History

DISCLAIMER: This history is is the product of private research and is not affiliated with the Angel Falls Preservation Association or the Beauport Historical Society.

1641 - English colonists arrive at Cape Ann and begin to look for a site to establish a settlement. After first settling near the bay, they begin to explore the wooded hills deeper inland and decide to build their colony on that site.

1642 - Colonists learn during negotiations with local tribal leaders that the land they’ve settled on is used by natives for religious purposes. There follows a year-long series of attacks and skirmishes. Colonists begin building a stone wall to repel attacks, using boulders from the nearby moraine. The finished structure comes to be known as Fort Clarke, after Captain Gilroy Clarke, the leader of the colony.

Fort Clarke, the first English settlement

Remains of original walls

1643 - Captain Gilroy Clarke leads a pre-emptive strike on the nearby native community, slaughtering up to “two hundred heathens and enemies of the Crown.”

Captain Gilroy Clarke

Massacre of the Indians by Capt. Clarke and his men

1644 - Colony member William Potkin reports sighting a lone native warrior in the woods north of the settlement. Believing an attack is imminent, Captain Clarke orders all colonists to take shelter within the stone fortification. Scouts sent out from the colony report no sightings of any natives within the area, and the alert is called off.

Reported sightings of a lone native continue throughout the winter of that year. Though most of these sightings occur in the outlying woods, at least two sightings are reported within the colony itself, including a report by an unnamed widow who claims to have awakened to see a native standing at her bedside. Subsequent searches fail to discover any natives in the area.

Devils leading away the women in ‘The Great Disappearance’

1645 - To quell once and for all rumors of a pending Indian invasion, Clarke leads a militia of men on a fruitless two-day search of the woods around the colony. Upon their return, Clarke and his men discover that all the English women and children left behind have vanished without a trace. Historians theorize that the women and children were abducted by local tribes, while others say that the absence of known local tribes in the aftermath of Clark’s slaughter renders the “abduction theory” implausible.

1646 - Surviving colonists are plagued by a two-year period of disturbing and unexplained events. Roger White, a thirty year old carpenter, claims to have seen his wife from a great distance in the woods, but when he called her name and made to approach her she vanished in the trees. Thomas Humphrey, a thirty-two year-old hunter on an expedition in the deep woods north of the colony claimed to have seen a group of young children standing silently among the trees “with grave and silent faces.” When Humphrey recognized his own son among that group, he cried out and made to approach them, but like the women sighted in these recent
months, these silent children also vanished.

Woodcut from "Legends of Angel Falls; The return of Humphreys' wife"

The few surviving written records of the colony provide historians with conflicting reports of the events of this year. According to one account, a number of women who had vanished two years earlier began to return to the colony. In the first of these reports, Thomas Humphreys, who had reported sighting his wife in the woods a year earlier, claims to have returned home from a hunting expedition and found his wife waiting for him inside his home. This is where surviving reports begin to offer conflicting accounts: some claim that Humphreys was “suffering from some great madness” and was hallucinating his wife’s presence, while other colonists claim to have seen her as well. Reappearances of lost women and children are reported for over a year, all with similar conflicting accounts. Roger Walters, a lay clergyman and community leader, wrote in one of his letters, “We are beset by a plague of angels or devils. God grant us the wisdom to discern one from the other.”

1649 - Tensions reach the breaking point in the Fall of 1649 when the group of colonists branded “bewitched” are driven out of the colony and move deeper into the woods where they establish their own community which becomes known as Angel Falls.

The miraculous return of William Wortham

1775 - 1783 - During the Revolutionary War, the citizens of Angel Falls align themselves with neither the Patriot or Tory cause, but maintain a marked neutrality and disinterest throughout the war which causes them to be the subject of intense distrust from surrounding communities. Records show that four young men of Angel Falls (Alan Holcombe, William Hubert, John Tilly, and William Wortham) did eventually take up the Patriot cause; all four men are listed as being among the soldiers killed at the battle of Gloucester––in another case of contradictory historical records, the names of all four men also appear in village records as having lived many years after the war. Letters written by members of the men’s families appear to make record of their deaths as well as their “marvelous reunion.” (Cultural anthropologists studying these records have pointed to a phenomenon in which individuals within a community who have perished or disappeared are sometimes “replaced” by other individuals who the community comes to perceive and accept as the embodiment of those missing individuals––although the sheer number of individuals in this case would seem to make this theory implausible.)

