User:Mansfield Hauntings

Thomas Franklin's ghost is one of the more popular ghost stories associated with Mansfield, Massachusettes. His ghost has been seen over the years tending the fields of Flint Farm, and it is said he haunts the grounds of his family's farmhouse.

Thomas Franklin left with his brother Jonathon Franklin, in 1862 to join the fighting during the Civil War. Thomas left behind his wife Martha, his two sons Adam, and Mathew, and his three daughters Laura, Pauline, and Gertrude. The lived on a substational amount of land, in a farmhouse that the brothers built. Thomas was always proud of his home, and promised to return.

Shortly after joining in battle, Jonathon was wounded badly. He took a cannon ball to his lower mid section, losing both his legs. Jonathon made his way back to the family farmstead, Martha worked on helping him heal. Thomas wouldn't return home until the fall of 1865. The war had changed him. The once happy loving man, was now a bitter, angry soul. Years of fighting friends, and neighbors left its toll. Thomas returned home as promised, but he wasn't the man that left.

Jonathon had healed, and by the time Thomas returned home had adapted to life with out legs. It is said that Thomas came walking through Flint Farm(which at the time was called Franklin's Farm), and the first thing he saw was Gertrude sitting on Jonathon's lap. The stories are always sketchy, but the main point is the same, a violent outburst occured. Thomas lashed out attacking Jonathon, and the child without mercy. Gertrude, was greviously injured and fell into a coma. She died three days after Thomas's return. Her body was buried behind the house, in a small unmarked grave. Thomas never ackowledged this incident again. He started working day and night promising to get the farm back to the level it was before he left for the war. Most nights he would dine alone, in the family dining room.

In the summer of 1867, Adam contracted the Scarlett Fever. He passed away quickly. Thomas never attended the services, and like Gertrude's death never acklowedged that it happened, or that he ever existed. The only thing that changed in his daily life, was that he started to wear dark clothes. It wasn't uncommon to see him tending the fields, in the same dark blue suit he wore weekly to Sunday Mass. Slowly he fell deeper into a hermit like state, and the only time he would be seen was when he was in the fields.

October 17th, 1870, Thomas Franklin left the fields earlier than he usually would have. It is said, that when he walked into his home, Jonathon and Martha could be seen resting nude in a lover's embrace. Thomas returned to fields, never saying a word. Night came, and Thomas returned to the house. He called the whole family to the dining room table, insisting that they all join him for dinner. Mathew, Martha, Jonathon, Laura and Pauline did as requested. As the family sat down together, Thomas stood and made a toast to his family. He sat down, carving small pieces of ham off for all to eat. Thomas and Jonathon took turns telling stories of their past, each laughing. Now here is where the "Urban Legend" part comes in. The events really happened, it's how they happened that is up for speculation. During one of Thomas's anicdotes, he stops, stands up grabs the carving knife and simply says, "I know you are having relations with my wife." Thomas slits open Jonathon's throat, leaving him to bleed out on the table. Martha starts to run, grabbing Mathew in her arms. She barely makes it out of the dining room. Thomas stabs her repeatedly in the back, killing both her and Mathew. Laura is found scalped, the top of her head was sheared off completly. In the confusion, Pauline ran to the town seeking help.

When the town's people finally come, they find Thomas out in the dark fields working. In a mass mob, they grabbed Thomas dragging him back into the house. His clothes dripping with the blood of his dead family. They drag him out to the back of the house, tie him to a tree, several people take turns stabbing him. They leave him bleeding out, and tied to the tree. Three weeks later, after the animals had picked most of his bones clean, they cut Thomas loose. It is said, that the town's people refused to bury his bones. To bury him would give him eternal rest, so they left his bones to rot in a crawl space under the same dining room he killed his family in. It is said, that since his soul cannot rest, he has been seen working the fields at night, and he has also been seen sitting in the dining room alone.