The Haunting Tales & Empty Buildings Of North Brookfield Massachusetts - Inside Tour Of Town Hall
Big thanks to Brandon the town historian in
North Brookfield Massachusetts for the tour.
Transcript
0:03
welcome everyone Adam the woo here as
0:03
the recording of this it is Sunday
0:05
November 5th
0:06
2023 a nice pleasant
0:10
day very very comfortable here in North
0:14
Brookfield Massachusetts there is a
0:17
pretty iconic looking building over
0:19
behind me used possibly as an
0:23
orchard I'm seeing it says Brookfield
0:26
orchard right here this is right on the
0:28
corner of Elm Street hopefully no
0:32
Nightmares come from this I do not
0:35
believe this
0:37
building is operational anymore so I'm
0:40
just going to be doing some stuff in
0:41
this General vicinity in this neck of
0:43
the woods in the surrounding towns and
0:47
areas as I walk up the side of this hill
0:50
it's a little
0:56
steep quaint little Community with a
0:56
barking dog over there and a neighbor
1:00
this says
1:02
1875 there on the
1:04
side but meeting up with a friend of
1:07
mine who lives in this area and we're
1:09
going to be getting some
1:11
access to at least one or possibly more
1:15
places to check
1:18
out I'm inviting you as always to join
1:22
me shall you right here and I guess you
1:25
could call the Town Square this big
1:27
church there's a steeple here so the
1:29
clock up there is an hour too fast
1:32
because last night was turn your clocks
1:34
back night so it's technically 12:38 all
1:38
right so this building here we're going
1:40
to be going inside of also my friend
1:43
Casey's here next to me this I got this
1:46
correct are we going in here yes we are
1:48
it's the local Town Hall North
1:50
Brookfield North Brookfield Town Hall
1:53
home of the Brookfield
1:55
Orchards and also the closest coffee
1:57
shop you're saying is like 15 mi from
1:59
here
2:00
so we're going to get coffee over at
2:02
this golf
2:04
station
2:07
okay check it out they have a go truck
2:10
yourself
2:14
sticker only driving I'm only driving
2:16
this way to piss you off this is dated
2:18
18 a little little moped going by like a
2:22
vesa so one thing you get up into the
2:24
New England states you definitely get a
2:26
lot of older headstones and that's like
2:28
the classic yeah you know usually you
2:30
don't see the face that looks like that
2:32
though it'll be usually more like a
2:34
skull face yeah than like a human head
2:37
just the actual flesh head look
2:40
like
2:45
coule passed away in
2:45
1760 yeah at 26 years
2:48
old I've heard a lot about the woo a
2:52
minor league team around this area there
2:55
old classic 70s style F there of the
2:58
North Brookfield liquor store all right
3:00
going to head into the museum well
3:02
Headway into the museum that is open
3:05
today the only Museum in town yes I keep
3:08
seeing these signs all around the
3:10
Brookfield Orchard is that still open
3:12
yep yep amazing apples yeah they a
3:16
little country store you sell all kinds
3:18
of stuff local cheese The Chew industry
3:22
kind of Blossom in North Brookfield in
3:24
the 1850s and this is a
3:27
1892 uh model that was taken to the
3:30
Chicago exhibition actually a similar
3:33
case that had the shoes in so the shoe
3:37
industry is kind of what transformed
3:40
North P from like a farming Community to
3:43
the center of town being more Industrial
3:46
and Commercial uh
3:49
1892 so is that factory still around is
3:52
it still sitting is it still around like
3:55
the buildings no the buildings have been
3:58
replaced but that's where viam is vim's
4:00
a Italian company that specializes in
4:04
sols for shoes and boots work boots uh
4:08
hiking boots special these SS uh special
4:12
uh materials for like firefighters and
4:14
such these are some of the
4:17
samples of the shoes uh wow 1833 shoe
4:22
yeah yeah so I started the I started the
4:24
day over here this is on the corner of
4:26
Elm Street I remember yep mhm Elman SCH
4:29
so was a a railroad station yep and
4:33
actually apparently that's kind of
4:34
unique because there's not a whole lot
4:36
of
4:36
