Ghosts of the SouthCoast (17 page)

Some may suggest that the burden of being a Borden was alleviated, and Lizzie could live freely as herself. Others might say she had a guilty conscience about getting away with murder and sought to live a life that might earn her a spot in heaven despite the crime.

Personally, I think she finally broke free of whatever was controlling her back at 92 Second Street. But when she passed away in 1927, it took her once again and brought her back to that very location, where she is trapped forever with the other tormented spirits that can't escape its grasp.

It's just a theory, of course. But just in case, when you do spend the night at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast, Lee-ann will be happy to provide you with a nightlight in your room at no extra cost.

T
wo men are in a bar and an argument breaks out. It's about something irrelevant, but in the heat of the moment, one man shoots the other. The man dies, the other goes to jail, and the night becomes part of the lore of the bar. Years pass, and shot glasses begin to move in the quiet of closing time as the bartender is cleaning up. Sometimes a shot is heard that shakes the bar but has no source. The place has become haunted, and if you go into the bar and ask staff members about it, they are more than happy to share their experiences. Just pull up a chair, order a few drinks over the course of the night, and they'll tell you all about it.

That's the way it goes in the paranormal world today. The haunted present is born of the traumatic past, and hauntings exist in little pockets with colorful back stories, and the ghosts can always be held at arm's length because you probably will not see or hear anything. But the story still gives you chills—or maybe it was the drink.

The SouthCoast is not like that. There are spots where you can stay at a haunted bed and breakfast or get some pub grub while you hear stories of creaks and dark figures, but the haunted history of this little section of Massachusetts is something more, something deeper where researchers are left wondering, why? More often they are left pondering what it all means. The ghosts are not easy here. Back story does not give you solid possibility, but it gives you context.

History has made it this way. The SouthCoast has long been an area that is a bit off, even back to the days when Wampanoags sold off tracts of land
that were sketchy anyway. The other side is a reality here, held deep in the DNA of its citizens and worn like scars in their memories, like where they were during the blizzard of '78. It's passed down easily alongside stories of Johnny Appleseed and John Henry, as well as Benjamin Church and Lizzie Borden; the truth is always second fiddle to the truth of the idea.

I was speaking with Tim one night at a town meeting in Freetown while doing research for a book. I asked the audience if anyone had heard of a Pukwudgie, a troll-like legend that, at the time, was a bit obscure. More than half the audience raised their hands. These were not people in seats to hear about ghosts and monsters. This was a meeting of the historical society who had come to discuss budgets and upcoming events, and most were easily in their sixties.

The supernatural and the paranormal were just part of the complexion of the people.

The spooks just change their face from time to time. There is more than four hundred years of history in the SouthCoast, plenty of time for phantom carriages to become phantom cars, and story to be replaced by story. It is rare in this country to have so many strong cultures imprint themselves on a place, and each has their experience explained partly by the history already there and partly by their own people's slant. Paranormal investigators and ghost hunters can come by with equipment and technology, taking measurements and gathering evidence, but the ghosts were there long before them and will be around when most have moved on to other interests.

There is no separation from paranormal experience and history in the SouthCoast, and delving into the unusual there is more a study in anthropology than parapsychology. Read the books, visit the websites and watch the documentaries. Maybe even visit the sites; but understand you are only getting part of the story. The other part lies in the heart of the people who live here. Don't be discouraged, though. Go to the center of any of these towns, stand on a street corner or under a tree, and ask the first person you see if they know any good ghost stories. They'll smile, and you'll quickly realize you have just become part of the tale.

Christopher Balzano
Author of
Dark Woods: Cults, Crime and the Paranormal in the Freetown State
Forest, Ghosts of the Bridgewater Triangle
and
Picture Yourself Ghost Hunting

 

Balzano, Christopher.
Dark Woods: Cults, Crime and the Paranormal in the Freetown State Forest.
Atglen, PA: Schiffer Books, 2007.

———.
Ghosts of the Bridgewater Triangle.
Atglen, PA: Schiffer Books, 2008.

———.
Picture Yourself Ghost Hunting.
Boston: Course Technology PTR, 2008.

Belanger, Jeff.
Picture Yourself Legend Tripping.
Boston: Course Technology PTR, 2010.

———.
Weird Massachusetts.
Toronto, ON: Sterling Publishing, 2008.

DeMello, Thomas, and Thomas Nickerson.
Our Demons, Our Forefathers: Ghostly Encounters in a Sleepy New England Town.
N.p.: AuthorHouse, 2006.

