Haunted America: The Ghosts of Belcourt Castle in Newport, Rhode Island

Spirits of the East Coast

One of Newport, Rhode Island's most exquisite landmarks is the French Renaissance-style château known to locals as the Belcourt Castle. Many believe it to be the location of paranormal phenomena and events that involves haunted chairs, ghostly armor, apparitions, a statue that has been declared as possessed, and a haunted mirror that is truly baffling as you cannot see your reflection, only moving images that shift back and forth.

Belcourt Castle is not for the faint of heart as sightings are a normal occurrence when visitors take the candlelight or the more favored haunted tour through the darkest corners of the property, especially the spooky Gothic Ballroom. Known as the hot spot for apparitions, visitors love seeing the vast collection of artwork, furniture, sculptures, armor, paintings, tapestries, stained glass and the occasional spirit that lights up the room.

The Castle was designed by Richard Morris Hunt for the wealthy bachelor, Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, who inherited a fortune from his father August Belmont. Belcourt Castle was embellished with horses and armor, which was a direct reflection for his love of medieval and renaissance architecture.

Oliver Belmont hired 30 servants at $100.00 per week to take care of the 60 room, 50, 000 square-foot estate and the grounds that displayed mythological sculptural pieces from nymphs and cherubs made from bronze, terra cotta, marble and stone.

In 1896 Oliver Belmont married socialite Alva Vanderbilt, wife of his best friend and business partner. Alva Smith, daughter of an Alabama cotton merchant, was educated in France, and married to William Kissam Vanderbilt. The couple had three children before she divorced Vanderbilt in 1895 to marry Oliver Belmont.