twostory railroad stations they say so
4:39
so are the tracks still there no it's
4:42
turned turned into a rail
4:44
trail oh we're like a bike and walking
4:46
trail now yeah she has committed to the
4:50
what Lunatic Asylum Twice first time she
4:53
got out she soon got out second time she
4:55
didn't get out she was hello hey how you
4:57
doing really
5:00
she was she was committed uh number of
5:02
years ago a group of local women got
5:05
together to bring her back to town she
5:08
had uh children that were buried in town
5:11
actually you
5:12
look there that was behind her house on
5:15
Elm Street she had a crypt where she
5:20
actually did have a cryp behind her
5:21
house and but then there were buried
5:23
Walnut Grove Cemetery his life ended
5:27
suddenly he took the life of his wife
5:29
and his two children and then himself
5:32
yeah that's here in town killed them
5:35
yeah killed them with an axe and then
5:37
slid them thr straight razor apparently
5:40
would is the house still there no they
5:42
tore the house down the well not right
5:45
after they sold the property he was he
5:47
had a mortgage the mortgage holder sold
5:50
the property after but I'm not sure when
5:52
the house got do that but it's on the uh
5:56
northfi Sports Club property now that
5:58
was the you Congregational Church pict
6:01
the star theat so was it a movie theater
6:02
was it was a movie theater oh man I wish
6:05
that was still
6:06
there oh look at this AO fun movie
6:09
Seahawk played there so you categorize
6:11
all this yourself yeah and it still
6:14
needs to be fine tuned and I'm
6:16
constantly putting stuff in I'm kind of
6:19
moving things around cuz I'm running out
6:21
shelf here some homework cool there's
6:25
the Hat Box oh yeah Dr luden
6:29
and it was in good shape
6:31
because the guy who bought Dr luden's
6:34
House found it in his attic and his son
6:38
actually donated to our Museum just
6:42
graduated in June uh 1960 from North
6:45
Brookfield High School yeah she was her
6:49
and her
6:51
boyfriend it might have been engaged I'm
6:54
not even sure but you know she was 18 he
6:56
was 19 they were parked up at Brooks par
7:00
Pond uh doing what young people do I
7:03
guess maybe talking about the future
7:05
playing
7:07
badamin yeah something like
7:09
that
7:10
but anyway uh they were parked up there
7:15
they never came home really and they
7:18
went they found them the car had been
7:21
running all night they fixated carbon
7:24
monoxide oh my goodness 1500s it's
7:27
pretty cool you're just diing out all
7:29
the good stuff
7:38
here oh this is her wedding
7:38
dress this is a wedding
7:41
dress this
7:43
is the Sha
7:52
Trot Shiva Trot Spooner Trot was Trot
7:52
was her married
7:54
name did Casey tell you yeah I told yeah
7:58
well give me the give me the back story
8:00
well this supposedly was her daughter's
8:01
wedding dress was apparently a a
8:04
beautiful young woman who was kind of
8:08
forced into arrange marriage unhappy
8:12
marriage uh her husband like to frequent
8:15
the taverns okay uh which you know but
8:19
anyway so during the Revolutionary
8:23
War
8:24
uh the young American
8:28
Soldier
8:29
kind of her had a little Hanky Panky
8:32
under the sheet at night on one of his
8:34
nights her husband Joshua Spooner on the
8:38
way back from the Local Tavern was way
8:41
laid in front of the house at a well in
8:43
front of the house he was beaten over
8:45
the head shoved down the well in the
8:47
well shoved down the
8:50
well yeah I think that kind of FL the
8:52
water huh yeah you think a little bit
8:55
but uh why is the water taste funny on
8:57
the site of a previous souse that had
8:58
burned down
9:00
why is it called a townhouse because
9:01
it's the town hall uh because yes it was
9:04
the house of the Town The House of the
9:06
town I don't know I'm making that up I
9:09
love the paneling yeah isn't it cool so
9:12
what's the eventual hopes of the
9:14
happening to the building what's the
9:16
what Does The Bu what do you want the
9:17
building to become like what's the town
9:19
want to a cultural center kind of a
9:21
cultural C entertainment Cultural Center