Kent, David.
The Lizzie Borden Sourcebook.
Boston: Branden Books, 1992.

Lovell, Daisy.
Glimpses of Early Wareham.
Wareham, MA: Wareham Historical Society, 1970.

Rehak, David.
Did Lizzie Borden ‘Axe' For It?
N.p.: Angel Dust Publishing, 2008.

Rider, Raymond A.
Life and Times in Wareham over 200 Years 1739–1939.
Wareham, MA: Wareham Historical Society, 1989.

Robinson, Charles Turek. The
New England Ghost Files.
North Attleborough MA: Covered Bridge Press, 1994.

Albernaz, Ami. “Japanese Men, Spinner Publications Collaborate on Manjiro Nakahama Story.”
Standard-Times,
May 25, 2003.

Aubut, Rebecca. “Fact or Fiction? The Search for the Truth Behind Fairhaven's Haunted Library.” October 25, 2005. Southcoast247.com,
http://www.southcoast247.com
.

Barnes, Jennette. “313-year-old Middleboro Tavern Closes Abruptly.”
Standard-Times,
January 11, 2004.

———. “Captive Memories: Author Recalls Childhood as Tuberculosis Patient at Lakeville State Hospital.”
Standard-Times,
June 22, 2004.

Boston Daily Globe.
“Glen Charlie.” December 3, 1885.

Guille, Sarah, and Robert Lovinger. “VIP, RIP: A Brief Tour of the Final Resting Places of Some Famous, Infamous and Just Plain Interesting People of SouthCoast's Past.”
Standard-Times,
May 30, 1999.

Massachusetts Historical Commission.
Massachusetts Historical Commission Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: WAREHAM.
Report. Southeast Massachusetts, 1981.

Some Account of the Vampires of Onset, Past and Present.
Boston: Press of S. Woodbury and Company, 1892.

American Heritage.
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1992/4/1992_4_66.shtml
.

Biographical Sketch of John Gage.
http://files.usgwarchives.org/il/montgomery/bios/johngage.txt
.

A Chronological History of New Bedford.
http://www.newbedford.com/chrono.html
.

Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
http://www.fairhaven.net

Fort Phoenix, Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
http://fort-phoenix.blogspot.com
.

Friends of Historic Preservation, Freetown, Massachusetts.
http://www.assonetriver.com/preservation
.

Ghostvillage.
http://www.ghostvillage.com
.

Greenville Paranormal Reasearch.
http://www.greenvilleparanormal.com
.

Haunted Lakeville.
http://www.hauntedlakeville.com
.

Haunted Places Index-Massachusetts.
http://www.theshadowlands.net/places/Massachusetts
.

The Kinsale Inn.
http://www.kinsaleinn.com
.

Lizzie Andrew Borden Virtual Museum and Library.
http://www.lizzieandrewborden.com
.

Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast.
http://www.lizzie-borden.com
.

Massachusetts Paranormal Crossroads.
http://www.masscrossroads.com
.

Recollecting Namasket.
http://nemasket.blogspot.com/2010/07/lakeville-state-sanatorium-design.html
.

RideAccidents.com.
http://www.rideaccidents.com
.

Tattered Fabric.
http://phayemuss.wordpress.com
.

Town of Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
http://town.dartmouth.ma.us/Pages/DartmouthMA_Webdocs/darthistory
.

Town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
http://www.fairhaven-ma.gov
.

Town of Lakeville, Massachusetts.
http://www.lakevillema.org
.

Town of Marion, Massachusetts.
http://www.marionma.gov/Pages/index
.

Town of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts.
http://www.mattapoisett.net
.

Town of Rochester, Massachusetts.
http://www.townofrochestermass.com
.

Town of Wareham, Massachusetts.
http://www.wareham.ma.us
.

The Wamsutta Club Online.
http://www.wamsuttaclub.net
.

Westport (Massachusetts) History.
http://westporthistory.com
.

 

T
im Weisberg is the host of
Spooky Southcoast,
one of the world's most popular radio programs dealing with the subject of the paranormal. He's also been featured in publications such as
FATE Magazine, SoCo Magazine
and
SouthCoast Insider
and on television on the History Channel, Discovery Channel,
30 Odd Minutes
and LIVING TV in the UK. A sportswriter by trade, Tim covers the Boston Celtics and the New England Patriots for the
Standard-Times
of New Bedford, Massachusetts. He can be reached via email at [email protected].

 

 

 

 

 

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