As you drive on Route 103 in Cuttingsville, Vermont, an eerie sight may suddenly overtake you. It is the pale, white figure of a man crouching before the door of the Laurel Glen Mausoleum with a wreath and key in one hand and a top hat in the other. The mournful figure is watching the door, as if waiting for its inhabitants to sally forth from the burial vault. No, the personage is not a ghost but the statue of John P. Bowman who, along with his family, is buried in the great vault.
The statue has graced the steps of the vault since 1881, when the wealthy farmer had the chamber built to house his wife and two daughters. Within the crypt that was erected with the help of 25 sculptors is the life-size statue of his oldest daughter, Addie, who died when she was an infant. Also within its walls are the busts of his other daughter, Ella, and his wife, Jenny, who tragically passed away within seven months of each other. The mausoleum would be the talk of Vermont.
Ten years later, in 1891, Mr. Bowman himself passed on and was interred in the burial vault. The reason for the statue of his likeness at the steps of the chamber remains a mystery to this day. Strange things have been reported around the mausoleum at night, but what is more horrifying is the Bowman House across the street from the cemetery, because it is extremely haunted. Many think it is the ghosts of Bowman and his family still dwelling within the mansion.
An unidentified woman has been seen on countless occasions in the house. A painting once flew off the wall at a little girl who stuck her tongue out at it. This phenomenon was witnessed by several people who were taking a tour of the great home. The mansion stood vacant for some years before it was recently purchased and renovated for its new owner.
The woman now in possession of the home has reported seeing the spirits of the Bowman family everywhere in the house—so much so that she is afraid to venture forth from a special room after dark. She had to convert that area into a bedroom with a bathroom and even a little kitchenette, according to reports in the local Rutland papers. The spirits seem to have taken over the whole house, but they let her have her one little area after the sun’s rays have fallen beneath the horizon.
The owners will no longer stay in the Bowman house after dark. It becomes vacant save for the ghosts who run its domain in the dark of the night.
Written by — Thomas D’Agostino Writer, Paranormal Researcher, and Investigator
BOWMAN HOUSE AND LAUREL GLEN MAUSOLEUM
ROUTE 103 CUTTINGSVILLE, VERMONT 05738
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SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of Haunted Places -Ghostly Locales from around the World – Compiled & Edited by Jeff Belanger – Copyright 2005 by Jeff Belanger