Volume 1, Number 7 / October 2010

The Haunted Places of VirginiaBy Michael R. Fletcher

Looking for the paranormal as All Hallows Eveapproaches? Virginia is rich in history and culture andlikewise, she’s rich in ghost lore. Take a look at someof the more public haunts of Virginia ghosts.

Charlottesville

Monticello

Near Charlottesville, it seems that another formerGovernor of the Commonwealth may be doing somehaunting of his own. The story is that Jefferson neveractually left Monticello. To this day people haveclaimed that they’ve either seen him, or heard himwhistling while walking the grounds.

Lexington

Virginia Military Institute

At the Virginia Military Institute inLexington, a bronze statue byMoses Ezekiel, Virginia Mourningfor Her Dead, reportedly moansand cries. Cadets have claimed tosee tears streaming down herface. The story is that the statueis mourning the teenage cadetswho perished in the Civil WarBattle of New Market.

Nearby in the Jackson family cemetery lie the remainsof Stonewall Jackson, with the exception of his arm.His arm, amputated after Jackson was wounded in theBattle of Chancellorsville is buried some 130 milesaway. Six days later, Jackson died and was buried inLexington. A woman can be seen weeping andwandering the Jackson family cemetery.

The State Capitol

In 1870, the second story of the Virginia State Capitolcollapsed into the General Assembly chambers. Sixtypeople died in the collapse. It has been reported thatin the chill of night one can hear the sound of thewalls crashing down with people screaming andbegging for mercy.

Richmond

The Executive Mansion

Right at home with the Governor, there’s the Gray Lady of the Executive Mansion. According to legend, this lady died in the late 1800s in a carriage accident on the way home from a party in the Executive Mansion.She must have enjoyed herself in the Governor’scompany because she took up residence in his house.The first reported sighting was by Governor PhilipMcKinney in the early 1890s. A Capitol police officerreportedly saw the woman standing at an upstairswindow in room closed to the public. When heconfronted her in the room, she disappeared.

Former First Lady Anne Holton reports that when herfather Linwood Holton was Governor mysteriousthings took place. After Hurricane Agnes left themansion without power, Governor Holton said thatseveral of the paintings in his bedroom were movedwithout explanation. Holton’s son-in-law Tim Kainehas reported that while he was Governor at the same“inconvenient time” each week, the telephone wouldring in the family quarters. When he answered, noone was on the other line.

Virginia Mourning for Her Dead

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Abingdon

Martha Washington Inn

In Southwest Virginia the Martha Washington Inn inAbingdon is a favorite. Over the last 174 years, thebuilding has served as an upscale women's college, aCivil War hospital and barracks, and as a residence forvisiting actors of the Barter Theatre.

In years past, the desire to stay in the ghost’s favoriteroom garnered an extra charge. It seems that duringthe Civil War, while the building was still MarthaWashington College and serving as a hospital, aYankee officer, named Captain John Stoves wasseverely wounded and captured. He was broughtthrough a system of underground caves up through to

The Martha Washington Inn

Surry

Bacon’s Castle

The home of Nathaniel Bacon has a fiery ghost of itsown. Years after Bacon’s death, and just prior to theCivil War, poet Sidney Lanier courted Virginia Hankinsin this location. The war separated them but for yearsthey would send each other love poems. The storyhas it that their love burns on at Bacon’s Castle andthat it can be seen in an orange ball of warm light thatforms over the house, circles over the Old BrickChurch and then returns to enter the house.

Fredericksburg

Chatham Manor

Chatham Manor was originally built in 1771 byWilliam Fitzhugh. The house was named after WilliamPitt, the Earl of Chatham and a school friend of WilliamFitzhugh. As a young girl from England she was sent toChatham by her father, a friend of Fitzhugh becauseher father did not approve of the man she loved. Butthe young man followed her to Virginia where theysecretly planned to elope. But their plans werediscovered and the young man arrested. The youngwoman was sent home to England where she vowedto return. She was first seen back at Chatham on theday she died in 1790. Once every seven yearsbetween noon and midnight, she walks the path downto the river where her lover was supposed to meet her.

These few stories merely touch the surface of Virginia’scobweb laced history of paranormal activity. Whetherfact or fiction they add to the richness of Virginia’shistory and heritage.

the room that is nowRoom 403 in the Inn. Hisnurse, Beth, care for himfor weeks and in theprocess fell in love withhim. Just after he died, aConfederate officer cameto claim Captain Stoves asa prisoner. Beth report-edly responded "He hasbeen pardoned by an

officer higher than General Lee. Captain Stovesis dead." A few weeks later Beth died from typhoidfever. Students at the college as well as employeesand guests of the Inn have reported hearing Beth playher violin for her soldier. She’s been known to visitwith him in Room 403.

Stratford

Stratford Hall

The birthplace of Robert E. Lee and the ancestralhome of the Lee family is said to be haunted by thepresence of Lee’s wife. Reportedly her bed can beneatly made, if one leaves the room and comes back;it’s obvious that a woman has been seated on the bed.In the sitting room there is a picture of a woman in ablack dress. She’s been known to be seen comingdown the stairs.

Bacon’s Castle