The Ghosts of Cape Cod

by Bill Russo

  “Damnation and Thunder of Jehovah! Where is my money? Where is my land? Gadzooks Mehitable, I fear the scobberlochers have squandered everything.”

  Try to overcome your fear long enough to shout to the specter………….

  “The scobberlochers left town. But they built a library in the Falmouth parish!”

  Say it loud and say it strong, for the pox has swelled up Abner’s ears and he might not hear you at first. Say it loud enough and it might send him off to Falmouth and save you from the Ghost of the 13 Churches!

  Chapter Two – The Upper Cape

  The rest of the book is mostly devoted to the ghosts and legends of Cape Cod, town by town. The stories are grouped into four chapters, one each for the communities of Upper, Middle, Lower, and Outer Cape Cod.

  Starting at the Island’s entrance, we first will visit with specters from Sandwich, Falmouth, Bourne and Mashpee.

  The Dimmick/Tripp House when it was run as The Village Green Inn

  Spirits of The Village Green in Falmouth

  There are a number of ghosts who decide for one reason or another to stay in or around a particular place.

  In Falmouth, one home above all others was said to be the dwelling place of a number of such apparitions.

  The house, at 40 Main Street has been known by a number of names including, The Dimmick House, The Tripp House, and The Village Green Inn.

  As the names of the dwelling changed in the years after its construction in 1804, so did the ghosts.

  The first batch of apparitions began showing up after the sudden deaths of ten of the 11 children of Braddock Dimmick and his wife Celia who were the first owners of the elegant mansion facing the village green.

  The first two deaths were before the Dimmicks moved into the Falmouth house. In 1802 and again in 1803, they lost infant daughters, both named Mary.

  Each of the infant girls was a twin, and each of the surviving twins failed to lived past 22.

  Safely ensconced in the stately Main Street home, things went well for ten years, until 1814 when they lost their first born son William at the age of 29 years and six days.

  Over the next 14 years seven more of their children, all but one of their eleven, would die young. Most were still living in the family home when they passed. The eleventh child, named after his father Braddock, was the sole Dimmick sibling to live to old age. He passed away in 1872 at the age of 80.

  In order, the children who perished were:

  William Dimmick – 1785 to 1814

  Achshah Dimmick – 1798 to 1817 She was just 19 years 1 month and 15 days old when she died on July 15

  Francis – 1787 to 1820. He was lost at sea along with his wife as they were returning to Cape Cod from South Carolina.

  Joseph Dimmick – 1803-1822. Named after his famous grandfather, General Joseph Dimmick, a hero of the revolution; young Joseph was 18 years 9 months and 15 days when he died on May 2, 1822.

  Joseph was a twin to the second Mary, who passed away in infancy at just 3 months and 22 days.

  Sarah Dimmick died tragically next. She was the twin of the first Mary. The younger twin succumbed at just one year and nine months. Sarah was 22 years, four months, and 20 days old when she expired on March 11, 1823

  Henry Dimmick – 1794 to 1825

  Celia Dimmick Lawrence 1796 to 1826. Named after her mother, she lived only to age 30.

  Martha Dimmick Lawrence – 1789 to 1828

  The church bells tolled often for the Dimmicks of

  40 Main Street in Falmouth. All of the children, the parents, grandparents and other relatives are interred in the Old Falmouth Burial Grounds.

  The tally included 18 year old Joseph, 19 year old Achshah, and 22 year old Sarah. The other children were slightly older.

  The haunting of the Dimmick house may have started shortly after William’s death in 1814, but if so, it was kept a family secret.

  The tales of ghostly happenings began to freely circulate around the Upper Cape after the home was sold, and the new residents began seeing the late Dimmick girls.

  Wealthy John Crocker, known as The Cranberry King, was the next owner of the Dimmick place and it’s likely that the tales of the spectral appearances first became public at this time.

  It was reported by family members that young women were seen in various rooms wearing old fashioned white nightgowns.

  It was reported that Achshah and Sarah would separately or together wander around the second floor bedrooms, hovering above sleeping people.

  One woman who awoke, vowed that the ghostly young lady had a bewildered look on her face as if to say “Who is sleeping in my bed?”

  No one ever reported that the spirits were threatening or caused any harm. They simply seemed to be wandering around as if to find the rest of their family.

  Young William was alleged to have made a few appearances at the top of the stairs, dressed in suit and tie and at the side of a young woman, also dressed in evening clothes.

  Doctor Edwin Tripp was the next owner of the house. He bought it in 1913 and two generations of his family lived in it until well into the ‘fifties’.

  Stories of the young ladies floating above the second floor beds gradually died out and for a long period it seems as though the house was absent of spirits.

  Shortly after the home was again sold, reports began circulating of a ghost in the form of a stooped old man wearing a flannel shirt who was seen walking in the yard and throughout the house.

  It was reported that he was a solid ghost and looked like a real man. Often the people living in the home would see the old fellow walk into a room and when they followed him into it, the room would prove to be empty.

  Residents around the Village Green confirmed that in his last years, Dr. Tripp was stooped and had begun wearing flannel shirts exclusively.