1850 - A peculiar religious sect known only as the Believers takes root in Angel Falls under the leadership of Father John Humphreys (a descendent of Thomas Humphreys, one of the original colonists who figured greatly in the Great Disappearance of 1645). Like many similar sects of the time, the Believers took great stock in Biblical accounts within the Book of Revelations of how believers would be borne up into the heavens at the Final Judgement. Through his study of scripture and other sources, Father Humphreys set the date and time of the Final Judgement to be March 29th, 1850, at 7:50 PM. On that date, Father Humphreys and sixty of his followers gathered at Pulpit Rock, the highest point at Angel Falls to await the rapture. Citizens from neighboring communities and journalists from as far as Boston came to gawk and jeer and witness the Believers‘ humiliation.

According to journalists’ accounts, at precisely 7:50 PM, a great cheer went up from the Believers assembled on the moraine who then commenced to sing hymns and pray aloud without ceasing for many hours on end. Attempts to communicate with Father Humphreys and his followers were met with failure; the Believers were, as one journalist described, “unresponsive as the deaf, dumb, and blind”. Father Humphreys and his sixty followers were committed to the asylum at Danvers where, according to asylum records, they “spent the rest of their days in a state of exaltation in communication with imaginary beings and forces only they could see.”

1900 - Due to the failure of wheat crops over several years, the population of Angel Falls dwindles as residents relocate to nearby Beauport or points beyond. By 1900, Angel Falls population is recorded as “less than fifty.” Among those is Jacob Tilly, his wife Catherine, and their daughters, Rebecca, Bethany, and Susannah. At New Years, Catherine reported her husband Jacob as missing, possibly lost in the great snowstorm of that year. Subsequent records state that Jacob Tilly miraculously returned to his family in April of the following year “at the time of the Spring thaw”. Tilly’s wife Catherine, however, claimed that the man who returned was not her husband, and disappeared soon after under what some labeled suspicious circumstances. Jacob Tilly and his three daughters lived on at Angel Falls until the winter of 1903 when all four disappeared in the great snowstorm similar to the one in which Tilly had vanished three years earlier.

Photo of charred ruins of Wonnesquam Retreat --Beauport News, 1923

1921 - Local businessman Horace Gripper attempts to capitalize on local legends that the rocks and woods of Angel Falls have healing and restorative powers by building a retreat on the site. Named the Wonnesquam Retreat, the business enjoys a brief and mixed success, with some visitors claiming beneficial and even miraculous results, while others claim to have become “ill both in body and spirit” while at the site. A fire of unknown origin destroys most of the retreat’s buildings in 1923. After ill-fated attempts to rebuild, Wonnesquam Retreat closes officially in 1924.

1957 - 1960 — In March of 1957, Harold Marsden of Angel Falls, husband of Deirdre Marsden, was reported missing. After a lengthy search, the police concluded there was no evidence of kidnapping or foul play, and it was assumed that Mr. Marsden had left home of his own volition. In 1960, Mrs. Marsden remarried Peter Gardner. That same year, Harold Marsden reappeared unexpectedly to claim his wife. While Deirdre Marsden (now Deidre Gardner) was overjoyed at the return of her first husband, her new husband Peter Gardner claimed that the returnee was in fact an imposter. In November of 1960, both Harold Marsden and Deirdre Marsden/Gardner disappeared. While Peter Garner claimed that his wife had been abducted by the man who claimed to be her first husband, police began to interview Mr. Gardner as a suspect in the disappearance. Although Mr. Gardner was released and never charged with a crime, he nonetheless suffered a mental breakdown and was placed under care at the Lunatic Asylum at Danvers where he remained for seven years until he was released in 1967 in the care of his sister, Hettie Gardner. Harold Marsden and his wife Deidre were never seen or heard from again.

