It’s a haunted house – no doubt about it. Just ask the people who have seen the apparitions.
“It’s chock-block full of spirits,” said Ed Needham of Gorham, about the historic Tyng mansion on the town’s lower Main Street, where he grew up.
With few homes in the immediate area, the 22-room estate, now converted to office use, is unlikely to attract many trick-or-treaters. But the strange occurrences there suggest a true Halloween story.
Businessmen Mike Cooper and Ken Lefebvre converted the Tyng mansion into offices for their First Suburban Title Co., which they relocated from Westbrook. They bought the property and restored it last year.
Cooper, a lawyer and former Westbrook city solicitor, said the original home, built about 1770, was owned by a Tory, who fled during the Revolutionary War.
The mansion was rebuilt after being destroyed by fire on a Sabbath afternoon in 1807, according to historical accounts. The property and its early occupants, the Ross and Tyng families, are woven into Gorham’s history.
Lefebvre, a former Westbrook mayor, admired the beauty of the mansion even as a youth passing by.
The property was a land grant from the king of England. “It’s a really cool place,” Lefebvre said. “It’s a terrific old building.”
Cooper said the mansion “creaks and rattles” when the wind blows. But neither he nor Lefebvre has experienced any unexplainable happenings, although each has worked alone there into the night.
“I make sure there are lights on when I’m wandering around,” Cooper said with a laugh.
But others report unusual happenings there. Cooper said one of the men installing furniture said he felt a brush on his shoulder.
“They dropped their tools and refused to work at night,” he said.
Lefebvre said a contractor restoring the mansion heard footsteps on the stairs and even change jingling in a pocket, but saw no one.
Melissa Parker, wife of a contractor who worked on the restoration, said it’s a beautiful house and she fell in love with it. She agreed with Needham about the presence of spirits.
“I got bad feelings in a room on the second floor,” said Parker, who lives in the neighborhood.
Parker once saw a little boy, perhaps 5 to 7 years old, in an upstairs window in a room near Cooper’s office. She said the boy, who told her his name was William, had dark, wavy hair and was wearing a puffy white shirt with ruffles.
“He looked very sad,” she said. “I waved to him, but he didn’t wave back.”
She was surprised to learn that a William was once the owner. Needham said the original mansion was built by Col. William Tyng for his bride. Tyng married Elizabeth Ross, daughter of wealthy landowner Capt. Alexander Ross.
In a room on the ground floor, Parker saw a gentleman, an “older man,” with a dark beard and dark hair smoking a “smelly” pipe. She said the man told her his name was Pike, and he didn’t want people in that house. She said there’s definitely more spirits there.
The Tyng mansion was once the largest slave-holding estate in Maine. Needham said field slaves were housed in outbuildings on the estate while others were quartered in the mansion basement.
“They’re all buried on the property,” Needham said.
Over the years, the mansion has served as a tourist home, a private hospital and a nursing home. The hospital washroom is still there. As a child, Needham recalled finding “macabre” instruments and tools, leftover from hospital days, in the basement. “It looked like it was from a horror movie,” Needham said.
Needham said things would disappear, and recalled an incident when a couple visiting his folks doubted the presence of spirits. Suddenly “there was a loud crack,” Needham said, a candy dish split open on a coffee table.
“They quickly removed themselves from the house.”
Recounting the early history, Needham said Tyng, a strong backer of the church and schools, was prominent in Gorham. He was the Cumberland County sheriff.
Sometime after the Revolutionary War, Tyng returned to Gorham. But Cooper said Tyng wasn’t well-received, and a man named Phinney refused to shake his hand. “It was the talk of the town,” Cooper said.
Cooper and Lefebvre have restored every wall and every floor in the mansion. They’ve matched needed woodwork with the original. “It has been a fun project,” Lefebvre said.
The mansion was spared twice this year after being hit by lightning that knocked out the phone and computer system. Lefebvre said in one of the incidents, two windows in his office filled with a yellow glow. It startled Lefebvre “right out” of his chair.
“It had nothing to do with spirits,” Lefebvre said about the lightning strikes.
The mansion was sound, with timbers and foundation in good shape when they bought it. Cooper praised those who built it nearly two centuries ago. “These people were master builders,” Cooper said.
But restored, it pops eyes.
“People come in on business,” Cooper said, “and say ‘wow.'”
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