The Old Burial Hill Cemetery in Marblehead, Massachusetts is one of the oldest graveyards in New England, having been founded in 1638. Some fans might know it from the movie Hocus Pocus (1993). The graveyard itself is on top of a large hill, the original site of Marblehead’s first meeting house, and its view of Marblehead Harbor alone is enough to take one’s breath away. Atop the hill is a gazebo and benches for contemplation and an opportunity for communion with those who have passed.
The cemetery has numerous 17th century grave markers and 600 Revolutionary War-era graves, but time has done its due diligence at wearing away the stone on many of these, in some cases almost completely eradicating the ability to read and remember the names memorialized there. A quick dive into notable burials reveals a few names of significance, such as General John Glover. He served as a brigadier general for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, but most indelibly helped found what would become the United States Navy. Glover’s schooner, Hannah, was used to raid British supply ships in Boston. His regiment is also the one that rowed with George Washington across the Delaware River.
Agnes Russell is also a burial of note, as she was buried here with her Master’s family and is only one of three known burials for a Person of Color in this cemetery. Her original grave says: “AGNIS NEGRO / WOMAN SERVANT / TO SAMUEL/RUSSEL AGED Abt / 43 YEARS DECd / JULY Ye 12th 1718”. The stone, though, was stolen and in its place is now a plaque with her name on it.
Also, according to the Salem Witch Museum, Wilmot Reed (Wilmot Read or Wilmot Redd), the only person from Marblehead who was executed for witchcraft in 1692, received a memorial stone in 1998. One of the people who testified against Wilmot, Mary Gale, is also buried on the mound, but does not have a memorial. The pond next to Old Burial Hill is named Redd’s Pond, which is where Wilmot and her husband, Samuel, used to live. The pond was not named that at the time, but was later attributed the label in honor of Wilmot herself. I won’t go into the trials here, but I recommend this wonderful resource from Historyofmassachusetts.org where it explains the accusations, testing, and trial of Wilmot Reed.
First of all, I need to preface my experience at Old Burial Hill Cemetery with how I ended up there in the first place. I originally was going to investigate the more local Salem cemeteries that I missed last year, so I was not prepared in the slightest for what I was about to encounter. A group from the Halloween Afterglow event hosted by Adam Berry mentioned to me that they were going to visit this cemetery after dinner on Friday night, literally an hour or so after mentioning it. I, being open to opportunities put in my path, asked to go along with them. I had no idea if the cemetery was open (they’re always closed at sunset where I live) and I had no prior knowledge going into things, not even realizing it was in Marblehead. While not a far drive, we still had to drive. I also was still dressed up from the cocktail party and dinner we had all just attended. Luckily, I always bring my gear and at least had that to keep me busy.
Let me also say that while yes, there might be spirits in cemeteries or passing through on a journey somewhere else, I have rarely found cemeteries to be places of high paranormal activity. That’s not to say there aren’t some exceptions, such as the Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, GA, but most spirits don’t have a reason to hang around a cemetery. A reason to hang around could be that family visits often and they feel this is a place where they can connect with their loved ones, but even then I feel like there’s usually a tradition attached to such activity, such as a holiday or a birthday. I’ve learned from experience, if a cemetery is in a highly engaging part of an area, such as mine which is between a subdivision and literally borders the playground of a school, you might get some lurkers (see Two Dark Men and Graveyard Pinging for examples). But even then, it’s because they are craving a certain type of interaction and the cemetery is a place they can hangout until they figure out where they can fulfill that desire. There are so many philosophical roads you can go down to explain whether or not spirits hang around in cemeteries, but overall I don’t consider them very active spaces and evidence from them is heavily unreliable due to them not being controlled spaces.
Not to put the cart before the horse, but that essentially prefaces my experience on Old Burial Hill. First, this is not a mass grave of soldiers. This is a space that has soldiers, some without markers on their graves. Maybe the hill makes it seem like it would be some sort of mass burial site, but it is not. Second, night time is not the time to go to a place like this, flashlights or not. It was hard to know where you were walking or even know if you were going to step on something that was left behind to honor those who had passed on. I know a cemetery at night is spooky, but part of me wishes I had returned in the daylight in order to have a better chance of interacting with spirits and getting a better look at the grave sites. As we all know, spirits don’t just come out at night. I run into them at all hours of the day and sometimes in the weirdest places.
But despite the circumstances, I tried to make the most of my time at this location. I put out my trusted equipment (K2 Meter, REM-Pod, PARA-lantern, and recorder). I even played with the Spirit Talker app I had learned about in Gettysburg and with which I had witnessed some shockingly accurate interactions (more entries to come on that). Airplane mode enabled, I turned on the Spirit Talker as I approached the top of the hill and I received a message that came back later in the night: “Stay out of the woods.”
I shared the message with the rest of the group, but everyone was so busy getting ready and filled with excitement that I don’t think they heard me. I noted that the property was surrounded by trees and thought that maybe we were being told to stay away from the tree line, not just because it was a ledge that you could fall off of and hurt yourself, but that something else might be present there. I opted to stay wary as I tried to find a way to peacefully gather myself and reach out.
My first visit was to the grave of the Unknown Mariner. I quietly sent out a message of communication and opened myself up to contact with my usual parameters and boundaries. I received two hits on my K2 Meter, which went up to red both times, allowing me to be alerted to a spirit nearby. I didn’t have my phone on at this time, so I was able to discount any signal interference from it. The only thing I have to back up these readings is that I encountered my “ghost fuzzies” coinciding with these equipment hits. This was not a chill ripping through me from the cold. It came to me as many of my encounters do and I opened myself up to listen to what the female spirit I felt had to say.
