Dutton House

The following article is from WCAX.com The Dutton house, which once stood on the Cavendish Green, was built in 1782 and was relocated to the Shelburne Museum in 1950. It has since been restored to appear as it did in 1820. Two of the caretakers of the Dutton House at the Shelburne Museum visited Cavendish recently and met with the Cavendish Historical Society. Not only did they want to see the Museum, for possible items that may have been in the Dutton family, but they wanted to see where Salmon Dutton was buried (Cavendish Cemetery). When asked about the “ghosts,” neither of them had experience with anything paranormal in the Dutton house, but did say it had a “special feel to it.” Pictures of the house, as restored, are available on-line

Group hunts for ghostly activity year-round-Dutton House
“With Halloween just a short way away the idea of ghosts is a frightening possibility. But, for the Green Mountain Paranormal Society this time of year is just as spooky as the rest.

They search for paranormal activity and were recently at the Shelburne Museum doing just that WCAX reporter Gina Bullard went along for the investigation.

It all started in Cavendish Vermont. The Dutton family built their house in 1781. The house has seen a lot including being a store, inn, boarding house and tavern. By the early 1900s more than 11 people had died in the home -- and it was left abandoned for the next 40 years. It was then moved and donated to the Shelburne Museum....

....Now it’s said to be haunted.

Supervisor of museum security Dan Cole said, "People have had experiences here. There are several guides that will not work here. Some staff that are concerned about things they've seen or heard here"

Bullard: Those things people have witnessed range from footsteps and people in the attic to a girl crying at the edge of a bed. The Green Mountain Paranormal Society is now on the case and wants to see if they can see or hear any paranormal activity happening in the house…we went along with them for that investigation.

Cole: "Be careful it's dangerous. The best explanation that I've heard that the people were upset the Dutton's descendents or Duttons themselves are upset the house was moved from Cavendish."

Bullard: "One woman who was training to be a tour guide here swears she saw a man in tattered clothing sitting in this corner right here, growling at her. After that experience, she said she would never enter back into the Dutton home."

Bastian Gadouas says, "There's stories surrounding the place and there's a lot of history around the place so there's potential of something of several eras to be here whether it's hearing a sound or catching something on vid."

Cole explained, "We've had paranormals here before. This is something the museum has done to find some answers if we can and see where it goes."

The group uses scientific technology to hunt for signs of paranormal activity. Starting with quiet time, they break up and sit in different parts of the house and just listen. Then they report back on what they all heard.

Jennifer says, "The quiet time is for us to get a base reading of our natural senses of what the house sounds like quiet without people."

Next they send groups into certain rooms for electronic voice phenomenon - EVP sessions -- where they try to communicate with spirits.

Bastian Gadouas "First of all we could start out, what's your name?"

Gadouas says, "These things are manifesting with energy. This reads energy, so if this thing gets close by it, the idea is that it will make the lights light up."

Those lights did just that moments later in the green room, a confirmed spook, in a home famed for it's ghost stories.”