By Jill Oestreicher Gross
Halloween at Michael Wendt's Merrimac house has always been a quiet holiday. Even when he was a child, the neighborhood kids were afraid to trick-or-treat at his River Road home because of rumors of ghosts lurking in the shadows.
The lore surrounding the ghosts centers on the alleged murders hundreds of years ago of a mother and her two children in one of the home's back rooms, Wendt said.
A yearlong renovation underway at the more than 300-year-old house may or may not scare the ghosts away.
"The belief is that those spirits haunt the house," Wendt, 51, said.
He speaks of a presence being felt in certain rooms and strange sounds about the house, including a time when his nephew awoke to a ghost over his head. This reporter, luckily, did not encounter any spirits during her visit on a sunny and breezy fall day.
Contractor Ed McQueeney of Old House Restoration in Newburyport said the home is "a great place to work," though he did recall hearing a strange noise when the project was in its initial phase last winter.
But now, several months into the job, "The ghosts are at peace," McQueeney said. "We've had no incidents."
The renovation adds a four-season porch; a widow's walk, named Mimi's Peak in honor of Wendt's late mother, overlooking the Merrimack River; and finished space in the attic. McQueeney and his team are also working to make the house structurally sound from the basement up to the roof.
"We're trying to maintain the look of the house as much as possible," Wendt said. "The bottom line is that we want as much of the original look, but are adding functionality."
The staircase, paneling, wainscoting, ceiling beams and window sashes and glass will keep the original flavor of the home intact. A corner cabinet, which Wendt said was used to hide liquor during the Prohibition era, will be restored and reinstalled. Modern updates include a new kitchen and bathrooms. The cost of the restoration is estimated near $350,000.
One unique aspect of the home is a tunnel that once led from the home's basement out to the riverbed. Though it is now filled in with rocks, legend has it that goods and possibly even slaves were smuggled into the home via the tunnel, Wendt said.
He said the original house, circa 1702, took about six years to build. His parents bought the property in 1965 and it's been in the family ever since.
After his mother died in 2007, Wendt and his wife, who raised their children in Methuen, decided to move back to Merrimac to keep an eye on Wendt's father.
Wendt said "the peacefulness of the river," his wife's love of the home and the desire to keep the house "in the family" were all factors in undertaking such a major renovation project. Wendt and his wife, daughter and father are living in the home's in-law apartment until the project is completed, expected by the end of the year.
"I can't think of anyone I have brought through the house over the years who was not intrigued by the history and the hauntings the house has experienced," Wendt said.
