FtV - The Ghost of Nancy Barton
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Welcome, legendary listeners. Thanks for tuning in to From the Vault, a second look at some of our classic episodes. Look for a new episode every week. Now, can you go back and listen on your own at OurNewEnglandLegends.com? You bet. But you won't get the added bonus of an After the Legends segment featuring new commentary about that episode from your old pals Jeff and Ray. So let's open up the New England Legends Vault and revisit another legendary episode.

Hey, welcome to the vault. We're so glad to have you in this vault with us. It's plenty of room, right? Come on in. Yeah, plenty of room. Stay a while. We're looking for a ghost this week, the ghost of Nancy Barton. First aired April 15th, 2021. Enjoy.

This place is so charming, Jeff. It is. The scenery is amazing here at the Notchland Inn, nestled right in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The Saco River runs right by the property across the street from Route 302. There's hiking trails that take you through the woods. This inn is so quaint, New England style, you know, right in the middle of the iconic Crawford Notch. I agree.

Though the scenery and setting are beautiful, we're actually here looking for a ghost. Ooh, a ghost? Inside the inn? Inside the inn, on the grounds, and in the woods around us. We've come to the Notchland Inn in search of the spirit of Nancy Barton. ♪

I'm Jeff Belanger, and welcome to episode 191 of the New England Legends podcast. If you give us about 10 minutes, we'll give you something strange to talk about today. And I'm Ray Ogier. The Notchland Inn is in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It's the next stop on our mission to chronicle every legend in New England, one story at a time.

Thanks for riding along with us. Please be sure to subscribe to our podcast because, well, it's free and we don't want you to miss a thing. No. We also love it when you post a review and tell a friend or two about our show and the community.

Before we head into the Nochlin Inn searching for a ghost, we want to take just a minute to tell you about our sponsor, Nuwadi Herbals. We do. As the weather warms up, I find myself sipping more Nuwadi Herbals fruit teas, like their Strawberry Moon. Ooh, that's my daughter's favorite. And I really enjoy their Lemon Sun. Oh, yeah. I add just a touch of honey or sugar, and it's a sweet treat.

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add your sugar, let it steep, and then you ice it down to perfection. And being here in the White Mountains, we're going to need some Nuwadi Herbals No-Squito Natural Insect Repellent. Of course. Our friends at Nuwadi Herbals have all kinds of great products you can incorporate into your life.

These are herbal remedies from Mother Earth. Check out the Nuwadi Herbals website to see all of their great products, and you legendary listeners get 20% off your order when you use the promo code LEGENDS20 at checkout. Visit nuwadiherbals.com. That's N-U-W-A-T-I, herbals, with an S, dot com. All right, Jeff, so we're looking for the ghost of Nancy Barton. We are, and I brought this to get us started. Oh, a map.

Yep, it's a map of the region. I've never seen a ghost on a map before. No, I get that. Well, this map won't necessarily show us where the ghost is, but definitely where she's been.

Look at the name of this brook just a tiny bit south of the inn. All right. It's called Nancy Brook. And if you follow the stream up from the hill where it empties into the Saco River... Nancy's Falls. Right. So some waterfalls are named after her. And keep following that stream uphill to the west... Okay. Well, that's Nancy Pond. Which is just south of the summit of... Mount Nancy. And nearby the brook is also Nancy's Rock. It's safe to say that Nancy Barton left a mark with more than just her ghost...

Now, to figure out why she may still be around, let's head back to the winter of 1788. It's the winter of 1788, and life here in the White Mountains is rugged. The going isn't easy, especially in winter. You've got to be tough to make it in the White Mountains. Tough like Colonel Whipple of nearby Jefferson, New Hampshire. Colonel Whipple owns a boarding house for men who work for him.

To run a boarding house in a place like this, you also have to be pretty tough. And this is where we meet Nancy Barton. And Nancy was born and raised in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but came to Jefferson at age 16 to work for Colonel Whipple.

