Unusual Phenomena
On the night of January 24, 1837, when the town of Berlin was only eight years old, unusual phenomena was said to have taken place. Thomas J. Wheeler, who lived opposite of where the White Mountain Community College is today, and all the other early settlers saw something that turned the snow in the sky a blood-red color. This lasted for several hours during the first part of the night. This incident has come to be known as Berlin’s “Red Night”. There was also another record in Mr. Wheeler’s journal that spoke about a snow storm of 11 inches on June 24, 1842.
Unusual phenomena is said to take place inside of the Brown Company House on Main Street. Built in 1852, it’s the oldest standing building in Berlin. First used as the Berlin Mills Company (Brown Company) day boarding house, where the day workers of the sawmill would sleep at night. The building is now a museum and houses the Androscoggin Valley Chamber of Commerce. It is said that in this building you can hear loud noises, footsteps, and voices when nobody else is there. If there are truly ghosts in this building, they’re the ones of the old log drivers and sawmill workers.
There are a few ghosts who supposedly inhabited the Androscoggin Valley Hospital. One of them was said to have been a former nurse. She once worked at St. Louis, but went to AVH when it was built. She use to smoke, back when one could smoke in hospitals. Cigarette smoke can be smelt when this ghost is said to be present. Another ghost at AVH is said to cry out, "Help, help, please help!" on the forth floor.
Another Berlin "ghost story" is that of the supposed hunting of the Berlin Junior High School's "old gym." This gym was once the only gym this school had until the "new gym" was built, connecting what is now Hillside Elementary School to BJHS. The old gym has a track above the actually gym. This little red track is where this hunting is said to take place. One day a janitor, or principle depending on which version of the story, decided to take a jog around the track, when he suffered a massive heart attack, leading to his death.
Over the years this story has been told and retold so any times, that some of the versions is far from the actually historical event. Some of these versions say that while running around the track, he fell to his death. Yet another claims that he fell to his death and hit a sharp pole, thus impaling the man. All versions of the story, including the one that is based on the actually event, leads to the man hunting the gym. Some say that the ghost will not stop hunting the gym until he finds another victim to take his place, thus that victim cannot rest until it finds another victim and so on. Students and teachers claim to hear someone jogging around the track when no one is there, some hear voices, others see an apparition jogging or impaled on a pole.
According to legend, Coos County is inhabited by strange, bigfoot-like creatures called “Wood Devils.” They are very tall, thin, hairy with grey fur, and they walk upright. They let out loud piercing screams. Their body is the same shape as a human's body, but their faces don’t look like a human’s at all. If one were to come across a wood devil, they would most likely come across one before they would spot one. They hide behind trees and are considered to be very hostile. The Abenaki Indians had similar stories about a creature like the "Wood Devils" that they called "Keewakw" who was half-animal half-human. Keewakw would hide in the woods and search for people to feed on. Next time you go for a hike on Mt. Jasper, remember that the Wood Devils/Keewakw are watching because there have been sightings of this creature near Berlin in the past, all the way up to the present-day.
Unusual phenomena is said to take place inside of the Brown Company House on Main Street. Built in 1852, it’s the oldest standing building in Berlin. First used as the Berlin Mills Company (Brown Company) day boarding house, where the day workers of the sawmill would sleep at night. The building is now a museum and houses the Androscoggin Valley Chamber of Commerce. It is said that in this building you can hear loud noises, footsteps, and voices when nobody else is there. If there are truly ghosts in this building, they’re the ones of the old log drivers and sawmill workers.
There are a few ghosts who supposedly inhabited the Androscoggin Valley Hospital. One of them was said to have been a former nurse. She once worked at St. Louis, but went to AVH when it was built. She use to smoke, back when one could smoke in hospitals. Cigarette smoke can be smelt when this ghost is said to be present. Another ghost at AVH is said to cry out, "Help, help, please help!" on the forth floor.
Another Berlin "ghost story" is that of the supposed hunting of the Berlin Junior High School's "old gym." This gym was once the only gym this school had until the "new gym" was built, connecting what is now Hillside Elementary School to BJHS. The old gym has a track above the actually gym. This little red track is where this hunting is said to take place. One day a janitor, or principle depending on which version of the story, decided to take a jog around the track, when he suffered a massive heart attack, leading to his death.
Over the years this story has been told and retold so any times, that some of the versions is far from the actually historical event. Some of these versions say that while running around the track, he fell to his death. Yet another claims that he fell to his death and hit a sharp pole, thus impaling the man. All versions of the story, including the one that is based on the actually event, leads to the man hunting the gym. Some say that the ghost will not stop hunting the gym until he finds another victim to take his place, thus that victim cannot rest until it finds another victim and so on. Students and teachers claim to hear someone jogging around the track when no one is there, some hear voices, others see an apparition jogging or impaled on a pole.
According to legend, Coos County is inhabited by strange, bigfoot-like creatures called “Wood Devils.” They are very tall, thin, hairy with grey fur, and they walk upright. They let out loud piercing screams. Their body is the same shape as a human's body, but their faces don’t look like a human’s at all. If one were to come across a wood devil, they would most likely come across one before they would spot one. They hide behind trees and are considered to be very hostile. The Abenaki Indians had similar stories about a creature like the "Wood Devils" that they called "Keewakw" who was half-animal half-human. Keewakw would hide in the woods and search for people to feed on. Next time you go for a hike on Mt. Jasper, remember that the Wood Devils/Keewakw are watching because there have been sightings of this creature near Berlin in the past, all the way up to the present-day.
