Throughout the world, there are places imbued with history and heartache, tragedy and death--places where you can feel the energy grow thick and cool as you enter. They are the shadowy roads flanked by gnarled trees, devoid of foliage, that reach up like bony hands from a grave and try to snatch up your vehicle as you pass. They are the barren fields where a thick mist rolls low upon the ground, as if searching for an unsuspecting bystander to envelop and dematerialize, never to be seen again.
These places are the foundations of America's most prolific urban legends and ghost stories. It seems that the creepiness of these places begs for someone to conjure a dark tale based upon them. And when someone gives in to the pleadings and creates a frightening tale about the place, those who visit are sure to experience events that will support the story.
Still, there are other places--places from which dark tales are not spun. They are places where someone will experience the paranormal, but instead of dashing to the internet to post about the experience, they pass the story along to a family member or friend. This family member or friend passes it to another. Somehow, in this era when technology is used as a crutch to support a failing society, these true tales of dark happenings manage to avoid being sucked into the vortex of social media.
These are the places that we seek. In our travels around Virginia and the surrounding states, we make it a point to ask the waitress in the restaurant where we stop for dinner, the cashier at the convenience store where we stop for coffee, or the person in line behind us at Walmart about the local ghost stories and legends. Occasionally, our VAPI shirts or vehicle graphics will elicit a conversation from someone in a parking lot. And the true stories, the ones that you won't find on the internet, are revealed.
What follows is a collection of five of the least known haunts in Virginia. These are places that, whether creepy feeling or not, have been known to frighten locals for decades.
1. Ragged Island Wildlife Management Area
Lying at the southwest end of the James River Bridge, at the entrance to Isle of Wight County, is a marshy area that used to be frequented only by fisherman and those interested in a short walk down the marsh walk to the beach. In the mid-1980s though, the area became the site of a gruesome murder which some associate with the Colonial Parkway Murders. This was a string of unsolved murders of couples, each one like a rock being tossed into the placid surface of our quiet community. Each rock caused wake that rippled out and changed the lives of every local in Hampton Roads at the time.
In 2019, VAPI created a YouTube series called Paranormal Shakedown, which sought information about unsolved crimes from spirits that may have been present when the crime occurred. Since the first murders associated with the Colonial Parkway killer, as well as the disappearance of another young couple who has never been seen again, occurred so close to my hometown, I suggested that this series of murders be the first for Virginia Paranormal to investigate for the new video series.
After extensive research and planning, we began filming the video. Our first 2 stops were along the Colonial Parkway, an unlined road that meanders along from Yorktown to Williamsburg. It was on this road that the first of the murders took place, not far from Williamsburg. Our next stop was at Ragged Island.
The sun had disappeared below the horizon, leaving the parking lot just off of Route 17 deep in the shadows. A single light in the parking lot did little to illuminate the area.
Marsh grass rose above our heads on three sides. It swayed in the wind, whispering as if warning us to leave this dreadful place. A pathway cut through one section of the marsh grass and disappeared into the darkness.
It didn't take long for us to decide that this was one of the most unsettling places we had ever been. From the moment we stepped out of the car, we felt eyes upon us. We tried to ignore the feeling as we pulled out our investigation equipment and started it up.
One of the first words out of the spirit box was "David," the name of the young man that had been killed there so long ago. He and the young woman that was with him had been shot in the back of the head at the other end of the long path through the marsh, where it emerged out onto the beach. David Knobling's truck had been found a day later. The truck was still running. The windshield wipers were on. The keys were in the ignition, and the young woman's shoes were found in the floorboard of the truck.
We began asking questions, hoping to hear David speaking to us. But what we heard was "Leave."
We glanced at each other. As we stood there, the tension had begun to rise. We all felt more and more secluded, despite the highway that was visible through a thin tree line.
A moment later, "It's coming. Get out."
It was coming. We didn't know what it was, but we could all feel the thickening in the air. Our guts were telling us to flee the place, and quickly.
Still, we stayed for a few more minutes, continuing to ask questions. When another warning voice came through the spirit box, we decided we had overstayed our welcome. We jumped into the car and made our way out of the parking lot. I turned in my seat to look out through the rear windshield as the parking lot disappeared out of sight. I could see nothing, but something had definitely been there, and it wasn't something as innocent as the spirit of a young man or woman who had been murdered there decades before. I was something far more sinister.
To find out more about the Colonial Parkway murders and to see what happened on our visit to Ragged Island, check out this video from VAPI.
2. Crozet Tunnel (The Blue Ridge Tunnel)
In the late 1850s, two groups of Irish immigrants and slaves, covered in sweat, rock dust, and black powder, hacked away at the rock deep within Afton Mountain in western Virginia. The work was dangerous and tiring, and they had been at it for almost a decade. Many of their coworkers had fallen ill from Cholera or had been killed by falling rock. The conditions were nearly intolerable. In recent days, though, a rush of renewed hope had swept through the camp. The two groups of worker had begun to hear each other as they worked in the tunnel. Then, just a few days after Christmas in 1856, the pick-axe wielded by a worker on one team suddenly struck something far more brittle that the solid rock they were used to. And from the other side of the thin wall of rock before them, a coworker cried out with joy. The two teams had finally met at the center of what would become the Crozet tunnel.
