THE WORLD'S MOST HAUNTED PLACES

THE JOSEPH P LADD CENTER, EXETER, RHODE ISLAND, USA

On each floor there are two large walls. The green and grey walls are tall and dungeon like. The doors between the wards are that of bathrooms and closets.  Downstairs is a room around the corner from the front door furnished with imitation wood paneling with heavy doors. The air inside is heavy and old.

THE RECREATIONAL BUILDING:

The recreational building now houses the Exeter Job Corps Academy. The classrooms were on the lower level, as well as the administrative offices for the psychiatric and educational departments. On the upper level were the gymnasium and locker rooms, game room, theater and bowling alley.

Concerning the abandoned structures at Ladd, certain qualities of a building was noteworthy in a sense that each building seemed to have its own personality and was possessed by its own characteristic phenomena, for example the temperature was surprisingly cooler the closer you got to the locker rooms at the school. Sometimes voices can be heard at the entrance to the pools.

THE HIGGINS BUILDING: 

This building is haunted by uncanny noises that always come from the level below and outside. This building seems to have a mind of its own and seems to move around.

THE HOSPITAL BUILDING (INFIRMARY):

The rooms in the basement are tiny, fuzzy chambers with flaking grey walls and concrete floors that creates a unpleasantly cold, claustrophobic, prison-like atmosphere. There seems to be an intense, stale odor of abandonment on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor, but it turns into the smell of a hospital on the 4th floor.The rooms here are still labeled with the names of their former occupants.

In the morgue noises of a little girl can be heard near the hallway as well as the sound of heavy footsteps.. The walls seem to be pounding like a faded heartbeat.

In the basement investigators confirmed to have felt a cold chill. One has the feeling of being watched,clamorous banging noises always come from the 1st floor and people alleged to have heard something heave on the floor above them. A low moaning sound also haunts the basement, blasts of wind can be felt and noises of footsteps and shattering chains can be heard.

In June (the American summer) during a paranormal investigation it was so cold at the entrance of the hospital, the investigators  had to put on jackets, and there seemed to be a presence that didn't want people there at all. An ethereal figure haunts the hall. Walls bleed. A horde of orbs were caught on film as well as a peculiar dark figure.It was during one of the many investigations that a woman had her camera slapped out of her hand. When she picked it up it was slapped from her hand again. One investigator's fully charged digital camera shut off entirely. The sound of doors slamming and a clattering chain can be heard here. A girl can also be heard screaming on several occasions. The 1st floor is equipped with padded cells and shock chairs. It is on this floor that a vase was flying at a girl's head that was part on an investigation team. Here they found blood and bodies of people that have died. On the 2nd floor one can hear voices talking, things getting thrown and people screaming for help and weeping. Here people have also experienced cold spots and rooms that would light up.  

On one occasion a small fire was started as people approached the 3rd floor and the metal holders of the fire extinguishers began to rattle and shake.The worst of all is the 3rd floor that welcomes you with a smell of death. It is recorded that people have actually disappeared from this floor out of the blue and the scariest of all is that the exit seems to evaporate into nowhere. During the investigation of the group with the woman who had her camera slapped out of her hand twice, they heard a huge holler that they described as something that sounded like a piano being dragged across the floor and the sound of the chords echoing. They got so scared that they decided to leave the building right away. An investigation team of 20 entered the building and only 2 left with the rest never to be found again. The 4th floor is haunted by a woman in a black dress throwing a scalpel at people. A blue light also haunts the building jumping around from place to place.  

Here is an extract from the Pawtucket Paranormal Society of information following a day trip to the center with their team leader Dawn.

"As we got close to the place I began to feel a strange nasty feeling settling in my gut. I can not say that I knew straight away this place was causing it, but I had a feeling. We drove on to the property and the feeling grew much stronger, like there was a veil we passed through.

We began to pass old dilapidated boarded up buildings when a wave of sadness washed over me. I began to feel the hatred that seeped from the very ground we drove on.

We stopped a few times so I could take pictures of the buildings when I began to hear the whispering of many voices, all young and seeming to plead for mercy.

When we came to the last place that was built on the property called the Fogerty Building, built in 1970, I knew it was here that felt the most like all the bad pooled in one place. The whispers grew stronger, they wanted to be released from the hell that bounded them.

We came to what was left of one of the playgrounds on the place. All that remained was a rusted, twisted swing set with one swing remaining. Dawn didn't want to get out of the car because she stated to me later that she had the feeling of being watched.

When I got close to the swing set I heard a young girl (7 or 8) asking me to follow her.

I approached the swing...I had to feel it. I had to know how many sad souls sat upon it. When I got close to it I heard the child say 'Mine, mine, mine.' I proceeded and touched it. Well, when I did, I immediately felt pain go up my right side and across my chest. It felt like I was being burned.

The place is a tumor on the face of the earth and a blemish in history. Let sleeping dogs lie, if you get the meaning. And if you don't heed this warning, be advised you may bring something back with you that you don't like."

(Many thanks to C.J. and Pawtucket Paranormal Society)

(Many thanks to Rob Lefebure (The Anchor))

(Many thanks to Art In Ruins, In House Freestyle and Alicia Renadette)

Here is a video clip which is the best I could find on paranormal activity at the Ladd School.