Our New England Experience (Whitney's Perspective)

This blog post was written by Whitney Dankemeyer. 

The ocean, cemeteries, and pumpkin fests, oh my! Our time in New England is nothing short of adventurous, and this year, all three of Two Halves and Nicole were able to fly out for the whole experience. While most of our trip revolved around sight-seeing and festivals, we were able to still work in a few investigations on our vacation. When you throw the entire experience together into a chain of events, you really do have a storybook experience. Let me share it with you.

On October 18, 2023, Swan and I flew into Boston, Massachusetts. You’re probably wondering where Nicole is in this mix, so let me spoil that right away by saying she flew in the night before. Nicole had a credit with another airline, so she got to settle in a whole 24 hours before we did. Her and Jake picked us up from the airport that Wednesday evening and drove us all back to Litchfield, New Hampshire, where we would be resting our heads the remainder of the week. Aside from reunions and meeting Christina and Jake’s baby for the first time, resting our heads was the most productive thing we did that night. The next morning was when the real festivities would begin for us.

The next morning, we woke up and headed to Nashua, NH, where we spent the day shopping for the upcoming pumpkin festival. This festival was the annual Keene Pumpkin Festival in New Hampshire, and Christina and Jake would be running a vending booth for their non-profit organization. This organization is called “Jollycations,” and is a non-profit organization for pediatric oncology patients and their families. As a cancer patient in remission, Jake and his wife are looking for more ways to provide for these families during treatment, such as sending the patients and their families on week-long vacations to not only give them peace of mind, but to provide them more support through the challenging times. (You can show your support for this organization on their site by donating or purchasing a t-shirt at www.JollyCations.org.)

After losing Christina in the mall and finding out she bought her daughter a pair of crocs, we met up with Jake for lunch and took a trip to Hampton Beach. We not only got to walk the board walk and dip our feet into the ocean, but we also fished for raw crystals in the sand on shore. Despite my unobservant eyes, I managed to navigate Dalmatian Jasper, Kyanite, and Milky Quartz.

On the way back from the ocean, Christina brought up the cemetery we were passing and asked if we wanted to investigate it. Of course we wouldn't say no, so we turned left onto a side street and parked the car across from Hillcrest Cemetery. 

I was unable to find much history on Hillcrest, but there are roughly 500 burial sites at this location with the oldest headstone dating back to 1750. This investigation was very last minute, so we didn’t even have this information at the time of exploration. The sun had just set, but we thought we could get away with investigating before all the light in the sky was gone. Christina made a comment about the New Hampshire police tracking us down, and within seven seconds, an officer came down the road to stop us. 

The officer and his partner ensured we were alright first, but then they asked if we were ghost hunters next. We told them we were paranormal investigators, so the male officer asked if we were from the area. When we told him we were from Wisconsin, he educated us on a haunted school in another location, and then he granted us permission to investigate the cemetery as long as we were respectful. We ended up not getting a photo with the two of them, but whoever they are, we thank them for their generosity.

Inside the cemetery, we had the Necrometer app up on Swan’s phone, but a majority of our investigating this trip was testing our abilities with our senses. Swan was getting direct responses from the questions we were asking, but we all kept splitting up, so I am unable to recollect all that was talked about with spirit. What I do know for sure is that we were not alone. 

There were woods that surrounded the cemetery, and you could feel a crowd of spirits watching you from the distance. Aside from giving themselves away with movement in the brush, you could feel them studying you. Most people aren’t allowed in a cemetery after dark, so we took this as them being curious of who we were and wondering why we were there. When we huddled in a circle to talk about the noises we were hearing, we got a response from the Necrometer telling us to look back. That was when we took it upon us to leave. We thanked the spirits, told them to stay like a dog, and made way back to the car.

The next day was Saturday, and this day was our trip to Salem, Massachusetts. We left earlier in the morning than we did last year, and it was significantly less busy than it was the year before. In 2022, Swan and I took the train with Jake and Christina because traffic was blocked off to the public; this year we came a week ahead of Halloween and were able to drive straight into town. 

