This is a work of fiction based on the first colonial settlers to Cavendish, the Coffeens. Susanna Coffeen was born in Scotland and would have grown up with the tradition of Samhain (sow-in) and would most likely have shared it with her family.
While there is little evidence of Halloween traditions during the Revolutionary time period, the Irish and Scots kept the Samhain tradition alive with their families. With the arrival of the Irish following the potato famine, more and more people were celebrating “all hallows eve,” so that by the end of the 19th century, Halloween was an established tradition in America.
At the end of the story, there is more information on Samhain and Cavendish’s first family as well as links to previous years’ ghost stories.
It was the smell that woke Amy out of a deep sleep on a very cold and frosty October morning. She was often the last out of bed, and her mother frequently had to call her more than once to get her to crawl out from under the covers. But not this morning.
Amy jumped up, shouting, “It’s Barm Brack,” and went racing over to the hearth.
Her mother, Susanna, was from Scotland and to honor the feast of Samhain, she had already started baking a type of fruitcake which held tiny objects that would be used to help predict the new year.
Amy hoped the day would be full of the fun Samhain traditions she was used to. However, 1775 had been like no other year she remembered. Two of her older brothers had gone off to fight a war that she didn’t quite understand. Someplace in Boston she thought.
Since her parents owned a tavern close to the Crown Point Road, there were all sorts of strange men showing up at all hours of the day and night. There was a constant talk of war. Both her parents had furrowed brows and were constantly speaking in hushed voices and doing their best to keep the younger children from listening to their conversations.
At 11, and the seventh of 14 kids, Amy found she could slip in and out of the tavern area pretty easily without being noticed. Consequently, she had some understanding of the reason they had to drink things like Indian Lemonade, versus the black tea she had grown up with, was due to taxes and a King. While her parents understood why Lake, their eldest child of 23 years old, went off to enlist to fight, Michael’s leaving at 17 was particularly concerning to their mother.
As she approached the hearth to get a look and smell of the Barm Brack, her mother said, “Amy, go tend to William, and after that help with the milking.” In such a large family, the running of the farm and tavern, there was always work to be done. Samhain or not, Amy was quick to get about doing her chores.
William was the baby of the family, having been born in January. Much of his care had fallen to Amy as her older sisters had their hands full helping their mother with many other household duties. With more frequent visitors traveling on the Crown Point Road, there was a lot more laundry, cooking and other chores to be done.
In past years, on Oct. 31, Amy’s mother had served up breakfast along with a talk about the importance of Samhain and why they celebrated it each year, though most families in town did not. Today there was no mention of it, as breakfast was a hasty affair. Not only was a soldier traveling on the Crown Point Road sick and needing care, but her father had said that a neighbor was about to give birth and Susanna’s midwifery skills were needed.
Quickly, the oldest daughter, who was in training to become a midwife, along with the baby, as he was still nursing, left the house. This meant that Amy and her older sister Lydia would be responsible for not only completing their normal chores, but also those of their mother and sister. Since it was fall, butchering was well underway and the candle and soap making, started by her mother and eldest sister, would need to be finished by Amy and Lydia.
Between cooking, candle and soap making, tending to the younger children, various sewing projects, darning a pair of their father’s socks, milking, feeding a new guest at the tavern, it was close to dusk by the time Amy and Lydia realized they hadn’t checked on the sick traveler since early morning.
“You go check on him Amy,” said Lydia. Tired from a very full day of work, Amy replied, “Why can’t you do it?” Equally weary, Lydia replied, “Because if I don’t finish dinner as well as the spinning mother will not be pleased.” Amy sighed and started wrapping herself in her cape. Her sister handed her some bread and a mug of cider telling her to see if the man might want something to eat.
As she stepped outside, Amy pulled her cape tighter. It was not only very cold, but the wind was whipping leaves mixed with snowflakes around her. The fading light cast eerie shadows in her path. She couldn’t help but think how Samhain was the time when the veil was thinnest between this world and the next and departed loved ones often visited. As she scurried along, she thought of a sister who had died when she was a year old. Close in age, Amy had few memories of her. Still she wondered if her spirit was about.
Hearing moaning sounds coming from the barn, Amy moved even quicker than she had been. “He must be really sick,” Amy thought.
Imagine her surprise when she entered the barn and there was no one there. There was no evidence that anyone had even been there. As she was searching, she saw something black swoop by the open door. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up and she called, “Hello,” but there was no answer.
It seemed that in the short time since she left the house to come to the barn, it had gotten even darker and scarier. She ran back to the house, spilling the cider and dropping the bread. A momentary thought flashed through her head, “At least the fairies will be fed.” On Samhain, her mother always set food and drink outside for the “wee folk” as the belief was that if they were tended to they wouldn’t interfere by making crops rot.
Taking her cape off, she started telling her sister and her brother Daniel about how the soldier appeared to have vanished. She was so busy telling her story, she hadn’t immediately noticed that Daniel and Lydia both had very odd looks on their face. “What’s wrong?” asked Amy.
“While you were gone, we heard this strange moaning and when we looked outside, we saw a ghoul!” said Daniel. It was so ugly and frightening.” As if on cue, there was as audible moan that was coming from upstairs. Amy and Lydia held on to each other. “Where’s Papa?” asked Amy
“The last I saw him he was going to see if the baby was born so he could bring Mother home,” replied Daniel.
Lydia, being the oldest present thought she’d best go check. All of the children begged her not to go upstairs as they were afraid something would happen to her. “Remember what mother told us last year on Samhain. Sometimes the spirits will take you away to the other world,” replied Daniel. Oliver, who was all of seven, said, “Yeah, but she also said that’s why they dress up and put stuff on their faces so they’d confuse the spirits.”
