Point of Graves Burial Ground (dating to the late 1600s) · Portsmouth Naval Shipyard · Portsmouth Historic District / Market Square
New England Curiosities has offered tours, speaking engagements, and haunted events in the Portsmouth, NH area since 2002, built around the work of owner and guide Roxie Zwicker, who has led local tours since 1993 and is the published author of ten books on New England's history and folklore, including "Haunted Portsmouth" (The History Press), now in its 7th printing.
The operator's flagship Historic Portsmouth Legends and Ghost Walk has run since 2002 and has been featured on New Hampshire Chronicle, the History Channel, and the Travel Channel, and covered by the Boston Herald and the New York Times. The company has also been recognized on several media "best of" lists, including Fox News's "10 Best Ghost Tours in the USA," Yankee Magazine's "New England's Top 5 Cemetery Tours," and the Boston Globe's list of alternatives to visiting Salem, Massachusetts.
All walking tours meet in Market Square on Congress Street in downtown Portsmouth; the Shadows and Stones Cemetery Tour covers Point of Graves, a documented burial ground dating to the late 17th century and among the oldest in New Hampshire. New England Curiosities also operates a retail curiosity shop at the Historic Mills at Salmon Falls in nearby Rollinsford, NH, separate from its Portsmouth tour route.
Sources
- https://newenglandcuriosities.com/
- https://newenglandcuriosities.com/activities/historic-portsmouth-legends-and-ghost-walk/
- https://newenglandcuriosities.com/activities/wicked-haunted-waterfront-tour/
- https://newenglandcuriosities.com/activities/shadows-and-stones-cemetery-tour/
ApparitionsUnexplained SoundsFeelings of Being Watched
The flagship Legends and Ghost Walk covers 13 of downtown Portsmouth's most-cited haunted locations, including the area known locally as "Haunted Corner," the site of the worst fire in New Hampshire history, and the site of a forgotten 18th-century cemetery uncovered during modern construction, drawing on stories the operator states were gathered directly from people who live and work in these buildings.
The Wicked Haunted Waterfront Tour covers Portsmouth's South End, including its historic red-light district, the Museum of Oddities, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and an abandoned Naval prison on its grounds, Point of Graves, a local theater the operator describes as haunted, and a secret tunnel location, framed by the operator as darker and less family-oriented material.
The Shadows and Stones Cemetery Tour focuses on Point of Graves' colonial gravestone symbolism and burial customs, and the operator's own marketing describes an interactive "spirit communication" segment involving a named resident spirit called Elizabeth, presented as part of the tour experience rather than a documented historical claim.
All of this is the tour operator's own collected material and marketing, not documented history independently verified for this listing; it is included here as a description of what the tours cover, not as an endorsement of any specific claim.
Notable Entities
Elizabeth (resident spirit referenced on the Shadows and Stones Cemetery Tour, per the operator)
Media Appearances
- New Hampshire Chronicle
- The History Channel
- The Travel Channel
- Boston Herald
- New York Times
- Fox News ("10 Best Ghost Tours in the USA")
- Yankee Magazine ("New England's Top 5 Cemetery Tours")
- Boston Globe
