THE HAUNTED SCHOOLHOUSE AT NEWBURYPORT

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V15 2012 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 15, Number 46, November 4, 2012, Article 33

The Haunted Schoolhouse at Newburyport, a pamphlet produced by Loring publishers of Boston in 1873, tells the story of some peculiar happenings at a one room schoolhouse in Newburyport, MA. Students and teachers alike began to notice rapping, strange lights, and bells ringing when no one was around. “At times the whole school-room has been illuminated, while the school has been in session, by a strong, yellow glow, which on dark days has proceeded from the entry and entered through the partition window.”

According to the story, a student and teacher finally meet the ghost responsible, possibly a former student at the school: “The figure was that of a boy of thirteen. The visage was remarkably pale, the eyes were blue, the mouth sad, and the whole effect was that of extreme melancholy. The general picture was that of a child prepared for burial and prepared, moreover, in a poor and makeshift way.

I search Newburyport every day on eBay and have never seen this! I looked in the index of Currier's History of Newburyport, and found this:

"This ghost story, however, was quickly exploded by the police who, having examined the school building and some of the pupils accustomed to attend school there, discovered that Amos Currier, a young lad not over eight or ten years of age, son of Nathaniel Currier, was actively engaged with two or three companions of about the same age in producing these mysterious sights and sound.

"Meanwhile reporters connected with Boston newspapers, in search of a sensation, visited Newburyport, and subsequently published exaggerated accounts of what they saw and heard, and a few weeks later two pamphlets...were printed and widely circulated:

"The Haunted School House at Newburyport" and "Expose of Newburyport eccentricities, witches and witchcraft, the murdered boy and apparition of the Charles Street School House"

One must wonder if they were related to the author, John Currier!

To read the complete article, see: Finding Halloween in the Archives (pastispresent.org/2012/good-sources/finding-halloween-in-the-archives/)

Wayne Homren, Editor