Middleboro, Massachusetts’ Haunted Oliver House is Teeming with Restless Spirits

Built two-and-a-half centuries ago, the Oliver House in Middleboro, Massachusetts has stood through the Revolutionary War, played host to presidents, and has seen plenty of death within its walls. Long considered one of the most historical homes in New England, the Oliver House is also one of the most haunted. As the site of countless residual and intelligent paranormal experiences, the beautiful building has become one of the best-kept secrets of local ghost hunters who are privy to the anomalous action inside, but now the paranormally-active property is read for its close up.. and an influx of new investigators.

The Oliver House was built in 1769 for Dr. Peter Oliver Jr. and his wife Sally Hutchinson, a young family who had moved to Middleboro in order to set up a practice in the town. Unfortunately, the Oliver family were loyalists to the crown, which created quite a bit of tension in Middleboro, a town which wanted independence from the British Empire. Twice during the course of a year, mobs congregated outside of the Oliver House, once to force the doctor not to accept commission from military governor General Gage. The angry mob’s second visit was not quite so cordial. In February 1775, the Oliver family was forced to abandoned their home and flee to England fearing for their safety.

Dr. Peter Oliver took to his diary to share his frustrations in scribblings which were eventually republished in the book History of the town of Middlebrow, Massachusetts.

“The Middlesborough people and indeed the Province in general, declare solemnly never to submit to this new plan of government. I thought I was safe with my family out of the reach of threats and insults. I never knew what mobbing was before. I am sick enough of confusion and uproar. I long for an asylum. Today I was visited by about 30 Middlesborough Puppies, who obliged me to sign their Articles. They proceeded and increased their number to 80, and attack’d Mr. Silas Wood, carried him off, and threatened his life if he would not sign their paper to stand by the old Charter.”

Since the Oliver family abandoned it, the house has changed hands countless times, even belonging to a distant relative to the Peter Oliver himself at one point. Fortunately, many of the previous owners have taken the time to carefully restore the beautiful Oliver House back to its former splendor, and early last year the historical home was purchased by the town of Middleboro, securing its future for generations to come.

Those who’ve spent time inside the Oliver House swear that the town of Middleboro has gotten a lot more than they bargained for with their investment. Not only is the historical home perfectly preserved, but it appears that the Oliver House is still inhabited by some of its former owners.

According to a handful of lucky investigators who have gotten the chance to conduct ghost hunts in the Oliver House, the building is teeming with spirits. Some of the unexplainable experiences people reported while visiting the property include the appearance of not one, but two ladies in white, one of whom is presumably Sally Hutchinson herself.

“..as soon as we got there, you could just feel the energy. It’s just so undisturbed. Places can give that off when there haven’t been a lot of people through in some time,” one ghost hunter told local news. “I was in the basement and I heard a really strong ‘GET OUT’ in my audio and I ran upstairs. I believe it might have been someone not from the old history of the house but maybe a caretaker who was there later on.”

Many investigators believe the house is so haunted because, for the most part, it’s been relatively untouched. Not until recently has the house been open to paranormal investigations, even though rumors of the activity have been public knowledge for nearly a hundred years.

During a recent investigation of the Oliver House, one ghost hunting team claims to have walked away with more than fifty EVPs, ghostly recordings that ranged from disembodied screams, to full sentences from unseen presences interacting with the investigators.

The level of activity inside the haunted Oliver House drew the attention of Paranormal Lockdown’s Nick Groff and Katrina Weidman, convincing the two seasoned ghost hunters to make their way to Massachusetts, where they became the first paranormal investigators to spend 72 hours locked inside the building with its ghosts.

Leilani Dalpe, chairman of the Oliver Estate Advisory and Tourism Committee, hopes that the Oliver House’s appearance on national television will elevate it to the kind of status afforded to famous haunts around the country.

“This is very exciting,” she told local news. “This will be such a shot in the arm for the town.”

The episode, which will air on TLC on December 30, at 9/8c, is the third episode of season two, which started off with a bang when the duo discovered human remains buried in the basement of Indiana;s haunted Monroe House. If the evidence captured inside the Oliver House was anywhere near as impressive as Paranormal Lockdown‘s previous episode filmed at England’s Shrewsbury Prison, we’re in for a real treat this season.

Fortunately for paranormal investigators who love discovering new locations to visit, the Oliver House is open for ghost tours and overnight investigations, as the town of Middleboro has fully embraced their spookiest residence.

Its rare to find such a haunted hidden gem, and chances are the location will book up quickly after its television debut, so if you’re thinking about conducting your own investigation you might want to act quick. Then again, the ghosts have been around for 250 years.. they’re probably not going anywhere.

(Image credit, The Oliver House, Facebook)

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