The Abijah Thomas House, aka the Octagon House, is a historic octagon house and private residence originally built in 1856. Its outer walls are bricks made by slaves on the property. Witnesses say the house is haunted, especially in the “dark room” or storage room. Apparitions of shackled, abused slaves and blood dripping down walls have been reported.
Abijah Thomas House - Octagon House
Randolph College
Randolph College, founded in 1891 as Randolph-Macon’s Woman’s College, is said to be haunted. One haunted spot is Mary’s Garden, named after Mary Stokes. Student legend says if you stray from the path and cross the garden, you will never graduate or never marry. Another story tells of a student who was murdered while wearing purple clogs. Her ghost is said to have been heard walking in her clogs all around the dorm where she lived. Also, the apparition of an old woman has been reported to appear in the West Dating Parlor.
Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Military Institute, which originally opened in 1839 and has boasted famous professors of the likes of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, is said to be haunted by many ghosts, including an apparition of a hanged man.
Jackson’s possessions and the skeleton of his horse are displayed in the chapel. Students have reported a blue light that drifts through the halls and enters Jackson’s classroom. A ghost called the Yellow Peril with a bony yellow face shows up in the third floor of the barracks, sometimes accompanied by strange wails. The statue of Virginia Mourning Her Dead by Moses Ezekiel is said to emit moans and cries and even weeps real tears. And another ghost is said to knock on the dorm doors just in time to wake up cadets for sentry duty. Cadet-guided tours are offered every day, according to reports.
Shafter Lake
Shafter Lake was named for Major General William Rufus Shafter, who discovered it in 1875. When the town lost a county-seat war with nearby Andrews, it became little more than a ghost town. Folks say a ghostly Lady in White roams the graveyard since that time, and a phantom Confederate troop, complete with horses, may come galloping by during the full moon. It’s believed to be Shafter himself and his men.
Granbury Opera House
Granbury Opera House is reported to be haunted by a Shakespeare-loving apparition of a tall figure in black, with black boots. He is known at times to break into a spirited–no pun intended–performance. Some believe he is the ghost of John Wilkes Booth.
Milam Street
Milam Street is haunted, locals say, by a headless ghost. Although the ghost’s identity is unknown, his pattern is unwavering: He walks from Riverside Cemetery due north. He’s thought to be a Confederate soldier who lost his head to a cannonball.
Frio River
The White Lady of Frio River is said to manifest as a wisp of foggy or the apparition of a woman wearing a white dress. She is believed to be Maria Juarez, who caught the eye of her sister’s husband, Gregorio. Maria was engaged to Anselmo Tobar, so she spurned Gregorio’s advances, and he shot her to death in anger. Gregorio went into hiding as Maria was buried in her wedding dress. Gregorio was found, tried, and sent to prison. It is said that Maria lies here in an unmarked grave, and her ghost wanders in the canyon as a kindly spirit all in white.
Berry College
The hauntings at Berry College have earned it the nickname Scary Berry. The ghost of a female student is supposed to haunt Ford Hall. She hanged herself upon receiving news that her boyfriend was killed in World War II. Blackstone Hall has several ghosts, the most well known perhaps being Sepia Boy. A ghost named Ruth, a former house mother, haunts Morton-Lemley Hall. Martha Berry is believed to haunt the Hoge Building, and Oak Hill, her former home, is now a museum, and is rumored to be extremely haunted as well. Many more ghosts are known to Berry students, including the Green Lady, a green misty phenomenon seen walking between the two parts of the campus. She’s thought to be the spirit of a girl who drowned in the nearby creek in the 1930s.
Brenau University
Agnes is the ghost who is believed to haunt the 1878 women’s college called Brenau University. A former student in the early 1900s, Agnes is said to have hanged herself. Her reasons for her distressed differ depending on who tells the story. She may have been ostracized by sorority members or denied the lead in a dance performance. Her hanging site was either the balcony of Pearce Auditorium or at the swimming pool below the Pearce complex, which is walled up and some say never even existed. Some say her apparition can be seen hanging in the auditorium.
Panola Hall
Panola Hall is a Greek Revival home that was built in 1854 for Henry Trippe. It is said to have been haunted since the 1870s by the ghost of a girl named Sylvia. She appears as a shy, silent woman with dark hair and a full white skirt, usually in the second-floor hallway or bedroom, on the stairs, or looking out the living room window.
