Haunted with James Paradie: Three Chimneys Inn - Durham, NH

Three Chimneys Inn

Durham, NH

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The Three Chimneys Inn in Durham, NH has quite the accolades:

2012 Award of Excellence by TripAdvisor

Best Inn Dining by Phantom Gourmet

And it also received a four star rating by the Manchester Union Leader.

 This Inn, built in 1649, has a long history. Originally converted from being known as the oldest house standing in Durham; it was converted to be an Inn in 1998. But let’s take a quick glance at its history. The first owner had some class in him, his name was Valentine Hill, and he was New England’s leading entrepreneur in his time. The house started out as a simple singe story with a cellar, an upstairs with a kitchen. In 1699, a two story addition was made to the house. This house even survived an attack by Indians in 1694, which devastated many of the home surrounding the house. This place has a great history, which you can read more on the history of the Inn at www.threechimneysinn.com

But we’re here to talk about the spirits of this place. This bed and breakfast in Durham, NH feels that they have a little guardian angel that resides within its walls. This “angel’s” name hasn’t been identified, but what a nice spirit this has proven to be. One innkeeper said she even left a message for her on the computer one night. How did this happen? Innkeeper Karen Meyer has always felt the presence of a spirit, but a good one, and feels relaxed when this spirit is around. One night after a long day, she went to the office and it was locked. Strange might it be as it can only be locked with a key and nobody else has that key. When she got into the office and onto the computer, on the screen it said, “Time to go home and relax.” Some might say that maybe someone was pulling a prank, but I’m sure Ms. Meyer swears up and down that this was no prank and that it was the Three Chimneys Inn guardian angel.

Others say that the Inn has some pretty rambunctious spirits who tend to not like change. Vendors are stumped when they bring in new equipment and they all don’t work properly. Some say it’s because the spirit or spirits don’t like change. On one occasion, a printer started to print a page without the cord being plugged in. Numbers on calculators appear backwards; could be a faulty calculator but the employees say no. Employees say that this spirit’s named is Hannah and that even though she has proven that she can be a pain in the butt, she has also shown an affectionate side to the staff of the Inn.

The Three Chimneys is staffed twenty-four hours a day and has an employee stay overnight. On one special night, an employee was awoken to someone playing with their hair. The employee took her hair and put it into her gown and calmly told Hannah to go to bed. Obviously the employees do not seem threatened by this spirit. Also in the same breath, she likes to pull pranks on employees as well. One night, an employee was asleep before being awoken by a ton of racket coming from upstairs. The employee ran upstairs and found that every drawer upstairs was opened exactly one inch.

Hanna is not the type of spirit not to show herself and has on one known occasion. One night, the chef was leaving the preparing area when he saw a movement. Keep in mind, this was reported to take place at 1 am, so I’m sure the place wasn’t hopping. He was shocked to see a little girl across the bar looking back at him. Also another story, though not known to be tied to the spirit of Hanna, was when a glass lifted in the air during a party and shattered upon impact when it landed back on the table. Not a soul was near the table when this happened, but you can be sure that it must have caused freight among the partiers. 

I tried to get some validation of these claims by getting in contact with the Inn, but got no response back. This is strange due to the fact that I’ve heard from several fellow ghost hunters that they allow investigations. I would love to have NEPI conduct an investigation there in the near future.

The Three Chimneys Inn seems like it offers some great services: weddings, dining, and you can host parties there. And quite possibly you could also be dining with the dead. Until next time readers, this has been another edition of Scared Sheetless. Keep it scary and happy hauntings.  

Source: Examiner.com article, “Three ghost stories from three dead and breakfasts’” by Marti Mayne

Historical information comes from www.threechimneysinn.com   

Secondary source: www.theshadowlands.net