John Widders was the Houghton family chauffeur.
Background[]
On August 1st, 1914, A.C. Houghton and his daughter Mary Houghton decided to go to Bennington for a pleasure drive in a brand-new Pierce-Arrow touring car, driven by Widders and accompanied by a doctor, Mrs. Hutton from New York. About 9:30AM, they came up what is now Oak Hill Road and came across a team of horses parked on the right side of the road. Widders turned the car left around it, but the engine started to race at a shoulder bend and the car toppled down a hillside, rolling over three times until it came to rest in an upright position in a farmer's field. Mr. Houghton and Widders escaped with minor injuries, but Mrs. Hutton was killed instantly and Mary Houghton died of her injuries at 3:00 PM.
Widders, of course, was in a high emotional state in the days to come, and some days afterward he said to his friend he was going to go down and "tend to the horses". The friend, accompanied by the police, later found Widders in the cellar of the barn, having shot himself with a horse pistol.
Trivia[]
- Widders voice was possibly picked up on an EVP saying "RAN FOR HELP."
- Despite not being a member of the Houghton family, he was buried nearby the family gravestone area. This was probably done because he was considered family by the Houghtons.