HGB Ep. 649 - Haunted Abingdon, Virginia

This Month in History - The Birth of Louis Armstrong

In the month of August, on the 4th, in 1901, legendary trumpeter, singer and bandleader, Louis Armstrong was born. Armstrong was born into severe poverty in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a child, Louis worked odd jobs for a local family who loaned him money to buy his first cornet. He learned formal cornet playing at the Colored Waif's Home for Boys after a New Year's Eve arrest in 1912. Armstrong had the fortune to be mentored by local jazz pioneer, Joe "King" Oliver before he began playing professional gigs on Mississippi riverboats. In 1922, Armstrong moved to Chicago to join King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. He popularized scat singing with his 1926 hit "Heebie Jeebies". Scat singing is a style of vocal jazz improvisation where the singer uses wordless vocals and nonsense syllables instead of actual words. After World War II, manager Joe Glaser officially disbanded Louis Armstrong’s big band. It was then that Louis Armstrong began touring with his band 'Louis Armstrong and His All Stars'. In 1964, he recorded the most famous version of "Hello Dolly" which became a Billboard number-one hit and won Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Male Vocal Performance. Louis Armstrong was one of the most foundational and influential figures in jazz history. He died of a heart attack on July 6, 1971, at his home in Queens, New York. 

Haunted Abingdon, Virginia 

The small southern town of Abingdon in Virginia oozes charm with its large maple and dogwood trees lining the brick sidewalks of Main Street, which had once been a pioneer trail through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Quaint shops and eateries fill the 20-block historic district here and there are several haunted locations that make this one of America's most haunted small towns. Join us for the history and hauntings of Abingdon, Virginia. 

Main Street was once the Great Road that Native Americans and bison had traversed through the Blue Ridge Mountains before Thomas Walker arrived in 1748 to survey the area for the Loyal Land Company. The spot was known as Wolf Hills because a story claimed that Daniel Boone had camped here with his dogs in 1760 and that they had been attacked by wolves. Several pioneering men bought plots from Walker in 1765 and began to set up a town. In 1774, Joseph Black built a fort to protect the settlers from attacks by the Cherokee Nation and the town would take on the name Black's Fort. An act of the Assembly of Virginia would incorporate the Town of Abingdon in 1778 and then it would have a very important role in the Revolutionary War. In 1780, militias from North Carolina and Virginia gathered at the Muster Grounds in Abingdon and marched 300 miles to fight in Kings Mountain, South Carolina and this would be a turning point in the war. The name Abingdon is thought to have come from Abingdon-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, England, which was the ancestral home of Martha Washington's family. The railway would bring prosperity and the Civil War would bring destruction in December of 1864 when Union General George Stoneman’s cavalry forces raided the town, tore up railroad tracks, burned buildings and destroyed military supplies. The modern era brought the Theater District and the Market District. There are over 145 buildings in the historic district and they have played witness to most of this history and a few of them just may have spirits.

Barter Theater

There are two buildings that make up the Barter Theater. There is the Gilliam Stage at 127 W. Main Street and the Barter's Smith Theater across the street at 110 W. Main Street. The building in which the Gilliam Stage resides was constructed in 1831 for Sinking Spring Presbyterian Church. 

Eventually this was owned by the Sons of Temperance and they transferred the title to the Town of Abingdon in 1890. The building was then used as a town hall and later as a fire hall. Even after this is no longer a fire hall, the siren still sat on the roof and would sound when there was a big fire. This was there until 1994 and would occasionally interrupt performances. Barter’s Smith Theatre's building was constructed in 1829 as a Methodist church. Speaking of fires, a big one burned up the out buildings of the church in 1914, leaving only the main building. Martha Washington College used the building as a gymnasium and a storage area and in 1961, it became part of Barter Theater. Robert Porterfield was an out-of-work actor when he moved from New York City to Virginia in 1932. He was looking for a new beginning and he convinced 22 of his fellow actors to come with him. They founded the Barter Theater in 1933 in what would later be the Gilliam Stage. Their first show opened on June 10, 1933 and was a three-act drama called "After Tomorrow." The theater was packed because Porterfield had implemented an interesting system. The Great Depression had left most people without extra spending money, so patrons could barter crops and livestock for tickets. Hence the name, Barter Theater. This also gave the actors something to eat as they were poor too. That made this the longest-running professional equity theatre in the United States. Life magazine would call this system a "booming success" in 1939. This was a little tough on the actors who boarded at the theater because they had to deal with chicken and pigs running around the back of the theater.   

Porterfield heard that the Empire Theater in New York City was going to be demolished in the 1950s and he was given a weekend to get to the theater and pull everything out of it that he could. So he and the actors headed north and they salvaged $75,000 worth of seats, lighting fixtures and system (originally installed by Thomas Edison), carpeting, paintings, and tapestries. That lighting would be used in the theater until the 1970s. 

Both buildings have undergone several renovations through the years. The Smith Theater has 167 seats, making this an intimate theater. It was named Smith Theater in 2019 for Steve and Debbie Smith for their loyalty to the theater. The Gilliam Stage has seating for 506 patrons and features a traditional proscenium style theater. The Lounge was opened in 2018 for events. A couple of notable actors connected to the theater are Gregory Peck and Ernest Borgnine. Peck acted in five plays at the Barter Theatre during the 1940 season and Borgnine spent four and a half years performing with the Barter Theatre company. There is a secret tunnel under the theater and some lore claims that a Confederate soldier was killed in the tunnels while transporting some ammunition and he roams the property and if you see him, specifically his wound, you will die in two days. That tunnel also harbors a malevolent entity that was once said to have scared some carpenters working in the theater at night. They dropped their tools and wouldn't return. And the founder of the theater seems unable to let go of it. People have claimed to have seen him sitting in the audience or watching from his favorite opera box during live performances.

The Tavern 

The Tavern is located at 222 E. Main Street and is the oldest building in Abingdon and said to be the oldest pub in Virginia. The building was erected in 1779 to serve as a stagecoach stop for people on their way to Kentucky. This is a two-story Colonial style building constructed from hand-cut local limestone and logs. 

The tavern served as the first post office west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Some famous people who stayed here include Pierre Charles L’Enfant, Henry Clay, President Andrew Jackson and the King of France. The building would serve as a hospital during the Civil War and then a variety of things like a bank, a bakery, an antique shop, a general store, a private residence, a barber shop a cabinet shop and today as a fine dining restaurant. The wife of the founder of the Barter Theater, Mary Dudley Porterfield, bought it in 1965. Up to that point, from 1858 to 1964, it had been owned by descendants of Thaddeus Harris, who was a freed black man. Local attorney Emmitt F. Yeary owned the place next and then sold to Max Hermann in 1994. Josh Fuller worked for six years as general manager under Hermann and in 2019, he bought the restaurant from him and owns it still. Josh Fuller believes that the building is about 70% original and the interior features wooden beams across the ceiling, original fixtures and uneven brick flooring. And there is this glorious outdoor terrace. There are several spirits here. People hear disembodied footsteps and objects move on their own. This is one of our favorite nicknames for a ghost: The Tavern Tart. Obviously, this is a female apparition who is believed to have met a violent fate at some point in the tavern, although there is no specific evidence of this story. At least if you don't count getting a little pinch on the tush if you are a man. Men seem to get most of the attention from this ghost. Not only do they get pinched or grabbed, but they see her face in the window. What makes her haunting compelling is how similar stories are about her and these stories are coming from people who haven't heard of the ghost before. And there have been many of these experiences, so they are hard to ignore. 

James Wyatt's Horse

Some people claim to hear the galloping or clip-clopping of horse hooves on Main Street when there is no horse on the road. The ghostly horse is said to belong to Union Captain James Wyatt who was part of Stoneman's Raid. Major General Stoneman had a force of 6,000 men and their only job was to destroy stuff, which they did over 2,000 miles through six states. This would be one of the longest cavalry operations in military history. Wyatt decided to exact revenge in Abingdon because he had grown up there and he held a grudge over run-ins with authorities there as a youth. He set fire to the courthouse and this ended up burning the homes near it as well. Nearby Confederate cavalry soldiers went after Wyatt and they shot and killed him and his horse. And now that horse, and perhaps Wyatt atop the horse, still ride Main Street. 

The Valentine Baugh House

The Valentine Baugh House is located at 129 Main Street. The home started as a log house in 1798 that was built by Robert Dukes. A Federal-style expansion was added in 1807 by new owner, surveyor Valentine Baugh. The house encompasses the original log cabin built on the site. The house passed on through the family to Valentine's granddaughter Minnie Baugh who added a retail space on to the western side of the house. She operated it as an apothecary shop for ladies. Minnie and her sister Ethel organized the Washington County Historical Society. 

A story claims that Ethel fell in love with an intern at the hospital, but her father didn't want the two together. Ethel planned to elope, but before she could leave, her father locked her into her room on the second floor of the house. She never left the house and now people claim her spirit is still there. Cheré Dastugue Coen (shuh-RAY das-TIG-oo KOH-en) wrote on the Weird South website in 2020 about an experience a tour guide had at the house while dog-sitting. She wrote, "The current owner once asked Hietala to house-sit her dog for a week. The Assistant Haint Mistress would not pass up a chance at a haunted house, she told us, so she eagerly agreed. However, Hietala is more easily scared than she thought. She woke at 3 a.m. with the sound of a door creaking downstairs, right where the house opens to the store. 'I didn’t sleep that night,' she admitted. The second night she again woke at 3 a.m. with the same noise. About 30 minutes later, she felt as if someone was in the room with her, watching her. 'I felt every single hair on the back of my neck go straight up,” she said. “And it (the haint) did not want me there.' The next night Hietala moved to the living room where she left on all the lights as well as the TV. 'I binged watched ‘Diners, Drive-ins and Dives’ and felt that if that can’t protect me, nothing will,” she related with a laugh. Guy Fieri let her down, however. The dog began barking in the dining room and wouldn’t stop. Hietala scooped up the pooch but the dog kept returning to the spot, looking at the door leading to the shop and barking. That was enough for our Assistant Haint Mistress. She grabbed the leash, the dog and her stuff and spent the rest of the week dog-sitting in her apartment."  

