Some unexpected guests make an appearance on the next episode of Planet Green’s new original series The Fabulous Beekman Boys, airing on Wednesday, July 14 at 9/8c. In addition to heading into the city for a black tie event with Martha Stewart, Brent and Josh discover that the Beekman estate, which is home to more than 80 of their goats, a diva llama and themselves, may in fact be haunted. On the episode entitiled “The Haunting of Beekman Farm,” homeowners Josh and Brent and several of their visitors believe they hear ghosts of residents past. After their one-year anniversary in the mansion, dishes began clanking, voices started calling out and floorboards began creaking, witnessed by the boys, their guests and fellow town members. In order to set the record straight, Brent enlists the help of a ghost hunter to investigate their 200-year-old estate and identify the spirits. When the results of the hunt come in, they learn that The Beekman Mansion was at one point home to four year old Mary Beemkan, and according to the ghost hunters she has continued to live there for over 200 years.
Despite the eerie feel, the boys aren’t afraid of their visitors, and in fact, welcome the wandering spirits. But what’s unique about the Beekman – why would ghosts linger there in the first place and just who are they? Take a look at this incredible unexplainable footage, learn about the evidence, and check out the spooky sounds and ghostly images via the links below:
Do You Believe In Ghosts? http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/the-fabulous-beekman-boys-do-you-believe-in-ghosts.html
Hear The Hauntings (Audio) http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/the-fabulous-beekman-boys-beekman-ghost-voices.html
Take A Spooky Estate Tour (Slideshow) http://planetgreen.discovery.com/slideshows/tv/the-fabulous-beekman-boys/beekman-haunted-estate-slideshow.html
The Fabulous Beekman Boys is a witty and irreverent take on what happens when you take two city slickers – Dr. Brent Ridge, a former Martha Stewart Executive and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, a New York Times bestselling author – out of their element and up to the country to revive a full-fledged farm and eco-conscious lifestyle company in upstate New York.
More information about The Beekman Mansion Hauntings:
Perhaps the answer lie in the history. The Beekman mansion was built between 1802 and 1804 by William Beekman, a young soldier in the Revolutionary War who later became a recognized businessman. He and his wife, Joanna, had eight children, only two of which lived to age 20. According to the tombstones in the Beekman family crypt on the mansion’s property, one child, age nine, was killed by “a sleigh going over him,” and a teenage son was “felled by a tree.” Town lore says that another child called Mary, a four-year-old, died in a barn fire. (William Beekman who died in 1845, at 78 years old, actually outlived all of his children).
A “ghost hunter” who visited Josh and Brent shortly after they moved in identified five ghosts in the Beekman: a woman who hums in the attic; a char maid who wanders between two bedrooms checking the fires late at night (who does so more often if fireplaces are being used); a man that walks, limping, by the road looking for the woman who has a salve for his leg; a man in buckskin who paces between the kitchen and dining room; and Mary – who stands on her tiptoes in the doorways pointing at Brent and Josh, laughing.
Of all the spirits that visit, the boys feel closely tied to Mary, the name carved under the floorboards of the center hall. Despite the array of pacing men and humming women walking around their home, the boys aren’t spooked.
“Any presence we’ve felt seems completely benign. In fact, if I’m alone in the house, I often feel comforted by the activity rather than frightened. It just feels like a ‘full house…. I think all of our spirits are peaceful…regardless of how they died,’” Josh says.
Though the boys may be at ease with the spirits, there’s one room Josh’s mom, Jackie Purcell, avoids.
“There is one room in the house, the bedroom over the dining room that I am not at all comfortable being in. As foolish as it is, when I sleep in an adjoining bedroom, I lock the door,” Jackie says. Instead sensing a sinister presence, Jackie actually feels a profound sadness in the room and doesn’t wish to be too close to it.
Bedroom over the dining room aside, the boys and their visitors simply feel the comings and goings of their spirit roommates – family activity of pot lids clanking and spoons stirring. Usually these occur at night, Josh says, but perhaps it’s because the boys are simply too noisy to pay attention during the day. The sounds last for a minute or more, and Josh says they seem “to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.” The ghost hunters captured the ghosts saying distinct things: names and phrases, along with presences moving about the house.
“There is one floorboard near the stairs that has a very distinctive creak when stepped upon. I hear that creak very often,” Josh says.