The Stratford Poltergeist

The tale of Phelps Mansion located in Stratford, Connecticut, after a century, remains one of the  inexplicable experiences with…something in American history. It all began one early Spring morning in March 1850. A mystery surrounding an unexplainable haunting still gives goosebumps to fans of the paranormal who have heard about the Phelps Mansion. 

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The mansion was built in the 1800s, and was built by a sea captain named George R. Dowell. Dowell's design choices for the mansion on Elm street veered on the eccentric. For example, the main hallway of the home was 70 feet long and 12 feet wide with a double staircase. He claimed it reminded him of his clipper ship.After some time, Reverend Eliakim Phelps purchased the property in 1848. He bought it as a luxurious retirement property, as he planned to retire in the next few years. At the time, he was a widow but had recently re-married, and all of his children were grown and out of the house. He was known in social circles as eccentric, oftening sharing his thoughts and ponderings on mysticism and even getting involved in (at least from a research perspective) of the Spiritualist movement.

When Phelps and his (much younger) new wife moved in, along with his three step children (Anna, 16, Henry, 11 and another girl, who was 6). Phelps and his wife also had a child together who, at the time, was only 3 years old. The move was not all that welcome, though. Mrs. Phelps did not like Stratford or her neighbors, and she was worried about her daughter Anna who "suffered from a nervous disposition." Things went from manageable, to so much worse on Sunday, March 10th, 1850. The entire Phelps family had returned from morning church services to find the doors of their house wide open. Phelps was particularly shocked by this as he knew the entire house had been secured. 

Phelps cautiously entered the house and discovered chaos within. It looked like the entire home had been ransacked. The furniture was knocked over, dishes were broken, books, papers, and clothing were scattered about. Yet, nothing was stolen. His family followed him and throughout the house there was no one hiding in the house. Although the entire scene was odd, there was one bedroom that was particularly odd. In one of the bedrooms, a sheet had been placed over the bed and one of Mrs. Phelps’ nightgowns had been carefully placed on top of it. The arms of the nightgown had been golden over at the chest. Stockings were positioned at the feet, as if to suggest a full body. The Phelps family had no idea what to make of this. Can you imagine walking home to this?

The family was still planning on attending afternoon services and worked to get the house back in order swiftly. Phelps decided to remain at the home and forgo afternoon services in hopes that he could catch the burglars. He was hiding in silence in his study, armed with a pistol, waiting. After a few hours of no movement, he decided to head back downstairs where he was met with an even stranger sight. Upon walking downstairs, the dining room was filled with lifelike effigies of women standing, kneeling, bowing, and even holding bibles. Dresses had been stuffed with rags and other clothing from around the house. Despite being home the entire time and listening closely, Phelps had no idea this would happen. And this would be far from the last time effigies mysteriously appeared in the house. Was this perhaps a jest at Phelps and his religious issues as he was quite interested in mysticism and the spiritualist movement? Or, was it simply something thought up by whoever created the intricate set-up and a reflection of their own devotion? Or, perhaps it meant only to intimidate.

Phelps was sweating, and slightly worried, that perhaps it wasn’t humans messing with them and that…perhaps Phelps himself was responsible. Just a few days earlier on March 4th, Phelps and his friend had conducted a seance and observed some disorganized knocking and rapping. However, at the time, neither found the experience remarkable. But, now perhaps Phelps had invited those seemingly innocuous spirits into his home.

When the entire family returned home, activity increased. Objects moved without explanation around the house, silverware was launched around the house, and sheets were pulled from the bed. This continued for hours until the evening when it seemed whatever was behind it had exhausted itself. The next morning, however, activity began again. Phelps contacted a friend and retired minister, Reverend John Mitchell. After hearing the story from the Phelps family, he still believed the family or help was behind it. However, after interviewing the suspects and seeing some objects move of their own will for himself he became convinced that something truly strange was afoot. This activity continued for a few more days and on March 14th, the activity escalated when a potato dropped out of nowhere and landed in the middle of the breakfast table. Throughout the day, Phelps reported that 46 objects appeared out of thin air and dropped into the locked parlor. Some of the items were articles of clothing that were previously in the upstairs closests.

