Morbid - Episode 492: The Haunted S.K. Pierce Mansion

Episode Date: September 7, 2023

In the spring of 2009, Edwin Gonzalez and his girlfriend, Lillian Otero, fled their house in Gardner, MA, less than one year after moving into what they believed was their dream home. Later, once they were safely away from the old Victorian, Gonzalez and Otero would explain to friends and family that they had been driven out by angry ghosts who had done everything—including possessing Lillian—in order to torment them, leaving them no other options than to abandon the house that had once held such promise. Although they didn’t know it when they moved in, Gonzalez and Otero’s home, the S.K. Pierce Mansion, had long been considered by locals to be haunted. Indeed, in its more than one-hundred-year history, the Victorian home had seen more than its fair share of tragedies, including several deaths in the house as recent as the 1960s, as well as countless other unsavory myths and legends.Thank you to Dave White for research assistance. ReferencesCity of Gardner. n.d. History. Accessed August 1, 2023. https://www.gardner-ma.gov/316/History.Discovery Channel. 2013. "Haunted Victorian." A Haunting. New York, NY: Discovery Channel, October 19.Farragher, Thomas. 2022. "Want to be a ghost host? Come to Gardner." Boston Globe, August 20: B1.Fiorentino, Alyssa. 2021. How the S.K. Pierce Mansion became one of the most haunted homes in Massachusetts. October 27. Accessed July 31, 2023. https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a38046654/sk-pierce-haunted-victorian-mansion/.Fitchburg Sentinel. 1963. "Gardner man, 47, dies in room fire." Fitchburg Sentinel, April 9: 11.—. 1891. "Notes." Fitchburg Sentinel, December 8: 2.Gelinas, Brian. 2012. "Group of ghost hunting enthusiasts converge on Gardner mansion." Athol News, October 6: 1.Gershon, Livia. 2006. Ghost hunters. July 28. Accessed August 1, 2023. https://www.thegardnernews.com/story/news/2006/07/28/ghost-hunters/11341583007/.Ilinitch, Shawn. 2003. Psychic profiler detects spirits in South Gardner home. October 31. Accessed August 1, 2023. https://www.thegardnernews.com/story/news/2003/11/01/psychic-profiler-detects-spirits-in/11284159007/.Landry, Stephen. 2021. "Debunking rumors about the S.K. Pierce Mansion." Gardner News, September 22.—. 2020. "New book details history of S.K. Pierce Mansion." Gardner News, September 25.Pelletiere, Nicole. 2016. Homeowner to turn 'haunted' mansion into scary attraction. September 2. Accessed August 1, 2023. https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/homeowner-turn-haunted-mansion-scary-attraction/story?id=41769810.SK Haunted Victorian Mansion. 2023. The Mansion. Accessed August 2, 2023. https://www.skhauntedvictorianmansion.com/index.html.Stanway, Eric. 2013. The Victorian. September: Independent.—. 2013. "Gardner mansion shelters ghostly past." Worcester Telegram and Gazette, July 10.Zillow. 2023. 4 West Broadway, Gardner, MA. Accessed August 1, 2023. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4-West-Broadway-Gardner-MA-01440/57587523_zpid/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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and zero delivery fees on their first order of $15 or more when you download the DoorDash app and enter code morbidc.a. That's 25% off up to $10 value and zero delivery fees on your first order. When you download the DoorDash app in the App Store and enter code morbidc.a. Don't forget that's code morbidc.a for 25% off your first order with DoorDash, subject to change, terms apply. Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash.

And I'm Elena. And this is morbid. Music It's funny because you said that last time too. We had to end up re-recording the intro for a second because our fucking computer like pooped its butt. I don't know. And I made sure I stayed right on cue.

You did. By being distracted once we said hello. You did. In the original opening of this, we were talking about TikTok. Because I said right now, Ash is wearing a sweatshirt with various pickle jars on it, and it's majestic, and I think it's great. I also got you one as well, so that's very exciting. I appreciate that.

And I was talking about how wonderful, but also how dangerous the TikTok shop is, because I've gotten a pickle sweatshirt, I got a Lizzie McGuire shirt. That was a good one. That was a good one. Tell me you liked until now? Yeah, you know what? I need to tell you things about this.

Tell me. So I saw that Lizzie McGuire shirt. The second you walked in, I said, holy shit, that's Lizzie McGuire's inner Lizzie McGuire. Yeah, like her like her brain, her like cartoon version, right, her brain Lizzy. I was so excited to walk in here with that too. I was like, oh, she's gonna love this shirt.

And I feel terrible that I disappointed you because in my head, when you walked in, I go, oh shit, that's an awesome shirt. And I didn't vocalize that. And I don't know why, sometimes I do that. It's okay. I do that a lot, like I don't express things like that enough. And sometimes I have to like remind myself to,

like don't just say it in here. Say it out there. I do it with text messages too. I'll read a text message and I'll go, fuck, that's funny. And then I don't express it in text message form to that person. That's because you and I don't answer text messages.

Yeah, and I'm trying to be better at all that. So they put the entire day, every once in a while I'd look over at Ash and I'd see that shirt and I'd be like text messages. Yeah, and I'm trying to be better at all that. So they put the entire day every once in a while, I'd look over at Ash and I'd see that shirt and I'd be like, fuck, that's a cool shirt. And I would never say it. That's okay. I knew that you felt that, because I know you. I see you, and I know you, though. You know, but you see me.

But yeah, I wore that shirt to this Vanna Bananas and then I posted about it and everybody was wild and out about that shirt. And I was like, oh, TikTok shop. So the Lizzie Maguire shirt, which is fucking awesome, is from the TikTok shop Elaine Sage boutique. It's E-L-A-I-N-E-S-A-I-G-E, boutique. Yeah.

And then the pickle sweatshirt that I got is from Pat. Pat addiction boutique. Ooh. Or boutique, if you nasty. Boom. And then I also got an electric spin scrubber. I mean, might as well just shout her out because my shower floor has never looked so lovely. And I got that.

Where the fuck did I get that? All the other. The fuck did you get that? Well, there's like 55 of them, apparently. Where the fuck did you get that? Wait, are these all from the same store? Like live updates with me. Okay, so you're gonna have to just decide

where you wanna get that from because it's not telling me where I got mine from. That's okay. And you can get it from any outlets on TikTok shop, but yeah, I fucking love the TikTok shop. I mean, the TikTok shop is pretty fucking great. And it's like supporting small business. It is.

But I still love Etsy in my heart too, because I went over to Etsy and bought so much Halloween stuff the other day. And so much Disney stuff the other day. Oh, look at you. Yeah, we're talking about a haunted mansion today. And then like while I was doing this case, I was like, I want to watch the haunted mansion, and I want to go to Disney and ride the haunted mansion. She said, I want to go to there.

I want to go to there. And I also want to go to this place, to this haunted mass, the Sheositz mansion. I didn't even mean to say mass, the Sheositz. I was going to say mansion, but my brain was like, tell them where it is. It's in mass, she says. So, yeah, today we're going gonna talk about the SK Pierce haunted mansion. I'm very excited about this because we've wanted to go to this mansion and we still want to and we will at some point.

And now this is gonna scur me even more. Oh, it is. Me thinks that it's haunted as fuck. I'm pretty sure you can stay the night there if you want to and I want to. I want to do that. We stayed at Lizzy Borden's house, so. Yeah, I feel honestly weirdly,

I feel like this one would be less scary. I mean, Lizzy Borden had a vibe to it that I just think is unmatched. I am. I never felt that way in a haunted location before. I got almost like physically ill in one of the rooms. It was heavy as fuck, and I'm, oh, and actually tonight, this is a very good

oh fuck yeah. Tonight, you know, who knows when this comes out, but at this moment, I get to go to the conjuring house with John because John bought it for me like a visit and tour of the conjuring house for our anniversary. That is the cutest thing ever. He, I always pester him and to tell me what he's gonna get you for Christmas and anniversaries and birthdays and stuff. And he was nervous about this. He was like, do you think she'll like it?

And I was like, I think she'll fucking love that. I think you're so smart. And he was like, is that a good anniversary gift? I was like, that is the anniversary gift for your wife. Truly the anniversary gift. We get to go there, we get to have a tour, and then there's a medium coming. That's just a 5,000-page waiver that tells you all the terrible shit that can happen to you in this house, which I'm pretty excited to sign.

So I don't like that, do you? I don't like that. I'm not down to sign a waiver. I'm down to sign because I also think that it's like pretty brilliant. Mark it. Like it gets you real. Real school, real, I almost had scored. I almost had scored and spookied at the same time and it went,

spookied. I'm going to be real screwed tonight. I'm going to be so screwed, John. I'm going to be so screwed tonight. I'm going to be so screwed tonight. So screwed. But I'm very excited about it. I'm excited to be spooky. It's our great-bye, David? I'm gonna be so school tonight. It's so cool. But I'm very excited about it. I'm excited to be spooky.

