Fortress Of Nightmares Opens Gates to Thrill-Seekers, Ghost Hunters

It's Halloween in New England, which means there's no shortage of holiday-themed attractions for adults and kids to indulge in spine-tingling dark mazes, scares and thrills. But few attractions outside Fort Adams State Park offer bona fide ghosting expeditions with actual paranormal experts leading filmed "Ghost Hunts" at the site of documented wickedness.

And certainly none other than Fort Adams' "Fortress of Nightmares" invite descent into historic military tunnels that rarely receive visitors (aside from the occasional cave bat)—all in the name of historic restoration and rehabilitation.

Dark New England's "Fortress of Nightmares," an annual restoration fundraiser for the fort, returns the weekends of Oct. 22-24 and Oct. 28-31 and offers all the above:

• "Tunnels of Terror," now in its sixth year, is a thrilling walk-through experience that leads visitors through the old fort's original dark and winding brick-arched tunnels, offering plenty of scares, screams, monsters, thrills, light effects, and chills. Billed as a "high startle, low gore" attraction with about 30 costumed creatures and characters bent on making blood curdle, the "Tunnels" are understandably only open to adults and children over Age 12.

• "Ghost Hunts," a separate ticketed event now in its second year, offers participants a 45-minute paranormal evidence gathering expedition throughout the grounds of the old fort, bringing them into tunnels and munitions storage areas, old barracks and more. Led by members of the Rhode Island Paranormal Research Group, each group of about 30 ghost seekers get to use electromagnetic frequency or EMF meters, infrared, and other equipment in the hunt, as well as their own cameras.

With more than 3,000 ticket buyers expected, the event remains Fort Adams' single largest annual fundraiser, said organizers. Powered in part by dozens of volunteers, the annual event has helped renovate sections of the nearly 200-year-old fort into a working museum and continue rehabilitation projects, said Operations Manager David Prata.

Dark New England has gone all out this year in preparing for the event, beginning with video footage shot earlier in 2010 for the accompanying multi-media show that visitors experience upon the start of their ghostly adventures. Much of the "Ghost Hunts" also will be filmed for later research or other possible media uses.

Guests may bring their own cameras and, in November, they may submit photos to Dark New England's event website for further analysis for spectral evidence, said Bell.

For this year's "Ghost Hunts," which began over the summer, Dark New England also brought on as its historical consultant Middletown-based paranormal researcher, author and New England folklore expert Christopher Rondina, whose books "Ghost Ships of New England" and "Vampires of New England," among others, inspired Dark New England producer Brian Bell to get into the ghost hunting and paranormal business years ago, said Bell.

"Chris has totally taken 'Ghost Hunts' to another level," said Bell. "Chris is like a little ferret. You never know what he's going to dig up."

The collaboration between the two has enabled the paranormal experts leading the ghost hunting expeditions to later share their findings with Rondina, in hopes of finding out if any paranormal experiences during the "hunts" can be supported by actual historical events or facts at the fort.

After one such paranormal experience that occurred a few months ago during a summer "Ghost Hunt," Rondina dove into historical research and unearthed facts and documented events that either support those Ghost Hunters' claims of paranormal experiences there at the fort, or offer up very eerie coincidences.

Rondina, a stickler for details, evidence and matters of record, says he spends most of his time researching historical facts, documents, old photographs, maps, personal accounts and more when he investigates the true histories behind local legends and claims of ghostly apparitions and other paranormal phenomena. He is not, he says, someone who "claims to be psychic or sensitive."

"I spend most of my time in dusty libraries rather than out in the field," said Rondina.  "Admittedly, I'm a ghost consumer as well as a researcher. I like to find that legend with very little meat to it and then go find the facts."

Bell and Dark New England found his latest research results to be so compelling that they've worked those histories into this year's "Ghost Hunts" experience as an inspiration for others diving into this year's Halloween experience.

It involves a cold-blooded murder in the early 1800s that was witnessed by many and that Rondina has linked to a sitting President at the time, as well as several infamous tales of the macabre that can be traced throughout Aquidneck Island and southern New England for more than 300 years. To give away more here would be a spoiler to the "Ghost Hunt" experience.

Rondina, a naturally gifted storyteller, conducts his own guided ghost tours throughout Newport in the coming weekends and won't be available during the actual "Ghost Hunts." But Bell's work with Rondina in recent months has resulted in a multi-media experience that's now part of "Ghost Hunt," where Rondina shares his ghostly findings about the Fort supported by historical facts.

• Patch is a proud sponsor of Fortress of Nightmares.
• Fort Adams' "Fortress of Nightmares" will take place "drizzle or shine," said organizers, who also noted a special thanks to Newport Tent for donating the use of several outdoor canopies to help protect visitors from weather, should it rain.

• Tickets may be purchased for Adults or children 12 years of age or older at the Box office or online at www.fortressofnightmares.com.
• Tickets went on sale Sept. 26 and 12 Ghost Hunts have already sold out, noted organizers, so buy your tickets fast.
• Adults or children 12 years of age or older may purchase up to 9 tickets each and special arrangements may be made for group purchases, said organizers.
• Tickets cost $10 for the Tunnels of Terror, $10 for the Ghost Hunt, or $15 for both.
• Fortress of Nightmares is open from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 22-24 and Oct. 28-31, with the final ticket sale at 9 p.m., said organizers.

• Lifelong Middletown resident, author and local paranormal historian Christopher Rondina is also available for guided ghost tours and historical paranormal consultations.
• For more information, email Rondina at newenglandghosts@hotmail.com.
• Rondina's books are available at Amazon.com.