In Episode 391 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger investigate the haunted ruins of Whipple Hollow near West Rutland, Vermont. Back in 1938, a ghost sighting near the old marble quarry made the newspaper and started a buzz around the community. The theory is the ghost is that of an old quarry worker who died in an accident, but is it true?
BECOME A LEGENDARY PATRON:
https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends
CREDITS:
Produced and hosted by: Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger
Edited by: Ray Auger
Theme Music by: John Judd
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST FOR FREE:
Apple Podcasts/iTunes | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Podcasts | TuneIn | iHeartRadio
JOIN OUR SUPER-SECRET:
New England Legends Facebook Group
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
*A note on the text: Please forgive punctuation, spelling, and grammar mistakes. Like us, the transcripts ain’t perfect.
[DRIVING]
JEFF: Make a right up here.
RAY: Okay, got it.
[BLINKAH]
JEFF: And if we follow this road north it will take us to where we’re going.
RAY: So we’re driving on a road just north of West Rutland, Vermont. We’ve passed a couple of houses, but they’re pretty spread out. Over on our right is a large wetland area called the West Rutland Marsh with the Castleton River in the middle.
JEFF: There was a time when this area used to be a few farms and a large granite quarry. A lot of building materials came from this region to help construct various projects all over the northeast.
RAY: And more than a few headstones, I imagine.
JEFF: I’m sure you’re right. Okay, you can pull over here.
[CAR STOPS / DOORS OPEN AND CLOSE]
JEFF: We’re here, Ray.
RAY: Yup, some trees, and a whole lotta marsh land. What are we looking for?
JEFF: Ray, we’ve come to see the scant ruins of a village—a village they say has been haunted for almost a century. We’re here to look for the ghost of Whipple Hollow.
[INTRO]
JEFF: I’m Jeff Belanger, and welcome to Episode 391 of the New England Legends podcast.
RAY: And I’m Ray Auger. Thanks for joining us on our mission to chronicle every legend in New England one story at a time. We’re always on the hunt for ghosts, monsters, aliens, roadside oddities, and all of the other wicked strange weirdness that makes New England great. If you’ve got a story lead for us, please email us through our website.
JEFF: We’ll go looking for the ghost of Whipple Hollow right after this word from our sponsor.
SPONSOR
RAY: I guess it makes sense because we’re on Whipple Hollow Road, that this is where Whipple Hollow was located.
JEFF: Today the area is just over 500 acres that’s formally called the Whipple Hollow Wildlife Management Area. It’s owned and run by the state of Vermont. But its history goes way back.
RAY: That it does! I was just looking that up. Whipple Hollow got its start as an agricultural community back in 1786. Several families lived here, and they combined with some families from nearby Pittsford, Vermont, to form a religious order known as the Orange Society.
JEFF: The Orange Society? What an odd name for a religion.
RAY: These families were mostly Irish and Protestant. The group formed because it was too far to travel to the meeting house in West Rutland. In 1788 they petitioned the state to formally incorporate their parish, but it was denied. Eventually they managed to build their own meeting house that hung in there until 1797 when their pastor died. The meeting house fell into ruin and was finally removed in 1820.
JEFF: So you’ve got an isolated religious group out here. What could go wrong?
RAY: In 1807, the first granite quarry was setup here on the Brockway Farm. Other quarries came and went in the coming decades, one was called the Rutland Marble Company, then the True Blue Marble Company took over operations in Whipple Hollow in 1884. In the coming decades, the company grew in size and would eventually be called the Vermont Marble Company. Eventually they had a mill here with eight gangs at the quarry.
JEFF: A lot of rock was cut in this region. But we’re here for a ghost. So let’s head back to the year 1938 and explore.
[TRANSITION]
RAY: It’s late June of 1938 here in Whipple Hollow, Vermont. George Aiken is the governor of Vermont, and “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” by the Chick Webb Orchestra is the number one song. For the past year, America has been in one of the worst recessions so far this century. But there are some signs things are turning around. For one, the Vermont Marble Company is getting busier. Their production is up. Which is great for the local economy.
[QUARRY SOUNDS ROCK BREAKING]
JEFF: It’s a good thing for sure. When the quarry is busy, people are working, and they’re spending money. The quarry is busy enough that there’s even a night shift working.
[QUARRY FADES]
JEFF: It’s about midnight when one of the second-shift employees starts walking home down Whipple Hollow Road.
[NIGHT CRICKETS FADE IN]
[WALKING ON ROAD]
RAY: It’s not a bad night for a walk. It’s early summer, so it’s still not too hot. There’s a few mosquitoes around, but not too bad.
JEFF: Nope, a good night for a walk home.
[WALKING STOPS]
RAY: What in the world is that?!
JEFF: I… don’t know….
RAY: We’re looking at a large pile of marble off the side of the road. And there’s this glowing white, kind of hazy form moving around the rocks right near Whipple Hollow Brook.
JEFF: The quarry worker is standing here with his mouth hanging open.
RAY: I don’t know what to make of this either. I mean, if it’s not a… you know… then what is it?
JEFF: Ghost?!
[RUNNING FOOTSTEPS]
RAY: Let’s get out of here!
[RUNNING FADES]
JEFF: It doesn’t take long for word to spread about a ghost sighting near Whipple Hollow Road. Ray, check out the June 29th Rutland Daily Herald newspaper.
[PAPER SHUFFLING]
RAY: Okay, where am I looking?
JEFF: Right down here.