  The spectral image of the doctor was seen many times. Other strange things began to happen in the space that had been Dr. Tripp’s waiting room.

  With no one near the switches, lights would flash off and on. Papers would fly about and shuffling noises were heard.

  When 40 Main Street became The Village Inn, many guests filed accounts of seeing the spirits of the Dimmick clan and old Dr. Tripp.

  By 2014, the stately Dimmick/Crocker/Tripp House had been sold to a developer who converted it into four condominium units. Each unit has about 1600 square feet and presumably comes with its own ghost, although no confirmation of that exists at this time.

  Sandwich - Who Really Killed Branch Dillingham?

  The town of Sandwich was famous for its glass industry that flourished in the 1800s. The Sandwich Glass Museum today lures thousands of visitors to the Upper Cape. It is highly rated as one of the area’s top destinations.

  Perhaps an even more famous location, certainly to people interested in the paranormal, is the Dillingham House. The three story wood frame structure built in 1650 by one of the ten founders of Sandwich is famous for its ghosts; but it could also be the site of a murder-suicide; or even a double-murder.

  The home was built in Sagamore by Edward Dillingham. It was a peaceful dwelling for 160 years until Branch Dillingham, the grandson of the original owner, had it moved in 1810, to its present site at 71 Main Street in Sandwich.

  Within three years of the location change, Branch would be dead – reportedly by suicide – leaving a widow and eight children. A short time later, the wife died mysteriously, and the children were alone.

  Every report written about the Dillingham house, suggests that the paranormal activity in the house is due to the suffering of the children. We will examine that a little further on, but first a look at the ghostly happenings.

  There are many accounts of people seeing spectral children running through the home. Knocking sounds emanate from the walls, floors and ceilings. An older man is said to inhabit the third floor. He is a solid ghost who wanders forlornly among the rooms. He causes no harm and is not violent.

  When the home was converted to
a bed and breakfast in the 1900s, guests began relating stories of latches being lifted by invisible hands, rocking chairs furiously rocking on their own, and ghosts strolling the halls dressed in the style of the early 1800s.

  Even the Sandwich police department had tales to tell about the Dillingham house. During a long period in which the house was left vacant in the late 1900s, the authorities were summoned to the property on numerous occasions. It’s said that sometimes the police would try to open doors that would not budge and yet when they began to think about applying more extreme force, the door would suddenly open with almost no effort.

  Electric light switches that would not work when the police walked through, trying to clear rooms, would strangely be blazing away when they returned.

  Before going any deeper into the oddities of the house, let’s return to the occupants. Branch Dillingham, the head of the household, was 48 at the time of his death. He had married his wife Ruth at the age of 27 in 1792.

  Like clockwork, from 1794 to 1806 they had one child every two years, for a total of seven. In 1809, after a lapse of three years, they had their final child. This was one year ahead of dragging the house from Sagamore to Main Street in Sandwich.

  Many researchers in delivering the account of the Dillingham House, say that Branch committed suicide in 1813, leaving his wife and eight ‘little children’ destitute.

  In actual fact, the oldest child was 19. The next was 17, then 15, 13, 11, 9, 7, and four. So, although a few or the children were very young, four of them were teenagers.

  Unquestionably there is a large body of strange occurrence accounts surrounding this property: but some of the ideas can quickly be discarded.

  A few writers have claimed that the children were left on their own over the winter and died. Their corpses were found by an inquisitive neighbor in May.

  A giant nail in the coffin of the ‘kids wintering alone’ story, is the death date of Branch. It’s listed as April, many months before the onset of cold weather.

  It probably is a fact that they were left on their own over the following winter, because Branch’s wife died under unknown circumstances just three weeks after her husband’s death.

  The children may have endured that next snow season by themselves, but they did not die. All survived into adulthood. The records show, curiously, that although they married, only one of the children had children of their own. A second child did father a son, but the baby died in infancy.

  No record that I have been able to find, describes how the Dillinghams died. The chronicles state merely that Branch killed himself and Ruth died under unknown circumstances three weeks later.

  An obscure report on a paranormal website, claims that Branch killed himself by drowning. Suicide by drowning does happen. It is also true that murder by drowning can easily be passed off as an accident or a suicide.

  The possibilities?

  Ruth murdered Branch and became so unhinged that in less than a month, she killed herself?

  Perhaps Ruth ‘whacked’ Branch and then the 17 year old and the 19 year old executed her for killing their father.

  Maybe there was enough left of the family fortune to tempt the older children to murder both their parents.

  We will never learn what happened in that murderous month of April 1813, but the spirit noises, ghostly wanderings, sightings and knockings, make the Dillingham House a must see destination for all paranormal fans.

  The Jumbled Graveyard: Bourne

  Thus far in the Upper Cape we have found a Ghost in Falmouth on the Village Green; and several in Sandwich, in a house that may have been a murder scene.

  Next we turn to the gateway of Cape Cod for a story about a group of dead people in search of their own grave stones.

  From the Sagamore Cemetery on Route 6A in Bourne, comes this eerie tale of corpses getting up from mis-labeled graves and trying to enter their proper coffin!

