Haunting the Houghton
We have two options: Make a weekend of the event and join us Friday night for a meet-n-greet party at a haunted bar, or just join us Saturday for the event, dinner, and ghost hunt!
Friday, April 5, 2013 and/or Saturday, April 6, 2013
Meet-n-Greet Begins at 6PM on Friday
Houghton Mansion214 Church Street
North Adams, Massachusetts
THANK YOU FOR A GREAT EVENT! Tickets are $149 each for the entire weekend or $125 for Saturday only and are limited. No tickets will be sold at the door. This is the only place to buy tickets.
Ticket includes meet-n-greet event (if purchased), lectures, dinner (Saturday night) and hours of ghost investigating inside the historic and haunted mansion.
Agenda:
Friday Night: Meet-n-Greet party at a local haunted pub/restaurantSaturday:
2 PM: Check-in at Houghton Mansion
2:30 PM - 6 PM: Lectures, historic tour of the mansion, psychomanteum chamber sessions, experiments
6 PM - 8 PM: Dinner
8 PM - 2 AM: Ghost investigation of the Houghton Mansion
About the Haunt:
As seen on Season One of Ghost Adventures!Built by the first mayor of North Adams in 1890, the mansion is now home to a Masonic Temple, though the secretive society isn’t the only resident. The building allegedly holds the ghosts of a suicide victim, A.C. Houghton himself, and the spirit of his daughter, Mary, who died in a tragic car accident August 1, 1914.
As Houghton’s fortune grew, so too did his real estate holdings. The mansion at 172 Church Street was his third and most lavish home in North Adams. The original roof was Spanish tile, the siding was clapboards that were thinnest near the bottom to give the illusion that the building was larger than it really was.
A.C. Houghton, his wife, Cordelia, and youngest daughter, Mary, moved in to the opulent mansion in 1900.
In 1905, when his health began to fail, Houghton resolved to cut back, but at 61 years of age, he still made his business affairs his top priority. It was during this difficult time that his daughter, Mary, announced she would never marry. She would instead devote her life to caring for her father.
Old age and poor health continued to wear down A.C. Houghton’s ability to work. In the spring of 1914, Houghton purchased his first car, a Pierce-Arrow, seven-passenger touring vehicle. He figured the rides in the country would be relaxing.
The family charged their loyal servant, John Widders, with the task of learning to drive the automobile. On August first of that same year, Houghton asked his newly-trained driver to bring the Pierce-Arrow around for a trip to Vermont. In the car that day was A.C., his daughter, Mary, and family friends Dr. Robert Hutton and his wife, Sybil of New Yorkl. At 9:00 AM, the group left North Adams with Widders driving.
About 30 minutes later, the Pierce-Arrow was in Pownal, Vermont, climbing a street now called Oak Hill Road. A team of men and horses were parked on the right-hand side of the road working on repairing the surface. Widders pulled Houghton’s car over to the left in an attempt to drive around the construction crew. The car’s tires hit a soft dirt shoulder of the street, which sent the vehicle tumbling down a steep embankment. All but Mary Houghton were thrown from the car. Mrs. Sybil Hutton was killed instantly when the Pierce-Arrow rolled on top of her. Mary, though, suffered serious injuries and died a few hours later at North Adams Hospital.
The three men only suffered minor injuries and were allowed to go home that same day. Though the state of Vermont cleared Widders of any wrong-doing, the Houghton’s trusted servant couldn’t forgive himself for the deaths. Early in the morning of August second, Widders went down to the basement of the Houghton’s barn and shot himself, taking his own life.
Though A.C. Houghton suffered no serious physical injuries during the accident, the tragic events broke his heart. He died ten days after the crash that took his daughter’s life.
The mansion remained with the Houghton family until 1926 when A.C.’s daughter, Florence, and her husband sold the building to the Freemasons.
Your $149 admission includes:
- A Friday night Meet-n-Greet and paranormal party at the hotel.
- Presentations by: Jeff Belanger; Ron Kolek; Tim Weisberg; and more!
- Question and answer sessions with the speakers.
- Dinner
- Five-plus hours of ghost hunting throughout the mansion!
- Plenty of free parking.
Hotel Accomodations:
Information coming soon!
