Pulitzer prize-winning novelist Edith
Wharton once wrote I don't believe in
ghosts but I'm afraid of him could it be
that she's haunted by something that
happened to her here in her mansion in
Lenox Massachusetts Marg when was the
mount built the mount was built between
1901 and 1902 and why do they call it
the Mount
Edith Wharton had a great-grandfather
who served in the Revolutionary War
after the war they gave him some land in
Long Island he built a home and called
it the Mount okay so it's an Amash to
that yes now we're in the library yes in
a sense we're surrounded by ghosts all
these great authors speaking to us from
centuries ago but this is also a place
where people are really seeing and
experiencing things maybe beyond our
earthly realm what's happening here
people see two people sitting in these
chairs seem to be sitting in front of
the fireplace reading aloud from books
but no voices and historically who would
have said in these chairs Edith Wharton
and Henry James Edith and her husband
Teddy used the mount as their summer
home for many years as Teddy sunk into a
deep depression he drowned in his own
mental illness and their marriage soon
filled with strife and infidelities this
darkness in her life was reflected in
her work
Edith did much of her writing from her
bedroom we think that she was working on
Ethan Frome largely during those last
couple of years that they were living
here in the house and Ethan from really
is quite a dark book especially having
to do with marriage and relationships so
for someone who claims that she didn't
believe in ghosts she seemed to have a
lot of superstitions right well yes I
mean we think actually her her
relationship with ghosts and the
supernatural is a little complicated you
know she was I don't know that she ever
came out and said I believe in ghosts in
fact what she did say in her prefaced
see the
book of ghost stories was the question
of whether you believe in ghosts really
isn't a relevant question because it's
not so much what you believe but what
you feel or the experience we tell a
story about Edith Wharton's sort of
strange habit that she had here in this
room she would place her slippers at the
foot of the bed every night before she
went to sleep and the slippers had to be
pointed in the direction of this wall
over here and one time she was asked by
someone you know why do you do this and
her answer was kind of strange she said
so the hobgoblins are what watch me
while I sleep Robert what room are we in
now so this room is called Teddy wardens
den and we think that this is the room
where Teddy Wharton would have spent
most of his time here at the house I
understand this room is kind of a hot
spot for some of the ghostly activity
what's happened in here well actually
just recently an on a ghost tour I was
one of the things that I often say as we
come into this room is that people will
say that they smell the smell of cigar
or pipe smoke upon entering the room and
that's usually a sign that Teddy Wharton
is here as spirit is present in the room
so when we walked into the room
we could smell that smell so I you know
kind of half jokingly said looks like
Teddy Wharton's with us tonight and no
sooner had I said that than the chair
that's in the corner of the room seemed
to do this little like hop because we
heard like a little bump from the chair
and it seems to be getting an answer you
know and a few of the other people on
the tour with us heard it and okay so
we're standing now on the bedroom floor
of the house right outside the Henry
James suite and we think that this is a
kind of a hot spot it's certainly on our
ghost tour this is a place where we
spend a little time and actually this is
a place where I myself had a strange
experience was this is just the season
at my house well I was giving a ghost
tour as I do I sort of walked down into
this spot here and waited for people to
come up to meet me and as I was standing
here waiting
dark I suddenly felt what felt like
these three little taps on my head and
then you know how that sort of sensation
that you got sometimes that you know
someone's like right around you of
course I was all alone here under
standing waiting here there was one of
those moments where I was sort of
awakened again to the fact that you know
streams experiences are often felt here
in this house and that sensation of
being tapped on the head is something
that many people have reported Marge
tell me about this photograph this
photograph was sent to us from one of
the people on our tour was about two
years ago you can see this figure here
the figure was not there when the woman
took the photograph I was about two
years ago
this is really cool this isn't just like
some reflective thing I mean and it
happened right here right where we're
standing right where we're standing and
it's not a shadow because the lamp is
behind her right
Marge what happened to the mound after
the wardens left the Wharton sold it in
1911 then there were two private
families who owned it and then it was
owned by the Fox Hollow school for girls
and what what kind of things happened up
here
well we frequently have women come to
visit the mountain today that actually
went to school here and they would tell
us that they really believed that there
was a ghost up in the cupola and they
would talk to it from up those stairs
they would ask a questions and it would
answer Edith Wharton may not have
believed in spirits but they come up
again and again in her life and work she
was haunted by something and that
something might still be echoing here at
the mountain Lenox you may not have
believed in ghosts eateth but they
believed in you
you