Ghosts of the SouthCoast (7 page)

Fairhaven's Millicent Library may be haunted by its namesake, among others.

There is another connection between Henry Huttleston Rogers and the paranormal that is perhaps more than just coincidence. Rogers made his fortune in the oil business, most notably as part of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust. However, Rogers first got involved in the business at the age of twenty-one and with an investment of six hundred dollars, partnering with a friend to form his own company called the Wamsutta Oil Refinery. While the name is likely a tip of the hat to his SouthCoast roots, perhaps by invoking the name of Massasoit's eldest son, he was awakening the Indian spirits back in his beloved Fairhaven.

In another nod to the odd, Rogers's ruthlessness on Wall Street in his later years led his critics to scoff that the initials in H.H. Rogers actually stood for Hell Hound.

In Fairhaven, however, the man was beloved for the generosity he showed the town.

The library was constructed in the 1890s as a tribute to Millicent Gifford Rogers, who passed away in 1890 at the tender age of seventeen. Because of her love of books and learning, Rogers decided to erect a great library in her honor, which opened to the public on January 30, 1893.

As part of a memoriam for Millicent, the library features a stained-glass window bearing her likeness in angelic form under an image of William Shakespeare and encircled by the names of prominent American poets. The window art depicts Millicent as muse for these great writers, but she's also the muse for the many ghost stories that surround the library that bears her name.

Some of the stories that have circulated over the years include the ghostly specter of Millicent Rogers walking through the library, glowing with a brilliant blue hue. People also have claimed to hear her laughter reverberating through the building.

Many of the stories originate with the myth that Rogers buried his daughter in the foundation of the library. Fueling that myth is that the dedication ceremony for the library's cornerstone took place at 6:00 a.m. on a Monday with only the family and a clergyman present. When the library officially opened and the stained-glass window was unveiled, again it was only the family present. The public services took place in the Congregational Church.

In conducting an investigation and writing a subsequent article for the
Standard-Times
in October of 2006, library director Carolyn Longworth and archivist Debbie Charpentier denied the claim of Millicent being buried in the foundation, and Peter Reid, superintendent of Riverside Cemetery, confirmed her remains are in the Rogers family mausoleum at that site.

The stained-glass window at the library features William Shakespeare and Millicent Rogers in angelic forms.

Even if Millicent Rogers isn't beneath the beautiful building, other spirits may be present. Some have claimed to have seen a woman dressed all in black running her fingers across the books on the shelves, and others suggest that a man with a tweed jacket, purple bow tie and small, round glasses is often seen mopping the basement floors. The legend is that he's the ghost of a janitor who died after slipping on a wet floor and that his footsteps can also be heard on the spiral staircase that extends from the basement to the library's tower. Many have claimed to encounter his spirit, including psychics and a Native American gentleman visiting from Seattle.

It is this spirit that many believe is responsible for much of the activity experienced at the library, including fire alarms going off for no apparent reason in the middle of the night and other electrical anomalies. In the course of my own investigation, alongside
Spooky Southcoast
cohost and producer Matt Costa, we experienced an unexplainable incident in which a light flickered on and off a few times in the basement, directly over Matt's head with no one else present on the floor and with the light switch within his sight. Not exactly proof of the paranormal, but when we did flick the switch, we saw that it was actually connected to two lights, and only the one directly over him had been affected. The basement and pretty much the entire building are comprised of granite, which could be storing and feeding the paranormal activity.

Another legend associated with the Millicent Library is that the spirit of Hetty Green haunts the Millicent Library because one of her hats rests among the library's artifacts. Green was the first woman to rule the American financial world, earning the nickname of the Witch of Wall Street. She was also notoriously frugal, and even though her wealth in modern dollars would make her the wealthiest woman in U.S. history, she is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the World's Greatest Miser. While the hat did at one time rest in the library's archives, it hasn't been there in quite some time.

Visitors to the Rogers Room often report that the portraits change expressions.

The Rogers Room houses various artifacts and documents related to the history of the Rogers family, dominated by the huge portraits of H.H. Rogers, his mother and grandmother. Hanging on the far wall of the room, it's said that if you talk directly to the portraits, their expressions change as a result of the conversation. Indeed, the portraits are extremely lifelike, with eyes that seem to follow as one moves across the room. From different angles, the stoic frowns of the women can appear to have the creeping corners of a grin. Cold spots are often reported in this room as well, but it is actually the only room in the library with air conditioning, in order to preserve the artifacts inside.

Despite all these potential ghosts inside, many feel the Millicent Library is haunted without ever having to step foot inside. Built in the Italian-renaissance style by renowned architect Charles Brigham, the library's exterior is decorated with the gargoyles and grotesques that were popular at the time, placed on buildings to ward off evil spirits. There are also griffins, carvings and other such embellishments throughout the inside as well.

This grotesque was removed during renovations and now sits in the library director's office.

One of those original exterior grotesques—said to be the Greek mythological figure Pan but bearing a striking resemblance to Satan—had to be taken down and replaced with a replica. The original now resides in Longworth's office, and the library used it as a mascot on a T-shirt they had printed. Soon after, according to Longworth herself, employees of the library began having bad things happen in their lives—accidents, financial misfortunes and even the death of the janitor occurred within months of the grotesque moving to its new home. Employees then permanently placed a small Bible atop its head and, at the suggestion of a psychic, burned frankincense in the four corners of the building.

Many of Fairhaven's finest structures were gifts of H.H. Rogers. Aside from the Millicent Library, he also gave the town a grammar school, the Unitarian Church, the town hall and other improvements. But the one landmark that looms largest is Fairhaven High School, often referred to as the Castle on the Hill.

Built in 1906, it still remains one of the most beautiful and ornate public schools ever built. An addition in the early part of the twenty-first century was constructed for space and to get the building up to code, yet great effort was made to ensure the new part of the building remained true to the atmosphere and design of the original. The result is a seamless blend of a cutting-edge education within historic halls.

It is in those halls that many of the ghost stories associated with Fairhaven High take place.

The most frequent reports involve phantom cold spots that pop up inexplicably around the school, even on the warmest of days. Sometimes, these cold spots act as a precursor to more overt activity, as if the spirit is summoning strength to be able to move an object or make a loud banging sound. One student told me that among the student body, the feeling of a cold spot is usually considered an “uh-oh” moment for fear of what is to follow.

Another student, who as a member of a certain after-school club has had significant opportunities to be in the building after hours when very few students or staff is present, told me of a book that mysteriously dropped from the third floor down a long winding staircase to just in front of where she was standing on the first floor. If she had been standing just a few feet in the wrong direction, what is mostly viewed as benign poltergeist activity could have proved fatal.

Fairhaven High School, Henry Huttleston Rogers's Castle on the Hill.

Poltergeist, by the way, is a German phrase meaning “noisy ghost.” The concept has been around for hundreds of years, and in some incarnations, it's believed that the poltergeist is a spirit unto itself and has no connection to the soul of a human being. In the last fifty or so years, however, research has instead suggested that poltergeist activity could actually be subliminal manifestations of a prepubescent child. More typically associated with females, the activity is actually unintentional psychokinetic activity—manipulating objects with the mind—that comes as a result of hormonal changes and eventually wears off with time.