"Terror In The Treetops", ("The New England Ghost Files", p.72)

Location: Green Mountains, VT

Dick and Marjorie Dennet, who live in Vermont's lovely Green Mountains, have experienced a unique type of haunting. They do not have a haunted house; what they did have on their property was a hunted tree-an old oak tree which allegedly exuded a very dark and frightening energy.

"Some very strange things happened in the immediate area of the tree," says Marjorie, "and I eventually stopped going near it. Fortunately, it was on the far end of the property, opposite the pastures and far away from the house, so it was easy for me to avoid it. Still, in time, things got so frightening with that tree that we had to cut it down."

Dick adds: "The first disturbing occurrences took place about twenty years ago, when we first bought the farm. One morning, we found both of our cats dead, and they were lying right by that old oak tree. There were no signs of visible injuries, and we had he cats autopsied by our veterinarian. He found absolutely nothing wrong with them, and He was at a complete loss to explain how hey had died. On other occasions, we found dead birds around the same tree-and that tree only. It was very (perplexing)."

"One time," adds Marjorie, "I was taking a walk across the property with my dog, Jasper. As we approached the oak tree, Jasper began to growl at it. Then he just dashed off-which is totally unlike him-as if he wanted to get away from that tree as quickly as possible. Many times after that, if I led Jasper anywhere near the tree, he would become extremely agitated and would growl at it. It was incredible the way the tree affected him. Finally, one afternoon about four months later, I found him lying motionless by the tree. He was dead, like the cats."

Dick and Marjorie indicate that their daughter also had a bizarre experience while playing near the tree many years ago.

"She was six or seven at the time, and she came running to the house crying," Dick remembers. "We asked her what had happened, and she said that she had heard a (disembodied) voice by the tree. She said that the voice sounded like a young boy's...that at first it was a friendly and gentle voice...(telling her) she was pretty and other nice things. But after a while, she said, the voice suddenly changed. It began to get louder and angrier, yelling and cursing at her. This was very hard for us to believe at the time, but it was obvious to us something had frightened here terribly. She never played near that tree again."

"And it became even more ominous," adds Marjorie. "My father visited us early 1973, and he had a heart attack while taking a walk on the property. Fortunately, he survived, but I find it strange that his heart attack took place right by that old oak tree. I think that something frightened him horribly either, but, to this day, he won't talk about it. He gets very tense and edgy whenever I ask him about what happened that day; he doesn't reply and just leaves the room."

Dick indicates that the strangest occurrence of all took place in July of 1973.

"I had just mowed the pastures," he recalls, "and I was riding past the oak tree on my tractor. I suddenly noticed that there was young boy-maybe sixteen or seventeen-sitting up in one of the branches, staring down at me. I stopped the tractor next to the tree and called up to the boy to ask him who he was and what he was doing there. He responded by spitting at me and using all sorts of foul language. He looked strange-very thin and pale. I told him to get off my property or I would call the police, but he just began to laugh. I got back on the tractor and started back toward the house. As I began to drive away, I glanced back at the tree for one more look at this strange youngster. When I did though, I was shocked to see that he was no longer there in the tree. He had simply vanished."

Five months later-at which point they were already contemplating cutting down the oak tree even though it was one of very few oaks on their property-Marjorie and Dick received a startling bit of information.

"The town tax assessor came out to the farm to reevaluate the property," says Marjorie. "He's an old-timer in town, and he knows a lot about the town's history. When he came out to the farm, he asked us in passing if we knew about Joshua. We told him we had no idea what he was talking about. He then proceeded to tell us about a boy named Joshua-the son of one of the farm's previous owners-who had killed himself on the property in 1943. When we asked him how he did it, the tax assessor pointed in the direction of the old oak tree and said that the boy had (hanged) himself from one of the tree's branches. Needless to say, this information was extremely disturbing to us. This was the same tree where all the weird things had been happening."

"When I heard that," adds Dick, "I immediately cut the tree down. I didn't know if it would help or not, but I should have done it a lot sooner. It was obvious that there was something very wrong with that tree, and, as crazy as it sounds, I believe that the boy I saw up in the branches was the ghost of Joshua."

Marjorie thinks that she now may understand the haunting:

"Considering all that happened around that tree, it is our belief that Joshua's suicide-and we have no idea what caused it-remained (unresolved). Maybe all of this anger, pain, and guilt were somehow still present at the scene of his death, attached to that oak tree because that's where he hung himself. Somehow, when that tree was removed, the spirit-at least we think-moved out of the area. Maybe that's because the tree was no longer there to remind Joshua of his suicide. It seems silly, we realize, but the strange (occurrences) completely stopped after Dick cut down the tree. Still, we mostly avoid the spot where that old tree used to standŠjust in case."