The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-05-24
ABANDONS HONE
D THE HOOD(OS
Elegant Country Mansion in
Massachusetts Deserted
INDIANS CURSED PLACE
Owner Has Led Very Tragic
Life There

strange indeed
.-One Of the greatest pleasures Of my
life-riding-was suddenly taken from me
there, and now I am seeking peaceful
home on Long Island Sound
'.Mahkeenac is a beautiful spot and
regret giving it up
Shadow Brook is the name OF a mag
nifcent railiion-dollar estate in the Berk-
shire hills OF Massachusetts,. 1t is the
largest private residence in America.
Arson Phelps Stokes is its owner; rab-
bits and wild birds are now its tenants.
Without assigning any reason for his
act Mr. Stokes announced the other day
that he and his family would occupy
Shadow Brook never again. He de-
clared at that time that it was no one $
business why he chose to abandon his
beautiful home. But the natives around
Lake Mahkeenac, at the north end Of
which the house stands. shake their
heads with mysterious significance and
speak OF a ''hoodoo''-of curse put upon
the white residents by the red warlocks.
who once made medicine" in the woods
Surrounding The Bowl. as the lake is
locally called.
The wise ones who are versed in sor-
CtLs anu 1ta5EL4QdI1 AOEt. uttldAt NAidl - IL
son Phelps Stokes has been driven away
from Shadow Brook" by the workings
Of an old Indian spell
The Shadow Brook residence is OF
The English type of architecture. II has
q front OF 400 feet and q depth of 125
Limestone is the building material toned
down and finished by Virginia cypress,
the woodwork having been given an ap-
pearance Of age by artificial means. The
house contains more than 100 rooms, all
splendidly furnished, and lighted by cleo
tricity. From the hill on which it stands
there is to be had a view of twenty-five
miles across the breezy mountains Of
Berkshire
Entertaining on a lordly scale had been
q custom at Shadow Brook" before the
mysterious ''hoodoo" fell upon il. When
the Rev. Arson Phelps Stokes, Jr.. was
a student at Yale it was his habit to run
down for a week send visit. bringing
undergraduates with him in formula BILE
numbers Once he telegraphed to his
mother that he would bring down some
's5 men for visit" Mrs. Stokes wired
back: Several people are here and there
is not much room left; cant accommo-
date ninety-fve-don't bring more than
twenty-five"
If you ask the mOre-or-less super
stitious natives around Lake Mahkeenac
TO point out wherein the evil spell that
they believe exists has affected Mr..
Stokes they will do so without hesita-
tion.
On Aug =. 1893. Mr.. Phelps was thrown
by his horse in the very woods where
the Indian medicine men performed their
lamentations. His leg was so badly in
jured that II was necessary TO ampu-
tate il above the knee.
The costfy and handsome barn belong
ing 10 the estate and situated on the
edge of these woods was burned to the
ground on April % last. They cite many
other minor tribulations and incidents
for which they assert that the vicinity is
responsible.
OF Lake Mahkeenac-or The Bowl -
weird things are told that have al the
mystery and favor of genuine enchant-
ment The lake lies in a beautiful val
ley among the hills of "headlong Berk-
shire" as Hawthorne called it, with the
house of Shadow Brook overlooking
its northern end Surrounding il are the
many hundreds of acres that Mr.. Phelps
found abandoned by farmers on account
of their sterlity and unprOductiveness.
Mr.. Stokes spent many thousands Of
dollars in retaining these acres until at
length the whole estate blossomed into
fairy bowers and fowery slopes
Around the shores of The Bowl" runs
one of the most picturesque drives to
be found anywhere in the country. All
i -
lake are struck with the extreme beauty
and desira bieness Of the vicinity. They
ask why chose grandly uprising hills
are not occupied by homes and estates
The natives point 70 the handsome Beck
with mansion on neighboring estate on
the heighths to the west-deserted and
falling into decay. And now they also
pojnt TO Shadow Brook''-deserted and
soon 10 become a victim TO disuse.
The fishermen tell strange tales IF
'.The Bowl" They do not attempt to
solve the seeming witchcraft that has
bound its placid waters. but they give
YOU the facts to work out as you may
In other waters bunheads bite only at
night: in Lake Mahkeenac they bite only
In the day Every fisherman knows with
what dash and voracity the pickerei
strikes at a bsited hook; in Lake Nah
keenac they only nibble lazily ike
faint-hearted sucker at his bait OF cot
ton and cheese Bass everywhere else
leap to the surface with all the spoTtive
gameness OF the trout tribe: in Lake
NIahkeenae they roll sluggishly up like
chunks Of water-sodden logs
The natives believe that the FISH are
suffering from the same "hocdoo' that
gave over the Beckwith mansion to the
owl and the spider and set the rabbits
70 playing IN the porte-cochere Of 'Shad-
ow Brook
The indians who dwelt upon the wood
Cd slopes around lake Mahkeenac were
the last of their race TO give in 20 the
enchroachments CT the whites There in
the woods in which Arson Phelps Stokes
lost his leg they held wild and stormy
pow-wows. denouncins the invaders who
had come TO rob them Of their lands. At
length. when overcome by the inevitable.
they called down upon their evictors the
curse that many believe Is stlu work
tng industriousIy against the paieface
who invades the enchanted territory.
! People say that the Old Beckwith hcme
IS haunted Perhaps II Is there that the
feathered ghosts OF the ancient bronze
warriors now meet 10 sit IN council and
still make spooky medicine against the
newcomers who desecrate their old hunt
ing grounds with mirion-doIGar wigwsns
of stone and polished woods. No word
Aas vet been passed that the Stokes