This Tale is Based on a Historic Maine legend.
The Revolutionary War was fiercely waged by Major Thomas Means. He served with “Mad” Anthony Wayne at the fight of Stony Point and was there at Valley Forge with General Washington.
He attained the rank of Major by the time he returned to North Yarmouth, Maine, in 1779.
Years before, in 1756, when the Micmac Indians assaulted the village, he had lost his father and other family members.
The fort of the village was half a mile away from the Means farm. The majority of the people sought refuge at this roadblock as word of an impending Indian onslaught circulated.
The Means family opted to wait until the following morning, but before they could leave their property, they were ambushed.
Thomas’ mother sustained injuries while his father, Thomas Sr., died instantaneously. A few months later, she gave birth to a child who was given his deceased father’s name.
Thomas Jr. enlisted in the military as a private at the age of 18. He fought heroically alongside the other Colonial soldiers, as was already established.
Thomas purchased a house that had originally belonged to the town’s minister in 1807, by then a well-respected gentleman still known as Major by his peers. He started it as a bar on Main Street.
Means and his customers observed an older tall Indian enter his shop one evening. This guy selected rum. This guy boasted about being a part of a war group that had murdered a nearby family years before while Thomas served him.
The Indian spoke more as Thomas brought him numerous drinks. Thomas and his customers realised that this was the man who had murdered their father. When the Indian had become inebriated, Thomas led him to the “monitor room,” a tiny guest room located above the pub.
Nobody in the community saw this Indian ever again. Then, from the monitor room, Thomas started to be startled by “flashing lights and spooky noises.”
The Indian’s form started to move back and forth across this tiny chamber at that point. In particular during storms, this activity was nonstop.
For years, there were frequent sightings, which nearly drove the Major insane. Thomas admitted to his son that he had used a hatchet to murder the Indian as he lay dying in 1828. He had also scalped the man out of retaliation.
Confession did not stop this conduct, by any means. After his passing, the little monitor room remained eerily haunted for another 50 years.
This unhappy spirit didn’t calm down until the late 1970s, after the tavern’s new owners refurbished the upstairs.
