Growing up in the Berkshires, I remember hearing a number of strange stories and legends. Depending on who you speak with, these incidents are more than just urban legend, they're true. However, that's up to you to decide. In North Adams, you have the classic incidents of the Hoosac Tunnel and the ghosts of the workers haunting the tunnel. The West Portal is on West Shaft Road while the East Portal is located in Florida near the Vermont border. The East Portal seems a bit more spooky to me, just my opinion.

Then of course you have the history of Houghton Mansion/Masonic Temple where there has been a number of sightings and stories of ghostly activity caused by members of the Houghton family and their chauffer John Widders. Mary Houghton died shortly following an Aug.1, 1914 car crash. The family was headed to Bennington, VT on a leisurely trek. The car was driven by Mr. Widders.  After Mary's death from the accident, Mr. Widder's shot himself in the cellar of the mansion on Aug. 2. Mr. Houghton (Mary's father) died from injuries sustained by the car crash on Aug. 11 of that year.

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One legend in North Adams that seems to take a bit of a backseat to the Hoosac Tunnel and Houghton Mansion is the Monster of Coca-Cola ledge. If you've been in downtown North Adams, you can see a rocky area that overlooks the city. As you probably already know, that rocky area used to have a huge Coca-Cola logo painted on it. Talk about some great advertising. I seem to remember actually seeing that logo in the '80s when I was a youngster but I could be imagining this. Over time, the Coca-Cola logo has been painted/covered up over and over with different art and emblems. For years, it was a write of passage for teenagers to go up to the ledge and paint their own artwork up there, illegally mind you.

A couple of things that I didn't know about the ledge was that the technical name of the piece of geography is Witt's Ledge (had to look that one up) and that there is a legend of a monster that lurks around the area of the ledge. Maybe not necessarily a monster but that of a Bigfoot-type creature. This could just be folklore but it's fun to think about the possibility of an animal or creature haunting the area. Have you ever heard of this story and do you believe the legend?

KEEP READING: Here's something that's not an urban legend. These stores at one time existed in the Berkshire Mall. 

65 Berkshire Mall Stores Remembered

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