Over the next several weeks friends, family, and even observers who had heard through the grapevine what was happening showed up to the Phelps mansion. Of course, there were countless accusations of trickery, but with each, Phelps would invite skeptics into the home. He was notoriously hospitable to reporters, investigators, and even those that were simply curious. Many of these folks ended up witnessing disturbances first hand. Phelps' son from his first marriage, Austin, heard about what was happening to his father in a newspaper and trekked to Stratford to get to the bottom of this strangeness. Austin himself was well-regarded in the community and was a professor at Andover Theological Seminary. In fact, Austin was frustrated with his father for all this nonsense and potentially dirtying the good phelps name. However, Austin was disturbed by rapping noises with no origin, and upon staying the night left the next morning believing whatever was happening was genuine.

Obviously this disrupting caused physical and psychological trauma for the entire family. Throughout the day, objects would sail around rooms, effigies would continue to appear, and at night strange knocking, voices, and other bizarre sounds kept the family up. After some time, Anna soon became very targeted by whatever was going on in the house. After a month of activity, in April, Anna would often be pushed and pulled by a poltergeist and even pinched, which a journalist from the New York Sun witnessed. She was also often slapped or had her hair pulled and it wasn't uncommon to see red welts appear on her skin. Henry was also tortured in a similar fashion to his sister.” In fact, there were even reports of him being knocked unconscious and taken from the home, only to be returned a few hours later with no memory.

After the specific physical attacks against Henry and Anna, he decided to send them away to boarding school. The activity did lessen quite a bit after their departure from the home. A few weeks passed in tense normality, but a few hours before Henry returned home an anonymous letter arrived at the house stating, "The good ones say that all is done, but the wicked ones say it has just begun." After Henry's return shortly after, the family gathered to pray together but when they joined hands their prayer was interrupted by windows shattering. 

Unsure how to protect his family, Phelps called on Reverent Mitchell to try and host another seance. They decided to take instructions from the Fox Sisters on how to conduct a seance and sat at a small table. The spirit claimed to have been a man who worked for Phelps and defrauded him. Phelps was unaware of any fraud issues but when he reviewed his accounts the next day, he was able to confirm some fraud by a man who was no longer living. This would be the first seance of several that the two men would conduct in hopes of getting the spirit (or spirits) to quell their harmful and destructive rampage on the family. However, as they continued to meet it seemed that the original story wasn't quite right and it was likely not the man who it claimed to be. When asked who the spirit really was a piece of paper floated down and read "A demon, from Hell." After this Phelps immediately stopped performing seances, and believed the demon would never stop. 

After months of torture, investigation, and attempted cleansing the Phelps family moved to Philadelphia. Initially, it was just for the winter months. No spirits followed them and the family settled back into normal family life. When they returned to Stratford the following spring, one year after activity first began, they were no longer plagued with anything out of the ordinary. They decided to stay, and lived in the mansion for another 8 years. They then sold it to Moses Beach in 1859, whose family owned the mansion for decades without incident. It was then turned into a nursing home, abandoned for a few years, and then restored as a part of a nearby hospital. In the early 70s, staff often complained about hearing strange noises and having odd experiences. Even Ed and Lorraine Warren were called to investigate but were unable to find anything definitive. Shortly after, the house was partially destroyed by a fire and was eventually demolished in 1974.

Of course theories continue to swirl to this day about what (or who) was behind the hauntings. A popular theory is that the demon was the witch, Goody Basset who was tried for witchcraft and hanged. It was said that the hangings of witches happened on Elm Street, where the Phelps mansion stood. It was believed that in the initial seance, Goody was able to cross-over and begin wreaking havoc. 

Others believe it was a trick put on by the entire family. Since Phelps was familiar with the Spiritualist movement, perhaps he had learned how to fake some of the events, especially with the help of his stepchildren. This would also explain that when the two oldest children were out of the house, activity all but not stopped. In fact, Phelps visited the Fox Sisters on several occasions. And, as we all know, the Fox Sisters were eventually discovered as frauds.

Or, if you believe any of this at all, the Phelps really were plagued by unseen and unknown forces.

The mystery of Phelps Mansion remains unsolved even in modern times, and it continues to intrigue fans of the paranormal. The unexplainable occurrences that the Phelps family experienced still baffle researchers and investigators, and the mystery is as mysterious as ever. However, one thing is for sure, the haunting will continue to be a source of curiosity and fascination for years to come, and who knows, one day, someone may unearth the truth.

Image is from an illustrated book depicting the Stratford Knocking house. Source.

Thanks to pbc1305 for the blogstonishing suggestion!