HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
+ 1 further entry on record
A 1929 steel-and-glass Art Deco building that housed the second-largest arms-and-armor collection in the U.S. until 2013, now an events venue investigated by Ghost Hunters.
100 Barber Avenue, Worcester, MA 01606
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Private events venue; pricing varies by booking.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved parking and entry; interior gallery floor.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1929 · Second-largest arms-and-armor collection in the United States during its operation · Early example of steel-and-glass museum architecture (1929, architect Joseph D. Leland) · Founded by Worcester industrialist John Woodman Higgins of Worcester Pressed Steel Company · Collection transferred to the Worcester Art Museum in 2014
John Woodman Higgins (d. 1961), founder and president of the Worcester Pressed Steel Company, began collecting arms and armor in the 1920s to celebrate steel as a material and to inspire his workers. Architect Joseph D. Leland designed a five-story steel-and-glass building on Barber Avenue in 1929 to display the collection, and the Higgins Armory Museum opened on January 12, 1931. The opening gala featured musicians from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Higgins's sons greeted visitors wearing suits of armor.
At its height the museum held approximately 2,000 objects, including some 24 full suits of armor, and represented the second-largest arms-and-armor collection in the United States after the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Higgins endowed the museum with $17,000 at his death in 1961, but in the decades that followed the institution faced steadily worsening funding challenges.
After years of operating deficits, the Higgins Armory Museum closed permanently at the end of 2013. The collection was transferred to the Worcester Art Museum, where a dedicated Higgins gallery opened. The Barber Avenue building was sold in December 2014.
The purchasing entity has since operated the building as a private events venue, where the dramatic steel-and-glass interior continues to serve as a backdrop for weddings, galas, and corporate functions. The structure remains a striking and unusual surviving example of early-twentieth-century industrial-modernist museum architecture in New England.
Sources
The Higgins Armory drew sustained paranormal interest in the years leading up to its 2013 closure. According to the SyFy Ghost Hunters Wiki recap, the TAPS team traveled to Worcester in April 2011 for the Season 7 episode 'Knights of the Living Dead,' described as a test of the team's 'iron clad nerves' as they investigated the only Western Hemisphere museum then devoted exclusively to arms and armor.
During that investigation the SyFy episode recap notes that a geophone placed in John Higgins's former office picked up what the team described as clear footsteps running up the stairs, and that the team reviewed claims of shadow figures and unexplained sounds among the armor displays. Local haunted-place directories aggregating similar accounts list disembodied footsteps, clanging metal, faint music, shadow figures, and the sensation of being touched as the most commonly reported experiences.
The lore most often centers on John Woodman Higgins himself, who died in 1961 and whose personal collection and personality defined the institution. Whether activity reports continue under the building's current life as a private events venue is not well documented in published sources, and there is no formal paranormal program at the site today.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
11 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
South Hadley, MA
Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, founded in 1837 by Mary Lyon, is the oldest of the Seven Sisters colleges. Abbey Memorial Chapel was built in 1938 as a gift from Emily Abbey Gill, housing two significant pipe organs including an 1897-era instrument and a C.B. Fisk tracker organ installed in 1984.
Sturbridge, MA
Old Sturbridge Village opened in 1946 as a living history museum recreating rural New England life in the 1830s. It spans 200 acres in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, with over 40 original structures relocated from across the region. It is the largest living history museum in New England and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.
Plymouth, MA
Built in 1749 on Plymouth's Town Square, this two-story wood-frame building is believed to be the oldest wooden courthouse in the United States. In December 1778 the privateer brigantine General Arnold wrecked off Plymouth in a blizzard, and the bodies of dozens of frozen crewmen were brought to the courthouse before a mass funeral and burial.