Haunted Providence, RI: 11 Haunted Places to Visit
Edgar Allan Poe in a Benefit Street library, cigar smoke in City Hall, a butler who spoke through a Ouija board and soldiers at the windows of Brown’s oldest building. These are the most haunted places in and around Providence, with what is history, what is legend and how to visit each one.
Providence’s ghost stories gather on College Hill, where Poe courted Sarah Helen Whitman and Lovecraft walked the same streets, and downtown around Kennedy Plaza, where City Hall faces the old Biltmore. A short drive brings in the Sprague Mansion in Cranston, the Cumberland monastery and the Greene Homestead. We have checked every place below against current sources, so you know which are open, which you can only see from outside and which take overnight guests. Haunted Rooms’ nearest ghost hunts are at the General Stanton Inn in Charlestown, about 45 minutes south.
Where to look The wine cellar, the main staircase and the governor's bedroom
Reported ghosts Charlie the butler, Amasa Sprague, a child's voice
Visiting Owned by the Cranston Historical Society; open for events and tours
Tours Tours at society events, including the October ghost party
Ghost hunting Investigated by local teams; no regular public ghost hunts
Three generations of the Sprague textile family lived in this house, built about 1790 and enlarged in 1864, and it was the birthplace of two governors. On New Year’s Eve 1843 Amasa Sprague was beaten to death on his way home nearby. Irish immigrant John Gordon was convicted on thin evidence and hanged in February 1845, and the outcry helped end the death penalty in Rhode Island. The Cranston Historical Society owns the house.
Its ghost stories are unusually well dated. A woman felt a touch in the wine cellar in the 1920s, a ghost was seen on the staircase in 1925, and in 1967 Brown students on night watch got Ouija messages from ‘Charlie,’ a butler whose hopes of marrying his daughter into the family were dashed. A local team recorded voices, including a child’s, and the society holds a Charlie the Butler party each October.
What investigators report
Local investigators who recorded EVP sessions here report a female voice answering “Yes” when they asked if a Sprague family member was present in Kate Chase Sprague’s bedroom, and a child’s voice in the governor’s bedroom. They also report filming an unexplained dark mist in the wine cellar.
Where to look The upper floors, the ballroom and the old glass elevator
Reported ghosts A figure falling past the windows, phantom partygoers
Visiting A working hotel: book a room to stay the night
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Providence Biltmore opened on June 6, 1922, an 18-story hotel by Warren and Wetmore, the architects of Grand Central Terminal, across from City Hall. A plaque in the lobby shows how high the 1954 hurricane flood rose. It became the Graduate Providence in 2019 and Graduate by Hilton Providence in 2024. It stands across Dorrance Street from Providence City Hall.
It is Rhode Island’s best-known haunted hotel, though the tales of a Satanist founder called Johan Weisskopf, ritual rooms, mob murders and guests who vanish have no records behind them. The story told most often is of a financier who jumped from an upper floor after the crash of October 1929, seen falling past windows with no one landing below, along with party music from empty rooms.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a high floor facing Kennedy Plaza and City Hall, two haunted places in one view.
Where to look The basement, the upper offices and the men's restroom
Reported ghosts A man in a tall hat, cigar smoke, a figure some say is Mayor Thomas Doyle
Visiting Working government building open on weekdays
Ghost hunting No public investigations
Samuel Thayer designed this Second Empire city hall, begun in 1875 and opened on November 14, 1878, on Kennedy Plaza across Dorrance Street from the Biltmore. It is still the seat of city government and is on the National Register. Thomas Doyle, mayor for 18 years in three spells, was likely the last mayor waked at City Hall when he died in 1886.
Staff have long described footsteps late at night, chairs that move, papers misplaced and the smell of old cigar smoke, and custodians who avoided the basement. One employee saw a man in a tall Lincoln-style hat and heard a voice in a restroom, and Ghost Hunters filmed the episode City Hell here in 2012. Older lists say Doyle is buried in the building; he is not, he lies in Swan Point Cemetery.
What investigators report
On Ghost Hunters, the TAPS team reported high EMF readings and voices in the dome, a kick from behind a bookcase in the archive, and recorded whistling and voices around the tax collector’s area.
Address 1464 Diamond Hill Road, Cumberland, RI 02864
Where to look The old monastery building (now the library) and the Nine Men's Misery cairn in the woods
Reported ghosts A phantom monk, militiamen of 1676, a galloping horse, a girl's voice
Visiting Public library and town trails
Ghost hunting The library has hosted talks by local investigators
Cistercian (Trappist) monks built a monastery on this hill in the early 1900s, and part of the original building now holds the Cumberland Public Library, with walking trails through the woods behind it. Along a trail stands Nine Men’s Misery, a cairn marking where, tradition says, nine colonial soldiers captured after Pierce’s Fight on March 26, 1676, during King Philip’s War, were killed and buried. The monks cemented the cairn in 1928, when the state added a plaque.