RAY: Got it. The headline says, quote, “Ghost Stalking Whipple Hollow.” The article goes on to say: Ghost hunting has taken the place of treasure quests, wiener roasts, and other similar forms of outdoor amusements at West Rutland. According to those who have participated, there is an apparition that stalks forth between 12 and 1 A.M.”
JEFF: Now that it’s in the newspaper, even more people are coming out to look for ghosts.
RAY: I guess I know what we’re doing at midnight tonight.
JEFF: You’re right.
[NIGHT CRICKETS FADE IN]
[WALKING ON ROAD]
RAY: So it’s just about midnight. The Witching hour. And we’re walking down Whipple Hollow Road.
JEFF: And we’re not alone, either.
RAY: No we’re not. There are dozens of people out here along the road. Most of them look like teenagers.
JEFF: Then there’s us. I guess we just wait….
[CROWD MURMURING GROWS]
JEFF: Look over there!
RAY: I see it again! That same cloudy form we saw before. Right near the pile of marble rocks!
JEFF: This time there are many people to witness it, too!
RAY: Annnd it’s disappeared heading in the direction of Hanley Mountain.
JEFF: That was wild, though!
RAY: I hear some of the kids saying they think it’s the ghost of a quarry worker who died here years ago.
JEFF: That is the holy grail, isn’t it? To put a name to a ghost. I guess we have some work to do.
[ROOSTER CROWS]
JEFF: Let’s head into Rutland and search some of the old newspapers to see what we can find.
[DOOR OPENS]
JEFF: Okay, I’ll look through this stack, you can check that one.
RAY: Got it.
[PAPER TURNING]
RAY: Hmmm… look at this.
JEFF: What did you find?
RAY: An article dated January 31, 1892. The headline reads Marble Mill Burned. The True Blue Company at West Rutland Suffers a Loss of $35,000.
JEFF: Were there any fatalities?
RAY: Let me see… that’s usually in the headline or subheadline… [MUMBLING/READING] It says they employ about 100 men, 20 of them live in Rutland. The fire is thought to have been started by incendiaries. So arson. Hmmm no mentions of any injuries. Just the loss of a large building.
JEFF: Yeah, that’s tragic, but no mentions of injuries or death.
[PAPER TURNING]
JEFF: Okay, I may have something here.
RAY: What have you found?
JEFF: The October 24th 1874 Rutland Daily Globe. The headline reads: Suicide at West Rutland. A workman at the Rutland Marble Company’s Quarry drowns himself in Whipple Hollow Brook.
RAY: That’s pretty much right where we were when we saw that weird cloudy ghost!
JEFF: I’m skimming the story now. So there was a Marble company worker named John Copt who had been working here for about a year when he got sick with a strange illness. He had been out of work for almost a week. His roommate urged him to see a doctor, but Copt refused. The story says he and his roommate went to bed around 9PM. At 2AM, the roommate woke up to find John Copt wasn’t in his bed. He didn’t think much of it at the time. He figured Copt was hungry or had to use the bathroom. So he went back to sleep. When he woke in the morning to find him still missing, he told his co-workers at the quarry that he was in a bad mental and physical state lately. They feared the worst.
RAY: That sounds terrible.
JEFF: They even dredged the bottom of the quarry looking for his body, but found nothing. But then a young fisherman was fishing by Whipple Hollow Brook when he found a man lying face down in the water near the shore. It was John Copt. The article said Copt was about 30 years old, an immigrant from England who was smart and well liked by his co-workers. He had no spouse, no kids, and no family in this country. The death was ruled a suicide.
RAY: Do you think that explains our ghost on Whipple Hollow Road?
JEFF: It’s impossible to say, but it sure adds a fascinating layer to the legend. And that brings us back to today.
[TRANSITION]
RAY: Today if you look online there are a few YouTube videos and stories about Whipple Hollow Road being haunted.
JEFF: Yeah, but no one ever said why. I saw those stories about a wispy white apparition haunting the ruins of the old quarry and along the road. But no one seemed to dig very deep on it. We found the story of the haunting made the newspaper back on June 29, 1938. A quarry worker said he saw a ghost, and the story spread. It’s a story that’s still alive and well today. But we kept digging and found the story of the suicide from 1874.
RAY: That’s pretty amazing, though. Maybe the ghost has a name. A despondent immigrant named John Copt who took his own life right near this road in that stream over there. Sometimes when you know what happened, and you’re standing where it happened… that will haunt you.
[OUTTRO]
JEFF: That it will. And that takes us to After the Legend where we take a deeper dive into this week’s story and sometimes veer off course.
RAY: After the Legend is brought to you by our Patreon Patrons! Our patrons make the magic happen. We can’t do what we do without them. They help with all of the growing costs it takes to bring you two podcasts each week. All we ask is for $3 bucks per month. For that you’ll get early ad-free access to new episodes, plus bonus episodes and content that no one else gets to hear. You’ll even get a custom RSS feed link to get all of these episodes automatically in your favorite podcast app. We appreciate our patrons and always take care of them first. We’d love to have you join us at patreon.com/newenglandlegends.
To see some pictures related to this week’s story, click on the link in our episode description, or go to our web site and click on episode 391.
Before you go, please be sure you’re subscribed to our podcast. It’s free wherever you subscribe to podcasts and we don’t want you to miss a thing. We also appreciate when you join our New England Legends army and tell others about our show. That’s how we grow. Also be sure to check out the latest copy of Jeff’s Shadow Zine, and tune in to Raydio each morning to listen to me and some great guests and music. You can find links to both in our episode description.
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.