It's kicking off spooky season. Yes, bitch. And this episode just feels right. Yeah. I also love the differences in our nights. You're going to the Conjuring House and I have a dress fitting. Hell yeah.

Let me try my wedding dress while you're getting like haunted. It's true. All right, but yeah, we're going haunted bitches. I'm bringing us to a haunted location and massive chewsits, like I said. And we're going to start in the spring of 2009 and then we're going to travel back. Let's start there. Let's start there, kid. So, oh, also, sorry was a great response. Literally, she put her eyeballs up to the sky, and she said, oh, I don't know what that was,

but it was great. It was like haunted, sexy. Like I said, do Saltree, and you went, oh. I don't know, you're gonna scare it. It was great. In the spring of 2009, Edwin Gonzalez and his girlfriend, Lilian O'Taro, which like also they should be in a Disney movie. Those like damn those names. Edwin and Lilian

gorgeous names. But they fled their house in Gardner, Massachusetts after less than a year of living there. Now, when they originally moved into this place, the S.K. Pierce, me and Sean, they thought that it was their dream house. But once they were safely away from this old Victorian mansion, they told their friends and family what really happened, and it was far from a dream house experience. What happened in Godna? They had been driven out by angry ghosts who had done everything,

including possessing million in order to torment them, and it left them with no other option than to just abandon ship. They were like, you gotta get them. Yeah, buck out of here. Now, obviously they didn't know it when they moved in, but their home, the S.K.P.S. mansion, had long been considered by locals to be haunted,

and it's more than 100 year history. The home had seen it's fair, probably more than it's fair share of tragedies. Several people died there. Somebody actually died as recently as the 1960s and aside from the deaths, there were countless other unsavory myths and legends about the house.

In 2015, Lillian and Edwin sold the Pierce Mansion to a man from New Jersey who runs it now as a haunted attraction. But the fact that they sold it to a man from New Jersey who runs it now as a haunted attraction. But the fact that they sold it to a guy that runs it as a haunted attraction raised some questions about their claims and raised some questions about the extent to which the rumors of the haunts were true. So is the SK Pierce Mansion truly one of the nation's most haunted houses or is it nothing more than legends and a very clever marketing scheme To figure it out. We're going back to the beginning. I think it's haunted. It's haunted as fuck guys

So over the last 50 years or so We're going over to Western Massachusetts. I'm gonna give you a little run down on Western mass Let's go. Yeah, so over the last 50 years or so Western mass has gone through some pretty big changes Now the economy there is mostly fueled by you know tourism education the arts I love Western mass. It's beautiful. It is but back in the day It was mostly fueled by manufacturing and Western mass was one of the biggest manufacturing hubs in the northeast It was famous for its production of hot shoes and furniture. All things I love. Who doesn't love furniture? All things that are good. Yeah, all things that are good.

It doesn't have hats and shoes. Especially if you can drink bay leaves out of them. Oh my god, look at her. Pick it up where I left off. But among the cities and towns that make up the area, the small community of Gardener became known in the mid-19th century as Chesity. Chesity! Got that chair not their problem. I say that literally daily, daily. It's not my chair not my problem. No, my chair not my problem. But it was always Godness chair because they're Chesity. Always. At one point Gardner was home to 12 furniture companies, which was a pretty high number back then, given the fact that the town only had a population of a few thousand people at the time.

Damn. So fierce competition if you were in the furniture business. I would say so. Now Gardner was settled in the late 18th century, and it quickly became one of Massachusetts' main sources of lumber. And because of that, a pretty robust manufacturing industry was built, and that provided jobs for thousands of young men across the area, including one of Gardner's most famous residents, Sylvester K. Pierce.

Ooh, he sounds important. I was just going to say, I feel like he was born to be important. Sylvester K. Pierce. And he's from Massachusetts, so I don't know why I keep putting a weird... Why not? And he's from Massachusetts, so I don't know why I keep putting like a weird line not accent on it But I'm gonna get it's like a little bit of a transatlantic accent that we're throwing in there the way that I was just Thinking that exact thing on my brain Crazy so yeah, he is a pretty important guy. I hope you can see where we're going here cuz Silvester Cape here's SK

LOL Yeah because Sylvester Cape hears SK, LOL. Yeah, LOL. With Hello Fresh, you get farm fresh, pre-portioned ingredients, and seasonal recipes delivered, right to your doorstep. Skip those trips to the grocery store, and count on Hello Fresh to make home my channel for more recipes and recipes that are available on my channel. You can also find more recipes and recipes on my channel. deliver you everything you need to cook up a tasty meal right at home. They do the hard part and you get to take the credit and eat the delicious, delicious food. A new season in my opinion calls for new meals.

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unprepared, but you shouldn't be because whether you're looking for savings on your flu vaccine or advice on staying healthy, goodRx is here to help. Best of all, goodRx is completely free, one of my favorite words, easy to use and can help you save up to 80% on all your prescriptions. All you need to do is search for your medication on the goodRx website or the app and show your goodRx coupon at the pharmacy. It's that easy. GoodRx is accepted at all the major pharmacies in your neighborhood, including CBS, Kroger, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Vaughan's Walmart, Sam's Club, and more.

And remember, GoodRx works whether you have insurance or not. Even if you do have insurance, GoodRx might beat your co-pay price. And that has happened to me multiple times, and I'm like, wow, insurance cool. But good or ex has my back saved me so much money on prescriptions, drew uses it to every single time we go to the pharmacy, we're flashing that good or ex at them. This cold and flu season stay prepared with good or ex. Go to goodrx.com slash morbid. That's good or ex.com slash morbid. Good rx is not insurance. So Sylvester was the seventh child of Jonas Pierce and I believe it's oxa fair banks born in Westmanster, Massachusetts, on April 11, 18, 20 So Quatt Sondam ago.

We love an 1800s moment. We do, and this moment was Sylvester. So his life was marked by tragedy very sadly at an early age. His father actually died when he was only three years old. And his mom did her best to keep the family together, and she was successful at that for a lot of years. But probably because there were so many children, some eventually did have to be sent off

to live with different relatives. So when Sylvester was 11, he moved to live with, relatives, I'm not quite sure who he went to live with at first, but then three years after he originally moved, he moved again, this time to live with his uncle Abraham. Now, when he turned 15, Sylvester went to work for one of Gardenerers earliest furniture makers, Elijah Putnam. Elijah Putnam, you say. I feel like that man had to make furniture. Yeah, I mean, when you, when your last name is Putnam in Massachusetts, it's like, hmm, hmm.

It is a little sus. I know. He probably was like some kind of descendant or like, ancestor of the Putnams. One of those. Maybe not them. It's maybe not. Maybe common. We won't slander his name, I guess. He's a good furniture maker.

Great. Great. You know what? One might say legendary. Fucking awesome, truly. One of the earliest, though. But as Putnam's assistant, Sylvester learned the basics of furniture making and the specifics on the budding industry.

And then he moved on to work under a man named Joel Fairbanks, So Vester learned the basics of furniture making and the specifics on the budding industry. And then he moved on to work under a man named Joel Fairbanks, another furniture manufacturer and nearby Ashburnum. I've never heard of that. So I don't even know if I'm saying it right, but I'm from Massachusetts, so fuck off. So fuck off! Now he stayed there for a few more years and then eventually found a new job working with Stephen Taylor, a you guessed it, furniture maker, a South Gardener. Now, after five years with Taylor,

and now 10 years experience in the furniture, furniture, and the furniture industry, Sylvester ended up buying the company from Stephen Taylor, and with his own, with his own brother, Jonas, he opened what would eventually come SK Pearson Sun, one of the area's largest and most profitable furniture manufacturers. So in 1845, this was the year that Sylvester and Jonas opened their furniture company and Gardner. Sylvester also happened to meet and quickly married 25-year-old Susan Jackson. And five years later, in 1951, the company had grown quite considerably. It was making a nice profit.

A nice profit, you say? I said it, a nice profit. And that allowed Sylvester to build a new home for himself and his new bride. And he built this home across from the factory in Gardner. A few years later, in June of 1856, Susan gave birth to their only child, a boy that they named Frank. Frank. Or Frank, if you nasty. Now by a fan of Father the Bride. Yes, I part two literally. In one, in my mind. I was like, you in one, two. He's part one in. So by 1875, SK Pearson's son had become actually one of the biggest employers in the region. They were making that big money. So Sylvester wanted a home that

was more be fitting for a man of his wealth and status. That big money. And that big, big money. So he already had his original house across from the factory, but he was like, nah, it needs to be better. SK Pierce. I'm fucking SK. Yeah. Your name's initials. Like that's, you gotta make a palace. You do. It's just the rules. So he contracted, I waster based architectural firm, E.Vol. To my friend Marissa, what's poppin' Worcester? She will only get that. So he contacted E-Botin by E-Boyden and Sons to design a mansion in the Victorian style that they had become known for throughout New England,

which I wrote a little note here that said, our personal faith. Oh, I love a Victorian style house. As do I. It's like literally my favorite. I love it. My favorite. Do I have one no? Do I want one yes?

