Virginia is known for ghost stories. This is partially due
to the region's strong connection to colonial times, Revolutionary War era and
the Civil War years. There are countless ghost stories which relate to many
famous and “regular” folks in the area.
In Old Town Alexandria there are a couple of different ghost tours which offer fascinating tales of ghostly apparitions, strange events,
sensed spirits and tantalizing legends. There are stories of deadly fires,
mysterious illnesses and much more.
To be honest, I am not usually inclined to really believe in
ghosts, although I guess these days I do believe in presences. That being said,
I have been witness to a couple of interesting events that did leave me with a weird vibe. What's
interesting to me is all the places where these things happened are rumored to have
experienced paranormal activity.
I am naturally drawn to “old” items and love architectural
history so it is not uncommon for me to drag my family to go visit historical
homes on a whim. Several years back we'd dropped by to take a tour of Woodlawn
Plantation when family from out of town was visiting. First, our tour guide led
us through an interesting visit of the first floor, and then we were invited to
continue the tour on the second floor where the bedrooms were located.
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| Photo of Woodlawn |
As were going up to the second floor on the stairway, the 9-month-old
baby of the family suddenly started laughing with a tremendous belly giggle. This
laughter came out of the blue, but what was bizarre was the fact it was a laugh
we'd never heard, and sounded as if she was being tickled – a lot. The laughter
immediately ceased as soon as we reached the top of the stairs and no sound was
uttered by her as we continued the tour.
After this portion of the tour concluded we all headed on
back down the elaborate curved staircase. About halfway down, in almost the
precise spot as going up, the baby starts the same uncontrollable laughter all
over again. At this point we still weren't thinking ghosts, our thoughts were
along the lines of how funny and cute it all was. The older kids choose their
souvenirs and we left.
A few days later my daughter pulls out her souvenir, a
volume of the "Ghosts of Virginia" series and she points out an entry
about Woodlawn. There was a paragraph that discussed this same stairway - and
that it's been said an impish girl around the age of 6 or 7 is said to haunt
the stairway (this story was not part of the tour, although some other spooky
occurrences were mentioned). At this point my mind wandered back to the baby's
sudden outbursts of laughter on that stairway. It is said younger children and
pets all have a keen sense that we adults don't have.
Is it possible this "ghost" was tickling or
playing with the baby? I don't know, but she never did laugh like that again
until she was a bit older. Really odd.
The second instance was at Gadsby's Tavern, which has also
been purported to have paranormal activity, but I'd never heard any stories
about the rooms we were in. As we viewed one of the upstairs bedrooms, a closet/storage area door
opened. Now, there is nothing unusual about this, but what was weird was the
door opened just a few inches, as if someone was peeking in or out. Then there
was a long pause. Suddenly, the entire door swung open in full. I made a comment
about it and the tour guide simply answered matter of factly, "must be a
ghost". And then the focus immediately went back to the tour. Again, this
door opening in such strange fashion could be likely explained, however, it was
definitely one of those moments that make you go "hmmmm"…
The third instance was in Fredericksburg as we were
across the river and toured Chatham Manor. While in one of the rooms, I had
this distinct feeling of blood. It was to the point I started staring at the
floor. I couldn’t explain it and then after
we left the room I didn’t feel it anywhere else in the house (the home was used
as a Civil War Hospital – so I chalked it up to that knowledge being fresh in
my mind). So later in the weekend we went on the ghost tour in Fredericksburg
(btw, fab tour!) and during our time walking around the city, our guide pointed
across the water to Chatham and told us that some people get a sense of blood
while in the house. Turns out the room I felt it in is said to be the room was where the doctor did his work - and the amputations were disposed of outside the window, pretty much behind where I was sitting, being I was in the back row and all. When I told our guide my story, we both got chills and goosebumps. She had
no knowledge of my story and I had no knowledge of anything about Chatham
except what I learned while touring the house. It was an interesting moment.
Did we experience ghostly presences or
not? You be the judge.
Do ghosts exist? Have you ever felt a ghost, presence
or other kind of paranormal activity here in the D.C. area or in Virginia? Or wherever you live? If so, share your story in the comments below!
