New Ghost Tour Highlights the Supernatural Side of Providence

The former funeral home where H.P. Lovecraft was laid to rest. Photo by Kaitlyn Murray.

Fall may take home the title of “spooky season,” but spirits don’t pack up and disappear once the clock strikes midnight on November 1. No one knows this better than Lance Zaal, president and founder of US Ghost Adventures. Known for offering entertaining, historic, and authentic ghost tours of United States’ most haunted cities, the travel company just recently expanded to launch twelve new tour locations. Lucky for the local paranormal enthusiasts among us, the Creative Capital is on that list.

“Providence is a great place for tours because of its rich history, authentic stories and convenient location,” says Zaal. “The Ghosts of Providence experience is also close to the Lizzie Borden House, which is owned and operated by US Ghost Adventures. We encourage guests who stay at the Lizzie Borden house to experience Ghosts of Providence so they can experience more than one city during their stay.”

Now, while I haven’t had the chance to book a stay at the Borden B&B (yet!), I did have the opportunity to check out the newly minted tour and learn just what goes bump in the night Downcity.

It’s just shy of 8 p.m. when my friend and I pull up to the Providence River Walk. Between the January chill, the diluted glow of the surrounding street lamps and our intended plans for the night, we are already feeling caught up in an eerie energy. A lone man with a lantern stands in front of the Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial our designated meeting spot, and we correctly guess that he is our tour guide for the night.

The Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial. Photo by Kaitlyn Murray

He introduces himself as Bill and we quickly learn he is a former journalist from Chicago who had moved to the Ocean State for his wife’s position at Brown. A self-proclaimed history nerd, his past career had come in handy when this opportunity popped up; he was able to dive into the research himself and come up with a lot of his own talking points for the tour.

“One of the things that appealed to me was that US Ghost Adventures said right up front they wanted it based around fact, not just crazy ghost stories. Skepticism is ingrained in journalism, and I tend to look at things through a skeptic’s eye, including the idea of ghosts. Though I do believe in them,” he says. “I found tons of information about ghosts in Rhode Island while researching; it’s an old state and Providence is an old city. I probably have three times the number of stories that I get into on this tour.”

Still, Bill managed to whittle them down to some of the best of the best for our one hour, one-mile trek. While I don’t want to give everything away, I will leave you with this tease of some of the featured stops:

Providence Athenaeum

The historic library has ties to a prominent nineteenth-century Providence Society woman and the demise of her whirlwind romance with a famous fellow poet. Some swear she conjured his ghost following his untimely death and it’s since made appearances both out front and amongst the stacks.

Providence Athenaeum. Photo by Kaitlyn Murray

University Hall at Brown

Those who are fainter of heart, be warned: This one is a bit grizzly (and no, I’m not referring to the university’s mascot). Brown’s oldest building dates back to Revolutionary War times when it acted as a hospital for wounded soldiers. As one can imagine with the medicine available at the time, the hospital’s treatment success rate was not very high, and many former patients are said to still haunt the halls. (During our tour I thought I saw a figure pass through the shadows of a second story window. Was it a glare? A ghost? I couldn’t say for sure).

The gate outside University Hall. Photo by Kaitlyn Murray

Benefit Street

Am I the only one who didn’t know Benefit Street was originally known as Back Street? Or that it had humble and rather morbid beginnings? I will never look at those quaint cobblestone sidewalks or cutesy homesteads the same again.

Roger Williams

For anyone who looks up to Roger Williams, sorry to burst your bubble, but our state founder wasn’t very well liked by those who knew him. Nothing highlights this fact more than the tale of his initial burial. (Spoiler: the memorial at Prospect Terrace Park was a much later addition).

HP Lovecraft

Many locals know that the legendary horror fiction author is buried in the Creative Capital (with an “I Am Providence” epitaph, to boot), but have they heard what haunts the former funeral home (now a RISD residence hall) where he was first laid to rest, or seen the gable house on Benefit that inspired his short story, “The Shunned House,” up close?

The Fleur-de-Lys Studios

I have long admired the yellow Arts-and-Craft-style structure on Thomas Street while driving past, but I never took the time to learn its backstory. Imagine my intrigue when I found out that it’s full of scandal, sadness and the supernatural.

The The Fleur-de-Lys Studios. Photo by Kaitlyn Murray.

If you are lucky enough to get Bill as your guide for the night, he truly is great company. He doesn’t just welcome discussion throughout the tour but encourages it. We had a lovely time chatting about what we each believe a ghost or haunting to be, and he was very gracious when the journalist in me had a million follow up questions about different sightings and historical contexts. In fact, I learned quite a bit from him about the city I currently call home and regularly write about.

US Ghost Adventures. Photo by Kaitlyn Murray.

And lest I forget, the US Ghost Adventure guides also offer adorable little ghost plushies for sale, and even have ghost detectors on hand if you dare.

The tours run nightly from approximately 8–9 p.m., and you will meet your guide at the Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial at Memorial Park on South Main Street in Providence. Tickets are $25 per adult or $16 per child and must be bought in advance. You do not need to print the tickets prior to the tour; just come ready with a valid ID and an open mind to the supernatural side that awaits. To learn more and book your tour, visit usghostadventures.com/providence.