Madame Sherri's Castle - West Chesterfield, New Hampshire

In the 1920s, Madame Antoinette Sherri was a French costume designer who catered to the actors and actresses in New York City.  She moved there from France with her husband in 1911.  Madame Sherri also did a little Vaudeville acting, dancing, and singing on the side.  During the summers she would visit with an actor friend who spent his summers in West Chesterfield, New Hampshire.  She liked the area so much that after her friend passed away, in 1927 she built a chateau style mansion in the area and would host very large extravagant parties of which most of the guests were the rich and elite from New York City.  The mansion had a grand stairway made of stone that led to a large red door which served as the entrance.  Local residents referred to her chateau as Madame Sherri's Castle.

Madame Sherri was a famous costume designer from New York who summered at her chateau near West Chesterfield, New Hampshire which today is known as Madame Sherri's Castle

The grand staircase leading to the entrance of Madame Sherri's chateau when it was intact

Madame Sherri became known to the locals in West Chesterfield as quite an eccentric. She was known to cruise around town in her cream colored Packard touring convertible wearing nothing but a fur coat.  When she was wearing clothes, she wore some of her extravagant costumes that she designed.  Besides the lavish parties that she would throw in the mansion, she lived in a much smaller cottage near the place.  That home was later discovered to be packed full of boxes and such, leaving very little room for living space.  There always seemed to be a entourage of young french beauties that was in her company which led some to believe she used the castle as a brothel.

Madame Sherri in one of her extravagant costumes

Madame Sherri's Packard touring car that she cruised around town in wearing nothing but a fur coat

As Madame Sherri grew older and had a harder time getting around she moved to a nursing home in Brattleboro, Vermont.  Over the years her castle sat empty and had been looted and vandalized several times.  In 1962 the castle burned to the ground.  Madame Sherri made arrangements to have the grounds and castle remains sold.  On the day the sale was finalized, Madame Sherri passed away.  Many believe that this meant her spirit was tied to the castle and remains there to this day.

The ruins of the grand stair case to Madame Sherri's castle today

Today, the castle ruins remain in what is now the Madame Sherri Forest near West Chesterfield, New Hampshire.  The stone foundation, fireplace and grand stairway entrance are still intact.  Many visitors to what remains of Madame Sherri's castle claim that they heard the sounds of a grand party emanating from the ruins with music playing, guests chattering and having a good time.  Others say they have seen the Madame Sherri's apparition ascending the grand staircase in one of her extravagant dresses.

The Blue Lady of Vale End Cemetery - Wilton, New Hampshire

Mary Ritter was born in 1795.  Raised as a church going woman, she later married Isaac Spaulding who ran a local tanning business.  

Vale End Cemetery in Wilton, New Hampshire is home to the phenomenon known as The Blue Lady

Mary died in 1808.  There is an aura of mystery surrounding her death as some say that she and her husband got into a dispute and he buried her alive.  Others claim that she was murdered by some sort of cult in some sort of devil worship ceremony.  There are other mysteries surrounding Mary Spaulding.  She claimed that she had a son named James, yet there are no records of there ever being a James Spaulding and there are no accounts of anyone every seeing this child.  Her tombstone is marked with the name Mary Ritter, not Mary Spaulding.

Grave site of Mary Ritter whom many believe is The Blue Lady of Vale End

The mysteries that blur the end of Mary Ritter's life may be why some say she lingers at her grave site to this day.  However, she does not appear as a full bodied apparition, but as as pale blue hazy column of light.  It is said that mostly in the Spring or Fall on hazy or foggy evenings, this light roughly about the size of a person can be seen hovering above her grave.  This phenomenon has become known as "The Blue Lady".  

There are other strange occurrences that take place at Vale End.  Phenomenon such as flashlights and electronics devices seem to have the life drained out of them as visitors wander through this cemetery.  It is said that there are some spirits that haunt Vale End that are evil and not not friendly at all.  Folklore of the Wampanoag Nation tell of the Pukwudgie, a short troll-like demon spirit that is believed to reside here in its den.  Wompanoag folklore tells of this demon haunting southern New England in response to the massacre of a tribe of Native Americans by British soldiers at Wilton.


There are also accounts of visitors spotting the figure of an old man only to later disappear.  Most occurrences occur near the front gate of the cemetery.  Many believe that this is the spirit of a man who buried his daughter in the cemetery, but some time later the child's grave was moved.  They claim he is now searching for her.  There have been reports of a child's grave from the 1830s having a collection of items gathered around it.  However, these items seem to come from other grave sites in the cemetery.  When the items are cleared, more items appear on the child's grave again!