Search Weirdness:

Sunday, December 18, 2005

The Fernbrook Phantom


Fernbrook- early 20th century (courtesy of Gray Locke>



Lenox, Massachusetts is well known for the many mansions built there by wealthy citizens during the Gilded Age. Given their history and square footage, it is perhaps not surprising that there are stories of ghostly residents attached to several of them.

One such residence is to be found in the building now known as High Point on West Mountain Road, currently in use as one of the Hillcrest Educational Center sites. Though much smaller than many of the Gilded Age "cottages," it has nonetheless afforded plenty of space for mysterious happenings.

Originally known as Fernbrook, this house was constructed between 1901 and 1902, as a residence and studio for Thomas Shields Clarke. Clarke was an aristocrat, and a painter and sculptor of some considerable renown, who had exhibited and won awards in Berlin, Paris, London and Madrid. His work was much in demand at that time, and some of his larger bronze and marble works adorn public places in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and other cities.

The cottage itself was designed by Philadelphia architect Wilson Eyre, in the style of a Tyrolean Gothic villa. It was built to contain a spacious studio, modeled after the refectory of a monastery in Sicily, as well as an elaborate library, 13 bedrooms, three baths and six fireplaces. After Clarke died in 1920, the estate was sold to Dr. Robert Metz, who later passed it on to Paul Schmidinger.

Fernbrook has been mentioned for years in a number of "Haunted Places" reference books, accompanied by extremely brief entries. I have never seen more than a sentence or two devoted to it in print, typically just some vague mention of strange noises heard in the house. Fortunately, Robert Gorden of Becket, who worked there for a number of years, was able to shed a great deal more light on its ghoulish history for me.

Fernbrook circa 1920 rear of house.


Gorden revealed that talk of a ghost went back several decades, to around the time Dr. Metz acquired the property, and perhaps even earlier. Over the years, quite a few people had discussed hearing and seeing strange things around the house. Most of the strangest, according to Gorden, seemed to be localized around the area of the basement. Doors that had been left firmly shut would spring open, and from his workshop there he could hear a sound like someone moaning or crying.

"Sometimes I would come around a corner and have the sense that someone or something had just turned the corner ahead of me, or gone through the door," he said. "I don't think I actually 'saw' anything but I often felt that I did, or had just missed someone."

Another employee, a housekeeper there, also had a variety of strange experiences. Her room was also in the basement, beside what had been the original laundry area, and from there she could plainly hear a woman's cries. Doors would slam suddenly and cold drafts would rise up, apparently out of nowhere. On one particularly frightening occasion, she said, she had even seen an apparition of woman pass by, covered all in white.

Curious about the phenomenon, Gorden mentioned it to Paul Schmidinger, who had first come there to work for Dr. Metz in 1937. Metz had said that he'd been told by past servants at the house that Clarke had had an affair with a Welsh girl named Anghorad, who served as the under-house parlor maid. At some point, the girl became pregnant and months later she died. Her body was found in the laundry room, having perished either from a miscarriage or botched abortion attempt, according to rumor.

This story intrigued me, and I wondered whether there might be any historical documentation that might help confirm this sequence of events. There is not a huge amount of information available about Clarke's time in Lenox. What is known is that he stayed at Fernbrook, from May to October, every year from 1904 to 1920. As for the girl, a check of the town's death records for those years failed to turn up mention of anyone listed by that name. The historical record is incomplete, and it is probably safe to say that this was the sort of thing the aristocratic Clarke would not have wanted widely known.

In the end, though, it's pure speculation, and hardly the sort of thing to hang a man's reputation on. Maybe there was no Anghorad; maybe something completely different happened. It could be that the story simply grew more sordid as it was passed around by the house staff. In any case, it makes a compelling narrative, which, as far it goes, helps to explain reports of unusual experiences there over the years.

High Point circa 1990 (courtesy of Gray Locke)


The house changed hands more rapidly after Metz died in the late '40s. Schmidinger sold it in 1956 to Florence Davis, who resold it soon after. Doris Barden turned it into "High Point Art Gallery and Inn," which operated for a few years, before the cottage came to its current use in the 1970s. I've been unable to obtain any information from anyone at Hillcrest regarding the house or its reputation, so I've no idea whether or not any strange occurrences ever come up. Perhaps whatever unpleasantness hung over the place has faded away - or perhaps doors still open, unseen, in the basement.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Joe,

I know people that work at High Ponit and know for a fact that the crying women can still be herd and doors still shut on there own.

Anonymous said...

Dear anonymous,

I work at High Point (overnight) and no, you can't 'hear'any crying (other then the students) and ALL the doors shut on their own as a safety measure against fire. Sorry to dispel the rumors but there is nothing going on at High Point that can't be explained.

Anonymous said...

Dear Misery,
I've been at Highpoint overnights for more than 10 years now. You tell me how many times we heard footsteps on the third floor at night and found no one there. Now here's the real kicker. There's a camera in the hall up there these days and you should see what it's been picking up lately.

Anonymous said...

Dear Misery,

You Should talk to more of your co-workers

Anonymous said...

i was in the supervisor's office and they where playing the camera on the third floor and you could see this white shadow move from side to side and it happened on the overnight . i seen it with my own eyes .

Anonymous said...

I am a student at highpoint and one of my peers were playing with a ouija board and swore at it and one of the wakies were thrown at him

Anonymous said...

I also know people at Highpoint and they work there butts off to do right by the students Good Job Hightpoint as far as the rumors there has not been anything lately however its been told that there is a shed in the woods and NO ONE KNOWS WHAT ITS FOR...

Anonymous said...

Western Mass... Is one of the oldest historys in the world.. Look it up..

Anonymous said...

I am a student at highpont and i took a picture in the stairwell and a dog ghost came up there is rumors that a couple of people saw the dog.

Anonymous said...

I had been at Highpoint as a student for about 4 years and thing do go down here. I use to live in the big manor house on the second floor. At night i will always here something or someone up stairs. When staff go up to the third floor there would be nothing.And i always hear a women crying. Hard Facts!

Anonymous said...

I am student name Danny Cradock i've heard moaning noise. That day I piss my pants

Anonymous said...

My name is klye Whyte. I also was a student at (now called Highpiont) one of the Hillcrest Education Centers. But I lived in the fern brook ( now called the Manor house ). I would hear sound that sound like a woman. But I got so scared that pissed my pants. This is not a joke. So now people call me pee head. And I will never go back to that place. I was scared. PS.

Anonymous said...

Hi

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Who are you jw cuz I lived at gunpoint for three years and I've heard of that story many times

Unknown said...

Fr I want to know

Unknown said...

I want to know how that happen

Unknown said...

I have live at highpoint for 3 years and you are very wrong may I ask who this is lmao

Unknown said...

Yeooo it's Tyler who this be comment

Anonymous said...

I have been to Highpoint for 7 years and 8 months. There are hauntings at Highpoint because I have been to the basement of the manor house and everything that is explained in this article is correct. I have seen spirits and ghosts at Highpoint. I have met Anghorad because she thought I was the one who happened to look like the person but when she got a look of me and she vanished. I have been stuck with these memories.

Anonymous said...

Anghorad is a real person. She told me that she had an abortion and died during the process. Do not go to the basement of the Manor house alone because it is a creepy place at night time.