Haunted hotel guide · Essex, Connecticut

Haunted Griswold Inn, Essex: The Sea Captain by the Fireplace

Open since 1776 beside the Connecticut River, the Gris is one of America’s oldest continuously run inns, and its ghost stories are of sailors, colonial figures and a captain still watching for his ship.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

3.0/5Haunted Rooms Score
1776Tavern opened
34Guest rooms

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

The Griswold Inn, the Gris to everyone in Essex, has been serving travelers on Main Street since Sala Griswold opened a tavern by the wharf in June 1776. It is celebrating its 250th year in 2026 under the Paul family, who have run it for more than 30 years. It survived the British raid on Essex in 1814, ran as a speakeasy during Prohibition, and holds a collection of marine art considered among the most important in private hands.

Connecticut’s tourism office lists it among the state’s haunted inns. Guests describe objects falling, footsteps in empty halls and faint music, and local storytellers add figures in colonial clothing and a sea captain near the fireplace, gazing out as if waiting for a ship. The inn itself does not make much of any of it. For the rest of the state, see our guide to haunted hotels in Connecticut.

Griswold Inn at a glance

3.0/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation3
History5
Ghost hunter access1
$$ · $150 to $300
  • Address 36 Main Street, Essex, CT 06426
  • Opened 1776, as Sala Griswold’s tavern
  • Most haunted spots The fireplaces of the old public rooms, the hallways and the upstairs rooms
  • Best-known ghosts A sea captain by the fireplace and figures in colonial clothing
  • Booking the haunted room No room is named as haunted. Ask for a room in the original inn building.
  • Good to know 34 rooms, no two alike; the Tap Room and the Wine Bar are on site. Member of Historic Hotels of America.

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The ghosts of The Griswold Inn

The sea captain by the fireplace

The best-known story is of a sea captain who appears near the fireplace, looking out longingly as if waiting for a ship that will never come back. Essex was a shipbuilding town, and the inn has served sailors and shipbuilders since the Revolution, so a captain is the ghost you would expect here.

Figures in colonial clothing

Guests have described figures in colonial-era clothes in the inn’s old rooms and halls, there one moment and gone the next. Sudden drops in temperature are part of the same stories.

Footsteps and faint music

Connecticut’s tourism office mentions footsteps in empty hallways and faint music with no source. The music story is easy to believe in an inn known for live music in its Tap Room, but the tellers say it is heard when nobody is playing.

Objects falling

The other common report is of objects falling with nobody near them. The inn’s walls are covered with maritime prints, banners and artifacts, so a few things have plenty of places to fall from.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • Rooms in the original inn: The oldest part of the inn, with wide plank floors and low beams, is the best bet for the stories.
  • Rooms with fireplaces: Some rooms have fireplaces of their own, fitting for an inn whose best-known ghost is tied to the hearth.
  • The Tap Room: The inn’s bar, set in a former 18th-century schoolhouse (Wikipedia dates it to 1735), with casual food and live music on many nights.
  • The Wine Bar: A tapas-style menu in one of the inn’s historic rooms, hung with Samuel Ward Stanton’s pen-and-ink steamboat drawings.

History of The Griswold Inn

Sala Griswold opened a tavern near the Essex wharf in 1776, serving food, drink and lodging to dock workers. Richard Hayden, a relative of shipbuilder Uriah Hayden, later bought the building and moved it next to his home on Main Street, where it still stands. Over the centuries the inn grew to take in neighboring buildings, including a former 18th-century schoolhouse that now holds the Tap Room.

On the night of April 8, 1814, during the War of 1812, about 136 British sailors and marines rowed up the Connecticut River, overwhelmed the local militia and burned 28 ships worth nearly $200,000. They did not harm the townspeople or burn their homes, and the inn came through.

The Ladd and Lovell family owned the inn from the 1880s until 1972 and gathered the maritime artifacts that still fill it. During Prohibition the Gris became a favorite speakeasy, supplied in part by rumrunners on the Connecticut River. Federal agents raided it several times; it kept reopening.

Today the Paul family, owners for more than 30 years, run the inn’s 34 rooms, its historic dining room, Wine Bar and Tap Room, and it is a member of Historic Hotels of America. The art on the walls leans heavily to steamboats, including a Norman Rockwell pencil study for his only maritime oil painting, and the inn was used as a filming location for the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Have a drink in the Tap Room on a weeknight, when it is quiet enough to listen for footsteps.
  • Ask for a room in the original inn building rather than one of the annexes.
  • Walk down Main Street to the river after dark.
  • Book early for the 250th anniversary year and for holiday weekends.
  • Captain Grant’s in Preston, east of Essex, is the place for a full ghost hunt.

Want to investigate, not just sleep?

Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Griswold Inn haunted?

It is on Connecticut’s own list of haunted inns. Guests report objects falling, footsteps in empty halls and faint music, and local tales add a sea captain by the fireplace and figures in colonial clothing.

How old is the Griswold Inn?

It opened as Sala Griswold’s tavern in June 1776 and celebrates 250 years in 2026. It is one of the oldest continuously operated inns in the United States.

Was the Griswold Inn a speakeasy?

Yes. During Prohibition it was a well-known speakeasy supplied by rumrunners on the Connecticut River, and federal agents raided it several times.

How many rooms does the Griswold Inn have?

34 rooms, no two alike, some with fireplaces and some with glimpses of the water.

Was Dark Shadows filmed at the Griswold Inn?

Wikipedia lists the inn as a filming location for the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, a fitting footnote for an inn with ghost stories of its own.

Where is the Griswold Inn?

At 36 Main Street in the village of Essex, Connecticut, a short walk from the Connecticut River.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

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About the authors

The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.

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