Ghost trains: fact or fiction? Well if you ask the Provincetown locals, you may get mixed results but several locals have claimed to have heard just that. Reports of what some would call faint, locomotive sounds have been heard around town since before winter of 2012.
The mysterious ghost train has been heard as far as Truro and has been heard during all sorts of weather, including snow storms, which make this our newest town mystery. Local resident, Sean Patrick Harrington is one of many who have heard these noises. Sean states “When I heard [it] back in February it was the unmistakable sound of a diesel locomotive. I even heard and felt the rumbling of tracks or trestle[s].” Many claim it sounds like steel against steel or trucks moving trash. Some speculation as to what it could be spans from trucks, to snow plows and even fog horns. There has also been construction on Commercial Street during the winter of 2012. Some believe construction crews working late into the night may be the source of these strange sounds.
A railroad did once occupy Provincetown, and in 1871, talk of it was in the works between a committee of nine and railroad officials to discuss the terms. Provincetown’s train station, which was eventually located on Bradford Street, saw its first train on July 23rd, 1873.
Passenger services ended in July of 1938 but freight services continued until the 1960’s. From 1873 to 1938 the railroad was called The Old Colony Railroad but switched names in 1938 until the end of its use to The New Haven Railroad. This wooden structure was a large success and it was even said that the cannon sounded and the bells were rung when it made its first appearance.
Since 2011, reports of strange “metallic sounding” noises have been heard all over the world leaving curious observers to come up with theory after theory. One popular theory claims these noises are “sky quakes”. Sky quakes are believed to be the result of a “trembling Earth’s core”. It is said that the vibrations of the Earth’s core are being released into the atmosphere and reverberated back to us, causing a strange noise. People, who claim that they have witnessed this kind of event, describe the sounds as being of metal scraping on metal, to organ pipes or trumpet horns, to sonic booms and even unusual hums and buzzes. Whether the reports of these noises are in fact the old train, sky quakes, or something other worldly, you be the judge.