5499 words (21 minute read)

Archival film footage dated July 24, 1974

EXT- Waterfront – Night


Eric, Tammy, Gail, and Ruby are walking along a pier. The camera focuses on Ruby in a wine-colored blouse with bell sleeves and a long dark skirt. Her hair, normally in a pony-tail, has been waved around her face.


Jeff (off-camera): Here we are celebrating a very important someone’s birthday—


Ruby turns around and grins at the camera, walking backward.


Ruby: Are you really going to film this?


Jeff (off-camera): Of course. It’s our first adventure in town. But we wouldn’t have this milestone at all if not for our birthday girl, the lovely and intelligent Ruby.


Tammy and Eric cheer. Gail applauds. The camera pauses its motion and focuses on the entry to a pub. The sign beside it reads The Black Pearl.


Jeff (off-camera): Tonight we are celebrating at the Black Pearl on Banister’s Wharf. On Saturday, we will celebrate again—or two of us will—at the White Horse Tavern.


Ruby’s face lights up.


Ruby: Really?


Jeff: Sure. Would you like that?


Eric: What’s that place?


Ruby: It’s the oldest operating tavern in America. A landmark!


Jeff (off-camera): Perfect for a landmark birthday!


Eric: Shouldn’t you take her to Atlantic City then?


Jeff: Someday. Maybe even Vegas.


Ruby laughs and looks away, covering her face. The camera jiggles as Jeff runs to open the door.


Jeff (off-camera): Shall we go in?


Ruby passes him, smiling into the camera as she enters.


Cut to


INT – Bar – Night


The dining room is packed with tables. Music plays in the background. Gail, Ruby, and Tammy, sit on bar stools but Eric stands at the edge of the bar, beside Tammy, with his foot on the rail. He lifts his drink in a toast to the camera. The girls turns and wave.


Cut to


Camera focuses on Tammy, Ruby, and Gail seated at the bar, arms linked together as they belt out the chorus of “Joy to the World.” Eric stands in front of them, pretending to conduct them.


Cut to


Camera focuses on Ruby biting into a hamburger.


Jeff (off-camera): How’s the burger?


Ruby: Good


She turns, sees the camera, covers her mouth and turns away quickly.


Ruby: Don’t film while I’m eating!


Jeff (off-camera): I’m not.


Ruby: The light is on!


Jeff (off-camera): Oops. My mistake. You know, you’re cute when you eat…


Cut to


A crowd fills the dance floor.


Jeff (off-camera): Hey, Eric, hold this for me so I can dance with my girl?


Cut to


Ruby and Jeff are slow-dancing to “Let’s Get it On.” Ruby looks embarrassed as the camera dips in toward them and buries her face in Jeff’s neck. Gail sways behind them. A young man in jeans and a polo shirt approaches and dances with her.


The camera swivels around to take in the full scene. A group of three men and two women stand at the opposite end of the bar. A skinny man with red hair and sideburns points toward the camera. A man in a vest and glasses standing beside him walks toward the camera, looking excited, but the red-haired man pulls him back. The third man steps over to Tammy and speaks to her, pointing to the dance floor. She shakes her head no.


The camera swivels rapidly away from the bar back into the crowd. Jeff and Ruby are caught up in the crowd but the camera tries to linger on them. As they become obscured by other dancers, the camera view drops to the floor and goes black.


Cut to


The camera focuses on Gail and Tammy dancing together to “Waterloo.”


Jeff (off-camera): -can’t spin it so fast or you’ll make the viewer seasick.


Eric: Sorry, man. Filming is your specialty.


Jeff (off-camera): That’s cool. Wanna try it again?


Eric: No thanks.


The song ends; “Crocodile Rock” begins, and the girls return to the bar. Eric approaches Gail.


Eric: Want to dance?


Gail: Oh, no thanks, Eric. My feet need a rest.


Ruby: Isn’t anybody going to ask me to dance? My partner’s been stolen by a video camera.