Martha Washington Inn

Across the street from the Barter Theater is the Martha Washington Inn at 150 West Main Street.  Most people call it simply The Martha. This started as the private residence of General Francis and Sarah Preston and their nine children. The General was a hero of the War of 1812 and he was retiring to Abingdon. 

The two-story house was completed in 1832 in the Federal style and built from brick. The porch has a one-story Ionic portico with massive double doors topped by a large fanlight. The interior featured a grand staircase, high ceilings and formal parlors on the first floor, with bedrooms on the second floor. The house was bought in 1858 by the founders of the Martha Washington College. This was an all woman college and was open for 70 years, closing during the Great Depression because it was no longer financially stable. During its tenure as the college, the Civil War started and a Confederate unit called the Washington Mounted Rifles trained on the college grounds. The school also served as a hospital and both sides brought their wounded here. The Victorian era brought the updates of another floor with a mansard roof and dormers. The valedictorian of the Class of 1880 was Nellie Nugent Somerville and she would go on to become the first woman elected to the Mississippi Legislature. Her daughter would also be elected shortly thereafter. Nellie was described as "a major liberalizing force in Mississippi for forty years." An expansion in 1913 brought brick wings to the east and west with front porticoes supported by Doric columns. The college closed in 1932 and sat vacant until it opened as the Martha Washington Inn in 1935. The main lobby of the inn is the former living room of the Preston family. The East Parlor holds a 9-foot Dutch-baroque grandfather clock that had been shipped over from England by a Preston daughter. Notable people who stayed at the hotel through the years include First Lady  Eleanor Roosevelt, President Harry S. Truman, Lady Bird Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Elizabeth Taylor. 

The United Company bought the inn in 1984 and a multi-million dollar renovation was conducted. The Camberley was the next owner in 1995 and they rehauled everything, adding a spa, pool, tennis and pickleball courts and renovating guest rooms and they opened the Sisters American Grill. This is now part of their historic collection. And apparently, has several ghosts.

There are claims that slaves were kept down in the basement and that the basement is haunted with some of their spirits. The tunnel from the Barter Theater connects to tunnels at the house as well, so the malevolent entity that hangs out at the theater could be wandering around here too. Actors who used the tunnel to go from the theater to their rooms at the inn in the 1930s and 1940s, claimed to run into this spirit. Since the hotel had served as a hospital for a time, it isn't surprising that there might be a wounded Confederate soldier wandering around. He is usually seen hobbling along using a crutch for support and the strange thing about him is that he always leaves a trail of mud behind him. There was also a Union soldier who had been wounded and was at the hospital. He fell in love with one of the nurses while he was recovering. He was sent back to his regiment and then returned a while later to bring the nurse home with him. Confederate soldiers heard he was in the hospital and they shot him dead. A large pool of blood formed under him, leaving a bloodstain that no one can get out of the wood. Another version claims that it was two Union soldiers who killed a Confederate soldier whose girlfriend was attending the college. He had come to tell her goodbye and was shot and killed and he left behind the bloodstain that never goes away. Even when it is cleaned, it returns. Carpets over the area often develop mysterious holes over the stains. The most famous spirit here is Beth with her violin. She was a young lady at the finishing school who had volunteered to stay on and help tend wounded soldiers. Beth had a violin and she played it in the evenings to calm the nerves of the injured. One of these men was Captain John Stoves, a Yankee officer. He caught her eye and she played most often for him and the two fell in love. He actually asked her to marry him and she accepted. Unfortunately, his injuries were grave and eventually he succumbed to them. Beth was heartbroken. She herself caught typhoid fever and died a few weeks later. Now she has returned to the inn and is seen as an apparition in Room 403, where it is thought the Captain died. Female students at the college claimed to hear a ghostly violin playing and this has continued with employees and guests at the inn. 

Abingdon historic district has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970 and seems like a great place to experience history going all the way to the Revolutionary War. Do we have some spirits going back to this time too? Are there other ghosts here? Are these places in Abingdon haunted? That is for you to decide! 
      

HGB Ep. 624 - Haunts of Fredericksburg, Virginia

Moment in Oddity - Situs Inversus

We recently lost a wonderful actress, Catherine O'hara. While her body of work is expansive, there are some roles that she is best known for. She played Kevin's mother in Home Alone 1 and 2, Cookie Fleck in Best in Show, Sheila Albertson in Waiting for Guffman, Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice 1 and 2 (and who can forget the scene in the first Beetlejuice when she starts singing the Banana Boat Day-O song). She was also the original speaking and singing voice of Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas, along with so many other memorable characters that she played during her lifetime. But one thing she is not well known for, is the fact that she had situs inversus which was discovered prior to 2020. Situs Inversus is a rare, typically harmless, genetic condition where a person's organs in the chest and abdomen cavity are flipped to the opposite side than a typical human. There are variances to the condition. Situs Inversus Totalis is a complete and total reversal of all thoracic and abdominal organs. While Dextrocardia, is specific to just the heart being located on the right side of the chest. Most affected people live a normal life and are often not aware of their condition unless they have had a chest x-ray, abdominal ultrasound, CT scan or MRI. Situs Inversus affects 1 in 10,000 people. Once a person is made aware of the condition, most decide to wear a medical alert bracelet or necklace in case of a medical emergency. While nearly everyone who has had this opposite organization of organs has lived a healthy long life, it certainly is odd! 

Haunted Fredericksburg, Virginia

Fredericksburg in Virginia has seen a vast amount of American history with roots reaching back to the 17th century. There are centuries old buildings here and blood-stained battlegrounds that lend themselves to paranormal activity. Many locations in the city have ghost stories connected to them. Join us for the history and hauntings of Fredericksburg, Virginia. 

The canal that runs through downtown Fredericksburg is a favorite spot for people to jog and bike along. The canal holds a significant place in the local history, not only as a part of the mill industry, but Fredericksburg found itself in a precarious position during the Civil War as a prominent port that sat midway between the capitals of the North and the South. Two Civil War battles would be fought here. This area of the Piedmont was first inhabited by a Siouan-speaking tribe called the Manahoac. This strategic place for the indigenous people would also be strategic for the colony of Virginia. A fort was established by the Virginia General Assembly in 1676 along the Rappahannock River. The town of Fredericksburg was founded several decades later in 1728 and named for the Prince of Wales, Frederick. George Washington's family moved to a town across the river from Fredericksburg in 1738 and his mother Mary would eventually move to Fredericksburg later. As a matter of fact, her home here still stands and is one of the haunted locations we'll talk about a bit later. Naval war hero John Paul Jones also called this city home, as did President James Monroe. After the war, Fredericksburg lost a chunk of its population, but it still remained a center of trade, finally incorporating in 1879. Today, tourism is one of its key economic engines and GEICO's headquarters is here! Fun Fact: Musician Link Wray invented the power chord of modern rock guitar in Fredericksburg.

The Battle of Fredericksburg

There were two battles in Fredericksburg. The second one is nicknamed the "forgotten battle of Fredericksburg." The more well known first battle took place from December 11th to 15th, 1862 and had General Ambrose Burnside leading the Union forces and Robert E. Lee leading the Confederate forces. This would be one of the largest battles - with 200,000 combatants - and deadliest of the Civil War. 

The Battle of Antietam had taken place before this and Union General McClellan had failed to pursue General Lee so he was removed from command of the Army of the Potomac. When Burnside became the replacement, he knew he needed to come up with an amazing plan to get to Richmond before General Lee. When he surveyed the route, Burnside decided that going toward the lower Rappahannock River was the best idea and then he could cross the river and get into position. There, he would cross quickly and position himself between Lee and the direct route to Richmond. The plan had great promise, but, to accomplish it successfully, speed was essential. General Burnside's group of 100,000 men arrived on November 15th. They found the bridges all destroyed, so they ordered pontoon bridges to be sent, but they were delayed until November 25th, giving the Confederacy time to prepare.

This would prove very beneficial to the Confederate side. Union engineers attempted to assemble the bridges, but Confederate snipers made it hard to get the work done. General Burnside decided to shell Fredericksburg and he hit it with 150 Federal guns. They did a lot of damage and the engineers got back to their work, but eventually the Confederate riflemen started shooting again. 

Burnside needed a new plan, so he sent a regiment with men from Michigan and Massachusetts to row across the river and stop the snipers. They managed to cross under fire and drive the snipers away. On December 12th, Burnside got the rest of his army across the river. They occupied Fredericksburg and Burnside plans to have 60,000 men in Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin’s Left Grand Division to crush Lee’s southern flank. That flank has General Stonewall Jackson heading it up and the initial assault on him is successful. But then both sides suffer heavy losses in what was called the Slaughter Pen. The Slaughter Pen Farm is a 208 acre area on the southern end of the Fredericksburg Battlefield. The Union was gallant, but outnumbered. Burnside had said of his plans, "I wanted to obtain possession of that new road, and that was my reason for making the attack on the extreme [Federal] left." This road that he spoke of had been built by the Confederates to connect the two wings of the Confederacy. Burnside hoped that cutting this road in half would disorganize Lee's side and they could pursue them and cut them off from Richmond. However, the Union was unorganized and orders were misunderstood and Stonewall had a powerful counterattack. The Union put forward only a fraction of what was needed. There were 8,200 Union to 38,000 Confederate. The Federals ended up in an open plain as easy targets and they eventually made there way into the woods, but Lee's best men were there to meet them.  

By 3pm on December 13th, the fighting at the Slaughter Pen was over with 5,000 soldiers dead and neither side had gained anything. Another area on the battlefield that had intense fighting was the Sunken Road. This lane had been a simple wagon road that had been worn down into a trench from all the years of use. It sat at the base of five hills known as Marye's Heights and Confederate General James Longstreet had his group of men here. Fighting at this location began around noon. 

Union General Edwin V. Sumner initiated repeated attacks on the Confederate lines. The Sunken Road that the Confederates were on gave them the ability to beat back each assault as it came and despite seven Union divisions trying to make 14 charges, none of them was able to enter the Sunken Road. Nearly 1-in-3 Federal soldiers became a casualty at Marye's Heights. General Lee was appalled by the carnage and he said, "It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it." The armies stayed where they were on December 14th and there was a lull in the fighting. General Lee allowed Burnside to attend to his wounded that day. Burnside told his generals that he wanted to retreat back over the river the following day, but they opposed this decision and said that they felt they should remain in the town and prepare another thrust. Almost as sign, the Northern Lights made an unexpected appearance over Fredericksburg that evening. Burnside knew as he surveyed the damage dealt to his side that this was a Confederate victory. The following morning, he instructed his troops to retreat across the Rappahannock. There were 18,500 casualties with 12,500 on the Union side and 6,000 on the Confederate side. Six weeks after this bitter loss at Fredericksburg, President Lincoln removed Burnside from command and appointed Maj. General Joseph Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac. This win gave Lee a big boost and he went on to victory at Chancellorsville in May 1863.

