Seeing ‘ghost’ filmed at historic New England hotel has ‘skeptical’ owners worried

PORTSMOUTH — Spooky season is in full swing, and the owners of a New England restaurant in a small seaside town think their security camera may have captured a wandering ghost.

This week, owners and staff of the Library Restaurant at the historic Rockingham Hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, were faced with the activation of a burglar alarm at 2:29 a.m. Tuesday inside the lounge bar Gold Room of the restaurant.

Adrienne and Paul Waterman, the married couple who own the restaurant and live in the building, checked the 14 security cameras they had installed. No movement was detected in the building and Portsmouth police did not find anyone at the premises when they arrived.

However, an exterior camera suspended above the hotel’s famous lion statues captured a vaporous, mist-like presence passing by the device at the exact moment the burglar alarm sounded. The footage shows the presence blowing from right to left and briefly passing by again just before the city police arrive, resembling the “Ghostbusters.”

Check out the moment captured on video:

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The video is “inexplicable”

Can we explain it? Adrienne Waterman, who says she is skeptical of ghosts, has difficulty understanding.

“I’m an engineer. I only deal with facts. It’s inexplicable,” she said.

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The Haunted History of the Rockingham Hotel

In February, the Watermans purchased the restaurant, open since 1975, for $3 million and immediately installed the new security cameras. They didn’t ring once until Tuesday morning, Waterman said.

The library co-owner lay awake for hours after the alarm, trying to piece together scraps of information. An app on his phone allows him to see every security camera in the building and whether the cameras have picked up movement in the building.

None did, other than the exterior camera, which would not have triggered the burglar alarm without a breach in the building.

“I learned that I’m suddenly nervous about ghosts I never knew existed. I don’t want to be the one to turn on the lights anymore,” Waterman joked.

The Rockingham Hotel is one of the city’s most prominent properties and has a history of haunted events. It’s also a frequent stop for haunted tours. Waterman learned of the famous hotel’s paranormal past from Roxie Zwicker, owner of New England Curiosities Ghost Tours, and heard stories of spirits lingering inside the hotel building.

Prominent politician’s family built house on site

In 1785, Judge Woodbury Langdon, brother of Governor John Langdon, built a house for his family on the site. He was married to Sarah Sherburne and had 10 children.

One spirit said to roam the Rockingham is that of Sherburne, who allegedly had an affair with Revolutionary War naval commander John Paul Jones, according to Waterman’s research.

“Local gossip and witch hunts started about her reputation, and then she died,” Waterman said. “Now rumor has it she’s floating (feeling) guilty. She is still trying to reconcile her guilt.

A second spirit said to wander the hotel’s upstairs hallway has been dubbed the “White Lady of Rockingham.” Portsmouth’s first poet laureate, the late Esther Buffler, is said to have encountered the gray-haired ghost while living at the hotel and wrote a poem in honor of the spirit.

The claim is that the spirit is that of a woman who was a summer guest at Rockingham and who tragically drowned in the area, Waterman said.

Jessica Wade, a waitress at the restaurant for six years, noted that a woman got trapped in the women’s restroom during a fire in the late 1800s and perished.

In 1870, Frank Jones, a brewing magnate, former mayor of Portsmouth, and congressman, purchased the building and expanded it, although most of the building was destroyed in a fire in 1884. The following year , Jones had the hotel rebuilt, and since the 1970s it has been home to condominiums.

According to the restaurant’s website, the most important historical event to take place at the Rockingham was the signing of the Russo-Japanese Treaty in 1905.

Frequency of unexplained haunted events gives ‘all the skeptics pause’

“It’s actually very surreal because I’m skeptical,” said executive chef Mark Lipoma.

Lipoma said he initially wondered if the “blowing mist” was coming from an outside vent, but that type of mist is usually seen with cooler temperatures.

Library workers have had their share of difficult encounters, and no one goes down alone beneath the restaurant, where there are secret granite and brick tunnels. Claims have been made that Jones built the tunnels leading to his Maplewood Farm mansion, his brewery and the ocean, Waterman said.

“I definitely heard voices coming from the locker room and no one was there,” bartender Laina Smith said.

“Luckily, I didn’t have any tactile experiences to share, other than the feeling that something was right behind me in the tunnel below,” said waitress Sahra Mercure. “(I) will never go back there again.”

Bartender Lauren Brown said she heard rustling in the women’s restroom downstairs in the restaurant. Waterman said he saw glasses and potted plants falling off the shelves at random.

“There are certainly enough strange things going on here to give skeptics pause,” Waterman said.

“Epicenter of ghost energy”

The apparent “epicenter” of the buildings’ “ghost energy” is located in a downstairs corner where an old phone booth stood until it was removed last December, Waterman said.

“There are a lot of people who come here and say there’s a great spiritual energy in (the restaurant), especially when you go downstairs,” Waterman said.

This article originally appeared on the Portsmouth Herald: Watch the ‘ghost’ filmed at the Portsmouth Library restaurant.