She's only the second white woman to pass through the notch. Nancy does the cooking and cleaning at the boarding house. She works hard, she's smart, and considering room and board is part of her payment, she's saved almost every penny she earns. Over the years, it starts adding up. Plus, Nancy is resourceful.

Now, a few summers ago, Colonel Whipple was captured by Indians. They had the colonel tied up, and that's when Nancy approached with rum for his captors. They drank themselves into a stupor, which gave Nancy the opportunity to cut Colonel Whipple free from his robes. She's tough, no question about that. Yeah. But also kind, and considering she's the only eligible bachelorette in the building, the men in the boarding house can't help but be smitten by her.

Different men have tried to win her affection, but most of them received nothing more than a polite smile. But there is one man who came here recently, Jim Swindell. Jim is just charming enough. He's attractive enough. And pretty soon, Nancy Barton finds herself smitten, too. The two talk about life in the White Mountains, about where they're from.

And very quickly, the talk turns to marriage. The only problem is, Jim says he doesn't have much money saved up to start their lives together. Yeah, but that's okay. Nancy explains how she's saved every penny for years. She's built up her own dowry. It's enough to give them a good start.

And as a token of her faith in this wonderful man, she hands over all of her money so Jim can keep it safe until they get to Portsmouth. It's agreed. The two will make their way to Portsmouth to get married and start a new life together. They'll leave with the next party heading that way in just a few days. Meanwhile, Colonel Whipple is fretting over losing Nancy. She's a great cook. He figures no one will ever work as hard as she does. How could he possibly replace her?

So, when Jim Swindell whispers in the colonel's ear, he nods.

And that's when the colonel sends Nancy Barton on an errand to Lancaster, the next town north of Jefferson. Nancy hears enough whispering going on at the boarding house to suspect something is up. There's an unsettled feeling when she leaves for Lancaster. One of those feelings that just keeps gnawing away at you. So she quickens her pace. Besides, it's winter. The brisk walk warms her up. Plus, she's eager to get back as soon as possible.

When Nancy returns to the boarding house that night, she learns that her love ran off this morning with all of her money. And to make the situation even worse, Colonel Whipple was in on it. He figured if she's broken alone, she'll have to stay. Nancy is beyond furious. She ties up some of her clothing into a bundle and takes off into the night to track down this thief. It's cold. A light snow is starting to fall, but Nancy's blind rage keeps her warm enough

She knows the mountains and the notch. She has no doubt Jim will follow the Saco River south. And pretty soon, she picks up his trail in the snow. Nancy Barton walks all night until she reaches a camp by a stream that spills into the Saco. There's a campfire that's been recently extinguished. Nancy is exhausted. But now, she has another problem. Winter snow is starting to fall heavy. It's sticking to her layers of clothes and turning to ice, weighing her down.

Now desperate, she looks around for any signs of twigs and branches she can use to start a fire. But it would seem that the man she loved, and who she thought loved her, and who stole all of her money, also took any nearby burnable fuel. With only her anger to push her forward, she follows the snowy footprints southward, stumbling only a few feet until she reaches the bank of the brook, where she collapses to the ground.

The snow continues to fall as the life fades out from young Nancy Barton. A few hours later, a search party locates Nancy's frozen corpse. Brokenhearted, they bury her body by the brook. And that brings us back to today. They say after he found out what happened to Nancy, Jim Swindell lost his sanity and died some horrible death.

Though her life ended in 1778, her afterlife was just getting started. The brook, the mountain, the falls, the pond, and the nearby hilltop were all named in Nancy's honor, a reminder of a horrible and unnecessary event that took place right here. An event that occurred a literal stone's throw from the Notchland Inn. The Mount Crawford House was built here not long after Nancy Barton perished.

The Crawford House was a tavern for over a century, and then the Notchland Inn was built off of the Crawford House in the 1920s. In fact, the old tavern is the current inn's dining room.

