Next Wednesday is Halloween. I am very excited about this. I love Halloween, but you will remember last year we got snowed on (a lot) and it was largely a cancelled holiday. With power outages lasting up to six days Jack-o-Lanterns were about the only way to light our homes. 2012 has been much calmer for Massachusetts in the weather department than 2011.
This year I am hoping Tropical Storm Sandy doesn’t rain us out and that I can finally take my son Quinn, dressed in his little dog costume (passed down from his older cousins), trick or treating around town. We want to bring him to his grandparent’s house and his great grandmother’s apartment and to his Godfather’s house.
In one of my columns a few years ago I wrote about ghost stories and asked if any readers knew any about Westfield. I got a few replies but not as many as I expected considering our city is nearly 350 years old.
One person wrote about seeing strange things at Pine Hill cemetery. Another told me about the home on Broad Street where the Red Cross office used to be. Another mentioned a few stories about the college. But surprisingly there were not many local ghost stories. I must confess I was disappointed.
I live in the house that belonged to my grandfather and grandmother, Ed & Edna Humason. They built it back in the 1950’s. My grandfather passed away under the apple tree in the backyard. I know the exact spot. I was so open to the idea that he might try to come and visit me once Janice and I moved in. But honestly, I’ve had no indication that his spirit has tried to make contact. I have lots of happy memories of my grandparents, and lots of photographs of them, but no ghostly apparitions or unexplainable happenings in my home. I’m certain my wife is relieved.
Let me ask again. If you have any personal experiences or have heard of any “hauntings” in Westfield or the hilltowns I would love to hear from you.
I recently borrowed a book from some friends and am enjoying reading the strange stories within. The book is called, “Massachusetts Curiosities, Quirky characters, roadside oddities, & other offbeat stuff” by Bruce Gellerman and Erik Sherman, published by The Globe Pequot Press in Guilford, Connecticut. The authors are from Watertown and Colraine, Massachusetts, respectively. The two of them have collected stories from around Massachusetts and bill their book as “Your round-trip ticket to the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places and things the Bay State has to offer.”
Page 74 mentions the Museum of Bad Art (MOBA), located “within earshot of the men’s room at the Dedham Community Theater.” Coincidentally, I have been to the MOBA in person. The theater is owned by my friend and House colleague State Representative Paul McMurtry. The book says, “To qualify for an esteemed place in the museum’s collection, an artist should display ambition that vastly exceeds his or her ability.”
Travel to Wolf Hollow and read on page 105 and 106 “Wolf Hollow was founded in Ipswich in 1988 to allow people to experience wolves in the animals’ natural habitat and to dispel the many myths surrounding the much-maligned creatures.”
Page 87 talks about the annual What the Fluff festival that is “held the last Saturday of September in Union Square, Somerville” where “resident Archibald Query concocted in 1917” marshmallow fluff.
On pages 3-7 you can read about the Massachusetts State House, called “the hub of the universe” by Oliver Wendell Holmes. There’s a story about the equestrian statue of Civil War General Joe Hooker that stands at the front entrance to the capitol building and another fishy story of The Scared Cod and The Holy Mackeral that hang in the House and Senate Chambers.
Read all about “The Hatchet Job” Lizzie Borden gave her mother and father at their home in Fall River on page 135. The book says, “If you have an ax to grind with secondhand titillation, you might find a trip to the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast Museum intriguing.”
On page 178 the book mentions a real live place in the Bay State called Podunk. “The place, whose name is usually analogous with Nowheresville, is an unincorporated town of about six square miles located in East Brookfield, about 15 miles west of Worcester.”
There are plenty of tales about Western Massachusetts, including one on page 221 about the dinosaur tracks in the Nash Dinosaur Track Quarry in South Hadley or another one on pages 222-224 about famous Springfield author and illustrator Ted Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss.
One story in “Massachusetts Curiosities” tells about Gravity Hill in Greenfield. “According to legend, a horrible accident happened there, involving a bus full of children going off the overpass, killing all the occupants. As the story goes, if you stop a car beneath the overpass and take it out of gear, the phantom children’s hands will push the vehicle down the road a bit so that you won’t get hurt.” Sound spooky? Read more on page 208.
I think the book is a delightful way to learn more about our Commonwealth and to get ideas about places to visit or sites to tour. I’m sure it’s available at bookstores or online if you would like to check it out for yourself.
The only disappointing thing I found with “Massachusetts Curiosities” is there are no stories about Westfield. None. No mention of the Falley muskets or the Black Squirrel or the Whip industry. The book does request that readers help the editors keep the book up to date by emailing them at [email protected]. I may have to do that.
Happy Halloween. Have a great week.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of the Westfield News.
Representative Don Humason and his Chief of Staff Maura Cassin may be reached at their Westfield District Office, 64 Noble Street, Westfield, MA 01085, (413) 568-1366.
Representative Don Humason may be reached at his Boston office, State House Room 542, Boston, MA 02133, (617) 722-2803.
Email address: [email protected]
Website: www.DonHumason.org
