Tenney Gate House and Grey Court Castle

Methuen, MA

Date/Time: Oct. 17th, 2009 7:30 p.m. - 2:30 a.m.

Weather: 45 Degrees Farenheight and Cloudy

Case Status: Open

Members Attended: Cassy, Bill, Ann, Amanda, Jason, Jay and Bob (Investigator in Training)

Guest Investigators : Joe Bella and 3 Guests.

History:

The original rough stone farm house which was called the Whittier Farm house was built in the 1830's by William Whittier. The house served as a stage coach stop at one time.

When Mr. Charles Tenney married Fanny Gleason he inherited her Hat Factory. He became a very wealthy hat manufacturer and was one of three milionaires living in Methuen, MA at the time.

Mr. and Mrs. Tenney bought the Old Stone Farm House and 75 acres of surrounding land in the 1880's. They then renovated the Farm House and they lived there for awhile. In the 1890's they built Grey Court Castle which was behind the house way up into the back yard. After that was built the Tenney's moved there and the old Farm House became The Tenney Gate House where they had Gate keepers live.

The Tenney's lived in Grey Court Castle for 8 years after which they moved to their other home in NY and this home was kept as a summer home for awhile, eventually getting sold. 26 acres of the land was donated to the school system where a high school was built in 1959 and Grey Court Castle and the remaining land was sold to the Basilian Salvatorian Order which established a monastery there. Later the house was rented out to several people who lived there, until it was abandoned as a home in the late 1970's-early 1980's. The house sat empty for close to ten years. After which the Commonwealth of MA, the City of Methuen and the Historical Society of Methuen bought it and started renovations. Renovations are in constant process to up keep the building.

The only thing in the house that is original is an organ that's from the castle. It was given to a friend of the Tenney's and then upon the passing of this person the organ was given back to the Methuen Historical society to display in the Tenney Gate house.

Several of the renters as well as the President of the Historical Society of Methuen claim it to be haunted..

Father Nicholas Demetrius died in the Tenney Gate house on September 8th, 1963. A previous renter said that there was a lamp outside the room he died in and it would turn on by iteself. Even after someone got up and turned it off, it would turn back on.

There have been some strange pictures taken in the house leading people to believe that someone is still there.. Is it one of the previous owners?

 

This is an old picture taken of Grey Court Castle...

In the late 1970's it burned down and this is all that's left...

It had been previously used by Monks after the Tenney's moved out. And then as a drug rehab center called the Challenge House.

 

Investigation

The Investigators that went to this investigation:

From left to right Bottom: Cassy, Amanda, Bill and Ann.

From left to right Top: Jay, Bob and Jason.

Investigation:

The investigation was pretty quiet for the most part. We did several EVP sessions with no responses and there were no EMF spikes. We'll see what evidence shows...

EVIDENCE:

This is a very unexplainable picture...