Terms and Conditions:
- Tickets are non-refundable unless the event is cancelled due
to unforeseen circumstances.
- No one under the age of 13 admitted. Ages 13-18 only with
parent or legal guardian.
- No alcohol will be served or permitted during the event.
- This event is for entertainment purposes only. We can't
guarantee you will have a paranormal experience.
- The ticket price does not include your travel, rental car,
lodging (unless you purchase a room package), or other travel
expenses.
- You are responsible for your own transportation to and from
the event.
Event Alerts:
Guest Bios:
Jeff
Belanger: is the author of a dozen books on the paranormal (published in six languages) including the best sellers:
The World's Most Haunted Places, Our Haunted Lives, and
Who's Haunting the White House (for children). He's the founder of Ghostvillage.com, the Web's most popular paranormal destination according to Google.com, and a noted speaker and media personality. He's also the host of the cable/Web talk show,
30 Odd Minutes which is available in over 3 million homes in the United States. Belanger has written for newspapers like The
Boston Globe and is the series writer and researcher for
Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel. He's been a guest on more than 200 radio and television programs including: The History Channel, The Travel Channel, PBS, NECN, Living TV (UK), The Maury Show, The CBS News Early Show, FOX, NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates, National Public Radio, The BBC, Australian Radio Network, and Coast to Coast AM.
Ron Kolek is the founder and lead investigator of The New England Ghost Project.
With a degree in Environmental Science, he was the ultimate skeptic. However, a near death experience changed all that. No longer blinded by his skepticism,
he now uses scientific background to seek the truth about the paranormal. He is the host of the popular Ghost Chronicles Radio Shows: Ghost Chronicles,
Ghost Chronicles Next Generation, Ghost Chronicles International, and Ghost Chronicles Morning Edition and teaches Paranormal CSI at Northern Essex
Community College. Ron has also co-written two books with Maureen Wood, The Ghost Chronicles, and Ghost a Day and he and his team were the subject of
the Emmy winning American Builder Halloween Special in 2007.
Tim Weisberg: Tim created the Spooky
Southcoast Radio Show along with Matt Costa in late 2005, seeking to combine an entertaining and interactive talk show format with the world of the paranormal. Tim is also the author of
Ghosts of the SouthCoast, and has been featured on The History Channel, the Travel Channel, the Discovery Channel and LIVING TV. A sports writer by trade, Tim also covers the Boston Celtics and the New England Patriots for
The Standard-Times.
Dave Schrader: is the host of Darkness On the Edge of Town Radio, he was the chief judge on the Travel Channel’s Paranormal Challenge, you’ve seen
him as a guest investigator on several episodes of Ghost Adventures, he’s the co-author of the book The Other Side, and he’s a well-known lecturer on the paranormal. You’ve never ghost hunted until you’ve been in a
dark, scary place with Dave!
Josh Mantello: is lead investigator for Berkshire Paranormal, he's also a Mason and member of the
lodge based inside the building. He's investigate the house hundreds of times over the years and was featured on the Houghton Mansion episode of Ghost Adventures.
Andrew Lake: is a Rhode Island native who lived in a haunted house for five years, cementing his fascination with ghosts and their antics. Andrew formed Greenville Paranormal Research in 2006 and has worked with some of the best ghost hunters the Northeast has to offer. He is currently producing, writing, and directing documentaries about haunted locations around New England and he’s part of the 30 Odd Minutes cast and crew. His first book, Ghosthunting Southern New England, was just published.
Matt Moniz: The man simply known as "Moniz" began investigating the paranormal more than 25 years ago, and brings that experience to "Spooky Southcoast" every week. Matt is a research chemist who isn't afraid to bring the paranormal into his lab and apply the scientific method to his investigations. He's been published in books such as "Left at East Gate" by Peter Robbins and Larry Warren, "Witness" by Budd Hopkins and "Glipses of Other Realities" by Linda Moulton Howe. Specializing in UFO investigations and abductee cases, Moniz is also the UFO editor for FATE Magazine and has been featured on The History Channel, the Travel Channel, the Discovery Channel and LIVING TV. Matt is also one of the Oddballs featured each week on the paranormal television program "30 Odd Minutes."