We want to share an interesting side note to this battle Pvt. George Heiser of the 136th Pennsylvania was a prisoner of war after the battle because he refused to leave a wounded comrade. Heiser survived this battle and a stint as a prisoner of war at Libby Prison. He would later participate in memorial parades through the years and opened up a store in Johnstown Pennsylvania and he was very generous letting people take what they needed and paying later, He and his wife would be swept away and killed in the Johnstown Flood in 1889.  

The Second Battle of Fredericksburg took place on May 3, 1863. General Lee had left Fredericksburg for Chancellorsville at this point and left Major General Jubal Early in charge. He was joined by other brigades bringing the Confederate side up to 12,000 men and they had 45 cannons. Major General John Sedgwick was leading the Union and he had a force of 27,000. Sedgwick's plan was to attack both ends of Marye's Heights, but a canal and stream were in the way, so he decided to hit the center. The initial assault was repelled, but a second one drove the Confederates off the ridge and they retreated to Lee's Hill. They tried to make a final stand and were defeated again so they ran southward. There were 700 Confederate casualties and 1,100 Union and the Union held Fredericksburg. Union General Joshua Chamberlain had a real way with words and he wrote many letters home. We want to share this excerpt from one of his letters, "At last, outwearied and depressed..." (Pg. 203) Many historians have wondered why Burnside sent wave after wave of troops up against the stone wall that the Confederates were barricaded behind at the Sunken Road. This had nearly been a massacre. The Sunken Road is the most haunted section of the battlefield. Visitors claim to hear the distant echoes of war cries and sounds of battle. And much like Gettysburg, people see ghostly soldiers marching in formation and even fighting each other and ghostly horses sometimes thunder across the field. 

Just up from the road, Marye's Heights gives a feeling of dread and has the apparitions of soldiers and spectral lights. The smell of gun powder can be strong at times. Cold spots have been reported along the stone wall. Some have claimed that the aurora borealis appearing as the two sides buried their dead in the field was a paranormal event. Away_Meringue wrote on Reddit, "When I moved here from Alexandria in 2018 I felt a very strong supernatural pull. I was coming down the road around twilight and saw a Confederate soldier figure standing under a tree behind one of the old battlefield fences."

Rising Sun Tavern (Suggested by: Kim Harmon)

The Washington Heritage Museums include three of our haunted locations: Rising Sun Tavern, Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop and the Mary Washington House. President George Washington’s youngest brother was named Charles. When he reached adulthood, he inherited 750 acres of land in Spotsylvania County, Virginia from his father who had died when he was five-years-old. He purchased two lots in what was the county seat at the time, Fredericksburg, and he built a home for himself there in 1761. This was a wood frame, one-and-a-half story building covered with broad hand-beveled clapboards. There was a gabled roof with three tiny dormers and several chimneys. There was a large ballroom that would burn down later and a banquet room with a paneled corner fireplace and built-in cupboard. The home hosted a Peace Ball celebrating the victory at Yorktown in 1781. Charles Washington would live there with his family until 1781 and was sold to a Larkin Smith in 1791 who sold it again in 1792 to Colonel Gustav Wallace. 

Wallace rented the building to John Frasier who opened it as a tavern he called the Golden Eagle in 1793. This operated for 35 years, but John would die just a few months into running the tavern. The post office was also located here. Preservation Virginia acquired the Rising Sun Tavern in 1907 and completed a series of restorations that included the front porch and the original railings from the 18th century bar were found under the plaster and the entire bar was rebuilt. Chair rails, cornices, paneled wood and fireplaces and the unique stairway were all repaired and painted in their original colors. 

The ghost that hangs out here is said to be the first proprietor, John Frasier. Frasier died in 1793 after going upstairs and taking a nap. He has stayed on to watch over the tavern in the afterlife. His spirit is said to move items around, he likes to play with the lights and staff and visitors have all heard his laughter and some even say they have seen his apparition. His disembodied footsteps are heard upstairs. An employee was going upstairs and she heard the disembodied footsteps and she scolded John for scaring her and she felt a tug on her dress. Tricorne hats in the gift shop have been found aligned in the middle of the floor. Wilson was an employee and he said one night they were closing up and they put the bar that they placed across the front door in its place and when they turned around, they heard a loud clunk behind them and the bar had flown off from the door and just landed a couple inches right behind Wilson and his fellow tour guide. He didn't believe in ghosts until he started working here. Some people also claim that John's wife Elizabeth is here too.

Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop

The Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop is located at 1020 Caroline Street. The house was built in 1772 as a home and apothecary for Dr. Hugh Mercer. He had left Scotland after the Battle of Culloden and settled in Pennsylvania. While there, he got involved in the French and Indian War and met Colonel George Washington who encouraged him to move to Fredericksburg to open a practice. More than likely because his mother lived there. Mary Washington would be one of Dr. Mercer's patients. He used a variety of remedies including leeches, lancets, snakeroot, and crab claws. The practice ran for 15 years and then Dr. Mercer joined the Revolutionary Army and he died as a Brigadier General at the Battle of Princeton. Preservation Virginia took ownership of the house and restored it and then passed on ownership in 2013 to the "Washington Heritage Museums" group. Docents give guided tours of the first floor and visitors can tour a self-guided tour of the second floor and gardens on their own. Staff has reported some strange things happening in the museum. There is a child ghost here. A guide once saw the single bare foot of a child going up the stairs. 

Mary Washington House

The other museum that is part of this collection had belonged to George Washington's mother. The Mary Washington House is located at 1200 Charles Street. Mary had moved to Fredericksburg to be near her children, Charles and Elizabeth. Her son George bought this house for her in 1772 from Michael Robinson because it was near Elizabeth's home, Kenmore Plantation. The wooden house was originally a three-room cottage with a detached kitchen. There was a bedroom upstairs for guests that is referred to as the George Washington Room. One bedroom downstairs was Mary's bedroom and then she had a room for entertaining. 

Mary would spend the last seventeen years of her life in the house. Her youth had been tough. Her father died when she was three and by the time she was thirteen, her mother and step-father had also passed, so she was an orphan. Mary met the widower Augustine Washington when she was 23 and the two married in 1731. The couple would have six children. Augustine died in 1743 and Mary would never remarry. (This wasn't because she was heartbroken - explain the law at the time.) Before she died from breast cancer in 1789, she got to witness her son lead the Continental Army to victory and become the first President of America. Many famous people visited Mrs. Washington, and a legend claims one of these people was General Lafayette who came by the home seeking a visit with Mrs. Washington during the Revolution and he found her working in her garden. The President-to-be came to this home to receive his mother's blessing before attending his inauguration in 1789. Mary's granddaughter Betty moved into the house with her husband after Mary died. They added a central hall, a fancy parlor with carved woodwork and added additional rooms to the upstairs. The couple had seven children and two of them died in the house as infants. In 1806, the first Presbyterian minister in the town moved into the house and he also ran a boys' school out of it. A north wing was added to the house at that time. He lived at the house for 34 years. The house then was divided into a duplex. Jane Dickenson bought the house and lived in it during the Civil War. She nursed Confederate wounded there. A Union cannonball struck the house in the attic. Dickenson left in 1864 and the house became a hospital for the Union. The bodies of six Union soldiers were buried in the backyard.

Preservation Virginia acquired the Mary Washington House in 1890, saving it from being disassembled and shipped to the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition. They restored the house and opened it as a museum in 1900. In 2012, the Washington Heritage Museums would acquire the house. Starting in the 1970s, ghost stories started to be told about the house. Mary never left her final home it seems. Her apparition has been seen tending to the garden. She is sometimes seen sitting by a window and people claim to hear the rustling of a dress. The hem of a petticoat has been seen swishing past a door. It is also thought that there is some activity from formally enslaved people who had worked here and maybe even a couple of boys from the boys' school days.

Michelle Hamilton is the manager of the Mary Washington House and she wrote the book "Ghosts of Fredericksburg." She said of the ghost at the house, "It's very gentle. It is very like a tea drinking spirit in here and usually pulls pranks. Things get knocked off the shelves in the gift shop and papers on my desk get messed up every once in a while. A former employee had her soda bottle turned upside down on her desk. It's just very gentle, very playful and very whimsical. We once heard this giant slamming sound coming from upstairs. I realized I have to be the brave one to go upstairs. I'm like, okay guys whatever you've done you better put it back." She wrote in her book (pg. 21 and 23)

Richard Johnston Inn 

The Richard Johnson Inn is a bed and breakfast located at 711 Caroline Street. John Taylow had been an original signer of the Declaration of Independence and he built the original row house here in 1770. This row house was combined with the row house next to it to make it a larger house. A kitchen house was in the courtyard and there were slave quarters. The inn is named for the man who bought it in the early 1800s, Richard Johnston, who served as the mayor of Fredericksburg from 1809 to 1810. There was no running water or central heat in the house until after the 1930s and by 1970, it was in such a state of disrepair it was only good for use as a warehouse. A man named Hunter Greenlaw bought it in the 1970s and renovated the property into office space, a restaurant and shops. Greenlaw sold it in 1986 to Libby Gowin, who turned the home into The Richard Johnston Inn that it is today. The tradition of running it as an inn continued in 1993 when Susan Thrush bought the property. L&L Hospitality bought it in 2001 and did some modernization and continue to run it today. The house survived the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, only suffering minor fire damage during the Civil War. The inn being over 245 years old, lends itself to ghosts stories and there are said to be multiple spirits here. There is at least one child spirit and it has been heard talking and laughing. The most well known spirit is a former enslaved man named Toby who was tasked with keeping the eleven fireplaces clean. When he is around, people smell the scent of smoke. 

