Hooper-Lee-Nichols House

A 2014 article by the Boston Globe titled Oldest Home Housed Oldest Profession, certifies how, in 1849, Dr. John White Webster rented the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House, shortly before enacting one of the goriest murders Cambridge had ever seen.

After Harvard Medical School professor, Dr. George Parkman, went missing in November of 1849, speculations about his disappearance began to surface.

But no one could have predicted what really happened to Parkman, especially in the mid-19th century. Cambridge - and the world - was shaken when the doctor's body was found dismembered - and partially burned - in Dr. Webster's Harvard laboratory.

It was nearly impossible for us to think that a man like Dr. Webster, could be guilty of so atrocious a crime as that of murdering a brother man. But it has been proved otherwise, the crime is traced and fixed upon him, and he must suffer the awful consequences which the law, under the sanction of the Executive, demands at his hand.

—Fall River Monitor, 1850

Following a tiresome 12-day-long trial, Webster confessed to murdering George Parkman in a fit of rage, and he was executed in August 1850. Many believe that Dr. Webster was framed by the janitor who found the body. Was the doctor innocent or was he indeed as wicked as he was painted out to be?

The dwelling we now call the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House, was once a modest "first-period" farmhouse, the second home built in Cambridge. If these walls could talk, they would have plenty of ghastly details to tell, starting with the story of its first owners.

The house was initially built for prominent Cambridge physician Richard Hooper. Unfortunately, Dr. Hooper passed away in 1691, shortly after the construction of the estate was completed.

Following her husband's death, Elizabeth Hooper was faced with severe financial troubles, forced to take in boarders, and convert her home into a tavern. As far as what went on in the establishment is unknown. It was likely questionable, however, since it soon earned a reputation for being a filthy, embarrassing business.

Shortly after (Dr.) Hooper's death, however, his family fell on very hard times--how or why, we don't know--deepening the mysteries surrounding him

—Rediscovering the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House, The Cambridge Historical Society, 2010

In 1701, Elizabeth's body was found wrapped in a sheet inside the house that lodgers and tavern-goers had collectively wrecked. The mysterious circumstances surrounding her death have only added to the already complex macabre history of the home. Was she murdered, or did she succumb to an unknown illness?

Elizabeth's troubled spirit is said to walk the halls still, hindered by her tragic end. Some say they have witnessed her gliding across the floor in the same white sheet her corpse was found in.

Legend has it that a group of five Hessian soldiers - Germans employed by the British during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) - haunt the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House. According to several accounts, the fierce European ghosts are often caught playing cards together in the library.

It is believed that the soldiers were buried near the home sometime during the conflict, as the property was, at the time, owned by a British Loyalist. The Hessian spirits are said to have emerged in 1915 after a library was constructed over their final resting place.

Author Sam Baltrusis, in his book Ghosts of Cambridge: Haunts of Harvard Square and Beyond, confirms there are no historical records to validate the supposed German soldier burials on the property.

However, the property was so large - roughly forty-five acres - that there is a possibility that Hessians set up camps (and were possibly killed) somewhere near the house.

In 1850, the house was rented to George and Susan Nichols, who performed some of the most extensive renovations ever made to the building.

The Nichols were celebrating the Fourth of July at their new residence, showcasing the remodel, when their young granddaughter stepped on lit fireworks. The open wound became infected, and she passed away shortly after.

From then on, the spirit of the Nichols granddaughter has been haunting the house, responsible for objects moving from one place to the other without explanation. Some have also reported hearing subtle weeps they attribute to the young girl's presence.