Ghosthunting Southern New England
COPYRIGHT © 2011 by Andrew Lake
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any fashion, print, facsimile, or electronic, or by any method yet to be developed, without express permission of the copyright holder.
For further information, contact the publisher at:
Clerisy Press
P.O. Box 8874
Cincinnati, OH 45208-0874
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Lake, Andrew (Andrew S.), 1964–
Ghosthunting Southern New England/by Andrew Lake.
—1st ed.
p. cm.—(America’s haunted road trip)
ISBN-13: 978-1-57860-487-6
ISBN-10: 1-57860-487-7
1. Haunted places—New England. 2. Ghosts—New England. I. Title. II. Series.
BF1472.U6L35 2011
133.10974—dc23
2011027240
Distributed by Publishers Group West
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, first printing
Editor: Donna Poehner
Cover design: Scott McGrew
Cover and interior photos provided by the author unless otherwise noted
To my mother, Alicia, who told me years ago that I should write a book about haunted places, and to my late father, Arthur, who never believed one word about ghosts
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Preface
Massachusetts
CHAPTER 1 The Inn at Duck Creeke Wellfleet
CHAPTER 2 The Fearing Tavern Museum Wareham
CHAPTER 3 Lizzie Borden Bed-and-Breakfast/Museum Fall River
Spotlight On: Anawan Rock Rehoboth
Spotlight On: The Freetown State Forest Freetown
CHAPTER 4 USS Salem Quincy
CHAPTER 5 Stone’s Public House Ashland
CHAPTER 6 The Groton Inn Groton
Spotlight On: The Victorian Gardner
CHAPTER 7 The Houghton Mansion North Adams
Spotlight On: The Charlemont Inn Charlemont
CHAPTER 8 Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum Lenox
Rhode Island
CHAPTER 9 Quonset Air Museum Davisville
Spotlight On: Chestnut Hill Cemetery Exeter
CHAPTER 10 Slater Mill Museum Pawtucket
Spotlight On: Nine Men’s Misery Cumberland
CHAPTER 11 St. Ann Arts and Cultural Center Woonsocket
Spotlight On: Belcourt Castle Newport
CHAPTER 12 Tavern on Main Chepachet
Spotlight On: The Village of Chepachet
CHAPTER 13 Stillwater Antiques Greenville
Spotlight On: Historic Cemetery Number Two West Greenwich
Spotlight On: Moosup Valley Foster
CHAPTER 14 Hopkins Mills Foster
Connecticut
CHAPTER 15 Captain Grant’s, 1754 Preston
Spotlight On: The John York House North Stonington
CHAPTER 16 Nathan Hale Homestead Coventry
Spotlight On: Benton Homestead Museum Tolland
CHAPTER 17 Boothe Memorial Park and Museum Stratford
Spotlight On: The White Lady of Union Cemetery Easton
CHAPTER 18 Abigail’s Grille and Wine Bar Simsbury
Spotlight On: Makens Bemont House Museum East Hartford
CHAPTER 19 Mark Twain House and Museum Hartford
CHAPTER 20 Killingworth Café Killingworth
Spotlight On: New London Ledge Lighthouse New London
CHAPTER 21 Whitehall Mansion Inn Mystic
Ghosthunting Travel Guide
Visiting Haunted Sites
More Southern New England Haunts
Afterword
About the Author
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS BOOK WAS MADE POSSIBLE by kind help and input from the following people: John Kachuba, Jeff Belanger, Donna Poehner, Jim Ignasher, John Zaffis, and Matt Moniz. Thanks to all my friends and colleagues who helped me look for “different” haunted places to write about: Pamela Patalano, Kimberly Hopkins, Kathy Caslin, Eric LaVoie, Ron Kolek, Tim Weisberg, Tom Laughlin, and Charles Reis. Special gratitude to all the groups, societies, and individuals that assisted with the research: The Foster Preservation Society (Rhode Island), the ladies at the Foster Town Hall, Killingly Historical and Genealogical Society (Connecticut), the Greenville Public Library (Rhode Island), R. I. S. E. U. P., Viola Ulm, Ed Robinson, Donna Mooney, Pat Morgan, Christopher Balzano, Dan Gordon, Gary Joseph, and all the wonderful people throughout southern New England who invited me into their fine establishments to hear some amazing ghost stories.
PREFACE
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?
If you are like 52 percent of Americans (according to a recent Harris Poll), you do believe that ghosts walk among us. Perhaps you have heard your name called in a dark and empty house. It could be that you have awoken to the sound of footsteps outside your bedroom door, only to find no one there. It is possible that you saw your grandmother sitting in her favorite rocking chair, the same grandmother who had passed away several years before. Maybe you took a photo of a crumbling, deserted farmhouse and discovered strange mists and orbs in the photo, anomalies that were not visible to your naked eye.
If you have experienced similar paranormal events, then you know that ghosts exist. Even if you have not yet experienced these things, you are curious