Jeff (off-camera): In a minute. I thought we’d drink a toast to the birthday girl first.


Gail cheers and whistles loudly. The group at the far end of the bar stares at her. Tammy notices and tugs on Gail’s sleeve, shushing her. Jeff flags the bartender as he passes.


Jeff (off-camera): Hey, can we get a round of beers here? We’ve got a birthday to toast.


Gail cheers again, shaking off Tammy’s restraining hand.


Ruby: You’re not going to sing, are you?


Jeff (off-camera): Of course!


Ruby: No! Don’t do that, it’ll be embarrassing!


Jeff (off-camera): Who’s going to hear us in all this racket?


The bartender sets down five glasses. Jeff lifts one.


Jeff (off-camera): Are you with me?


The others pick up their drinks and raise them in a toast.


Jeff (off-camera): Happy birthday to you—


Ruby covers her face.


Ruby: Jeff, stop!


Jeff (louder, off-camera): Happy birthday to you!


Ruby (laughing): Ack! Not a close-up! I’m all red!


All: Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Ruby!


Ruby lowers her hands. She is blushing and shaking her head but still smiling up at the camera.


All (cont.): Happy birthday to you!


The group applauds. Ruby blows a kiss to the camera, then turns to face her friends. Tammy and Gail each give her a hug and Eric slaps her on the back. The young people from the other end of the bar approach behind him. The red-haired man speaks.


Fred: Hey, you’ve got a birthday over here? Who’s the lucky girl?


Ruby raises her hand.


Fred: Hey, congratulations! Can I get you your next drink?


Ruby: I guess. I mean, thank you. I’m not used to such a fuss. I keep telling him that.


She points to the camera.


Jeff (off-camera): How can I help it? She is my jewel.


Ruby: He’s making fun of me. I’m Ruby.


Fred shakes her hand.


Fred: Happy birthday, Ruby. I’m Fred Patterson. This is Shaun Hendricks.


He points to the blond man who had previously asked Tammy to dance. The man with glasses leans forward and shakes Ruby’s hand.


Reid: Hi! I’m Reid, Reid Bennett!


Reid shakes hands with Tammy but when he reaches for Gail’s hand, she simply lifts it and waves.


Gail: Hi there.


Fred gestures to a young woman with black hair tied in a kerchief; she wears large hoop earrings, a tank top and jeans.


Fred: This is Jess, Jessica Soames, and this—


He points to a girl with a blonde braid and a purple pantsuit.


Fred (cont.): --is Trish Hartigan.


The girls shake hands with Gail, Tammy, Ruby, and Eric.


Shaun: You’re the people staying at Trevor Hall, right?


Tammy: Yep.


Jess: Is it true you’re keeping a gorilla there?


Tammy: No.


Eric: No, it’s a chimp.


Jess (leaning forward): What?


Eric: A chimpanzee. Smaller than a gorilla.


Gail: His name is Smithy. He’s cute.


Trish: And you can talk to him somehow? That’s what I heard at the diner.


Eric: We’re teaching him sign language.


Ruby: Oh, you work at the diner? I thought you looked a little familiar.


Eric: He learns a few words at a time every week--


Trish leans closer to Ruby.


Trish: Yeah, I wait tables. I’ve seen you come in before, but not in a while. We don’t see you around town much.


Tammy: We don’t get out much. Too much work to do. And the boss keeps us on a short leash.


Jess (interested): The English guy from the radio?


Eric: --and he combines them into short phrases. He really does understand! It’s--


Ruby: Dr. Preis-Herald. Yes.


Tammy: Actually, I meant his assistant.


Eric: --incredible!


Shaun (vaguely): Cool, man.


Fred: Hey, there’re the Teixera twins! Hey! Miguel!


Fred whistles sharply. The young man who had danced with Gail and a young woman with dark hair exit the dance floor to join the group. Gail smiles up at the boy and bats her eyelashes.


