Tyng Cemetery, Tyngsboro, MA
 September 21, 2009 and October 17, 21, and 26, 2009

Tyng Cemetery is a very small cemetery located on Rte. 3 in Tyngsboro, MA.  It has a very unique history, so the SPI team decided to do an investigation.  The Tyng Mansion is also a part of this great history, so we also wanted to investigate the property that the mansion once stood on which is now the property owned by the Innovation Academy Charter School.  Of course, we obtained permission from the proper personnel to conduct our investigation.  Upon conducting the first investigation, our evidence intrigued us enough to return three more times.

History:  Edward Tyng was born in Dunstable, England in 1610 and sailed to the American colonies in 1639.  He purchased 3,000 acres in Massachusetts, and named the area Dunstable after his birthplace.  Many years later, Dunstable was divided into three towns: Dunstable and Tyngsboro, MA, and Nashua, NH. 

Edward was a wealthy man and earned a reputation as being a servant in the community.  However, he had a great, great grandson whose name was John Alford Tyng, born in August 1724.  John was engaged to a debutante from Boston, MA, but had a roaming eye for the ladies.  Judith Thompson was a daughter of Ezra Thompson, who gave land for a church and for the town meetinghouse.  Judith was known as one of the most beautiful women in New England.  From time to time, she was called upon to help out at the Tyng Mansion with large parties.  It wasn't long before John Alford Tyng was secretly making advances toward Judith.  Judith was raised in a very proper and religious family, and refused John's advances making it very clear that she would be a married woman before she bed with any man. 

John Alford Tyng, being an unscrupulous man, hired Dr. Blood, who was a drunkard and con artist, to perform an illegal marriage between John and Judith.  The family did not know of the marriage.  John moved Judith into a new home in Dunstable, MA, which is now Nashua, NH.  The home was a few miles away from the Tyng Mansion.  They had two children, and when a third child was on the way, John hired Dr. Blood to murder Judith and the two children.  John then buried Judith and the children under the hearth of the fireplace.  Around town, John pretended that Judith and the children had gone to visit some relatives in a Boston suburb.  John's father, Eleazar, invited his son to return home to the mansion while Judith and the children was away. 

It is written that Judith became a vengeful ghost.  Her ghost returned to the mansion to haunt John Alford Tyng.   There was said to be the ghost of an Indian whom the Tyngs had cheated of his land that was already haunting the mansion, so Judith felt quite comfortable joining the ghost of the Indian. 

One night, Dr. Blood was walking alone on a country road not far from what is now known as The Country Tavern Restaurant, in Nashua, NH.  Blood felt uneasy and heard footsteps behind him.  When he turned around and looked behind, no one was there.  Dr. Blood fell to the ground, face forward and his weight crushed the ceramic flask that he was carrying and the liquor poured from the flask forming a puddle.  It is written that Dr. Blood choked and drowned in the liquor.  Judith's foot was found imprinted on the back of Dr. Blood's head.

When John Alford Tyng heard of Dr. Blood's demise, he immediately thought of the threat made to him by Judith's ghost.  Judith swore she would get even with John and that his name would never remain on a headstone, and that he would be forgotten in history.  John moved to a third Tyng mansion in hopes that Judith would not follow him, but she did.  John became quite ill and died September 4, 1775.  For years, John Alford Tyng's name consistently vanished from his headstone, along with the date of his death.  Many stones were replaced on the gravesite, but each eroded quickly.  In recent years, the town prepared for a town-wide celebration.  As part of their preparation, they once again replaced the stone and rather than inscripting John's true date of death, they inscribed June 24, 1771.  No one knows for sure, but it is suspected that June 24, 1771, may have been the date when Judith and the children died.  Since then the stone has remained in tact. 

If you go to visit John Alford Tyng's grave, you will find his name inscribed on a crypt.  However, we are told that his body does not lie under the crypt.  No one seems to know where his body does lie.  Not far from John's crypt, is the crypt of Edward Tyng, John's great, great grandfather.  It is said that this crypt is haunted perhaps by the ghost of John Alford Tyng trying to make amends with his family that he disgraced.

