Haunted haunts around Eastern Mass.

[Bianca Markos]

Haunted haunts around Eastern Mass.

Is the chill in the air just a cold front coming through, or could it be a brush with a poltergeist? Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, check out these Eastern Massachusetts spots that have been to known to make skin crawl.

[Bianca Markos]

[Bianca Markos]

House of Seven Gables
Salem

As inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel of the same name, New England’s oldest mansion is now a museum open to the public. Many agree that the book is centered around “ancestral guilt,” as Hawthorne’s great grandfather is said to have been one the main perpetrators of the Salem Witch Trials, and the house’s property is said to be cursed.

[Bianca Markos]

Charlesgate
Boston

Since 1901, the ominous Back Bay building has undergone several incarnations, including serving as both Boston University and Emerson College dorms. Today it is used for luxury condos. But since BU students first occupied the space in 1947, it has reportedly been the site of ghosts, haunted Ouija boards, and unexplained deaths.

[Bianca Markos]

Harvard University
Cambridge

Beyond the hallowed Ivy walls lies scores of ghost stories around the school’s Thayer Hall, a freshman dorm. Paranormal researchers are said to have picked up some activity, and eyewitness reports have it that ghosts appear at night and enter the dorm by walking through Thayer’s brick walls.

[Bianca Markos]

Sudbury

Immortalized in an eponymous book by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, this privately-owned bed & breakfast is among the primary locations for the Secret Drawer Society, where guests anonymously write notes about their experiences for others to find. Many of these notes reveal encounters with the supernatural, including one guest who said that he felt the presence of a woman hop into bed with him one night.

[Bianca Markos]

Omni Parker House Hotel
Boston

Though the hotel stands near the burial site of the victims of the Boston Massacre of 1770, its location hasn’t hampered its popularity. The guest list has included John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Babe Ruth; and Malcolm X and Emeril Lagasse are former employees. Still, hotel guests frequently report hearing unexplained voices and footsteps in empty hallways, and the third floor is where most of the alleged ghost sightings are reported.

[Bianca Markos]

Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast
Fall River

A popular tourist attraction, the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast was indeed the site of the grisly double homicide that took place in 1892. Though the events that transpired there are tragic, the claims of paranormal activity seem relatively harmless. Guest and staff accounts include furniture moved around, voices heard from empty rooms, and sounds of cats’ meows.

[Bianca Markos]

Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse
Offshore of Cohasset and Scituate

Located off a notoriously turbulent coastal area, Minot’s Ledge has been beset by a dangerous reputation. In 1851, a storm destroyed the lighthouse and killed two lighthouse keeper assistants who were trapped inside. Since it became automated in 1977, boaters have reported spotting two men who seemed to be hanging off the side of the lighthouse, clinging for their lives.

[Bianca Markos]

Orleans Inn
Orleans

During the 1940s and ’50s, the inn was a prime hangout spot for the Irish Mafia, so perhaps it’s no surprise it carries a dark reputation. In that era, several deaths were uncovered at the inn, and since then, there have been numerous reports of hearing human conversation in empty rooms, and candles are sometimes said to be mysteriously lit.

[Bianca Markos]

Inn at Duck Creeke
Wellfleet

This well-known inn’s tale of paranormal activity hasn’t been widely reported, though the number of unexplained incidents continues to grow. Musicians who play at the inn’s tavern report having their hair pulled, and crowds sometimes say they spot ghosts walking up onstage during performances. The inn’s owners say locked doors are frequently found open the next day, and many guests have reported seeing the apparitions of twin girl