In Episode 372 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hike the woods of Erving, Massachusetts, searching for the former “castle” of the hermit John Smith who lived in a cave in the woods for more than 30 years in the latter half of the 1800s. Two books were published that included his writing and remarkable story.
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CREDITS:
Produced and hosted by: Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger
Edited by: Ray Auger
Guest Voice Actor: Michael Legge
Theme Music by: John Judd
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In the late 1800s, hermit John Smith lived in the woods of Erving, Massachusetts, turning himself into an unlikely celebrity.
Erving Castle today.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
*A note on the text: Please forgive punctuation, spelling, and grammar mistakes. Like us, the transcripts ain’t perfect.
[HIKING IN WOODS]
RAY: It’s a nice day for a hike here in the woods of Erving, Massachusetts.
JEFF: It is. It’s been unseasonably warm this fall, so it’s still pretty comfortable to be outside. Plus, most of the leaves have fallen now so we’ll have good visibility.
RAY: We parked off the side of the road in a residential area, and we’re following a five-mile lollipop loop trail.
JEFF: Right. It’s called a lollipop loop because you follow a single trail for more than half the hike, then you follow a loop and come back the same way.
RAY: Thanks for mansplaining that to me.
JEFF: That’s a combination of the word man and explaining.
RAY: Right. Anyway, so this trail follows the ridge of Northfield Mountain just below the reservoir. It’s a pretty hike along the rolling foothills of the Berkshires—nothing but hills and woods for miles.
JEFF: And with good visibility we’ll be able to find what we’re looking for.
RAY: What are we looking for?
JEFF: We’re heading to a place called Erving Castle.
RAY: A castle?! Out here?
JEFF: That’s what its lone resident called this place. A lone resident who made a name for himself for living out here all alone for three decades. We’re on the search for the Hermit of Erving Castle.
[INTRO]
JEFF: I’m Jeff Belanger.
RAY: And I’m Ray Auger. Welcome to episode 371 of the New England Legends podcast. Thanks for joining us on our quest for all the weirdness that makes New England like no other place. Please hit that subscribe button and post a review for us. Those help others find us. We can’t do what we do without your help. Also check out our web site to see dates for my band the Pub Kings and to see Jeff’s Fright Before Christmas holiday tor that kicks off this week.
JEFF: We’ll go searching for the Hermit of Erving Castle right after this word from our sponsor.
SPONSOR
[HIKING IN WOODS]
RAY: So there’s a castle out here in the woods of Erving?
JEFF: Well, sort of. That’s what the hermit called it. A hermit named John Smith.
RAY: Come onnnn… is that his real name?
JEFF: I can’t promise you that’s true. But it’s what he told people, and that’s what everyone called him. I feel bad for all the real John Smiths of the world. Everyone always assumes they’re lying about their name.
RAY: Here’s a little background on the town of Erving, Massachusetts. There have been people here for many centuries. It’s located on the Mohawk Trail. There were Native villages nearby, but those people were displaced, sold into slavery, or killed around the time of the King Philip’s war in the latter half of the 1600s. English settlers first came here in 1801 and built up a town. It’s still a small town nestled in these rugged and rolling hills.
[HIKING IN WOODS]
JEFF: Okay, we’re coming up on the castle.
RAY: Where? I don’t see anything but a rocky ledge.
JEFF: Right up here… see that small cave?
RAY: Ohhh yeah. Though calling it a cave is kind of generous. It’s more like an indent in the side of the cliff.
JEFF: Fair enough. But THAT is Erving Castle. It was once home to a memorable hermit who made a name for himself worldwide in the latter half of the 1800s. A hermit who called himself John Smith, and who had no less than two books published featuring his story and his writing.
RAY: So let’s head back to the year 1871 and meet the hermit.
[TRANSITION]
RAY: It’s September of 1871 here in Erving, Massachusetts. America is still rebuilding since the Civil War ended six years ago. Though no battles were ever fought this far north, the town of Erving did send some of her sons off to fight, and not all of them came back. Still, folks here press on with their farms and small businesses.
JEFF: Erving is the kind of town most people would never hear of except a few years ago when an outsider showed up. An outsider nobody even noticed for the first six months he was here. They didn’t notice him because he camped out in the woods secluded from town and the rest of the world.
[HIKING IN THE WOODS]
JEFF: Let’s head up the path toward his castle.
RAY: Okay… I can see up ahead there’s a small wooden structure built into the side of the cliff face over a small cave.
JEFF: And there’s our man sitting in a chair just outside the door.
RAY: He’s got a bushy dark beard and long dark hair. I’d say average height and average build. But he must be a sturdy fellow to live out here on his own.
JEFF: (AWAY FROM MIC) Hello, Mr. Smith!
RAY: He just waved and smiled. Let’s go talk to him. We gotta hear his story.
SMITH_1: I, John the Hermit, landed on the shores of America, in May of the year 1866. I am a native of Perthshire, Scotland. As my father was a soldier, I know little about my birth. My mother died when I was a child, so I can tell little of my parentage. My grandmother took charge of me till she died, then I was sent to a government school till I was about 13 years of age.
JEFF: Smith explained how he had a rough start to his life, but once he was an adult, he turned to theater and the stage. He was an actor, and quite good by his own account. But then… then he met a girl—another actor—and fell in love. They two were engaged, but she broke it off and broke his heart in the process.
SMITH_2: I wrote a poem about the ordeal. I call it “Smiling May”
Like an angel form she left me,
With the lovelight in her eye.
