History, Preservation vs. Demolition

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.

The abandoned access road. We pulled into the parking area and my mind became enamored with images of what awaited us. A information board adjacent to our entry point contained a brochure from the land trust, a sign in sheet and a handy map marking points of interest. After signing in and grabbing a map we began the hike upon the neglected road to our destination a first hand look into the past.

And so we started along the leaf-carpeted road that would lead us to the quarry proper, where a closer inspection of machines and other implements used by quarry workers, right up until the day the location became abandoned, would be possible. Step after step, I couldn’t help but think of how many different people made their way to work on this very strip of land during the hundred years the quarry was in operation. How many workers had walked up this long hill to reach the pit where tons of granite awaited them? What were their thoughts? Though still and peaceful now, I could imagine the quarry road as a hive of activity. Strange to think of it now, but I felt as if we were not walking alone.

The road was littered with small piles of grout (smaller, sharp-edged stones), a definitive indication that loads of granite had once made their way down this very hill. At the quarry’s inception, both man and beast navigated this road to deliver their pay load to waiting customers. Then, when trucks became available, the horses were retired for the more modern and efficient automobiles. Along the roadside, piles of grout, which had been tossed aside as unusable, broke through the blanket of dry leaves.

After a short walking distance, the sight of a large, chaotic collage of grout covering the hillside’s steep grade, brilliantly shimmering gray and silver, caught my attention. Scars from chisels and drills gave a indication that this was one of the sides to the quarry pit and we were getting closer. If the local legends were true, then no doubt the center of activity would be closer to the pit. Just beyond the myriad number of stones sits a quiet landscape, forever changed, where every day for a hundred years men carved into the hard earth to remove prized pieces of stone.

Payload truck.Soon we arrived at a level clearing, where we could see trucks and generators that once served vital functions, but now, in their slow death and decay, rusting into art. Nature’s timely process of decay rotted the floors to crumbling bits and revealed linkages and gears that enabled these vehicles to maneuver on this unpaved mountain side.

It was here at this plateau, next to a collapsed metal generator shed, that I began with some EVP work, attempting to record a disembodied voice using a small digital recorder. After asking a few questions there, I proceeded forward and up a slight incline to another structure that was still standing. According to the map, this small concrete structure with two bay doors was the quarry’s tool shed.

Quarry tool shed.Tucked away in a back corner of the building, a wood burning stove stood alone, broken both by vandals and time. Pieces lay on the concrete floor, covered with dust and leaves blown in by mischievous winds. Across the small building’s span, hanging down from the ceiling across the room, dangled lifeless electrical wires. Sunlight streamed in through a skylight.

Wood burning stove.Again, I felt as if there was someone or something with us. I reached for the recorder and began again with the standard battery of inquiries to our unseen subject. After I asked a particular question, a loud creaking sound drowned out bird songs and the sound of the leaves that shuffled across the forest floor by a gentle breeze. This occurrence repeated itself three times. The source of the creaking seemed to be a free-standing large wooden box about 20 feet from the building. After the EVP session was over the noise from the abandoned implement stopped, though the breeze continued.

The Derrick\'s apex.Then I noticed a large, weathered pole reaching high above the trees which grew around the quarry’s rim. Rusting cables ran from the top and disappeared into the surrounding tree tops; these gave away the purpose of this primitive device. This was the “Derick”, a crane that workers utilized to haul granite chunks from the pit below. I was at once fascinated with the simplistic design of this machine, and in awe of how hazardous it was to work with a crane that had no safeguards or protective shields.

Quarry\'s southern rim.It was here, at the rim of the quarry, where I couldn’t help but notice a change in the surrounding atmosphere. The air itself seemed to press down on me. Quickly, the recorder found its way back into my hand and I instinctually began to ask questions. A later review of these recordings would come up empty.

The photos, though beautifully indicative of a moment seemingly frozen in time, also lacked any hard evidence of the paranormal.

But I can’t help but wonder if another trip will prove to be more fruitful.


Posted by Chris
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
31 Comments
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  1. Cenotes in New England?…

    Well not really but my brother and his friend did take us to the Becket Quarry for a fun afternoon of…

    Trackback by Playa del Carmen Real Estate Blog - Observations on Life and Real Estate in Playa del Carmen, Mexico — July 28, 2008 at 7:04 pm #

  2. I found a quarry in sandisfield
    is there any where to find more about
    it, please.

    Comment by Lee — June 6, 2009 at 9:47 am #

  3. Your best bet for information is to contact the local historical society or, go to the towns public library and do some “digging” of your own. Usually I have my best luck in the libraries. Staff members are nine times out of ten more than willing to help you find what you need.
    After that the internet can help. But, finding accurate information is hard to come by.

    Good luck with your search and thanks for stopping in.

