A Lexington stone building known as The Castle is said to be haunted by Phil Nunn, a 19th-century delivery boy who lost his life savings to a runaway fiancée and never stopped waiting for her return.
101 East Washington Street, Lexington, VA 24450
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Modest admission for historical society museum; confirm with venue
Access
Limited Access
Historic stone structure; older building with potential accessibility limitations
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1860 · Rockbridge County History Collection · Lawyers Row Courthouse District · 19th-Century Lexington Commercial Architecture
Lexington, Virginia, home to Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute, developed a dense 19th-century institutional and commercial core around its courthouse district. The building known locally as The Castle is a stone structure on East Washington Street that now houses the Rockbridge Historical Society's museum and archives.
The Rockbridge Historical Society maintains collections documenting the county's history, including materials on the Civil War, the Stonewall Jackson era, and the region's agricultural and industrial past. The adjacent Lawyers' Row, a stretch of offices once serving as apartments, borders the Rockbridge County Courthouse complex where Lexington's final public execution took place — an event that remains part of the district's historical record without specific documentation of the date or individual in the sources reviewed.
The Castle's ghost lore stems entirely from one figure: Phil Nunn, a local delivery boy who reportedly lived in an upper floor of the building during the 1890s. His story is one of bad luck and misplaced attachment rather than violence, which makes it unusual among haunted-site legends in the Shenandoah Valley.
Sources
According to Lexington legend documented in a 1996 Roanoke Times feature, Phil Nunn was a delivery boy who lived in an upper floor of The Castle during the 1890s. He had saved money with marriage in mind. When his fiancée abandoned him and left town, taking his life savings with her, Nunn was left with neither the money nor the woman.
Nunn's ghost is described as romantic rather than menacing. The apparition supposedly appears at the upstairs window, staring at the changing moon — a position locals interpret as waiting for the fiancée to return. The more specific and testable claim is that Nunn shuts off the electric street lamp across the street that blocks his view of the moon, creating a flickering phenomenon that tour guides have incorporated into their presentations.
The sound of coins shaking has been reported near the building, attributed to whatever remained of Nunn's financial situation at the time of his death.
The Roanoke Times article is the primary documented source for the Nunn legend. Washington and Lee University's History 295 course, 'The History of Ghosts,' ran an academic ghost archive project for Rockbridge County that includes Lexington sites, though the specific Castle entry was not accessible during research.
Notable Entities
Visit the Rockbridge Historical Society's museum in The Castle and learn about Rockbridge County history. The Phil Nunn legend is part of Lexington's local ghost lore, and tours of the adjacent Lawyers' Row — site of Lexington's last public hanging — originate nearby.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Front Royal, VA
The Belle Boyd Cottage is one of the oldest buildings in Front Royal. Originally built as guest quarters behind the Fishback Hotel, it was where Maria 'Belle' Boyd lived during the Civil War and eavesdropped on Union officers in May 1862, gathering intelligence she then passed to Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. The building was donated to the Warren Heritage Society in 1981 and relocated to the Society's grounds in 1982.
Winchester, VA
Built in 1840 as the Frederick County Court House, this structure became a hospital and Confederate prisoner-of-war holding facility following the Third Battle of Winchester in September 1864. Original graffiti scratched by soldiers from both sides — names, drawings, and dates — is preserved on the walls.
Staunton, VA
The American Hotel was built in 1855 by the Virginia Central Railroad as a traveler's accommodation near Staunton's rail connections. When the Civil War reached the Shenandoah Valley, the hotel was converted into a Confederate receiving hospital in 1862. During Union General David Hunter's 1864 Shenandoah campaign — which burned several structures in the area — the American Hotel was spared. The basement was used as a morgue during the hospital period. President Ulysses S. Grant visited in 1869.