9:23
uh yeah it reminds me
9:25
of certain basements back in when I was
9:28
a kid
9:30
yeah
9:30
this
9:36
wow we're on the first floor still right
9:36
yeah yeah I love this room for some
9:39
reason I just think it's a cool
9:41
shot oh the Board of
9:43
Health well wow this was
9:50
uh this is
9:50
awesome I uh I did acquire some of those
9:54
uh the section that's long there wow
9:58
yeah resolves of the Massachusetts leg
10:01
general laws from the 20s yeah but the
10:04
ones I have that were in that little
10:05
room they go back their reprints of some
10:09
actual uh acent resolves from like go
10:13
back to I believe 1600 you know very
10:15
early in the Commonwealth and the before
10:19
it was
10:20
a United States and before it was a
10:22
state added but like the selectman's
10:25
room was in this
10:27
area it's hard to tell the exact
10:29
configuration cuz things been divided up
10:32
this flooring is awesome safe look at
10:42
yeah safe within the
10:42
safe doubly
10:44
secure yeah I mean what what is
10:46
eventually going to happen to this safe
10:48
I mean it's just yeah I don't know I
10:50
don't think they even have any way to
10:52
lock it anymore but look at the you got
10:54
I don't know how the marriages you got
10:56
what were these called index card holder
10:58
yeah yeah
10:59
but I don't you know they probably built
11:02
this wall around the safe cuz you can't
11:05
move it got to be some heavy it's got
11:08
wheels on it
11:14
but little pencil sharpener yeah this
11:14
would have been one room originally
11:19
to and my dad has a bunch of file
11:21
cabinets still and they're nothing
11:23
they're not this heavy secure these are
11:25
fire we threw a bunch of we actually
11:28
cleaned this building out we had
11:30
a I think the biggest dumpster you can
11:32
actually get and you threw those away
11:35
not those but that's heavy other fire
11:37
cabinets mhm uh so much stuff was just
11:40
this thing is solid that's like a safe
11:42
on its own this would be a fascinating
11:44
read sewer records from 1972 to
11:48
1981 is this a this is a door it's a
11:51
door yes this is I didn't realize there
11:52
was a door there oh okay sciti climactic
11:56
you go first it's like a oh no this is
11:58
pretty awesome look at this yeah this is
12:01
the main
12:12
entrance right over there in the
12:12
church
12:14
wow that is incredible look at
12:23
that so
12:23
pretty great just an incredible
12:25
staircase
12:26
yeah is too it's a mini one oh it goes
12:31
up to
12:32
the does that go up to the yeah that
12:34
goes up we can go up there it's pry
12:48
Co oh goodness I did not expect this
12:48
whole area to be up
12:51
here stage wasn't original I'm not sure
12:54
when they put that in when's the last
12:57
time that this whole area was even used
13:00
1880s 90 early '90s 80s
13:04
1980s late ' 80s early '90s I would have
13:08
to
13:15
check I've also never seen folding
13:15
chairs that has a wooden base to it kind
13:19
of screwed into the wooden base like
13:20
that before maybe I have never ever seen
13:25
that is the Bell still up in the Bell
13:28
Tower
13:40
up I
13:40
did last forgot that kind forgot about
13:44
it we got the 35,000 so is that but
13:49
that's how much you're trying to raise
13:50
for the add a couple more zeros today
13:54
350,000 well the start maybe did good
13:57
but uh
13:59
more like let me skip that what's the
14:01
website you know the
14:03
website field
14:09
townhouse I'll put the link in I'll put
14:09
the link in the
14:14
description so add a couple more zeros
14:14
on there but anything helps 35
14:17
bajillion not just no smoking but
14:20
positively positively no smoking in this
14:24
Hall yes you can smoke down the offices
14:27
I think you're making you're making me
14:29
go first in here all right it's the
14:30
darkness here it's kind of scary here
14:32
you want some light positively no smoke
14:35
oh look at we're going downstairs no
14:36
we're not we're not I'm just showing you
14:38
oh this is an exit Okay this is between
14:41
two buildings
14:43
here they're not going down this goes
14:51
