Episode 113: The Haunted Hoosac Tunnel
The Hoosac Tunnel’s construction began in 1851 in the Berkshire Mountains between two Western Massachusetts towns, Florida and North Adams. Their estimated budget was about $2 million dollars. The tunnel was completed in all of it’s glory in 1875, $21 million dollars later. It became the world’s second longest tunnel and was the longest tunnel in North America until 1916. The tunnel was aptly named as “Hoosac" is an Algonquian word meaning "place of stones”, and from start to finish they excavated 2,000,000 tons of rock.
The tunnel quickly earned the nickname “The Bloody Pit” due to the dangerous conditions, frequent injuries and almost 200 lives lost during the tunnel’s construction. It is also considered to be very haunted.
On March 20th, 1865, three explosive experts attempted to use nitroglycerin to blow up some of the rock and speed up construction. Ned Brinkman, Billy Nash, and Ringo Kelley primed the charge to prep for the explosion and took off running to the safety bunker. Ringo Kelley had been the one to set off the explosion and he had done it too soon while the others were still too close, burying both Ned and Billy alive under fallen debris and rubble. Ringo went missing soon after, and his body wasn’t found until over a year later in the exact location of the explosion. He had been strangled. Police were not able to find any suspects and his murder is still cold, and people began to speculate that it was the vengeful spirits of Ned and Billy who murdered him.
On October 17th, 1868, thirteen men went down into the tunnel’s central shaft to work on this area of construction. On top of the shaft was a building used as a surface pumping station, and this building contained oil, gasoline, power lamps, and even explosives. A spark from inside the shaft set the building ablaze, and the four crew members inside couldn’t put out the fire or bring the men underground back up safely. A man named Thomas Mallory was sent into the shaft to search for survivors and returned suffering from a lack of oxygen, gasping out the words “No hope.” Without the pumping station in operation the shaft began to flood and fill with water, slowly sending the miner’s bodies and remains to the surface. The last were recovered a year later and it was revealed they had all survived down there for quite some time on a makeshift raft before suffocating.
Other miners began hearing moans, screams and cries of agony from inside the tunnel, so much so that many walked off the job or refused to go inside after dark. Apparitions of the deceased miners were also seen by staff and those in the surrounding towns, and inspectors sent out to investigate shared these stories as well.
To this day the Hoosac Tunnel is regarded as being haunted due to all of the tragedy that took place inside. Paranormal investigators frequent the tunnel although this is not recommended due to the tunnel still being operational.
Image sources:
americanhauntingsink.com - “Ghosts of the Bloody Pit Hauntings of Massachusett’s Hoosac Tunnel”
digitalcommonwealth.org - “East portal Hoosac Tunnel showing abandoned tunnel; looking out west portal, Hoosac Tunnel”