The Most Haunted Places in Virginia
Virginia has 163 documented haunted locations in the HauntBound index.
Top 10 identified after source-level analysis of the 16 strongest Virginia candidates.
By the numbers
- Total documented
- 163
- Museum / Historical Site
- 45
- Haunted House / Historic Home
- 29
- Haunted Hotel / Inn
- 14
- Family-friendly
- 161
- Bookable
- 58
- Oldest documented site
- Bacon's Castle (1665)
- Most-reported phenomenon
- apparitions
Ranked
- 1. Virginia Executive Mansion The Virginia Executive Mansion, completed in 1813, is the oldest continuously occupied governor's residence in the country. Its ghost, the Gray Lady, is said to have first appeared to Governor Philip McKinney in the 1890s: a young woman in a taffeta gown at an upstairs window, who local lore says died when her carriage overturned as she left the mansion. Governor Linwood Holton told of paintings found face down in the morning, and a Capitol Police officer has described a smiling woman in white by a mirror on the stairs during an overnight patrol. 3 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1890-1973 · retold in 2 later publications
- 2. St Albans Sanatorium St Albans Sanatorium opened near Radford in 1892 as a boys' preparatory school on a 56-acre tract, became a private psychiatric hospital in 1916, and moved into a new building next door in 1980; the original buildings are now a paranormal-investigation venue. Investigators, including teams later featured on cable ghost-hunting shows, report shadow figures in the hallways, slamming doors, objects moving without cause, and unusually clear recorded voices, especially upstairs. Documented since 1892 · 5 independent sources · 5 media mentions
- 3. Martha Washington Inn 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. Swannanoa Palace 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. Haw Branch Plantation 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. Wren Building & President's House 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. Gadsby's Tavern 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. William H. Grant House HauntBound identified two distinct published accounts at this historic home. Reported phenomena include phantom footsteps. 2 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 2007-2015
- 9. Carlyle House Historic Park 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. Visitors also report a trio of figures on the front lawn, a hand on the shoulder and tugged clothing, and anomalous photographs taken inside the house in the evening hours. 3 original accounts · documented in 2004
- 10. Tuckahoe Plantation 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
St Albans Sanatorium holds the strongest documented record here but does not take the top slot: the documentary lineage behind it can only be read at low confidence.
By city
- Richmond: 19 documented sites
- Williamsburg: 10 documented sites
- Winchester: 8 documented sites
- Virginia Beach: 7 documented sites
- Staunton: 7 documented sites
- Norfolk: 6 documented sites
- Alexandria: 6 documented sites
- Hampton: 5 documented sites
- Petersburg: 5 documented sites
- Fredericksburg: 5 documented sites
- 82 more across the rest of Virginia
Press images
- St Albans Sanatorium Nyttend hauntbound.com/images/locations/virginia/st-albans-sanatorium/hero.jpg
- Virginia Executive Mansion Lwoodyiii (Leonard Woody), CC BY-SA 3.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2011-07-10_Virginia_Executive_Mansion.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/virginia/virginia-executive-mansion/hero.jpg
- Martha Washington Inn RebelAt hauntbound.com/images/locations/virginia/martha-washington-inn/hero.jpg
- Swannanoa Palace Colchicine (Kory Steele) hauntbound.com/images/locations/virginia/swannanoa-palace/hero.jpg
- Haw Branch Plantation BrassCreek1245, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HB_JAN2025a.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/virginia/haw-branch-plantation/hero.jpg
- Wren Building & President's House https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/ChristopherWrenBuilding.jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChristopherWrenBuilding.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/virginia/the-presidents-house-wren-building/hero.jpg
- Gadsby's Tavern Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2021_Gadsby%27s_Tavern,_134_and_138_North_Royal_Street_at_Cameron,_Alexandria.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/virginia/gadsbys-tavern/hero.jpg
- William H. Grant House Morgan Riley, CC BY 3.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OldShelteringArmsHospitalRichmond.JPG hauntbound.com/images/locations/virginia/william-h-grant-house-vcu-richmond/hero.jpg
- Carlyle House Historic Park Foolish Productions Photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlyle_House_20210420.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/virginia/carlyle-house-historic-park/hero.jpg
- Tuckahoe Plantation Harrisonkenneth, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tuckahoe_Plantation.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/virginia/tuckahoe-plantation/hero.jpg
Images listed here may be republished with the credit shown; all other HauntBound images are not offered for press use.
Superlatives
- Oldest documented site: Bacon's Castle Documented since 1665.
- Top haunted stay: The Historic Boxwood Inn Overnight stays bookable.
Methodology
For purposes of the HauntBound Index, "most haunted" means the location with the strongest documented record of reported haunting phenomena. We evaluate the quantity, independence, persistence, and documentary quality of published reports. We do not attempt to determine whether paranormal phenomena are real, and we never count a source that only establishes a building's history as evidence of haunting claims. Repetitive coverage is subject to diminishing returns, so a story retold many times does not outrank a story independently documented. Rankings never consider commercial relationships.
A site whose own operator or originator disputes its haunting, or whose documentary lineage we can only read at low confidence, may be ranked but does not hold the top position; we show the record without endorsing the claim.
The 2026 Index reflects sources identified and classified as of September 15, 2026.
Updated September 29, 2026: documented totals now exclude the private homes, operating hospitals and venues with nothing left to visit that were withdrawn on September 25 and 26. The ranked ten are unchanged.
Corrected October 19, 2026: the Virginia Executive Mansion's ghost is known as the Gray Lady, not the Lady in Blue, and the William H. Grant House's documented reports run from 2007 to 2015, not 2014. Ranks and counts are unchanged.
Updated October 19, 2026: listings that could not be sourced, or that are private or have no public access, were withdrawn after an October review, so some of the state's town counts are lower. The documented total stays as published until the November update.
Updated October 23, 2026: more listings were withdrawn after a dignity and sourcing review, so some of the state's town counts are lower. The documented total stays as published until the November update.
This is a documentation ranking, not a visitation guide; sites not open to visitors are marked on their entries.