Belcourt Castle, Newport: The Monk, the Knight and the Haunted Chairs

Belcourt stands on Bellevue Avenue at Lakeview Avenue, a few minutes’ walk from the Cliff Walk, among the summer cottages of Newport’s Gilded Age. It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the architect of the Breakers, for the socialite Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, and it later became Belcourt Castle, home of the Tinney family and their enormous collection of European antiques.

The Tinneys ran it as a museum for decades, and it was during their time that the house collected its reputation as the most haunted mansion in Newport: a robed monk, a knight who screams, a woman in a ball gown and a pair of chairs that are said to throw people out. Today the house is owned by Alex and Ani founder Carolyn Rafaelian, who restored it and reopened it for tours.

History of Belcourt

Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, son of the banker August Belmont, was 33 when he commissioned Richard Morris Hunt to build him a summer house in Newport. Construction began in 1891 and was finished in 1894. Hunt based the design on a Louis XIII hunting lodge at Versailles, and the house was built around carriage rooms and space for Belmont’s passion, his horses.

On January 11, 1896, Belmont married Alva Vanderbilt, who had divorced William K. Vanderbilt the year before and had just finished building Marble House down the street. Alva reshaped Belcourt, turning the carriage room into a banquet hall, and Rhode Island Monthly notes that she held seances in the house. Oliver Belmont died in 1908, and the house passed through several owners, including Elaine and Louis Lorillard, over the following decades.

In 1956 the Tinney family of Cumberland, Rhode Island, bought the neglected mansion for $25,000. Harold and Ruth Tinney and their son Donald renamed it Belcourt Castle, filled it with antiques, stained glass, armor and reproductions, and opened it to the public. Their restoration was a lifelong project, and Donald’s wife Harle Tinney became the face of the house, leading tours and later writing about its ghosts in a 2010 memoir.

On November 12, 2012, Carolyn Rafaelian bought Belcourt for $3.6 million. She has reported spending about $5 million on repairs, including $3 million for a new roof, and in the summer of 2014 she reopened it as a tour house, art gallery and event space under the name Belcourt of Newport.

The ghosts of Belcourt

The monk

The best-known Belcourt ghost is a man in a brown robe and hood. According to the Tinneys, he was first seen standing at the foot of Donald and Harle’s bed, and he was later seen walking through a wall and disappearing. The story goes that he was tied to a carved statue of a monk in the collection, and that after the statue was moved to the chapel a visitor saw him preparing for mass and asked Harle what time it would start.

The screaming knight

Among the Tinneys’ armor is a suit said to belong to an angry spirit, a knight who died when a spear went through the visor of his helmet. Staff and the Tinney family said they heard his screams for years, especially in March, and some visitors claim the helmet turns to follow them. The Bay magazine calls the house’s collection of supposedly haunted items, the armor among them, the granddaddy of haunted spots in Newport.

The haunted chairs

The story most people know is about two old chairs that are said to throw anyone who sits in them onto the floor. Rhode Island Monthly links it to a cursed chair described in Harle Tinney’s memoir, alongside a crystal in the chandelier that spun by itself. Many of the Tinney furnishings have since left the house, so whether the chairs are still there is not something the current owners advertise.

The lady in the ball gown and the woman in pink

A woman in a ball gown has been described on the second-floor gallery, and an older woman in pink was said to appear in Harle Tinney’s bedroom, perhaps, the story suggests, her mother-in-law Ruth visiting. A young tour guide once said a man’s voice told her repeatedly to get out while she was leading a group through the French Gothic ballroom, and she did not return the next season.

Where to look

• The French Gothic ballroom: where a guide heard a voice telling her to get out.
• The chapel: where the monk is said to prepare for mass beside his statue.
• The armor displays: home of the screaming knight and his turning helmet.
• The second-floor gallery: where the lady in the ball gown has been seen.
• The Tinneys' old bedroom: where the monk first appeared and the woman in pink was described.

Visiting Belcourt

Belcourt is open for hour-long guided tours that cover the house’s history, its architecture and the art Carolyn Rafaelian has brought in. Dates, times and prices are posted on Belcourt’s ticketing page, and the house can be contacted at tours@belcourt.com for group visits and events.

For the ghost stories, book the seasonal Walking with Ghosts tour, a guided 50-minute nighttime walk through the house that explores its haunted history. Discover Newport also mentions a candlelit option. These tours sell out around Halloween, so book early.

Belcourt is on Bellevue Avenue near the southern end of the mansion district, a short drive or a pleasant walk from the Breakers and Rosecliff. Parking is limited, so check the booking details. Belcourt does not host public paranormal investigations.

• Visiting Privately owned mansion open for guided tours
• Tours Hour-long guided tours, plus a seasonal Walking with Ghosts night tour
• Ghost hunting Ghost-story tours only; no public investigations

Tips for your visit

• Book the Walking with Ghosts night tour for the stories; day tours focus on the art and history.
• Look for the armor and ask your guide about the knight’s helmet.
• Combine Belcourt with an evening at the White Horse Tavern, Newport’s oldest haunt.
• For a hands-on ghost hunt, try the General Stanton Inn in Charlestown, about 40 minutes away.

More haunted places nearby

• The Breakers: Hunt’s other Newport masterpiece, said to be haunted by Alice Vanderbilt
• Castle Hill Inn: a haunted inn on Ocean Drive
• The Hotel Viking: a 1926 hotel at the top of Bellevue Avenue with a party that never ended
• Haunted places in Rhode Island
• Haunted places in Newport

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• Wikipedia: Belcourt Castle
• Belcourt of Newport: History
• Belcourt of Newport: Guided tours
• Visit Rhode Island: Belcourt of Newport
• Discover Newport: Haunted spots
• Newport Buzz: Belcourt Castle (2023)
• Rhode Island Monthly: 16 real-life haunted places in Rhode Island (2024)
• The Bay Magazine: 14 things that go bump in RI