Red Brook Inn

Historic Haley Tavern circa 1740, and the Crary Homestead, built about thirty years later, are on seven acres of wooded countryside on a hillside overlooking Route 184 and Welles Road.

Albert and John Clodig were going to stay at the Red Brook Inn for a couple of days before John's concert in Manhattan. They wanted to tour the sights of Mystic before they went on to New York.

The Red Brook Inn had a large fireplace, stenciled floors, and iron door latches. Period furniture and lighting and New England glass and pewter all captured the spirit of a bygone day. How the rooms of the past had corners filled with dark, somber shadows that both surrounded the people and added dimension to them.

The Clodigs went to their room. Since the March night was unseasonably cold, they had requested that a fire be lit in their bedroom. Watching the hypnotic flicker of the flames, they soon fell asleep. Albert says he doesn't believe in ghosts but he remembers that night very well. Shortly after midnight he suddenly woke to see a figure standing in the corner of the room.
"Looking straight in that direction, I saw a woman with white hair and a dark shawl wrapped around her standing in the corner staring at us. For some odd reason, I just thought she belonged there."

The way he described the apparition was to call it "a pleasantry." "I didn't really think of it as a ghost," he said. For a few minutes the woman stood there, her hands folded in front of her, calmly gazing toward the bed. Then she disappeared. When Albert looked over at his brother, he saw that he was still asleep, so he did not want to wake him, but it was more than an hour before he went back to sleep himself. Nor has Albert been the only guest to see this mysterious lady, whose clothing and demeanor give the impression of a lady from the past.

Ms. Keyes, the proprietor, herself has felt the presence of this person in the North Room. She describes one occasion when she and her daughter were unpacking boxes upstairs and she had the distinct feeling that a third person was there in the room with them.
"My daughter looked up and said, 'Mother, I don't think we are alone in here.' I didn't think we were either, but I was reluctant to admit it. More than one guest who stayed in the North Room has come to breakfast and told us that we have a presence in there, but no one has ever been frightened. In fact, a gentleman said, 'You have a friendly spirit in that room I slept in,' and then he sat down and devoured a hearty country breakfast!