Faneuil Hall

A Brief History: Faneuil Hall, located in Boston Massachusetts was first built as a marketplace and meeting hall for the town in 1743. Peter Faneuil, a slave merchant, decided to build this structure for the town as a gift due to the necessity of a public meetinghouse. The layout designed and built by John Smibert, consisted of an open ground floor plan with an assembly room built above for meetings and other such public gatherings. Unfortunately, in 1761 the marketplace was destroyed by a fire. Fortunately, the town managed to rebuild it in quite a short time, opening back up again in

1762. Over the next few centuries the space underwent a lot of transition. During the British occupation, Faneuil Hall was used as a theatre. It was also expanded upon in 1806 by Charles Bulfinch, doubling it in height and adding four new structures, making a total of seven surrounding buildings, creating the Quincy Marketplace. A gallery was also installed on one of the newly added floors and the building was used for town meetings up until 1822. In 1960 Faneuil Hall was declared a historic landmark and was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Haunted History: Faneuil Hall has a long history of being an epicenter where people came to gather under various circumstances. Before the hall even existed, the area was a well-known center for slave trading. Many people claim to have seen the frightened apparition of a woman wearing colonial clothing who hides in the shadows at Ned Devine’s, a pub in Quincy Market. They say she moves quickly almost as if she were fleeing from something. Many speculate that she could have been a slave that either escaped from where she was being held captive or ran away from the market before she could be sold away. Another chilling claim is that people have also reported hearing blood-curdling screams coming from inside the hall from time to time. People also tend to hear screams from some of the other buildings in the marketplace. From 1862 to 1909 a farming equipment store called Ames Plow Company took residency over a large portion of the market. Although hundreds of workers came into contact with heavy machinery daily, only one death was ever recorded at Quincy Market, the death of Victor

Hendrickson. Victor fell one day while fastening a screw, leading him to have a fatal fall into some of the machinery. It’s said he had a gruesome, agonizing death due to the machinery crushing every bone in his body while also being strangled by the vest he was wearing. The brutality of this death could easily lead to paranormal activity at Faneuil Hall in addition to its extensive history.