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 |