October Mountain State Forest

Located in Berkshire County, October Mountain State Forest is a hotbed of paranormal activity as evidenced by the numerous accounts throughout the years. The name of this location dates back to 1853 when Herman Melville wrote a short story entitled “October Mountain” for Putnam Magazine.

October Mountain State Forest consists of 11,000 acres of beautiful land in Becket, Lee, Lenox and Washington in the New England state of Massachusetts. A large percentage of this land was once owned by William C. Whitney who was the Secretary of the Navy under President Cleveland. In 1915, a group of individuals purchased the land and donated it to the state. Trip Advisor Information about this area.

Historical Note

Gideon Smith was a Loyalist who was well known, described as obnoxious, and very active in Berkshire County. Smith had harbored a British prisoner of war and had to flee and eventually he ended up hiding out in a gorge which became known as Tories Glen. The Indians who were living in the settlement in Stockbridge protected Smith from the determined British patriots and brought him food on a regular basis. His wife and children also visited him. He survived the war and after enduring three mock hangings,  eventually befriended his old foes.

The Paranormal Sightings

October Mountain contains a small, long forgotten cemetery from the 19th century and it is reputed to be haunted. One of the most popular stories is that of an apparition of a young girl who has been seen in the cemetery. Her name is Anna (Annie) Pease and she died on January 22, 1829 at the age of ten. She was the daughter of Olivea Pease who died in 1850. Anna is the only child located in this cemetery. People have reported seeing a young girl in a white dress and also have reported hearing odd humming noises in this area.

Reports of strange lights were investigated throughout the 1970’s in this area of Massachusetts and, these two lights visited the same location over and over again. They made no noise whatsoever and would fly off in a vertical direction at an extremely high rate of speed.

Other reports from visitors to the area include UFO sightings, a creature described as a Bigfoot and an anthropoid creature reported in 1983 by two men from Pittsfield. They were in an area called Felton Lake near the site of an old Boy Scout camp named Camp Eagle. They stated that the being that they saw was about seven feet tall and that it had glowing eyes. A similar report was filed in 1989 by a hiker to the area who reported seeing something very large moving about 100 yards away. He watched the creature through binoculars and reported that it had human-like features and was covered in reddish-brown hair. The creature also stood fully erect and had very long arms. The creature was stacking large rocks and pulling roots.

The Cemetery

Below is a short video of the Pease Family paying tribute to their ancestor, Anna after locating her long neglected grave.

If you are planning on visiting Massachusetts in the future, other haunted locations definitely worth looking into include the following:

• Danvers State Hospital
• Lizzie Borden Murder House
• USS Salem
• Glouster-Dogtown
• The Bridgewater Triangle (bring a friend!)
• The Hoosac Tunnel

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave comments or questions below.

onna