10 Spine-Chilling Ghostly Tales From Vermont

The wind is howling outside, the lights flicker, and the floorboards creak in the next room. If you’ve ever stayed in an old house in Vermont, you know this feeling all too well. And even when the weather is calm, when you’re all alone, be prepared for the unexplained patter of unseen feet in the corner of the room. There’s just something about these old New England sites that attracts the paranormal and unknown.

10. Hayden House

The town of Albany, Vermont may have been the site of a terrible family destroying curse. The story begins in 1806 when a man named William Hayden moved with his wife, Silence, and mother-in-law, Mercie Dale, to the town. The mother-in-law was widowed and very well off financially, and she lent the couple money that jump-started their lives. After failing to pay Mercie back, William asked for a second sizeable loan. The financial stress pushed her to move out and caused her to become terribly ill. She believed William had poisoned her and she cursed the Hayden family, saying that the name would die out in three generations and end in economic ruin.

William lost everything. He fled to Canada to hide from his creditors, and he died in poverty in New York years later. William and Silence had five sons, and all but one died young. The son that survived was named Will, he lived in Albany as well and had one son and four daughters. It was this Will that built Hayden House, a beautiful red brick mansion.

His wife and he were at odds and their son Henry was growing increasingly unstable. Will lost his eyesight and much of his fortune. Henry didn’t get along with his mother, who cut him out of her will. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage, leaving his only child as heir, a daughter named Mamie. She never married and didn’t inherit anything of value, and she died alone and in debt in Maine in 1927.

The story doesn’t end there. Locals and visitors claim to see creepy lights on the property. They may be ghosts of the family, but some say they’re the illegal immigrants the younger Will smuggled into the country to work in slave conditions on the land.

To read the rest of the article, check it out on Listverse.com.