    Chris

    Comment by Chris — June 8, 2009 at 6:19 pm #

  4. dude ive been to the quarry a thousand time before i found out it was haunted and i def felt somone else there other than “us”. this place drf signals off sometype of insyne vibe, imagine walking bak in the dark with no flashlights at like 3 am drunk? horrible, it felt like someone pushed me but my friend was not near me at all.ahe had to come and pick me up.anyways there is a weird presence there…

    Comment by natalia — June 26, 2009 at 1:52 am #

  5. i jumped off the highest cliff into the water. its approximately 80 ft. so much fun

    Comment by Zach — September 1, 2009 at 10:01 pm #

  6. I don’t believe that place is haunted you all are just spooking yourselves out.

    Comment by Anonymous — September 3, 2009 at 11:03 am #

  7. It’s not haunted. I go up there all the time, photography, swimming, a nice hike. All great to do here. The wierdest thing i ever saw here was hundreds of baby salimanders along the path leading to the quary.

    Comment by K-train — December 17, 2009 at 5:06 pm #

  8. Thank you for stopping in K-train.

    Comment by Chris K — December 23, 2009 at 9:38 pm #

  9. Hi my name is Curt.I run a paranormal group here in mass.I actually took a small group of three counting myself to Becket Quarry.We caught some disembodied voices that showed no signs of intelligence.One at the parking area “Get out”.
    picked up some metal pounding on metal sounds.Strange for two thirty am .I took my dog and she freaked and wouldn’t go back down the trail. Out of characteristic. I can’t say it is haunted but I can say it is a great place that strange things tend to happen at.

    Comment by stdparanormal — January 8, 2010 at 12:14 pm #

  10. Thank you for stopping by.

    Comment by Chris K — January 9, 2010 at 1:32 am #

  11. I visited recently and had trouble finding the water area. We sorta ran out of daylight so perhaps we didnt go far enough, but I’d like to be sure for next time. Is there a special trail to take?

    Comment by Keanu B. — April 13, 2010 at 11:25 pm #

  12. I would be interested in going at night to check it out if you plan another trip.I’ve been all through there def. felt something,don’t understand y i didn’t see any wildlife kinda strange.

    Comment by brett g — August 7, 2010 at 8:21 pm #

  13. Went to the quarry last night with 3 other friends. Caught many disembodied voices on his camera which operated on a tape. They also made the tape go completely white for about 10 secs. At the time It was not noticeable to us on the viewer. While in the parking lot I told it to take the energy from the camera and we caught a voice saying “I don’t want any more of your light”. This makes sense because there was a light on the camera and in the ghost’s time period they would not know what a camera was so that’s why I think they said light instead of camera. One more interesting voice is when we were walking back to the parking lot. There is a distinct voice that says “watch out”. Then just a second later the camera comes out of my hand. I chalk it up to being a little stoned but after review gave me the chills. The voice clearly does not come from any of us and it pronounces its T’s which we don’t do here. If anyone wants a copy of this moment I would be happy for someone else to confirms this. Just email me at rigg420@nycap.rr.com

    Comment by David — October 4, 2010 at 1:00 pm #

  14. I live about 30 seconds down the road from the quarry and have been up there multiple times. I have never seen any sort of apperitions but I do here alot of noise being made like chisels and hammers pounding away.

    Comment by Jake — October 15, 2010 at 6:05 pm #

  15. My grandfather worked the quarry 100 years ago, and he used to take me there as a child back in the late fifty’s. I have some photo’s of him at the quarry back then. I have been there dozen’s of times since and have noticed the vandalism and nature take it’s toll. My grandfather’s home (actually my G. grandfather’s home) at the time he worked there is near the quarry parking lot. The owner who lives there now is Adrianne Metcalf. I never experienced any spooky activity there, I always felt comfortable.

    Comment by Vail — October 24, 2010 at 8:32 am #

  16. Thank you for all of the comments on this article. We appreciate all of you who took the time to visit and leave your feedback.

    Comment by Chris K — November 1, 2010 at 3:30 pm #

  17. According to the book “A Bicentennial History of Becket, Massachusetts (1964), the number of deaths at the quarry was very small. “Only two are remembered, and both stem from carelessness.”
    One man fell to his death and another was killed when he was hit in the chest by a crowbar. I am pointing this out because a number of paranormal sites are claiming that “200 men lost their lives during the operation of the quarry”. There is no record of any great lost of life at the so-called Hudson & Chester granite quarry. However, the old quarry on the remote mountainside is an idea setting for paranormal activity. Ghosts are known to frequent settings such as abandoned houses and
    ruins of industrial complexes. Aside from the two known workers killed at the quarry, I would take into consideration that there may have been one or two other deaths back in the 1800s – when records were poorly kept or simply forgotten.