Older lists talk of a phantom monk in the library and books that move. In the woods people describe screams, a horse galloping, whispers and a young girl’s voice near the stones, and Ghost Hunters recorded meter spikes here in 2014. Historians note that four accounts written at the time do not mention captured soldiers, so even the nine men are partly legend.
What investigators report
On Ghost Hunters, the TAPS team reported using a vibration detector to hold a back-and-forth with a spirit inside the library, and EMF spikes outside at Nine Men’s Misery while they read aloud the names of the nine men.
Where to look The alcoves among the stacks and the front steps
Reported ghosts Edgar Allan Poe
Visiting Membership library open to visitors
Hours and season Tuesday to Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Sunday 11 am to 5 pm; closed Monday
Ghost hunting A working library; Providence ghost walks pass outside
William Strickland designed this Greek Revival library on Benefit Street, completed in 1838. Edgar Allan Poe courted the poet Sarah Helen Whitman here in 1848, and it was in one of its alcoves, on December 23, 1848, that she was handed a note saying he had broken his promise to stay sober and called off their wedding. Poe signed a copy of his poem Ulalume in a library magazine, and it is still in the collection.
Legend says Poe’s ghost returns to the Athenaeum, and that Whitman tried to summon him here after his death. A later tale has a sleeping man on the front steps cry out ‘The Conqueror Worm!’ and vanish. The library itself does not tell ghost stories, but it is open to all, and Lovecraft, who lived nearby, used it often.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask at the desk about the Poe and Whitman history; the library is free to visit.
Where to look The second-floor windows and the offices inside
Reported ghosts Revolutionary War soldiers, a man in colonial dress
Visiting Working administration building; view from the College Green
Ghost hunting No public access inside
Brown’s oldest building went up in 1770. In December 1776 it was taken over as barracks and a hospital for American troops, and later French soldiers under Rochambeau were housed and treated here before and after the march to Yorktown. It is a National Historic Landmark and holds the president’s office, so it is a working building rather than a museum.
Ghost tours tell of a soldier’s face staring from a second-floor window, and a guide has said staff heard footsteps through the building when they were alone. The Brown Daily Herald retold a grant writer’s story of finding a man in colonial clothes reading papers at her desk, who vanished when she screamed. The Herald notes it has not confirmed any of these tales.
Haunted Rooms tip: Look up at the windows from the College Green at dusk; Providence ghost tours stop here.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
Where to look The rooms with the old baby carriage and the mirrors
Reported ghosts A woman in a mirror, a moving baby carriage, footsteps and rattling latches
Visiting House museum open on guided tours in season
Ghost hunting Investigated by local teams; no regular public ghost hunts
Nathanael Greene built this house, which he called Spell Hall, in 1770 and lived here until 1776, when he left to become one of Washington’s most trusted generals. It stayed in the Greene family until 1899, has been a museum since 1924 and is a National Historic Landmark run by a volunteer association. Greene went on to command the Continental Army in the South.
Its reported haunts are domestic: a smell of baking bread, an older woman glimpsed in a mirror, door latches that rattle, footsteps and doors that open on their own. A longtime docent told the Warwick Beacon he found an antique baby carriage moved across the room for the first time in 40 years. Skeptic Benjamin Radford has written that such reports fall apart under logic.
Haunted Rooms tip: Tours run seasonally; check the association’s schedule before you go.
Reported ghosts Annmary Brown, pacing after thefts from the collection
Visiting Brown University memorial open to visitors
Hours and season Monday to Friday 1 pm to 5 pm, Labor Day to Memorial Day
Ghost hunting No investigations
General Rush Hawkins built this small granite memorial on Brown’s campus in 1907 to honor his wife Annmary Brown, who died in 1903, and to house his collections. The couple are buried in a crypt in the building. It became part of Brown’s library in 1948 and is open to visitors on weekday afternoons during the academic year. Its collection moved to the John Hay Library in 1990, but the memorial and its galleries remain.
The story told by Providence ghost tour guide Courtney Edge-Mattos is that after items were stolen from the collection in the 1960s and 1970s, staff saw a full figure of Annmary pacing and fretting. Hawkins is said to have warned that anyone who disturbed his wife’s rest would regret it. The Brown Daily Herald repeats these as unconfirmed tales. Nothing about the thefts or the sightings appears in the library’s own history.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit on a weekday afternoon in term time; it is a quiet space, so keep voices low.