At the time, the Crozet tunnel was considered a feat of modern engineering. It was one of the longest tunnels in the world and without challenge, the longest in the country. Stretching over 4,200 feet through the Blue Ridge mountains near the town of Waynesboro, the tunnel was constructed as a railway passage that would allow trains to travel easily from eastern Virginia, through the Blue Ridge Mountains to the western part of the state and to states beyond.
Accidents and a cholera outbreak were enough to cause spirits to linger behind at the tunnel, but these weren't the only deaths that occurred here. The tunnel had a fatal flaw.
On August 8, 1910, an Italian immigrant named Francesco Rancoli, his second wife, and their 4 children, boarded the Chesapeake and Ohio No. 3 train in Norfolk, bound for a new life in Cleveland, Ohio. The family travelled in a segregated car, reserved only for Italian immigrants.
They crossed most of Virginia as the sun began to set, and began to climb Afton Mountain after midnight. Perhaps lulled by the gentle swaying of the train car or exhausted by a long day of travel, the family somehow missed the engineer's warning to close the windows as the train passed through the Blue Ridge Tunnel beneath Afton Mountain.
It isn't known who the first immigrant was to awaken and notice the train car filling with smoke, but what is certain is that chaos ensued. As people in the train car awakened to the yells and cries of others, they believed that the train had caught fire. They began opening more windows, which allowed more smoke into the train. As the panicked passengers tried to flee the train, they found one of the doors locked and began to break windows. Again, more smoke filled the train car. Virginia, the Rancoli's youngest, was the first to arrive at the rear door of the train car. She managed to get the door open, and without considering the deadly consequences, leapt down between the end of the train car and the one close behind it. She was instantly killed, her body shredded and mangled by the wheels.
At a stop further down the line, Francesco, his wife, and their oldest son left the train and headed back to retrieve the remains of Virginia's body. She is said to be buried somewhere in Basic City, but thus far her grave has yet to be found.
3. Meems Bottom Bridge
According to the Northern Virginia Daily, the Meems Bottom Covered Bridge in Shenandoah County bears the label of the longest covered bridge in Virginia, as well as the only covered bridge still open to vehicular traffic.
There were bridges at this location as far back as the mid-1800s. The first was believed to have been burned by Stonewall Jackson's Rebels in 1862. According to Wikipedia.com, Confederate Captain John McNeill led a raid just before dawn on the Union troops guarding the Meems Bottom Bridge. Captain McNeill was mortally wounded in the raid.
The second bridge to be constructed on the site washed away in a flood in 1870, as the one constructed afterward in 1877. The bridge that was constructed a year later remained there until the current bridge was constructed in 1894.
On Halloween night in 1976, the bridge was set ablaze by vandals. Whatever remained of the original timbers were salvaged and used to construct a new bridge, which was also outfitted with steel girders.
In July of 2003, a tragedy of a different sort occurred near the bridge. Brenda Paz was a teenager who, like many others, ended up running with the wrong crowd. MS-13 is renowned for being one of the most violent street gangs in America. They proved themselves to the community around Mount Jackson as being worthy of the title when the repeatedly stabbed Brenda. Her throat was slit almost to the point of decapitation, and her body was dumped along the west bank of the Shenandoah River. A fisherman and his son discovered her badly decomposed remains, tangled in some briers on the riverbank. Forensic analysis showed that she was dead before she was put into the river, and that she had been either killed at the site or killed somewhere else and dumped there. The multitude of gang-related tattoos were what led investigators to charge members of MS-13 for her murder.
Now, it is rumored that if you visit the bridge at night, you might catch a glimpse of the young girl standing in the bridge. VAPI visited the site about a year ago. Check out the video we posted on YouTube to see the bridge for yourself.
4. Park Gate Plantation
In 1687, George Brent, a colonist who owned a home called Woodstock on the Potomac River, was granted 7500 acres of land near the modern day town of Nokesville, Virginia. There, in the heart of his land, he built a small cabin. His grandson, also named George, came to the tract of land and built the Parkgate Plantation House next to the cabin his grandfather had constructed. The cabin then became a summer kitchen for the home.
The house was originally built for the caretake of the land. The 7500 acres of land was divided into 100 acre parcels that were leased out for tobacco growth. However, by the time of the American Revolution, the land was no longer able to sustain tobacco growth. The 100 acre parcels were abandoned by those who leased them. The land began to be sold off parcel by parcel.
