there's as many reasons for hauntings as
there are ghosts maybe some place is
haunted not because a horrible tragedy
took place but because the people who
live there never want to leave 120 years
ago here in Lenox Massachusetts
this was the heart of the Gilded Age the
rich and powerful built cottages though
I'd call them mansions all over the
landscape and this one benford Hall is
said to be haunted we're gonna find out
why let's go as I walk up the back lawn
I realized this building looks really
familiar
once inside I'm reminded why one of my
favorite movies was filmed here Cider
House Rules based on the book by John
Irving
welcome to the Gilded Age that best of
times for American business royalty like
the Rockefellers the Vanderbilts in the
Morgans Lenox Massachusetts was a
playground for the New York and Boston
rich who were looking for a summer
getaway in the Berkshires
this 28,000 square foot cottage as they
called it was built in 1893 by George
and Sarah Morgan Sarah Morgan was the
sister of Wall Street mogul JP Morgan
and her husband George was also her
seventh cousin before this giant home
was built a smaller home known as vent
Ford sat on the property the original
house was owned by the Haggerty family
it was the home where 54th Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry Colonel and Civil War
hero Robert Gould Shaw spent his
honeymoon with his wife Annie Haggerty
when the Morgans purchased the land they
moved the original house to across the
street when I sit here in the dining
room I can imagine what life must have
been like a hundred years ago having
servants catering to my every whim
hearing news of the day the Titanic
World War one all of those things in the
seclusion of the Berkshires
this was the Gilded Age this was a place
that I never would have been allowed in
because of my social and economic
background it was a place for the rich
the powerful this place was exclusive
why do you think ventured Hall has a
haunted reputation things happen when
people are here I talked with Trevor
Dean ven furred halls house manager
about some of the things he's
experienced here have you ever had a
moment where you're walking around here
or you've been working and you said wait
a minute something's going on every now
and again it's been a lot when I'm
sitting at the desk you know the end of
the day everyone's gone I know I just
went upstairs shut all the doors turned
off all the lights and then I hear a
door upstairs opening and closing or
I'll hear what sounds like footsteps in
the hallway and you know I try to just
dismiss it but it happens can't can't
ignore that it can it be unnerving
though I mean you think you're alone at
work or it's just you and one other
person someone's up there it's a bit
unnerving it definitely is part of why I
try to just dismiss it you know I can
conjure it up to the house just being
old and then I will what are some of the
stories you've heard other people tell
visitors or other employees had some
people from when this was the Ballet
School on this staircase there used to
be a mirror right up at the end of the
stairs so when you'd come up some of the
girls would say that they would see a
figure in the mirror and then as soon as
they would look back it would be gone
did they recognize the woman she's
dressed in 20s garb no one's I guess
gotten a good-enough glance at her and
that's split-second she's there to to
get a good face but she definitely
matches a period of the Morgan family
being here Trevor isn't the only
employee at van fir'd Hall to encounter
the unexplained tour guide Marsha
McDermott has worked here for four years
and shared some of her experiences with
me this room supposedly has very strong
perfume that goes and comes last winter
quite a while ago I was standing in here
talking to my manager and we had been in
here for maybe 20 minutes and of course
all of a sudden
very very strong really sweet heavy-duty
perfume was right in front of me I was
almost afraid to move so I said mark
mark I'm smelling the perfume now he had
smelled the perfume many times because
you know this was his office he said
Marsha where is it and of course I moved
to kind of where is it and of course
disappeared just like that
well I won't believe her now we think
it's Sarah because this was really her
house this was her mourning room and she
died unexpectedly she died at a spa in
Germany actually on vacation and when
Sarah's husband George died his body was
laid in the state in our dining room
George Morgan was known as a bit of a
womanizer he liked the ladies he liked
his drink but loved his cigars the
library at Van fir'd Hall was his
hangout to this day people claimed to
still smell his cigar smoke wafting
among the books at his den women
visiting this room sometimes feel a
phantom hand brushing across them
shame on you George ghost hunter Josh
Mantello has investigated vent fir'd
Hall many times we don't think anyone
died in this mansion historically
speaking why do you think it's haunted
you know it could be any number of
things you know you know when you look
at it you know a lot of times hauntings
sometimes stir up when you start looking
at renovations so you know the building
was in a bit of disrepair a few years
back and they've started to really kind
of rejuvenate it so with the recent
renovations and their repairs maybe
they're starting to stir some things
back up they're seeing the build and
come back to life and they want to get
involved with it a little bit it's you
know it's it's got a lot of history to
it you know besides just being a big
mansion there's a lot of history is very
prominent family multiple prominent
families that lived here over over the
years with some of their own different
you know tragedies and good things that
happen throughout their time and maybe
you know certain impressions were left
behind every house has its own
personality it's almost like a living
breathing thing
it reflects everyone who ever lived
worked died in a location this house van
fir'd Hall has served so many different
masters over the more than century that
it's been here in the Berkshires it was
built by some of the wealthiest people
in America
it was their retreat their getaway it
still echoes of the past from cigar
smoke lilac smell strange sounds closing
doors maybe just maybe this retreat is a
place they never want to leave would you