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

You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast.

Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash.

And I'm Alayna.

And this is Morbid.

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.

But I don't know.

And I made sure I stayed right on right on cue.

You did.

By being distracted when 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 Lizzie McGuire shirt.

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.

And 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 Lizzie.

I was so excited to walk in here with that too.

I was like, oh, she's going to 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 OK.

I do that a lot.

Like I don't express things like that enough.

And sometimes I have to like remind myself too.

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, fuck,

that's a cool shirt.

And I would never say it.

That's OK.

I know that you felt that because I know you.

I see you.

And I know you though.

But you see me.

But yeah, I wore that shirt to the Savannah 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 McGuire 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.

And then the pickle sweatshirt that I got

is from Bad Addiction boutique or boutique, if you nasty.

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?

Hold on.

Where the fuck did you get that?

Well, there's like 55 of them, apparently.

Fuck, did you get that?

Wait, are these all from the same store?

Like live updates with me.

OK, so you're going to have to just decide where you want

to get that from because it's not telling me where I got mine

from.

That's OK.

And you can get it for many 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 about so much Halloween stuff

the other day and so much Disney stuff the other day.

Look at you.

Yeah, we're talking about a haunted mansion today.

And then while I was doing this case,

I was like, oh, 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 Massachusetts mansion.

I didn't even mean to say Massachusetts.

Massachusetts.

Massachusetts.

I was going to say mansion, but then my brain was like,

tell them where it is.

It's in Massachusetts.

So yeah, today we're going to 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 going to scurr 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 Lizzie Borden's house, so.

Yeah, I feel honestly, weirdly, I feel like this one

would be less scary even though Lizzie Borden had a vibe to it

that I just think is unmatched personally.

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, 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 into telling me

like what he's going to get you for Christmas

and like anniversaries and birthdays and stuff.

And he was like nervous about this.

He was like, do you think she'll like it?

And I was like, I think she'll fucking love that.

Like I think you're so smart.

And he was like, is that like 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 fucking cool.

There's 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.

Let's go.

See, I'm not down to sign a waiver.

I'm down to sign because I also think

that it's like pretty brilliant marketing.

Like it gets you real, real school, real.

I almost had scared and spookied at the same time.

And it went, spookied.

I'm going to be real school tonight.

I'm going to be so schooled, John.

I'm going to be so schooled.

I'm going to be so schooled tonight.

I'm going to be so schooled.

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.

I also love the differences in our nights.

You're going to the Conjuring House

and I have a dress fitting.

Hell yeah.

I'm trying on 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

in Massachusetts, like I said.

And we're going to stat in the spring of 2009

and then we're going to travel back.

Let's stat there.

Let's stat there, kid.

Oh, also, sorry if my voice annoys you.

I'm sick, but you'll live.

I love you.

It's sultry.

Oh, wow, sultry.

That was a great response.

Literally, she put her eyeballs up to the sky

and she said, ah.

Yeah, I don't know.

So I don't know what that was, but it was great.

It was like haunted, sexy.

Like I said, do sultry.

And you went, ah, I don't know.

It was great.

It was great.

In the spring of 2009,

Edwin Gonzalez and his girlfriend, Lillian Otero,

which like also they should be in a Disney movie.

I was like, damn those names.

Edwin and Lillian, gorgeous names.

But they fled their house in Gardiner, Massachusetts

after less than a year of living there.

Now, when they originally moved into this place,

the S.K. Pierce mansion,

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

when it was far from a dream house experience.

What happened in Gardiner?

They had been driven out by angry ghosts

who had done everything, including possessing Lillian

in order to torment them.

And it left them with no other option

than to just abandon ship.

They were like, we gotta get the fuck out of here.

Now, obviously they didn't know it when they moved in,

but their home, the S.K. Pierce mansion,

had long been considered by locals to be haunted.

And then it's more than 100 year history.

The home had seen its fair,

probably more than its 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.

Now, in 2015, Lillian and Edwin sold the Pierce mansion

to a man from New Jersey who runs it now

as a haunted attraction.

