Sprague Mansion
Photo taken from cranstonhistroicalsociety.com
Sprague Mansion in Cranston, Rhode Island has long been a place of hunting’s and paranormal occurrences. Many visitors to the house have reported hearing footsteps going up and down the stairs. People have also reported seeing an apparition in certain areas of the house. In the wine cellar pictures taken reveal orbs in every single one. Most people believed this ghost was most likely that of John Gordon, a convicted murderer who was the last person to be executed in the state of Rhode Island.
Amasa Sprague was the name of the man that Gordon allegedly killed. Amasa was a businessman and manufacturer who left his mansion one day in December of 1843 and his body would turn up the next day dead alongside a road right near the mansion. Gordon was a employee at the mansion and had been seen the day of Amasa’s death arguing over something with him. He was tried and hung in 1845. A few years later, evidence came into play that showed Gordon was not the real killer, and it was most likely his brother William.
Other suggestions of the possibly spirits who haunt the mansion are: William Sprague II who died after a chicken bone lodged in his throat, Kate Chase Sprague who lost her reputation and beauty by throwing away all her money, and her son William Sprague who committed suicide after losing his job in 1890. In 1968, a Brown University student who worked at the mansion conducted a seance there and came in touch with the spirit of man named Charles who used to be a butler there. His daughter was supposed to marry one of the Sprague son’s but he then went and married someone else. Charles would have been an inheritance to the land but instead received nothing. The Ouija board spelt out during this, “My Land, My Land, My Land.”
(Source: Belanger, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. 2005.)
