The Haunted Aldrich Farm House
A Ghost in the Parlor?
Having no children of their own, Bessie Aldrich (née Clark) invited her nephew Charles Spencer and niece Emma Cowper to live with them in their large home. It soon became a mecca for the young people of Cumberland County. Society page articles mentioned the amazing blue-and-gold macaw, a large South American parrot, which Mr. Aldrich had purchased as an indulgence. The parrot, named Poll, was beloved by Emma. There is every reason to believe the affection was reciprocated. The bird would only say her name, “Emma!” and would often call out the name in the night.
Poll was kept in what was described in a ledger note as an “elaborate brass and rosewood parrot cage.” It stood in the parlor, near the fireplace. It was sold a few months after the bird's death. However, it was soon returned to Emma by a distraught St. Louis widow who had purchased it for its decorative value only. She could not keep it anymore, she explained. Her children, it seems, were terrified of it. Each and every night since she brought the empty cage home, a strange voice called out “Emma! Emma!” in the dark.
The cage disappeared after Emma's death in 1940.
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