Monadnock Moment No. 102

Era 4: Expansion and Reform - 1800 to 1860

The Haunted Barn of Troy

Considerable excitement was aroused in the town of Troy, New Hampshire in the winter of 1818 when what appeared to be human bones were discovered on the site of a barn which burned in the town. The fire exposed what looked like a burial mound below where the floor of the barn had been. Upon investigation, bones were found on the site.

Rumors of murder began to circulate and the selectmen ran an advertisement in the New Hampshire Sentinel asking for information that would help to solve the mystery. Several months later Joseph Nimblet of Woodstock, Vermont appeared in Troy and revealed that fourteen years earlier his brother-in-law had disappeared on a trip from Provincetown, Massachusetts to Woodstock, Vermont. Brother-in-law Lucas had been carrying a large sum of money and was last seen at the Harris Tavern in Troy.

Residents of Troy had suspected for years that dark deeds had taken place at the barn. Leading citizens claimed to have seen strange lights and heard unusual noises near the building. Many local people avoided the area whenever possible. They now began to see some substance to their suspicions.

Some local residents believed that the man who had disappeared had left the tavern with two local residents to visit a farm which one of the men hoped to sell to him. That farm was the very place where the bones were found.

Public opinion was very strong and the two men were arrested. Neither of them was convicted in connection with the case, and the mystery of Troy's haunted barn was never solved.