Red Brook Inn

"None of the supernatural events, however, quite surpass a memorable birthday party I held here. The sea captain whom I bought the house from was getting ready to remarry," says Ruth Keyes. "His wife had died after a three-month illness—throat cancer—and eight months later he married his wife's best friend, who was also widowed. She did not want to live in the Crary Homestead, so he sold it to me and he moved into his second wife's home."

Ms. Keyes made the historic Crary Homestead part of her B&B complex, redecorating a suite of rooms for reunions, wedding receptions, and other private functions. About five years after his second marriage, the former owner was about to celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday and, aware of his affection for his home of many years, his wife called Ruth Keyes. She said that it was her desire to celebrate the occasion with a birthday party for him at the Crary Homestead.

"We made an appointment for her to come over so that we might plan the party, and I left the Haley Tavern to go with her to the Crary Homestead," says Ruth. "She wanted to plan the arrangement of the buffet, the bar, and the room for the cake and gifts. But the moment we opened the front door there was a terrible odor ... like dead meat. It permeated the whole house. 'It wasn't there this morning when I left,' I said in consternation. My own living quarters were in the house and there had been no odor earlier.

"I immediately asked my handyman to go check it. He came up to the tavern later that day and said, 'Ms. Keyes, there isn't any odor there!' About a week afterward the lady came back so that we might discuss the final details about the food for the buffet dinner, the number of bartenders, and when the cake would be delivered. Once more the dreadful odor greeted us!
"I hope it doesn't smell like this when the guests arrive," the lady said nervously.
"That night I watched an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. The subject was supernatural odors. The odor accompanying the story was described as resembling the 'odor of dead meat.' When I told some friends they said, 'Ah, that's the ghost of his first wife! She doesn't want the second wife there.'