006 - Swan Point Cemetery Part 3

​If there's one thing I've learned when it comes to investigating the paranormal, it's not the ghosts or the demons or the dead you should be afraid of. It's the living. They're the ones who want to harm you the most. And I learned this at a young age as I was chased through the woods in Providence.

I'm Tom Stewart and this is My Paranormal Story.

As I continue to reflect back on the times I spent curiously investigating Swan Point Cemetery, it's the experiences I had with living people that frightened me the most. I remember running through the backwoods of the cemetery being chased by two men in robes. They were witches, warlocks defending their territory. I suppose my 15 year old mind could only imagine what they were going to do to me. Luckily, I wasn't just curious. I was also fast. Swan Point Cemetery has always had a history of devil worship, witchcraft, and black magic. It's known to be a very spiritual place along with H.P. Lovecraft's grave and The Circle above the Sprague Tomb. The backwoods of Swan Point Cemetery have always been active, with people practicing witchcraft. But it has less to do with it being a cemetery and more to do with the history of the land that it was built on. Now I don't have any historical documents to back up the claims about that area behind the cemetery. But I've always believed that all stories come from at least a spark of truth. And the history I grew up learning seems to make sense to me.

Back in the late 1600s and early 1700s, witchcraft was a serious crime. In most of the 13 colonies, especially Massachusetts, the famous Salem witch trials were taking place, and many men and women who believed in witchcraft were forced to do it secretly. And many of them fled the state and moved to safer places, like Rhode Island. When Roger Williams established Rhode Island, he wanted it to be a colony that tolerated all religions, and while witchcraft was still frowned upon in the state, there never were any witch trials or burnings. As long as they kept to themselves and didn't bother anyone, whiches were able to live peacefully for the most part. And as the story I was told goes, in the early 1700s, many witches relocated to a village on the shoreline of the bank of what is now the Seekonk River in Providence. Over time, hundreds of witches and their families joined the community there. The river and its shores provided water and food and crops. And they all live there happily. Together safe from persecution. Or so they thought. Until a large group of men from Massachusetts came down on boats one night, and in the darkness slaughtered every man, woman, and child alike as they slept. The entire village and all who dwelled there were burned to the ground. And this massacre has made this wooded area along the river behind Swan Point Cemetery a sacred place for those who practice witchcraft. And while I can't verify any of that history, I can vouch for the fact that witchcraft is practiced in those woods, and probably still is today. And the way I discovered it was pretty much on accident.

I used to spend a lot of time in those woods exploring and looking around. There was no shortage of things to investigate. Freddy and I would ride our bikes down the main path that extends pretty much from one end of the cemetery to the other. And then we would hide our bikes in bushes so that we could explore further on foot. It was a labyrinth of small paths leading in all different directions, all of them serving some sort of purpose. Some of the paths at the edge were mainly for people seeking quiet spots to fish on the river. Others were pathways to rocks or bushes where kids would go to drink or smoke at night, away from prying eyes. Some of the paths led to places of mystery, and those were the ones we wanted to find. One of the stranger paths Freddie and I walked on one day in those woods seemed to go on forever. We pushed our way through branches and bushes trying to follow this path that had gone on way past where the cemetery ended. We had no idea where it was leading us, but we knew it had to go somewhere. It ran mostly parallel with the shoreline of the river weaving in and out of trees and large rocks, and eventually it led to an opening. And as we pushed through the bushes into that clearing we had no idea where we were. The trees and bushes were all gone. We were just standing in the middle of a rather large rectangular shaped clearing filled with short, manicured grass whose maybe half the size of a football field. We couldn't figure out any purpose for this clearing. it was obviously made this way. It was actively landscaped. But it was completely empty. There were no buildings or structures of any kind. No signs of foot traffic or any vehicles driving in and out. No human activity at all except for the grass being cut now and then. And there were no visible roads or paths other than the one we took to get there. This rectangle was completely surrounded by a thick layer of trees and bushes. It was almost as if someone took a giant cookie cutter and just stamped out a field in the middle of nowhere. To this day I still have no idea why it was there. Or who made it? But we felt uneasy being in that field, almost as if we were being watched. And we felt very vulnerable standing there, unwanted. After a quick look around, we immediately made our way back down the path that had led us there and then back to the main path in the woods behind the cemetery. We attempted to investigate it again a few more times over the following weeks, but we were never able to find it agai. With all those different pathways, it's easy to forget which one you were on. Or maybe it was just another one of those disappearing locations that Swan Point seems to be famous for.

