The Most Haunted Places in Virginia

Ranked

1. 

   1. Virginia Executive Mansion Richmond · Haunted House / Historic Home · Family Comfort: Moderate

   The Virginia Executive Mansion, completed in 1813, is the oldest continuously occupied governor's residence in the country. Governor Philip McKinney first reported the Lady in Blue in the 1890s, a young woman local lore says died in a carriage accident leaving a mansion party. Later governors, staff, and Capitol Police report seeing her by a window in old-fashioned dress, and chasing her down a staircase only to watch her vanish.

   3 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1890-1973 · retold in 2 later publications

2. 

   2. St Albans Sanatorium Radford · Asylum / Hospital · Family Comfort: Moderate

   St Albans Sanatorium opened in Radford in 1892 as a boys' school, became a psychiatric hospital in 1916, and closed in 2004. Investigators, including teams later featured on cable ghost-hunting shows, report shadow figures in the hallways, slamming doors, and unusually clear recorded voices, especially upstairs. They cite the building's decades of psychiatric patients, many committed under standards of care considered unacceptable today, as context for the reported atmosphere.

   Documented since 1892 · 5 independent sources · 5 media mentions

3. 

   3. Martha Washington Inn Abingdon · Haunted Hotel / Inn · Family Comfort: High

   The Martha Washington Inn opened in 1832 as home to General Francis Preston's family, became a college for young women named for Martha Washington in 1858, and served as a Civil War field hospital before the school closed in 1932 and the building reopened as a hotel in 1935. A 1995 newspaper account traces the inn's best known ghost story to that hospital period: a wounded Union captain, John Stoves, is said to have died on the third floor as a student named Beth played violin for him, and Beth herself died of typhoid weeks later. Guests report her violin on the third floor on nights of a full moon. The same account describes a Union soldier shot while retreating from Confederate troops in 1864 whose riderless horse is reported on the south lawn on moonless nights, and one visiting family has reported a mist figure behind them in a staircase photograph.

   2 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1832-2019 · retold in 9 later publications

4. 

   4. Swannanoa Palace Afton · Haunted House / Historic Home · Family Comfort: Moderate

   Swannanoa is a 1912 Italian Renaissance Revival marble villa that Richmond financier James H. Dooley built on Afton Mountain as a summer home for his wife, Sallie May, and the house later served as a country club and a Cold War era metaphysical school before opening as an event venue with public tours. Sallie May's portrait hangs in the mansion's 4,000-piece Tiffany window above the grand staircase, and tour guides attribute reported footsteps, moaning, and cold spots on the third floor to her. A 2013 paranormal investigation team reported footsteps and what they described as an audible response to a question, and the current owners say their cat still will not go up to the third floor.

   Documented since 1912 · 9 independent sources

5. 

   5. Haw Branch Plantation Amelia · Haunted House / Historic Home · Family Comfort: High Private, not open to visitors

   Haw Branch Plantation, settled by Colonel Thomas Tabb in 1735 with a Georgian house dating to about 1745, was restored by Tabb descendants, the McConnaughey family, starting in 1965. In 1967 Gibson McConnaughey reported a luminous woman in white in the front hall, leaving a scent of orange blossoms. Visitors also describe parlor voices that stop when the door opens, footsteps on the staircase, and a portrait said to change color when looked at directly.

   Documented since 1745 · 5 independent sources · 1 media mention

6. 

   6. Wren Building & President's House Williamsburg · Other Dark Tourism Site · Family Comfort: High

   The Wren Building at the College of William & Mary is the oldest college building still standing in the United States, raised between 1695 and 1700, with the adjoining President's House completed in 1733 and occupied successively by Cornwallis, wounded French and Continental Army soldiers, and Lafayette during the Revolutionary War. The Wren itself served as a hospital for French troops wounded near Yorktown in 1781, then as a Confederate barracks and hospital during the Civil War until Union troops set fire to it in 1862. Students and staff report footsteps trailing them through the Wren's empty halls and fleeting apparitions of soldiers, with some attributing the sounds to the building's namesake, architect Sir Christopher Wren.

   1 original account · documented across 6 decades, 1693-1862

7. 

   7. Gadsby's Tavern Alexandria · Haunted Dining / Bar · Family Comfort: High

   Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria combines a tavern from about 1785 with the 1792 City Hotel, where George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the Marquis de Lafayette were guests. In October 1816 an unidentified woman took Room 8, died on the 14th after swearing everyone present to secrecy, and was buried under a stone reading only a Female Stranger. Staff and guests report a pale, dark-haired woman in period dress near Room 8, vanishing when approached.

   2 original accounts · retold in 6 later publications

8. 

   8. William H. Grant House Richmond · Haunted House / Historic Home · Family Comfort: Moderate

   HauntBound identified two distinct published accounts at this historic home. Reported phenomena include apparitions and phantom footsteps.

   2 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 2007-2014

9. 

   9. Carlyle House Historic Park Alexandria · Haunted House / Historic Home · Family Comfort: High

   Scottish merchant John Carlyle built this Georgian sandstone manor between 1751 and 1753, and in 1755 it hosted the Congress of Alexandria, where Major General Edward Braddock and five colonial governors planned the campaign that opened the French and Indian War; the adjoining Mansion House Hotel later served as a Union field hospital during the Civil War. Published ghostlore attributes a woman's apparition screaming in the rear garden to Carlyle's second wife, Sybil West, and describes a falling ghosts legend of three men who died in falls at the building during its hotel years, in 1862, 1905, and 1912. Visitors report a hand on the shoulder and tugged clothing, and a 2004 investigation team reported photographing orbs and hearing unexplained knocking with no one present.

   3 original accounts · documented in 2004

10. 

    10. Tuckahoe Plantation Richmond · Haunted House / Historic Home · Family Comfort: High

    Tuckahoe Plantation, built around 1733 west of Richmond, is one of Virginia's best preserved 18th century plantation complexes and is best known as Thomas Jefferson's boyhood home, where he lived from about 1745 to 1752 while his father managed the estate for the Randolph family; like other Randolph plantations of the period, Tuckahoe was worked by enslaved people, and cabins from that era still stand on the property. Guides attribute one of the property's reported apparitions, known as the Gray Lady, to Mary Randolph, described in grief after a forced marriage, and a 2011 newspaper article notes a story of a bridal apparition on a garden path that guides say has circulated for more than a century. Visitors and staff report a chilled mist on hot days and lights turning on and off, and a tour guide's husband has reported a sensation of his hair being pulled on the grounds.

    3 original accounts · documented in 2011

Superlatives