The Mountain Where Lucy Keyes Vanished in 1755
41 Mile Hill Rd, Westminster, MA 01473
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ski resort pricing in winter; lift tickets vary seasonally. Summer hiking is generally free with parking. Check wachusett.com for current pricing.
Access
Limited Access
Mountain terrain; ski trails in winter, hiking trails in other seasons. Some terrain is strenuous.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1870 · 19th-Century New England Mountain Resort Heritage · Lucy Keyes Colonial Legend · Princeton Massachusetts History
Wachusett Mountain anchors the landscape of north-central Massachusetts at 2,006 feet — modest by national standards, but the highest peak in eastern Massachusetts and a significant landmark for colonial-era settlements in the surrounding valleys.
The first Summit House was constructed in 1870 and expanded in 1874 as part of the 19th-century resort-hotel movement that brought mountain tourism to New England. A second Summit House followed, drawing crowds of up to 30,000 annual visitors at its height. The third Summit House, completed in 1908, stood until December 1970 when it was destroyed by arson.
Wachusett Mountain Ski Area operates at 41 Mile Hill Road, Westminster, Massachusetts 01473, offering night skiing on most of its trails. The Princeton Historical Society maintains documentation of the summit houses. The mountain's history predates the resort: colonial-era Princeton families farmed the surrounding land, and the 1755 disappearance of Lucy Keyes near the mountain became the most significant piece of folklore attached to the peak.
Sources
Lucy Keyes disappeared on March 14, 1755. She was four years old and had followed her older sisters toward the mountain from the family farm in Princeton. Her sisters returned. She did not.
Her mother Martha did not stop looking. Neighbors reported hearing Martha moving through the woods at night, calling her daughter's name — 'Luuuuucy' — in a sound they described as moaning or crying. Whether Martha's grief created the auditory phenomenon or witnesses were experiencing something they attributed to her, the accounts are consistent: people heard something on Wachusett Mountain at night that they connected to the search for a missing child.
The story persisted. The 2006 feature film The Legend of Lucy Keyes dramatized the disappearance and the haunting, using Wachusett Mountain as its setting. Hikers on the Pine Hill Trail in more recent years have documented hearing what they describe as faint voices drifting through the trees — not attributable to other hikers in the accounts given.
A deathbed confession reportedly surfaced decades after Lucy's disappearance: a neighbor admitted to having encountered the girl and, in a version of the story, killing her accidentally. The confession's authenticity and the full account vary by source; it is properly categorized as folklore rather than documented fact.
Notable Entities
Wachusett Mountain's trails include the Pine Hill Trail, where hikers have reported faint voices in the trees — connected to the 1755 disappearance of four-year-old Lucy Keyes near the mountain. The mountain's highest point offers panoramic views across central Massachusetts.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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