Fred (cont.): This is Miguel and his sister Alicia. They’re from Fall River. Y’know? Where Lizzie Borden lived?


Gail (shudders): Oo, I’ve heard of her. The ax murderer!


Ruby (chanting): Lizzie Borden took an ax...


Tammy (chanting): And gave her mother 40 whacks…


Reid leans forward.


Reid: Actually that’s supposed to be sung, not chanted. It goes to the tune of “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom de-ay.”

(sings)

Lizzie Borden took an ax, Gave her mother for-ty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her fa-ther for-ty-one. Ta-Ra-Ra Boom de-ay, Ta-Ra-Ra Boom de-ay…


Reid realizes no one is paying attention and trails off. Tammy smiles sympathetically his way.


Eric: Hey, isn’t her house still there?


Miguel: Yeah. It’s not far. Perhaps an hour to drive, if it’s something you would like to see.


He smiles at Gail.


Tammy: That could be an interesting day trip.


Gail: Oh, not for me!   I wouldn’t want to go somewhere ghoulish like that. What if it’s haunted?


Trish, Jess and Fred laugh.


Fred: That’s funny!


Trish: Uh, speaking of old houses, what do you think of Trevor Hall?


Shaun: Has anyone seen it yet?


Jess shushes him.


Ruby: No, we don’t really know anyone else in town. I was just telling, ah, Trish. Tonight is really our first chance to be in Newport socially so no, no one has been to see the house yet.


Shaun and Fred laugh. Tammy tilts her head and looks at them quizzically.


Ruby (cont.): You’re welcome to visit if you’d like a tour. Some parts of it are closed off—


Trish crosses her arms as if cold


Trish: No thanks! Not me!


Shaun: Maybe if, like, there was a thousand bucks in it for me.


Ruby looks around, curious.


Alicia: But you are happy there? You like the house?


Gail: Oh, yes, it’s gorgeous! It’s a little run down and the boys have had to make a few repairs and some changes for Smithy’s sake, but you can see how grand it must have looked in its hey-day. I feel like a princess living there!


Ruby: Yes, I feel very privileged to live there too. We’re probably the only college students in America who have our own mansion.


Alicia: Do you live there by yourselves? Just the…five of you?


Tammy: We’re seven, actually. There are two more back home.


Tammy turns to Ruby.


Tammy (cont.): See how I’m calling it ‘home’ now! Yeah, another colleague of ours, Wanda, stayed behind, along with our professor who’s running the show, to care for our chimp.


Eric: But the doc doesn’t live there all the time. He’s in and out, going back to Yale or to other schools to speak. Plus he’s got to tape his radio show once a week—you’ve probably heard him speak before on AM—so a lot of the time it feels like we’ve got the mansion to ourselves.


Shaun: You sure about that?


Jess elbows Shaun. Tammy frowns at him.


Fred: But you don’t mind being left on your own?


Tammy (confrontational): Should we?


The other men and women look at one another. Shaun laughs. Reid shakes his head.


Fred: Did they tell you anything about the house when you moved in?


Jeff (off-camera): Piers handled the lease. I wasn’t on the initial walk-through. I know the place used to be a boarding school—


Shaun: Didn’t you wonder why the rent was so cheap?


Tammy: Is there something you’d like to tell us?


Eric: Yeah, man. This isn’t funny for us. Why all the questions?


Reid: I apologize. Clearly you’re confused and my friends should have been more discreet. You see…

Pause.

How can I put this? Trevor Hall is somewhat infamous. It has a reputation in the community that you, being outsiders, are unlikely to know about.


Shaun: The house is haunted!


Reid glares at him.


Shaun (cont.)


He gestures to Eric.


Shaun (cont): The man wanted us to cut to the chase.


Ruby: Are you serious?


Fred (to Gail): That’s why we thought it was funny that you didn’t want to visit Lizzie Borden’s house. Yours is just as bad.


Reid: Now that isn’t true! The Borden house was the site of a well-documented crime. Trevor Hall is a victim of innuendo.