There are stories of Confederate sharpshooters firing from the windows during the Battle of Fredericksburg and there could be spirits connected to that. legatedomitor wrote on Reddit, "The Richard Johnston Inn downtown Fredericksburg is very much haunted. I was in there doing work along with another person. My coworker kept asking who was watching us and following us around. Asked the employee on duty and was advised no one was staying at the inn, the figure pretty much stayed staring and following us until we were gone. Not threatening just very very weird, cold spots randomly in there too."

The Chimneys

It is uncertain who originally owned The Chimneys. Scotsman John Glassell was a local merchant and he is credited with building The Chimneys, located at 623 Caroline Street, and named for the chimneys on either side of the house. He arrived in Fredericksburg in the 1770s and purchased land from Englishman Charles Yates. Some historians believe that Yates actually built the house, which is estimated to have been built between 1771 and 1773. Yates had been a Mason and would've had the skills needed for the meticulous craftsmanship found inside the house. Whatever the case, when the American Revolution started, Glassell headed back to Scotland in 1775 because he was a loyalist and he never returned. He turned the house over to William Glassell who he had given power of attorney. The house was two stories, built in the Georgian style and framed with mortise and tenon joints, secured by hardwood pegs. The hipped roof was designed after the construction of ship hulls at the time and is was supported by three heavy king post trusses. The interior featured a central hall plan with two rooms on each side of the hallway. There was decorative carving on the woodwork of the moldings, paneling and mantelpiece. 

The house changed hands throughout the 1800s and no one knows for sure who started calling it The Chimneys. President Chester A. Arthur's wife, Nell, had lived in the house when she was a child. The president of the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation bought the house in 1966 and rented it out until the foundation turned it into a museum and office space in 1975. A man named William Vakos purchased and renovated it in 1982 and he opened it as a restaurant. In 1985, Robert Mitchell III became the new owner and he held onto it until 2000, when Tommy Mitchell bought it. In 2014, The Chimneys opened as Billikens Smokehouse, a family-owned BBQ restaurant with great food, live entertainment and stunning views. 

Billiken is not a family name, so we had to ask, what is a billiken and the restaurants website says, "The Billiken is believed to be the creation of Ms. Florence Pretz, a Kansas City art teacher and illustrator. In the early 1900s, she dreamed of this whimsical figure and brought it to life. Ms. Pretz initially produced the Billiken as coin banks and statuettes, later expanding to dolls. This charming good luck symbol quickly became a national craze, with its likeness appearing on everything from postcards to hood ornaments. Around 1908, the Horsemen Doll Co. manufactured the Billiken doll, selling an impressive 200,000 units within the first few months. During the Great Depression, the Billiken gained a reputation as a beacon of good fortune. Poems were written celebrating the luck he brought to those who owned him. Described variously as a fairy, an imp, a charm, and even a god, the Billiken’s appeal transcended borders. In China, he is known as the “God of Things as They Should Be,” and he has left his mark in places as far-flung as Alaska and Canada. The Billiken exists to amuse, make you laugh, and bring you luck and happiness. Most importantly, he invites you to ask the timeless question: What is a Billiken?" 

Patrons and staff have claimed to hear strange sounds, they feel cold spots, door knobs turn on their own and rocking chairs rock on their own. The spirit of a young boy is said to haunt the house and he was seen by a woman who was putting her son to sleep. She thought his friend who was laying in the bed with him was over for a sleepover and that her husband hadn't told her about it. She put both boys to sleep and then asked her son who the boy was the next morning. her husband had no idea what she was talking about and her son had no idea who the boy was either. 

There may be a couple of female ghosts as well. One of these female ghosts was seen by a family living in the house in the early 1800s. She was a full-bodied apparition and she was playing a harp in the house. She also joined a little girl sitting at a piano playing, several years later. Author Mark Nesbitt claims to have interacted with the spirit of a former enslaved man named Nicodemus. He was coming through the Underground Railroad in Fredericksburg, but was left behind and died in a fire while he waited for a fellow traveler to return for him. Nesbitt had been accompanied by a medium named Julie Pellegrino and she is the one who relayed this information. 

Chatham Manor 

Chatham Manor is located at 120 Chatham Lane and was completed in 1771. It was designed in the Georgian architectural style and was constructed for farmer and statesman William Fitzhugh. He had named his house for his friend William Pitt who was the Earl of Chatham. The plantation stretched over 1,280 acres and included an orchard, mill, slave quarters, a dairy, barns, and ice house, stables and a race track for horses. Fitzhugh regularly raced his horses here against his neighbors. Chatham had a slave rebellion in 1805. Tired of being abused, the slaves overpowered the overseer and a couple other men and whipped them. An armed posse arrived at the plantation later in the day and they killed three slaves and deported two others. Fitzhugh decided to sell and he sold the property Major Churchill Jones. His brother William inherited the property when Churchill died and he deeded the property to his eldest daughter Hannah Jones Coalter as a wedding present in 1825. Hannah had always wanted to free her slaves, so she set up her will to manumit her 93 slaves. Manumit meant that the slaves were freed, but that there was an arrangement as well. The slaves could decide to remain enslaved in the state of Virginia or they could be freed with enough money to help them get established in another state. They had to leave Virginia if freed. Hannah's relatives sued and claimed the Dred Scott decision meant that slaves couldn't make that kind of decision. A local court said the slaves could be freed, but the Virginia Supreme Court divided and the relatives won. The property was sold to Hannah's younger sister Betty and her husband J. Horace Lacy in 1848. 

Lacy joined the Confederate Army during the Civil War and rose to the rank of major. When the Union came to Fredericksburg, they took over Chatham Manor and forced Betty and the children to leave.

The property served as a U.S. Army headquarters and later became a Union hospital. After the war, the house fell into disrepair and the Lacys had to sell it to pay taxes in 1872. The property had several owners, but no one did anything with it until General Daniel Bradford Devore and his wife Helen bought the manor in the 1920s and they renovated it and made the place into a real showpiece. They added a beautiful English-style garden. In 1931, General Motors executive John Lee Pratt and his wife, purchased the Chatham estate. Upon Devore's death, the estate was willed to the National Park Service in 1975 and now serves as the headquarters for the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. It sits on only 85 acres now and offers tours of five rooms that were turned into a museum. The property has the distinction of being visited by both President Washington and President Lincoln. 

The ghost story here is about a lady in white. Her story goes all the way back to Fitzhugh's ownership. She was a young woman when she visited the manor. This woman hadn't come because she wanted to, but because her father had sent her away from England because she had fallen in love with the wrong young man. He hoped to break them up. However, the young man had followed her across the ocean and he met up with her at the manor. During their meeting, they discussed eloping. A servant heard the plans and reported them to a guest at the house, General George Washington. Washington agreed to stop the elopement, so when the young woman climbed out of her window, she found Washington waiting for her. The girl was sent back to England and forced into another marriage with a boy from the right side of the tracks with the right bank account. Before she died on June 21, 1790, she vowed that she would return to Chatham Manor each year on the anniversary of her death. Many visitors to the manor have claimed to see the glowing lady in white. She is usually seen wearing a white period dress. She made her first appearance on her death. Legend claims that she actually appears every seventh year on June 21st. She is normally seen walking a path along the river and she seems to be looking or watching for someone.  

Fredericksburg has a history intertwined with the Antebellum period and the Civil War, which seems to feed the paranormal side of things. Are these locations in Fredericksburg haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 488 - The Graffiti House

Our sponsor this episode is StoryWorth. Save $10 on your first purchase when you go to Storyworth.com/historygoesbump

Moment in Oddity - Cave Homes

Have you ever wished the climate of your home would be consistently cool in the summer and warm in the winter without the fees associated with air conditioning and forced heat? If so, then possibly cave living is for you. One location that cave homes can be found in, is Northern China in the Loess Plateau and although many of the cave dwellings here are now tourist attractions, some of the 'cave homes' called dikengyuan in Mandarin, still have full time residents. The homes have a sunken courtyard entrance while the remainder of the home is completely underground. "They are considered a type of folk house adaptation to the natural terrain in this part of China", according Lim Tai Wei, an adjunct senior researcher at the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore. The topography here ensures a naturally warm home during the winter and cool home temperatures in the summer. According to historical records the creation of these homes began 7,000 years ago. The soil of the area has lent itself to the unusual success of this style of home. It is soft enough to easily excavate while still being firm enough to hold steady without additional support within the walls of the cave homes. According to Lim, "Some scholars outside China consider the dwellings to be a natural adaptation to the climatic patterns in the region, with harsh and lengthy winters, and extremely burning summer heat". Clearly this style of home suits the occupants weather dependent needs well, however having your home completely subterranean, certainly is odd.

This Month in History - Birth of Arabella Mansfield

In the month of May, on the 23rd, in 1846, Arabella Manfield was born in Des Moines County, Iowa. Her birth name was Belle Aurelia Babb and she became the first female lawyer in the United States in 1869. During the Civil War universities began accepting more women into their schools and Arabella attended Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant, however, her study of the law was independent from this. At the time, the bar exam was restricted to males at least 21 years old. Although Arabella did not attend law school, she had worked as an apprentice in the brother's law firm. She applied to take the exam and was accepted. Mansfield passed the bar with high scores. Once she accomplished that, Arabella challenged Iowa's state law excluding women from practicing law and she won. Due to her efforts, Iowa became the first state to allow women to practice law. From there, Arabella Mansfield began Iowa's Women's Suffrage Society and she worked with Susan B. Anthony to continue advancing the rights of all women.

The Graffiti House (Suggested by: Margaret Ward and Mike Streibel)

The Graffiti House is owned by the Brandy Station Foundation and served as a hospital during the Civil War. Soldiers left behind their marks on the walls of the second floor, which is the inspiration behind the house's name. These soldiers may have left behind their spirits as well, not only because some of them were injured and died, but because the Battle of Brandy Station took place here. Join us for the history and hauntings of the Graffiti House.

One cannot talk about the Graffiti House without talking about the Battle of Brandy Station. Brandy Station is in the state of Virginia. It was originally named just Brandy. The Battle of Brandy Station would be fought on June 9, 1863. This was the largest cavalry battle ever fought in North American and launched the greater Battle of Gettysburg, which would be fought in less than a month. The Confederates had a plan to move onto the Shenandoah Valley as they made their way to Pennsylvania. Major General J.E.B. Stuart had brought his 9,500-man Confederate cavalry to Brandy Station where they camped along the Rappahannock River. They were exhausted and certainly not expecting a fight. The day before, Stuart had asked General Robert E. Lee to do a full field review of the cavalry. Most of the men complained that this would just feed Stuart's ego and tire out the horses. 