Now, the three story mansion located at four West Broadway was actually constructed on the site of Pierce's previous home. What happened to the earlier house is actually unknown. According to SK Pierce's historian Kenneth Watson, the original house was either destroyed or moved further down the street. But I guess that there is evidence of the old Holmes Foundation that can actually still be seen in the basement of the Pierce Mansion.

Oh, that's interesting. Interesting. I know. That would be really cool to see. I know, and I'm pretty sure you can go in the basement, so that would be pretty fun. I feel like if you can go in the basement of the Lizzy Board and how she should go in the basement anywhere. I agree.

Wasn't there like some rule where we weren't supposed to go back in the basement after people left, but I think we did anyway. We definitely went in there in the middle of the night. Yeah. I think we could. They told us we could. Right. They were just like at your own peril.

Yeah, I think they like it's a battle against it, but we were like, we're gonna do that. Cause they were like, here's a fucking lantern from the 1800s. So if you wanna go down there by all means. Yeah, we were also there in like a giant storm which was fucking a monsteroly. Yeah.

Yeah, honestly, that was like truly something. Truly. But anyway, back to our guy, SK. Let's go, SK. The home took a year to complete, which, honestly, that's not that long, I feel. To make a whole last home, I don't think so, but like a manchon.

A manchon. You know, in the Victorian style. Yeah, I feel like you see like a new place going up lately and it's like three years later, it's finished. It's true. But anyways, it took a year to complete. And once it was done, it was a gorgeous monument

of luxury and wealth. Everything I aspire to be myself. I've got you aspire to be a gorgeous monument of luxury and wealth. Yes, I do. I love that for you. Like when I'm old, I want to be a monument of luxury and wealth and gorgeousness. I'm going to make sure that's on your tombstone. Please do, except I'm not gonna be very sure. She was a gorgeous monument of luxury. Are you gonna do that for me? I'll be honest to the grief. Hell yeah, no, I'm gonna live forever.

Okay, cool. That's something I'd rather not do that as the undead. Oh, there you go. Okay, I'll do that. All right. No, more than 6,500 square feet, which like, whoa. That was contained 26 rooms, four bathrooms, 70 doors, and at least as many windows. They are. It also featured many modern luxuries that you

would not find in most homes at the time, including gas lighting. Oh shit. In every room. Every fucking room. Running water. Get out of here. And a wind-thrupp furnace to heat the house. Oh, shit. No. Unfortunately, just weeks after the couple moved into their new home, Susan contracted erasipolis, I believe it's how you say it. It is a bacterial infection of the skin that causes inflammation, and if left untreated, it can be fatal.

Oh. Nowadays, they can treat it with antibiotics, but those medications didn't exist in 1876. Damn. So Susan sadly died in the home four weeks later on January 6th, 1876. Oh, that's terrible. Like so sad, sorry, I was taking a sip of water.

Now two years later, Pierce, SK, our guy, married Ellen West, a woman 30 years younger than him. Oh, shit, SK. Esquindelo, as Jessica would say. Gah. Gah. Gah. Gah.

Oh, my God. I thought that you just stopped saying SK. No. But you were like, scuff, gah. Because SK, I got to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get and Edward, born in 1882. According to legends, the new Mr. and Mrs. Pierce held these super gorge, wonderful lavish parties. Oh hell yeah, they did. With guest list, that included the likes of Norman Rockwell. Oh.

Betty Davis. Oh. PT Marlon. And even President Calvin Coolidge. Oh shit. Now that being said, Ken Walton, the caretaker of the mansion points out, there's no documentation to say for certain

whether those rumors are true. But you know who does say that for certain? You, me, and me. And I wasn't there. Nope, but I know to be exact. I say it. I say it. It reminds me of Allison's party in Hocus Pocus.

Oh, I know. I bet they were all dressed like that. And I bet someone liked someone else's Yabos. A hundred percent. There was great Yabos there. In fact, they loved him. I love Halloween. Life in the Pierce Mansion continued on

being all kinds fabulous until Sylvester died in the home from natural causes on January 28th, 1888. Ripsk. Ripsk. His funeral was held in the home a few days later on February 2nd, which that always scares me, but it happened. You know, it was, it was happened.

Oh yeah, that's for sure. Hey, hey, that's what was happened. Certainly is. So in the months after Sylvester's death, a heated debate, of course, erupted between his wife Ellen and Frank Pierce, his son from his first marriage. Oh, it was going to get ugly. It always does. As Sylvester's firstborn son, Frank believed that he should have inherited the entire estate, and according to Eric Stanway, was appalled when Ellen took all of the property

including the factory. Oh, Ellen. Ellen, uh-uh. Come on. That's a merideth-bleak thing to do. It really is. It's getting merideth and not in a good way. No.

Now, Ellen claimed that Frank was charging her unreasonable service fees as the executor of the estate and argued that she was, quote, entirely capable of doing all the work herself for much less of some. Okay. So they're just arguing. Yeah. I mean, that's what happens. Somebody dies and everyone turns into a raging asshole.

Yeah, it's pretty awful. It's fun. So the legal battles between Frank and Ellen continued until Ellen actually died in 1902. So they went on the rest of her life. And at that point, the remains of the estate were actually divided up between the three peer sons who would also spend years arguing, both in court and amongst themselves.

Stuart Edward and Franck. Frank, yep. And so I almost had Franck's. But they would constantly argue over who had the most rights to the mansion. But in the meantime, Franck had taken over the furniture business, Stuart himself had taken an interest in automobiles, and he would actually go on to open his own dealerships someday in 1908 to be exact.

And eventually, Ellen and Skas Younga Sun Edward took control of the Pierce mansion. Oh wow. However, what should have been a happy occasion, or at least a relief of, you know, ending all these years of arguing, quickly turned into tragedy when Edward's youngest, or excuse me, Edward's daughter, Rachel, died in the house from a bacterial infection. Oh, no. Now, some sources say that she was two years old, and others say she was five. So either way, she was like a baby.

Oh, either way, that's horrific. It is. And her death marked the beginning of a string of tragedies for the Pierce family. Oh. Now, as the US-centered World War I, a lot of non-war related industries went through significant decreases in revenue, obviously.

And that was only exacerbated then by the great depression. So the financial collapse hit the Pierce family really, really hard, especially Edward and his wife. Their fortune was almost completely depleted by back-to-back crises and this economy that they were making through. There were rumors actually that in order to make ends meet, they used the house as a brothel for a short time. Oh, damn. In the early decades of the 20th century. And to add to those rumors, some people even claim that a young sex worker was murdered in one of the upstairs rooms, room, excuse me, and that her body was hidden in a closet.

Oh, shit. Mm-hmm. The brothel claims are among the more popular legends that surround the house, but again, according to Ken Walton, there's no evidence to suggest that it's even remotely true. All right, Ken. I know, Ken's like, you know, it's not true. I know you're being real right now.

You're telling truth. You're rushing the vile. You're just spitting facts, but like, you're saying there's a chance. You're saying they're not? We can't be sure. We could never be sure. But we can't be sure that it wasn't either. That's the thing.

That's what I'm hanging on to. But instead, he says Ken, he's letting us know what truly happened. Quote, the address had served as a bed and breakfast until 1951 when it was converted into a boarding house called the Victorian, which remained in business until 1969. That's fun. Yeah. But you know what?

I've seen Peaky Blinders. I am currently finishing it after taking a break because it was really intense. I don't know where this leads. And it's the same kind of time period going on. And even when they say something's about a breakfast, never a... She was going down back then.

There's beds. Everybody was doing shady shit back then. They were. And even if Peaky Blinders taught They were. And even if he was the hunders, taught me anything. And even if it wasn't like a legit brothel, like, yeah, it's a bed and breakfast. You don't know what's going on behind closed doors. Shift going down. Yeah. I mean, hopefully nobody was murdered and stuck in a closet. I'm not exactly. But I also, I, you know, Ken, Ken's just doing his job. Yeah, he's, he's,

you know, he's doing his job. He's telling us what he knows exactly. And he can't say what he doesn't know, and I understand that. We got to say no, we're with you, Ken. We love you, we stand with you. We do, we love Ken. But tragedy would strike again in 1963 when the fifth and final document

at death to occur in the Pierce Mansion took place. Yeah. According to the legend, a 49-year-old world where two veteran, Eno Sari, had been in bed on the evening of April 9th when his mattress, quote, mysteriously caught fire, causing him to burn to death in the blaze. Oh. Now, many residents of Gardner still to this day actually blame his death on spontaneous combustion or some kind of paranormal activity.

