Haunted Places with James Paradie: Ocean Born Mary - Henniker, NH

Ocean Born Mary

Location: Henniker, NH

Written by: James Paradie


Not every ghost story takes place on land, in a haunted house, or a haunted hotel. Some of New Hampshire’s most notorious ghost stories actually take place out to sea. Now, while North Carolina may have Blackbeard, we have Mary Wallace, soon to be known, in legend, as Ocean Born Mary.

I first heard about the legend of Ocean Born Mary in “Haunted New Hampshire” by the very talented ghost writer, Mr. Thomas D’Agostino. Most of the information of this column is from his book. If there is any other information that I got from anywhere else it will be listed at the bottom of the column.

Our story takes place on July 17th, 1720, as we set sail out to sea. A ship, by the name of The Wolf, is heading towards it’s destination, which was Boston, Massachusetts. James and Elizabeth Wilson were setting sail to the “new world”-The United States of America. And, within the U.S. was were their new land was, in Henniker, NH. Elizabeth was pregnant and as the coast of Massachusetts came into view, Elizabeth gave birth.

The newborn didn’t have a new though. This was about to change as the Wolf was taken hostage by pirates. Their leader Don Pedro got wind that there was a baby on board as Pedro went over to Elizabeth and James. Pedro asked what’s the babies name as Elizabeth said she was just born. Pedro, smiling, asks if she could name the newborn after his mother, Mary. The Wilson’s agreed, but Don had one more request before he would leave the passengers with their belongings still with them and more importantly unharmed. Don came back with gifts for the newborn(supposedly records show Don Pedro was ruthless, dark, and well…handsome)he then presented Elizabeth with a silk dress and asked when Mary is to wed, he wishes she would wear this dress. Elizabeth told him she would make sure of it. Pedro left with nobody harmed and everyone’s possessions returned.

Sadly, it didn’t take long after they landed safely in Boston that James died. Nonetheless, Mary grew up to be a tall(records show her at 6’2”)and beautiful woman. In 1742, Mary got married to Thomas(some records show his name to be James)Wallace. Mary honored Don Pedro’s wishes by wearing the silk dress. Mary and Thomas had four sons and a daughter. After the birth of the youngest, Thomas died.

As of that time, Don Pedro was retired from his pirate days and decided to settle down in Henniker, NH himself. Long forgotten about Ocean Born Mary, he decided to go and see what she made herself into. Feeling troubled about her being widowed, he begged her to be his housekeeper and promised to take care of her and her four children and that he did.

Don brought Mary and her children to his grand mansion on 6,000 acres of land. Mary and her children couldn’t be happier as they lived in solace…for awhile. Don, however, being a pirate, had a curse, and that curse was about to catch up to him.

One night, after Mary and her children went to bed, former chums of Don Pedro decided to pay a visit. Sadly, Don Pedro was about to come to realize that his maties were not what they seemed. They killed Don by using a pirate’s cutlass(other reports suggested that Don Pedro died in the front yard). His former “mates” must’ve ran, because once Mary got to the room where Don laid with a cutlass hanging out of his chest, the men were gone. Don, with his final breaths, told Mary to burry his treasure under the hearth with him. Mary, a while before this tragedy happened, saw Don with a retired pirate, friend of his, carrying a large black trunk out to the orchard. Mary honored Don’s request and buried the treasure under the hearth along with Pedro.

Mary kept her word to Don, and buried him with his treasure. Mary lived a long and wonderful life right after that; she died in 1814. Her spirit, however, remained in the house.

In the early 20th century, the house was opened to the general public and Ocean Born Mary made her presence well known after that. A rocking chair would sway softly back and fourth(many said this was Mary’s own way of saying the visitors were welcomed). She has also been sensed near the hearth as legend says she was always there, maybe making sure Pedro still had his prized treasure? Also, Hanz Holzer, known for his book “Ghosts of New England”(great book, so far, haven’t finished reading it, but did read the story on Ocean Born Mary). Mr. Holzer conducted a séance in the Henniker home and was able to get in contact with a certain ghost there. I am not going to give away who it was, because I think it’s only fair to Mr. Holzer if you went out and bought the book.

Some Henniker residents have said that on every Halloween, Mary’s ghost can be seen coming out of the Henniker Centre Cemetery and rides a horse coach heading for her home. According to some eye witnesses who have seen her ghost, they have said they see a beautiful, tall, red hair, and green eyes woman watching over them. At least she is not malevolent, so that’s always a plus!

However, fellow Graveyard Disciples, I do got to admit that only a small portion of this story is actually true. If you would like to know what parts are not true, then you can wait until I do a part 2 of the Ocean Born Mary story in the near future. BUT, if you must know then you can go to this link here: (link) or you can check out Thomas D’Agostino’s book “Haunted New Hampshire”. There are other great books and columns on the story of Ocean Born Mary.

Books/Sources for this Article:

Haunted New Hampshire by Thomas D’Agostino

Ghosts of New England by Hanz Holzer 

Spooky New England by S.E. Schlooser 

There is also a fiction book on the Ocean Born Mary tale told by Lois Lenski which was published back in 1939. The bidding at eBay is a whooping 69.99! Wow! Talk about limited edition.

Columns on other Websites/Also Sources for this Article:

Hallow Hill’s Fiona Broone talks about Ocean Born Mary

S.E. Schlooser told a tale on Ocean Born Mary on American Folklore

This story, even though part of it is true, is still New Hampshire folklore and will remain that way into eternity. I love this story and every aspect of it. No matter how much of the truth is bent a little. It’s still a very good tale nonetheless! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed telling the tale. To the Graveyard Disciples out there, happy haunting!