Houghton Mansion

Built in 1897 by Albert Charles Houghton, North Adams' first mayor. In 1914, a car accident killed his daughter Mary and family friend Mrs. Hutton. Houghton died 10 days later of a broken heart. The next day, chauffeur John Widders shot himself in the basement.

The Houghton Mansion stands at 172 Church Street in North Adams, a grand Victorian testament to one man's success and one family's unspeakable tragedy. Albert Charles Houghton was born in Stamford, Vermont in 1844 and rose to become president and principal owner of Arnold Print Works and Beaver Mill, producers of some of the finest cotton in the country. When North Adams incorporated as a city in 1895, Houghton was chosen as its first mayor. He built this extravagant mansion in the 1890s from plans by architect Henry Neill Wilson—the third and most lavish of his North Adams homes. The family moved in around 1900: A.C., his wife Cordelia, and their youngest surviving daughter Mary, then 23 years old.

Mary devoted herself to caring for her ailing father after 1905, resolving never to marry. By her late thirties, she was deeply cherished by the people of North Adams for her kindness. Then came August 1, 1914. That spring, the Houghtons had purchased their first automobile—a seven-passenger Pierce-Arrow touring car—and sent their longtime coachman John Widders to learn to drive it. Widders had served the family faithfully for 42 years, first with horses, now with this new machine.

At 9:00 AM, Widders drove A.C., Mary, and family friends Dr. Robert Hutton and his wife Sybil toward Bennington, Vermont for a pleasure drive. On an uphill stretch in Pownal, Vermont, with road construction ahead, Widders pulled left to pass a parked work crew. The soft dirt shoulder gave way. The Pierce-Arrow tumbled down a steep embankment, rolling three times before coming to rest upright in a farmer's field. Everyone but Mary was thrown from the car. Sybil Hutton was killed instantly when the vehicle rolled over her. Mary, trapped inside, suffered catastrophic injuries. She died at North Adams Hospital at 3:00 PM. She was 37 years old.

A.C. Houghton sustained only minor physical injuries, but his heart was shattered. He died ten days later on August 11, 1914. The official cause was listed as natural, but everyone knew—Albert Houghton died of grief.

John Widders was exonerated of any wrongdoing; the accident was blamed on the unstable road shoulder. But Widders could not forgive himself. At 4:00 AM on August 2nd—just thirteen hours after Mary's death—he descended to the cellar of the Houghton barn and shot himself in the head with a horse pistol. He was approximately 64 years old. A mysterious man who told people he had run away from New Hampshire as a child to join the circus, Widders left no will, and no one claimed his estate for months. When his mother finally came forward, it was revealed his real name was John Winters. Despite apparently wanting nothing to do with his own family, Widders was buried in the Houghton family plot at Southview Cemetery—the closest he could remain to those he had served.

The hauntings began almost immediately. A.C.'s daughter Florence and her husband moved into the mansion after the tragedy, caring for Cordelia until her death in 1916 and remaining until 1926, when they sold the property to the Lafayette-Greylock Freemasons. The Masons opened the house to paranormal investigators, and it was featured on both Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures. Three spirits are bound to these walls: A.C. Houghton, Mary, and John Widders.

In A.C.'s bedroom, the former mayor's presence is frequently felt. Investigators captured a chilling EVP of a commanding voice demanding they "get out." Mary's room carries an overwhelming sense of sadness; her apparition has been seen by visitors, a faint feminine figure in the corner accompanied by sudden temperature drops and flickering lights. Widders appears as a shadow figure on the servant staircase leading to his old chambers, his footsteps reverberating from beyond. The basement harbors something darker—shadow figures move through the blackness, and a little girl's ghost giggles and peers around doorframes. Investigators call her Laura, after the Houghton daughter who died as a toddler, and she seems to respond to the name.

One longtime Mason remained a skeptic for 20 years until a winter night when two feet of snow covered the ground. He and another man heard the side door open and close, someone stomping their boots, and heavy footfalls approaching down the hall—but no one appeared. They checked: no tire marks in the driveway, no footprints in the snow. He became a believer that night.

The mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. In 2017, the Freemasons sold it to hotel developer Benjamin Svenson for $160,000, and it is no longer open to the public. But the tragedy of August 1914—the devoted daughter, the grief-stricken father, the guilt-ridden servant—remains as fresh as ever within these walls.