But I will say I'm pulling a can here. The coroner's reports, the coroner's report notes non-threatening, non-life threatening burns, excuse me, which could likely have come from him falling asleep while smoking in bed. And the coroner did attribute his cause of death to smoke inhalation. Okay, but regardless of the cause, multiple visitors to the house in the months and years after Sari's death have reported catching quote, a fleeting sense of something burning in his former bedroom. And some people also report a feeling of being

in the presence of an unknown entity in the room. So that room is like a hotspot for some paradigm that didn't even know matter. What? I wanna go to this place so fucking bad right now. an unknown entity in the room. So that room is like a hot spot for some paranormal activity, no matter what. I want to go to this place so fucking bad right now. We're going. I want to go during like, well, I'm going to be a little busy, but I want to go. Why?

What are you talking about? You don't have time for a scope? Let's go to scope. Let's go. So according to legend, two years after Sari's death, Edward, who was now financially desperate actually put the mansion up as a wager in a poker game oh no that he ultimately lost oh no and he was forced to sign over the deed to the winner

is he and he's the youngest he was the youngest yeah it was Frank out here in these streets being like it doesn't even make any sense. How did you just stop that cute? Yeah, there's four. It's you out there doing that. I'm just, why? In the these spits where you just waiting for that, how long have you had that cute up?

Yes, yes I was. She just the answers. Yes, I cuted up the whole thing. I am the only one. I cuted up long ago. I love sesame. Thank you. Also, succession forever.

That's what Frank was doing here. I think you did up long ago. I love Sussan. Thank you. Also, a succession forever. That's what Frank was doing here. I think Frank might have been dead at this point. From beyond. But from beyond. He was saying, because you know when Kendall goes to his grave, he's gonna be spitting that shit. Well, and you know that you know Frank was saying that

before he died, that like, why is this even a question? I'm the eldest boy. He had spits. And he spit. And I mean, like that was a big fucking thing back then. Like the fact that Kendall pulled that out of his asshole was pretty ridiculous. That is one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen.

It's very funny. It made me squirm in a horrible way. Such a good show. I was like, you are so khaki. But honestly back then, it was like the eldest boy. You were way, yeah. That was some big shit. Yeah. But okay, here's the truth.

It's actually much less exciting and also less scandalous. The fire in Eno Sari's room caused more damage to the already crumbling manner. And it was gonna cost a lot of money that neither Edward or the family members could afford. So with no other options, Edward actually transferred ownership of the mansion to a friend traveling musician, J. Stemmerman, who paid $35,000 for the house and property, which was actually more than it was worth at the time.

Today, that would be around $340,000 for a fucking Victorian mansion. Damn, like, that's a steal. Yeah, also's a steal. Yeah. Also fucking highway robbery. That is. But apparently it was more than it was worth because of all the damage done to the property. And the sale actually marked the first time in history

that the home would be owned by somebody outside of the Pierce family. Oh no. Since its construction, almost a century earlier. Wow. That's why Frank was 100% dead. That's why Frank was also being like, I'm the only one who's spoilt.

What is happening? And then she was just like laughing in the corner. Yeah. But Stemmerman had actually only, he's a fucking good friend. He only purchased the home in order to help Edward out of a desperate situation. Wow.

And Edward actually kept living in the mansion with his wife until he died in 1967. Damn. That's a friend. That's a friend because on paper, somebody outside of the family owned the home, but always like for the over-centred control. It was in control. It was in family control.

All right. But after Edward died, that was the end of it, really. Because in the years that followed, the Pierce Mansion sat empty and slipped further and further into a state of disrepair. No. Until it was finally slated to be demolished in 1996. They were going to tear this place down. What the fuck?

Luckily, the old Victorian was spared in 2000. Oh, wow. When it was purchased by Suzanne and Mark, I believe it's Bo. It's V-E-A-U. But when I looked it up, it said Bo. They bought it for $155,000, which was about $30,000 less than the average home price at the time.

Damn. And they got in the mansion. But also, they're getting like a decrepit mansion, so you could see why it's a fixer upper. Yeah. So the couple had purchased the home with the intention of actually restoring it to its former glory, but they quickly learned that getting into that and kind of like refurbishing it was going to be way more difficult than they had originally anticipated. Because in addition

to the damage sustained by the fire and just straight up neglect over the previous 40 years, and on top of that, most of the home's luxurious decorations and furnishings had been stripped. Like, I don't know if people just like went in there and took them away. I was just gonna say I'm sure people went in there and just kind of took what they wanted a little bit. This included a goddess stairway lamp, a crystal chandelier with over a hundred crystals in it.

Damn. A built-in walnut staircase, which how the fuck are you taking a whole, sorry staircase? Somebody took a built-in staircase. I guess, or it just like collapsed. I don't really know. Oh, look at you don't. I just, I just, I just, I just, I just,

with a tape in the staircase. With a tape in the staircase. In the staircase. Like the fuck. What me thinks is that because it's like a walnut staircase, they probably like demolished it and took the walnut. I guess. probably demolished it and took the Walnut. I guess. No, I think they took the time.

I was like, let me take this. Oh, shit. But they also took a pool table. Wow. So even that's heavy. That's also any crap. But so yeah, all of that was not great. And just as much of a problem, at least for the most,

was the sense that something in human was residing in the house with them. That's a problem, at least for the Vose, was the sense that something in human was residing in the house with them. That's a problem, which you bought an old Victorian mansion that has decrepit and been neglected for the last 40 years. So, and that many people have done. I think you probably, like, should have known that, but yeah, I'm not gonna judge you, you know? Now, As Luck would have it though,

during a 2003 promotional event for the radio station that Mark worked for, WXLO. He met a psychic medium who simply went by the name Sid. Sid. Sid. Sid Vicious. Sid the kid. Now Sid was intrigued by what she heard about the old Victorian mansion, and after being invited over for a tour, she made her way through all the rooms. When she got to the third floor, she encountered what she said was the spirit of a teenage girl. And according to said, the girl had, quote, come to the city from a great distance away, fall in love with the house and didn't want to leave.

Oh, it was me, I'm the girl. I was just going to say, I'm just kidding. Now, then there was another spirit on the lower floors. Sid said it was the spirit of a young woman who used to work in the mansion and had loved a man who lived in the house, presumably Pierce, but could never do anything because of the class difference between the two

and also because Pierce was married. Classic. But classy, I like that she didn't do anything about it. Yeah, she was like, do I think your hot? Yeah. Yeah. Are you married, bummer? Yeah. Are you above, bummer? Yeah. Are you above my station?

You're more of a bummer. Yeah, my bum. And she was like, yeah, so I'll just haunt you later. I guess I'll just stick around, didn't I? I'll just live in your house. I'll just look at you for a while. For a while. I wonder what SK looked like.

I forgot to look it up. Check him out. I'm gonna check him out. What the CFSK is, Zadi. I'm Sid Met. A couple more spirits during her trip. Feel free to interrupt me once you find out. See if he's hot. See if SK is a Zadi. I've said met a couple more spirits during her trip. Feel free to interrupt me once you find out. I will. So you met a few more spirits during her trip. That included a man in his late 40s or early 50s who had died in a fire at the home. Oh, he thinks this is Eno. And that of a young boy around five years old who had just come to the

house to visit and decided to stick around. Oh, look at that kid. So the experience that reported not only confirmed what the voice had suspected, but also, oh, is he not the Zaddiest of Zaddiest? It's hard to tell because of the style of the day as well, like that beard. The beard really throws me for a loop. So I feel like without the beard, he's a handsome guy. He has pretty good bone structure.

That's the thing. I think the beard is kind of throwing it off. And I love a big snosh. So I do too. Yeah, so I'm into, I'm into, you know, and he has a nice haircut. He's good. He's good.

I mean, I get it. I get it. I can see why a gal would be. Absolutely. And, it's fucking got that Zaddi money. No. You know, so you know. So the experience said reported not only confirmed what the vote had suspected, but also

what they had been told by other psychics who had come to the home before. Hey morbid podcast network listeners, if you're a fan of the morbid podcast network listeners. If you're a fan of the morbid podcast, then I know you'll also be a fan of my show, The Mr. Ballin Podcast. Each week, I, Mr. Ballin, tell you true, strange, dark, and mysterious stories with unexpected plot twists at the end. The subjects we cover include inexplicable encounters, shocking disappearances, haunting true crime, and mind-boggling mysteries. While the show has over 100 episodes for you to go listen to right now,

a good starting point for new listeners would be episode number 17 titled This Island Has a Dark Secret. It is one of our shortest episodes, but has arguably the biggest plot twist we have ever covered. You can find the Mr. Ball & Podcast, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious stories, exclusively on Amazon Music, which coincidentally is also where Prime Members can listen to Morbid and all of the other Morbid Network podcasts one week early and add free.

