Rory Raven, above, of the Providence Ghost Walk tells his group that “the ghost appeared right there,” peeking out from the second floor of The Old State House on Benefit Street. Supposedly, the ghost of John Gordon peeks from a second floor window. Below: Skulls adorn Raven’s tote bag.

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The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

It’s just a walk. What’s the worry?

Perhaps you’ve heard things, stories of the supernatural, reports of the paranormal, things that go bump in the night, or just give you the willies.

Ghost tours rise again.

’Tis the season. And to celebrate, if that’s the right word, we feature three different tours in three different locations: Newport, Pawtucket and Providence.

Two of the tours tell it straight, a walk-and-talk around some pretty old places that some people purport are haunted. And the third tour does the same with a little creative license, a little show-and-tell: re-enactors.

Oops, we mean ghosts, certainly not volunteers in costumes.

Providence

Something strange happened on the city’s East Side; actually many things, which would explain why the Providence Ghost Walk lasts 90 minutes. Rory Raven is the guy who gives the guided walk.

“I’m a skeptic when it comes to ghosts. I haven’t seen ghosts, which is fine. If you’re dead, please leave me alone.”

What Raven does is report the ghost stories he knows about and the ones he hears about.

“As I do these tours, I get people who come up to me afterward and say, ‘Hey, do you know about this house?’ The best way to get stories for a ghost walk is to have a ghost walk.”

This is Raven’s ninth year giving the tour, inspired by something similar he saw in Newport.

“I thought, wouldn’t it be a good idea if someone did that in Providence? I know some scary stories in Providence. After a few years I realized that I should be that person.”

Raven is a performer, who specializes in illusion and magic, and, consequently, is not a true believer in magic.

“I’m not one of those people you see on TV running out of a house with night-vision glasses on saying, ‘It’s haunted!’ ”

Nevertheless, Raven, the author of the recently published Haunted Providence: Strange Tales from the Smallest State, is intrigued and entertained by reports of ghosts.

“There is worth in the stories. If you go to the theater, you don’t have to believe the guy on stage is a melancholic Danish prince to get something out of the experience. To say ghosts aren’t real and this is a waste of time is kind of like saying there’s no point in watching Star Trek because there are no Klingons and you can’t travel at the speed of light, because you’ll miss out on some terrific things, such as polyester.”

The Providence Ghost Walk is primarily on Benefit Street, with one detour to North Main Street. Among other things, the tour touches upon places associated with horror writers Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft, and is encouraged for those familiar with their works, or at least old enough to appreciate them.

“A 9-year-old kid has probably not read Lovecraft or Poe.”

The tours happen in daylight so that people can more clearly see the places being discussed. And apparently plenty of people want to see. The tour averages 50 participants per outing.

“I think people enjoy ghost stories. Telling ghost stories is one of the oldest human activities. We like being scared and we like hearing about where we live and things that may have happened before we lived here.”

The Providence Ghost Walk is on Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m. On Sunday, Oct. 26, there’s also a 6 p.m. tour. The ghost walk begins at the corner of Benefit and College streets. Tickets are $7. For more information, visit www.roryraven.com or call (401) 454-0977.

Newport

Maybe you’ve heard of remarkable cases of transformation, of people who become bats, or, by the light of a full moon, become werewolves. Well, every year for the last several years, Fort Adams becomes (bla-ha-ha-ha!) the Fortress of Nightmares.

A little history meets a lot of theater.

“We put people in an atmosphere that already heightens their apprehensions,” says Rob McCormack, the fort’s director of visitor services. “We try to let the fort do its own bit to scare people, and then throw in some screams.”

Fort Adams, which covers 20 acres and was built between 1824 and 1857, was never a site of a battle, but it was a dispatch point for soldiers in the Civil War, World War I and World War II. It’s not a place known for lights.

“Just the fort itself can scare people even before we put scenes together. It’s just the mystery of not knowing what’s around the corner or down that tunnel.”