Ruby looks around the circle of young people.


Ruby: So you mean this? You all think the house is haunted?


Fred: Look, I grew up here. I’ve heard things. Even when I was little, I knew not to go near that place. No one’s lived there in years and it’s not because it’s too much of a fixer-upper or because the taxes are too high or any of the excuses you might have heard. People have seen things, felt things—


Tammy: Have you?


Fred: Like I said, I don’t get too close to the house. When I was a kid, we used to dare each other to go up and knock on the door or peek in the window, but the most I ever did was walk up to the gate. I admit it, I’m a coward. Sue me.


Eric: So what’s supposed to go on there? What’s haunting the house?


Reid: Again, nothing is substantiated. The haunting is founded on rumor. Most of the stories began about 50 years ago when Trevor Hall was used as a boarding school: The Bradley School for the Refinement of Young Ladies. It was a finishing school for the daughters of wealthy families. It did all right for itself until the stock market crashed, then it saw enrollment drop off.


Reid leans against the bar and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose; he looks from Gail to Tammy to ensure they are listening.


Reid (cont.): Now that’s natural enough. The wealthy families who had lost their money could no longer afford the expense of sending their daughters away to learn dancing and art appreciation. But the decline coincided with stories of a mysterious figure who had been seen walking the halls at night—a figure who walked without making a sound and who vanished when you turned the lights on. Some girls said this figure would even sneak up on them in daylight. While at her books or her music or her sewing, one would suddenly look up and see the figure of a woman in black watching her from across the room—or standing right at her elbow. And as she watched, the figure would fade away. Needless to say, these stories did not help to draw young ladies to the academy.


In the 1930s, the Bradley school went co-ed in an effort to keep itself afloat. Trevor Hall was large enough that it could be segmented: one wing was kept for the girls and another for the boys. Broadening the enrollment did temporarily stop the school from sliding into the red, but it didn’t stop the ghost stories.


Fred: After the boys showed up, things got worse. Now people didn’t just say that they’d seen a ghost. Accidents started happening.


Gail: Like what?


Fred: One girl said she woke up and couldn’t breathe because something was strangling her, but she couldn’t see what. Her roommate was asleep in the next bed and didn’t see a thing. Luckily, the girl kept a Bible on her night-stand to read before she fell asleep, and she reached out for it. When she touched the Bible, the hands released her and she was free. Then she started crying and woke the roommate. Supposedly, she had bruises on her throat, but they faded away by morning.


Reid: That’s one of the most lurid stories, and again, it was never substantiated. There were, however, some small fires that broke out in various parts of the house without any discernible cause.


Ruby sits up and grabs at Tammy’s sleeve. Eric wipes his palm over his face. Shaun watches him and whispers to Fred.


Reid (cont.): It could be one of the students was a fire bug. It could also have been a series of freak accidents. It came to be attributed to the ghost. Also, students reported missing valuables, some of which later turned up in places the students swore they had already searched. Some items were never seen again.


Reid signals the bartender for a drink.


Reid (cont.): Oh—and one boy fell down the stairs. He claimed a dark figure loomed up in front of him just as he got to the top step and spooked him. He threw up his arms to protect himself, lost his balance, toppled backward, broke an arm and sprained an ankle.


Tammy: At least he didn’t claim to be pushed.


Reid: He didn’t, but a girl sleeping in the top floor tower room swore that something tried to shove her out the window while she was admiring the view one evening. Now this tale does have some support. Boys playing baseball on the lawn below heard her screaming and saw her struggling in the window frame. One of the boys went to get help and the teacher went up to the girl’s room where she found the student in hysterics. Naturally, she was alone in her room at the time; her roommate had gone home to be with her sick mother.


Tammy and Ruby look at each other.


Trish: Is anyone sleeping there now?


Gail: Piers is. Our professor.


Jess: Better tell him to put a screen on the window then. Or pick a new room.


