---

Bed down with spirits that still call some inns and hotels home

New England has its fair share of inns and hotels where the spirits of deceased residents are said to hang around, even to the present day. Many have stories associated with them – some tales of heroism, some tales of violence and trauma. Most often, the spirits are simply bumping around, watching present-day goings-on, sometimes pulling silly pranks. Below are some New England hostelries said to be inhabited by ghostly presences.

---

The White House Inn of Wilmington
Wilmington
The White House was built as a private summer home in 1915 for a wealthy lumber baron, Martin Brown and his wife Clara. People who work at the inn now are sure that the Brown couple still hangs around to keep an eye on the comings and goings at the property. Recently, a guest of about age 7 was exploring the downstairs TV room, and she opened the door of a very large safe – where the inn now stores soda -- that was originally the place where Martin Brown stored valuable documents. The young girl said she saw an old man in the safe who told her the safe was his, and she should go away. The man answered the description of Martin Brown. Years ago, a guest saw the image of a woman who answered the description of Clara Brown. In addition to sightings of the 200-year-old couple, guests and workers at the inn often report the sound of voices.

Green Mountain Inn
Stowe
The ghost at the Green Mountain Inn is that of Boots Berry, a tap dancer and local hero who can still be heard dancing on the third floor of the hotel during winter storms. The son of the inn’s groom and chambermaid, he was born in Room 302 in 1840. The boy grew up in and around the building, and he eventually succeeded his father as the inn’s groom. Boots was in the main street of Stowe one summer’s morning when a stagecoach team bolted. He stopped the runaway stage and saved the lives of the passengers. News of his exploit spread, and Boots was so heavily plied with drinks that he became an alcoholic. He neglect his work, was dismissed, wandered the country, and did some jail time in New Orleans, where he learned to tap dance. In 1902, Boots, poverty-stricken, drifted back to Stowe. At about the same time, a dreadful storm hit the town and a little girl got stranded in the snow on the roof of the Inn. Boots, remembering the layout of the hotel from his childhood, climbed on to the roof and lowered the girl safely to the ground. Then he slipped and fell to his death. His life had come full circle, for the roof he was standing on when he fell was the roof of Room 302.

The Golden Stage Inn
Proctor, Vermont
The owners of the Golden Stage Inn, a 219-year-old building that has a past life as a stage coach stop and tavern, have had lots of up-close contact spirits, all of them benign and, at times, just mischievous. One time, hearing footsteps from the third floor, where no guests live, the owner walked upstairs and discovered that third-floor hallway was freezing cold. She said, out loud, “Is there anything we can do to help you?” and, instantly, the sound of footsteps stopped and the temperature rose to normal. Guests and members of the owners’ family have seen an image of a man dressed in a long duster and a wide-brimmed hat who looks very much like actor Robert Redford. One woman said she has the impression that the young man died while trying to rescue a woman in trouble on a stage coach. At other times, canned food has disappeared from the storeroom and then reappeared later, with no explanation, and, at times when repairs were disturbing the calm of the household, small objects have been moved from place to place. “It is nothing malicious, and at times the things that happen are almost funny,” one owner says.