Most of us are familiar with the big names when it comes to Maine ghost stories. Jonathan Buck’s grave in Bucksport, for example, with its legend of an 18th century witch’s curse, or Maiden Cliff on Mount Megunticook in Camden, where an 11-year-old girl fell to her death in 1864 and whose spirit locals say haunts the mountain.
There are many more legends, however, that are less well-known and equally chilling, in towns and villages all across the state. Here’s three that, once you read about them, you’ll never forget.
The Levant Poltergeist
In 1823, Levant’s Congregational Church was led by John Bovee Dods, a New York preacher who had come to the town just a few years earlier. According to the International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals, he already had one paranormal experience, when as a young man he said he had a vision of his recently dead father.
That year, however, Dods and his wife say they were visited by the spirit of a female relative, who warned them to be prepared for what was to come next. Starting in January 1824, their house began to experience loud banging, rumbling sounds, furniture moving around and even the whole house shaking — a poltergeist, a type of ghost or spirit that uses physical phenomena to disturb the living.
Over the next three months, nearby residents reportedly began to visit the Dods’ house to witness the paranormal activity. It caused local outcry — some were fascinated, others said it was the work of the devil. Eventually, it began to scare his neighbors so much that the townsfolk forced Dods out of town. He moved to Union, though he kept preaching in Levant.
By 1840, Dods had moved to Massachusetts, where, inspired by his experiences with the spirit world, he became one of the leading members of the growing Spiritualism movement, and also became an early American psychiatrist. It’s not clear where in Levant his house was, or if it’s still standing, but 200 years later, it’s still one of the only documented cases of a reputed poltergeist in Maine.
The Pitcher Man
As the Revolutionary War ended in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, William Richardson, a resident of Goose River Village — today known as Rockport — was in a celebratory mood. He threw a party in honor of America’s victory over the British, and over the course of the night, he and his buddies proceeded to get very, very drunk.
According to local lore, Richardson spent the evening refilling everyone’s mugs with a large pitcher full of ale. As the hour got late, Richardson wandered off from the party, ambling down the road with his pitcher. As he crossed the bridge over the Goose River, he met three men — all Tories who supported the British during the war. Apparently, words were exchanged, and the Tories then either shot Richardson, or beat him to death, depending on who’s telling the story.
240 years later, it’s still said that the “Pitcher Man” can be seen on the Goose River bridge at night, offering passersby a pour from his vessel. As far as ghosts go, he seems like a pretty friendly one.
The Haunted Tavern
The Jameson Tavern in Freeport would be legendary enough as the reported place where the paperwork was signed that admitted Maine as a state in 1820. But it’s got fascinating stories of the more supernatural kind as well — most notably, one involving a ghostly little girl running around the building.
The tavern, built in 1779, has been a restaurant and bar on and off for more than two centuries. In the early 1800s, however, people also lived in the building, and little Emily, the daughter of the family that lived there, supposedly died in a fire in the attic sometime around 1810.
Employees and customers alike have reported seeing a little girl scampering around the hallways or playing by herself under dining tables. Emily has knocked things off counters and peeked around corners, only to disappear. Photographers and ghost hunters have visited the tavern, and have seen unexplained white orbs show up in images.
According to a 2004 story in the Coastal Journal, however, most people seem to think Emily isn’t a malicious ghost — just playful, and maybe a little lonely.