Tom Dresser - Ghosts of Marthas Vineyard

Published by Haunted America

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.com

Copyright 2020 by Thomas Dresser

All rights reserved

First published 2020

E-book edition 2020

ISBN 978.1.43967.119.1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020938583

print edition ISBN 978.1.46714.646.3

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Ghosts of Marthas Vineyard is dedicated to the late John Alley, historian, raconteur and Vineyard character.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Way before I wrote my first ghost books, my fascination with the paranormal started in London, and specifically, it started with walking tours.

Hard as it is to believe today, what with ghost stories having flourished all over America like an invasion of something piquant but distinctly foreign, back in 1983, when I paid a visit to my folks who lived in my uncle Marshalls apartment in Cadogan Square in London, Id never heard of walking tours devoted to haunted locales. Or anything else, really.

Now bear in mind that the English, whove been happily walking since well before the Battle of Hastings, had for a long time been offering rambles through town on all subjects. Georgian architecture, anyone? Pub crawls of the Bloomsbury Circle? At least two dozen walks were on offer, mostly for the delectation of tourists, mostly about history and the arts, and they were dutifully listed in the paper.

I loved the very idea of these footloose lectures, so when my parents suggested we take a couple, I accepted the list presented in the paper and circled the ones that drew me in above all others.

1. Follow in the Footsteps of Jack the Ripper

2. The Ghosts of London

Lets just say Ive got a passion for exciting stories. Jack the Ripper attacks took place at night, and we indeed followed in his tracks where the bodies were long ago discovered. His primary hood, Whitechapel, was as dark and grimy and dispiriting in 1983 as it had been in the 1890s, and at one point, my mom said loudly, as she was wont to do whenever an occasion to embarrass anyone in her family developed, What are we doing in Whitechapel?

But even more entertaining was an afternoon ramble devoted to haunted London. As we know, England itself has always been home to more ghostly haunts than fish n chips joints. The story that stayed with me involved the gorgeous acres of Green Park. Some centuries ago during one of the major plague years, this spot, now in the heart of town, lurked out in the country where a tremendous pit was dug for wagons hauling new corpses for discard. These days, such a long time later, a sense of melancholy still hovers over the greensward. No picnickers are able to linger, and no flowers grow.

Many years later, in the early 90s, my beloved (now) ex-husband Marty, with our seven-year-old son, Charlie, moved to the Vineyard year-round, having lived and worked in LA in the TV comedy biz. One of the gigs I took on for myself was to provide walking tours for the visitors of summer.

I intuited that Edgartown would be rife with ghost stories, so the Ghosts of Edgartown went on the docket. I also developed From Camp Meet to Cat House: The Sacred and Profane Oak Bluffs and The Rich and Famous of Vineyard Haven. When the first tour pulled in five times as many walkers, I realized the other two down-island towns had their share of ghoulies as well, and all three town tours featured Ghosts in their titles.

What I discovered, and assuredly my friend and colleague Tom Dresser has as well, is that when you put out the call for true local ghost stories, islanders practically take a number to tell you theirs. Ive even found explanations why old New England towns are so very spookified. Researchers of the paranormal will tell you that ghosts are enhanced and telecommunicated by electric energy and thereby along water channels. Our towns on the waterfront, with their fogs and shallow aquifers, dial up those occult figures like no other geographical settings.

Plus, just as the UK has specialized in haunted sites from so many centuries of history and the sheer volume of stories that vie for attention, were starting to collect, in older parts of our country, our own versions of Anne Boleyn with er ead tucked underneath her armalthough, so far nothing quite that lurid.

What I told Tom when he was starting out with these ghost tales for The History Press is that hed find almost all the reports believable. Its about community and being accountable to one another. Naturally, we have our crazies and our exaggerators, but for the most part, the friends and neighbors who regale you with the time a ghost made green pancakes to celebrate St. Paddys Day, you know it happened. It really happened.

So enjoy the following true stories. I myself stand eager to see what new eerie spirits are visiting these shores.

Holly Nadler, author of Haunted Island, The Ghosts of Boston Town, Vineyard Confidential and Vineyard Supernatural

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Tom, full blessings to pursue your own ghost book! said Holly Nadler, the Ghost Lady of Marthas Vineyard.

Historian/teacher Chris Baer said, Sounds like fun, Tom! Im no believer in the supernatural, but I may have a few tales for you.

What a fantastic topic. I will look through our files and see what I can come up with for you! commented Hilary Wallcox, librarian of the Vineyard Gazette.

Liz Villard, the maven of Edgartown history, said, You realize that your tape recorder jammed after we discussed the fact that Jaspers recorder jammed. Hmmm.

Marthas Vineyard Museum librarian Bow Van Riper wrote, Ive heard a lot of St. Pierre Camp alums say that the Marine Hospital felt spooky.

A ghost led an incomplete life, said paranormal Karen Coffey. A ghost leaves a piece of itself in the old house. It is like a black-and-white negative.

Some people enjoy their best accomplishments in retirement, said Victoria Haeselbarth. They bloom into their full glory.

And Jim Chirgwin, who grew up in the Daggett House, perhaps the most haunted house on Marthas Vineyard, added this caveat: Have fun!

WITH THE SUPPORT AND encouragement of a vast array of Vineyarders, how could I not pursue this unique topic? My thanks to John Alley, Chris Baer, Catie Blake, Joan Boykin, Nan Byrne, Jim Chirgwin, Amy Coffey, Karen Coffey, Gary Cook, Susan Desmarais, Patty Egan, Cynthia Farrington, Frank Fenner, Victoria Haeselbarth, Donna Humphrey, Robyn Joubert, Holly Nadler, David, Elena and Steven Perzanowski, Jim Powell, Greer Thornton, Liz Villard, Hilary Wallcox, Tara Whiting-Wells, Susan Wilson and Robyn Wingate.

To The History Press crowd, I so enjoy working with commissioning editor Mike Kinsella, copyeditor Abigail Fleming and marketeer maven Dani McGrath as well as myriad supporting actors and agents along the way.