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These Mysterious Hills: Pittsfield's Downtown Awash in Ghostly Legends

By Joe DurwinThese Mysterious Hills
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Some have claimed to see a gentleman in top hat and tails at the Colonial Theatre, above, and strange sounds and footsteps at the Whitney Center for the Arts, also known as the Colt House. The 'Ghosts & Legends of Downtown Pittsfield' walking tour explored these and other interesting incidents at downtown venues.

More ghost stories and local legends can be found at These Mysterious Hills.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — For years now, in these pages and elsewhere, I have tried to advance the observation that paratourism is growing business in the travel industry, and one which the Berkshires is primed to take great advantage of, with its seemingly endless string of ghost stories and curious tales attached to inns, restaurants. museums and cultural venues throughout the county.

In that time, Lenox has perhaps taken the greatest advantage of this trend, becoming host to numerous tours and paranormal conferences at both The Mount and Ventfort Hall, both reputed to be haunted, and little secret made of such persisting stories at a range of other locations, from Whistler's Inn and the Lenox Library to Tanglewood, where such notables as Leonard Bernstein and John Williams allegedly brushed up against paranormal incidents on this former Tappan family estate.

In this burgeoning marketplace of ghost hunting and legend tripping, the city of Pittsfield has in many ways been unduly passed over, a fact I blame in part on my own lack of folklore coverage in "the Heart of the Berkshires" over the past decade as much as any other factor.  

For this part of the county, particularly its historic downtown, is replete with such stories, a legacy which I tried to highlight this year with the first ever "Ghosts & Legends of Downtown Pittsfield" walking tour.

Over five tours, about a hundred local residents and a small handful of tourists trekked a portion of the city's Upstreet District to hear the lore accumulated around over the past two and a half centuries. Many had legends and anecdotes of their own as well, enriching my files further and reminding me that the folkloric record is never complete, but always ongoing and particpatory in nature.

Perhaps one of the most retold incidents of ghostly business in the downtown area is that of the Pittsfield "ghost train," a 19th-century steam locomotive said to have twice been seen crossing under North Street by diner customers at the Bridge Lunch ... but in 1958, long after any known steam locomotive was run on the line.  

Curiously, while this incident has been widely cited and regurgitated in many general paranormal guides and encyclopedias of ghosts, it remains little known locally.

As in other towns, cultural venues and lodging establishments, perhaps somewhat predictably, seem to boast more such stories, whether out of heightened expectation of such or simply because with a never-ending stream of different visitors, the chances of odd encounters may perhaps be increased.

One such location is the Thaddeus Clapp House on Wendell Ave, formerly a B&B and before that apartments, where accounts of sensing a watchful but benevolent presence have trickled forth for decades. Prior owners of the small inn often said this was the spirit of Mrs. Clapp, and sights and sounds of her presence were said to be seen, heard or experienced by many guests, including several notable artists over the course of its tenure.

More surprising perhaps are those accounts from the Berkshire Crowne Plaza, which has been rumored to host ghosts since at least it's time as a Hilton. This is hard to fathom for many, given the modern nature and age of less than 45 years, but may seem less out of place upon reflecting that its location has been the site of hotels almost continuously for the past 190 years. It was in one of these, in 1862, that cook William Collins murdered his wife, also a worker there, in the kitchen of what was then the United States Hotel. For some, this incident may help explain some of the sightings of an opaque female apparition.

Mrs. Clapp is supposedly keeping a watchful eye on the Thaddeus Clapp House.

While the Crowne Plaza for some years was reluctant to engage on this topic, within the past few weeks I was told by Marketing Director Janet Brennan that the hotel actually has a copy of a photo that allegedly depicts a ghost ... a photo I hope to get my greedy little paracentric paws on in the near future.



Across the street, two major cultural venues are thought to have similarly haunting attributes. The Berkshire Museum is one, wherein strange sensations and sounds have been attributed to the antiquities room with its plethora of arcane objects. The room is also host to the mummy Pahat, who over the millennia has been subjected to significant wear and tear as well as some amount of grave robbery, leading me to think that if there is some kind of "mummy's curse" atmosphere at the premises, said mummy spirit is not without some legitimate grievances.

The Colonial Theatre has also been increasingly on my radar the past few years, as in the time following its restoration stories have circulated of an angry older gentleman in top hat and frock coat seen pacing the upper mezzanine, along with occurrences in the coat room associated with a worker said to have died there in 1903.

In the process of touring downtown with some hundred legend enthusiasts this week, other locales that had not even been on my radar were brought to my attention as well.

Most notable was the historic Colt House, now the Whitney Center for the Arts. This former home of a prominent local family, attendees say, has strange unseen denizens of its own, and stories of footsteps in empty upper floors and lights that turn themselves on and off in unattended rooms poured forth from members of the Women's Club once housed there, as well as more recent Town Players actors who have used the center for rehearsals and performances within the past two years.

To me, this is one of the most wonderful aspects of dealing with folklore, the interactive, ever evolving nature of it. No one person can be the ultimate expert; pieces of the puzzle are held by all.

Such is also the case with the Berkshire Athenaeum, which although never accused of being haunted itself, has seen the emergence of recurring rumors about a spectral prostitute seen wandering outside at the corner of Wendell and East Street. According to Internet conjecture, she is a remnant of a former brothel once housed at that site ... a contention not  borne out by more straightforward historical research.

This is the sort of tapestry one deals with in the grayer area of local history that is called "legend," part fact, part allegation, part experience and part embellishment and wild speculation. For whatever is actually at the root of ghost sightings, real or not — and I will leave that question to others — there is a difference between that phenomenon and "ghost stories," which contain major elements of ever-changing social narratives.

This aspect is important to history, I believe, not merely for its obvious tourism captivation, but because these stories add color to the dryer, more verifiable names and dates that in many ways round out this thing we call history ... an always relative term that is not only comprised of what has actually happened, but also of what we think about what happened ... and in that story is shown much of who we are, have been, and will become as a people.

The Berkshire Museum's mummy, Pahat, may have cause to moan about his treatment but there's no evidence to the tawdry tale of a brothel and its spectral streetwalker preceding the Berkshire Athenaeum.

 


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MassDOT Project Will Affect Traffic Near BMC

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Prepare for traffic impacts around Berkshire Medical Center through May for a state Department of Transportation project to improve situations and intersections on North Street and First Street.

Because of this, traffic will be reduced to one lane of travel on First Street (U.S. Route 7) and North Street between Burbank Street and Abbott Street from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday through at least May 6.

BMC and Medical Arts Complex parking areas remain open and detours may be in place at certain times. The city will provide additional updates on changes to traffic patterns in the area as construction progresses.

The project has been a few years in the making, with a public hearing dating back to 2021. It aims to increase safety for all modes of transportation and improve intersection operation.

It consists of intersection widening and signalization improvements at First and Tyler streets, the conversion of North Street between Tyler and Stoddard Avenue to serve one-way southbound traffic only, intersection improvements at Charles Street and North Street, intersection improvements at Springside Avenue and North Street, and the construction of a roundabout at the intersection of First Street, North Street, Stoddard Avenue, and the Berkshire Medical Center entrance.

Work also includes the construction of 5-foot bike lanes and 5-foot sidewalks with ADA-compliant curb ramps.  

Last year, the City Council approved multiple orders for the state project: five orders of takings for intersection and signal improvements at First Street and North Street. 

The total amount identified for permanent and temporary takings is $397,200, with $200,000 allocated by the council and the additional monies coming from carryover Chapter 90 funding. The state Transportation Improvement Plan is paying for the project and the city is responsible for 20 percent of the design cost and rights-of-way takings.

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