Chatham Manor was a plantation overlooking the Rappahannock River, began in 1768 by William Fitzhugh. It had a dairy, icehouse, barns, stables, fish hatchery, orchard, mill and even a horse racetrack. Many famous historic figures have had ties here, visiting for elaborate parties. The home has been the site of a slave rebellion, a Union headquarters in the Civil War, and a wartime hospital. But the haunted tale most told here is one of an English girl who was in love with a man of whom her parents didn’t approve. Her father sent her to Chatham hoping she could find someone better in America, but her beloved followed her to Chatham and they planned to elope. But their plans were overheard–by a servant girl of George Washington, who was there at the time. George Washington caught the girl in the act of sneaking out and had her suitor arrested. Although the girl was sent back to England where she eventually married and had 10 children, legend has it that she never smiled again, and she swore on her deathbed to return to the only place she was ever happy: Chatham. Since her death in 1790, an apparition known as the Lady in White is seen every 7 years on the anniversary of her death, June 21, walking along the path toward the river. The path is now known as the Ghost Walk.
Chatham Manor
Abram's Delight
Abram’s Delight was the residence of five generations of the Hollingsworth family, beginning with Abraham Hollingsworth in the mid-1700s. It is now a historic museum complex and is rumored to be haunted by Mary, the daughter of David Hollingsworth, and perhaps one other gentleman ghost. The gentleman appears as a tall figure in Quaker clothing on the front steps. Mary died here in 1917 and is described as a masculine woman 6 feet tall who liked to pose as a man to operate a chuck wagon during the Civil War to make money for her family. She was said to have even become engaged to a woman, although she never married–in fact, the girl’s father followed Mary home and made the family shell out money for the deception. Mary died in the house, and still lingers, many say. According to reports, Mary has knocked over vases and furniture, and created the sound of breaking glass although nothing was found to be broken. She has turned up the volume of a stereo and a jukebox, and turned on water and appliances. Some feel that Mary is bored or lonely and just would like to have a little attention.
Fall Hill Plantation
Fall Hill Plantation is a private residence haunted by a Native American Sioux princess named Katina who was engaged as a nanny for the Thorton family who lived here in the 1770s. Witnesses have described Katina’s apparition as well as moving shadows, disembodied voices, electrical anomalies, and doors opening by themselves. Katina’s body is rumored to be buried somewhere on the premises.
Emory and Henry College
Founded in 1836, the historic Emory and Henry College is believed to be haunted. A hanging lamp outside the Music Hall is said to swing by itself, stemming from a heated debate in which a man was pushed out the third story window. He grabbed the lamp and hung from it briefly before falling to his death. Piano playing is also said to be heard when no one is there, and a woman who hanged herself from the shower stall in the MaWa Hall is said to squirt water from the wall.
Weems Botts Museum
Weems–Botts House Museum is dedicated to the history of Dumfries and the two people who lived here: Mason Locke “Parson” Weems and attorney Benjamin Botts. Weems (1759-1825) was a clergyman and author, the first biographer of George Washington, who created the cherry tree story (“I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet”) as well as the tale that Washington threw a silver dollar more than 300 feet across the Rappahannock River. The home was sold in 1802 to Benjamin Botts (1776-1811) who famously represented Aaron Burr at his treason and conspiracy trial. Botts died in 1811 in the Richmond Theater fire. The house is said to be haunted: Witnesses say they have seen books fly off shelves and a bedroom closet door open by itself every day.
Forest Home Cemetery
The 1850 Forest Home Cemetery, established over a former Indian village and burial ground, is said to be home to many strange happenings. The large graveyard contains more than 110,000 gravesites including many famous names, including beer barons such as Jacob Best and Frederick Pabst of Pabst Brewing Company fame and Joseph Schlitz and August Krug of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. Also here are William Davidson, co-founder of Harley-Davidson, and Christopher Sholes, who invented the first typewriter with the QWERTY key layout. Witnesses describe eerie or unwell feelings and visions of splintered coffins and shredded corpses.
Maple Street Bakery
Maple Street Bakery is housed in a building that’s over 100 years old and has been a convalescent home, a private house, an art gallery and an insurance office. And, it’s said to be haunted, as evidenced by footsteps on the porch, electrical anomalies, doors that open or close by themselves and rocking chairs the rock by themselves. Witnesses also say doors lock themselves, pictures fly off walls, covers blow off a fireplace and things move around in the night.
Clinton Road
Clinton Road begins at Route 23 near Newfoundland and runs 10 miles to Upper Greenwood Lake. The area is said to be traversed by ghosts, odd creatures, devil worshippers, witches, and members of the Ku Klux Klan, and is known for being a spot where murderers choose to dispose of bodies. Stories include a ghost of a little boy who drowned here, who appears at a bridge over Clinton Brook near the reservoir if you put a quarter on the yellow line in the middle of the road; a ghost girl driving a phantom Camaro who crashed here in 1988; two ghostly park rangers who died on the job in 1939; an 18th-century iron smelter that some mistakenly call a Druidic temple; phantom trucks and other vehicles; and strange creatures such as animal hybrids, monkeys, hell hounds, or escapees from a nearby attraction called Jungle Habitat, which closed in 1976. Also nearby is Cross Castle, built by Richard Cross in 1905 and now ruins rumored to have been used by Satan worshippers for sacrifices. The castle was razed in 1988, but its ruins remain. One more eerie event told about in these parts is that of the “Iceman,” which began when a murdered body discovered here by a bicyclist in 1983. The autopsy showed ice crystals in blood vessels near his heart, leading investigators to think the body had been frozen so that his death would have been thought to have happened later than it actually did. In 1986 Richard Kuklinski confessed to being the killer and a mob hitman who killed over a hundred others, freezing their bodies the same way, earning him the nickname “Iceman.”
206 N. Broadway
Built in 1882, the Victorian house at 206 N. Broadway St. was originally a private residence, but was a school and a boardinghouse for women until the 1970s when it again became a private home. It is said to be haunted by the ghost of a 19-year-old who was shot and killed at 2:30 a.m. during a party here. It was then purchased by Seth Magosky, a history buff and John Wilkes Booth impersonator who intended to turn the house into a museum, but he died suddenly in 2007.
Gold Hill Hotel
The 1859 Gold Hill Hotel is haunted by some miners who passed away in an accident nearby. Also, former owner William and housekeeper Rosie are said to linger here. William smells like cigar smoke and has dark hair, and redheaded Rosie smells of rosewater perfume.
