The Gloucester Ghoul

The Gloucester Ghoul (sometimes spelled Gloocester Ghoul or Glocester Ghoul) is one of New England’s oldest and eeriest monster legends a mysterious, decaying creature said to have haunted the forests of Glocester, Rhode Island (not Gloucester, Massachusetts) in the late 1800s.

It’s part ghost story, part cryptid report, and part local folklore and it remains one of Rhode Island’s most chilling backwoods legends.

Origin of the Legend

• Location: Glocester (pronounced “Gloster”), a rural, wooded area in northwest Rhode Island.

• First Reports: Around the 1880s–1890s, particularly from Snake Hill and Round Top regions, where people claimed to see a terrifying inhuman figure at night.

• Earliest Mention: Local newspapers and oral folklore collected later by historians like Charles M. Skinner (Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, 1896).

 

Descriptions of the Ghoul

Witnesses described the creature as:

• Tall and thin, sometimes said to be over 6 feet, with a skeletal or decomposed appearance

• Covered in rotting gray flesh or dirty, tattered rags

• Glowing or sunken red eyes

• Emaciated, with bones visible beneath its skin

• Moving in a jerky, unnatural way

• Accompanied by a horrible stench  like decay or sulfur

Some versions claim it had clawed hands and a face like a skull, giving it the name “Ghoul.”

Encounters

There are several accounts passed down in local storytelling:

1. The Snake Hill Sightings (c. 1890s):
   Farmers working near Snake Hill claimed to see the figure crossing their fields at dusk, moving on two legs but “as if half-dead.” When approached, it let out an “unearthly shriek” and vanished into the woods.

2. The Round Top Road Account:
   A horse-drawn carriage was allegedly stopped at night when the horses refused to move. The driver saw what he thought was a man by the road until he noticed it had no nose or lips and its eyes glowed red. He fled, later telling townsfolk he’d seen “the Ghoul of Glocester.”

3. Disappearances and Fear:
   Rumors spread that livestock were being killed or mutilated in the area though no firm evidence was ever found. Parents used the tale to scare children into coming home before dark.

 

Explanations and Theories

The “Ghoul” legend mixes older supernatural beliefs with local events. Here are the leading interpretations:

1. A Decomposing Corpse or Hermit:
   Some locals speculated the Ghoul was actually a mad hermit or escaped asylum patient living in the woods, his appearance frightening anyone who saw him.

2. Ghost Story Origins:
   Others saw it as a haunting, possibly the spirit of a long-dead settler or criminal said to have been buried improperly in the woods.

3. Folklore Embellishment:
   Many folklorists now see the story as an example of late-19th-century rural ghost lore, amplified by isolation, superstition, and the popularity of “weird tales” in newspapers.

4. Proto-Cryptid Connection:
   Some modern researchers link the “Glocester Ghoul” to early Bigfoot or humanoid monster stories, a sort of regional precursor to later cryptids like the Dover Demon or Mothman.