{"id":58291,"date":"2020-05-01T11:48:31","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T15:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=58291"},"modified":"2024-10-04T10:55:11","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T14:55:11","slug":"its-haunted-the-ghosts-at-the-porter-phelps-huntington-mansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/its-haunted-the-ghosts-at-the-porter-phelps-huntington-mansion.html","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Haunted! The Ghosts at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Mansion?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry tells the story of the gentle ghosts that seem to haunt the Porter-Phelps-Huntington house in Hadley, Massachusetts. <\/em>Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a><\/em>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

John Cuthbert Parker (1904-1977), a famous paranormal investigator, bewitched a whole generation of New Englanders. His tales of ghost hunting covered more than 30 spook dens. His lectures were booked solid and included an illustrated slide show, his watercolor sketches of the haunted homes, and pamphlets on ghost hunting with a full survey road map.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: John Parker at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington house, Hadley, Massachusetts, 1959. Credit: Wilma Parker De Pavloff.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Parker\u2019s favorite haunt was the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Mansion, aka \u201cForty Acres,\u201d in Hadley, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Porter-Phelps-Huntington house, Hadley, Massachusetts, 5 August 1935. Credit: Arthur C. Haskell; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shortly before Dr. James Lincoln Huntington (1880-1968) made his ancestral home into a museum, he invited Parker to investigate two female ghosts on the property. The spirits were the grieving wife and daughter (both named Elizabeth) of Captain Moses Porter, killed in the French and Indian War.<\/p>\n

Parker chose Halloween night (31 October 1957) to make his stakeout. His findings appeared in Yankee Magazine<\/em> in 1968 and you can read about him in the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers, 1698-1968.<\/p>\n

In a Springfield Union<\/em> article published in 1968 looking back at his career of ghost-hunting, Parker recalled the cold, windy night 11 years earlier when the Huntingtons helped him carry in his camera and other paranormal devises to prepare for the vigil at the mansion.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Springfield Union (Springfield, Massachusetts), 7 January 1968, page 17<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The article contains these eerie details.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Springfield Union (Springfield, Massachusetts), 7 January 1968, page 17<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Parker sealed the attic door with tape and sprinkled a powder trail from the bedroom reported to have the most activity to the second-floor hall.<\/p>\n

At 10:30 p.m. Parker heard footsteps coming from that bedroom and saw \u201ca disc of amber light which grew large and dissolved into amber stripes.\u201d He concluded it was the specter of Elizabeth Pitkin Porter (1719-1798), wife of Captain Moses Porter (1722-1755).<\/p>\n

When the grandfather clock struck three, Parker heard the latch to the sealed attic door lift open three times. Then, a door in the wall under the eaves began to bang violently for almost a duration of twenty minutes. Parker claimed, \u201cit would have broken your fingers if you put your hand near it.\u201d The next morning, he reported the tape on the attic door was broken. Parker wondered if the banging noise could be Elizabeth acting on her grief from losing Moses. Her husband\u2019s body had never been recovered, and only his sword was returned to Forty Acres.<\/p>\n

Dr. Huntington was so impressed with Parker, he appointed him a director of the museum.<\/p>\n

Dr. Huntington was convinced that one of the specters was his great-great-grandmother Elizabeth. \u201cShe was never known to harm a soul or utter a word,\u201d and many generations spoke of the \u201cectoplasmic\u201d Elizabeth hovering over their beds in \u201cfull rustling silk skirts and a white frilly cap\u201d to tuck them in.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, North Carolina), 26 October 1958, page 45<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before Dr. Huntington hired Parker, he served as curator of the family house he had turned into a museum. By the time he was leading tours, the house did not have any children for Elizabeth to tend to \u2013 but she would swish through rooms, take a turn at the spinning wheel or hang out in the attic.<\/p>\n

During guided tours Dr. Huntington would tell visitors: \u201cElizabeth has never seen fit to perform for the public.\u201d However, she always left her imprint on the bed for all to see.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, North Carolina), 26 October 1958, page 45<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Huntington\u2019s brother, Rev. Paul Phelps, a retired Episcopal minister, came to visit from Richmond, Virginia, in 1957. He saw a shadow figure in the north room \u2013 where no sun shines through the north window. The minister felt a chilled wind encircle him. Dr. Huntington summed up that: \u201cyou have to take the word of a minister.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note:<\/em><\/strong> An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors \u2013 the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers. Are there any tales of haunted houses in your family history? Please share your stories with us in the comments section below.<\/p>\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

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n