Robert and I have been hanging out in Newport, RI recently for phantasmic fun. Right before Halloween, we went on an entertaining Ghost Walk with napkinshoe and her family, and a couple of weekends ago, we also decided to check out the special Ghost Tour at one of Newport's historic mansions, Belcourt Castle.

Even just waiting around for the gates of the mansion to open was a little spooky. Unlike the other mansions on Bellevue Ave, which were well maintained and manicured and more like something out of The Great Gatsby, the grounds of Belcourt Castle were in a delightful state of ruin. We saw withered flowerbeds, dying shrubbery, and plenty of creepy, crumbling, cobwebby statuary. I don't think this was done intentionally, but it certainly did add to the ambience.

This fish doesn't look all that pleased to be pawed over by these beastly little cherubs. Horrid!

Robert liked this gloomy sphinx, surrounded by decaying foliage.

Sadly, we were not allowed to take photographs inside the mansion, but just being there was experience enough. As the sun was setting, we were finally led through the inner gates of the mansion (I noticed I was the 13th person through the gate...ooh!) and we were led to a dim and musty hall filled with velvet chairs and drapes, stained glass windows, marble pillars, and dusty chandeliers. On a small marble pillar at the end of the room stood an old fashioned slide projector facing a podium and pull down projection screen. While we waited for the slide presentation to begin, we looked around and noticed grimy glass display cases holding objects such as tiaras, porcelain figurines and tarnished silver pieces. One especially creepy bust with a van dyke style beard and sharp, almost satyr like features leered blindly at the crowd from just outside the main room. Ugh! Again, I don't think this was even deliberate atmosphere....all these items just happened to be the owners' possessions.

We were given a little background on the mansion (originally occupied by Oliver Belmont of the Belmont race track fortune), and then introduced to Mrs. Harle Tinney, one of the owners of the mansion who still lives on the estate with her husband. Mrs. Tinney was one of those elegant older women, with bright, lively blue eyes that seemed much younger than the rest of her face. Her silver hair was chicly bobbed and styled into soft waves, she wore no makeup except for a slash of scarlet lipstick, and wore sparkling earrings and a festive red Chinese silk jacket (the good kind, not the cheap kind) over a simple black velvet dress...she seemed more like she was hosting guests at a social event rather than paying customers.  We were also introduced to Miss Virginia Smith, a friend of the Tinneys who was described as a world traveler, ghost society member and "unwilling medium"...a trippy, elderly, snowy haired woman who despite being from Long Island mysteriously seemed to have a British accent. She wore a gold brocade jacket over a long black dress and sensible old lady shoes. I thought I glimpsed long pants peeking beneath the hem of her skirt, but she moved around too quickly to know for sure. Robert and I both got a kick out of Harle and Virginia, who were charming despite seeming a little crazy.

After a slide show of various haunted places Virginia had stayed at (no scary pictures, just a lot of exterior photos of bed and breakfast type places), we went upstairs with Virginia to be shown various rooms and told a few creepy ghost stories, some relating to the rooms but mostly not. We then went downstairs to meet with Harle, who showed us some antiques that were supposed to be haunted and told us a few spooky experiences she had had living in the mansion. The tour concluded in a ballroom, which featured a supposedly haunted suit of armor and a couple of antique salt chairs that were supposed to have a strange energy if you passed your hand around them. Robert thought he felt something around one chair and I felt more of a sensation around the other, which Virginia pointed out was interesting because he was near a lady's chair and I was by a gentleman's chair...but overall, I felt like we were trying too hard to see or feel something and just wanting to experience something strange, so we did.  

Even though we didn't see any ghosts, we had an excellent time. I guess we just like crazy old ladies, creepy old houses, and hearing some good stories, whether or not they are true.