Ghost Tours of Newport | Gilded Ghosts
Newport, Rhode Island. This coastal beauty is one of New England’s most frequented tourist destinations, famous worldwide for its Cliff Walk, sandy beaches, and of course, the Newport Mansions. Its gilded facade is not to be taken at face value, though, for it may mask a much darker, much spookier aspect of the city. Being the […]
By Bethany Bourgault|Sep 18 2015|
The haunted White Horse Tavern was a stop on the trip.
Credit: Bethany Bourgault
Newport’s harbor at night, before embarking on our ghost tour.
Credit: Bethany BourgaultCredit: Bethany Bourgault My parents and I arrived at the Newport Marriott to meet our guide with an appropriate level of skepticism and excitement. It was to be my first-ever guided ghost tour, and to be honest, I really didn’t know what to expect. Our guide sauntered down the hall wearing a costume tuxedo complete with top hat and carrying a lantern. Greetings were exchanged, a healthy level of Yankee humor was tossed around (our guide was quite a character) and we were off.
Ghostly shadows joined us on our tour.
Credit: Bethany BourgaultCredit: Bethany Bourgault First we headed to the waterfront, where we dipped our toes into the legends of Newport… In the late 1700s, a large ship — entirely too big to navigate Newport’s rocky and dangerous coast — was spotted approaching the city. The townspeople watched in horror as the ship kept moving forward. Surely it would hit the rocks soon. They had seen it happen before. They even started planning how they would make it to the wreckage to claim whatever goods could be saved. But to their surprise, the ship ran aground with no obvious problems. The townspeople figured that the crew would come out for whatever they needed and left the ship alone. After a day or so had passed with no indication of a crew anywhere, the townspeople indulged their curiosity and voyaged out to investigate. They found many normal things — a kettle being heated on the stove, preparations for dinner already laid out, some spare change in the captains quarters, even a cat and a dog. But one very important piece was missing. There was no crew. The ship disappeared a few days later without a trace.
Fireworks!
Credit: Bethany BourgaultCredit: Bethany Bourgault We journeyed through the cobblestone streets and alleyways (one aptly named “Blood Alley” because of its long history of pirate violence) listening to tales of ghosts on both land and sea. All the while our guide, whose hilariously entertaining prose engaged even the most skeptical participants, encouraged us to take photographs of places where previous guests had captured “spirits” on their cameras. One such place was a monument near the center of the historic district, not far from the site of the old gallows where many a pirate took his last breath. I unfortunately didn’t capture any orbs or spirits, but it was still fun to try.
The haunted White Horse Tavern was a stop on the trip.
Credit: Bethany Bourgault