But, and 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 S.K. 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, I think.

So over the last 50 years or so,

we're going over to Western Massachusetts,

so I'm gonna give you a little rundown 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 hats, shoes,

and furniture.

All things I love.

Who doesn't love furniture?

All things that are good.

Yeah, all things that are good.

Who doesn't love hats and shoes?

Especially if you can drink Baileys out of them.

Oh my God, look at her.

Picking up where I left off.

But among the cities and towns that make up the area,

the small community of Gardner became known

in the mid-19th century as Chan City.

Chan City.

Not their Chan, not their problem.

I say that literally daily.

Daily, it's my state.

Not my Chan, not my problem.

Not my Chan, not my problem.

But it was always God in his chair,

because they're Chan City.

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's

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.

Oh, he sounds important.

I was just gonna 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 like a weird...

Why not?

Accent on it, but I'm gonna...

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 in my brain.

Crazy.

So yeah, he's a pretty important guy.

I hope you can see where we're going here,

because Sylvester K. Pierce, S-K-L-O-L.

Yeah.

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So Sylvester was the seventh child of Jonas Pierce

and I believe it's Oxaw Fairbanks,

born in Westminster, Massachusetts,

on April 11th, 1820.

So Quotsome time 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 Gardner's earliest furniture makers,

Elijah Putnam.

Elijah Putnam, you say.

I feel like that man had to make furniture.

Yeah, I mean, 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 Putnam's.

One of those.

Maybe not though.

It's maybe not.

Maybe common.

We won't slander his name, I guess.

He's a good furniture maker.

So there you go.

Great, you know what?

One might say legendary.

Fucking awesome.

Truly.

One of the earliest.

But as Putnam's assistant,

Sylvester learned the basics of furniture making

the specifics on the budding industry,

and then he moved on to work under a man named Joel Fairbanks,

another furniture manufacturer,

and nearby Ashburnham.

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 Steven Taylor, a, you guessed it, furniture maker.

Hey.

In South Gardner.

Now after five years with Taylor,

and now 10 years' experience in the furniture industry,

Sylvester ended up buying the company from Steven Taylor,

and 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.

Wow.

So in 1845, this was the year that Sylvester and Jonas

opened their furniture company in Gardner.

Sylvester also happened to meet

and quickly married 25-year-old Susan Jackson.

Oh.

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.

Frank.

Or Frank, if you nasty.

Now, by eight.

Or a fan of Father of the Bride.

Yes.

Part two, literally.

And one in my head.

I was going to say, I was like, he's in one too.

He's part one then.

So by 1875, SK Pearson Sun had become actually

one of the biggest employers in the region.

Damn.

They were making that big money.

So Sylvester wanted a home that was more befitting

for a man of his wealth and status.

Of 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.

That's, you gotta make a palace.

You do.

It's just the rules.

So he contracted a Worcester based architectural firm,

E Boyden Worcester.

To my friend Marissa, what's popping Worcester?

She will only get that.

So he contacted 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 fave.

Oh, I love a Victorian style house.

As do I.

It's like literally my favorite.

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 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 home's foundation

that can actually still be seen

in the basement of the Pierce mansion.

So that's interesting.

I know.

That would be really cool to see.

I know.

And I'm pretty sure you can go in the basement.

That would be pretty fun.

I feel like if you can go in the basement

of the Lizzie Borden house,

you 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.

They were just like at your own peril.

Yeah.

I think they advised against it.

But we were like, we're going to do that.

Because they were like, here's a fucking lantern

from the 1800s.

So if you want to go down there by all means.

Yeah.

We were in like a giant storm, which was fucking terrifying.

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 like not that long, I feel.

To make a whole last home, I don't think so.

But like a mansion.

A mansion.

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.

You aspire to be a gorgeous monument.

Of luxury and wealth.

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 going to be buried.

She was a gorgeous monument of luxury and wealth.

Are you going to do that from beyond the grave?

Hell yeah.

No, I'm going to live forever.

Oh, okay.

Cool.

That's something I'd rather not do that as the undead.

Oh, there you go.