Download the Amazon Music app today. What if your partner developed 21 new identities or you discovered that your friend who helped you through the darkest times was actually a conniving con artist or what if you began seeing demons everywhere inhabiting people around you, including your son. What would you do? I'm Whit Missildine, the creator of this is actually happening. A podcast that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events, told by the people who lived them.

In our newest season, you'll hear even more intimate first-person accounts of how regular people have overcome remarkable circumstances, like the man who went to jail for 17 years for accidentally shooting the person who tried to save his life. To a close friend of the infamous scam artist Amanda Riley, these haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies, but I assure you, this is actually happening. Follow this is actually happening, ad-free on Wondering Plus. well, a 19 year old Nova Scotian woman who had worked for the Pierce family shortly after their mansion was built in the late 19th century. I believe she was a nanny. According to Sid, though, it was Maddie's spirit who had protected the house when it

caught fire in 1963, and she was still watching over it. Oh my God. Which like, that is a fucking employee. I love that. Right? Three years later, the vote is welcome to second set of paranormal investigators into the home. This time, the Atlantic Paranormal Society,

which you might also know as tapes. Hell yeah! And you might also know them from the show, Ghost Hunters. I fucked so hard with Ghost Adventures. So heavy. Or Ghost Hunters. Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures. And Ghost Adventures, but taps. Taps. Taps was my shit. Yeah, J. So heavy or ghost hunters. Ghost hunters and ghost adventures. And ghost adventures, but taps.

Taps. Taps was my shit. Yeah, JPL. So loves to have. Oh my god, we used to watch that all the time, truly. I love to watch it during spooky season. Yeah. But while previous investigators welcome to the house,

they had all been psychic mediums. The members of taps, they claimed to approach each case from a more scientific perspective. And using technology, they claimed to approach each case from a more scientific perspective. And using technology, they tried to rule out alternative explanations, explanations, goodbye, for the disturbances. That's why I like them. Exactly, they're doing the scientific method. Exactly. Now, ultimately, the results of the TAPS investigation were inconclusive, but the team was still pretty impressed with the Vose attitude toward their very potentially haunted home. Yeah, Taps founder Grant Wilson said, oh, yeah, Grant Grant. Yeah, we love Grant. Yeah, a lot of people are terrified in their homes. So it's nice to meet somebody who's embracing it. Yeah, there you go. You know, I feel you Grant. Yeah, yeah, Wilson for the win. Grant.

Grant. Grant, Grant, Grant, Grant, Grant, Grant, Grant. Okay, I was going to go further, but then I got to see that. I never know when to stop. Now, the Vos were definitely enthusiastic about growing the haunted reputation of the home. So they started giving God a tours, and they eventually even opened a gift shop in the house. Wow. Now, whether or not the Vos had bigger ambitions

for the Pierce Mansion, like, you know, making it a legit haunted attraction is unclear. But if they did have plans for something more formal, those plans were abandoned in the summer of 2007 when I don't know why, but they decided to move out of the house and put it on the market at 375,000. Wow, in 2007. Yeah, I know. to move out of the house and put it on the market at $375,000. Wow. In 2007.

Yeah. I know. Which I feel like, what do you think? That's a fucking huge house. That's the thing, $375,000. And it's like a store. It's a historical, it feels like. So it's like, absolutely.

It's super, it's worked for one of the biggest furniture companies and then made one of the biggest furniture companies. So it's super historical. I wonder if the historical society didn't recognize it yet at that point or something? Well, and you, yeah, and then also they bought it for like nothing. Yeah, and then they like, so it's like they, that's a big markup.

That's true. But they had like done a lot to, of course, they put it back to it. So that makes sense why the markup was so high. Yeah. Now, Suzanne and Mark Vaux had really leaned into the haunted aspect of their home, and that built quite the reputation around the pier expansion.

Even though they had done a lot of beautiful renovations to the property, word had gotten around about the hauntings, and so no one was really willing to pay that much for a super haunted house. So it seems like the Vos may have done themselves a little bit of a disservice by being so open about their discoveries. So the house sat on the market with minimal interest from buyers for over a year. Wow.

And the asking price reduced dramatically, not once, but three times before any buyers express serious interest in the mansion. It's so funny to see. Like, that house is gorgeous. Oh, it's fucking beautiful. Fucking huge. And it's a historical Victorian mansion. I love it.

For $375,000. And if you're in the market for home at that price point, that would be a fucking dream. Literally. But that people, we still, like that's why when people are like, I have a lame a ghost. I'm like, I don't know.

I think we all do because none of you were buying that house. That's the thing. But no one to bite at that just because it might be haunted. You know what's funny? That's why. I was gonna be like, will we do buy it?

But I know the answer. You definitely will. Would you know with kids by a haunted home? With kids probably not. That's the thing. That's the thing. I put know how. Yeah. Would you though with kids by a hundred and a whole? With kids probably not. So that's the thing. That's the thing. I put myself through it.

I wouldn't put my kids through. I don't. Just in case they were scary. I don't want scary. Yeah. Or like, yeah, I'd be dangerous or anything like that. I'm willing to put myself through

whatever, but this home is beautiful. And if I had the money to pay for it, I would like to think that I would buy it, but I actually don't know if I would buy a haunted house. Like if I knew it was haunted. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I guess I'm out because I have kids. Yeah, exactly.

So, if it was just me and John, but it's like if we were going into it being like we want to start a family, I wouldn't start a family in a haunted house. And I knew was potentially haunted. Yeah, exactly. I guess. Yeah, I don't know. That's a tough thing because you're like, oh my god, $375,000 for a fucking 20, however many bedroom house or room house.

Well, and it tells you how deep your belief in ghosts really is, or is it totally? Oh, totally. And I mean, a massive chewsets come on if you don't believe in ghosts, what's wrong with you? Oh, what the fuck is wrong with you? You listen in what's wrong with you. I'm just kidding. I love you.

I said that's so like, so interestingly, I was thinking, I love you. I love you. I gotta go. You made me cough, don't copy me. So when Edwin Gonzalez, I'm just kidding. You are copying me. That's cause you got me sick.

You stole my cold. I did that intentionally. So when Edwin Gonzalez and his girlfriend, Lilian saw the Pierce mansion online, it seems like the perfect opportunity to fulfill their dream. Edwin said, Lilian has always wanted to own a Victorian house, me too. We were coming in from Boston. At the time, I had the opportunity to work from home for the first time. So we had the luxury of living wherever we wanted in Massachusetts. Yeah.

Which like, what a fucking luxury. Yeah, that's awesome. Massachusetts has so many beautiful, like, like, quaint and historical taverns. Yep. Love Massachusetts. I'm never leaving. I fucking love Massachusetts. I fuck so heavy with Massachusetts. Hell yeah, Massachusetts.

Hell yeah. So by the time they found the listing for the mansion in 2008, the price had dropped even more considerably. First from 375K to 225K. Whoa. Then from a second time from 225K to a 180K. What? Which seems like a fucking steal

for a grandiose suburban mansion. Yeah. Edwin later recalled, well, we were shocked at the price, which was significantly lower than what we would have paid in Boston. Yeah. You should be able to buy like a billion different things in Boston for that, but you would literally be able to buy like a closet, a legit in Boston.

You'd be able to rent. I think you would literally be able to buy a closet. Like you'd be able to rent a studio apartment. To pay. Maybe. You could have like able to rent a studio apartment. Potentially. Maybe. Potentially. You could have like the corner of a studio, or part of the apartment.

But he said, I immediately called the real tearing told her I was interested in the property at number four West Broadway. There was some hesitation on the other end of the line. So I repeated the address. I thought that somewhat odd. And assumed there must be some structural issues with the place.

But there was more than that. So a few days later, Edwin and Lily and Drew out to Gardner, and they immediately fell in love with the escape here, Smanchem. Me too. Same. But as much as they loved the house, Edwin couldn't help but feel like there was something strange about it.