nowhere yeah grabing these times one
14:51
these days you need that for your Museum
15:00
this is great this reminds me of the
15:02
champ of the sea Dance from Back to the
15:03
Future where Marty McFly played the
15:06
played the guitar up here these are 60s
15:07
right oh what is down there is that
15:09
where Penny wise lives it says the chuds
15:12
the chuds nice reference it's the
15:14
original floor here let me turn the
15:16
light on I said the stage wasn't here
15:18
I'm not sure there when that was spr
15:21
there you know not look at that old
15:23
Sprite can I know it's amazing you're
15:25
right wow yeah wow I'm going to zoom in
15:28
on that it what's that one over
15:30
there uh Newport Club nothing orange
15:34
soda orange soda just an orange soda
15:36
there and then a ten foil ball actually
15:39
I have uh that Sprite right there is at
15:41
least worth $2 I got one of those at the
15:43
Museum you cies did you did you jump
15:45
down in there and get it no actually I
15:47
got I think it came from the the old
15:49
police station that was in here uh that
15:52
is vintage look at that thing yeah but
15:56
yeah that is so cool said the the stage
15:58
wasn't here originally they I gu more to
16:02
get a you know no surviving drawings or
16:05
anything just basically
16:09
uh expenses and it says platform there
16:13
was a platform when those fireproofing
16:15
oh nice so this is a play from
16:20
66 home site homicide in
16:23
66 that's amazing right I didn't notice
16:26
that last
16:27
time
16:34
that's they were put up specifically for
16:34
the the which show was it the all
16:36
Wilderness in uh October
16:39
1934 uh the town hall was packed Co
16:42
insisted only towns people got tickets
16:45
there said there were like 3,000 people
16:47
outside they had speakers outside
16:49
broadcasting to show 3,000 people on the
16:51
street but so those are
16:54
headlights those like automobile
16:56
headlights yeah it's pretty cool
16:59
so one nonsensical rumor is that they C
17:04
took them off his car to put up
17:07
there stupidest thing i' ever
17:09
heard what's he going to do can't drive
17:12
how's he going to get home yeah but
17:15
there was a Chevrolet dealership right
17:17
down the street here so I pretty sure
17:20
that's what they came from yanked it off
17:21
a jump car um no they probably just had
17:24
headlights you know you have to replace
17:26
your headlights so this place was
17:27
completely full there were 3,000 people
17:29
outside the windows just listening to it
17:32
I for how many people little wooden
17:35
benches here yeah that's different here
17:38
in the the bathroom why you need a bench
17:40
in the bathroom it almost looks like a
17:43
Sonic it's kind of like a
17:46
sauna you can go up here though right
17:48
yeah see I think yeah there's this is
17:53
one of my favorite windows for whatever
17:54
reason this window yeah I have
17:57
nice a rare construction for a town hall
18:01
most of them are kind of long ways the
18:03
original Town Hall the town hall not was
18:06
another one actually we're Subways it
18:08
was a town hall there that was the first
18:09
one in town that burned down so he built
18:12
one on this corner and it was more
18:15
lengthwise going down the street this
18:18
way mhm in across the main street so
18:22
this supposedly is kind of a unique
18:24
design for town halls all right we're
18:27
continuing up
18:42
attic
18:42
goodness
18:48
window are there any ghost stories in
18:48
town anywhere people like make stuff up
18:50
or is there any real truth to any of it
18:52
or those stories are there any tales
18:55
that locals come up with and say well
18:57
there's Uncle Harry
18:58
Uncle Harry Uncle
19:00
Harry paper back pamphlet kind of oh
19:03
these are books I thought they were like
19:05
I thought they were actually pieces of
19:08
concrete yeah that's why they had to put
19:10
this big beam in to hold the books yeah
19:12
this is the new heavy
19:13
books but anyway okay so it's 1960 that
19:18
that young couple died and the same
19:21
month Uncle Harry died I
19:23
forgot 1960 I was just Uncle Harry but
