FOG BLOG HALLOWEEN LOG: SPOOKIEST HOUSE IN NEWBRUNSWICK IS THE BELMONT HOUSE IN LINCOLN!

The haunting of Belmont House

Built in the 1820s near Fredericton, it’s one of the spookiest houses in the province Tucked away beyond some trees, just past the Fredericton airport, lies a house steeped in history.

Down a driveway covered in pine needles, sheltered by a canopy of trees, sits Belmont House. It's been on this spot of land — with an apple orchard to the right and the Saint John River in behind — for the past 200 years.

Throughout its history, this three-storey house with a wrap-around verandah has been the subject of many ghostly rumours.

The 14-room mansion, built in the 1820s, was once home to some of New Brunswick's best-known families. Now divided into apartments, tenant Rebecca Cogswell has called it home for the past year.

And in Cogswell's mind, there's no doubt there are ghosts inhabiting the property with her.

"Definitely more than one or two ghosts — a phantom cat, too," Cogswell said. "I think I've seen that phantom cat out of the corner of my eye." Cogswell's living room is massive, with expansive windows facing the Saint John River and French doors leading off into a bedroom that was most likely a parlour. The floors are original, although painted a deep red. She points out the original nails in the floor, large and square, and some etchings on the original windows.

Julia Thompson, an archivist at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, says there is a wealth of history and memories inside the walls of Belmont.

"A lot of New Brunswick personalities have come from that home, lived there, had family that lived there or been inspired by it in some way," she said.

The home was built for a Supreme Court judge named John Murray Bliss in 1820, great-grandfather to well-known poet Bliss Carman. In the 1840s, it was home to Robert Duncan Wilmot, a New Brunswick lieutenant-governor and a father of confederation. In 1980, it was officially declared a National Historic Site.