    Comment by John B. — November 4, 2010 at 5:04 am #

  18. John, thank you for posting for posting information about the quarry and visiting our site.

    At the time of writing this article I was unable to find any reliable source of information. I did talk to some Beckett residents and even they were unclear about the quarry’s history, or where I could find more information that would provide more details. So thank you again.

    Chris K

    Comment by Chris K — November 9, 2010 at 7:49 pm #

  19. SSSCCCAAARRRYYYY

    Comment by Abbby — November 12, 2010 at 2:04 pm #

  20. SCARY!!

    Comment by Abbby — November 12, 2010 at 2:06 pm #

  21. Is it really HAUNTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I ahve never been theree bbut itt sounddss SSCCAARRYY!!!!

    Comment by Abbby — November 12, 2010 at 2:16 pm #

  22. [...] lost their lives in this quarry in a huge accident, causing it to close down. You can read about it here. Please note that I don’t personally believe in paranormal activity but I’m sure it is [...]

    Pingback by Cliff Jumping and Rock Climbing « Zac Binx — November 12, 2010 at 4:48 pm #

  23. Abbby, Thanks for dropping by. The quarry closed down when the owner simply gave up. And as far as the location being haunted-In my opinion it is not. I should say that we have been there a few more times since this article was written and we could not obtain any evidence to verify the area is haunted.

    Comment by Chris K — November 12, 2010 at 11:56 pm #

  24. Funny thing about ghosts. Some folks go through life and never see or hear one. Others bump into them now and then. I always do my own investigations before I come to any conclusions. I’m planning on doing EVP at the quarry next time I visit. There’s no record of any major accident at the quarry; Some folks start stories and then everyone assumes they are true when they read them. However, there was a major accident at a quarry in the town of West Stockbridge, Mass.,
    around 1867. Five workers were killed in that accident. A number of swimmers /cliff jumpers
    have also drowned in the deep waters in recent years.

    Comment by John B. — November 13, 2010 at 5:16 am #

  25. Weather permitting, a small group of our members is planning a day trip out there tomorrow morning… I’ll keep you posted! G.

    Comment by BPS Founder — November 23, 2010 at 1:17 am #

  26. Great! Thanks for stopping by.

    Comment by Chris K — November 24, 2010 at 5:19 pm #

  27. My GF and I hiked into there today and to the quarry. She has been there many times and has photographed the area and relics. We did come across several groups of teenagers who were going to the swimming hole with alcohol and one couple walking their dog on the path. The trail follows a horseshoe-shaped pattern which leads directly to the water. Hard to miss really. We were there around 2 PM and while it was a sunny, warm day – we didn’t hear any strange sounds or voices – but it is kinda ‘creepy’ there – just for some reason that I really can’t say ‘why’ for sure. It just is. I would imagine a night time hike or expedition would prove interesting of course!

    Comment by Michael — May 30, 2011 at 7:15 pm #

  28. Also – sadly we noticed at the trail head ‘log in’ station of visitors/hikers – that people are not logging in and out when visiting this site and a lot of litter on the ground from visitors as well. I urge visitors to plse pack out what you bring in! The future of this historical site could be jeopardized by those inconsiderate few who choose to leave their trash at this site instead of taking it home with you and disposing of it properly….

    Comment by Michael — May 30, 2011 at 8:02 pm #

  29. My family and I went to the quarry today. We new nothing about it previously but a friend told us we should check it out. The walk is beautiful. I can say that we did have a sence that others were around but nothing really out of the ordinary. The swimming area was packed with teens jumping off the cliffs, fun to watch. As we walked back down the trail. When we were behind the huge granite pile. I hit a distict cold spot. It was a hot humid day and this spot felt like a blast of air conditioning. When I called my boys over it was gone. I researched the area after I got back home and came across your page. We will be heading back tomorrow to try to swim in the morning. Very cool place.

    Comment by Jill — August 7, 2011 at 4:26 pm #

  30. Hi, im from the area right down Algeria road. Is like to first start off by saying there is zero record of major accidents. My father works for the newer Chester granite and his boss, the owner, has been in the business since his chilhood in the 30′s and 40′s, ive been to the quarry on numerous occasions and theres been no great presence or spookeyness ever. People are very mislead by a little hearsay or rumor to scare off the younger kids and teens because of the danger that can result from carelessness. The area is rich in history though. Theres tons of areas where unmarked graves are as well as remains of stone slave houses from the quarrys original operation in the 17 and 1800′s. If interested in more information i can be emailed and give directiobs or credible sources. Patrick.vonberg1@gmail.com.

    Comment by pat vonberg — August 8, 2011 at 2:32 pm #

  31. I grew up in the area and never heard anything about 200 deaths in Beckett. I DO, however,know that 200 workers died in the Hoosac Tunnel during the course of it’s construction. This may just be a case where Berkshire stories got confused.

    Comment by Hairpin Lupinski — November 13, 2011 at 4:00 pm #

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