19:26
Uncle Harry is that where Uncle Harry he
19:28
was no Uncle Harry was my mother's Uncle
19:31
oh my gosh he lived up in the attic you
19:34
actually know the really the so one day
19:37
my mother saw him cutting a branch off a
19:41
tree or something the ladder went out
19:42
and he had to grab a hold of Branch he
19:44
straightened out and he was like over 6t
19:46
tall but anyway he lived up in the attic
19:48
and walk up attic and one day nobody was
19:51
home they all went out except Uncle
19:53
Harry and when they came home they found
19:56
Uncle Harry at the bottom of the stairs
19:58
with a broken neck oh man so Uncle Harry
20:01
had fallen down the stairs he didn't die
20:04
right away he died
20:05
pneumonia I'm not sure how this is your
20:07
Uncle Harry that's my mother's Uncle
20:09
Harry your mother's Uncle Harry so he
20:12
lived up in the act
20:14
and my mother and my aunt were up at the
20:19
house one time years
20:21
ago and they swore they could hear radio
20:25
coming from the attic and there was
20:26
nobody else in the house
20:32
and Uncle Harry liked to play the radio
20:32
up in the attic and I think I have that
20:34
radio still up in the attic you still
20:36
have the radio in the attic I think I I
20:38
think I well I I at least make up that
20:41
story that's the same one but it could
20:43
very well
20:45
be is that a big metal grate
20:50
this thing would come up it's like a
20:53
trapo in the summer I should have
20:55
pointed out when we were downstairs but
20:57
there's a big
20:59
oh I saw it it's right in the middle of
21:00
the the floor so this would
21:03
go I believe this would go on
21:05
first I'm not I think that went on first
21:08
but anyway could be the great and that
21:12
thing and it would create a chimney
21:13
effect yeah for
21:15
ventilation in the hot weather not sure
21:18
what this
21:19
was storage this from the Bell that's a
21:23
claer that's a claer what a CL what does
21:26
that do rings the bell yeah that's
21:28
pretty cool can you see the Bell from
21:31
yeah how do you see the Bell from here
21:32
got to climb up a ladder oh is it that
21:34
ladder right there I so yeah think
21:38
that's the one I went up last
21:57
time feel like Quasimoto going up here a
21:57
hunchback
22:19
that have you ever been all the way to
22:19
the top up there have you climbed up in
22:26
there that's
22:26
neat
22:44
it's the police station oh this was part
22:44
of the police station this is the brick
22:47
section on the
22:59
back has a boiler room oh that's the
22:59
Boiler Room furnace that just heated the
23:02
Hall of the gr o the stores had their
23:07
own stoves in
23:16
them this is a pretty old looking
23:16
furnace boiler when they went to steam
23:21
heat they put it in here that's a
23:23
converted coal boiler that big
23:26
old
23:28
what it was but it was a meat store
23:32
there was longtime fruit store in here
23:35
uh was a video up for a little while
23:37
it's a video store video store before
23:40
closed down got an nativity scene got
23:43
some doors here I have no telling what's
23:44
behind those doors the rock stone wall
23:46
over here is amazing though yeah this
23:49
that is great some of this is original
23:52
from the previous town house that was
23:56
here this this kind of reminds May it's
23:58
the opposite angle but this looks like
23:59
the ending of Blair Witch when he's like
24:01
in the corner against the
24:04
wall think it was kind of like
24:13
us okay here's another donation yeah
24:13
please help restore the pride of our
24:21
town uh yeah that was there restoration
24:21
efforts over the years but there is an
24:23
active website up right the people can
24:24
Don is
24:26
yeah who's in here
24:28
it's really gross oh is it what this a
24:30
bathroom yeah oh oh that's not the
24:33
basement sub basement the sub basement
24:36
it's a sub basement where you can see
24:38
like where the street used to be and
24:42
then they built it up
24:44
higher well yeah they built this on the
24:47
so yeah so this is
24:53
like I don't know if you read this sign
24:53
or not but if you look here look at this
