When the Clock Strikes Three
“History has its truth and also has legends. Legendary truth is of another nature than historic truth. Legendary truth is invention whose result is reality. Furthermore, history and legend have the same goal; to depict eternal man beneath momentary man. (Victor Hugo)” The history and legend of the Marjim Manor came together like a patchwork quilt, truth and tale intertwine forming a chain. Over time several versions of the manor’s story exist however they all begin and end the same.
It began with a man by the name of Shubal Merritt, who settled at Appleton in Newfane with his wife Sophia and their children; Phoebe, Cordelia and Lewis. That is where the parallels end for now. The following is all the versions blended into one.
When the Merritt family moved to Appleton, a mansion was built called Appleton Hall. One feature on the grounds was a rock garden created by Lewis. The centerpiece of the garden was a large 500-pound boulder that was reportedly the Morgan Stone used to drown William Morgan in the Niagara River by the Masons. In all accounts, the mansion had its fair share of deaths, at least seven. Could it be a curse from the Morgan Stone? No one knows why, but in the 19th century Appleton Hall was called a hoodoo farm.
Sophia was the first to die at Appleton Hall, however one of the most interesting and heartbreaking deaths was that of Lewis. Shortly after Sophia’s death, Shubal was cleaning his gun in the parlor. Just as the clock struck 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Lewis approached the French doors to the room his father was in just as Shubal’s gun accidentally went off. Lewis was struck in the heart and died instantly.
Shubal was beside himself over the death of his son, especially by his own hand and so soon after his wife’s departure from this world. He ordered his servants to permanently close the French doors, which they did. However, no matter what was done to secure them, at 3 o’clock each Thursday the doors would swing open on their own. Shubal was convinced that it was the return of his son and he wandered throughout the house called out for Lewis, until his own death in the house which was also at 3 o’clock on a Thursday.
With the matriarch and patriarch of the family and Lewis gone from this Earth, Phoebe and her husband Lucius Adams inherited Appleton Hall. It wasn’t long before the mansion claimed another life Phoebe died of a heart attack in the parlor when the French doors burst open at 3 o’clock. Living in the mansion without his wife was unbearable. Lucius and the children moved from Appleton Hall, and with that the last of the Merritt blood left.
After the Adams family moved away, the beautiful brick building fell into a sad state of disrepair. “Rats overrun the house and weeds choked all legitimate vegetable growth. But the walnut trees throve and the Witches Bloom flaunted its head as threateningly as ever (Niagara Falls Reporter).” John Morley rented the house as a sort of caretaker. In an account published in the Niagara Gazette in 2008, it seems that the depressing aura of Appleton Hall got the best of John. It came to an end for Mr. Morley on May 26, 1867. When his body was discovered on the following Thursday at 3 o’clock, they found the he had scratched a poem into the wall the day before he died. “It is lonely here for me, when evening is coming on. My friends never know my loss, till I’m dead and gone.” Again, Appleton Hall would be empty until 1895.
Dr. Charles Ring and his wife Hannah bought Appleton Hall with the hope of turning it into a peach farm. The farm became very successful and the Rings began to renovate the mansion. Unfortunately, Hannah died in 1907 before seeing the finished project. For a time, the curse and its spirits remained relatively quiet. Charles was able to entertain friends and retain a staff of faithful servants. The spirits may have been quiet, but they were not completely silent. One portion of the building, called Baronial Hall (the parlor) was not used and had been closed off from the rest of the mansion. Each day at 3 o’clock the door to Baronial Hall would pop open. Knowing the history and stories of the ghosts at Appleton Hall, he was not bothered by the daily opening of the door as long as that was all the spirits did. When the renovations began, work in Baronial Hall was not in the original plan. Charles Ring decided that maybe it should be done as well in order to appease the spirits. Dr. Ring finally finished the remodel of the Hall and retired to his bedroom, but not before telling his staff not to wake him. According to the article in the Niagara Falls Reporter - “At 3 o’clock the next afternoon, just as the door of Baronial Hall swung open in its usual unearthly way, the servants became uneasy and decided to wake their master. They knocked on the door and received no reply. The bravest of them turned the knob and entered. Their master sat at his desk, pen in hand - dead!”… (excerpt from The Great Lakes Seaway Trail: History, Legends and Mysteries)