Just after the end of the war, the home and remaining 800 acres was sold to Thomas Jessie Lee and his wife, who was the niece of George Washington. At the time, Washington had business relations in the town of Culpeper, a 30 mile ride on horseback from his home at Mount Vernon. The Parkgate Plantation became his first overnight stop on the journey.
After the death of Thomas Jesse Lee, the home changed hands a multitude of times. When the Civil War permeated the area, somehow the home managed to survive and became a field hospital for the wounded for about 2 weeks following the nearby Battle of Bristow.
In 1976, the home was purchased and restored to its original condition. At that time it was placed on the county, state, and national registries of historic places.
Tom Russell, the current owner of the home, operates River Eagle Stables on the property. There has been a great deal of paranormal activity in the home, the family cemetery nearby, as well as in the outbuilding used as the stables.
In early 2021, VAPI had the pleasure of investigating this lovely, historic home. While most of the evening was uneventful, there was some indisputable evidence of the paranormal that occurred in the stables while we investigated upstairs. Also, Mr. Russel graciously allowed us to sleep in one of the upstairs bedrooms on an antique rope bed. At around 8 in the morning, one of the investigators, Will, and I were awakened by footsteps coming up the stairway just outside our open bedroom door. I sat up in bed and watched the top of the stairs for someone to appear, thinking perhaps the home's current caretake or Mr. Russell had arrived. The footsteps stopped at the top of the steps, but no one appeared.
Be sure to watch our video on the investigation to see the home, the land, and some of the activity we experienced while there.
5. Triangle Hunt Club
This mid-1800s farmhouse, located in the lower end of King and Queen County, was given to the African-American family that ran the plantation just after the end of the Civil War. It has remained in the family ever since. Currently, the owner leases the land and home to the Triangle Hunt Club. The home is not only a headquarters for the hunt club though, it also acts as a social meeting spot for its members. In the fall, the property comes to life. Some members have parked their campers on the periphery of the yard and sleep there on the nights before they hunt. Others sleep inside the 3 story home. There are some, however, who refuse to sleep in the home alone. Although, even those who sleep in campers have complained of being awakened by spirits at night.
One of the ghostly tales surrounding the home is of a woman in a long, white dress that is often seen on the second floor balcony overlooking the front yard. Many have seen here there, and when her presence was mentioned to the property owner, he remarked that the description sounded a lot like that of his nanny when he was a young boy in the 1950s. Why she remains in the home is unknown.
One of the members of the club was asleep in his camper at the front of the property one night when a sound woke him up. Shaking off the sleep, he sat up and found a young girl in a very old-fashioned dress standing at the foot of the bed watching him. He recognized immediately that she wasn't a living child. Blinking and rubbing his eyes, he opened them again to find her still there. "I'm going to leave you alone, and you just leave me alone," he told her, and lied back down to return to his slumber.
Men who have been hunting in the surrounding woods have claimed to hear flute music echoing through the forests. The sound grew louder and louder, then slowly began to grow quieter as if someone with a flute had approached and passed the hunter. There was a great deal of troop movement through the county during the Civil War as well as a skirmish that took place on the grounds around the King and Queen County Courthouse nearby. Could this be the source of the music heard playing in the woods?
Perhaps the most well-known ghost story is rooted in the tragic death of an 8 year old boy who was the son of one of the club members. It is common for the hunters to bring their families to the club for the weekend, and such was the case with one man who brought his son along to play with the other club members' children while he hunted. One evening in 2003, while the club members were out hunting, the 8 year old boy who was said to resemble Dennis the Menace, was left in the home with a 12 year old boy. While playing on the second floor, the 12 year old boy went to the 3rd floor and found a gun. Without realizing it was loaded, he brought it back down to the 2nd floor to show the other boy. While handling the weapon, it was discharged and the bullet struck the younger boy in the chest. In a panic, the older boy put the gun back where he had found it, moved the younger boy downstairs to the front porch, then ran out to try to find an adult. By the time the adults returned to the home, the younger boy was dead.
Those who were members of the club in 2003 and have remained members since, as well as new members, have reported seeing and hearing the spirit of the boy in the home. While the adults were playing cards one evening, the kids were outside playing hide-and-go-seek. A mother decided to go looking for her children and, not finding them outside, walked up the stairs to the 2nd floor to see if they were there. Standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the 3rd floor, she spotted the spirit of the young boy peering at her over the staircase banister.
In 2020, Virginia Paranormal Investigations had the privilege of being the only investigation team to have ever visited the hunt club. We spent the entire night in and around the building, listening for the footsteps of the young boy, watching for the woman on the balcony, and listening for flute music echoing out from the forest. Take a look at the video below to see our investigation and to hear what we found.
So there you have it: the 5 Lesser Known Haunts in Virginia. Thanks for visiting VAPI's blog, VAPI Unplugged, and stay tuned for more fascinating blog posts to come. Don't forget to subscribe so that you won't miss anything!
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