He later said, as I toured the house, I remember that in certain rooms, I had different emotions. Certain rooms I felt very comfortable in. In other rooms, I had a bad feeling. I was very nauseous. And I thought, maybe it was something I'd eaten. So he brushed the feeling off, knowing how much Lillian had already fallen in love

with the house, which was a great man. That is a nice man. And so they decided to put in an offer which was quickly accepted. Yeah, I bet it was. Because it also had been on the market for how that point. And it was 2008, so like not the best time to buy a house. Now by January 2009, Edwin and Lillian had closed on their property, completely moved into their new home,

and the strange occurrences began pretty much immediately. Just a few weeks later, while this this one fucked me up, just a few weeks later, they were meeting with a neighbor. And the man asked Edwin if the couple had any children. And when Edwin was like, no, we don't have kids, the man was like, wait, what? Like, you don't have any kids? Like, who was the kid I saw earlier in your house today? Oh. And Edwin was like, what do you mean?

And the man said he'd seen a young boy about five or six years old looking out one of the windows on the third floor. And then just a few seconds later, saw him at another window on the opposite end of the house. So he was like, I saw this fucker twice. Like you have kids, I know you do. Oh, that's a no from me. And Edwin was like, you are definitely mistaken

because not only do we not have children, but it would be impossible for anyone to move that quickly from that window to the other one on the third floor because, quote, he said, he would literally have to go through two walls into staircase. So you're saying it's possible. You got yourself a ghost boy. Yeah, that could go stride with my friend.

Oh, scary. So the signing of the boy was just the first and what would be a long line of unusual and unexplicable experiences that Lillian and Edwin would have in their new home. Just a few nights later, Edwin and Lillian were woken up in the night by the sound of one of the large doors on the lower floor slamming shut. Oh, no.

Mm-hmm. And it fucked me up. I hate the sound of slamming doors. Edwin said, these are big doors that don't slam on their own. They usually take a lot of force to just swing them open. Ooh. Now, noises continued on early into the next morning when the couple was woken up by the sound of the doorbell

and a series of loud banging knocks at the front door. But when Edwin ran down to see who the fuck was pounding on their door that early in the morning, no one was there. No. I don't like that. That, I'd be like, I gotta go. That seems like fucking with you.

I don't like it. Yeah, it's definitely fucking with you, which also is like kind of funny when you think about it, but also pretty terrible. But scary if you're in the position. Exactly. Funny for me, because I'm not in it. Funny for me, but not funny for you.

Mm-hmm. Now in the first few months at the Pierce Mansion, the strange occurrences seemed limited to these kind of strange disruptions and misplaced objects, some weird fucking noises, and also the occasional feeling of being watched. But in April, things took a rather dramatic turn. Edwin said, I was sitting in my office,

which had originally been the nursery. It was about five in the afternoon, and I was sitting at my desk, when I had the image of a man appear right in front of my face. Oh. And then he said, without any kind of warning,

the figure rushed toward him. So he threw his hands up to protect himself and probably turned his face on imagining. But a few seconds later, everything was back to normal. And when he looked around the room, there was nobody there. Oh, no.

And no evidence that anybody had been there. That would scare the shit out of me. I would shit myself. And that's unusual. Like that feels like an unusual, because you know people are gonna want it to bunk. Oh, of course.

And it's like, when people tell these kind of stories, usually they're either over the top or they're like nothing. And this is like right in the middle. And this is just right in the middle. And this is just like a strange one. Like they just showed up in front of your face and then we're gone. And you've heard that. Yeah, it feels real. Yeah, it definitely does. Really freaks me out. Now when Edwin and Lillian had purchased the house several months earlier,

they dealt almost entirely with their real estate agent, not the previous owners. And so they hadn't been given any information about the home supposed supernatural past. But now Ed would wanted to look into the history of the home, kind of find out what he'd gotten self into. So he looked up the names of the owners, and he called them, and they summarized the paranormal claims about the home, and they also suggested that he look up the history

of the house in a book titled, Haunted Massachusetts. Hey, I think I have that book. I do have that book. And it's hilarious that they bought this home and didn't realize that it was listed in a book, haunted publication. So after reading all about the home and all of its paranormal history, Edward believed that the man he saw in his office that day was the spirit of Eno Sari. Oh, shit. Creepy. So he decided to call a local husband and wife team of paranormal investigators. Oh.

And it was not. I don't know anymore. I almost put that joke in, but no, it was not them. I decided to take a break from a firm. But they agreed to come to the house and investigate all these different disturbances. So the investigators, they set up cameras throughout the house just trying to record anything. But they said they weren't able to document anything

because the spirits in the home kept knocking the cameras over. I feel like that's documenting something. So do I. Personally. I also, that was actually my first house. He's like, it's so weird. We weren't able to catch anything crazy because ghosts kept kicking the cameras over. And it's like, I don't know, I feel, that was actually my first. He's like, it's so weird. We weren't able to catch anything crazy because ghosts kept kicking the camera over.

And it's like, I don't know, I feel like that's it. He's like, it's weird. One ghost just punted the camera across the road. Yeah, like I don't know anything. I think that's the tweet, my boy guy. Oh my god, that's the tweet. That's actually the act. Oh, yes.

So before leaving, they cleanse the house with sage. And they recommend, which I was like, y'all just cleanse the house with sage. And they recommend, which I was like, y'all just cleansed the house with sage, you thought that was gonna do the trick at this point? They're like, this will be fun. They grew a little past that. But they recommended that Edwin and Lillian perform a cleansing ritual nightly for several nights in a row

so that they could assert their ownership of the house, which they're dominant in the house. I just think you should assert your dominance over the Ronaldid House. So after the cleansing ritual, all was quiet in the house for a few nights because the ghost got together and they said let them think they have the upper head. And then strike when no one's looking. They were like that was cute. They got in the hall and then they slapped each other's butts and they went on with the hot. They all said, you sure about that? You sure about that? I love that guy.

So, things were quiet for a few nights, and Edwin and Liliann became hopeful that there were a deal might finally be over. But they quickly learned that their hope was misplaced. When about a week or so later, they heard the sound of smashing glass coming from the kitchen. They said it sounded like somebody was down there just breaking all of their dishes. Oh, damn. Which I would have been pissed. Yeah, I wouldn't have been happy.

So they ran downstairs to the kitchen, but when they got there, there was no evidence of anything being broken. Okay, this is very reminiscent of my house growing up because one day me and my brother were the only ones home. We had this, I don't know if this day... I don't know if this day... No, you do. This is the one we heard a shattering glass

and we heard a slam upstairs and we were like, oh my god, so we run upstairs into his room, which was the original main bedroom in the house. And he had all these framed post pictures, like cigar photos inside of that, I don't know, he was weird. Love you, JP. She's kidding. But one of his big framed heavy cigar pictures, almost like shadow box.

Yeah, like big. It wasn't shadow box. He was just like a very thick frame, like very heavy. Okay, okay. And it was leaned up. It was, it was on one wall, what before. And it was leaned over on the opposite wall, on the floor, like it had been leaned against the wall, on the opposite wall, and it wasn't

broken at all. But we heard shattering glass. That's so weird. I do know the story. It was shocking. And how did that, it had fallen down multiple times and he kept putting it back up, I remember I'm saying. It was like someone didn't want that picture.

So he was like, I'm not gonna hang that again. That's so creepy. That room, that was an active room. That's the new active room. I've had shit happen to me and there you've had shit happen to me. I fucking hate that room. Yeah, that room has some like,

something dark happens in there. It's, I think it comes from the closet. Yeah, so there's two closets in that room, and I get a bad feeling from one of them. Yep, but this isn't about our house. We should fucking talk about it. Just making it up a sort of our house. They're like, uh, listed at, dot, dot, dot.

So yeah, they heard that, but then again, there was no evidence that anything was broken. And then a few days later, they got a weird, unexpected visit from a stranger at their door. A man named Bill Wallace had knocked on the door and claimed that he had some experience with this house, just out of the blue. That's unsettling.

Yeah, I don't like it, but he was fine. Okay, cool. He told the couple about- Just for Bill. It's just Bill, my guys. So he told the couple about he was actually a spiritual empath and a friend of the former owners, Mark and Suzanne. And he said they invited him to investigate

the whole multiple times. And while he did his different investigations, he'd learned a lot about the house. Sid wants to tell you all about it. Yeah, my dear. I would like to tell you about it. Ready? Oh, she's so sick.

Oh, shit. And you're like ready? You got nothing to say said? That's so said. That is so said. That's so said. That's so said. It's the future she can see.

I don't know. Sure. So in 2013, Bill told the Discovery Channel, I knew there was something nasty in the seller. I knew there was something nasty on the second floor. And Bill also knew. That's nasty. Nice. He worked out's nasty. Nice.

He worked out. He worked out. Yeah, nice. Yeah. Now, Bill also knew about the young boy that the neighbors had seen in the window a few months earlier. He said, I knew there was a child who had this Assad

who had been abused terribly in life and was still being abused by somebody in the house as a spirit. Oh, let's fuck that spirit up. Mm-hmm. Fuck that spirit. Fuck a spirit. Oh, let's fuck that spirit up. Mm-hmm. Fuck that spirit. Fuck that spirit.

