{"id":100743,"date":"2024-10-10T11:35:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T15:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=100743"},"modified":"2024-10-16T09:40:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T13:40:50","slug":"new-england-ghost-hunter-and-his-haunted-houses-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/new-england-ghost-hunter-and-his-haunted-houses-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"New England Ghost Hunter and His Haunted Houses (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, with Halloween approaching, Melissa Davenport Berry writes more about ghost hunter John Parker, who investigated more than 30 haunted houses. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I continue with John Cuthbert Parker (1904-1997), a famous paranormal investigator who bewitched a whole generation of New Englanders with his tales of ghost hunting and all things paranormal.<\/p>\n

Parker covered over 30 spook dens, and most were historical dwellings which he preserved in sketches. His daughter Wilma, an artist herself, shared stories about her father\u2019s work, as well as newspaper clippings from her collection that cover his ghost hunter tales.<\/p>\n

Parker\u2019s lecture \u201cNew England Ghost Houses\u201d was booked solid. He was also featured in Yankee Magazine<\/em> in 1968 and hosted several radio talk shows.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: John Cuthbert Parker. Credit: Wilma Parker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To recap: My last story covered the Jonathan Moulton House and the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House<\/a>. In addition, Parkers\u2019s childhood home was haunted by a boy specter. This initial encounter prompted Parker\u2019s interest in pursuing ghost hunting in some of New England\u2019s spookiest historical homes. (See: Part 1<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Parker visited the site of the Green Mountain Tavern (aka the Second Bowker Tavern) in Savoy, Massachusetts. It was one of the eeriest places he visited. Whatever lingered in the mist there is part of the rich history of the Bowker family.<\/p>\n

The tavern was long gone by the time Parker visited the location in the 1950s. All that remained was a stone foundation and several reports of townspeople claiming the area was full of spooks. Parker made a watercolor of the tavern by copying an old sketch.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: Second Bowker Tavern, by John Parker. Credit: Wilma Parker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were two taverns owned and operated by the Bowker family. The first one burned in 1820, and a second one was built which burned in 1893. Both fires were mysterious, and strange happenings plagued the place.<\/p>\n

Part of the story of the tavern\u2019s famous haunting is told in a 1937 news clip.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Springfield Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts), 28 February 1937, page 27<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

For years Savoy had a haunted tavern where a traveler riding horseback stopped for a night\u2019s lodging and never was seen again. The horse was found wandering through the adjoining lots the next morning and a farmer fed it and cared for a wound in its neck. It was believed the traveler was murdered for his money in the tavern and the horse wounded to give the impression of a hold-up outdoors. Blood stains were found on the stairs leading to the chamber occupied by the equestrian. Late at night his specter used to be seen in the window of his room. Queer sounds were heard all through the house by travelers who stopped there. When the story of the murder became widely known, the tavern ceased to be popular and went to ruin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Three generations of the Bowker family occupied the property.<\/p>\n

The first was the town postmaster Liberty Bowker<\/a>, son of Luke and Joanna (Dunbar) Bowker, and his wife Sarah Gurney, daughter of Lt. Joseph and Sarah (Shaw) Gurney. They were the owners of the tavern at the time of the murder. According to legend the blood stains would reappear on the tavern stairs when the ghost was present.<\/p>\n

Then their son Calvin Bowker, also a postmaster, along with his wife Eliza Belden, daughter of Augustus and Kata (Weeks) Belden, took it over. They ran a stagecoach stop, post office, and store on the premises.<\/p>\n

During Calvin\u2019s reign the building hosted the International Order of Odd Fellows meetings. One of the curiosos of the tavern is in its name \u201cThe Green Mountain Tent,\u201d given by Calvin Bowker. This historical tidbit attached to this haunted hotel is a connection to a temperance league<\/a> which was much promoted by Nathaniel Currier<\/a>, who headed Currier & Ives.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Providence Evening Press (Providence, Rhode Island), 24 July 1868, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

Few of the present generation (says a Massachusetts paper) ever knew the name of the once popular secret temperance organization known as the [Order of] Rechabites. The only \u201ctents\u201d now dwelt in are at Marblehead and Rockport. On Calvin Bowker\u2019s noted old tavern, in Savoy Hollow \u2013 whither the Adams sleigh-ride parties are wont to go \u2013 still remains the sign of the \u201cGreen Mountain Tent I. O. of R.,\u201d the puzzle of many a passer-by.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The tavern also had a doctor\u2019s office run by Calvin\u2019s nephew Dr. Alonzo Melvin Bowker, son of Melvin and Betsey (Willett) Bowker, who married Hepzibah Ann Barney Sturtevant, daughter of Daniel and Hepzibah (Barney) Sturtevant.<\/p>\n

In 1885 the town report of Savoy stated that Calvin\u2019s daughter Katherine Elizabeth \u201cKate\u201d Bowker and her husband Zelotes Richmond Wood<\/a> took over the tavern and named it the Green Mountain House.<\/p>\n

Disaster struck again when, on 23 June 1893, fire destroyed the Green Mountain House \u2013 just like the first Bowker Tavern.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Springfield Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts), 25 June 1893, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

The Green Mountain House, a summer resort well known in all Berkshire County, and one of the earliest country hotels in the region, was burned at 6 o\u2019clock Friday night. The household goods were saved. Two barns were burned with it. The loss is estimated at about $4000. The tavern was owned by Calvin Bowker and leased by Zelotes R. Wood of Adams, his son-in-law. It was a famous inn since 60 years ago.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This next article gives much background on the town of Savoy and the Bowker family, if you\u2019d like more information.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Springfield Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts), 28 August 1896, page 10<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Parker had a reputation as a serious ghost hunter (note in the following ad he is called a \u201cnationally known ghost expert\u201d).<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: advertisement for Halloween Ghost Talk on WBZ, featuring John Parker. Credit: Wilma Parker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With its long history of ghosts, it\u2019s little wonder John Parker came to see the remains of the Bowker Tavern in the 1950s. According to reports, when Parker went to the site he was met by a 90-year-old woman in the town who admonished him: \u201cDon\u2019t go into the field across the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The townspeople claimed the whole Bowker family lot was haunted \u2013 not only by the man murdered in the tavern, but a fellow who was haying in the field and fell off his wagon when his horse got spooked. He broke his neck and died instantly. He is buried in the field and many informed Parker that when they would pass by the field, they could see his apparition standing on his gravestone shaking it.<\/p>\n

Whatever you may choose to believe about the Savoy haunting, nothing matches the crooked forest dubbed the \u201cHansel and Gretel Forest\u201d in Savoy. That alone has its own eerie tone.<\/p>\n

\"Photos:
Photos: Crooked Forest in Savoy, Massachusetts. Credit: Freel Library, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> spooky ghost and horse. Credit: Melissa Davenport Berry.<\/p>\n

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