As the sun rose on that 9th day of June, Union officer General Major Alfred Pleasonton launched a surprise attack on the Confederates at Brandy Station. Pleasonton had split his ranks in two, one under Brig. Gen. John Buford and the other under Brig. Gen. David McMurtrie Gregg. Buford's group crossed the river at Beverly's Ford and Gregg's crossed downstream at Kelly's Ford. This left the Confederates surrounded. One thing on the side of Stuart is that he had five brigades, which was much larger than the Union forces had expected. A Confederate brigade was awakened by the sound of gunfire and rode towards the battle on bareback, partially dressed. The Confederates killed a Union Colonel and pushed back the Union forces. The Confederates formed a line while the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry attacked the Confederate artillery at St. James Church. This was a bad move and this regiment would suffer the greatest casualties. Although many Confederates fighting at the church would later refer to this as a "brilliant and glorious" charge. Some say it was the greatest of the war. Typically the cavalry would dismount and conduct hand-to-hand battle like the infantry when they got to the area of engagement, but the 6th Pennsylvania conducted a completely mounted fight.

The Southern artillery was blocking the direct route to Brandy Station, so General Buford decided to advance near an area called Yew Ridge. This was higher ground, but was already occupied by Confederate Brigadier General W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee and Buford sustained heavy losses before managing to take a stone wall in front of the ridge. Then the Confederates pulled back from the ridge.  Buford wasn't sure why, but then he was informed that General Gregg had finally shown up with his men. They had managed to find a back way that was unguarded that led all the way into Brandy Station. Between where Gregg was located and the skirmish between Buford and Stuart was Fleetwood Hill. Stuart had used the hill for his headquarters, but now all that was there was a  6-pounder howitzer and it didn't have reliable ammunition. Both sides would now enter into a series of confusing charges and countercharges across Fleetwood Hill. The fighting was fierce before the Confederates were able to clear the hill for the final time. Pleasonton called for a general withdrawal and this ended the battle. The Union surprise attack had failed and Stuart retained the field. Part of what worked against the Federals was the terrain. This was a very hilly area and taxing on the horses. Buford knew his men and their mounts couldn't take much more and the Confederates got some late back-up Colonel Thomas Munford, which solidified his decision to leave the field to the Confederates.

The battle lasted around ten hours. This had been the largest cavalry engagement in America. Union casualties were 907 and Confederate casualties were 523. Despite the win, the Confederate cavalry's superiority was now gone. There was a house nearby that was used as a field hospital. That house is today known as the Graffiti House. The house was strategically located near the train depot for the Orange & Alexandria Railroad. The house was owned by lawyer James Barbour who was the brother of the railroad's president, John S. Barbour Jr. It was built in 1858 and stands two stories. Barbour served on the staff of Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell until January 1863. Barbour also owned a house up on a hill near the battlefield that is called Beauregard Farm in honor of the Confederate General. It still stands today. This served as headquarters for J.E.B. Stuart and his Confederate cavalry division. General Robert E. Lee visited Beauregard during the battle to scan the fighting on the nearby Fleetwood Hill.

The Graffiti House was also used by General Stuart as a headquarters. The house also probably served as a field hospital after the Battle of First Bull Run or First Manassas and there is some graffiti in the house that dates to the Second Manassas Campaign in August 1862. During the winter of 1863 into 1864, the Union set up camp in Culpeper County and they occupied the Graffiti House. The house was headquarters to Brigadier General Henry Prince while the Union army was in pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia after its retreat from the Battle of Gettysburg.

So the Graffiti House played host to both sides during the Civil War. The people who stayed here left behind their marks on the walls. On the second floor, the plaster walls are covered with drawings, doodles and words made with pencil and charcoal. Some of the words are basically autographs with soldiers writing their names on the walls. One of those autographs belongs to General J.E.B. Stuart. There are also the names of Lieutenant William J. Marshall, Colonel John Egbert Farnum, and Sergeant Henry Thomas. They would make inscriptions commemorating their units and their battles. After the war, other people would move into the house and they covered over the graffiti with wallpaper and paint. In 1993, a big renovation project was started, but it was quickly halted because the graffiti was discovered. Unfortunately, some of it had already been removed before the project was started. But much still remains thanks to the efforts of expert architectural conservator Christopher Mills. The non-profit organization The Brandy Station Foundation purchased the house in 2002 and they are the ones who continue to preserve the house and offer tours. There is a museum here and this is the visitor center for the Brandy Station Battlefield. One of the items on display had been taken away from the home as part of a private collection of Civil War artifacts, but it was returned in 2004. This is called The Maryland Scroll  and features an unfurling piece of parchment with a list of names of men who would later fight at the Battle of Kelly’s Ford. 

There are three rooms on the second floor. One is named the Marshall Room in honor of Lieutenant James Marshall, a Confederate officer. He was killed during the Battle of Gettysburg. The best piece in this room is a sketch of a downcast looking Confederate soldier. Another room is the Bowman Room named for Sergeant Allen Bowman of the 12th Virginia Cavalry. In this room one can find a charcoal drawing called the “Dancing Lady.” The final room is the Stuart Room named for General J.E.B. Stuart and it is in here where his name is written on the wall. There also is an example of a clash between the North and the South. A Confederate wrote "Yanks caught hell" and over that is written "United States of America." 

Here coming up in June of 2023, the Battle of Brandy Station will commemorate its 160th anniversary. The house features tours when volunteers are available to host them. In October, the house showcases its haunts. The whole area has spirits hanging out because of the battle. The Brandy Station Battlefield has two haunted locations: Fleetwood Hill and the ruins of the St. James Church. The St. James Church stood during the battle, but was torn down six months later by Union soldiers, so they could build a winter camp for themselves. The church saw part of the battle. The phantom sounds of battle and disembodied voices are heard at the church ruins and on Fleetwood Hill.

The Fleetwood Church in Brandy Station is also haunted. The church was built over the town's cemetery where many soldiers killed in the battle were buried. The church was used from 1881-1974. Today it is being refurbished, but is in a state of disrepair. Steve is the man who bought the church and is working on it. He claims that the spirit of a little girl that is usually at the Graffiti House has come to the church sometimes and moves things and her disembodied singing has been heard. Investigators have captured EVPs of hymns being sung in the church. Pictures of figures in the windows have been taken. Ryan Martinez, who produces "The Witching Hour" TV show and investigates with Argos Paranormal investigated The Fleetwood Church in 2020. Martinez said, "We were hearing a lot of disembodied growls with our own ears and these were growls that did not sound like they were coming from an animal. And whenever we would hear these growls, we would go ‘if that was you that just growled at us, can you go ahead and turn on the mini Maglite that we have on the floor.’ And spontaneously the light would turn on.”

Unexplained activity has been occurring at the Graffiti House for decades. The house embraces this fact by hosting Ghosthunting 101 classes, offering psychic readings and hosting ghosts hunts with Culpeper Paranormal. One of the volunteers at the house named Della Edrington invited the Virginia Paranormal Institute to come to the house in 2007 to investigate. The house did not disappoint. One of the investigators named Jackie Hicks felt something grab her firmly by the wrist. A journalist that was with them named Donnie Johnston watched as a picture frame moved on its own. The ghost hunting equipment all registered activity that the group described as "off the chart." One of the more popular ghost stories told is about two young girls who were living in the house in the 1930s. They had just finished decorating their Christmas tree in an upstairs room when something very paranormal occurred. Some decorative balls began to swirl on their own in a counter clockwise movement and this wasn't caused by any normal force like wind or a heating vent.

Culpeper Paranormal Investigations posted a picture captured from their SLS camera in June of 2022 and wrote, "This figure/anomaly appeared directly at the top of the stairs. We also have the full video of this occurrence as well. It only manifested for a few seconds before disappearing, and was not picked up at any other time during the night. Could it be a passing through spirit of a soldier who once resided in the location? We’re left unsure." Culpeper has investigated here many times. In the J.E.B. Stuart Room they captured the EMF going off on video. They asked if whoever they were talking to wore a gray uniform or a blue uniform and they captured an EVP saying "blue." They asked if there was a Miranda there or a Melinda and an EVP said "Melinda." And as a double verification, the group asked if there was a man or woman speaking with them and an EVP said "woman." In another room they had a REM Pod set up and used some whiskey as a trigger item. One of the investigators said that she was going to pour the whiskey and she did pour some into a shot glass and the REM Pod started going off. Then she asked if they wanted to play cards with her and it lit up two of the lights on the REM pod. She decided to run a test to verify that nothing else was setting off the REM Pod and she said she was going to count to three. Once she said the number three, the REM Pod and a Mel-Meter next to it went off simultaneously. A group asked if there was a soldier with them and the REM Pod went nuts with three lights going off. They then asked if he was at the Battle of Fleet Hill and an EVP answered "yes." The entity also used the REM Pod to indicate that he had been one of Stuart's men.

On another investigation in 2017 the group asked if John Bowman was there and an EVP answered "Doctor John." During a spirit box session they asked if the spirit lived in the house and they got a male saying "no" and then a female saying "I do." They asked if JEB Stuart was there and the box said "JEB Stuart." They asked something that they thought was the doctor if he was only a doctor during the war between the states and they just said they got an EVP anomaly, but it sounded like "I don't think so" to Diane. In 2015, they caught a really weird light anomaly that bounced around the room. It did look ghostly and was definitely see-thru. You could see the door frame through it. In the Bowman Room on another investigation, they asked how old the spirit was and the EVP said "seventy-six." They asked if the officers stayed in the house and an EVP said "yea." And this was funny. A couple of investigators were in the bathroom doing an EVP session and they asked if there was anyone in there with them and an EVP asked, "Who are you hiding from?"