Yeah, I'll do that.

All right.

No, at more than 6,500 square feet, which like, whoa.

The house contained 26 rooms, four bathrooms, 70 doors,

and at least as many windows.

Damn.

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 windthrump furnace to heat the house.

Oh, shit.

No, unfortunately, just weeks after the couple moved

into their new home, Susan contracted erosipilus,

I believe is 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.

No.

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 fit, he is younger than him.

Oh, shit, SK.

As scandalous as Jessica would say.

SK.

I was waiting for you to do that.

I thought that you just stopped saying scandalous,

but you were like SK, SK, because SK, I get it.

Because SK.

Now, Ellen and SK.

When he does something taboo, you go SK.

My goodness, SK.

They had two boys together, Stuart, Stuart, Stuart Little,

born in 1879, 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.

P.T. Murnham.

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.

And me.

And I wasn't there.

Nope.

But I know it to be fact.

I say it.

I say it.

It reminds me of Allison's party in Hocus Pocus.

Oh, Allison.

I bet they were all dressed like that.

And I bet someone liked someone else's yabos.

100%.

There was great yabos there.

In fact, they loved them.

I love Halloween.

Life in the Pierce mansion continued on,

being all kinds of 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 always happened.

Oh, yeah.

That's for sure.

Hey, hey, hey, that's what was happening.

It 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.

Ooh, this is gonna 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.

Ooh, Ellen.

Ellen, uh-uh.

Come on.

That's a Meredith Blake thing to do.

It really is.

It's getting Meredith and not in a good way.

No.

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 as some.

Okay, so they were 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.

Stewart, Edward, and Frank.

Frank, yep, and Frank.

I almost said Francis.

But they would constantly argue over

who had the most rights to the mansion.

But in the meantime,

Frank had taken over the furniture business.

Stewart himself had taken an interest in automobiles

and he would actually go on to open his own dealership

someday in 1908, to be exact.

And eventually, Ellen and Ska's youngest son,

Edward, took control of the Pierce mansion.

Oh, wow.

However, what should have been a happy occasion

or at least a relief of 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.

No, 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.

Now, as the US entered 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 living 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 room,

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, no, it's not true.

I know you're being real right now.

You're telling truth that you're dishing the vibe.

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 a bed and breakfast,

never ever.

She was going down back then.

There's beds.

Everybody was doing shady shit back then.

There's they were.

And even if it wasn't.

Peaky Blinders taught me anything.

And even if it wasn't like a legit brothel,

like it's a bed and breakfast.

You don't know what's going on behind closed doors.

She's going down.

Yeah.

I mean, hopefully nobody was murdered

and stuck in a closet.

I'm not talking for that.

Exactly.

But I also, you know, Ken's just doing his job.

Yeah.

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 get it, Ken.

So you know what?

We're with you, Ken.

We do.

We love Ken.

But tragedy would strike again in 1963,

when the fifth and final documented death

to occur in the Pierce mansion took place.

Damn.

According to the legend,

a 49-year-old World War II veteran, Eno Sarri,

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 Ken here.

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 Sarri'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

paranormal activity, no matter what.

I wanna go to this place so fucking bad right now.

We're going.

I wanna go during like,

well, I'm gonna be a little busy,

but I wanna go.

Why?

What are you talking about?

You don't have time for a sko?

Let's go to sko.

Let's go.

So according to legend,

two years after Sarri'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, right?

He is the youngest, yeah.

Was Frank out here in these streets being like,

it doesn't even make any sense.

How did you just have that cute up?

I'm the eldest boy.

Is he out there doing that?

I'm the eldest boy.

And then he spits.

Were you just waiting for that?

How long have you had that queued up?

Yes.

Yes, I was.

Just the answer is yes.

I queued it up.

I am the eldest boy.

I queued it up long ago.

I'm obsessed with you.

Also 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 going to be spitting that shit.

Well, 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

is pretty ridiculous.

That is one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen in my life.

It made me squirm in a horrible way.

Such a good joke.

I was like, you are so lucky.

