Derivative Inages

In Preston, CT,  sits Captain Grant’s Inn, a rustic bed-and-breakfast that for over two centuries has succeeded both as a temporary refuge for travelers and a permanent home … to ghosts!

In 1754, Captain William Grant built a “suitable” home in Poquetanuck Village for his beloved wife Mercy and their children. Even though Captain Grant later died at sea, the abode served the family well — Mercy lived there well into her 80s, followed by three generations of Grants.

According to the inn’s website, during the Revolutionary War, soldiers of the Continental Army were garrisoned there; during the Civil War, escaped slaves were sheltered there. The house underwent a significant renovation in the mid 1990s, and now features numerous named rooms, six working fireplaces and a three-story porch. Poquetanuck’s first cemetery is also located behind the inn.

Apparently, one room in particular — the Adelaide Room — is a hotspot for paranormal activity. One guest claims to have awakened in the middle of the night to see next to her bed a woman dressed in Colonial-era garb, holding hands with two children. There have also been claims of the TV turning itself on and off as well as the shower curtain being knocked down without provocation.

Mercy Adelaide Avery is the inn’s most famous spirit. She also happens to be buried in the cemetery adjacent to the inn.  She haunts the inn, waiting in vain for her beloved husband; Captain William Grant (who was lost at sea) to return home. Adelaide has a room named after her and has made it a habit to pull the shower curtain off its rod even after it is glued and nailed on. Guests have awakened in the middle of the night to see a woman dressed in Colonial-era clothes, holding hands with two children standing at the end of the bed! She sometimes plays with the TV, turning it off and on. Adelaide has also been seen on the inn’s main staircase.

There are other phantoms in the buildings as well, making themselves known with strange knocking and visual strange shapes that form before the guests' eyes. Stories tell that once a teenage boy had the scare of his life when he shouted; “Is anyone here?” while standing in the cemetery. Right after a mist proceeded to come out of one of the gravestones. One of the other resident ghosts of the inn, a little girl named Deborah Adams is buried in the cemetery. She has also been seen in the Adelaide room and made a nonbelieving employee change her mind when she walked right through her. - https://haunted-inns/

Some visitors have reported hearing random knockings and seeing unusual shapes; one guest described the sensation of having her face caressed by invisible hands, another told of the shade of a young child passing through them. Paranormal investigators have also allegedly recorded EVPs here, including the voice of a young girl. Phantom footsteps have been heard in the attic.

The owners of the inn have described their supposed ghosts as “protective” spirits, and have only reported positive — if eerie — experiences.

Captain Grant’s is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and has been featured on Home & Garden TV and in Yankee Magazine as well as being listed as a haunted inn by CNN and USA Today. It has also been in an episode of A&E’s “Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal.”

Ray Bendici