The Graffiti House is very unique in that it captures a part of Civil War history that is not very common. What was it about the house that enticed the soldiers to write on the walls and leave their marks for us to find in the future? It seems as though some of those soldiers have decided to stay in the afterlife. Is The Graffiti House haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 483 - Haunted Occoquan

Moment in Oddity - 3D Printed Food

Well Diane, I don't know about our listeners, but I KNOW you love a good cheesecake, as do I. And although we eat pretty healthy in general, this is a whole new culinary delight that we may want to partake in. Now it may look a little strange, but hey, we're all about the strange and weird here at History Goes Bump, right? Well, a group of mechanical engineers at Columbia University have been able to 3D print an edible cheesecake! Can you imagine being able to create such a gratifying dessert such as this at home, because that 3D printing ability is coming soon. The slice in 'question' (and I use that descriptive word intentionally), was a cheesecake slice consisting of banana puree, strawberry jam, cherry drizzle, peanut butter, graham cracker and frosting. So of course the graham cracker was serving as the crust, then pool-like layers of peanut butter secure the softer ingredients like the banana puree or jam in place. The structures within the architectural space of the cake support each other, not unlike the architectural support of any tall corporate building. The time it takes one of the foodie 3D printers to create this delectable dish is approximately 30 minutes from start to finish for a single slice. The taste? Well, it was likened to Willy Wonka's three course dinner chewing gum from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. Different flavors of the cheesecake would hit the palate at different times. The 3D food printing industry has proposed the needed development of creating 'food cartridges' for the printers. All I know is we like natural and fresh food so we will not be experimenting with such a device. But one thing is for sure, a 3D printer that can create edible meals, certainly is odd. 

This Month in History - Artist Raffaello Santi

In the month of April, on the 6th, in 1483, artist Raffaello Santi was born in Duchy of Urbino, Italy (Duh-chee Ur-Bee-No). Raphael was well known for his numerous Madonna paintings. His father, Giovanni Santi, was a court painter and is believed to have begun Raffaello's training before his death when Raffaello was only 11 years old. He was a painter and architect of the High Renaissance. Raffaello was also one of the traditional trinity of masters which included Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. His work was admired for his clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. After additional training in Perugino, Raffaello attained the title of "master" by 1500. In 1508 he moved to Rome at the invite of the pope to begin work on the Vatican Palace. While in Rome, Raffaello was given a variety of important commissions and then he began to work as an architect. He was still a highly sought after artist at the time of his death, on his birthday, April 6th, 1520.

Haunted Occoquan (Suggested by: Cecil H) 

The town of Occoquan in Virginia is a suburb of Washington, D.C. and was established over 250 years ago. This is a town full of historic and colorful buildings that started as a trading post. The mill town has today become an artist enclave that hosts two large annual arts and crafts festivals and a few ghosts. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of Occoquan!

Prince William County in Virginia has its share of haunted locations. This encompassed a large tract of Northern Virginia and was named for the son of King George II. The county would have two large town areas: Manassas and Occoquan. We're focusing on Occoquan on this episode. (Dumfries is part of this county as well - where the Weems-Botts House is located that we covered on Ep. 441.) The name means "at the end of the water" and comes from the Algonquin Doeg Indians who were early inhabitants here. They were eventually replaced by the Dogues tribe. Their main village was at the mouth of the Occoquan River. The first Europeans explored the area in the early 1600s, but wouldn't establish a trading post here until the early 1700s with a tobacco warehouse being set up on the south bank of the river. The town soon expanded from there with iron furnaces built by Charles Ewell and John Ballendine in 1755, a grist mill in 1757, Merchant's Mill with a second grist mill in 1759 and the first cotton mill in Virginia would eventually be here in 1828. The town thrived as a port until river silting shut down the river traffic. Occoquan was chartered as a town in 1804. The mills eventually closed and industrial operations shut down. The town reinvigorated with small businesses and is today a tourist center with lots of great shops and restaurants and several of these places are reputedly haunted.

The Occoquan Historic District consists of sixty structures. Many of these are frame, two-story structures that had once been private homes. They have German siding and decorative porches. They are all very cute. Mill Street was clearly the main hub of this town and still is today with lots of shops. An arson fire destroyed many buildings in 1980, but everything was rebuilt and restored. During some excavations along the Occoquan River, a tombstone was unearthed dating back to 1893. This was a spot behind Madigan's Waterfront Restaurant. The tombstone is on display at the Mill Street Museum and is said to be unnaturally cold to the touch. The corner of Commerce and Union Streets was the scene of a Civil War skirmish and people still claim to hear the moaning there.                 

Madigan's Waterfront Restaurant

Madigan's Waterfront Restaurant is located at 201 Mill Street. The restaurant is family owned and opened in 2005. Occoquan Spirits has conducted dowsing sessions inside Madigan's and they believed they were talking to two little girls that like to hang out on the second floor of the restaurant. They also has sensory experiences that included one woman feeling a hand on her leg and another was bumped into by something she couldn't see when they were going up the stairs. 

It's Your Day Shop

It's Your Day Shop is located at 206 Mill Street. The website describes this as a self-photo studio and a party room rental. This is a wood frame two-story building with a gable roof that was built in the late 18th century. At least seven families had lived in the house before it was renovated in the 1970s to serve as a retail shop. The original porch was replaced with Williamsburg-type steps. The renovations also revealed the original material used to build the house which included huge timbers, brick ballast and oyster shell mortar and the wall was left open so people could see this material. The spirit here is named Charlotte and she likes to rearrange things. People have seen her apparition and felt cold spots. There is also that feeling of being watched by someone who isn't there.

302 Mill Street

The original part of this building was built in 1860 and was added onto throughout the years. This started as W.R. Selecman Dry Goods, Groceries, Liquors & General Merchandise. Later it became Leary Lumber & Hardware for many years and in 1971 it became Blackbeard’s restaurant serving up seafood. The building was gutted by a fire in the mid-1980s and reopened as a quilt shop. Then is was the Golden Goose, which was a shop specializing in Christmas decor and novelties. The most recent iteration was the Urban Posh Boutique, but that seems to have moved to a location on Washington Street, so we're not sure what is here now. When it was the Golden Goose, staff claimed that the place had a poltergeist who enjoyed moving stuff around and liked to hang out at the old sales counter after hours. The original 1860 tin ceiling has managed to survive through all the years.

Artists' Undertaking Gallery

The Artists' Undertaking Gallery is located at 309 Mill Street and was established in 1977. The name may sound unusual until you learn that this had once been a funeral home. It was built in the 1930s by R.S. Hall. This funeral home went out of business in 1972 after Hurricane Agnes blew through and took out the additions to the building. The main building survived, but was flooded by the Occoquan River. When the artists decided to make this building their studio, they had to clean mud out of the basement left over from the flooding. The old funeral director haunts the store. He was seen by his grandson in the place after he died. Annette Ka lei Pua worked there and one night she was alone in the building and someone walked past her out of the corner of her eye. She saw the figure pass again. The third time the figure passed her, she said, "Ok, you can have the store. I'm going home." One day after a snow day had shut everything down, Annette came into the store and opened the cash register. She was shocked to see all the coins neatly stacked on top of each other. She closed the drawer and opened it again and the coins were still stacked so she called a couple of other employees over and they were shocked to see them that way too. Annette took pictures, but the pictures came out blank.

Before Hall built his undertaking business there was Slack Funeral Home. It had been located at 210-214 Commerce Street, but no longer stands. Undertaker Slack had a two-horse carriage with black windows on both sides and was open from the back. Carl Eike, Jr., born in Occoquan/Woodbridge area, was quoted in 1979 describing his memories of Undertaker Slack “He had two old boney horses and a rickety old hearse, but I guess it made no difference to the dead person.”

13 Magickal Moons 

13 Magickal Moons is located at 440 Mill Street and had three resident cats that would often appear to see something that nobody else could see. An employee named Amanda said that cats often seemed to be looking at something behind her. And she said that she would often get that feeling like something was behind her. She was there alone one evening close to closing time when she heard a banging in the other room. She ignored it, but later when she went into the back something started rattling the doorknob back there. And then she saw what she described as a shadow that crossed the room very quickly. So then she left pretty quickly because it scared her.

Gift & Gather Shop

The Gift & Gather Shop is located at 307 Mill Street and opened in 2017. This is a place that showcases small independent creators and sells Pure palette soy candles. The building was built in the early 1900’s and served as a general store from the 1940’s until 1972 where fishing licenses and tackle were
available, as well as boat rentals. The rear had an attachment that featured 5 rooms for rent, but this washed away during Hurricane Agnes in 1972. People have reported seeing a flickering light in the windows in the early morning hours and sometimes they even see a woman holding a candle moving through the shop when it is closed.

Labella Bridal Boutique

Labella Bridal Boutique is located at 313 Mill Street. The building dates back to 1888 and was formed from ground oyster shell mortar and English bricks that came over on ships as ballast. Lynn's General Store used to be here on the ground floor and Lynn and his family lived on the upper level. The unexplained activity here are dark footprints appearing inside the building and disembodied whispering voices. Merchandise gets moved about in the middle of the night. 

The Spot on Mill Street

The Spot on Mill Street is located at 406 Mill Street. This is the oldest building in Occoquan and is believed to have been built in 1750. Massive logs were uncovered in a 1970 renovation that had been hand dressed for what was originally a residence. The stones for the foundation are the same type used for the Rockledge property. The fireplace here is original and the stairway is built from chestnut. Legend claims that British spies were kept in the basement dungeon during the Revolutionary War. Today, this is a pub on the Occoquan Pub Crawl. 

204 Washington Street 

The building at 204 Washington Street was originally a corner grocery store. This is a two-story wood frame house with a one-story porch and was built at the turn of the century. Ogle Harris, who was the son of a slave, opened the store in 1914 as an ice cream business that expanded into a grocery store. The store would sell as much as 25 gallons of hand-cranked ice cream on a weekend. The store sold bushels of fresh vegetables from local farms and Harris cut the sides of beef and lamb he sold himself. Harris ran it for 35 years until he passed away in 1949. Then his sons took over and ran it until 1974. A business named Yarn Cloud was here for 10 years, but has relocated. There are thought to be several ghosts in the shop. They move things, create disembodied footsteps and have revealed themselves as full-bodied apparitions.