The woman gave me the fuzzy name of Beverly, but it didn’t feel quite right, as if something was missing. I felt her just wanting to connect and say hello because she found it unusual for people to be here at this time of day. She shared with me that she likes to take in the view in the quiet of the night. I sat on the bench overlooking the harbor for a little while and I felt her there with me. I was given impressions of painting and landscapes and loving to travel, so maybe she was an artist of natural things. I was even given impressions of my own memories from Scotland and France and some other travels. I believe she brought these images to the surface of my mind to try to share something of herself with me. I also felt this was no spirit from the 1800s or earlier, but a much more modern spirit. I had a vague image of her visually in my mind, but I was unable to solidify this image. I eventually had to part with her. I left with the understanding that she appreciated the company, though was not always in need of it.
Making note of everything we exchanged and the information she impressed upon me, I was eager to look for her once I returned home. My research did not turn up a Beverly buried in this cemetery, but it did turn up someone who fits the description of the woman that I met and I was pinged by my guides when I stumbled upon her obituary. (And I looked at quite a few obituaries before receiving this ping, so I have faith in its veracity.) Suffice to say, Beverly was a well-known artist from Marblehead and greatly appreciated spending time out on the water of the harbor. I didn’t realize I knew who she was until I saw some of her works and immediately connected with her. I don’t feel I should publish her name here, despite passing away in 2012, as her family is still alive. That said, I felt that she was happy and safe in her position on the other side. Maybe we will meet again someday and I can follow up with questions I wasn’t able to ask her at the time.
The next focal point of the night revolved around a raised sarcophagus across from the gazebo. A member of our group felt that they were getting information from this grave, so we decided to investigate. The sarcophagus only had one slate on the top, revealing two names, but there seemed to be evidence of a second missing slate. The slate on top said William Story and Joannah Story. It was assumed by the group that these two were husband and wife. One of our group members set a spirit bell on the sarcophagus, another member put my REM-Pod with it, and another member put Spirit Candles on the other end of the grave’s stone lid. I placed a recorder there to hopefully catch responses, even though I knew it would be difficult in this environment and with so many people whispering and talking.
The group leaned hard into trying to get William or Joannah to engage or for other spirits around the grave to make themselves known. Bell rings were not always consistent with intelligent responses and the ghost candles also did not provide concrete interactions. On the rare instance when equipment activity felt like intelligent responses, I felt the opportunity to create a dialogue of sorts was squandered as the group instead simply asked for the spirits to basically repeat themselves. I personally felt like something was near this grave wanting to engage, but I also kept feeling like something beyond it and closer to the tree line was watching us intently. One member of our group insisted a few times that we should not go near this sarcophagus because the spirits felt we were intruders and did not want us there, but I got no such impression. Rather, I felt they wanted us to stay away because of something else lurking on the fringe of the graveyard beyond their grave. The warning “Stay out of the woods” echoed back at me. With the Spirit Talker back in action we received the messages: “I’m in the trees,” “Please trust us,” and “Be careful.” These responses coincided with questions and statements made during the investigation and cemented my own impression about the situation.
The mystery in the woods remained an unfortunate loose end of this investigation, however. While I did glimpse movement along the tree line out of the corner of my eye, it is something I have no evidence for.
On the other hand, I did learn a great deal more about those buried beneath the sarcophagus we were focused on. William and Joannah were not husband and wife, but siblings and they were buried together in this grave. Additional research done through findagrave.com revealed that, indeed, a second inscription used to be present on the grave. The full inscription as recorded by the cemetery is as follows:
Isaac Story died July 19, 1803 AEt. 29.
Rev. Isaac Story died Oct 23, 1816 AEt. 67.
Rebeckah Story, his wife, died April – 1823.
William Story died June 20, 1853 Aged 77 years.
Joannah Story died April 17, 1872 Aged 79 years.
[Recorded as transcribed in 1937, Ref: The DAR manuscript “Old Burying Hill, Marblehead, Record of Inscriptions”, pub. 1937.]
This reveals it was not only William and Joannah, but several members of the family, including the oldest son, Isaac Story (AEt. 29) and the parents, buried in this grave. Due to the lack of identification on the grave, it might have been one of the other spirits, even Reverend Isaac Story, communicating with us. As Kathy Kelly (Historian, Paranormal Expert, Author, and Adam Berry’s friend, Halloween Afterglow Presenter) has shared in the past, even when you get responses to your questions, you ultimately never know who you are communicating with. Our group was very focused on William and Joannah, but someone else could easily have been answering the questions we posed and that could have been why there was this strange sense of confusion in communication.
Looking into the family itself, there were six children. Isaac Story was the oldest, but died young. William was the second oldest and appears to have died a bachelor at the age of 77. Hannah Whitwell (née Story) and Sophia Whitwell (née Story) were also married, as well as the youngest brother, Augustus Story. Joannah also appears to have passed as an unattached woman. My observation is that the three unwed didn’t have family plots of their own and were buried with their parents, while the three who were married and started their own families were buried with those family members. It is a shame my audio was so contaminated with cross talk that I couldn’t hear all the names of the nearby graves being read out to better understand who might have been speaking to us, but findagrave.com helped me find the rest of the Story family. Augustus is buried in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. Sophia Whitwell is also buried here with her family. Hannah Whitwell was buried with her family in the Granary Burying Grounds in Boston.
Overall, the Old Burial Hill Cemetery is a unique resting place with beautiful views of Marblehead Harbor and Redd’s Pond. It is relatively tranquil and offers potential for communing with the spirits. We did have some activity on the hunt, but results were unreliable for various reasons. I also would recommend going back during the daytime due to the precarious footing around the whole cemetery, including the mysterious woods.
Whispers of the Departed 
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