Spooky surroundings

Take a tour of North of Boston’s scary cemeteries

Larry Claflin Jr.

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — At the crest of a hill just outside Manchester-by-the-Sea’s business district, a pre-Revolutionary War cemetery sits behind a curving stone wall topped with a wrought-iron arch that reads “1661.”

One might pass the Old Burial Ground without a second thought if it were not for the trees — dozens of tall pines that cast shadows over ancient, slate headstones day and night. Above the small graveyard, treetops converge, creating a dark canopy and a perch for loud crows.

As far as we know, no ghosts haunt this site, but its creepy look makes it an ideal first stop on a tour of cemeteries around the region. It’s Friday the 13th — in October — so come along for a ride around North of Boston for a look at...where...the...dead...sleep.

Taking into account the fact that these are the final resting places of many good people, we can’t deny that cemeteries — especially the ancient ones with rows of battered stones — are scary places that elicit shivers from visitors. Keep in mind that these properties are open only from dawn to dusk and after-dark excursions are discouraged. So respect these treasures and take a walk as the sun’s coming down, which can be frightful, too.

“Most people don’t want to be in a cemetery late at night,” said Dan Tremblay of Ghost Stories of New England. “They’re definitely out by 6 o’clock.”

Tremblay’s “Ghost Stories and Local Haunts” — a production of videos, photos and discussion on haunted sites — airs twice a week on Salem Access Television. According to Tremblay, many visit graveyards for the architecture of old-style tombstones and to read the epitaphs.

“It’s the mystique old cemeteries have that you can’t find in new cemeteries,” Tremblay said. “Epitaphs were nothing more than a few words or maybe a sentence of what a person wanted you to read — a person in death’s message...an anecdote or two of how he or she wanted to be remembered.”

With all due respect to Tremblay, I ambulate in cemeteries for more than architecture and epitaphs: I go into these places to get scared, so bad that I run out like my hair’s on fire, babbling gibberish, shaking like a baby’s rattle.

With Tremblay’s encouragement and three books as my guide — Joseph A. Citro’s “Weird New England,” Lisa Rogak’s “Stones and Bones of New England,” and Robert Ellis Cahill’s self-published “New England’s Ghostly Hauntings,” I set off to find a little fright. Although I didn’t encounter any spirits, the hair on the back of my neck did stand on ends a couple times. Some may attribute this to a strong breeze; I choose to blame it on the icy breath of a ghost.

Old Burial Ground,

Manchester-by-the-Sea

Long, thin shadows of pine trees are broken only by the stout shadows of centuries-old headstones in this graveyard on Route 127. Walk the uneven ground and step around grave markers of all shapes, some clustered together, others broken on the grass. The headstone of William K. Ketterfield, who died in 1818, merges with the stump of a tree, the two forged together so tight the stone’s edge is encased in bark.

This place does not promote walking; it’s more of a spot to sit and contemplate those who are buried here. One couples’ shared grave from the early 1800s has fresh flowers planted, a sign that these people linger in someone’s memory hundreds of years after death.

Old Hill Burying Ground,

Newburyport

“Nothing is stranger than the mist rising off the mall late at night,” said Paul Jancewicz of Amesbury in reference to Bartlet Mall’s ornamental pond across from Old Hill, which opened in 1729. During the annual Yankee Homecoming, Jancewicz portrays Lord Timothy Dexter, a self-important man now interred at the graveyard.

In “Stones and Bones of New England,” Rogak refers to Old Hill as the “Home of Lengthy Epitaphs.” The most unusual, and longest, can be found on Mary McHard’s marker. McHard died not long after swallowing a pea, and the explanation of her death takes up the whole face of the stone.

When strolling around Old Hill at dusk, take care not to step into one of many depressions in the ground or trip over small grave markers hidden under long grass. In many places, stones tilt into one another, while other hillside graves have stones that lean at odd angles, almost falling over. Several tombs are so completely covered in brush that they are hardly recognizable.

One of the creepiest stories to come out of Old Hill is recent: On Aug. 17, 2005, a 19-year-old from Salisbury who was doing court-ordered maintenance at the cemetery broke into the Civil War-era crypt, pried open a casket and removed several bones, including a skull. He then scattered the bones and photographed himself with the skull on his shoulder. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.