The Well in the Courtyard

The Well in the Courtyard had been located at 201 Union Street. This location is also home to Poplar Alley. The alley was named for a stand of poplar trees that were once growing here. They were destroyed in a fire in 1916. Alleys like this were to provide access to the rear of buildings. The well was here for everyone's use and is said to be haunted by a ghost that likes it quiet. And the reason people figured this out is because any major sources of noise get silenced. There had been some storage units here for an electric company and they were renovated into shops.

The Occoquan Inn/D'Rocco's Italian Restaurant

The Occoquan Inn was located at 301 Mill Street. The inn is today D'Rocco's Italian Restaurant and The Tap Room. The house was built by Lucien Clark and then a Tyson Janney moved into it with his new bride in the last quarter of the 1800s. The Janneys were a prominent Quaker family in the town and they eventually took over the Mill complex and the Rockledge Mansion and they continued to operate the mill into the 1920s. The house passed to a Samuel Davis, then to Robert Hall, and then to the Dawson family in the 1970s. At that time it was vacant. The Lynn family leased the property and established the Occoquan Inn in the 1970s. They opened a little bar in the basement called the Wade Hampton Lounge. Jim Novak was twenty-three when he took over at the inn in the 1980s. He renamed the little bar the Down Under Tavern. During Novaks tenure, the Occoquan Inn was run as a romantic, white tablecloth restaurant. There was a banquet room upstairs. Gary Savage took over in 1997 and ran it until 2020. Then Jim Novak came back and opened D'Rocco's Italian Joint. He changed the bar downstairs into The Tap Room.

In the 1800s, a Native American lost his life at the foot of the stairway because he seemed to have been embroiled in a love triangle. The innkeeper shot him with a shotgun because the woman in the middle was his wife. The ladies room on the second floor was haunted. A server came up one time and tried to go in the bathroom and the door wouldn't budge. When she stepped away, the door blew open. There is a large old mirror in the bathroom that is original to the building and the manager said people sometimes claimed they saw a spirit in the mirror. This is a tall, handsome Native American male with long black hair. There is a fireplace in the Tea Room and the spirit sometimes appears in the fireplace. There was a large wedding at the inn and the manager was closing everything down around midnight and he went back downstairs and every single place setting had been reversed. He initially thought that a busboy was playing a trick, so the next day he asked the busboy if he had moved the place settings. The busboy said he didn't do it.

Occoquan Spirits was told by Jim from D' Rocco's that after their tour group left one night, an antique clock fell off the wall in the bar and broke, documenting the time the group left. Argos Paranormal investigated the Inn and they used a Phasmabox to communicate, as well as set up two flashlights. The one flashlight turned on and then off. They asked if it was a woman they were speaking with and the flashlight turned on again. Then the Phasmabox said, "Hey" and one of the investigators said, "You're moving around aren't you?" and the Phasmabox replied, "Please look here" and "Investigation." The group asked if the spirits remembered them and the Phasmabox said, "You." Then they got "Scarlett" and "Bring her." One of the guys is sensitive and he got to feeling like there was a child there and when they asked if a child was there, the word "mine" came through.

Rockledge Mansion

Rockledge Mansion is the historic anchor of the town and was built by the founder of Occoquan, John Ballendine, in 1758. Ballendine also built a sawmill, a grist mill, bake houses, an iron foundry and other businesses. He lost everything to foreclosure in 1765. So he was a great visionary, but not so good about paying his debts. Some of his visionary work was with George Washington and Ballendine helped expand Virginia's economy. Nathaniel Ellicott was the next owner of the eleven room Rockledge and he added a kitchen. His family had founded Ellicott City in Maryland. Wood siding was very popular in the late 1700s and so Ellicott put that over the stone that Rockledge had been built from. Ellicott was also a founder of Occoquan. He laid out streets and built a bridge over the Occoquan River that helped bring a stagecoach line to the town. Ellicott left in 1816 and then as mentioned before, the Janney family bought Rockledge and they owned it through 1929.

During the Civil War, Rockledge was turned into a hospital and they drilled holes in the floor to help drain the blood off the floor. The house suffered damage after the Consolidated Stone Quarry started blasting in 1902 and sent rocks flying at the house and damaged the foundation. As business in town went down, so did Rockledge. Fred Almon Barnes bought Rockledge in 1929 and he renovated it, leaving it to his son, Laurence Barnes. He and his wife eventually abandoned it in 1960 and it sat vacant for ten years. A man named Donald Sonner bought it and spent over a million renovating it for his wife as a Christmas present, but that dream would die when the house was burglarized and set on fire. Rockledge was severely damaged. Unable to afford to repair it, the Sonners sold it to Joy and Ronald Houghton who opened it as a bed and breakfast. Their son Lance Houghton was the most recent owner and he was leasing the ballroom to a catering company. It is now for sale for $1.5 million.

Gloria Rouse was the owner Georgetown Caterers and she shared with Hilltop Productions, some of the experiences she and her staff have had. The day she signed the lease, they were offered a room to overnight in and in the middle of the night, about eleven o'clock, they heard footsteps on the stairs and she assumed it was the owner returning to the property. The next morning she said to him, we heard you all come in last night and the owner said, "We didn't come in." This unnerved her, particularly since she was planning on staying a second night. The bartender is set up in the Summer Kitchen and they had a candelabra on the bar and the flames started going around in a circle. All of them doing the same circle. Gloria was called over and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. There is no forced air in that room, so they couldn't understand what was making the flames do that. Here's a really crazy thing. There were investigators there that had a camera on a room and they caught what looked like a bunch of orbs moving sideways through the shot. Gloria watched it and said it looked like snow. Then she left the room and this snow-like stuff changed direction and started coming up from the floor. This was the room that had the drilled floors that have now been sealed. Gloria never felt frightened though. People have reported seeing the spirit of a Confederate Soldier.

The town of Occoquan is more than fun and colorful shops to peruse. It clearly has an haunting air about it. Is Occoquan haunted? That is for you to decide!

Show Notes:

Tour: https://occoquanspirits.com/

HGB Ep. 469 - Western Lunatic Asylum of Virginia

Moment in Oddity - Cirque du Sewer

Many of us have enjoyed one of the various Cirque shows which incorporate acrobatics and sometimes death defying feats! Well let me introduce you to Cirque du Sewer. This troupe is comprised of 2 humans, some cats and rats. You heard me correctly. Melissa Arleth and her assistant Vitaliy have trained her furred feline and rambunctious rodent rescues to perform various tricks and feats of bravery. Their act includes obstacle courses, walking on tightropes and jumping through flaming hoops while their humans perform their own stunts and comedy bits. Melissa stated that her improv skills have improved when her fur-kids decline to perform. She commented that sometimes she thinks, "Look at my amazing cats!" while other times she thinks, "my cat is a jerk". But this was said with a laugh. Besides touring the country, Cirque du Sewer has also performed on America's Got Talent, Nickelodeon's Unleashed and The Gong Show. We love that all of Melissa's cats and rats are rescues, but organizing them into a circus show, certainly is odd.

This Month in History - Dolly Parton Born

In the month of January, on the 19th, in 1946, Dolly Parton was born. Dolly Parton is most well-known as a country singer, but she has proven through the decades to be a woman of multi-talents and she is considered a national treasure in much the same way that Betty White was because she is just a sweet woman, a good person. Parton was born in Tennessee along the banks of the Little Pigeon River in a one-room cabin to a family she described as dirt-poor. She started singing in church when she was six and received her first real guitar when she was eight. She began performing as a child and appeared on the Grand Ole Opry when she was just thirteen. She moved to Nashville in 1964, the day after she graduated high school. Dolly made her album debut in 1967 with "Hello, I'm Dolly." Today, she has sold more than 100 million records worldwide with 25 singles reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Music Chart. She has written over 3,000 songs and won 11 Grammy Awards. Dolly jumped into acting as well and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for the movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." Last year, 2022, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her greatest achievement is her philanthropy, which has been focused on East Tennessee where she grew up. What is your favorite Dolly Parton song? Mine is "Here You Come Again."

Western State Hospital (Suggested by: Cara Danelle) 

Imagine a luxury hotel in an old insane asylum. That is precisely what has happened with the Western Lunatic Asylum or as it was later known, the Western State Hospital. The main administration building is now the Blackburn Inn and Conference Center. This is a good setting for the hotel as this was an asylum meant to be a beautiful, tranquil and moral place for treatment of the mentally ill. This was Virginia's early attempt to provide enlightened care to suffering people. Later this was a medium security prison. Today, it stands as a possibly haunted hotel and complex of condominiums. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the Western State Hospital.

The western part of Virginia was really growing in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and with that came a need for a place to care for the mentally ill. A commission was formed by the state government that was tasked with finding a location for a new asylum. The town of Staunton was chosen. This town had been settled in 1732 and was named for the wife of colonial governor Sir William, Gooch, Lady Rebecca Staunton. We mentioned the Northwest Territory in our last episode on River Raisin Battlefield and Staunton actually served as its capital from 1738 to 1770. The town was officially incorporated in 1801. The Virginia Central Railroad made Staunton a transportation hub in 1854 and it was a supply base during the Civil War. President Woodrow Wilson was born here in 1856. Staunton, Virginia managed to escape much of the destruction that the state of Virginia suffered during the Civil War. Many 18-century structures still exist, including the Western State Hospital. The antebellum asylum is thought to be one of America's outstanding and best preserved early institutional properties.

The hospital was first known as Western Lunatic Asylum of Virginia. The Main Administration Building is known as Building 12 and construction was completed in 1828. Baltimore architect William F. Small designed the building and the builders included George W. Wall, John Hannon and William Good. The building is made of brick done in a Flemish bond, which means you have a long brick and then a smaller square brick side by side. Stretcher bond just does long bricks and the English bond has a row of long bricks and then a row of small square bricks. The center of the building rises three stories and has an octagonal cupola on top surrounded by a sheaf-of-wheat balustrade. This is a long building and the most distinctive features are Greek Ionic porticoes that flank the building and one at the center entrance. The interior was built to be beautiful and elaborate as well with round-arch openings, molded keystones and fanlights with geometric tracery. The doors to patient rooms had small hinged openings, so that patients could be observed. Staff apartments were up on the third floor. In 1844, heating went from just stoves and fireplaces to a hot air heating system for the wings.