Among the sights you’ll see are scenes of captured and hanged pirates, and of people who died at the fort.

“There were a number of workers who were killed in landslides when retaining walls gave way and they were trapped in tunnels. There were also a couple of soldiers who had altercations over the years.”

Most notably, McCormack said, was the case of one soldier who in 1819 shot and killed another soldier.

“He was tried in the courthouse in Newport. He was eventually found guilty, although he was pardoned several years later.”

These things happened at the fort. Whether the people involved in those incidents now haunt the fort is less clear.

“Other than a general eerie feeling, I have never seen an apparition. But I have heard from some re-enactors who use the fort that there are some unusual noises going on at night. It’s hard to say what they’re hearing, but we do have quite a nightlife of animals – foxes, raccoons and rabbits. But we don’t have specific documentation of ghost stories.”

Fortress of Nightmares is this weekend and next, Friday through Sunday, 7 to 9 p.m., with tickets, $10, going on sale at 6:30 p.m. The tour is not recommended for those younger than 12. Sneakers or sturdy shoes are recommended. Tours are weather-dependent. For more information, visit www.fortadams.org or call (401) 841-0707.

Pawtucket

There’s a first time for everything, including ghosts. This fall, the Slater Mill Historic Site presents its first Ghost Tours: A Walk Into the Night.

And it has proved popular, with the twice-a-night Friday tours selling out. So the organization is adding twice-a-night Saturday tours.

“For a history museum, anything that sells out is very special,” says Janice Kissinger, CEO of Slater Mill. “It’s a big deal for us. If this is what gets people in, I’m okay with that.”

Ghosts serve as guides to history. Kissinger heard about this happening at other historic sites in the country and thought Slater Mill should do the same.

“The ghost tours entice people to learn about their history. People are titillated by it, and it has such a different draw than our other tours.”

The tours are conducted by Keith and Carl Johnson, twin brothers with a penchant for the paranormal, who say tour-takers my find it here.

“There is a lot of interaction,” says Keith Johnson. “The tour tries to make contact with whatever presence may be there.”

During the tours so far, Johnson said, audio recordings have been made in Slater Mill of a young girl whispering. Also, he said, when it was asked that if there was a ghost present, it made a noise. A pipe pinged.

“It’s not props or set-ups. We have the real thing. So far we’ve had people who reported being touched or feeling cold spots, and there were no open windows and no drafts.”

The 90-minute tour begins and ends at Slater Mill, but in between is downtown Pawtucket. There’s a stop at the Pawtucket Armory, “which looks like a fortress, very castle-like.” And Johnson said there have been reports of people seeing a sentry patrol its roof.

There’s also a stop at Tolman High School, which Johnson said used to have a classroom for typing, which is no longer used.

“There have been reports of the sound of clicking up there.”

And there’s a stop along the Blackstone River, where in 1925 a company conducted a river boat outing that ended in the deaths of dozens.

“There have been reports of people seeing ghostly apparitions wearing clothing from a different era. We obviously thought that was significant to put on the ghost tour as well.”

Kissinger says the history of Slater Mill is clear, and she “doesn’t know much about ghosts, but there is a lot of emotion saturating this place.” Johnson says there’s a basis for his belief, about Slater Mill and many of the buildings in downtown Pawtucket.

“We were not eyewitnesses to the incidents. But we’ve interviewed people and taken reports.”

Ghost Tours: A Walk Into the Night at Slater Mill Historic Site, 67 Roosevelt Ave., are Fridays and Saturdays, 7 and 8:45 p.m., through Nov. 22. The Friday tours have sold out. Tickets are $15. For reservations or more information, call (401) 725-8638 or visit www.slatermill.org.

brourke@projo.com

CORRECTION: A previous version of this report in some instances incorrectly referred to the Providence Ghost Walk as the Providence Ghost Tour, which is a different, though similar, organization. More information about the latter can be found at www.providenceghosttour.com