Reid: It wasn’t just the kids telling these tales either. At least one teacher quit because of her experiences. Even after the Bradleys closed their school, later tenants continued to encounter eerie happenings. The house never stayed tenanted for very long. I think the record stay was nearly nine months.


Fred: The last people who lived there packed up in 1962. They said they wanted to go to a warmer climate, like California or Florida, but my old man ran into the wife when he was in Boston on a business trip. Boston’s weather ain’t that different from ours. Pop said she just couldn’t take it in that house anymore.


Jeff (off-camera): Well, it sounds like you’ve got a lot of stories to tell, but does anyone know who this ghost is supposed to be? It had to come from somewhere. Was it somebody from the school? Someone who lost money in the stock market?


Reid: Oh, no. Even though the richest period of reported sightings came after Black Thursday, the legend of Trevor Hall dates back much earlier. Now no one is sure of the ghost’s identity, but there is a story.


Jeff (off-camera): Well, let’s hear it!


Fred: OK, you know how there’s a walkway up on the roof? A widow’s walk thing where you can see in all directions and down to the ocean?


Eric: Yeah…


Fred: The servants used to go up there all the time. Their quarters were on the third level, so there were stairs that went up to the roof, easy. They could walk around, enjoy the view, and not have to worry about the master eavesdropping on their gossip.


Reid: You also know that the U-shaped driveway is covered over with beech trees. That was deliberate. The trees shade the stairs leading to the rear servants’ entrance. Sometimes the maids and footmen would go out there on a break to take the air or to talk. They could stand at the end of the drive and the trees would block them from the view of anyone looking out a window. It was mutually advantageous. The servants got to have a little privacy and the upper class didn’t have to see any of the help, who were supposed to be invisible anyway.


The bartender sets down Reid’s drink and he takes a sip. His audience waits for him to continue.


Reid (off-camera): According to legend, one of the servants, a woman, was up on the roof—taking a walk, watching the ships, or watching fireworks, depending on which variation you hear. Some say she had been stealing from her employers and the housekeeper caught her. She was going to put the maid out, without a reference. That would have been like a death sentence! Having no reference was a stain on your reputation. None of the other families in Newport—or in the tri-state area—would have hired her. In despair, the girl jumped off the roof and landed right smack on top of the canopy of beech trees. Her weight broke the branches and she got impaled.


Fred: Yeah, she came right down on top of a couple of scullery maids who were out having a forbidden smoke. Scared the bejeezus out of them! One girl had to go into a mental ward because she was so shaken.


Trish: I heard the housekeeper was having an affair with the master of the house and she threw herself off the roof because he wouldn’t marry her.


Jess: The way I heard it, the housekeeper pushed one of the maids off the roof because she was having an affair with him too and the housekeeper got jealous.


Reid: No, no, what really happened was a housemaid from neighboring Herbert Terrace–what’s now Belancourt Mansion—fell off the rooftop, supposedly when “a strong gust of wind caused her to lose her footing.” That’s in the inquest report. The servants from both houses used to mingle at parties and special occasions: Independence Day, New Year’s Eve, and so forth. Some even courted. In fact, the carriage driver from Trevor Hall married the Second Parlormaid of Herbert Terrace…


Shaun: Get on with it!


Reid: Anyway, the servants were celebrating Independence Day on the roof. Maybe they were trying to watch fireworks from the harbor. This poor girl somehow fell to her death. I’ll bet alcohol was involved.


Tammy: Who was she?


Reid: Her name was never recorded. The newspaper report just calls her “a young housemaid of Herbert Terrace.”


Tammy: Well, that’s lousy! How would you like to be known only by your job function? To be nothing but a nameless servant in death as well as life?


Ruby: Isn’t there any way to research who she was?


Reid: There was no other identifying information in the news item, nothing about her age or survivors, or where she was from originally, and the rolls for Herbert Terrace show a high turnover that month. Almost a whole new slate of servants was at work by August, so you can’t narrow down the dead woman’s identity by seeing who was missing after the party. I guess a lot of the help must have been upset by her death and wanted to leave.