The Investigations: 

On our first investigation, 09/21/09, Mario captured an EVP from Edward Tyng's grave.  Mario said, "Could you give us a sound of some kind?  Could you say your name?"  At position :08, there is a sound like a "burp". 

Personal Experiences/EVP's:  During the investigation on 10/17/09, Dianne felt the presence of spirits from the moment she entered the cemetery.  She said they seemed to be shy and didn't want to present themselves to us in person.  Approximately 10-15 minutes into the investigation, she heard some call "Hey Dee."  She thought Distant Wolf was calling her, but when she asked him what he wanted he said he hadn't called her.  As a matter of fact, at that point in time, Distant Wolf wasn't on the cemetery grounds.  He was outside walking the perimeter of the cemetery.  Dianne did capture this on her EVP recorder, but the quality of the recording is not very good so we are not including it in this write-up.  When Dianne was sitting on the steps at the nearby ruins of the mansion, she got the feeling of a heavy chest and a "foggy head" feeling.

As Patti and John were walking down the road that leads from where the Tyng Mansion once stood to the cemetery, Patti experienced seeing a "person" lurking at the edge of the woods  At first, she thought this was a real person, but it disappeared very quickly. There were plenty of leaves on the roadway, but Patti said she did not hear anyone walking.  She shone her flashlight in the area where she saw this "person" and called out loud asking if anyone was there.  There was no response.  Patti describes this subject as a full figure and not a black mass or a shadow.  She said there was just enough ambient light for her to make it out to be a person.  We don't know what it was, but obviously, there was something there, and it doesn't appear to have been a live person.

Note: Using headphones will enhance the audio for your listening pleasure.

While investigating at Edward Tyng's grave, Mario captured an EVP as he was speaking and asking Edward, "Could you make that sound for me?"  At position :23, you will hear a quick "Aaaaahh".      While continuing EVP work at Edward's grave, Mario is saying, "Could you do that Edward, please?"  At position :09, there is a sound as if the cover of the crypt is opening. 

While Sue and Patti were standing at Edward's grave, Sue was telling Patti how Edward had come over from England and started the Tyng Dynasty and at position :03 an EVP was captured that sounds like, "Ah, yes." 

During our last two investigations on 10/21 and 10/26, we all had the experience of seeing "ghost lights."  These are lights of different colors that quickly blink.  We didn't all see them at the same time, but at one time or another we did all end up seeing them.  The showed themselves as red, orange, bright yellow, bright white, and one time Patti saw a green one.  This was the first time any of us have experienced seeing ghost lights.  It was fascinating.  They were seen in the area of the stone wall on the left hand side of the cemetery (facing the front of the cemetery).  They showed themselves inside and outside of the stone wall.  However, while we were inside the cemetery, they didn't seem to want to show themselves, but if we stood on the outside of the cemetery, they didn't seem to be so shy.   

I am told by Allen Gross, who has been investigating the paranormal for over 35 years, that ghost lights will usually only show themselves if they trust the people that are asking to see them.  The first two times we investigated, we did not see them.  We didn't see them until the third investigation.  We would ask them to show themselves, and almost on command, one or two would light up.  We made absolutely sure that no reflections from oncoming cars, insects, etc. could have caused these lights.  You will see a picture in the photo gallery of a ghost light.  I sent this picture to Allen Gross to ask him to examine it for me to make sure it wasn't some kind of an insect, etc., and after his close examination, he declared it to be a true ghost light.

During the 10/21 investigation, Dianne and Distant Wolf each had the personal experience of seeing a black shadow at the back gate of the cemetery.  This was while the ghost lights were appearing to us.

Distant Wolf and Rita captured some great photos of mist/ectoplasm which we believe is a spirit entity attempting manifestation.  You will find them in our photo gallery.

SPI's conclusion is that Tyng Cemetery harbors paranormal activity and based on our evidence we will even go so far as to say it is haunted.

We captured some pictures that we thought were prudent to the investigation.  To view the image gallery, please click on this link.   Pictures From Tyng Cemetery Investigations, Tyngsboro, MA Sept. - Oct. 2009.