Address 585 Blackstone Boulevard, Providence, RI 02906
Where to look H. P. Lovecraft's grave
Reported ghosts H. P. Lovecraft at his own memorials
Visiting Cemetery grounds open daily
Tours Historical walking tours on some dates
Hours and season 8 am to 7 pm April to September; 8 am to 5 pm October to March
Ghost hunting No investigations; a working cemetery
Founded in 1846 on the bluffs above the Seekonk River, Swan Point is Rhode Island’s grandest garden cemetery. General Ambrose Burnside, Mayor Thomas Doyle and Sullivan Ballou, the Civil War officer remembered for his last letter home, are buried here, and so is horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, whose fans leave pens, coins and notes at his stone. Its winding lanes and old trees make it one of the loveliest walks in the city.
The haunting here is a gentle one. Lovecraft devotees gather each March 15, the anniversary of his death in 1937, and Motif reports claims that his figure has been seen at those tributes. Otherwise this is a peaceful place for a daytime walk, and Visit Rhode Island lists it among the state’s ghostly attractions. The cemetery itself does not promote any ghost stories.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask the office for a map to Lovecraft’s grave; the grounds close at 5 pm in winter.
Address Bullocks Point Avenue, Riverside, East Providence, RI 02915
Where to look The carousel and the beach where the amusement park stood
Reported ghosts Victims of the 1969 ballroom fire, a woman in old-fashioned clothes
Visiting City park; the carousel runs in summer
Ghost hunting No investigations
Charles Looff built this carousel in 1895 for Crescent Park, once a busy amusement park on the shore at Riverside, and moved his own factory here in 1905. The park closed in 1977, and locals fought to keep the carousel from being sold off. It is a National Historic Landmark, called the state jewel of American folk art, and reopened in 2022 after repairs.
The park’s Alhambra Ballroom burned in 1969, and people tell of music that starts by itself and of fire victims who linger. Others describe a woman in old-time clothing, and Rhode Island Monthly mentions a woman said to walk the beach. These are local tales, with no record of deaths in the ballroom fire that we could find.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ride the carousel on a summer evening; it runs seasonally.
Address Tower Hill Road between Diamond Hill Road and Wrentham Road, Cumberland, RI 02864
Where to look The narrow wooded stretch through Cumberland Land Trust land
Reported ghosts Ghostly children, a Lady in White, the 'man monkey'
Visiting Public road; no parking, adjacent land closed 9 pm to 6 am
Ghost hunting Do not stop or trespass at night
Tower Hill Road is a tight, winding country road through the woods of northern Cumberland, much of it bordered by Cumberland Land Trust conservation land. In October 2026 the car rental firm SIXT ranked it ninth on a list of the world’s most haunted roads, based on social media and search trends. It runs through woods between Diamond Hill Road and Wrentham Road, close to Diamond Hill.
Drivers tell of ghostly children, some on tricycles, a Lady in White, a boy walking his dog, lights in the trees and a Bigfoot-like creature locals call the man monkey. AAA’s magazine adds tales of drums and charging warriors from the 1600s. None of it has any record behind it. Police warn that parking is banned along most of the road and that the land trust parks close from 9 pm to 6 am.
Haunted Rooms tip: Drive it slowly by day; do not stop or park on the road, and stay out of the land trust woods after 9 pm.
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We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted place in Providence?
Providence City Hall, where staff have reported cigar smoke, moving chairs and footsteps for years and which Ghost Hunters investigated in 2012, and the Providence Biltmore across the street are the city’s best-known haunts.
Is the Providence Biltmore haunted?
It is Rhode Island’s most famous haunted hotel. The story told most often is of a man who jumped after the 1929 crash and is seen falling past windows. Tales of a Satanist founder, ritual rooms and guests who vanish have no records behind them.
Does Poe's ghost haunt the Providence Athenaeum?
That is the legend. Poe courted Sarah Helen Whitman there in 1848, and she ended their engagement in one of its alcoves. The library is open to visitors and keeps a copy of a poem he signed.
Where is H. P. Lovecraft buried?
In Swan Point Cemetery on Blackstone Boulevard. Fans gather at his grave each March 15, the anniversary of his death in 1937.
Are there ghost tours in Providence?
Yes. Providence ghost walks run through College Hill and Benefit Street, and the Providence River Boat Company runs seasonal haunted boat tours. The Sprague Mansion in Cranston holds a ghost party every October.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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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 place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
