Est. 1875 · National Register of Historic Places · Second Empire Architecture · Gardner Industrial History
Sylvester K. Pierce arrived in Gardner, Massachusetts from Westminster with a factory already under his belt — he had purchased his own chair manufacturing operation at 25 and built it into one of Gardner's signature industries. By the early 1870s, he commissioned a statement house directly across from that factory. The firm E. Boyden & Son spent three years on the project, completing it in 1875.
The result was a substantial exercise in Second Empire architecture: nearly 7,000 square feet, 11-foot ceilings, 10 bedrooms, a four-story center tower with its own mansard roof, and exterior clapboard with elaborate woodwork detailing. Much of the original hardware survives through restoration efforts. The house sat at 4 West Broadway, a commanding presence in the industrial city.
Pierce's domestic life proved less stable than his business. His wife Susan died of a bacterial illness just weeks after the family moved in — 1875, the year of the house's completion. After a year of mourning, Pierce married a woman 30 years his junior. He died in 1888.
His son Edward converted the property into a boarding house. Over the following decades, the address accumulated a history less suited to Victorian gentility: allegations of drinking and gambling, at least one violent death — a Finnish immigrant and WWII veteran named Eino Walpas Saari, age 47, died in his room in a 1963 fire attributed to smoking in bed — and accounts that have proven impossible to fully verify or dismiss. The house changed hands repeatedly through the 20th century.
The mansion has cycled through several modern owners who developed its paranormal-tourism operation. Robert and Allison Conti purchased the property in 2015 for $325,000 and undertook substantial interior restoration. In September 2025, the mansion sold for $1 million to a group of four local investors — John Godino, Rob Gilman, and David and Rhonda Bettez — who have continued tours and paranormal investigations and announced plans to add full-mansion overnight stays.
The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 1, 2022, recognized as a prominent local example of Second Empire design. Former President Calvin Coolidge and illustrator Norman Rockwell were among the notable visitors during the boarding house era, according to historical records.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_K._Pierce_House
- https://www.skhauntedmansion.com/
ApparitionsShadow figuresCold spotsEVPObject movementPhantom soundsPhantom footstepsDoors opening/closingPoltergeist activityTouching/pushing
The activity at the SK Pierce Mansion leans toward the physical end of reported paranormal phenomena. Investigators routinely document slamming doors and moving furniture without identifiable cause. The 'Lion's Roar' — a deep, house-wide vibration that current owners attribute to Sylvester Pierce — is the mansion's most frequently cited anomaly and reportedly occurs across multiple investigation sessions.
The Red Room on the upper floor is described as one of the most consistently active areas: EVP recordings of voices and whispers, sudden temperature drops, and shadow figures reported by independent investigators on separate occasions. The Basement has generated accounts of physical contact — the sensation of being pushed or touched — as well as heavy footsteps with no identifiable source.
The mansion's boarding house era provides a documented layer of tragedy that investigators frequently reference. The 1963 death of Eino Saari, a Finnish immigrant who died in a room fire, is the most clearly documented incident. Other accounts — a young woman allegedly strangled in one of the bedrooms, a child who may have drowned in the basement — appear in multiple sources but lack independent corroboration.
The current owners have documented activity since moving in during 2009, describing disembodied voices and apparitions in the early weeks of residence. Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures have both filmed at the property. The mansion ranks among the most frequently investigated private paranormal venues in New England.
Notable Entities
Sylvester K. Pierce (the Lion's Roar)
Media Appearances
- Ghost Hunters
- Ghost Adventures
