Spend a Friday night with some grilled pizza and a possible ghost sighting at this Portsmouth, RI restaurant.

On a cold winter night in 1673 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, 73-year-old Rebecca Cornell was found dead on her bedroom floor, lying half in her fireplace with her upper torso burned. According to the New England Historical Society records, Rebecca was found by her son, Thomas. It was presumed that Rebecca accidentally burned herself to death.

Four days later, Rebecca's brother, John Briggs, said a womanly figure appeared to him as he lay in bed and said, "I am your sister Cornell," and then twice saying, "see how I was burnt with fire?"

Brigs told the police about his vision, and the testimony led police to look at the corpse a second time. This time, they discovered a stomach wound that set off an entire investigation that ultimately led to the conviction and hanging of Rebecca's son Thomas Cornell.

It is the only case in American history that includes "spectral evidence" (ghost testimony) in the conviction of a killer. You can take a trip down the rabbit hole and read all of the court documents and testimonies surrounding this "Untimely Death by Unhappie Accident of fire" here.

But what does any of this have to do with grilled pizza, you are wondering?

Today, the famed Cornell Home is now the Valley Inn Restaurant on West Main Road in Portsmouth. The restaurant's dark old-European vibe is the perfect setting for a ghost story, and owner Joe Occhi says there has been no shortage of strange incidents over the years.

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Last year, Occhi told the Newport Daily News about his most interesting incident at the restaurant he'd experienced involving a female guest.

"Upon exiting the restroom, a bottle flew from a bar shelf for no reason as the guest passed by. She showed no reaction to this, promptly went into the private residence portion of the restaurant, crouched down in front of the fireplace, and started talking to somebody who wasn’t there. She was talking to thin air. When questioned, the guest told Occhi that she saw a woman holding a bleeding child and that the phantom woman was speaking in a non-English language."  - newportRI.com 

A place that has pizza, bottles that literally fly off the shelves, and a spooky murder mystery? SIGN US UP.

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