DOOR TO ... SOMEWHERE?
By Joseph A. Citro
One of the most atypical ghost stories I’ve ever heard was told to me by Mark Massie, then of Colchester. In addition to Mark, I interviewed two other witnesses: his brother Matt, and their mother. All three tell exactly the same story.
The maternal side of Mark's family came from Scotland during the 1700s and settled in the Ryegate area. There, James Whitehill, Mark's ancestor, built a stone house on his 600 acres. The house still stands; each year it hosts the family reunion.
Mark enjoys many childhood memories of the place. But there are other memories, too: the most profoundly puzzling incident of his life occurred there when he was in his early teens.
I think it is important to note that it happened on a bright summer's day, not during “a dark and foggy night," nor amid the terrors of a thunderstorm.
Mark and his brother Matt were near the house picking and eating wild raspberries. In time they tired of that, so they decided to head out and do some exploring.
They followed the old stone wall on the property line. Then, Mark says, "A few hundred yards away the oddest sight met our eyes... [O]n an adjacent hillside –
there in the middle of the hill – was a door!"
Seized by excitement, the boys rushed to get a closer look at the unfamiliar sight. It was, in fact, embedded in the hillside. And, they soon discovered, it was no ordinary door. Mark says, "This was a wood plank door with rough iron bolts and an iron lock which hung on a hasp. The hinges were long and also made of iron attached to a frame of wood.... The door looked... weather-beaten and crude, perhaps a bit intimidating...."
But there was an immediate flash of disappointment: Though they tugged and tugged, the ancient lock held firm.
So off they ran to tell their parents about their strange discovery. Alas, their enthusiasm was short-lived. Their mother, who had grown up on the property, recalled no such door and said she thought her boys had been in the sun too long.
Yet Mark and Matt knew what they'd seen and, after repeated insistence, their mother agreed to take a look... just as soon as she returned from St. Johnsbury, where she had an appointment.
The impatient boys accompanied her as they headed out. Driving past the field in question, all three could clearly see the strange door in the distant hillside.
Mark's mother was completely amazed. She stopped the car to stare. Then she reiterated that in all her years on the property, she had never seen the door nor had she heard anyone speak of it. Now she too was determined to check it out when they got back home.
Mark recalls, "Our excitement mounted every minute we were away.... We ran all the errands... and then left St. Johnsbury for Ryegate."
But as they drove slowly past the field, they couldn't believe their eyes. The doorway was gone!
Understandably, all three sat in shocked silence. Then Mark and his brother bolted from the car and ran into the field to find their lost door. Surely it could not have disappeared.
They looked high and low for what just a few hours earlier had been plain as day. But after a long and thorough search, no trace of the door could be found.
Mark is sure they didn't imagine it. And to this day he can't imagine what they would have found if they had opened it. And what if they'd gone inside? What then? Where might it have led them?
Joseph A. Citro is a Vermont author and folklorist known for collecting New England’s ghost stories, legends, and strange-but-true lore. His most recent book is The Vermont Ghost Experience, available at local bookstores or wherever books are sold. You can also ask your local library to order it for your enjoyment and the enjoyment of other library patrons. In Passing Strange, Citro shares folklore with a curious eye, a storyteller’s warmth, and just enough mystery to make you look twice on the ride home.