But honestly, back then it was like the eldest boy.

Way, yeah.

That was some big shit.

Yeah.

Okay, here's the truth.

It's actually much less exciting and also less scandalous.

The fire in Eno Sarri's room caused more damage

to the already crumbling manner.

And it was going to 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 fucking a highway robbery.

It 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 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 boy, 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.

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 a century.

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 Vaux, it's V-E-A-U.

But when I looked it up, it said Vaux.

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 a 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 wanted it 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 last staircase

out of there?

Somebody took a built-in staircase, I guess,

or it just like collapsed, I don't really know.

What the fuck?

Like, don't leave us, I just, don't leave us, I just,

take in the stairway, take in the stairway.

Like the fuck?

What me thinks is that because it's like a walnut staircase,

they probably like demolished it and took the walnut piece.

I guess.

No, I think they took the entire thing.

Let me take the stairway.

Holy shit.

But they also took a pool table.

Wow.

Okay, even that's heavy.

That's also heavy, correct.

But so yeah, all of that was not great.

And just as much of a problem, at least for the Bose,

was the sense that something inhuman

was residing in the house with them.

That's a problem.

Which like you bought an old Victorian mansion

that is decrepit and been neglected for the last 40 years.

So, and that many people have died in,

I think you probably like should have known that,

but 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 Sid, the girl had quote,

come to the city from a great distance away,

fallen in love with the house and didn't want to leave.

Oh, it was me, I'm the girl.

I was just gonna 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 you're hot?

Yeah.

Are you married, bummer?

Yeah.

Are you above my station,

even more of a bummer?

Am I fucked?

And she was like, I guess I'll just haunt you later.

I guess I'll just stick around.

Yeah.

I'll just live in your house.

I'll just look at you from afar.

I wonder what SK looked like.

I forgot to look it up.

Check him out.

I'm gonna check him out.

See if he's hot.

See if SK is a Zaddy.

Sid 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 out 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, good for that kid.

So the experience had reported

not only confirmed what the vows 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.

I feel like without the beard,

he seems like 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 schnoz.

I do too.

Yeah, so.

So I'm into, you know, SK.

He has a nice haircut.

I get it, I get it.

I can see why a gal would be.

Absolutely.

And he's fucking got that Zaddi money.

You know, so you know, you know.

So the experience said reported

not only confirmed what the vows had suspected,

but also what they had been told by other psychics

who had come to the home before.

Each week, I, Mr. Bollen, 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. Bollen 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 ad-free.

Download the Amazon Music app today.

According to Suzanne, every one of the mediums

who had visited the home had felt the presence

of the younger woman that Sid had talked about,

and they believed this to be the spirit

of Maddie Cornwell, 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.

I believe she was a nanny.

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 Vos welcomed a second set

of paranormal investigators into the home,

this time the Atlantic Paranormal Society,

which you might also know as Taps.

Hell, yeah.

And you might also know them from the show,

Ghost Hunters.

I fucked so hard with Ghost Adventures.

Ah, so heavy.

Or Ghost Hunters, excuse me.

Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures.

And Ghost Adventures, both.

And Ghost Adventures, but Taps.

Taps.

Taps was my shit.

Yeah, JP also loves Taps.

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 welcomed 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 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 Vos attitude toward their very

potentially haunted home.

Yeah.

Taps founder Grant Wilson said,

Hell, yeah, Grant.

Grant, yeah, we love Grant Wilson.

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.

Grant Wilson for the win.

Grant.

Grant.

Grant.

Grant.

Grant.

Grant.

Grant.

Grant Wilson.

Grant.

Okay, I was going to go further, but I knew 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 guided 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.

Which I feel like, what do you think?

That's a fucking huge house.

That's the thing.

375,000 dollars.

And it's like historical, it feels like.

So it's like, absolutely.

It's super.

I mean, it worked for one of the biggest furniture

companies and then made one of the biggest furniture

companies.

So it's super historical.

Yeah.

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 it, but they had like done a lot.

Of course.

Yeah.

They put a lot of money into it.

So that makes sense.