Finding a place to park was the tricky part. It was still a Friday in Salem, and because it was getting closer to lunch time, everyone was on the road. Jake suggested the four of us girls get out of the car while he found a spot, so we ventured over to the park to visit Ron while we waited.

Ron was the spirit we met last year at the WWII Memorial, and we wanted to pay our respects to him again. It was our little way of showing him we haven’t forgotten about him or his service. Swan to this day will tell you she heard him say, “You remembered” when we showed up. 

Our session with Ron was emotional but brief because within minutes we were heading to meet Jake and the baby. They were a few blocks away, so once we met up with them, we headed straight for the Blackcraft store. Shopping was limited for us the year before because lines were pouring out of buildings, so we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity this go-around. We did take a break momentarily to have lunch in the park, but it was followed up with more shopping after that.

Amongst our walking, we passed Charter St. Cemetery and the Salem Witch Trial Memorial. Because Nicole hadn’t seen it yet, we walked around it so she could see each offering left for the innocent victims. To be honest, it was good for Swan and I too, as we didn’t get to see them during the day last year. This was also Christina and Jake’s daughter’s first time in Salem outside the womb, so she got to experience it with her own eyes as well. It just so happened she took a personal liking to Bridget Bishop.

To wrap up our day in Salem, Christina and Jake surprised the girls and I with an actual tour of Charter St. Cemetery. We hadn’t gone in it before, just merely saw it, so to walk through it sent another kind of chill down our spine. The moment we walked through the gate we could feel how ancient it was. Surrounding us were the thinnest but most fragile headstones we had ever seen dating back to the 16 and 1700s.

From the second I stepped into the cemetery, my knees wanted to buckle. It was as if I lost strength from the waist down and couldn’t support the upper half of my body. I could’ve blamed it on the walking we did all morning, but my legs felt fine the moment we stepped off the grounds. The feeling was similar to standing on stage under a spotlight on opening night. Full House. All eyes on me. Nowhere to run. 

Swan was having issues swallowing, so she turned on an app device to see if anyone was trying to communicate. A spirit came forward immediately, but they didn’t reveal their name until later. From what we gathered, this spirit wanted us to be aware of another entity in the cemetery. We were specifically told, “One bad spirit” during our conversation, and when we asked further about the bad spirit, our answer was, “Untransformed.” 

We continued down the path and received the words, “I am here.” This was followed by, “Jessica” and “Signal.” Since we walked in, there had been a spirit with us, and we believe this was her finally introducing herself. We also think this was her way of saying she was still with us and had a message to send. Was she actually trying to warn us about something?

As Swan, Nicole, and I got closer to the end of the cemetery, we huddled in a circle to discuss the weird feelings we felt. As we were standing there, we even began to get strange feelings on our feet and ankles. Jessica said, “Oozily” on the device while this occurred, followed by, “They mean you harm.” She was warning us. Were we attracting more enemies the further we walked through the cemetery?

But alas, time won the battle, and our investigation was interrupted with the end of the tour. While we didn’t understand where the spiritual attacks were coming from at the time, we discovered later it was because we were witches. The three of us walked through a cemetery with people buried in it who may not have liked that so much. In addition to this, we believe the woozy legs and tight throat symptoms was residual energy of the innocent victims hanged. And we think Jessica, the spirit we met inside the cemetery, wanted to warn us of what the other spirits were trying to do. Thank you, Jessica.

The following day, we spent our whole Sunday at the Jollycations vendor booth. We were stationed at the Keene Pumpkin festival in New Hampshire, which is an annual event, rain or shine. While chilly and wet most of the day, it was worth every second to see and hear the Jollymore's share their story and mission.

Night came pretty quickly once we got back to Litchfield. Before we knew it, Nicole was staring at Swan and I from the foot of the bed while our alarms went off the next morning. Nicole flew out of Boston first, and Swan and I flew out a few hours later. By the time the sun had reached the other end of the sky, we were all home and in our own beds again. We thank our friends in New Hampshire for their hospitality, and I thank you for reading.

Until Next time, New England!