We had heard rumors of there being witches circles in those woods, but that strange field wasn't one of them. Freddie's older half brother, Kevin, the self-proclaimed warlock, would often share his knowledge of witchcraft and the happenings in and around Swan Point Cemetery with us. But even he couldn't explain what that empty field was. Kevin was great at describing to us the many things we would find in those backwoods not just locations, but all sorts of different things like painted rocks or carved sticks. Things left behind or dropped by people practicing witchcraft I guess. We'd show up at his apartment with artifacts all the time, and he'd tell us this one is used for this kind of spell, or this one is used for that kind of magic. It was all rather harmless and we'd always return the objects to where we found them as Kevin instructed. After all, we weren't thieves. We were just curious. One day, as we were making our way through the woods after another day of exploring a strange looking stick caught my eye. It was about a foot long and maybe an inch thick, just leaning up against the tree. It was obviously placed there on purpose. And had all sorts of decorative carvings in it. The bark had been shredded off of it and with a knife. Someone had carved a whole bunch of lines and swirls all around. The stick was pretty neat, so we took it back to Kevin to see what he could tell us about it. It's a directional staff, he said. What's that? He explained to us that a directional staff is a magic stick that points to something important. It's created by witches as a guide for other witches to find a certain place or object, and then he explained to us how it works. You stand in the location where you found it and you balance it on your finger. You know, sort of like we used to do with our pencils in school. You find that perfect middle point with your finger and just let it balance there. And for a minute or two, it'll kind of sway back and forth until it finally comes to a rest. Well, if you do this with a directional staff it will point to something important. But I cleverly asked him, how do you know which direction to go in as the stick points in two different directions? He said that the person would most likely understand the carvings on the staff and would know which way to go. But we had no idea how to read those carvings. So we did the next best thing. We went in both directions. We went back to the spot where we found the staff and I balanced it on my finger. When it came to a rest, it was pointing into a thick section of the woods near the shoreline, but also pointing to a thick section of bushes in the opposite direction. So Freddie and I split up and walked in both directions. Now Kevin had warned us that most likely one of us would find the right spot, but the other one would find something not so pleasant. And unfortunately, that was Freddie. He walked his way through the bushes pushing through branches and shrubs hoping to find something of interest. But instead he ended up in a big patch of pricker bushes and he wasn't happy. But I walked in the opposite direction through the trees and bushes towards the water's edge. And suddenly I came to an opening. It was a small circular clearing. I called out to Freddy quickly. I found it! And as he pulled the prickers off his clothes he made his way towards my voice. And we were both standing there in the middle of a witches circle. We had heard so much about them, but had never seen one until now. There were seven or eight square stones spread out along the perimeter of the circle. And each stone had drawings on the ground in front of. them as if people had been sitting on them just drawing in the dirt. In the middle of the circle was a smaller circle made of stone. And inside of it was burnt ash. It looked like a small campfire at first. But as I looked closer, I could tell there was more than just ash in there. It was filled with burnt paper and small pieces of wood and pieces of really thin glass, like from a small flask. We could only imagine the rituals that were taking place here at night, and the spells that were being cast. Hopefully they were good. But perhaps evil. We snooped around a little more and we decided to leave. I put the directional staff back where I found it and we headed off to do more exploring. We eventually found more witches circles in those woods, but none were as big or as elaborate as the first one we found, and every few days or so, we'd come back to it to see if there had been any activity. In most times it would just be the same way we saw it last. But every once in awhile we'd find some fresh ashes in the debris. In the fire. And some newly drawn designs in the dirt near the stones. We were always careful not to disturb anything. We were just curious we didn't want to upset them. But we made the mistake of perhaps showing one too many people.

At this point, Freddie and I were like tour guides for all the strange things we'd seen at Swan Point Cemetery. Quite often we'd be telling friends about the Sprague Circle, or about the witches circles in the backwoods. And naturally, our friends wanted to see them too, so we'd take them on little guided tours into the woods. Those who are brave enough anyway. I guess we always expected them to respect these sacred areas as much as we did. But one day I was exploring the cemetery alone riding my bike around, checking on the usual spots and decided to head off into the woods to see if anything new had happened at the witches circle. It wasn't like me to go into those backwoods alone. I always knew it wasn't safe, not because of the witchcraft or spirits or anything. But mostly because if anything were to happen, there's no one around to get help. But this one day I went in alone anyway. I hid my bike in some bushes and made my way to the witches circle. When I got there, I was shocked to find it completely destroyed. All the stones had been pulled out of the ground and thrown about. The drawings, and the dirt were all trampled. The fireplace in the middle had been kicked around. It was completely vandalized. And I knew right away it had to have been someone that we showed it to. I felt awful as I started walking back down the path, but suddenly I heard a commotion behind me. I turned around and saw two men in long dark brown robes running towards me. They must think I'm the one responsible for wrecking their place of worship, and indirectly I probably was. I wasn't about to wait around and explain it to them. They were definitely angry, so I took off running. I thought maybe. They were just trying to scare me and would stop chasing me after a minute or two, but they just kept on coming so I just kept on going. Of all the things I've seen and experienced in Swan Point Cemetery, this was the most frightening. I ran as fast as I could and didn't even stop to get my bike. I just kept on running until I was out of those woods and in the cemetery. And then I kept going past the many gravestones right up to that big wall where I knew I could quickly climb over and get out. And then I walked the rest of the way home looking over my shoulder the entire time. My heart was beating through my chest. They never caught me. I always wondered what they would have done if they had?

The next day I returned to get my bike with Freddie and Kevin. But before getting my bike, we went back to the witches circle one more time, with intentions of actually cleaning up the mess and making up for what had happened. But it was already gone. The stones, the little fire pit. All of it was gone. Perhaps they moved on to another location you know tucked away in the woods. Or I don't know, maybe it just disappeared too.

As I always say, please do not trespass at Swan Point Cemetery or any other location. Whether you're investigating the paranormal or just simply curious, please obey all rules and laws and seek proper permission before entering. What I did when I was young was dangerous. And against the law. Please respect the property of others as well as their beliefs, even if they differ from yours.

My Paranormal Story is written, produced and narrated by me Tom Stewart. Music from this episode, courtesy of Kevin Macleod at incompetech.com. My Paranormal Story is based on real life events experienced by me. So please subscribe or follow me for updates on Facebook and Instagram. Just search for My Paranormal Story. And I would love if you would leave a review on whatever sight you listen to podcasts on. And feel free to leave feedback or comments about any of my stories or if you want, tell me your story. I'd love to hear it. You can e-mail me at [email protected]. Thanks for listening. I'm Tom Stewart and this is My Paranormal Story.