Kayla Mathieu
Exploring Brattleboro, Vermont
Vermont is a beautiful place, rich with history and much to explore. So, what is there to do in a beautiful, historical place? A little ghost hunting in the woods, of course! Actually, Colton and I wanted to hike and explore, but the kids had zero interest. We told them we were going ghost hunting in the woods of Vermont, and that piqued their interest a bit.
The Brattleboro Retreat
Our first stop was a hike to the Retreat Tower. The Vermont Asylum for the Insane was founded in 1834 and was later renamed to Brattleboro Retreat. The hospital is still open and treating patients today. The focus of treatment at the facility is derived from a Quaker concept of “moral treatments”, including fresh air, physical activity, and therapeutic farm and kitchen work. The Retreat Tower was built by patients of the asylum as a form of treatment. Unfortunately, it is believed that many patients actually used the tower to jump to their deaths.
Madame Sherri Forest
The “castle” in the woods was built by a French woman who left the Paris Cabaret in 1911 for the New York Theatre. She changed her name from Antoinette to Madame Sherri and opened a costume business. Her business did well and with her fortune she built her dream home in the woods near Chesterfield, NH in 1929. She was known to host numerous, wild parties until the money ran out and she fell into poverty. Eventually, she ended up as a ward of the state and left her house to succumb to nature. Her home eventually became the victim of vandals and destroyed in a fire in 1962. She died in 1965 at the age of 84. What is left of the foundation of her home can be visited by the public, however, in 2021, a portion of the impressive staircase collapsed. What remains is stable, for now, but is roped off for safety.
East Corinth, Vermont
While looking up places to visit, I found quite a few covered bridges, which got me thinking – I wonder where they filmed Beetlejuice, because the main characters crashed in a covered bridge (I know, my mind works in mysterious ways). To my surprise, the town was only an hour away! To my disappointment, the bridge was no longer covered. We did find the building they used in the film for Lydia’s schoolhouse though. It’s actually an old masonic lodge.
These were just a few, fun facts about where we were hiking and the history surrounding some of the places we visited while we were in Vermont.
Enjoy the video as the kids narrate their ghost hunting in the woods of Vermont!
