Society's Ghost Tours Revive Historic Voices

 HARWICH – There are ghosts in the North Harwich Cemetery and they have stories to tell. 

The cemetery dates back to 1792 and some of those who are buried there will come alive to voice their history through the Ghost Lantern Tours put on by the Harwich Historical Society.

The society will be conducting three tours a day on Saturday, Oct. 19 and Saturday, Oct. 25 at 5 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 6 p.m. in the North Harwich Cemetery, located at the intersection of Main Street and Depot Street.

“Our ghostly hosts will include a variety of mariners, Revolutionary War soldiers, and town folks. Each has a unique tale to tell,” said Lynne Zalesak of the historical society.

Zalesak will provide the voice of the wife of Captain Frederick Kelley, whose vessel went down on Gurnet Point, off Plymouth, where the captain and his two sons drowned. Neither son was found, according to Zalesak. Captain Kelley’s brother, Ivory Kelley, also lost his life in a separate incident in the Gurnet.

“The ghosts basically talk about their lives and death,” Zalesak said of the six ghosts that will appear in the cemetery. It’s a great insight into town history, she said.

The voice of Arthur W. Rogers will come alive in telling the story of one of the more tragic Life-Saving Service rescue attempts to ever take place. Rogers was one of eight Life-Saving Service members to respond to the stranded coal barge Wedena on Shovelful Shoal off Monomoy Island on March 17, 1902. A heavy gale arose during the rescue and seven of the eight members of the Lifesaving Service drowned along with five men from the Wedena and barge owner William Henry Mack.

Rogers was a North Harwich resident buried who will rise to the occasion and tell the story of the Wedena tragedy.

There will be Revolutionary War soldiers such as Job Chase and Gamaliel Cahoon relating their experiences. Chase was also an important citizen of West Harwich, helping to settle the village, building schooners along the Herring River and developing the first road from the river to the town of Dennis. Cahoon was also a mariner.

Rev. Richard Chase was a controversial minister in the Baptist Church of West Harwich from 1757 to 1777. 

“His congregation became a lightning rod of Whiggish sentiment on Cape Cod and would later be a hotbed for Abolitionist sentiment in Barnstable County,” according to J. Duncan Berry of the Harwich Historical Society. Chase’s son died crossing the Delaware River with George Washington, Zalesak said.

 In ghostly fashion, the voice of Ethyl Embroult will speak to the loss of her husband and baby son in a train accident and her decision to marry her husband’s brother.

“The effort is to bring back history and make people aware of their role in general historical events,” said Zalesak. “There is an old saying, as long as the name is spoken the person is not forgotten. These people need to be remembered.” 

There will be exchanges between attendees and the ghosts should people have questions.

 The historical society has been doing Ghost Lantern Tours for several years, Zalesak said. As the cemetery commission develops a memorial monument in Evergreen Cemetery in East Harwich for the 400 soldiers Harwich sent to the Revolutionary War, the focus over the next couple of years leading up to the country’s 250th anniversary will be to provide voices to a few of the residents who helped secure our freedom, according to Zalesak.  

Tickets for the ghost tours are $10 and can be purchased on the society’s website.