Both famous sites and forgotten tragedies are connected to stories of ghosts and paranormal encounters across the coasts and hamlets of New England. While accounts vary regarding the episodes and the events behind them, the reputations held by these locations are dark and disturbing.
Although not all locations are open to the public, many sites are museums, restaurants, hotels, and bed and breakfast locations which encourage visitors. Permission can sometimes be obtained to visit others, such as closed cemeteries or abandoned sites, for organized paranormal investigation groups. Most visitors, however, are happy with a daytime visit to New England's most-haunted places.
Haunted Massachusetts
The Joshua Ward House has developed a haunted reputation in Massachusetts history, in part due to its supposed connection to the Salem Witch trials. The grounds are now home to a poltergeist, whose habits include moving inanimate objects and lighting tricks witnesses by residents.
The Daniel Burgess House of Plymouth, located across the street from a supposedly-haunted cemetery, shares its reputation for paranormal visitors. A child's wailing, singing voice supposedly haunts its rooms; small objects vanish from the house permanently and inexplicable "hot spots" are present in different places in the residence.
The Stones Public House, reputed to be haunted by John Stone himself, is home to ghostly activity according to psychic investigators who have visited the grounds to test its reputation. Flying glassware and feelings of dread and fright are among the paranormal activities witnessed in the house.
Haunted Maine
Visitors to the old Carriage House Inn may glimpse more than their fellow guests through its windows. The 1870's-era Victorian mansion is believed to be haunted by more than one ghost, their supernatural shapes sometimes glimpsed peering through the glass.
Guests housed in the most-haunted room of Lucerne Inn have glimpsed paranormal activity in the form of inexplicable shadows and heard disembodied voices with no known human presence to explain the sound.
The Northport house has become s a popular Maine legend about a "ghost house", which burned decades ago, yet supposedly appears in photos take of the landscape around the site. The "ghost image" which legend claims has appeared inexplicably draws modern-day ghost hunters to visit Northport and search for the location to a photograph in hopes of glimpsing this unusual ghost.
Haunted Rhode Island
The Nathanael Greene Homestead is one of Rhode Island's most-haunted homes, with a sinister reputation for poltergeist activity. Cold spots and slamming doors, as well as screaming voices, are among the manifestations believed to visit the old-fashioned grounds. The Elks Lodge in Newport is supposedly haunted by the presence of a child whose footsteps are heard upstairs; the hauntings are sometimes linked to a portrait hanging in the building's stairwell.
Haunted by several unhappy spirits, the Providence Rhode Island School of Design is plagued by rumors of ghosts. Banging sounds and hovering figures have frightened more than one visitor during the school's history, while whispers and inexplicable noises supposedly haunt its halls.
Embark on a road trip inspired by the haunted homes and locations across New England. With a simple guide to the region's ghost sites and paranormal history, any ghost story fan can map out a route that encompasses some of America's most-haunted places.
Resources:
Fusco, C.J. Old Ghosts of New England: A Traveler's Guide to the Spookiest Sites in the Northeast. Countryman Press, 2009.
Citro, Joseph. Passing Strange: True Tales of New England Hauntings and Horrors. Mariner Books, 1997.
Sarah Briggs - For the last two years, I have designed primitive dolls and folk art sculptures (such as Edwin Drood and the Ghost of Marley) for Cordwood ...
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