And given the most prominent story in this immediate area is that of Nancy Barton, this place may have been haunted from the day it was built. Strange happenings have been reported in several of the rooms at the inn. Sometimes it's just the feeling that you're not alone. Some have claimed flowers mysteriously appeared in the room. Then there's reports of an apparition of a woman gliding through. Of course, people immediately think of the betrayed woman who died right nearby.

And if the names of the brook and the mountains and the rock and the falls weren't enough to remind us of what happened, a sign was placed by the trail in 1931. A sign that eventually made its way into the lobby of the Notchland Inn, going

Go ahead and give this a read, Ray. All right. It says, Nancy of Jefferson, New Hampshire perished here in 1778, following the wild path of the Notch for 30 miles in a vain attempt to overtake her faithless lover. She perished in a snowstorm by the stream and is buried here. Nancy was the second woman to go through the Notch Pass.

In one version of the story, it was implied that Colonel Whipple encouraged Jim Swindell to take the money and use it to join the Continental Army and fight the British for independence.

And if that happens to leave Nancy broke and forced to continue to work for the colonel, you know, then all the better. Either way, it leaves Nancy betrayed and broke at the hands of two men whom she trusted. And it leaves her scorned. Break her heart, that's one thing. Steal from her, and she'll hunt you down. Nancy was never given anything in her life. She had to work for every penny. She died trying to get back what was hers. ♪

Kind of gives you the Willys, doesn't it? I see what you did there. That's the tragic story of the Willie family and the landslide that took their lives that happened just six miles up Route 302. We covered that story back in episode number 40, if you want to check that out. Please consider joining our legendary community of Patreon patrons. These folks kick in just three bucks per month to get early access to new episodes plus bonus episodes and content that no one else gets to hear.

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We'd like to thank our sponsor, Nuwadi Herbals, and our theme music is by John Judd. Until next time, remember, the bazaar is closer than you think. All right, we'll break it down right after a word from our sponsor.

Beware a woman scorned. Right? Yeah. And this is a timely story too with the temperatures the way they are these days. It's been so cold lately. All over. I mean, it's been a deep freeze. But so, I mean, what a tough cookie, right? So she gives her heart. She falls in love. She gives all of her money and she gets robbed. And she's like, oh,

oh, I don't care about the snow or the weather. Scorned by two guys, by the way. Yeah, right. I'm going after this dude. Yeah. Right? Now, you knew how tough she was to begin with. That was her story. Everyone knew that. Why would you try to screw over somebody like her? Well, people do horrible things when money gets involved. I guess so. You know, there's no morals sometimes. That's not a new thing. That's been around for a long, long time.

But the idea of like chasing him down in the snow, I can just imagine her... I picture it like a movie, you know? Like just...

anger keeping her warm for a while. Sure. Right? Just like, ugh. Yeah. Like pure rage keeping her focused and warm and moving until you just completely run out of gas. Yeah, all that adrenaline from the start. Yeah, right. And then, oh, I think I made a mistake. Oh. And then the body starts shutting down. You know, the worst part too is that when you make, forget the mistake of going out into the frigid winter alone, you know, with not much, you know, not much to protect you, but...

We're never so mad as we are when we're mad at ourselves. Oh, yeah. Right? It's one thing like you were robbed by somebody, and that's awful. Someone violated your trust. They're a terrible person that did an unscrupulous thing, and then you get so mad at yourself. Why did I believe in you? Oh, sure. Why did I trust you? Yeah, that anger turns within. It's my fault because I should have seen that you're a terrible person, and I should have not trusted you. And the reality is—

If you take that view with everyone you meet, you're going to be a miserable person. Sure. You can't go around not trusting anyone. Yeah. Because once in a while, you're going to get rolled over here. Right. But otherwise... It's hard because people...

I don't know. I don't want to be too negative. I was going to say people stink. They do. This guy stinks. Well, this guy does. We don't all stink, I guess. We're good people. I think deep down inside, we're all good people. Sure. We just do dumb things. We do. But it is maddening. And yes, you rage against people like that that did you wrong. But then a couple hours later, it's like, well, I'm the idiot that dealt with this person.