24:56
with this si uh say just do not
24:59
enter well we going I'm not I'm not
25:01
entering we're looking okay I like it
25:04
yeah I want to oh my gosh this is like
25:06
out of a horror film it's pretty
25:08
terrifying down there that is not even
25:10
structurally sound no I've been down
25:12
there but I wouldn't advise he went down
25:14
there in
25:16
my in my precarious moldy stag ties in
25:19
my precarious position to allow anybody
25:22
else down there go yeah oh what's
25:29
they actually left all kinds of crap
25:31
down here I mean they're picking bullets
25:33
up off the floor some of the old lockers
25:36
down here still
25:48
too look like a big pair of
25:48
sunglasses kind of
26:00
does Chief's messenger DA's office
26:00
dealing with other agencies license
26:02
suspension registration suspension legal
26:06
updates that's a big pin
26:10
board got the schedules and the training
26:12
up top
26:14
too all right oh here you go here's more
26:16
info here restoration plans NB Town
26:23
house.com a website too NBT house.com
26:27
takeaction
26:29
located at North 185
26:37
Maine yeah it's covering that that
26:38
window there
26:40
yeah I wish they put it over there more
26:51
banisters so this was the police station
26:52
here yep that we were just
26:56
in what a build
26:58
building that is definitely an
27:00
impressive Building look at this thing
27:03
so I was up there see the whole
27:06
thing back in the rental car now looking
27:09
at some of these old homes through here
27:10
I'm trying to find the
27:12
well I was talking about in the museum
27:15
the lady threw her husband down find
27:28
it all right I pulled over here on the
27:28
side of the road found it Spooner
27:33
well Joshua Joshua Spooner thrown down
27:37
this well back in
27:39
1778 by three
27:41
soldiers okay so his wife was the one
27:44
that threw him down the well it was the
27:46
soldiers that did but she urged them to
27:50
do it her name was bash
27:52
Sheba and all four were punished
27:55
accordingly 177 78 not long after from
27:59
March to July it was very
28:05
Swift I don't know where the well was
28:05
was the well
28:07
there or was the well over
28:10
there it's tough to tell but anyway
28:12
there's like
28:14
this little little Memorial
28:17
here to The Spooner well
28:21
closed try that got storm clouds rolling
28:29
in kind of Drive-In that you'd pull up
28:29
with your car and watch a movie three
28:31
different screens look at all the 3D
28:41
glasses that's
28:41
great I wonder what the last R movie was
28:44
that they showed
28:45
here it's pretty in really good shape
28:48
there's like not a lot of graffiti the
28:50
windows are still like intact it was a
28:54
cash only place see the cash only sign
28:56
there so how do you pronounce the name
28:59
of the town Lester
29:01
Lester so Cinema one over there Cinema 2
29:22
way he three
29:22
screens so this is screen two and three
29:26
we're over here I'm only seeing one they
29:29
still
29:31
have have the poles here where you put
29:33
the speakers on them and you pull your
29:36
car right up to the side there there's a
29:39
little concession area the snack bar
29:40
over there in the
29:46
distance very muddy so I might walk down
29:46
the paved area that's where they would
29:47
watch the movie yeah that's uh there's
29:50
the third streen over there way off in
29:53
the
29:55
woods and then there's there's the
29:57
second
29:58
screen which is up by the snack bar
30:01
concession
30:02
area located right
30:05
here and then the first
30:08
screen and every time I see a drive-in
30:10
movie theater I always think of the
30:11
movie The
30:13
Outsiders also P's big adventure at the
30:15
end yeah the sun it will be setting very
30:24
soon feel the temperature dropping just
30:24
a little
30:26
bit
30:34
from here I'm going to head southbound
30:34
Drive quite a few hours I'm going to try
30:36
to make up some time and get out of the
30:37
area and start heading
30:41
Southward and that's going to do it for
30:50
today I'll see you in the next video
30:50
Vlog I'm leaving
30:53
Massachusetts the Vlog is over