But a seance held in 1968 by a Brown University student who lived in the mansion as a caretaker revealed the agitated spirit of Charles, the mansion's live-in butler during the 1880s. He had expected his daughter to marry one of the owner's sons (by then, the Sprague family's business had collapsed and they had moved out). Charlie's anticipated inheritance evaporated when the son married someone else. The seance climaxed when the Ouija began to move violently, spelling, "My land! My land! My land!" When the spirit was asked what it needed to be at peace, it responded, "Tell my story."

Lydia Rapoza, the Curator at Sprague Mansion, said that Charlie's ghost was trapped in the small "doll room" off the stair landing when a connector was erected between the original house (c. 1790) and the addition (1864), walling off what had been the servants' quarters. Lydia also suggested that, throughout the nineteenth century, the Spragues seemed to have more than their share of misfortunes and (How should we put this?) tortured personalities--enough to create a host of restless souls.

Text © Dr. Michael Bell