The Haunting of Hoosac Tunnel By Matthew Sandman Kelley Could this be the most haunted spot in all of Massachusetts? Hoosac Tunnel...even the name sounds mysterious. I have always believed that locations where great human suffering has occurred will inevitably display high levels of paranormal activity. If this is true...Hoosac tunnel would most certainly be a candidate. Lets take a brief look back into the history of this paranormal hot spot. Construction began in 1852 and excitement ran high in anticipation of tunneling under the Berkshire Mountains. Many new techniques were to be employed in bringing this dream to reality. Since it would require a bore nearly five miles long a special drilling machine was purchased. The hope was that this device could bore through the mountain in only a few years. The machine began its assault into the mountain and seized up after only a few yards. It was never used again. The bad luck had begun. During its construction 195 men would loose their lives. Not all of these deaths were accidental either. Three were most certainly murders. On March 20, 1865 three men...Ringo Kelley, Billy Nash and Ned Brinkman...were setting an explosive charge of nitroglycerin. Kelley did not wait for Nash and Brinkman to join him in the makeshift blast bunker. They died instantly when Kelley set off the charge. Kelley disappeared only a few days after the “accident”. No one had expected to see him again. Nearly a day to the year after the explosion Kelleys body was found strangled and left on the very spot where Nash and Brinkman had died. An investigation was conducted by Deputy Sheriff Charles F Gibson but no suspects were ever named and the murder went unsolved. Several years later during October of 1874 a local hunter...Frank Webster...was found wondering along the banks of the Deer Field River badly beaten and in a state of shock. He claimed that mysterious voices had beckoned him into the tunnel. Once inside he was surrounded by ghostly figures. One of them took his rifle from him and repeatedly struck him over the head. He had no rifle when he was found and he could not recall leaving the tunnel. The following year Harlan Mulvaney was delivering a load of firewood into the tunnel in a horse drawn wagon. A moment or two after entering the tunnel he came racing out in terror. A few days later his wagon and horses were found about three miles away but Mulvaney was never heard from again. These are but a few of the unexplained occurrences that have transpired at the Hoosac Tunnel. One could easily write a book describing the disturbing history of this haunted New England location. We may never know what happened to many of the men that died or disappeared there but I would say that it is safe to assume that Hoosac Tunnel is haunted.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 00:00:42 +0000
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