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John York's House

The John York House was bult around 1741 for John York, a businessman and farmer. According to ledgend, John operated the house as a tavern during the Revolutionary war, and the ghost stories began at this time. There are several tales about how the house became haunted, but the one with the most evidence to back it up is about two men, who were soldiers in the continental army during the Revolutionary war. They got into a fight (over a woman, of course) and one stabbed and killed the other in what is now the library of the John York House. The floorboards in the library were so badly stained with the blood that the Yorks were forced to pry them up and turn them over. The murderer escaped, but shortly thereafter disapeared while on ship, presumably falling overboard. According to the tale, the two men had been friends before the brawl, and there was speculation that the killer committed suicide out of remorse for what he had done. Shortly after the death of the murderer, the house began to get its reputation. The house has been known as a haunted house for at least the past century, and probably into the 1700's. The house became most famous, however, when the Wilms family lived here, from about 1963 to 1987. Aparently curious about the supernatural, and the strange noises that were frequently heard on dreary nights, Mrs. Wilms conducted seances which may have awoken something in the house, for the occurences of hauntings got more frequent, more dramatic, and more frightening. Furniture turning over, clothes and shoes mysteriously piled in the center of rooms, loud noises like cannonfire, the unexplainable scent of pipesmoke, and a barometer flying off of the wall became commonplace. Footsteps were heard, locked doors were opened, even the vacumn cleaner turned itself on. Finally, in one of the scariest occurances, one of the Wilms boys awoke in fright, with hand prints clearly visible around his neck. The Wilms had had enough. They contacted Edward and Lorraine Warren, of Monroe, CT, nationally well-known experts in the supernatural. The Warrens identified the restless spirit as the spirit of a a man in revolutionary war costume, consumed by guilt and sadness. They performed a secular exorcism of sorts, to encourage the spirit to find its resting place. The events dramatically decreased in magnitude and frequency, and by the time the Wilms sold the house, the events had "all but ceased", as Mr Wilms put it. So that is the ghost tale of the John York House, currently a Bed and Breakfast. You won't find this story on our home page (we don't want to scare away business), but you can rest assured, that WE have not seen or heard anything TOO unusual since we have bought the house (in 1997), but some of our guests have........ David and Leea Grote