For a frightfully fun look into Plymouth’s historic past, make sure to check out the Dead of Night Ghost Tours. With lantern in hand, stroll the streets of downtown Plymouth seeking out spirits from the other side as well as learning about the town’s past. Meander through the Burial Hill cemetery and find haunted associations of some of Plymouth’s most prominent locales.
I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts
Meeting on North Street, the two buildings here, combined as the former Taylor-Trask Museum, are two of the spookiest locations you’ll see in town. On The Dead of Night Ghost Tours participants used to be able to go inside these buildings. On an earlier tour on Halloween Night in 2016, I was able to venture inside. Both were in a well-worn state of disrepair and had a foreboding presence.
Back then, guests could even choose to stay overnight in the Taylor House. The Trask Museum was once upon a time the late Ric Cone’s curiosity shoppe. More recently it was the headquarters of the Dead of Night Ghost Tours. It was featured on Jack Osbourne’s television show Portals to Hell, with activity all centered around a well in the basement. The former museum is actually a duplex. The right side is still kept up well with an electrical art gallery while the left looks neglected. If you’re interested though, the two properties are currently on the market.
The Dead of Night Tour begins
Although we couldn’t get into the home or museum anymore, Bob, the tour leader, told plenty of scary stories about these buildings, daring us to look in the windows. Next, the group met at the sarcophagus located on top of nearby Cole’s Hill. This contains the remains of Pilgrims and other new arrivals who did not make it through the first winter of 1621. Years later, it was discovered that bones lay in that thar hill. The remains were exhumed and put into the sarcophagus.
From Cole’s Hill, the tour marched up the oldest street in British North America, Leyden Street. Leyden is named for the town where the Separatists (Pilgrims) lived in Holland before venturing to America. Look for phantasms in the post office building.
Spooky History
Other haunted places are at Town Square. Here Bob told the story of King Philip’s decapitated head being placed on a pike to rot for a sizable amount of time upon completion of King Philip’s War. Since the head on the pike display in the late 1600s, this spot has been deemed unlucky, with hauntings, fires, and other such calamities.
Among them is the 1749 Court House Museum. (the fire pumper on display was once kept in the first firehouse in Plymouth, currently known as my garage). Bob told a gruesome story about frozen sailors whose bodies were placed inside the Court House waiting for someone to claim them. The frozen bodies were thawed in the nearby Town Brook.
In addition to the museum being haunted, so is the First Parish Church whose former sexton can be seen in the doorway. A woman who was hanged in the square is said to still frequent it.
To Burial Hill
By this time in the tour, the night was becoming black. What better timing than heading to the Burial Hill cemetery? Up the stone steps our group trod. The night was spitting with misty rain that came and went. Bob told us how to set up our phones in case we caught something eerie with them. I got a few good shots.
In the cemetery, he showed us stones of Pilgrims but mostly told sad and forlorn tales including a bride-to-be trampled on her wedding day, a story of an enslaved person in Plymouth, and other spooky stories. The night was perfect with a small chill in the air, with a bit of fog and light rain mixed in.
Finishing Up the Dead of Night Ghost Tour
After leaving Burial Hill, our tour continued down Court Street with the ghost of a fireman who battled a blaze that cost him his life in Town Square. He haunts the former firehouse, which most recently was Sam Diego’s Mexican restaurant.
The tour ended where we began on North Street. I didn’t go too far into the tales he told since that would spoil all the fun of the tour!
This was my second time on the Dead of Night Ghost Tour and it was just as enjoyable as the first time. Although we did not get to go into any haunted houses, Bob’s stories are vivid and spine-tingling to the point that I was photographing what I could to see what would appear.
They are creepy enough that when I returned home, I was the only one up downstairs and felt a little bit uneasy. It wasn’t so scary that it wasn’t appropriate for my then seven-year-old son. He had an absolute blast and even helped Bob with an investigation, holding an EMF reader which, according to the device, detected some sizable activity when Danny held it.
Whether you’re a tourist or a local, make sure to check out the Dead of Night Ghost Tours!
