Do You Know The History Of This Allegedly Haunted Bangor Building?

If you've ever driven through Bangor, chances are you have passed this very old building that sits high atop a hill.  Many people I know have said it looks like something out of a Stephen King book or movie; an example of beautiful architecture mixed with a sense of creepy history.

And you wouldn't be wrong to think this, as it was one of the first of its kind built for a sad purpose.

What is known these days as the Hilltop School, started as something a little less cheery, unfortunately.

Of its history, the Hilltop School website says:

"In 1835, a group of women met as a sewing circle in Bangor, Maine.  It was their original plan to form an organization to aid women who had or were in danger of falling into moral ill-repute. Ultimately, they decided to help destitute girls instead. "

This group, the site goes on to say, established the Bangor Female Orphan Asylum (nothing creepy sounding about that, right?)  which was originally located on Fourth Street. However, according to one website, they outgrew that space and ultimately moved to a new one.

"... the present building was constructed in 1869, with funding support from a bequest by Franklin Pitcher...The land was donated by James Smith, Jr., and an adjoining parcel was donated by Samuel Prentiss in 1914, for use as a playground. At Pitcher's demand, the facility's purpose was broadened to include boys and the organization was rechartered and renamed in 1866 as the Bangor Children's Home."

The Hilltop School says the kids who spent time within those walls used to be referred to as "inmates" and would have had very few options other than the orphanage, aside from landing in a shelter or on the street, had it not been for the new orphanage. It remained an orphanage for over a hundred years until the 1970s when things changed.

"Changes in local, state, and federal social services led to the end of the residential program by 1975 and in the late twentieth century, a change was made to a day-care center and school. "

The building, which is considered to be one of the first examples of a "stick style" decoration was designed by architect Henry W. Hartwell in the late 1800s.

According to the website, oldhouseonline.com, the "stick style" buildings were in between the Gothic and Victorian style dwellings being built at that time period.

"While such a perspective is academically accurate generations later, in its day the Stick house was nothing if not totally fresh, up-to-date, and, most of all, modern... People of wealth and standing wanted them; the public accepted and built them. Stick houses were high-concept buildings that capitalized on the best resources of the era...The grid of vertical and horizontal boards seems to support the windows and wall, while diagonal boards in the eaves 'brace' the roof."

But it's not just its architecture that makes the building a little creepy, but stories about what went on there years ago, specifically of the children who died there while it was an orphanage.

Read More: 6 More of the Most Haunted Places in Bangor

"Even though as the Bangor Children's Home there was an infirmary and nurses on site, there were a few children who passed away here. A plot called the 'Garden Lot' in Mt. Hope Cemetery was reserved for those children and there 17 rest today. The 1st death was in 1872 and was an infant who had become an orphan. In 1883 Lillian Collins passed away from whooping cough. The oldest person buried in the plot is Lousia Boston who came to the orphanage as a sick infant and she became an invalid dying at age 21 in 1877.  In 1878 Myra Murray died of consumption after living at the orphanage for 13 years. Not too long after that an unnamed child passed from the measles."

You can also see, in this video "Ghosts of Bangor; A Haunted History" it has been reported by former employees that the voices of children can be heard coming from empty hallways.

So, the next time you pass by the Hilltop House, look up and check it out for the really interesting place it is!