Like show them up. Oh, that poor little boy can't even escape it in the afterlife. Fuck that person who did that. I know, it makes me so sad. Oh, I want to kick the rath. And there's spirit at the kick your ass. I'm gonna kick your ass.

Do you remember that video of the little girl that was like, I'm gonna kick his ass. Yes, that's me right now. I love that you say he's going to kick my ass. He's going to kick my ass. I loved that video. That's me right now. I'm going to kick his ass.

I don't want to kick my ass. But I'm going to kick his ass. Oh, man. So after 10 months in the home, the once minor disturbances at this point had escalated exponentially. And now they seem to contain an element of menace that hadn't been there previously. Oh, according to Bill Wallace,

the spirit of the piercess's former nanny Maggie, he called her Maggie, but her name was Maddie. But Bill said that Maddie had been trying to protect Edwin and Lillian from the others he referred to as them, to them as the others in the house. But there was only so much that she could do to prevent a more serious situation. But out of options, and now very concerned for their own safety, Edwin and Lillian decided to hold kind of a paranormal open house, thinking that this would solve their problems. Okay. These are choices. They're choices. I don't know what I would do in this situation.

I think what they were thinking was that this group of people that they invited was going to help them, but I think they did more hurt than help. Yeah, I mean, a paranormal open house sounds fucking awesome. Like, I'd go. I would go. I would go. I don't know if I would hold one in my home. I know for a fact that I would not hold one in my home. To each their own.

Yeah, live your life. So they invited a bunch of paranormal investigators to the home in hopes that one might have a solution to the huge problems that they were going through. So the open house was organized by local paranormal investigator, John Breitman, and it attracted psychic mediums and other kinds of paranormal investigators who eventually broke off into separate teams. This is awesome. It's fucking cool. This is awesome. Each team separated and took up a quadrant of the floor. Now, John's only stipulation to this whole thing was that nobody bring in a Weach aboard or any other item into the home that

could invite negative entities in the house. John is actually at. John and me are one in the same. But he would later learn and he was probably so pissed because I know I would be that not everybody had taken his request seriously. So while John and other teams explored the upper floors of the house, a duo of supposed paranormal investigators and the basement began performing what John believes

was a satanic ritual using a hand-drawn spirit board. Okay. Yeah. So upstairs, I don't know if he just thinks like using a spirit board is like satanic in and of itself. I don't, I don't know. I wasn't there, me either. But I would be pissed if I was John.

I mean, yeah, that's not, when you said don't, when you, you know what, I'll give it to John. If you make it very clear, no satanic rituals they come in and do a satanic ritual, that's fucked up. Yeah. And you really shouldn't have to make it clear like not to do satanic rituals. I feel like that should just be like, that should be one of those things that you you should at least ask

Before you do a satanic ritual You know like just check may I use your bathroom? May I do a satanic ritual? Do you mind if I do a satanic ritual in the basement? Like anything just is on a rate and it's like also These you guys were supposed to be helping not performing rituals of the Satanic nature. But upstairs on the second floor, John and his group were investigating the former bedroom of Eno Sari, one of the most active locations for paranormal occurrences. Now they weren't able to make contact with Eno's spirit through asking questions out loud,

so John decided to take a more aggressive approach, and he sat down on the bed, which he figured would agitate the spirit and prompt some kind of response. After a minute or two of an antagonistic questioning, John felt a burning sensation on his side and he pulled up his shirt to reveal three large scratches across his stomach. Damn. And at the same time, other investigators in the room heard a voice say, squeeze every throat in this house. Whoa! That is chilling as far as I'm. That escalated so quickly.

Holy shit. Squeeze every throat in this house. Damn. You thought like that, I need to take a deep breath. That was, that's chilling. That is chilling. Squeeze every throat in this house. That was definitely the person who'd be using somebody in this house? That was definitely the person abusing somebody in this house.

Oh, yeah. Oh, fuck. So this experience sent John fleeing the room into the hallway where he claims he was assaulted again this time by an unseen fist. Damn. Yeah. He later recalled, in 10 years, the most I've had happened to me is maybe the tug of a shirt or a door slam on me. Here, a voice. that's normal, normal occurrences. But to be physically attacked like this and then have something touch you the way it did,

it's scary. Yeah. Which like, I speak from experience because I got poked on the USS Salem when we went with our boys, Sam and Colby. And that was scary. Yeah. Like that poke I felt on my body for the rest of the night. Yeah.

So to be scratched by a spirit and like punched, it sounds like a ghosty blue in my ear. Yeah, but I didn't like that either. That was an awesome. And then they chased us out of a room that was also scary. That also was not awesome. Yeah, you can go watch the video on Sam and Colby's channel

or the explore page. Kim, you can do that. So the attack in Eno Sari's farm of bedroom shook John Brightman to the point where he actually concluded the paranormal open house He was like y'all need to get out. He rounded everybody up and ushered them personally out of the house Wow and left Edwin and Lily in a loan to deal with whatever the event had just stirred up at that point He's like everyone out. Sorry guys. Sorry about that. Bye. He's like, everyone else, sorry guys. He's so about that, bye. It's like a frapp party and then your parents get home. Yeah. Edwin said they came in, they got some evidence,

and then they left us with no answers. That's when I realized the groups weren't trying to help us out. They were just trying to conjure up as much action as they can. Damn. Like that shitty. Yeah, that sucks. So in the days that followed the paranormal investigation,

things shockingly seemed to get worse in the house. I don't know why. Wow, I wonder why. And things especially seemed to get worse surrounding Lillian. Edwin told reporters, one night Lillian went down into the basement, apparently sleepwalking, and began digging in the cellar. A lot of people pick up something very negative in the cellar. There are shadows in the sound of children laughing down in the sister. Now during one of her sleepwalking events, Edwin claimed that Lillian was digging through the ashes in the remnants of an old kiln in the basement. Oh fuck. And she discovered a scrap of an early 20th century newspaper article about several children who had drowned on the proper shut up. Now eventually he and Lillian came to believe that the

drowning was the reason for the presence of the spirit of the young boy on the second and third floors. And actually this wasn't the first time that Edwin had heard about drownings on the property. Others had informed him of the supposed death of a young girl who drowned in a pond behind the mansion in the early 1900s. Now, while these deaths may have occurred at one point or another, it should be said that there is no pond on the Pierce Mansion property. Well, that puts a wrench in things. You know, there's nothing there never was.

There's not currently. That makes me think twice. That makes you think twice, but maybe there was. And then some of you drowned there and they filled it up. We don't know, maybe. And actually, unfortunately, there are multiple bodies of water in Gardener, but none are close enough to the mansion

that the drowning deaths would be even remotely related to activity in the house. I have to give you both sides. It's so close. I was literally, I don't know. Mikey just thought I immediately started going, I was like, drowningings, like going for it. And then you were like, there's no body of water on the property.

And I was like, where it weren't? Yeah. Yeah. People can drown outside of a lake, though, somebody can drown in a bathtub. Someone can? Someone can drown. Somebody can drown in a bathtub. Dry drowning is kind of like a, but somebody can drown in a bathtub.

Okay. That is for sure. That's definitely it. Or they could drown in a man-made pond. Yeah. You know, maybe there was a little frog pond on the property that was filled in. We don't know. I don't know. I wasn't there.

You don't know. You don't know. Nobody knows. But either way, Edwin was growing more and more concerned about Lillian because she was sleepwalking a lot and being kind of strange. I do however, sorry to interrupt you. I do however wonder,

because Edwin said she found scraps of a newspaper that listed these surroundings. Yeah. Like does Edwin have that newspaper? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I haven't talked to him recently.

Because I was gonna say, you've talked to Edwin recently. No, I think I'm gonna call. I should've let him text Ed. I'll text Ed when I'm a messenger. I don't know, maybe he'll listen to this and say, yeah, bitch, as I do. Because I would love to see it.

