Bowling Green in Caroline Country
Haunted by the beating hooves of phantom hourse and dancing children who always appeared every year right before the death of a family member. Loud groans and screams are heard there, followed by the ringing of the servant�s bells. A woman�s scream was heard from downstairs. A young woman has been seen wearing a long white gown, floating in the breeze in the front part of the house. Sometimes children�s voices or humming would be heard, as well as footsteps when the house is empty. The downstairs windows open and shut themselves. Lights go on and off by themselves and doors slam.
A woman�s voice can be heard singing Negro spirituals coming from outside by the old slave�s quarters. A beautiful woman�s voice would sing up and down the scale. There was also a moaning, rhythmic voice that was very melodic. Sounds can sometimes be heard of someone walking around the house. Books have flown off the bookcases. In the front part of the house, guests have sometimes felt that someone was standing over them while they were sleeping, or that they were lying next to them in bed. There was an impression left in the mattress at these times.
A bat has been seen flying around the bedrooms. Sometimes stereos go on by themselves. At ten minutes before eight every morning a tapping sound could be heard coming from downstairs, which was caused by a huge red cardinal. Children�s voices have been heard crying and talking by the stairs.
Clifton, Northern Virginia
The tale of the Bunny Man goes back many many years. It didn't start until 1931, after many murders had already been committed.
Stowe
Charles City, Berkeley Plantation
A famous haunt in Charles City, Virginia, is the Shirley Plantation. The stories there center around a haunted painting that now hangs in a second-floor bedroom. The portrait is of Martha Hill, daughter of the man who built the house in 1723. The painting is about all that remains of Martha, because most of her belongings went with her to England where she died. But by 1858, family descendants started noticing an unusual property of her painting. Whenever it was removed from its spot on the second-floor, the frame would start shaking violently. They moved it to a bedroom on the third floor, stored it in the attic, hung it on the first floor, but the portrait was never "happy" unless it was back in the second-floor bedroom. In 1974, the Virginia Tourist Office put the touchy painting on display at Rockefeller Center in NY, along with other items related to psychic phenomena in VA. Martha Hills� portrait created quite a sensation. People walking by on the street reported it moving constantly. It swayed back and forth so violently that other exhibits were also vibrating, and the phenomenon was documented on the NBC Nightly News. The painting caused such hysteria that it was removed from the display, though that did not dampen Martha�s spirit. Dozens of office workers near the storeroom in which the painting was locked heard incessant knocking sounds coming from the room. When officials retrieved the painting, its frame was so badly damaged, that it had to be sent to Linden Galleries in Richmond for repair. The same eerie vibrations were reported by workers there. Finally, the portrait was returned to Shirley Plantation, where it hangs today, peacefully, above a mahogany chest in Martha�s second-floor bedroom.
Manassas
The Bridge has a one lane car road passing underneath a dual railroad track above it, within the woods along a gravel road. Back in 1903 there used to be an Asylum buried deep within the wilderness of Clifton. People didn't like the idea of having an Asylum just a few miles down the road, so they all got together and signed a petition stating for the Asylum to relocate elsewhere. The petition passed and a new Asylum was built which is now known as "Lorton Prison Facility".
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During the search for the men the police randomly found dead rabbits half eaten and dismembered in a horrific way. Finally they were to find Marcus dead by the Fairfax Station Bridge.
In his hand he held a man-made hammer/knife-like tool, made with a sharp rock and a sturdy branch as a handle. Still searching for Douglas, they kept on finding dead half-eaten bunnys. Finally they named Douglas the Bunny Man.
Three months passed by and the police gave up their search on April 7th 1905. In October people started seeing dead bunnys again. Halloween Night came around, and a bunch of kids went over to the Bridge to drink and fool around.
When midnight came around only three kids remained at the bridge. They were all found dead the following morning. Their throats were slashed with the same type of tool that was found next to the other escapee, Marcus. All up and down their chests were long deep slashes gutting them. The Bunny Man had hung the kids from
one end of a bridge with a rope around their necks, hanging from the overpass with their legs dangling in front of the passing cars.
This happened on Halloween in 1905. The night of Halloween 1906 seven teens were left remaining right before midnight at the bridge. Six remained underneath the bridge while one, Adrian Hatala had remained a good distance from the bridge hoping to have enough time to escape if the same thing happened again.
She witnessed a dim light walking the railroad track right before midnight, and stopping right above the bridge at midnight, then disappearing at the same time a bright flash was seen underneath the bridge. She heard the deafening sounds of horrific screams coming from underneath the bridge that lasted only seconds. She watched in horror as the bodies were hung from the edge of the bridge, same style as the corpses a year earlier. Horrified she ran home. They charged her with the murders, and locked her up in the Lorton Asylum.
In 1913 the same thing happened to nine teenagers on Halloween night. Adrian was still locked up. They dropped her sentence, but the insanity had finally conquered her. She spent her remaining years in the Asylum until she finally died in 1953 of shock. Supposedly she died in her dreams, possibly dreaming of that one dreaded night.
