Rebellion? Murders? Here are four of the most haunted restaurants in Rhode Island

As a New England state with more than its fair share of Colonial-era buildings still in use, it's not surprising that Rhode Island has a handful of haunted restaurants.

Rebellions, murders and ghosts that have never explained themselves have been reported at these four Ocean State restaurants. Some of them have been featured in television shows or named among the most haunted places in the country.

And even if you don’t believe in ghosts, the history behind some of these restaurants is fascinating.

Haunting and murder at the Valley Inn Restaurant 

This ghost story has ties to the infamous Lizzy Borden.

On Feb. 8, 1673, Rebecca Cornell declined a supper of mackerel with her grown son, Thomas Cornell, and his family, saying the fish made her sick, according to historical records. When they finished eating, one of her son’s sons was sent up to check on her, but something was amiss so he ran back to get his father to check with him. They found Rebecca burned to death.

At first, the death was ruled an accident, probably she had fallen asleep and some ash from her pipe had fallen on her, sending her up in flames.

But then Rebecca’s brother, John, said Rebecca’s ghost visited him in the night to tell him that she had been murdered. He testified to this in court and several neighbors delivered testimony that put Thomas under suspicion. Then, the coroner reexamined Rebecca and found an odd wound to her stomach.

Thomas – in part on the claims of a ghost – was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. His wife was pregnant with their last child, whom she named Innocent. Innocent married into the Borden family and is the great-great-great-great-grandmother of Lizzie, records show.

What does this have to do with the Valley Inn Restaurant in Portsmouth? Before it was the Valley Inn Restaurant, the site was the farmhouse of the Cornells. The original building burned in 1889, but the reconstruction, completed six years later, is now the Valley Inn.

In 2021, the TV show "Kindred Spirits" filmed an episode inside the Valley Inn, which Rebecca is said to still haunt.

Newport's White Horse Tavern among top 10 most haunted bars in US

As America’s oldest tavern, White Horse Tavern in Newport has seen some things in its 350-year history – meetings of the Rhode Island Colony’s General Assembly, ownership by a pirate, Hessian mercenaries as guests during the Revolutionary War and countless dinners and guests. You don’t get to be that old without seeing a few ghosts.

White Horse Tavern is one of the 10 most haunted bars in the country, according to the travel guide Fodor’s Travels, which put it in the No. 5 spot. The bar reportedly is home to an elderly gentleman ghost, who died while renting a room upstairs in the 1720s, and a small girl who is often heard crying. No one knows their identities.

Tavern on Main haunted by the Dorr Rebellion

The Tavern on Main, in the Glocester village of Chepachet, was among the locations of one of the most dramatic political flare-ups in Rhode Island’s history – the Dorr Rebellion.

A quick refresher on the Dorr Rebellion: In 1842, Rhode Island was still holding on to its old Colonial charter, which granted the right to vote only to landholding white men. Sick of this, the People’s Party emerged, led by lawyer Thomas Dorr, on the platform of white male suffrage. Attempts to compromise fell flat and the People’s Party ended up electing Dorr as their Rhode Island governor while the established government elected Samuel King as governor. Calls to arms were made and arsenals were attacked. Eventually, Dorr was arrested and, later in the year, under Gov. James Fenner and the Law and Order party, a new charter was passed that gave white men the right to vote, and all Black men over 21 the right to vote.

But back to the inn – in July, when the two competing governors were feuding, Dorr called for the state's General Assembly to meet at Jedediah Sprague’s Tavern on July 4, 1842. Hearing of this, Gov. King sent state troops to the inn and they shot at the gathering. The door was shut, but Horace Bardeen was shot through the door’s keyhole. The innkeeper gave in to the state troops who occupied the building for most of the summer and never paid their tab.

What does this have to do with ghosts?  Tom D’agostino, author of Haunted Rhode Island, has said he believes Sprague is one of the ghosts haunting the establishment. He’s called Tavern on Main one of the most haunted restaurants in Rhode Island, telling The Valley Breeze he believes there are at least five ghosts hanging around the tavern. Every October he hosts multiple paranormal investigation dinners at the 1700s tavern.

Ghostly specters spotted at North Kingstown's Carriage Inn 

Specialists from the "Ghost Hunters" investigated this building in 2008. At the time of The Atlantic Paranormal Society’s investigation, the property was the Hoof-Fin-Feathers. It’s said to be haunted by a woman in clothes that look like they are from the 1700s or 1800s, a man dressed in black carrying a book and a young girl with burns. Some of the ghosts seem like they might have worked in a brothel.

The North Kingstown property was founded in 1760 as an inn and tavern stop. Today, it’s the family-friendly dining establishment Carriage Inn.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Here are four of the most haunted restaurants in RI