TV
Host Retta (“Parks and Recreation”) toured four New England houses on “Scariest House in America.” Here’s a peek at all of them.
An ancient jail cell. Eerie voices. A haunted closet. Chipmunk and bat infestations.
These are just some reasons given by four sets of New England homeowners making their case for having the “Scariest House in America.”
HGTV’s “Scariest House in America” sees host Retta (who also hosts “Ugliest House in America”) exploring homes in a new region of the country each week. On Oct. 16, the hour-long episode explored “Nightmarish New England.” The episode is available to stream starting Oct. 17 on HBO MAX.
The episode featured homes in Guildhall, Vermont; Dighton, Massachusetts; Enfield, Connecticut; and Searsport, Maine.
Spoiler alert: Retta declared the Massachusetts home the scariest in the region, and it’s now among the top five regional winners. The house deemed scariest in America by HGTV will win a renovation from HGTV designer Alison Victoria in the season finale airing Oct. 23.
A Vermont home got that same winning treatment earlier this year when it won “Ugliest House in America.”
Here’s a look at each of New England’s scary house candidates.
Dighton, Massachusetts
It’s a large shingled home with peeling trim, circa 1751.
There are six residents, including Dave, Jen, and their family. “We hear stuff, see stuff,” says Jen.
“Lot of footsteps,” Dave adds. “We have rats and bats.”
Retta walks onto a sloping floor, and the show points out gaps in the walls and door as “signs of bad floor pitch.” In the parlor, Retta notices another soft-spot in the floor, which could be explained by trees being used as support beams in the basement.
Upstairs is a very unfinished attic, with rusty nails pointing out of every board, including the low ceiling. The attic had seen a bat infestation, and the camera shows what looks like bat droppings and a dead mouse, blurred out.
The owners take Retta to “the birthing room,” a small room that HGTV explains were common in the 18th century. In the primary bedroom, all the furniture has “shims” underneath to level it so drawers won’t open.
Jen claims the closet was opening by itself “only between 2 and 3 in the morning.”
Guildhall, Vermont
The unassuming 2,274-square-foot home was built in 1878 and is owned by Cody and Jesse.
“I mean, the French porch could use some work,” Retta quips, adding that the house overall “doesn’t look scary.”
But, Jesse explains, “open up that big iron door in the back and here you are at the former Essex County jail.” HGTV explains the house was built to be the residence of the town jailer; the jail operated until 1969.
We see a hallway with rusted jail bars lining both sides. The ceilings and walls are cast iron. The electricity into the cells has been disconnected, Jesse explains, handing Retta a flashlight.
Cody says they have “not been brave enough to do anything with this part of the house yet,” as the camera peers into the cells themselves with cobwebs, an old mattress, rusty sinks and toilets. The jail is infested with spiders and chipmunks, the show points out. In the women’s cell, we see the footprint of an old shower, a toilet, a rusty bed frame, and a floor covered in dirt.
In the main bedroom, the “focal point is the witch window,” Jesse says. The window is slanted at a 45-degree angle “so witches can’t fly into your house.”
Searsport, Maine
Built in 1874 by a sea captain, the large house looks “so pretty” from the outside with its white with green trim and red door, Retta says.
“It’s very pretty — and haunted,” owner Gillian says.
Gillian and Larry purchased the home in 2014, per HGTV. It was previously an inn and antique shop. Inside, there’s colorful pastel wallpaper and ornate carpeting.
Troops lived in the home during WWII to protect against invasion, HGTV says, and the home was formerly owned by impressionist and pal of Ernest Hemingway, Waldo Peirce.
But the house is not as “pretty” as it seems, the owners claim. Wallpaper will peel off the wall, they say. One light fixture “just started to drip some liquid,” Larry says. The bed often looks slept in, says Gillian.
They bring Retta into a bedroom with a fireplace where bats come down the chimney “fairly regularly.” In another bedroom, the ceiling has a rotting hole, dropping chunks to the ground.
“She definitely has spirits,” says Gillian.
Enfield, Connecticut
An unassuming duplex built in 1771, painted in faded yellow and olive green “doesn’t seem that scary,” Retta says.
Elke, Jay and their twin daughters live there, and they tell Retta it’s a two-family home — they live on one side and “the ghosts live next door.” No tenant has lasted more than a year, the show explains.
Jay says they bought the house 20 years ago for an offer they couldn’t refuse: $122,000.
A paranormal investigator, Jim, tells the camera, “This place has been a hotspot of activity. We’ve had growls, disembodied voices, footsteps.”
Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1 and Instagrams at @laurendaley1.
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