State file · RI
Haunted places in Rhode Island
What are the most haunted places in Rhode Island? The best-known are The Conjuring House, Mercy Brown, the Exeter “Vampire” and Sprague Mansion.
The smallest state has an outsized place in American ghost lore. Rhode Island’s countryside is dotted with hundreds of tiny family burial grounds, and it was here, in the 19th century, that desperate farming families exhumed relatives who had died of tuberculosis in the belief that the dead were draining the living. Folklorist Michael Bell has counted 18 such cases in Rhode Island alone, the most famous being Mercy Brown of Exeter in 1892 – enough for him to call the state “the Transylvania of America.”
- 3 hauntings
- 12 recorded sightings
- 2 news stories
Haunted places in Rhode Island
The Conjuring House
The Rhode Island farmhouse behind The Conjuring, where the Perron family reported a 1970s haunting – and where a real woman’s name was blackened. Widely reported
Mercy Brown, the Exeter “Vampire”
In 1892 Exeter neighbours exhumed 19-year-old Mercy Brown, a tuberculosis victim, and burned her heart to save her brother. Her grave still draws visitors. FolkloreSprague Mansion
Home of a textile dynasty whose heir was murdered in 1843 – a crime that sent an Irish immigrant to the gallows. Visitors report a figure on the stairs. Regional legendThe ghost lore of Rhode Island
In the 20th century the state supplied one of the most famous haunted-house stories in the world. The Perron family’s farmhouse in Burrillville, investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren in the 1970s, became the basis for the 2013 film The Conjuring and is now a ticketed paranormal attraction – even as local historians work to clear the name of Bathsheba Sherman, the real farm wife the legend turned into a witch.
Elsewhere, ghost stories cling to Gilded Age Newport, to the colonial streets of Providence and to historic houses such as Cranston’s Sprague Mansion, where a notorious 1843 murder ended with the state’s last execution and, 166 years later, a pardon.
Ghost-hunting hotspots
- Newport
The Gilded Age mansions and colonial waterfront have a long list of ghost stories, from The Breakers to Belcourt and Seaview Terrace.
- College Hill, Providence
Colonial houses, the Providence Athenaeum and Lovecraft’s old haunts make Benefit Street the heart of the city’s ghost walks.
- Exeter and South County
Rural Washington County holds many of the state’s documented “vampire” exhumations and family graveyards.
- Burrillville and Harrisville
The northern mill-village town is home to the Conjuring house and the real Bathsheba Sherman’s grave.
Timeline
- January 1892Lena Brown dies at 19 Mercy Brown, the Exeter “Vampire”
After a short, rapid illness, Mercy Lena Brown dies of consumption, while her brother Edwin is also gravely ill.
- March 17, 1892The exhumation Mercy Brown, the Exeter “Vampire”
Neighbours, a doctor and a newspaper reporter exhume the three Brown women. Lena’s heart and liver are burned and the ashes given to Edwin, who dies within two months.
- 1896A clipping reaches Bram Stoker Mercy Brown, the Exeter “Vampire”
A New York World article on New England vampire beliefs is found among Bram Stoker’s papers, a year before Dracula was published. Scholars debate whether the case influenced the character of Lucy.
- 1925First reported apparitions Sprague Mansion
According to local accounts, the first ghost sightings in the mansion date from this year, long after the Sprague family had lost it.
- 1968The caretaker’s séance Sprague Mansion
A Brown University student living in the mansion holds a séance; the Ouija board is said to spell “My land!” and identify Amasa Sprague and a former butler.
- 1971The Perrons move in The Conjuring House
Roger and Carolyn Perron and their five daughters move into the farmhouse and soon report disturbing events, which continue through the decade.
- 1974The Warrens’ séance The Conjuring House
Ed and Lorraine Warren investigate and hold a séance. Andrea Perron later recalled seeing her mother levitate and be thrown to the floor that year, and the name Bathsheba entered the family’s story.
- 1981A folklorist takes up the case Mercy Brown, the Exeter “Vampire”
Michael Bell begins researching the Brown case while directing a folklife survey of Washington County, work that led to his book Food for the Dead (2001).
- June 29, 2011A pardon 166 years late Sprague Mansion
After a resolution by the General Assembly, Governor Lincoln Chafee pardons John Gordon, citing the prejudice and weak evidence at his trial.
- July 2013The Conjuring opens The Conjuring House
Warner Bros. releases James Wan’s film, which turns Bathsheba into a witch who sacrificed her baby. It earns over $319 million and launches a franchise.
- May 2022The house sells for $1.5 million The Conjuring House
Jacqueline Nuñez buys the property for about $1.525 million, well above the asking price, and keeps it open for paranormal tours and events.
- October 2023Restoring Bathsheba’s name The Conjuring House
The Boston Globe reports on local historians’ efforts to replace Sherman’s vandalised gravestone and correct the record about her life.
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