New England Oddities

Becket’s Abandoned Quarry

The solitary entry read simply this: “Two hundred men lost their lives while the quarry was in operation from 1850 to 1960. And a lone hiker claims to have been chased away by a angry spirit”. An abandoned quarry located in the small town of Becket, MA? Having grown up less than 30 miles away, I was surprised never to have heard of it, and more than a little intrigued.

With a little bit more digging, I came upon a very informative web page, published by The Becket Land Trust. Although there is no information in the land trust’s page corroborating or denying claims of so many deaths or any mention of paranormal activity, I was pleasantly surprised to find maps and photos of the area with a brief history of the quarry’s operation. Still I must say that the hopes of gathering some kind of evidence of paranormal activity were high. The claims that approximately two hundred workers had met their demise there, and that a hiker was chased away from the location sparked my curiosity. So, the very next day we left to explore the living museum with hopes of finding memories of the dead.

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The Perils of Believing One’s Eyes

There is perhaps no photographic evidence of the paranormal more prevalent than that of so-called orbs. Orbs are delivered up as evidence of ghostly energy at every turn, often heralded as irrefutable proof of a haunting. But are they really?

What is an orb?

An orb is a globe or ball of light that seems to hover over or amongst the unsuspecting subjects of a photograph, or against a scenic backdrop. Though often unseen at the time the photo is taken, they appear in the finished frame, in varying degrees of intensity and brightness. They are usually round, but sometimes have tails or motion trails, indicating movement. Orbs are most often photographed at night, showing up as light masses against a dark background, but occasionally they appear in daylight photography as dark or colored globes or smudges.

Most paranormal photographers agree that orbs are the physical manifestation of energy. But what that energy is, exactly, is up for debate. Many argue that orbs are the spirits of the dead, materialized to mug for the camera, while others insist that they are non-human life forms or even nature spirits.

I want to believe

These days, when nearly everybody has access to photo editing tools, it’s harder than ever to trust any paranormal photography, much less anything as simple to execute as an orb. As an example, take a look at the photograph below.

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A Potter’s Field In Springfield

Burial grounds in New England boast a wide variety of markers, from traditional stones, to crosses, to flat plaques, benches, raised tables and even obelisks. But what of a graveyard with no visible markers whatsoever?

Bay Path Cemetery in Springfield, Massachusetts is one such “stoneless” yard. Also called the Almshouse Burial Grounds, Bay Path Cemetery is home to nearly a thousand former residents of the town poorfarm and the old Municipal Hospital. Giving every impression of an empty lot, the small cemetery sits on a corner of Blunt Park by Roosevelt Avenue. It is surrounded by a low chain-link fence with locked gates, and contains a solitary stone marker bearing an inscription from Matthew: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

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The Restless Captive

High above, the sun’s rays bombarded the earth with malevolent force. I tried with determination to ignore the heat and concentrate on catching a trout or two, but the beads of sweat streaming down my face served as a grim reminder that today would have been better spent in the confines of our air-conditioned home.

Evidently, the trout had the same idea, as they were unwilling to move from the river’s depths to chase our offerings. Oh, how clear and cool the water looked, but I realized the consequences outweighed the benefits of staying put. Instead I opted to escape the blistering heat under the sheltering limbs and leaves of the woods directly behind us.

Frustrated and beginning to sunburn from the searing heat, I seized a polystyrene cup someone had carelessly discarded on the river bank and walked into the soothing embrace of the wood. After a moment’s appreciation for the shade, I went to the task of turning over laid down timber, hoping to find earthworms for bait. My efforts were rewarded rather quickly, but at the last log I was to raid, a flash of color the size of an adult crossed my view.

I stood up quickly, dropping my container, and scanned the woods in all directions. My heart felt as if it would leap out of my chest. I focused upon the direction in which I thought the the blur had moved, and a short distance away, amongst the trees protruding from the soft soil, stood a stone marker. My eyes flickered in each direction to reassure myself that I was alone, and then, with cautious steps, I proceeded forward.

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Forsaking Old Main

The uphill approach is an overgrown hash of tangled, graveled decay that ultimately gives way to an expanse of sparse spring green and scattered granite rubble; the pervading stillness of this place belies the proximity to Massachusetts State Route 66 and the Smith College athletic fields. A few small buildings remain, in varying states of decay, as a testament to the rich Elizabethan grandeur that once stood on this spot.

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Buried Legends

Our perception of death has been accompanied by superstition and tradition since humans first implemented the practice of burial around 60,000 BC. Every culture throughout history has observed its own elaborate customs, both to keep safe the living and chaperon the dead to their next stop.

Our modern cemeteries are no less exempt from the vestigial residue of archaic myth. Combining an array of traditional elements – from a uniformity of layout (the feet of the decedents to the East and heads to the West), to gun salutes, bells, and headstones decorated with symbols ranging in theme from the cherubic to memento mori – is it any wonder that cemeteries have long been a source of both curiosity and trepidation?

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