Haunted Places in Virginia: 10 Sites With Real History

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The most documented haunted places in Virginia sit where the history is heaviest: Jamestown's 1609-1610 Starving Time, the December 1862 battle at Fredericksburg, and the Williamsburg houses that served as hospitals in two wars. Below are 10 haunted places in Virginia, each split into what the record supports and what is only told as legend. Most of the ghost stories come from ghost-tour operators and paranormal websites, not from independent documentation, and we flag that wherever it applies.

Quick answer if you're short on time: Of the haunted places in Virginia listed here, the Wren Building, Chatham Manor, and Kenmore are the best-documented that you can enter, the Sunken Road at Fredericksburg is the most tied to a real battle, and the Bunny Man Bridge is the one with the most legend and the least evidence.

1. Peyton Randolph House (Williamsburg)

The oldest section of the house dates to about 1715. Sir John Randolph bought it in 1724 and enlarged it, and his son Peyton Randolph (1721-1775), the first and third president of the Continental Congress, later joined the sections into the Georgian house that stands today. During the Civil War it served as a hospital for Union and Confederate troops wounded at the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862. Colonial Williamsburg restored it in 1938-1940, and it became a National Historic Landmark in 1970. Ghost-tour sites call it the most haunted house in America and say about thirty people died inside; we found no independent count behind that number. Reported footsteps, voices, and moving doors are visitor and guide accounts.

Can you visit: Yes, as part of Colonial Williamsburg. Check which buildings and ghost tours are running on the day you go.

2. Wren Building, College of William & Mary (Williamsburg)

The Wren Building was built between 1695 and 1700 and is the oldest college building in the United States. Fires in 1705, 1859, and 1862 destroyed it in part, and Union soldiers occupying Williamsburg set the 1862 fire. The present structure was completed in 1928-1931. The chapel crypt holds the remains of notable Virginians, including Sir John Randolph and his son Peyton. Whether Sir Christopher Wren designed it is still disputed among historians. Students and ghost-tour guides report phantom footsteps and apparitions of soldiers, but these are anecdotes that no one has verified.

Can you visit: Yes, in part. It is an active campus building, so access to the chapel and classrooms can change. Confirm with the college.

3. Jamestown (Historic Jamestowne)

English colonists founded Jamestown on May 14, 1607. During the winter of 1609-1610, the Starving Time, only about 60 of the original 214 settlers survived, and archaeology suggests cannibalism occurred. John Rolfe married Pocahontas in 1614, and she died on March 21, 1617, at Gravesend, England, where she was buried beneath the chancel of St George's Church; the church burned in 1727 and her exact grave is unknown. In other words, Pocahontas is not buried in Virginia, and we found no documented ghost legend tied to her at Jamestown. Paranormal claims about the site are thin and come from enthusiast websites. We include it among the haunted places in Virginia because of its record of mass death, not because of any verified haunting.

Can you visit: Yes. Historic Jamestowne is a National Park Service site, and the 1607 fort area has been excavated since 1996.

4. The Sunken Road and Marye's Heights (Fredericksburg)

The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11-15, 1862. General Robert E. Lee's Confederate army held a strong position on Marye's Heights, and Union attacks under General Ambrose Burnside failed. Union casualties exceeded 12,600 and Confederate losses were about 5,300. The Sunken Road, a stone-walled lane at the foot of the heights, is a National Park Service site. Visitors and local lore describe gunfire, commands, and marching soldiers along the road, and one frequent story is the ghost of Confederate soldier Richard Kirkland, who gave water to wounded Union soldiers. The battle is documented. The sounds and apparitions are anecdotal.

Can you visit: Yes. The Sunken Road is part of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, and it is public. Stay on the marked paths.

5. Chatham Manor (Stafford County, opposite Fredericksburg)

William Fitzhugh built Chatham in 1771 with enslaved labor. During the December 1862 battle it was both a Union headquarters, for General Edwin Sumner, and a field hospital. Walt Whitman visited in December 1862, and Clara Barton, later the founder of the American Red Cross, is also recorded among those who volunteered there. Today it is the headquarters of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Ghost accounts of the manor come from paranormal blogs and ghost-tour sites, not from the park service. The hospital record, by contrast, is thoroughly documented.

Can you visit: Yes, as a National Park Service site. Check hours and whether the interior is open.

6. Kenmore (Fredericksburg)

Kenmore was completed in 1776 for Fielding Lewis and Elizabeth Washington Lewis, George Washington's sister, on a 1,300-acre plantation where the Lewises enslaved more than 80 people. It is known for its plaster ceilings, became a National Historic Landmark in 1970, and served as a Union hospital after the 1864 Battle of the Wilderness. Ghost-tour stories say Fielding Lewis's spirit paces the master bedroom and disturbs the fireplace tools. The standard encyclopedia entry on the house does not mention any haunting, so this is tour-guide lore.

Can you visit: Yes. Kenmore is a house museum with guided tours, run by The George Washington Foundation.

