Under and Around the Calvin Coolidge (Route 9) Bridge - Northampton, MA - Ghosts and Hauntings on Waymarking.com

Valley Ghost Tours weblink will soon be operating tours in Northampton, MA. One of their favorite ghost sightings takes place under the Route 9 bridge, otherwise known as the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Bridge. It involves a ghost of a young boy from the colonial era offering to take people across the Connecticut River at the location of the present day bridge.

From the Springfield Newspapers website link below:

"One of my favorite ghosts in Northampton is the boy who occupies the area under and around the Route 9 bridge. We won't be walking there, but I will tell his story on the tour. I met a girl who used to row for UMass, and she told me this story:

One night, she and a friend were having a late-night picnic on the long dock in the river. She had forgotten something in her car, so she got up to go to the parking lot. On her way back, she saw a boy standing on the path, who motioned for her to follow him. She told me she didn't feel afraid at all because his smile was so innocent. She followed him down to the river, where he gestured to the water as if inviting her to go in. She said she didn't want to, and he looked surprised, then disappeared. She said his clothes looked very old-fashioned, made partly of fur. His hair was shoulder-length and he looked skinny, but healthy.

I've since done some research and heard some other versions of basically the same story. Apparently that part of the Connecticut River has been a crossing for thousands of years, likely because the water is so shallow and slow there. The boy is probably from the time when European settlement first began to overlap with existing Native American habitation in the region, and is either a Native American himself or a child of very early settlers. He wasn't gesturing at the girl to go in the water, he was trying to find out if she wanted a ride across the river–apparently unaware that his boat hasn't existed for hundreds of years."

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