Why the markup was so high.

Yeah.

Now Suzanne and Mark Vo had really leaned into the

haunted aspect of their home and that built quite

the reputation around the Pierce mansion.

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

expressed 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 three hundred and seventy five thousand

dollars.

And if you're in the market for a 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 don't blame 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, it's funny.

That's why I was going to be like, well,

would you buy it?

But I know the answer.

You definitely.

Would you go with kids by a home?

Probably not.

So that's a good point.

That's the thing.

I'd 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.

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, I'm out because I have kids.

Yeah, exactly.

But if it was just me and John, but, but it's,

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.

That I knew was potentially haunted.

Yeah, exactly.

I guess.

Yeah, I don't know.

That's, that's a tough thing.

Cause you like, 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,

how deep your belief in ghosts really is or isn't.

Totally.

And, and I mean,

if you don't believe in ghosts, what's wrong with you?

What the fuck is wrong with you?

You listen and what's wrong with you?

I'm just kidding.

I love you.

I said that so like, so interestingly,

I was like, 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.

Okay.

I did that intentionally.

So when Edwin Gonzalez and his girlfriend,

Lillian saw the Pierce mansion online,

it seemed like the perfect opportunity to fulfill their dream.

Edwin said,

Lillian 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.

Damn.

Which like, what a fucking luxury.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Massachusetts has so many beautiful,

Oh my God.

Quaint and historical towns.

Yep.

Love Massachusetts.

I'm never leaving.

I fucking love Massachusetts.

I fucks 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.

Then from a second time from 225K to 180K.

What?

Which seemed like a fucking steal for a grandiose suburban mansion.

Yeah.

So everyone 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.

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.

Potentially.

Maybe.

Potentially.

You could have like the corner of a studio apartment.

Exactly.

But he said, I immediately called the realtor and told her I was interested in the property

number four West Broadway.

There was some hesitation on the other end of the line.

So I repeated the address.

I thought that's 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 Lillian drove out to Gardner and they immediately fell in

love with the SK Pierce mansion.

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 like 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 long at 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?

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 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 and a staircase.

So you're saying it's possible.

You've got yourself a ghost boy.

Yeah, that's a ghost child.

My friend.

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.

Fuck 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.

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.

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 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.

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, I'm imagining.

But a few seconds later, everything was back to normal.

And when he looked around the room, there was nobody there and no evidence that anybody

had been there.

That would scare the shit out of me.

I would shit myself.

And that's unusual.

Mm-hmm.

Like that feels like an unusual, because you know people are going to want to debunk.

Oh, of course.

And it's like, when people tell these kind of stories, usually they're like either over

the top or they're like nothing.

And this is like right in the middle.

And this is just like a strange one.

Like they just showed up in front of your face and they weren't gone.

And you've heard that before too.

You know, like that's, yeah, it feels realer.

Yeah, it definitely does.

It 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.

Mm-hmm.

And so they hadn't been given any information about the home supposed supernatural past.

But now Edwin wanted to look into the history of the home and kind of find out what he'd

gotten himself into.

Yeah.

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

haunted publication.

Yeah.

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 Inosari.

Oh, shit.

So creepy.

So he decided to call a local husband and wife team of paranormal investigators.

And they, it was not in the rain warrant.

I almost put that joke in, but no, it was not them.

I decided to take a break from them for a minute, but they agreed to come to the house and

investigate all these different disturbances.

So the investigators, they set up cameras throughout the house to start 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 thought.

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 like that's it.

He's like, it's weird.

One ghost just punted the camera across the room.

I didn't get anything.

I think that's the tweet.

That's actually the X before leaving.

They cleanse the house with sage and they recommend, which I was like, y'all just cleanse the

house with sage.

You thought that was going to do the trick at this point.

They're like, this will be fun.

We're 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.

I don't think you should assert your dominance over a haunted house.

So after the cleansing ritual, all was quiet in the house for a few nights because the

ghosts got together and they said, let them think they have the upper hand and then strike

when no one's looking.

They were like, that was cute.