Fred: Or the Herberts sacked them to keep them from talking.


Eric: She was probably an Irish chick.


Tammy: That’s mean!


Eric: No, really! My ancestors were German and Irish, so I know about this stuff. The Irish were treated like trash in those days. Everybody hated them. “No Irish Need Apply” signs in the windows and servants working in lousy conditions. If an Irish maid croaked under mysterious circumstances, nobody would’ve cared.


Ruby: German-Irish, huh?


Eric: Yup. Mom was an O’Herlihy.


Tammy: Let’s compare family trees later. I want to hear more about the ghost.


Trish: Hold on, she did have a name. I remember my brother telling me the story when I was a kid and he called her…ah…Rock-something…Like the painter. Rockwell!


Reid: Imogene Rockwell?


Trish: Yeah! Who was that, if not the maid?


Reid: Imogene Rockwell was the housekeeper at Trevor Hall during the 1880s, and she died there in March of 1890.


Jeff (off-camera): Under mysterious circumstances?


Reid: According to the local doctor’s report, Imogene Rockwell died of heart failure.


Eric: Yeah, her heart failed when a branch pierced through it.


Fred: The lord of the manor probably paid the doctor to write that report. These people could afford to do anything. They had more money than God. Hired help was a renewable resource to them. If a servant quit or died, there were hundreds more peasants clamoring for a job.


Reid: As it happens, I have some photographs of the house servants from that era, including an image of Imogene Rockwell. I’d be happy to show them to you some time, if you like.


Fred: Yeah, we live in town. Stop by anytime. Reid’ll tell you all about the servants. And anything else you want to know.


Trish covers her mouth to block a laugh.


Reid: Did you know there are actually a few people still alive today who used to work as servants in the great mansions? I’ve taken their first-hand accounts. They’re a bit dotty if you ask them what they had for breakfast, but they remember everything about what happened in the old days.


Ruby: Gosh, you’re really into this!


Reid: I love history, especially Newport history. In fact I’m doing my dissertation on Gilded Age living in America, from the side of both the haves and have-nots. I’m down from Harvard for the summer volunteering with the Preservation Society to gather more research.


Eric: Heyyy!


Jeff boos off-camera. Eric smiles and reaches across Shaun and Trish to shake Reid’s hand. Reid looks surprised, then stretches out his own hand to meet Eric’s.


Gail (to Miguel): Are you here doing research too?


Miguel: Ah, no. I take out fishing boats during the summer. My sister works in the café with Trish.


Tammy (to Reid): Now are you a student of history in general, or just ghost stories?


Reid: Oh, all history, certainly. The ghosts are incidental. Though ghost stories can provide a gateway to studying history. People who want to dig deeper into the local legends can find a great deal of legitimate information along the way. When investigating the background of a so-called haunting, you necessarily learn about the people and the events that fueled those tales. Now, it can be fun to delve into a ghost story to determine what, if anything, has a basis in fact—


Eric: Hey, are any of the other mansions around here haunted or is ours special?


Reid straightens up and adjusts his glasses.


Reid: As a matter of fact, Newport has a rich and storied lore—


Ruby: Oh, no! That’s enough of ghost talk for now. Weren’t we going to dance?


She looks toward Jeff. Reid makes bows to Ruby.


Reid: May I have the honor, Miss Birthday Girl?


Jeff (off-camera): Sorry, man. I’m next on her card. Just let me put this thing away.


The camera view tilts as Jeff sets it down. Eric approaches Gail.


Eric: Gail, want to dance now?


Gail: Oh, no thanks. Miguel is getting me a drink. I’m just going to sit here for a while.


Jeff (off-camera): Good; keep an eye on this camera for me, will you?


The screen goes dark

Next Chapter: Diary entry by Ruby Cardini dated August 5, 1974