Her auburn hair in braids so neat,
Might all this world defy.
But that hair was braided not for me,
That eye is turned away;
While this poor heart is breaking
For the love of smiling May.
JEFF: After that heartbreak, Smith said he became a professional hermit in Scotland.
RAY: How does one become a PROFESSIONAL hermit?
JEFF: That’s a great question. I guess you could say he was a vagabond, living off of handouts, doing odd jobs and chores for money, or performing for his food, and living out on his own. In 1866, he made his way to Boston, then traveled west until he found the secluded woods of Erving and settled in to this cave in the woods.
RAY: For the first six months he said he lived off of gathering his food. In the summer he grew vegetables and potatoes, and he befriended cats.
[MEOW]
JEFF: I did see a couple of cats wandering around.
RAY: They come and go as they please, and Smith provides shelter for them. Once he wandered into Erving center to get some supplies, locals got curious.
JEFF: He’s a friendly guy. People like talking to him, and he enjoys talking to them. He offered his story to anyone who cared to hear it. Pretty soon, folks in town began to make the mile-and-a-half trek into the woods to visit Smith in his castle. They couldn’t get enough of his stories. He would weave his own fabrics and rugs to sell, he made trinkets, and eventually one visitor offered to publish his book. A book he was glad to sell to those who came to Erving Castle.
SMITH_3: Visitors came to see me and they bought what I had to sell, and I was happy and contented. Of course, when winter came I had to have a comfortable place to sleep. Again the people helped me to timber and boards and I built a little home. I am a good cook and I lived like a prince, and more contented. In the winter, sleighing parties occasionally came to see me. I have visitors from all over the world come to see me. They do not want to go home until they have seen John Smith, the Erving hermit.
RAY: He says he never drank, smoked, or chewed tobacco. He viewed them as vile habits. But I am curious, John. How come you never married someone else?
SMITH_4: Ah, young man, my heart is still too sore to do that, although I think there are plenty who would be pleased to marry me.
JEFF: Well, you are a bit of a celebrity. I don’t doubt it.
RAY: Years pass, and the Hermit of Erving Castle continues his life out here in the woods. Folks visit him, he sells them his book. They take his picture. Or they bring a picnic lunch to share with him. He’s beloved by people in town.
(LONG PAUSE)
JEFF: It’s October of 1899 and John Smith has just celebrated his 81st birthday. He’s lived out here for more than 30 years, but his old bones make this life a lot more difficult than it used to be. When visitors find him too frail to make it another day, they bring him to nearby Montague, Massachusetts, where they set him up in a small house. John Smith passes away in March of 1900. And that brings us back to today.
[TRANSITION]
RAY: John Smith, the Hermit of Erving Castle was brought back to Erving Cemetery where he was laid to rest. Though he’s gone, people still talk about him, they read his book, and they hike out here into the woods to see the castle where he once lived for more than three decades.
JEFF: Though he spun quite a few yarns about his life before America, no one is really sure how much truth there is to his story. We know a lot about him after he got to Erving, but everything before that we kind of have to take him at his word.
RAY: I love that he called himself a PROFESSIONAL hermit.
JEFF: In the latter half of the 1800s, vagrancy laws were being passed. The days of hobos and vagabonds were coming to an end. Words like bums and loafers started to be used for people who chose not to work. He was off the grid before there was off the grid.
RAY: There’s a passage in the Bible. Right there in the Book of Genesis that says “God said it is not good for the man to be alone.” I’m not sure we’re meant to be hermits.
JEFF: Maybe that’s why so few people choose that life. And when they do we’re so intrigued we simply must seek them out to find out what insights they can offer us. Today there’s a well-marked trail that will bring you right to the hermit’s old castle. The wooden structure is long gone, but the cave is still there and is pretty easy to find. When you stand here staring at the cave you can’t help but ask yourself: Could I do it? Could I live here?
[OUTTRO]
RAY: I could NOT. And that brings us to After the Legend where we take a deeper dive into this week’s story and often veer off course.
JEFF: After the Legend is brought to you by our Patreon patrons! These folks support us financially and we couldn’t do what we do without them. For just $3 bucks per month they get early ad-free access to new episodes plus bonus episodes and content that no one else gets to hear. They get their own RSS feed for episodes, and their own special community. We hope you’ll join us there. To sign up head to patreon.com/newenglandlegends
To see some pictures of the Hermit of Erving Castle click on the link in our episode description, or head to our website and click on Episode 372.
Not the first hermit we’ve covered. There was English Jack of the White Mountains of New Hampshire in Episode 99 – a similar tale where Jack was a professional hermit who cashed in on his reputation. We also covered the Hermit of Manana Island in Maine in Episode 300, and the North Pond Hermit in Maine in Episode 33, just to name a few.
The North Pond Hermit is interesting. I was talking to a reporter about him recently. I thought he was the real deal, but then I was reminded that he had to steal to survive.
I wonder if there’s someone out there in the woods today living off the grid, hunting and gathering?
Could you do it? We do think these hermits have something figured out. The key to happiness. Live with next to nothing and survive off the land like our ancestors.
Before we let you go, please make sure you’re subscribed to our podcast because it’s free and we don’t want you to miss a thing. You should also check out our New England Legends Facebook group where people from all over are sharing the weirdness, and finally, reach out to us anytime through our website. Most of our story leads come from you!
We’d like to thank Michael Legge for lending his voice acting talents this week, thank you to our sponsors, thanks to our patreon patrons, and our theme music is by John Judd.
Until next time remember… the bizarre is closer than you think.
