HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Main Street tavern in Maine's Twin Villages, home to the ghost of Myrtle Gascoigne
52 Main Street, Newcastle, ME 04553
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Tavern and restaurant; menu prices vary. No charge to visit the building.
Access
Limited Access
Historic Main Street building with a basement wine cellar reached by stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Twin Villages Local History · Historic Main Street Tavern
Newcastle and neighboring Damariscotta sit on opposite banks of the Damariscotta River and are known together as Maine's Twin Villages. The Newcastle Publick House occupies a historic building on Newcastle's Main Street and operates as a tavern and restaurant.
The building's story is bound up with Myrtle Gascoigne, described in local accounts as a lively, brazen woman who lived in Newcastle in the 1920s. Her name attaches to two historically related buildings in the village: the Publick House and the nearby Tipsy Butler Bed and Breakfast, an 1846 home a short distance away.
The Twin Villages have a small cluster of ghost stories, gathered in Greg Latimer's book "Haunted Damariscotta: Ghosts of the Twin Villages and Beyond." Myrtle's is among the most repeated, and the Publick House is the place visitors most often associate with her in daily operation.
Sources
Myrtle Gascoigne is the resident ghost of the Newcastle Publick House. In local accounts she was a showy, outspoken woman who lived in Newcastle during the 1920s, and her story plays out across two historically connected buildings.
At the Publick House, the wine cellar is the spot most often tied to her. Staff and visitors describe sensing her presence there and finding objects moved. Her appearances are said to be strongest, though, at the nearby Tipsy Butler Bed and Breakfast, where both guests and owners report seeing her in full form.
The accounts describe Myrtle as particular about her surroundings. Reports gathered in the Twin Villages lore say she makes her wishes known about how the house is decorated and kept, with objects shifting, flying across a room, or going missing, alongside apparitions. The story is one of several collected in Greg Latimer's "Haunted Damariscotta," which treats the Twin Villages as a small hub of such accounts.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Eat and drink at the historic Main Street tavern. The wine cellar is the spot most often tied to the ghost of Myrtle Gascoigne; staff and guests have reported her presence and objects shifting on their own.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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