7. Mary Washington House (Fredericksburg)

George Washington bought this white frame house in 1772 for his mother, Mary Ball Washington, and she lived there for her last 17 years, until her death in 1789. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities acquired it in 1891, which prevented it from being dismantled for the Chicago World's Fair. It is now an 18th-century period museum. Local stories say Mary Washington's spirit is still there. We found that claim in ghost-tour material only, with no documentation behind it.

Can you visit: Yes, as a museum run by Washington Heritage Museums. Confirm tour times.

8. The Martha Washington Inn (Abingdon)

General Francis Preston built the Federalist mansion in 1832 for his family of nine children. In 1858 it was sold to the founders of Martha Washington College, a women's college that ran for about seventy years. During the Civil War the building was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers. It opened as an inn in 1935 and is now part of Historic Hotels of America. The best-known ghost story tells of a student nurse named Beth who played the violin for a wounded soldier. Other stories add a reappearing bloodstain and a phantom horse. These legends are told by the inn and by ghost-story websites, and we found no period source for them.

Can you visit: Yes, as a guest or a restaurant customer. It is a working hotel and spa at 150 W. Main Street.

9. Hollywood Cemetery and the Richmond Vampire (Richmond)

Hollywood Cemetery holds President Jefferson Davis, other Confederate officials, and more than 18,000 enlisted Confederate soldiers, who are marked by a 90-foot granite pyramid built in 1869. The legend of the Richmond Vampire says that a blood-covered creature escaped the collapse of the Church Hill railroad tunnel on October 2, 1925, and vanished into the W.W. Pool mausoleum. The documented part: the collapse killed several workers, and a 28-year-old fireman, Benjamin F. Mosby, was scalded and died at Grace Hospital. The vampire tale connecting him to the tomb did not appear online until 2001 and in print until 2007, and the broader vampire legend appeared in a 1976 student newspaper, so it is a recent legend.

Can you visit: Yes. Hollywood Cemetery is open to the public; follow its posted rules and respect the burial sections.

10. Bunny Man Bridge (Clifton / Fairfax Station)

Fairfax County police took two reports in October 1970. On October 18, a couple parked on Guinea Road in Fairfax Station reported a man in white with what looked like rabbit ears who threw a hatchet at their car, and on October 29 a security guard reported a similar figure with an axe. No suspect was ever charged. The Colchester Overpass, the railroad bridge where the legend now sits, was not part of the original reports, and the escaped-asylum backstory has no record behind it. We cover the case in full in our article on the Bunny Man, Virginia's real urban legend.

Can you visit: The bridge sits in a residential area. View it from a public road, respect the neighbors, and do not trespass on the railroad.

What's Actually Verifiable

Across these haunted places in Virginia, the dates, the battles, the hospital use, and the 1970 police reports are documented. The ghosts mostly are not. The Richmond Vampire tale is largely a modern story, no historical record places a ghost of Pocahontas at Jamestown, and several of the figures at the houses come from tour operators with a reason to tell a good story.

Visiting Haunted Places in Virginia Responsibly

Haunted places in Virginia range from National Park Service sites and museums to working hotels, active campus buildings, and a residential bridge. Stay on public property, book official tours, and do not enter closed buildings. Trespassing is illegal, and the battlefields and cemeteries are also memorials. For the wider American picture, see our guide to haunted places in the United States, and for sites that welcome visitors, our list of real haunted places you can actually visit on Halloween.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most haunted place in Virginia?

There is no objective ranking of haunted places in Virginia. The Peyton Randolph House in Williamsburg, the Sunken Road in Fredericksburg, and the Martha Washington Inn in Abingdon are the ones most often named. Treat any “most haunted” label as marketing, because the ghosts are unproven and the history behind each site is what can be checked.

Is Colonial Williamsburg really haunted?

Colonial Williamsburg has a large ghost-tour industry, and houses such as the Peyton Randolph House and the Wren Building are the most promoted. The buildings did serve as hospitals in the Revolutionary and Civil War eras, which is documented. The ghost reports are anecdotes from guides and visitors, and nothing independent confirms them.

Is the Bunny Man Bridge real?

The Colchester Overpass in Clifton is a real railroad bridge, and the Bunny Man reports are real: Fairfax County police took two in October 1970 and charged no one. The asylum backstory and the bridge link were added later. Trespassing at the site is illegal, so view it from a public road.

Can you visit the haunted places in Virginia in one trip?

Not in a single day, but Williamsburg and Jamestown fit into one, and Fredericksburg's Sunken Road, Chatham, Kenmore, and the Mary Washington House fit into another. Abingdon is in the southwest corner of the state and Richmond is in the middle. Confirm hours first, since museum schedules change.

Is the Richmond Vampire legend true?

No evidence supports a vampire. The 1925 Church Hill Tunnel collapse was real, and fireman Benjamin Mosby died of scalding at Grace Hospital. The story that he or a creature fled to the Pool mausoleum did not appear online until 2001, so it is a modern legend built on a real accident.

Is it legal to explore abandoned haunted places in Virginia?

Not without permission. Entering a closed building or private land without the owner's consent is trespassing, and cemeteries and battlefields have posted hours. The legal ways to see these sites are the official tours and public visiting hours listed above, which give you better history than a flashlight and a dare.