  A number of the dead in the old burial grounds are said to wander around unhappily because of the ‘grave’ error made around 1909.

  For hundreds of years people had thought of connecting the various rivers, lowlands, swamps, and marshes that almost, but not quite, made Cape Cod an island.

  Just before the 20th century was one decade old, the final plans for the Cape Cod Canal became a reality. Among a number of impediments to the massive project was the matter of the old Bournedale Cemetery.

  It had been the final resting place of choice for the town’s finest citizens for 105 years. Inside the iron rails and granite posts of the burial ground, were the memorial stones of the entire Bourne family, who gave their name to the community.

  The burial ground became a major obstacle to the building of the canal because it was literally in the middle of the construction path.

  After much debate, it was decided that the entire graveyard would be dug up and the remains of the dead, would be transferred to the Sagamore Cemetery, a few miles away.

  Local businessman Isac Keith, who owned a boxcar manufacturing company, was contracted to construct fresh coffins as a replacement for any that were too deteriorated to be used in the new location.

  That Keith’s laborers did a fine job on the new coffins, there seems to be no argument; but there was a big problem.

  The workers got confused when it came time to re-inter the corpses and jumbled up a number of the bodies and stones; so Smith might have had Jones’ marker and vice versa.

  Isac Keith’s laborers may have been fortifying themselves with supplies from the local tavern, or perhaps they felt that it didn’t matter which century old corpse got whatever hundred year old marker.

  Either way, apparently not much was said about the matter, and the job was quickly finished. It seemed as though the workers were right; the dead didn’t seem to mind having the wrong stones over their head - until something changed.

  After seven long years, in 1916, the canal was fully operational. In a few more years, two sparkling new automobile bridges would be built from mainland Massachusetts to the Island of Cape Cod.

  A third bridge was also erected. The 544 foot long Canal Railroad Bridge, a magnificent vertical lift draw-bridge, was completed in 1935. It had the highest lift of any bridge in the world. As rail traffic increased because of this new span, so did the business of Keith’s boxcar company.

  Isac Keith, his customary fuming cigar plugged into the side of his mouth, was eagerly expanding his business.

  Meanwhile, all was peaceful and serene at the cemetery and Bourne’s finest were lining up to buy plots in the Sagamore burial grounds. Isac Keith bought one – and apparently that was a big mistake for the cigar chomping businessman.

  After Keith died and was put in a grave with the ‘correct’ marker above it, the dead around him began to rise up in protest.

  It seems that those who had been re-buried with the wrong head-stones blamed Keith for their problems. The keeper of the cemetery is certain that Keith and a number of other ghosts frequently materialize and saunter around the graveyard.

  He has related his encounters in a number of newspaper articles. Around 2010, the graveyard and its keeper were featured on the popular program “Chronicle” produced by Boston’s Channel Five.

  The keeper of the burial ground claims that he has smelled cigar smoke around Keith’s grave several times, when there has been no one else anywhere near the tombstone.

  Other visitors to the secluded graveyard say that when they walk through the rows of ancient weather-beaten old markers, they have been gripped by icy blasts and have walked through gloomy, cold spots.

  Some people talk about seeing a man in a top hat strolling near the markers. The man in vintage clothing with the stump of a cigar screwed into his mouth, disappears if the viewers try to get closer.

  The caretaker was shaken up one morning when he found a heavy monument lifted from its base and placed nearby. There was no trace of it being pried off. He called the police who verified that there was no vandalism or any signs of
tampering.

  Some speculate that the dead whose identities were mixed up are angry at Keith. They chase him through row after row of ancient grave markers.

  One of those doing the pursuing may be Captain Elisha Bourne (1733-1804). He was driven out of the town that bears his name shortly before the American Revolution, because he was a Tory (a person who supported the colonies remaining a part of England).

  The Whigs (Revolutionists) allowed him to come back after the war was over. His was one of the displaced graves and his marker was one of those set upon the wrong grave.

  Some locals say that Bourne chases Keith and harangues him about the mix-up.

  The caretaker apparently feels that anyone who visits his cemetery has a good chance to be grasped by the cold spots, smell the cigar smoke, and perhaps even see Captain Bourne pester Isac Keith.

  Judging from a number of reports, at least some visitors to this aged burial spot have indeed encountered the top hatted business man wandering around his grave, a thick fog of cigar smoke trailing after him like a dirty cloud.

  -0-

  Before we move on to Mashpee and a bittersweet story of two disparate lovers, I wish to offer one more tale from Falmouth. It is the sad story of the flower boats. You may have seen one or two of them in your travels. In the 1900s, they seemed to be more common than windmills or fried clams. But strangely, there may be only one flower boat left. Is a ghost responsible?

  For this story, I have re-imagined the legend as being told in the present day. It starts in the mansion of a wealthy summer resident who is entertaining snow bird friends who winter in America’s richest zip code.

  Follow me now to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Johnson, of Boston and Cape Cod.

  Beyond the interior warmth of their elegant seaside mansion was a cheerless night. Inside, a roaring blaze in the massive hearth, and a sideboard laden with aromatic culinary delights made for a festive atmosphere in their auditorium sized Great Room.