They'd gotten a huddle and then they slapped each other's butts and they went on with the

huddle.

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 Lillian 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, 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.

This is very reminiscent of at my house growing up because one day me and my brother were

the only ones home upstairs.

I don't know this story.

No, you do.

This is the one when we heard a shattering glass and we heard like 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 like framed post like pictures like cigar photos inside.

I don't know.

He was weird.

But one of his big framed heavy cigar pictures almost like shadow box.

Yeah, like big.

It wasn't shadow box.

It was just like a very thick frame, like very heavy.

Okay.

And it was leaned up.

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 that story.

It was shocking.

And hadn't that it had fallen down multiple times and he kept putting it back up.

I remember saying it was like someone didn't want that picture.

Yeah.

So he was like, I'm not going to hang that again.

That's so creepy.

Yeah.

That room that that was an active room.

That's the most active room.

I've had shit happen to me in there.

You've had shit happen.

Yeah.

I fucking hate that room.

Yeah.

That room has some like.

Something dark happen in there.

I think it comes from the closet.

Yeah.

Because there's two closets in that room and I get a bad feeling from one of them.

But this isn't about our house.

We should fucking talk about something like just make an episode of our house.

They should be like, uh, listed out.

So yeah, they heard that.

But then again, there was no evidence that anything was broken.

And 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 of that.

Justice for Bill.

It's just Bill.

It's just Bill, my guys.

So he told the couple that he was actually a spiritual empath and a friend of the former

is Mark and Suzanne.

And he said they invited him to investigate the home 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 God would like to tell you about it.

Ready?

Oh, she stops the second I do it.

Oh, she quietes the second you're like ready.

You got nothing to say, Sid.

That's so Sid.

That is so Sid.

That's so Sid.

That's so Sid me.

It's the future she can see.

She can see.

I don't know.

Sure.

In 2013, Bill told the Discovery Channel.

I knew there was something nasty in the cellar.

I knew there was something nasty on the second floor.

And Bill also knew.

Nasty.

Nasty.

That really worked out.

That's it.

Nasty.

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 is sad, 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.

Fuck that spirit.

Fuck that spirit.

Like show them.

Oh, that poor little boy.

You 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 their ass.

Their spirit.

Kick your ass.

Kick your ass.

Do you remember that video of the little girl that was like, I'm going to kick his ass?

Yes.

That's me right now.

He's going to kick my ass.

Kick my ass.

I loved that video.

That's me right now.

I'm like, I'm going to kick his ass.

I wanted 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.

According to Bill Wallace, the spirit of the pierces 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 them as the others in the house.

But there was only so much that she could do to prevent a more serious situation.

Damn.

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.

A paranormal open house sounds fucking awesome.

Like I'd 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.

But teach 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 Ouija board

or any other item into the home that could invite negative entities in the house.

John is actually Ash.

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 in 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.

Oh my.

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, if you make it very clear, no satanic rituals and 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.

I feel 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 really quick?

Just like, what do you think?

Just, is that all right?

And it's like also these, you guys were supposed to be helping not performing rituals of satanic

nature.

But upstairs on the second floor, John and his group were investigating the former bedroom

of Enosari, one of the most active locations for paranormal occurrences.

Now they weren't able to make contact with contact with Enos 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.

Now 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 fuck.

Like that escalated so quickly.

Squeeze every throat in this house.

Damn.

I need to take a deep breath.

That's chilling.

That is chilling.

Squeeze every throat in this house.

That was definitely the person abusing somebody in this house.

Oh yeah.

Oh fuck.

So this experience and 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 happen to me is maybe the tug of a shirt

or a door slam on me.

Hear a voice.

That's 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 ghostly blue in my ear.

Yeah.

I didn't like that either.

That wasn't 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 Enosari's former 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 Lillian alone to deal with whatever the event had just stirred up at

that point.

I love how he's like everyone else.

Sorry guys.

Sorry about that.

Bye.

It's like a frat 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.

It's like that's 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 and the sound of children laughing down in the cistern.

Ooh.

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.

And she discovered a scrap of an early 20th century newspaper article about several children

who had drowned on the property.

