The Halloween season has officially arrived and with it, the return of Haunted Hancock tours! Visit Hancock Shaker Village to hear ghost stories, learn about Shaker spiritualism, and see areas of the village that are typically off-limits. Great spooky fun!
Hancock Shaker Village may not be the first venue that comes to mind when you think of Halloween but maybe it should be. The nearly 240 year-old settlement has plenty of ghost stories and other uncanny secrets. Tales you’ll hear during your 90-minute, Haunted Hancock tour.
Shakers are a Christian sect that emigrated to the New World in 1774 to escape religious persecution in England. Hancock Shaker community was the third such village in the United States, established in Pittsfield, MA in 1783.
Shakers were quite progressive, practicing pacifism and racial and gender equality as early as the mid-1700’s. They also practiced celibacy, which explains the unique sect’s slow but inevitable decline.
Today, only one of the more than 20 Shaker communities founded in the US remains. Despite this, the Shaker legacy of a firm work ethic and fine, simple craftsmanship continues to resonate.
Hancock Shaker Village was shuttered and sold off in 1960. Like most other Shaker settlements, however, it is seeing a second life as a Shaker museum.
Hancock’s collection of 20 historic buildings and working farm make it the largest Shaker museum on the east coast. The Village is open seasonally, Mid April through November, and hosts a variety of special events year ’round, including Haunted Hancock!
Haunted Hancock Shaker Village
Haunted Hancock is your opportunity for a fun, after-hours adventure of spine-chilling ghost stories, mystery, and fascinating history.
These Halloween tours will take you back in time, down dark paths to some of the spookiest parts of the Village. Spaces that are normally off-limits to tours. Along the way you’ll hear true tales of ghostly sightings and discover why there are hand-carved gravestones in the basement. You’ll also learn about the Shaker attitude toward life, death, and spiritualism.
Haunted Hancock’s 90-minute walking tours include uneven terrain and several flights of stairs. The tours are spooky – but not THAT spooky and are suitable for visitors aged 12 and up.
Haunted Hancock Tours are available at 7pm, Thursdays and Fridays in October. Dates include October 6-7, 13-14, 20-21, and 27-28. Tickets and more information is available online.
Hancock Shaker Village is just a short, pleasant drive from The Stockbridge Inn. In fact, the convenient location of our Berkshires bed and breakfast in Stockbridge, MA puts the best of the Berkshires right at your feet. Berkshire Botanical Gardens, the Norman Rockwell Museum, Jacobs Pillow, Tanglewood, Jiminy Peak, and more!