The haunting of Belmont House
Built in the 1820s near Fredericton, it’s one of the spookiest houses in the province
Tucked away beyond some trees, just past the Fredericton airport, lies a house steeped in history.
Down a driveway covered in pine needles, sheltered by a canopy of trees, sits Belmont House. It's been on this spot of land — with an apple orchard to the right and the Saint John River in behind — for the past 200 years.
Throughout its history, this three-storey house with a wrap-around verandah has been the subject of many ghostly rumours.
The 14-room mansion, built in the 1820s, was once home to some of New Brunswick's best-known families. Now divided into apartments, tenant Rebecca Cogswell has called it home for the past year.
And in Cogswell's mind, there's no doubt there are ghosts inhabiting the property with her.
"Definitely more than one or two ghosts — a phantom cat, too," Cogswell said. "I think I've seen that phantom cat out of the corner of my eye."
Cogswell's living room is massive, with expansive windows facing the Saint John River and French doors leading off into a bedroom that was most likely a parlour. The floors are original, although painted a deep red. She points out the original nails in the floor, large and square, and some etchings on the original windows.
Julia Thompson, an archivist at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, says there is a wealth of history and memories inside the walls of Belmont.
"A lot of New Brunswick personalities have come from that home, lived there, had family that lived there or been inspired by it in some way," she said.
The home was built for a Supreme Court judge named John Murray Bliss in 1820, great-grandfather to well-known poet Bliss Carman. In the 1840s, it was home to Robert Duncan Wilmot, a New Brunswick lieutenant-governor and a father of confederation. In 1980, it was officially declared a National Historic Site.
As for the tales of it being haunted, there are hints in the archives as to where those rumours originated.
In the mid-1980s, well-known New Brunswick journalist Jackie Webster rented one of the apartments and began writing about her experiences living there.
In one of her articles, Thompson said, Webster tells the story of "at least one candlelight vigil where they called on the presence of this ghost at Belmont House, and you could come to Belmont and be part of that."
Webster believed that seance brought something negative out at Belmont, and she soon moved out.
"Power of suggestion? Maybe," said Cogswell of the story. "But you get a sense sometimes that you're not alone."
'It doesn't really scare me'
Cogswell says one of the "hotspots" for ghostly activity in the apartment where she lives with her partner is, strangely, the bathroom.
"You tend to hear kind of murmurs, voices, every time you're in there," she said.
"You close the door and it sounds like people are talking in other parts of the house. Like a conversation. It's definitely not music. It's definitely talking really low," she said.
"I've never been able to kind of figure out what anyone was saying. And every time you pause to hear it or you start to move around the house … you can never seem to quite find it."
Cogswell, who works from home, claims this happens multiple times every week — even when the television is off and her phone is silent in her hand. She said they don't own a radio.
While she says the unexplained murmurs don't "really scare" her, the basement is another story.
"The basement definitely feels [like] there's a heaviness," she said. "It's almost a feeling like you shouldn't be there for too long."
She keeps the basement door off the kitchen locked, with a bell on the handle to scare off the ghosts and only uses the outside entrance to the cellar.
The only space in the home Cogswell refuses to visit is the attic. She said some people claim to see faces at those third-floor windows.
"I don't think anyone's been up there in 20 years. So, yeah, I will not go up there. No. I think that would be pushing it a little bit too much."
Lucky to live in historic home
Belmont House, Cogswell said, has been sold and she isn't sure what the new owners will do with the property. She is planning to start searching for a new apartment.
"I feel like I'm going to feel more of a sense that I'm really not alone when we start packing up," she says. "I feel like I'll feel more of a sense of loss."
For all that she's experienced while living here, Cogswell says she's never been truly frightened of whatever presence she feels in the house. In fact, she considers herself lucky to have lived in Belmont, a home that captured the imagination of her friends and family for years.
"I think they were more excited that I was going to come up with a really fun story. And I mean, I'm still waiting, you never know. After you leave, you never know what could happen," she joked.
"Even just a year of the 200 years that this place has been around … we're just a blip in its memory."
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