Canterbury Shaker Village

A 694-acre National Historic Landmark established in 1792, one of the most prominent Shaker communities in New England with 25 original buildings.

During the Era of Manifestations in the 1840s, young Shaker women at Canterbury Village began whirling, dancing, and speaking in tongues, claiming to receive messages from the spirit of Mother Ann Lee and figures as improbable as Christopher Columbus and the Shawnee chief Tecumseh. The elders were initially alarmed, then fascinated. What began as teenage visions in 1837 spread through every Shaker community in America, producing hundreds of 'gift drawings' rendered in watercolors and transparent inks with painstaking precision. The Canterbury Shakers were not merely tolerant of spiritual contact. They actively sought it. Canterbury Shaker Village was founded in 1792 under the leadership of Father Job Bishop, and by 1803 the community had grown to 159 members organized into three families. At its peak around 1850, the village encompassed 3,000 acres and 100 buildings, housing 300 Believers who lived under the twin doctrines of celibacy and communal property. The Shakers' commitment to celibacy meant the community could only grow through conversion and adoption, and as the 19th century progressed, the numbers dwindled steadily. By the early 20th century, Canterbury was one of only a handful of active Shaker villages remaining. In 1957, the surviving elders and eldresses made the painful decision to permanently close the covenant for new membership. The last Canterbury Shaker, Ethel Hudson, died in 1992, ending 200 years of continuous habitation. But visitors and staff who work in the preserved village report that the Shakers have not entirely departed. Most paranormal activity centers on the Dwelling House and the Meeting House, the two buildings that were the spiritual and communal heart of Canterbury life. In the Dwelling House, unexplained footsteps are frequently heard on the upper floors, particularly in the bedrooms where elderly Shaker sisters spent their final years. Paranormal investigators who have visited the site report sudden temperature drops in these rooms without any logical explanation, and EVP recordings made during ghost tours have captured muffled voices in the hallways and communal sleeping quarters. The sounds are never threatening. Consistent with the gentle Shaker philosophy that governed every aspect of Canterbury life, the presences here feel peaceful, even welcoming. The village now operates as a museum and National Historic Landmark, and in recent years it has hosted 'Ghost Encounters' tours that explore the intersection of Shaker spiritualism and modern paranormal investigation. The Paranormal Traveler has documented the village as one of New Hampshire's most significant haunted sites, noting that the combination of 200 years of intense spiritual practice and the slow, heartbreaking decline of a community devoted to perfection creates a unique paranormal atmosphere. Investigators from Souhegan Paranormal have conducted formal investigations of the property, recording audio anomalies and photographing unexplained phenomena in multiple buildings. The Shakers believed the dead could guide the living. At Canterbury, those who listen carefully in the quiet upper rooms may find that the Believers are still keeping faith with that conviction.