Pirates, tragic love...and a trouser thief - 8 rare ghost stories from New England

2. The lesser-known legend of  Blackbeard and the ghost of his mistress

According to legend, Blackbeard, also known as Captain Teach, found refuge in the Isles of Shoals, a cluster of islands off the coast of New Hampshire.

He built a great fortune from his piracy and chose these islands to bury his treasure, hiding his share separately from that of his crew.

During a raid along the Scottish coast, Blackbeard captured a ship and took aboard a stranger who soon proved his worth in battle. He was made 2nd-in-command, and together they pillaged and plundered, living by the motto, "A short life and a merry one."

Eventually, they returned to the Isles of Shoals to hide their loot.

During one of these stops, Blackbeard brought a beautiful woman ashore, her long golden hair flowing.

He made her swear to guard the treasure until his return - whenever that might be.

But Blackbeard never came back. The pirate ship was eventually pursued by a British cruiser and as a last act of defiance, Blackbeard set off the ship's gunpowder, destroying both ships.

The woman remained on the Isles of Shoals, alone, until she eventually succumbed to the harsh conditions. Her spirit was said to haunt the islands, standing on the rocky cliffs, her cloak blowing in the wind, still waiting for Blackbeard's return.

Locals believe her restless spirit guards Blackbeard's hidden treasure until the final judgment.

3. The Girl Who Became a Mountain Spirit

An Indigenous couple and their daughter lived in Tuckerman's Ravine on the side of Mount Washington.

One evening, the father returned to an empty house after hunting. His wife had gone out to pick raspberries and when she returned alone, they both started to worry - their daughter was missing.

They searched through the woods, over rocks and along the stream, for days, but it was as if she'd vanished into thin air.

Not long after, some hunters brought back strange news. They said they had seen the girl near the pool below Glen Ellis Falls.

She was standing there, staring into the water and beside her was a tall figure with a ghostly, shining face, and long, waist-length hair.

When the hunters moved closer, both figures disappeared, fading away like mist over the water.

The parents knew, then, that their daughter was no longer alive - she'd become part of the mountain and the spirits that lived there.

People said that on certain nights, when the moon was bright, her ghost could be seen standing at the water's edge.

Anyone brave enough to come close would feel a sudden chill, as if unseen eyes were watching them. The pool became a place where few people dared to go after dark, haunted by the memory of the girl taken by the spirits of the mountain.

4. The Ghosts of Gloucester

In 1692, during the height of witchcraft paranoia, the town of Gloucester, Cape Ann, was plagued by a series of strange events.

Ebenezer Babson, a respected local, began hearing noises around his home at night, as if men were walking nearby.

One night, he saw two mysterious figures sneaking away into the woods and despite a chase, he lost them.

The sightings continued, with Babson and other townspeople repeatedly seeing these strange men, sometimes three or more.

Babson and his neighbors, began patroling the area, determined to defend their territory from what they now believed were demons.

Armed with guns, they tried to shoot the intruders, but even at point-blank range, the figures seemed to vanish without a trace, leaving no bodies or any sign they had been struck.

The people of Gloucester grew more afraid, as the intruders kept returning night after night, breaking fences, throwing stones and generally causing havoc all while avoiding capture.

Eventually, reinforcements arrived from Ipswich, led by Captain Appleton and the community's defenses were strengthened.

Despite the increased number of armed men patrolling the area, the ghostly figures continued their harassment. But after a prolonged period of terrorizing, the mysterious beings eventually ceased, leaving the people of Gloucester with no answers but a good story to tell round the campfire for centuries to come.

5. The Ghost of Mooncusser Harry Main

Harry Main was known in Ipswich, Massachusetts, as a man with a dark past and his story became one of the town’s most famous ghost tales.

Harry lived a life full of crime - he was a land pirate (mooncusser), a smuggler that would trick ships into sailing into dangerous waters, causing them to crash. Many ships and lives were lost because of his actions.