I mean, I hope he says it nice, Eric. I know I would also love it. You have these scammers.com. I do have these papers. Go on, I'm gonna keep talking. Okay, cool. I should've done that myself, but I didn't.. I do have to go on and keep talking. Okay. Cool. I should have done that myself But I didn't but I'll do it because I love newspapers. I do too I don't know why I didn't let's go but I didn't do it because I was like oh my god

I have to keep learning about Lillian here because Lillian started to get worse and worse Edwin told the Discovery Channel I was starting to lose her she was slipping away I didn't have any answers and I had no one to turn to. She was becoming more and more exhausted, sitting on the couch all day long. I thought, this is really the house that's affecting her. So with nowhere else to turn, Edwin contacted a man who claimed to be an exorcist. And the man came to the house and did perform an exorcism, which he said would end the haunting. But a few nights later, Edwin woke up in the middle of the night to find that Lillian had again wandered down into the basement and was again digging in the ashes of the old kiln. And when he tried to bring

her back upstairs, she began shouting at him until he agreed to leave her alone down there. She didn't believe she was like, get the fuck away from me. I want to dig. Damn. Now, the night after that, like, weird altercation interaction, Bill Wallace showed up at the couple's front door again. And this time, he said he had a feeling that Lillian was in danger, and he believed that Edwin and Lillian were no longer safe in the home. He said he couldn't explain it, but everything became much clearer when Edwin told him about the exorcism Bill said from what he thought that the the ritual performed by the exorcist had actually only succeeded in driving out the spirit of Maddie and She was the only thing standing between them and the malevolent spirits in the house who wished them harm damn

Now Bill recalled that moment and said, for the very first time ever, I was afraid to be alone in that house. Whoa. Yeah. This is chilling. It truly is. Anything on newspapers over there? I'm looking.

OK, keep looking. Now Bill's genuine concern for Edwin and Lillian and his insistence that they stay in fight for the house was all the proof that Edwin needed that they might be in real danger. And so they decided that they get the fuck out of the pier expansion. Edwin said, it's one thing when you try to fight it,

but when it's affecting the person you love more, I don't wanna see anything like that happened to her. We had so many hopes and dreams. We envisioned the house being brought back to the way it used to be, but unfortunately, we kind of lost our dreams. Oh, that's sad. It is sad.

Now, not too long after Bill's visit, Edwin and Lillian did move out of the mansion, and they actually didn't have anywhere to go quite yet, so they stayed with Lillian's sister temporarily. So that kind of tells you how scared they were. Yeah, that they didn't have anywhere to even go. They didn't have anywhere to go other than Turner's sister's house.

And in the meantime, they were just trying to figure out what to do about the house. Yeah. And almost immediately after leaving the house, it was said that Lillian returned to normal, like nothing had ever happened. Wow. So while moving out of the house may have dramatically improved Edwin and Lillian's mental health, they still had invested almost everything they had into the home and some of the renovations that they made after moving in, like they had invested a lot they had into the home and some of the renovations that they made after moving in. They had invested a lot of money into this place. And because of that, there was no way that they could sell the home and break even, never mind even make a profit. Oh, damn.

And just like the Vos before them, Edwin and Lillian's time in the Pierce Mansion had only increased the home's haunted reputation, which made it even harder to sell for a winter. Oh, no. So rather than struggle to sell a haunted house, Edwin decided to use the mansion's reputation to his advantage, and he started hosting paranormal investigators, television programs, and ghost stores, doing what he could to make the most of a bad situation. And it turned out, while most people weren't interested in buying a haunted house, many

people were willing to pay a small price or a regular price to visit one. So the proceeds from the tours and the events not only helped Edwin and Lillian stay a float after moving out, but they also were able to fund some restoration projects and covered the cost of badly needed repairs to the roof and some other various parts of the home. So for years, Edwin returned to the house regularly to host new tour groups or production companies filming paranormal shows about the house.

And in some cases, he would even participate in the investigations, but there was one incident where he claims that he communicated directly with a disembodied voice of a spirit in the house and he decided at that point that he didn't want to be a part of the events anymore. This like really freaked him out. Oh damn. He said about the voice. It was coming from all around the room like it was in stereo. From that point on, I never wanted to participate in investigations again.

Ooh, finally right, shit. So in the years after Edwin and Lillian's departure from the house, the Pierce Mansion became a pretty popular destination for paranormal enthusiasts and groups like East Coast Paranormal Research Team. They became frequent visitors to the estate, and they were actually even able to lead ghost tours of their own after a certain point.

So for Edwin and Lilian who initially felt like pretty heartbroken and sad after having to leave the house, the unexpected turn of events really couldn't have been more beneficial. Edwin told a reporter in 2013, I'm still amazed by what I encountered in that house. We just can't move back in. Damn.

Yeah. So they lived in the house for a little under a year, but they continued renting out the property until April 2015. And that's when they put it back on the marketing market with an asking price of nearly twice what they paid for it in 2008. Shit. But again, I remember 2008 was a really shitty time to my house, and they had done it a lot of the restoration projects. So while they were attempt to sell what was then a notoriously haunted house was pretty risky given what we know

from even this story alone, they got lucky. And within three months, they had found a buyer who was willing to pay almost full asking price for the house. Wow. Now, I didn't see that coming. Nor did I. But unlike all the previous owners of the house, the Pierce Manchin's newest owner,

Robert Conti had no intention of moving in, which is why he bought it. Instead, he wanted to turn the estate into a full time haunted attraction. The attraction. Robert Conti is actually a periodontist by trade. Oh my God, I'm obsessed with that. But also owns a traveling haunted circus.

What? Yep. a traveling haunted circus. What? Yep. A traveling haunted circus? You heard. I need to know more about that. Same. So when he came across the listing online, he had been looking for opportunities to expand his haunted empire, and he was like, perfect, let's buy that. Oh, yeah.

So he learned about the history of the home and learned even more about the recent stories of paranormal activity, took a tour of of the home and learned even more about the recent stories of paranormal activity, took a tour of the property and he was convinced that the Pierce Mansion was exactly what he and his wife had been looking for. Damn. He told ABC News, I didn't really come into this believing in ghosts

but the minute I walked into this house, I was overwhelmed and had to excuse myself and get a piece of candy because I thought I was gonna pass out. Oh my God. So he went into this not even believing in ghosts and was like, oh this place is fucked. Oh, I'm doing this. Now, once the sale was finalized, the conties got to work, restoring the house to its former glory. They were able to finish all the restoration projects that had been started by previous owners. And actually, these projects were overseen by local historian and caretaker

Kenneth Watson. Oh shit, it's our Ken. Ken. He's just Ken. Oh my God. I haven't even seen that movie. And he's great at doing stuff. I fucking loved the Barbie movie. You should see it. But, um, yes, so Watson had become very friendly with Edwin and Lillian and they recommended him to Conti after the sale in 2015. So we got to stick around. Oh shit. And since the restoration's completion in 2020, Kenneth Watson has remained as kind of a caretaker

and manager of the estate. Kenneth, I've come around to, I wasn't trying to be mean to Kenneth in the beginning when I was like, don't you ruin my fun Ken. But now, Team Ken. Team Ken, he's just like, Listen, I know about this, I say that would all. I trust Ken. I do too.

And you should too. And we might meet him. Oh, his hell, yeah. I'm about to meet Ken because he leads tours and sees to the overnight guests who book a stay at the mansion. See Ken, we've been through a journey here today and I'm

excited to meet you. Can't wait to see you. And within a year, there were more than 3,000 people on the waiting list to stay at the house overnight. Well, so we should get on the list. I was like, okay, maybe I won't see you soon. I wonder if there still is a waiting list. I would assume there could be.

Ramley's pretty, pretty popular location. Now, COVID, womp, womp, womp. Womp. An interrupted business for a bit. But they are back in business. And business has been strong. With the newly renovated and fully operational SKP or Smanchal. Hell yeah.

And when they call one out for applications, actually, for like a number of different positions at the house, Conti and his team got hundreds of applications and actually had to turn most of them away. Holy shit. Quote, when all available job interview slots were filled within hours. Holy shit, look at Massachusetts being spooky as fuck. Hell yeah, they were like, we are not gonna buy this house, but we will work there. But I will work there.

Dream job. Fuck yeah. Now, these days, customers can book everything from tours and events to overnight or extended stays at the fully restored banchan. But the owners are quick to remind any interesting, interested parties of one crucial fact. Quote, this attraction is not for the faint of heart.

Whoa. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. I love it. And that is the SK PR Smanchine. Holy shit. faint of heart. Whoa! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! I love it. And that is the SK PRS Manjans. Holy shit, what a tale. It's a fun tale and I'd thank you today

for looking into it for me. Regardless of what actually happened there, some people die in the house. And some fuck shit went down there either way. And some fuck shit went down. I mean, for all those paranormal investigators to be like, yeah, fuck that. That's good. Yeah, like, I mean, for all those paranormal investigators to be like, yeah, fuck that. We're out.

Yeah, like, I trust my Massachusetts paranormal investigators. Okay, so if they're saying, fuck that shit, then fuck that shit. Fuck that shit. But I'm gonna go there. I can't wait to that. We shouldn't see if they're still waiting. We absolutely should.

And I actually go look into that now. So we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it. We're, it's really, you don't get your ass on the wait list to the escape ears mansion because what the fuck are you doing if you're not going to the escape ears mansion. I'll see you there. Love you, bye. Get with it.

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