More murders were to take place, although after the murders in 1913 most people stayed clear of the bridge on Halloween. In 1943 six teenagers went strolling out on Halloween night. A couple hours later, all of them were dead, same way as the others. Investigations took place, but nothing was discovered.
1976 the same situation occurs, this time with only three people. The only other incident that occurred since then was in 1987, twelve years ago. Janet Charletier was enjoying the night with her four friends on Halloween night. They had gone driving. They settled around 11.00pm at the bridge, waiting for midnight to come. Midnight came, and Janet was just walking out from underneath the bridge when the lights on the inside wall of the bridge get really bright inside. She felt something suddenly tear at her chest but could not see anyone. She managed to exit the bridge. Completely horrified she hit a hanging body and knocked herself out. When she awoke she found that her hair had turned grey in parts and she was bleeding rather badly. She has been seen sitting on a swinging bench on her balcony every morning just staring in the direction towards the bridge a couple of miles down the road. You can still find her on that bench every morning.
When Halloween night comes around nothing happens until midnight. Right before midnight a bunny or two enters the bridge and his soul (a dim light) walks the tracks above the bridge. When Midnight hits, his soul stops right above the bridge (dead center), and disappears, only to reappear underneath the bridge. From then on it's his soul which lights up the whole area, so brightly that you can't even see him. That's when he instantly kills you by slitting your throat and slashing your chest, only to hang you at the edge of the bridge. You can even see the rub marks that have worn away at the rock where the bodys were swinging.
Emily�s Bridge by the Gold Brook stream
The ghost of Emily waits at the bridge for her lover who never comes. She was stood up at the altar on her wedding day and in a fury she rode her horse toward the bridge. But the horse bolted and threw her over the side and to her death on the rocks. Late at night you can see a white-clothed woman trying to cross the bridge. Then you can hear her dying screams as she plunges toward the water. She�s said to chase young men, but leave women alone. Housing development near the bridge was always stopped by the appearance of her ghost.
It was founded in 1619 by 38 settlers from Berkeley Castle in England. The manor house was built by Benjamin Harrison in 1726. Both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were guests at the plantation. During the Civil War, General McCellan's Federal troops occupied Berkeley after retreating from Richmond. After the war, the plantation was bought by John Jamieson, a Scotsman who served as a drummer boy for McCellan. In 1927, the estate was inherited by his son, Malcolm, and has been in the Jamieson family ever since. Visitors to the restored mansion have reported seeing and hearing the ghost of a little drummer boy. The apparition of a tall, gaunt man has been seen walking along the riverbank, sometimes walking side-by-side with the little drummer boy along the old picket fence that runs up the hill to the cemetery.
Charles City is on the James River in eastern Virginia, 37 miles southeast of Richmond on Hwy 5. Berkeley Plantation, Hwy 5, Charles City, VA 23030. Phone: 804-829-6018.
Another Virginia paranormal hotspot is the Old Town Inn in Manassas, just outside Washington, DC. Recently, a family vacationing from Griffith, Indiana, were caught in a violent thunderstorm one evening and sought lodging at the inn. They were assigned Room 54 of the century-old hotel. The thunderstorm had knocked out TV reception, so the husband, wife, and ten-year-old son sat in their room, talking about their trip. Suddenly they heard the sound of something crashing to the bathroom floor, but when they investigated, they could find nothing wrong. Again they were interrupted by the sound of breaking objects in the bathroom. Again, they could find nothing broken. Shortly after going to bed, the wife was awakened by a strange tugging on her mattress. The odd sensation continued, and she decided to wake up her husband. She told him there was something strange going on and insisted they trade beds. Before long, her husband was experiencing the same sensation. He jumped out of bed, searched around the room, and found nothing. He told his wife that there must be mice in the room, crawled back into bed, and soon fell asleep. His wife lay in the dark, trying to sleep. Then, in amazement, she watched her sleeping spouse levitate off the bed and fall to the floor. She tried to explain to her dazed husband that some force had thrown him to the floor, but his incredulous stare made her drop the subject and get back into bed.They got up the next morning, hoping to get an early start. The husband was putting his clothes on, and his wife had already dressed and was busy blow-drying her hair. The man walked to the window and peeked out: it was pitch black outside. He looked at his watch and realized it was only 1:30 A.M. The bewildered couple undressed and went back to bed. Finally came the light of morning. The family dressed and went downstairs to the inn's restaurant. After breakfast, the husband stopped at the front desk to ask if there was a problem with rodents at the inn. He related what had happened to manager Janie Pugh, who smiled and said: "Oh, that's Miss Lucy up to her old tricks. She usually stays in Room 52 but sometimes wanders into rooms nearby." Miss Lucy's antics had been witnessed by both employees and guests alike. Meanwhile, his wife and son waited at their table in the restaurant. A lady wearing an old overcoat and a nightgown came up to them and asked where to get food to go. The wife pointed to the cashier. The lady came back in a few minutes to thank her for being so kind. Curious about the lady's odd behavior, she watched her walk away and brush past her husband, who was returning to their table. "That old lady who just walked by you is weird," the wife said. "What old lady," replied her husband, "I didn't see anyone."