Even after Harry died, people said his spirit never found peace. During storms, his ghost could be heard in the howling wind over Ipswich Bar, where he had led ships to their doom.

Parents would tell their children to stay inside when the wind howled, saying that Harry was "growling" again.

People on Plum Island claimed to see Harry's ghost wandering the sand dunes at night - especially before storms - and his old house was also said to be haunted, with strange noises and ghostly sightings.

For years, people dug up Harry's property, hoping to find treasure he was rumored to have hidden. But nothing was ever found.

And Harry Main's name became forever linked to the mysterious storms and ghost sightings that made Ipswich residents wary of the sea and the dunes at night.

Read more legendary New England stories like Mooncusser Harry Main.

6. The Ghost of Nancy Brook

A tragic tale of love and betrayal. In the late 18th century, in Jefferson, New Hampshire, lived a young woman named Nancy.

She was in love with a young man from a nearby farm. Trusting him, she gave him all her savings as they were soon to be married. But the man took the money and vanished without a word.

Determined to find him, Nancy left home at night despite her family's pleas.

It was December, the dead of winter and she faced a rough, lonely road through the mountains some thirty miles in every direction to the nearest house.

Nancy pushed through the freezing wilderness, still driven by love and hope. She finally reached the campsite where she believed she would find her fiancé, but it was deserted, the fire had burned out. He was gone.

With her hope fading, Nancy pressed on through Franconia Notch, and crossing the frozen Saco River. But exhaustion finally overcame her and she was found the next morning, frozen solid beneath a canopy of evergreens, lying peacefully as if asleep.

When the lover learned of Nancy's death, he descended into madness, overwhelmed by guilt.

For years, the mountains echoed with anguished cries on the anniversary of her death - believed to be Nancy’s spirit or her tormented lover.

7. A Couple of Woburn ghosts

The Green Skeleton of Daddy Wright

The most feared ghost in Woburn, Massachusetts, was Daddy Wright’s skeleton, which haunted a hollow oak near Wright's Pond.

The old man had taken his life, unable to find the Spanish coins that were said to be buried there. People believed that someone else had found the treasure, but Wright was left with nothing.

His skeleton would glow with a green light and leap out of the tree, scaring anyone who passed by. One night, a man walking home saw the glowing skeleton jump onto his shoulders, burning his hat.

Another time, it jumped onto a cow drinking from the pond, then floated back up into the branches. It was said that the skeleton moved as "lightly as a bubble", haunting anyone who dared to come close.

The Ghost of Horn Pond

Another spooky spirit was the ghost of an Indigenous woman who had been drowned by her husband in Horn Pond.

People said her head would appear above the water, screaming like the night she died.

One day, a hunter heard the noise and thought it was just a bird.

But when he aimed to shoot, he saw the figure of a woman's head and shoulders and found a blood-stained moccasin on the shore.

8. The Lawyer, the Trouser Thief and the "Ghost" of the Black House

Another one out of Woburn, Massachusetts - i love this one! 

The Black House had its share of strange happenings. A man called John Flagg once claimed he had to pull water from the well all night to quench the thirst of imps.

These creatures sat around him, perched on the well and even jumped on his shoulders. He'd been at the tavern for a week before that, so some doubted his story.

But John insisted and no one else could say they hadn’t seen it - they were all asleep.

The Black House was built by a skilled lawyer who was so good at his job that people believed he had made a deal with dark forces.

One day, a thief stole trousers from a tailor, but the lawyer defended him and took the trousers as payment. The thief, feeling cheated, tried to break back in to steal the trousers again.

But when he climbed the stairs, he was terrified by a ghost - a white figure with black wings. He jumped through a window and fled, leaving behind his tools.

Later, the trousers kept disappearing from the lawyer’s house, one by one, with no sign of a break-in.

The lawyer hired someone to watch at night and the truth was revealed: the lawyer was sleepwalking, taking the trousers and hiding them in the haystack.

In the morning, they dug up eleven pairs of trousers!