Village Burial Ground,

Methuen

When Mary Frances Sherwood Hopkins Searles died in 1891, her husband, Edward Searles, gave her a most unusual funeral procession, according to Joe Bella, president of the Methuen Historical Society.

Edward Searles, a Methuen native, oversaw a midnight burial, employing six servants to carry his wife’s casket from Pine Lodge Estate to a mausoleum across Lawrence Street. Searles, who inherited millions after his wife’s death, had English ancestry, Bella said, and he may have been following the English tradition of burying the dead at midnight,

“The strangest thing happened: The Town Hall clock chimed at midnight and that was the last time it chimed — it broke,” Bella said.

On Oct. 28 from 6 to 9 p.m., the Methuen Historical Society will host a ghost tour at Village Burial Ground called “Who Poisoned Mrs. Searles?” Bella stressed that Searles was not really poisoned, but for one night, she will come alive and implicate someone in her fictional murder.

Actors will duplicate the funeral procession, with Edward Searles at the head, carrying a Bible and torch to the grave. Also, members of the historical society will give tours around the graveyard, pointing out historical figures of early Methuen.

The tour will cost $5, with proceeds helping to restore and maintain the Tenney Gatehouse.

Woodbridge and

Jenkins Family Cemetery,

Andover

Even though one neighbor considers this cemetery an “eyesore,” its historical significance can’t be discounted. This spot is on the National Register of Historic Places because two members of the Jenkins family were leading abolitionists. The Jenkins house was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and escaped slaves hid there on their way to Canada.

The graveyard is now on a cul-de-sac in a subdivision on Douglass Lane. It’s surrounded by a wooden, stockade fence and is not easy to access. Once you get to the site, it’s a pleasant spot with 11 graves from the Woodbridge and Jenkins families clustered under a large pine tree. Their remains were relocated to Spring Grove Cemetery in Andover in 1882.

Burying Point and Witch Trial Victims Memorial,

Salem

Of all the graveyards around the region, Salem’s Burying Point and Witch Trial Victims Memorial could be the most haunted. Tremblay said that nighttime visitors to the Charter Street cemetery report seeing strange orbs in photographs. And, he said, a ghost named Mary haunts the former Roosevelt’s restaurant, which abuts the 1637 cemetery. According to Tremblay, Mary is the ghost of a silent, young girl who died at sea and is buried with her parents just 14 feet from the old eatery’s wall.

In “When the Ghost Screams,” Leslie Rule writes about an incident in which a casket was said to have broken through the stone wall that separates the vacant building from the Burying Point.

If that’s not enough to scare you, consider that Justice John Hathorne, one of the judges from the Salem Witch Trials, is buried here.

Old Burial Hill,

Marblehead

Marblehead, a picturesque peninsula, offers breathtaking views of the ocean, and the view from Old Burial Hill is no exception. This 1638 graveyard is a well-preserved gem with a wooden gazebo from which to take in Old Town Marblehead and the town’s harbor.

It was from this high point, said Jim McCabe of New England Ghosts Tours, that Edward “The Wizard” Diamond would shout orders to his fleet of fishing vessels. Even during a terrible storm, miles away from shore, the crews could hear Diamond’s voice across the waves, McCabe said.

Other strange stories about Old Burial Hill abound: a one-legged Revolutionary War soldier who limps around at night, the scent of wild roses in the dead of winter, and the story of a little girl who supposedly drowned in adjacent Redd’s Pond in the 1940s.

If you listen hard at night, you may hear the screams of the woman who was murdered nearby on what is now known as Screeching Lady Beach. According to Robert Ellis Cahill in “Ghostly Haunts,” an Englishwoman was captured and robbed by Spanish pirates in the 17th century and left on the beach to die. The pirates stole her expensive jewels and cut off her finger to get an emerald ring, Cahill wrote.

Old Burial Hill’s gravestones have various examples of Puritan carvings, including a winged death’s head, an urn and willow, angels and skulls and crossbones. They can all be seen online at www.oldburialhill.org.

A weekend of visiting local cemeteries came to an end with nary a spirit sighting. In fact, I didn’t even hear any bushes rustle or twigs snap. But I still believe in ghosts. Maybe I’ll head back on Halloween.

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