Mr. & Mrs. Gardner, Beauport Gazette

1964 - In October of 1968, four young students from Beauport Elementary School were reported missing after a school trip. Megan Tilly, 8 years old, Francis Holcombe, 9, Malcolm Hubert, 8, and Jason Cropsey, 8, had accompanied the rest of their classmates on a field trip to view the ruins of the original colonial settlement at Angel Falls, escorted by their 3rd grade teacher, Catherine Grace. During that trip, the four students had become separated from the group. A lengthy police search proved fruitless. A month later, all four children reappeared, professing no memory of where they had been or of the events leading to their disappearance. Soon after, Miss Grace contacted school and public authorities to voice her suspicion that the four children who had reappeared were not her students. Ms. Grace refused to undergo a psychological examination recommended by the school board and was subsequently dismissed from her position. In late December of 1968, Miss Grace’s lifeless body was discovered by hikers at the base of Pulpit Rock. Her death was ruled accidental.

1968 - By this year, census records show only one remaining resident of Angel Falls: Cora Humphrey-Wilkins, descendent of one of the original settlers, John Humphreys, continued living in the sole inhabited house in Angel Falls since her husband’s death in 1962. Police were called to her home after William and Elizabeth Rankin of Beauport filed a police report that their son Randy had been injured by boiling water that Mrs. Rankin had allegedly thrown at the children when they approached her house. According to Mrs. Rankin, the children were attempting to vandalize her home, not for the first time. Charges against Mrs. Rankin were dropped after an intervention by the Beauport Department of Social Services, and Mrs. Rankin was released in the care of family members in Boston. With the removal of its last inhabitant, Angel Falls officially becomes a “ghost town.”

1968 - 1975 - For the next six years, the abandoned houses at Angel Falls become a liability for the Beauport community, attracting teenagers who use the empty homes for parties, as well as the homeless, squatters, and drug addicts. After sustained lobbying by community groups, the city of Beauport, which owns the land known as Angel Falls, begins the process of demolishing the abandoned buildings and removing the materials. By 1975, there are no buildings left standing in Angel Falls. Stone ruins and foundations of the original settlement are left undisturbed, in part because of their historical significance, and in part because some have become overgrown and virtually inaccessible.

1989 - Despite the destruction of its buildings, Angel Falls remains a favored place for criminal activity as well as the homeless. In March of 1989, Walter Haley, a 51 year-old homeless man living in a makeshift shelter in Angel Falls, is arrested on suspicion of the disappearances of local teenagers Brenda Coffey, 16, and Bryce Wilkins, 17, of Beauport. Police psychologists determine that Mr. Haley suffers from schizophrenia and is delusional, given his long rants about communicating with spirits in the woods. After an extensive investigation, the Beauport district attorney finds insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Haley with a crime, and he is released to the Department of Social Services. During the investigation, public trails to Angel Falls are sealed off by Beauport police. While some community groups lobby for Angel Falls to remain closed permanently, historical and recreational groups voice their opposition, and Angel Falls reopens to the public in July of 1989.

2007 - 2008 - On October 12, 2007, Beauport teenager Amy Jones is reported missing by her parents when she fails to return home from school. Authorities conduct an extensive search, including the woods at Angel Falls, without success. Exactly one year later, on October 12, 2008, Amy Jones reappears near her home. Like other “returnees”, Miss Jones claims to have no memory of events since her disappearance a year earlier. After extensive physical and psychological examinations fail to uncover a cause for her memory loss, Amy Jones’ mother claims that her daughter is lying. The relationship between Amy Jones and her mother deteriorates to the point where law enforcement and social services are called to their home on multiple occasions. On February 21, 2008, the Jones’ home is consumed by a fire in which the entire family perishes.

2009 - Late in 2009, neighborhood watch groups and local churches once again petition Beauport city council to close the trails at Angel Falls, citing safety concerns, recent disappearances, and its long history of unfortunate and mysterious events. Again, the proposal to close Angel Falls meets strong resistance from hikers and historical groups. After a nearly six-month period of protests and legal challenges, the yellow police tape is finally taken down, warning signs are posted, and the trails at Angel Falls are once again open to the public.

WARNING: The information, illustrations, and maps found on this website are for educational purposes only and are not meant to be used as accurate guides for hiking or walking, Many paths and trails at Angel Falls are not for public use and can be unsafe in certain weather conditions and after dark.
Visitors to Angel Falls are advised to obtain one of the official trail maps furnished by the Angel Falls Preservation Association, available at the kiosk in the parking lot. Visitors are also advised not to stray from marked public trails, not to walk or hike after dark, not to walk or hike alone, and to observe all standard safety precautions as when entering any wilderness area.