In the 1830s, architect Thomas R. Blackburn was hired for an expansive renovation. Blackburn was a protege of Thomas Jefferson and so he added many Jefferson-esque design elements. These included a hand-crafted spiral staircase leading to the cupola and rooftop veranda, spacious room wings and beautiful gardens. More buildings like the large wards known as Building 7 and Building 31 were added until the complex reached its present form in 1851 with the addition of a Chapel known as Building 13. This made Western State Hospital the second largest asylum in America. The large wards were designed by Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long, Jr. Building 31 was built by William B. Phillips in 1842. An octagonal cupola graces the roof of the buildings as well. The second floor housed the patient dining room. Alterations were made in 1848. Building 7 is the largest building on the property and was built in 1840 by Lushbaugh and Grove. This one is four stories tall and also has an octagonal cupola and the building forms a U shape.

The Chapel started off as a dining hall and was built in 1843 and was designed by Thomas Blackburn. The actual chapel was up on the third floor and wasn't in use until 1851 and could accommodate 350 people. The ceiling was arched and frescoes covered the walls with Gothic stained-glass windows that represented different scenes from Biblical history. Female patients made needle work that they sold to fund the interior of the chapel and that raised $900. An 1851 Annual Report stated, "We were honored not long since on a Sabbath afternoon with a visit from the President of the United States, Secretary of the Interior and W.W. Corcoran, Esq. of Washington city. It was the first occasion on which Mr. Fillmore and Mr. Corcoran had ever witnessed a congregation of insane persons assembled for the purpose of divine worship; and such was the character of the scene, that they could but be astounded at the order and decorum which prevailed, as well as be deeply affected by the solemn reverence exhibited for the place, the day and the occasion." Mr. Corcoran bought an organ for the chapel. The organ remains to this day. Ward 3 is also known as Building 6 and was built in 1842 as designed by Robert Cary Long Jr. Craig, Hudson and Graham built it. A modern porch sheltered the main entrance. These were the five main buildings that made up the complex and still exist today mainly unaltered.

Dr. Francis T. Stribling was the superintendent close to when the asylum opened and he believed that the beauty of buildings and the property around them could have a therapeutic effect on the patients. Francis Taliaferro Stribling was born on January 20, 1810 in Virginia. He became the first graduate of the University of Virginia Medical School. Dr. Stribling was only twenty-six years old in 1836 when he became head of Western State hospital. He was the second superintendent and would remain in that position for 38 years. Asylums had opened all across the country and mostly ran as jails. Dr. Stribling had a very different vision. Not only did he believe in natural treatment, but he also believed that insanity was curable. This flew in the face of the establishment. His treatment was referred to as Moral Medicine. This meant that patients would only be restrained when absolutely necessary, they would be fed a nutritious diet and encouraged to exercise. They were encouraged also to attend religious services and practice an occupation. Violent patients were separated from those who could be cured and were not admitted to Western State Hospital. This caused some bitter disputes with other doctors. Stribling helped revise Virginia law as to the care of the mentally ill. And he was a good friend and advisor to Dorothea Dix, who was an advocate for the mentally ill and had a hand in the founding of 30 hospitals for treatment for the mentally ill. Stribling also helped found the American Psychiatric Association.

A poem he wrote in 1838 goes, "When does a man so urgently require the aid of a rational fellow being, To guide his footsteps, as when he wanders thus in mental darkness? Or when does he so much need the knowledge and guidance of others, As when his mind is a wild chaos, Agitated by passions that he cannot quell, And haunted by forms of terror, Which the perverted energy of his nature, Is perpetually calling into being, but cannot disperse." Dr. Robert Hansen, superintendent of Western State Hospital, wrote in 1967, "In an age of the common man, Dr. Stribling possessed an uncommon and profound knowledge of human nature, and the importance of human relationships. He believed that the drives, interests, and needs of the insane were the same as those of others, and that satisfaction of them through human relationships, would help restore their reason." Dr. Stribling was a remarkable man, but you probably have never heard of him. Dr. Stribling died in 1874.

During Dr. Striblings's tenor at the hospital, the grounds resembled a resort with terraced gardens and mountain views from the rooftops. The facility grew to over 22 buildings offering patients the opportunity to take part in farming and animal care. After the passing of Dr. Stribling, things changed at the hospital and the once utopian model disintegrated. As happened at every other asylum, this one became overcrowded and people were basically warehoused and ankle and wrist restraints, physical coercion, and straitjackets were used. Electroshock therapy and lobotomies were employed. The Eugenical Sterilization Act was passed in 1924 in Virginia and patients at Western State were forcibly sterilized. This practice ended in the 1970s when the act was repealed. It's not surprising that the hospital embraced this because Eugenicist Joseph DeJarnette was director of the hospital from 1906 to 1943. He founded the nearby DeJarnette Sanitarium as a private place for the mentally ill. This eventually came under state control in 1975 and was turned into a children's hospital.

The Western State Hospital moved in 1976 to a new location and the property was converted into a medium security men's penitentiary called the Staunton Correctional Center. This prison closed in 2003 and the site sat vacant. The state of Virginia gave the property to the Staunton Industrial Authority in 2005 who planned to build condominiums on the property and they started selling those in 2008. Today, those are known as The Villages at Staunton. This is from the website: "The Villages at Staunton consists of a remarkable collection of buildings situated on 80 sprawling acres in Virginia’s renown Shenandoah Valley. Ranging from Federal Greek Revival structures, built by the same masons who constructed the University of Virginia, to twentieth century Colonial Revival buildings designed to complement the historic setting, this assemblage of buildings is situated on park-like grounds with gently sloping hills and a creek bordered by manicured lawns and weeping willows. The location is immediately adjacent to downtown Staunton, another extraordinary display of historic architecture and charm."

This is a master plan community with a goal to add commercial interests. Along those lines, in 2018 a portion of the complex debuted as The Blackburn Inn and Conference Center, which was then inducted into Historic Hotels of America. The Western State Hospital Complex had already been added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 25, 1969. The Blackburn Inn is a boutique hotel and one look at the rooms makes it hard to believe this was once a hospital and a jail. There is also a restaurant there called Second Draft Bistro with a rotating list of craft beers, ciders and wines. It really is a gorgeous property and it gets even better because it is reputedly haunted.

The main spirits here are thought to be the patients, or should we say, the victims of Dr. DeJarnette. The man tortured many people and their disembodied screams are said to echo through the hallways occasionally. There are disembodied footsteps and doors open and close on their own. The abandoned building he had named for himself, the DeJarnette Sanitarium, is said to be haunted by DeJarnette himself and also has disembodied moans and screams. No one is allowed to visit now, but before it was boarded up, many people reported weird experiences. It is said that shadow people guard the building. A story is told about a little five-year-old boy who was abandoned here and he lost the ability to talk and walk and was confined to a wheelchair. A member of Fife Paranormal had worked there on security and he heard the unmistakable sound of a wheelchair behind him and when he turned around, there was nothing. He continued walking - this is outside - and he again heard the sound of a wheelchair on gravel. He also once saw someone standing out in the weeds where there had once been burials and he went down to confront the person and get them off the property and he saw the weeds move fast towards him and then they stopped moving and there was no one there. Then he looked down the main path and saw a six-foot shadow that slid into the weeds in an inhuman way. He had also heard people say they saw objects levitating inside.

Melissa Battle wrote this comment on a video about the DeJarnette Sanitarium, "I recently stayed at the hotel behind this building and you can definitely feel evil.  It's a crushing feeling in your chest, nausea and a general heaviness in the air that "surrounds" you as you drive along the road behind the building.  The feelings drove me to more research.  As I read out loud to my husband about the history of the place, our TV continued to turn off.  Once I stopped reading, everything worked fine.  I also took some pictures of handprints on a second story window within the stairwell, which can only be reached by ladder from both sides.  These appeared to be in the dust on the inside of the window near the top and small in size like a 5-6 year old child's."

One of the spirits thought to be at Western State Hospital could be Sarah, who was an Irish immigrant who was brought to the asylum after killing her abusive husband. After she got to the hospital, she killed two guards. She was lobotomized after that and locked in a room where she was simply fed until she died. There are rumors that two construction workers disappeared while on the job doing renovations. They were never seen again and their bank accounts were never touched. Did the hospital take them? Did ghosts? Even stranger is the story about an intern from James Madison University. He was part of a group of four interns that were assisting in sorting records at the hospital. One day, he was found dead facing the corner with a file in his lap. A man named Shelby worked on the security detail during the 1980s and he claimed to feel cold spots and to see shadows. The place just felt strange to him.

There are possibly ghosts left in the wake of this next horrible event. On the morning of February 24, 1883, seven male patients were given some liquid medication and shortly thereafter they all lost consciousness.  Four died almost immediately, two died in the next three days, and two recovered. Investigators figured out that poison had been used and a chemistry professor figured out it was extract of the monkshood plant. There were several suspects, but no one was ever charged, so no justice came.

Ieney B from New York wrote on TripAdvisor, "The second night was when we may have encountered a ghost if you believe in that. The two girls sleeping closest to the bathroom woke around 4am to the sound of the shower running. One of my friends got up and turned it off... but it was kind of odd. I mean it is an old building... so believe what you want." And that is one of the things guests have reported happening, the shower turning on by itself. There have been reports of lights flickering and turning off and on by themselves. And locked windows have opened on their own. A Krity Romo on Reddit claimed that she only made it an hour in her room and had to leave because she felt such a heavy presence.

Dave Simms wrote the fiction book "Fear the Reaper" about the Western State Hospital and he told the Newsleader that "Nearby businesses told [him] they often hear constant low moans of 'home' alleged to belong to patients haunting the asylum campus. A friend of [his] lived in the loft apartments built in the portion of Western State Hospital that was renovated and then used as a prison until 2003. [He] recalled how the door to his friend's apartment, which housed windows still dressed with original prison bars, would open without the wind's aid. Not even a heavy duty lock kept the door shut at times." 

Asylums don't have a great reputation, but Western State Hospital really seems to have been a place dedicated to curing the mentally ill. Treating people as humans goes a long way, but as we know, most of the time this didn't happen and eventually the hospital too devolved. And this may have left behind unrest. Is the Western State Hospital haunted? That is for you to decide!

Show Notes:

Ghosts of Staunton Walking Tour: https://visitstaunton.com/things-to-do/haunted-staunton/