| There is an identity complex in Massachusetts. Many of the Commonwealth’s towns suffer from having one foot in the past, often pre-revolutionary, and one stretching towards the future. They want to maintain their quant quality and their small town feel but know the cities are expanding and closing in on their land. They know tourism depends on being able to capitalize on what once was, but their streets cannot accommodate the number of people pushing into shops.
Newburyport, Massachusetts, is on of those towns. Walking the streets in like living in two worlds, and that becomes the reason to go. There are stories of hauntings throughout the town, but it is the hotel and restaurant maintained in the old Brown Square Hotel that surface more than any other. The building in the center of Brown Square had trouble from the very beginning. It was originally designed in 1802 to be the residence of Moses Brown, but constant issues and setbacks kept stopping its building. It was finally completed in 1810, but a poor economy forced it to convert to a office building in 1812. After passing hands a few times over the next few decades, it became a boarding house in 1850. In 1880, it was turned into a hotel named the Brown Square Hotel and over the next forty years it slowly added modern conveniences and a dining room. One of Newburyport’s most endearing son’s is the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, whose statue, built in 1893, rests in Brown Square across from the hotel. He believed in achieve his goals through writing and peaceful means, but had a reputation for getting under people’s skin. He had some pretty extreme ideas, including the thought the Constitution was an agreement with Hell and needed to be thrown away. The four story building was not ready to settle down yet. During the fifties and seventies there were battles to keep it open, but there were issues with the acquiring of a liquor license because it skated the border for so long with whether it was a residential or a business property, and then over what the nature of the business was. Today the building is a National Historic Landmark with 24 rooms open to guests. In season it is a bustling home, but even when things are active there is the memory with employees of the last haunting they were witness to. The number of sightings of ghosts in the inn is astounding, but one of the more unusual aspects of the haunting is that no one has ever seen a ghost or has any idea why the spirits might be there. An employee recently reported that he believed there was a ghost in the elevator. He claims it goes up and down and opens and closes at unusual times. By itself that can be passed off as bad wiring and fickle machinery, but the elevator always travels to a floor, opens and then travels down to the first floor without stopping or picking up other guests, almost as if it is being requested by a ghostly guest who wants to get to the lobby without being disturbed. Other employees have reported different disturbances throughout the hotel. Windows often open and close as workers clean rooms. Several have reported airing out a room only to return minutes later to find them closed. There are odd cold spots at random times and one former maid tells of a night when the cold followed her to every room she went into. It would get hot when she entered and left rooms, but after being in a room for ten seconds, the temperature would drop to almost freezing. Recently a restaurant named David’s Tavern has been added to the inn. There seem to be more reports from people there. Glasses have been known to levitate and shatter without anyone touching them. No suspects have stepped forward to claim responsibility for the hauntings. There are no reports of death or tragedy that stand out, although in the 1850s it served a harder clientele as a boarding house. There is a rich tradition of old boarding houses in Massachusetts being haunted, and records of patrons were sketchy at best during that time. For now the people who work the hotel live uneasily with the ghosts at the inn. There has never been anything threatening about the hauntings and no one has ever been hurt. Reports continue to come in, but most are second hand stories shared by friends and other employees. |
| The Garrison Inn Newburyport, Ma |
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| Pictures courtesy of http://www.newburyport01950.com/ |