There are good people and there's bad people. I was watching a thing on Netflix. Oh, God, the name escapes me. But it's basically asking questions of different groups of people. It's Australian. I think it's the same producers that did Love on the Spectrum. Okay. Oh, I love that show. Which is an amazing show. Incredible show. But it's just people sitting down and answering questions. And I watched the homeless segment.

And they asked homeless people, like, you know, why are you like this? How often do you shower? Like, just questions you would like to ask a homeless person. And so one of the questions they got asked is, like, have people been mean to you? No shock, yes. I've been asleep and been kicked by drunk teens and horrible things that you can imagine where they're just literally, you know, treated as inhuman. You wouldn't kick a dog that was asleep. You wouldn't dare do that, but they did that to some homeless people. But then the next question was,

Have you seen like some some acts of kindness and the stories they told would bring tears to your eyes? Where you know one woman was saying I found a certain restaurant where their dumpster had pretty good food This is the stuff people threw away and and some guy came out and said what are you doing? And she said I'm sorry. This is my dinner. I

And he would leave her out a plate of food. Oh, that's nice. You know, just be like, hey, just... Or like a to-go box. Sure. He's like, don't be seen around the restaurant. I will give you this. And you have some food. And you can come here for a meal. That's great. Of course. What does that cost him? Yeah. Nothing. Nothing. But just stuff like that where you're like, hey, I'll give you a meal. Or someone's just like, I'll give you money. Let me...

Let me buy you lunch. I'm going in to get a sandwich for me. What do you want? Or how about just a conversation? Well, that's what he said too. He said, you know, sometimes you just have a laugh with some people. They talk to you like people. And instead of just being below and above or whatever, you know, it was very well done. It's worth a watch. But you realize that, yes, there's horribly cruel people out there who will steal from you.

And there's incredibly nice people out there who would help a stranger just because they needed help. And that sounded like her. She was that way. She was a good person. Tough, but everyone thought she was kind. And she was taken advantage of. Taken advantage of and then fumed. The worst part is, so the very end, the story goes that the guy that stole the money from her

went crazy and died, you know, alone and penniless. But we don't know that. No. That's just what we need to think. Right. So we can sleep at night, you know? We don't want to think like he took the money and like, you know, had some nice meals, got himself a little apartment somewhere. He went and bet on black and doubled it. Doubled it and like, just was like, life is good, right? We need to think he got his comeuppance, that there was some sort of justice somewhere. Yeah.

I think I believe in that. I do believe in karma. Absolutely. So I think somewhere along the line, you know, he got his. Yeah. You may not notice it, but karma does come for you eventually. Please, we need karma. We need to believe in karma, right? Because this of all times, yeah. We live in a world where people get away with stuff. Yeah. And it's horrible. And you're like, oh, my gosh. Do you believe in good karma?

Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. So do something good and good things will happen to you. You know what? If nothing else, you feel good. And that's a good thing. That's a reaction. To quote President Lincoln, right? He said, when I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great religion. I love that, right? When I do a good thing, I feel good. So if that's all you get...

Well, shoot. I like to feel good. You're living a happy life. You're living a happy life. So, yeah. Be like Lincoln. Yeah, but this is one of those stories. And then everything's named after Nancy up in that region. Yeah. Nancy Pond, Nancy this. And the story sort of persists. We posted a photo of it. You know, Nancy perished here in 1778, the sign that was up there.

on the, on the hiking. Is that a sign of her? Probably not. No, that's the sign that there's no cameras. Oh yeah. 78. Yeah, I know. I'm joking. So, uh, but, but yeah, but at the hiking trail, uh, certainly marked the spot where they believe she perished. People in the picture too are snow covered. Like it's kind of weird because that's what happened to her. You know, the snow started getting heavy on her, started sticking to her and that's what slowed her down and eventually stopped her. Yeah. It's New Hampshire in the winter. You're going to get some snow. Yeah. So,

The ghost of Nancy Barton, there to remind us, careful when you're hiking, careful who you scorn.