check out my website for some answers:
http://www.hoosactunnel.net
as for the more direct answers:
1) depends on if you believe in ghosts. I have been in and around it plenty of times. I have never seen any ghosts, but the tunnel itself feels very eerie.
2)First commerical use of nitro in the US. It never was the longest tunnel in the world, but it was the longest in the western hemisphere until 1916 when the moffat tunnel surpassed it. (The one tunnel that was longer was the 8.5 mile long mount Cenis tunnel finished in 1871 in Switzerland). It was an engineering masterpiece, 9/16 inch misalignment over 4 74/100 a mile. It also nearly bankrupted the state, sever years after construction was finished half the state budget went to paying it off.
3)Yes it is still active. There is almost always one that goes through in the afternoon on weekdays, then there are others randomly throughout the day.
4) Hoosac Mountain, which was local indian name. Generally in Algonquian it means "place of rocks", but others seem to believe it to mean "forbidden".
