By David Avitabile
COBLESKILL - If Mrs. Steacy waits on your table at the Bull's Head Inn, you may want to ask for another waitress.
Though it feels that the Bull's Head was always a restaurant in downtown Cobleskill, that is not the case. In fact, the building, constructed in 1802, is not the first on that location. Mrs. Grace Steacy was a past resident of the Inn when it was a private residence, and, according to many, may still roam the rooms of the stately manor.
The current building that houses the wooden, two-story Bull’s Head Inn was built in 1802 by Seth Wakeman, the same builder of the Beekman Mansion in Sharon Springs, explained the current owner Christopher J. Guldner, on the Bull's Head Inn web page.
The Bull’s Head Inn was built on the site of three previous structures dating back to 1752 when George Ferster built one of the first buildings in Cobleskill, Mr. Guldner wrote. During the American Revolution in the Battle of Cobleskill on May 30, 1778, that home was burned to the ground by Indians (under the command of the Mohawk Chief, Joseph Brant), Tories, and British. Many of the retreating patriots were murdered and scalped with the advancing enemy burning nearly all the settlements in Cobleskill.
The two buildings that followed were also burned then rebuilt during subsequent enemy raids on Cobleskill, one in the spring of 1781, and then one in the fall of the same year. It is from this history of catastrophic destruction on this site that various stories are told of residents perishing in one or more of the fires. It is also stated that an Indian was killed in the building during one of the conflicts. One story in particular centers around a girl in an upstairs bedroom who was too scared to run, froze in terror and perished in the blaze, Mr. Guldner added.
In his book Ghosts of the Northeast, David J. Pitkin noted that the original home was "open to both white settlers and local Indians, but two of the latter became embroiled in an argument, and one stabbed the other to death in the Ferster house."
The last time it was rebuilt it was made into a tavern, and later sold to German immigrant Lambert Lawyer, who turned it back into a home, according to Mr. Pitkin.
After Mr. Wakeman rebuilt and enlarged the home, it was reopened as an Inn. Until 1839, it was also used as a town hall, courthouse, and public meeting place, Mr. Pitkin wrote.
Mr. Guldner noted that shortly thereafter, the Bull’s Head Inn was purchased by Charles Courter to be used as his private residence, and from that time forward, was known as the Courter Mansion. Charles died, supposedly from "nervous exhaustion" in the building on January 1, 1879.
The last private residents of the Bull’s Head Inn were Mr. John Steacy and Mrs. Grace Steacy, Mr. Guldner wrote. John reportedly "thoroughly enjoyed his drink" and Mrs. Steacy was a member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and loathed drinking. After they passed away, the building was sold by their estate to former village Mayor Monte Allen. In 1966, Mr. Allen reopened the Bull’s Head Inn as a restaurant and added a bar in the home (in the location that was Mrs. Steacy's bedroom, Mr. Guldner noted). Since then, many guests and employees have encountered apparitions and experienced extremely unusual events, attributing the occurrences to Mrs. Steacy.
Sightings of a woman in a white gown moving typically around the central staircase and upper and lower landings are numerous. Mischievous activities such as food, plates, utensils, and napkins being disrupted, sometimes flying across the room or being knocked to the floor were typical. Door slams and faucets turning on by themselves are examples of recent experiences of the current ownership, Mr. Guldner added.
Mr. Pitkin noted similar stories in his 2002 book.
After Mr. Allen created a dining room and bar in Mrs. Steacy‘s old bedroom, waitresses and bartenders sometimes saw a woman and a long, white filmy gown, perhaps a nightgown, walking through the tables, chairs, and walls of the room, Mr. Pitkin wrote. From time to time, salt and pepper shakers disappeared and pieces of silverware rose from the tables and flew at the bar.
One night around 1981, a bartender was sipping a nightcap after he closed the bar. “Suddenly," the bartender said, "I saw lights on the wall, as though the venetian blinds were opening and closing several times. Then I saw what seemed to be a figure sitting in the corner of the dining room. It appeared to be a woman in a white nightgown," Mr. Pitkin wrote.
Mrs. Steacy showed her displeasure many times after that.
Napkins and plates sometimes became airborne and strange on locatable sounds more hurt. Lavatory faucets suddenly turn themselves on. Swivel chairs mysteriously revolved by themselves, Mr. Pitkin added.
In the early 1990s, a manager of the restaurant recalled a terrified customer who saw his table butter dish levitate, Mr. Pitkin wrote. She also told of seeing a woman’s reflection behind her in the restroom mirror but when she turned to identify the woman, nobody was there. At various times at the closing, bartenders and staff in a recently built cellar pub have heard footsteps upstairs but never found anyone.
A hostess "was speechless when an old hand crank telephone on the wall began ringing. No one was near it to turn the crank. It wasn’t hooked up to an outside line, it was just a decoration," Mr. Pitkin wrote.
A waitress once told this reporter in the early 1990s, that one night an upstairs room was being prepped for a function the next day and all the chairs were taken down and the tables were set. The next morning, the staff came in to find all the chairs put back up on the tables.
Former owner Bob Youngs told Mr. Pitkin, "This place is full of history. One night we had a wine tasting party. A man I know, brought his wife and about midway through the party, she left to go into the women’s room. She returned with a smile, saying, 'Gee, Bob, you sure encourage people to think about history. How did you get the idea of putting a costumed woman as an attendant in the restroom?' I just smiled. We had no woman in historical dress, but if I told her that I'd have lost another customer."
Mr. Guldner added, "it is not fully understood what the true source and nature of the haunting of the Bull’s Head Inn is, but what is known, is that people with first-hand experiences are absolutely convinced of what they felt, saw, and/or heard and stay true to their stories. The activity reported does not seem to be violent, but it has definitely gotten people's attention, frightened some, and made some of them believers in the spirit (or spirits) that haunt the Bull’s Head Inn."
On the Bull's Head Inn web page, Mr. Guldner wrote that his statements were "written with benevolent reverence for the structure and spirits that may reside within."
The Bull's Head Inn may not be the only haunted building in Cobleskill, but it may be the most famous. Numerous paranormal groups have investigated the sightings and books and web sites have dedicated space to the hauntings in the Inn.
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