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.

The reporters 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.

But that doesn't mean that there never was.

There's not currently.

That makes me think twice.

That makes you think twice, but maybe there was.

And then somebody drowned there and they filled it up.

We don't know.

Maybe.

Apparently there are multiple bodies of water in Gardner, 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.

I was literally, I don't know if Mikey just saw I immediately started Googling.

I was like, drowning is like going for it.

And then you were like, there's no body of water on the property.

And I was like, where?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Drown.

Someone can dry 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 definite.

Or they could drown in a manmade pond.

Yeah.

You know, maybe there was a little frog pond.

Maybe 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.

But either way, Edwin was growing more and more concerned about Lillian cause she was

sleepwalking a lot and being kind of strange.

I do.

However.

Sorry to interrupt you.

I do.

However wonder cause Edwin said she found scraps of a newspaper that listed these

drownings.

Yeah.

Like, does that, does Edwin have that newspaper?

I don't know.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I haven't talked to him recently.

Cause I was going to say, you haven't talked to Edwin recently.

Give him a call.

I'll text him.

Let him know.

Yeah, text Edwin.

Messenger him later.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Maybe he'll listen to this and say, yeah, bitches, I do.

Cause I would love to see it.

I mean, I hope he says it nicer.

I know.

I would also love to.

You have newspapers.com.

I do.

Go on it quickly and I'll keep talking.

Okay.

Cool.

I should have done that myself, but I didn't.

But I'll do it.

Cause I love newspapers.com.

I do too.

I don't know why.

So 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.

Damn.

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.

Like 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 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.

Okay, keep looking.

Now Bill's genuine concern for Edwin and Lillian and his insistence that they stay and 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 Pierce mansion.

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 want to see anything like that happen 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 like how scared they were.

Yeah, that they didn't have anywhere to even go.

They didn't have anywhere to go other than to her sister's house.

And in the meantime, they were just trying to figure out what to do about the house.

And almost immediately after leaving the house, it was said that Lillian returned to normal.

Like nothing had ever happened.

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 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.

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 wheelchair.

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 people were willing to pay a small price or a normal, like a regular price to

visit one.

So the proceeds from the tours and the events not only helped Edwin and Lillian stay afloat

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.

Oh, 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 Lillian, 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 market with an asking price of nearly twice what

they paid for it in 2008.

But again, remember 2008 was a really shitty time to buy a house and they had done a lot

of restoration projects.

So while their 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 mansion'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.

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?

You heard.

I need to know more about the 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 this.

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 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 going to 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 Contis 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.

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.

He's just Ken.

I've come around to, I wasn't trying to be mean to Ken in the beginning when I was like,

don't ruin my fun Ken.

But now, team Ken.

He's just like, listen, I know about this house.

I know it all.

I trust Ken.

I do too.

And you should too.

And we might meet him.

Oh 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 shit.

So we should get on the list.

Okay.

Maybe I won't see you soon.

Excuse me.

I wonder if there still is a waiting list.

Yeah.

I would assume there could be.

Probably.

It's pretty, pretty popular location.

Now COVID.

Womp womp.

Womp womp.

It interrupted business for a bit, but they are back in business and business has been

strong at the newly renovated and fully operational SK Pierce mansion.

Hell yeah.

And when the call went 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 going to 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 mansion.

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.

I love it.

That is the SK Pierce mansion.

Holy shit.

What a tale.

It's a fun tale.

And thank you to Dave for looking into it for me.

Regardless of what actually happened there, some people died in that house and some fuck

shit went down there.

Either way.

I mean, for all those paranormal investigators to be like, yeah, fuck that, we're out.

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 going to go there.

I can't wait to go there.

We should see if there's still a waitlist.

We absolutely should.

I'm going to actually go look into that now.

So we hope you keep listening.

And we hope you keep it weird.

We're not swear that you don't get your ass on the wait list to the SK Pierce mansion

because what the fuck are you doing if you're not going to the SK Pierce mansion?

I'll see you there.

Get with it.

Mwah!

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