame was too much, though he accepts that he brought the charges — and some ridicule — upon himself. He talks about giving up too soon. I believe that he committed suicide, or at least deliberately put himself in harm’s way. He did his best to stage it so it would look like an accident. He was genuinely remorseful, and didn’t want his family to suffer further embarrassment because of him.
However, there’s also a bitter edge to his grief, and he wanted his accusers to know that they caused his death. (His logic seems a bit murky in this area. He wants his death to look like an accident to most people, but he wants his former friends and acquaintances to feel guilty for embarrassing him. He wants them to wonder, for the rest of their lives, if they caused his death.)
Until he is able to accept that there were — and still can be — good things in his existence, and even true friends, he is not likely to cross over. When this reading was completed, he was far from being able to move forward. If his grave is outside the stone wall, he may be upset that his death wasn’t determined as ‘accidental.’
I visited this site years ago and it would see that some information regarding paranormal activity at Vale End has been left out of this article. I am referring to the malevolent spirits that are supposed to haunt here such as the “grovers” and the mysterious dark force that was once mentioned.
Grimm,
For awhile, I’d removed all Vale End information. The more sensational the tale, the more eagerly people seem to rush to experience it themselves.
Having lost one researcher after she visited Vale End, I don’t like putting others at risk, even if it’s the result of me saying don’t go there.
In addition, several TV programs featured Vale End, and it troubled me that so many people were not only breaking the law to investigate there at night; they treated the dangers like the whole thing was a joke. The anguished emails from some people, afterward… they were heartbreaking to read. Too late, they realized that I wasn’t kidding or making up tales.
However, since people continued to go there even after I’d removed the information, and I continued to receive requests for directions, etc., I compromised and restored some of the history to the website.
The foundation of my decisions is this: Vale End is haunted by ghosts. The “Blue Lady” is the most famous of them. However, Vale End also has energy that’s not ghostly but may be very, very dangerous.
HollowHill.com is about ghosts, not about… well, whatever that energy is, including the “Grovers.” So, I’m more comfortable keeping the non-ghostly information off the website.
Sincerely,
Fiona
Perhaps the dark, demonic energy is what is keeping the spirits from crossing over. From what I’ve been reading I get the sense that many of these ghosts are oppressed. I’ve been there during the day once. Would like to go again to offer good will love, and hope to help them cross over somehow, especially the little boy. I was abused. I’d love nothing more than to help the little guy out. My house is haunted. ..dirt basement. I let the ghot know that she can cross over but she isn’t unwelcome. She has chosen to hang out at my house and she’s rather considerate. I’m not afraid of spirits. They are only humans that pased and may need help.
i’ved lived in wilton my hole life. all i have seen is people that have Ben part of our town and a beautiful place to go and visit people from my past and the towns past its a wonderful place to go and visit.the only thing i have ever seen there that was scary is the biggest black snake i have ever seen in my life, it was like in a movie it was so big the thing had to be at least 12 ft long and 12″ around this thing could have eaten a sm dog/child/cat,
Hello Michelle,
Thanks for your comments. Regarding Wilton’s past, you may want to research the reasons why the town center was moved from the hill location to where it is now. It’s an interesting history.
The snake must have escaped from someone’s home or something. New England doesn’t usually have snakes of that size, but — now and then — one gets loose from a pet shop, a zoo, someone’s home or their camper.
Wilton is a lovely town with a rich history.
Sincerely,
Fiona Broome
I used to go there when I was young. The flower pile and entrance felt worse.
It was a demon in the form of a serpant, it came to me in my dreams the same as described, it kept trying to attack me as a warning to stay away from vale end cemetery at the height of my visits there late at night. I was extremely upset over this for many weeks.
Hi, my name is frank and that sounds like the serpent that terrorized me in my dreams one night at the height of my after midnight trips to Vale End Cemetery. I was very upset for weeks after that. It was lunging at me from the other side of my bed and had me off balance, it was the same size as you described. It got its warning across to be to back off from what i was doing. I have kept my distance from the cemetery but getting an itch to go back. I also have many incredible pics that i treasure from there. I have a lot of respect and fear for that cemetery. Take Care and be Safe.
I’ve been to Vale End a few times, and I always get a bad feeling about it. I have seen and heard things there that I can not explain. There is no doubt in my mind that Vale End is haunted, and that there is evil there.
I have been to the site, I have heard rumors about something evil inside the little shed to the west of the entrance of Vale End. I was just wondering if you had heard the same. I have yet to see the blue lady but I have seen figures walking around at 0:30 hours approx.
Taylor,
I’ve heard several stories of things west of the cemetery. They seem to cover a broad area, and I’m not sure of the limit (measured distance) of the energy. Most of the stories seem related to Native American history in the area.
I felt a little uneasy walking along the road (or driveway) that leads from inside the cemetery, through a point on the left side of it (part way back), towards what looked like a maintenance-related area.
However, except for what I encountered just off the path, walking towards the Blue Lady gravestone, I didn’t sense anything profoundly evil. (And even the entity seemed to be beyond conscience, so I don’t think the usual good/bad terms apply, except from the victim viewpoint.)
I have heard a variety of stories about things on the left side of the cemetery and at the back of it. Some indicate an evil presence, but many do not.
There’s a lot more to understand about Vale End, but I can’t recommend it for research. And, in some cases, I’m sure that the energy is not ghostly — though not all of it seems evil or dangerous — so this is outside my range of ghost hunting expertise. Even within the scope of faerie lore, some of what’s at Vale End doesn’t fit the usual profiles, even djinn and ghoul concepts.
The figures sound interesting, but — last time I was there — the cemetery was closed by midnight, and often patrolled by police. However, even if ghost hunters were encouraged to research there, I wouldn’t return.
Sincerely,
Fiona
I go to Vale with my dog Henry on a very regular basis. I have never felt evil – just the opposite.
The money on Mary Ritters grave comes and goes. I wonder who has the courage to take it. Lately people started leaving stones. Yesterday someone had glued two stick in the shape of a cross and left a lot of tree bark.
Never went to the left past the opening, but Henry goes there all the time. Today I will follow him.
We have a ghost in our home in Milford. It is Grandma baking cookies.
I heard a story about the mary ritter home that a guy investigating fell through the floor and died but yet I could not find anything to back that one up do you know anything about it
I heard the same story!
Which house is it, is it the auction house? Or the building across the street?
Dear Fiona,
I used to investigate Vale End regularly years ago, but your stories and experiences have given me enough pause to not return, and I am truly sorry for the loss of your friend.
My question is more of a general one, but is related to Vale End. Do dangerous demonic entities or Grovers (like what you encountered there) ever move on or cross over like ghosts, or do they stay “locked” into a particular location once they are there?
Thank you Fiona. I hope this e-mail finds you well.
Barry
Hi, Barry! It’s good to hear from you.
I haven’t a clue what the dangerous entities (or even the Grovers) are, so I’m not sure whether they are locked where they are. My gut feeling is: they can go where they want, but have a natural attraction for certain locations, such as Vale End.
Of course, I might be entirely wrong about this, but — reflecting back on how they seemed to me, at the time — that’s such a vivid memory, I can say with confidence that I thought they could come and go, at will.
Cheerfully, Fiona
I visited Val and Cemetery last weekend with my fiance it was a very interesting Cemetery with a lot of history behind it but I’ve seen nothing and I felt no evil presence or any presents at all but it’s a very interesting Cemetery to visit with a lot of history. Joe p Connecticut