Amy and Lydia looked at each other and said at the same time, “Ashes!” They promptly began wiping cold hearth ashes, to their faces and all the younger children.
Again they heard the moaning, but this time it sounded like it was just outside. Would it help to hide from the ghosts they wondered? Some of the youngest children hid under the tables and Goldsmith, who was all of two, started crying.
The moaning stopped and they heard voices. Whew, it was the rest of the family coming home.
Susanna was shocked when she walked into the house and saw the children huddled together, covered in soot and looking terrified.
“What is going on here?” she asked.
“It’s the ghosts. They’ve come for us,” said Daniel. No sooner had the words come out of his mouth, when they all heard the most shrill and terrifying sound, a cross between a shriek and a moan.
Turning to the direction of the sound, Amy’s father looking out the front door and yelled, “Fire!” He ran out, closely followed by most of the family. With no fire department and a strong wind, a fire could lay waste to their property in no time.
Amy, who was carrying and walking the youngest children outside, saw the others had stopped. Up a head she could see a fire and it appeared as if someone was dancing around it.
By the time she reached her family, her parents were looking amused. “What could possibly be funny?” wondered Amy. It was then that her mother took off running and then embracing the ghostly dancer who was hugging her as if they’d never let go.
With the other siblings helping the youngest ones, everyone made it to the fire and were amazed to see that the Samhain spirit was none other than their brother Michael. The trickster of the family, Susanna was already plying him with questions about his brother Lake, while at the same time scolding him for scaring his siblings.
Michael explained that he and Lake’s enlistments had expired just a few days ago. While Lake had gone to Amherst, Mass for a job, he had decided if he traveled fast enough he could be home in time for Samhain. “I’ve always loved this time of year,” he commented. After what I’ve seen this past year, I just needed to come home for a bit.” Looking sheepish, he said, “I thought you’d appreciate a bit of ‘guising.’ “ Guising was the practice of wearing disguises in order to protect yourself from the spirits that would be out roaming that night.
In the years to come, Amy would look back on this night with great fondness. No, there wasn’t the time for all of the usual festivities but they did have a bonfire, enjoyed the Bram Brack, listened to Michael’s war adventures and were just grateful that he was safe and home.
As for the vanished soldier, they had no explanation and it became part of their Samhain lore.
The Tradition of Samhain: An ancient Celtic holiday celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and some parts of England, many of today’s Halloween traditions stem from Samhain, which means “Summer’s End.” With traditions that are over 2,000 years old, The festival of Samhain marked the transition to the new year at the end of the harvest and beginning of the winter. Celtic people believed that during the festival, spirits walked the Earth. Later on, Christian missionaries introduced All Souls’ Day on November 2, which perpetuated the idea of the living coming into contact with the dead around the same time of year. The festival of Samhain marked the transition to the new year at the end of the harvest and beginning of the winter. Celtic people believed that during the festival, spirits walked the Earth. Later on, Christian missionaries introduced All Souls’ Day on November 2, which perpetuated the idea of the living coming into contact with the dead around the same time of year. The Origins of Halloween Traditions
Scottish traditions for Samhain included:
• bonfires (protection from evil spirits
• turnip lanterns, called “tumshies” to scare off fairies and ghosts-these become pumpkin carvings in the 19thcentury
• guising or wearing of costumes to keep the fairies and spirits from stealing children; • games of divination: Nut Burning and pulling up stalks revealed future spouses and/or how long relationships would last
Scotland Halloween| The Fascinating Celtic history of Samhuinn
Halloween History/National Geographic
Coffeens-Cavendish’s First Settlers: Human occupation of Cavendish extends back more than 10,000 years. The Coffeens were the first legal colonists of Cavendish, meaning they paid for their land. Arriving in 1769, their property was located on what today is known as the South Reading Rd.
According to her obituary (“The Christian Repository, Vol 6 page 282, 1826) Susanna had 14 children but not all survived childhood. She was in her 95th year at the time of her passing and outlived all but four of her children, with only one, Amy, still living in Cavendish.
At the time of this story, 1775, there were 12 Coffeen children. Lake, who would have been 23 and Michael 17 had enlisted in the war and both had fought at Bunker Hill. Michael ultimately became a Green Mountain boy fighting with Ethan Allan. Both Lake and Michael followed in their father’s footsteps becoming ministers/physicians.
For the early settlers in Cavendish, life would be challenging and it would have required daily work by all members of the family. Girls were taught how to keep house, sew, tend to children, milk the cow etc. Boys worked alongside their fathers, entering a trade or being apprenticed. While many colonists did not teach their daughters to read and write, New Englanders were more likely to do so as they thought it important they could read the Bible.
It's very possible Susanna Coffeen was a midwife, and according to information about some of her daughters, including Amy, they were known to care for the sick. Because of their proximity to the Crown Point Road, as well as being listed as having a tavern, they would have cared for and even buried soldiers-supposedly there are 12 Revolutionary War soldiers buried in unmarked graves in the Coffeen Cemetery.
To learn more about the Coffeens, and the other early settlers of Cavendish, check out Volume 1 of the Families of Cavendish. This is available at the Cavendish Library and can be purchased from CHS for $40.
Cavendish Ghost Stories
• Christmas Eve Ghost Story 2020
• Christmas Eve 2021 Ghost Story: The Ghosts
• Cavendish Ghost Stories: Charlie
• David Ordway’s Funeral Sermon
• Twenty Mile Stream-Grave Robbery
• Ghosts and Goblins from Cavendish Hillside Farm 1939 to 1957 by Sandra Field Stearns
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