Doors that open on their own, candles that mysteriously move, and the unexplained wails of a baby—these are just some of the eerie encounters Joyce Garner and other Colonial Williamsburg employees say they’ve had with the supernatural over the years.
Joyce and her family have lived in Williamsburg for generations. Her roots run deep—all the way back to the late 1800s when her Grandma Fanny and Grandpa Fred lived in the Reid House. Joyce has been working as an interpreter for two decades and over that time, she’s collected quite a few tales that will raise your eyebrows and give you the chills. Are they legit? Could the Historic Area really be haunted? She shared some accounts with us. We’ll let you be the judge…
Mary Dickinson Shop
One evening, when they were closing up shop, Joyce says they brought in the six to eight hats that hang on a ribbon on the door and set them on the counter. Early the next morning, when Joyce went to open up, she claims all of the hats were scattered across the floor. Some would chalk it up to a blast of air but she’s convinced the spirits of children from the nearby Geddy House got mischievous that night.
Geddy House
In addition to those children Joyce just referred to, she says there have also been several accounts of a baby crying inside the Geddy House. There’s no indication as to whom that baby may be. Another oddity? Every now and then, if you take a picture of the front door late at night and use your flash, we’re told you may capture an unexplainable mist.
Peyton Randolph House
“That’s the scariest house,” Joyce whispered when recollecting stories of the Randolph House. According to her, employees have seen the apparitions of at least two slave children—one of them a girl. This spirit seems to steps out of the wall and looks at you as if to say, “Why are you in my house?” According to ghost author L.B. Taylor, Jr., this is also where a tour guide says she felt an “evil” presence try to push her down the stairs. Over the years, several people have reported waking up to a woman at the end of their bed, anxiously wringing her hands, as if to warn of impending danger.
Our team took this picture of the Randolph House in total darkness. How would you explain the glowing window?
Wetherburn’s Tavern
A friend of Joyce’s who worked as an attendant was setting up for an evening program and called security to let them know which house they’d be using. She then placed all of the candles on the table in the Parlor Room and stepped outside to wait for the tour. When she came back in to light the candles, all of them had been knocked to the floor.
Governor’s Palace
Joyce shared with us a personal encounter she had in this house—as she was setting up one night for a storyteller. She tells us there was still a fair amount of daylight left, so she closed the shutters to block out the sun. Next, she set up the chair and the candle holder for the actor and walked across to the south room to make sure everything was out of sight for the guests who were about to enter. When she re-entered, the large candle holder had moved to the opposite side of the room. That same night, they found sand along one of the benches as if someone had been walking on it.
Have you had any spooky encounters in the Revolutionary City? Share your experiences and pictures in the comments below!
Me and my dad were walking from the Williams and Mary bookstore because everything was closed. We were heading back towards the church and saw one of the taller grave stone a skull and under that was Abe Lincoln’s head. Coincidence, I think not. Then we heard something and someone was playing the organ in the church. It was closed and all the lights wear off. I don’t know what it was but I belive in the ghost stories I’ve heard now.
I know I am a little late in posting, but figured this was too good not to post! One evening after the streets were opened up for vehicular traffic (10pm), my family and I were driving in front of the Governor’s Palace. When we looked up to where the cupula was, we saw the silhouette of a man standing up there. He even walked around the cupula and stopped, places both hands on his hips and seemed to be looking down at us! Well, there was a security car parked out front, so we figured it was simply the guard making his nightly rounds.
Well, we circled back around and figured we would ask the security guard if that was indeed him we saw walking in the cupula tower. The security guard explained they only check the areas of the palace where tours go through (which would be just the first and second floors). He went on to explain you have to take a spiral staircase up to the higher floors and then a ladder to get up to where the cupula tower is located. Not only would it take a lengthy amount of time for anyone to go up and then come all the way back down, but the guard said there isn’t even a floor where we saw the man standing!!
Talk about freaked out! The palace used to serve as a hospital during the Civil War, and they would position a soldier in the cupula to keep lookout we learned later. Could this have been not a 18th century figure, but perhaps a 19th Civil War soldier?? The next day my mother came down with a terrible flu…perhaps an omen??
Whatever my family and I saw that night, one thing is for sure, we are all believers!!
Love Colonial Williamsburg!!
Ryan - what a great (and creepy) story! Thank you so much for sharing. Better late than never and we thank you for reading our blog.
What Mamma Joyce has said to be true and then some! Miss ya Momma Joyce….I have several stories, but not ones I’d leave posted here! Too good and both very vexing!
Oh come on, Jill. Can’t we twist your arm? Would love to hear them!
I recently went on the Tavern Ghost Tour- it was fun.
Ginny- We’re so glad you enjoyed it!
Last Halloween, a friend and I went to look at the Peyton Randolph house. Some other people were already in front of it when we got there, and they were running up to the door, knocking, and running away from it quickly, with squeals of fright. They invited us over, telling us that they’d been hearing knocks from inside in return to theirs. Sure enough, one of the women went up to the door, gave two raps, and immediately turned around to walk back to us. As soon as her back was turned, two quiet knocks and then a very loud one came from the other side of the front door. So spooky! The only way this could have been un-paranormal would be if there had been a person on the other side of the door, knocking back.
The loud knock sounded like someone slamming their open hand against the door.
Alana, thanks for sharing. Spooky, indeed!
When my husband and I were there for the Millieneum , we were walking down palace green one night after dinner at Kings Arms and I happened to take a picture of the Wythe House because it looked so pretty with the candles in the windows. When we returned home and had the pictures developed, there were white orbs in the 2nd floor windows………….. ghost or not? I would like to think perhaps a ghost or two!
Jeannie - quite a few people have taken pictures to later discover orbs in their images. What a creepy find! Do you still have the picture? We’d love to see it!
last October, right around Columnus Day, I took several photos of the Petton Randolph House very similar to the one you have posted here! Tried for almost an hour to debunk it, and couldn’t. Very strange.
Sarah, do you happen to still have the picture? We’d love to see it! You can upload it in the comment section.
One cold March night when a blue moon was illuminating Palace Green, I was the storyteller at the Wythe House. I went down to the break room after the first set of stories were done. As I relaxed with my book, I began to hear the attendant walking around the parlor over my head. I could hear her moving the chairs. “That’s odd,” I thought. “Maybe she got word from the program manager that we’re overbooked for the next set and she’s bringing in more chairs for the guests. I’d better go upstairs and help her set up.” But when I got upstairs to the parlor, the attendant was still resting in the window seat, just as I had left her. Startled to see me back so soon from my break, I explained to her what I’d heard. Her face blanched with fear and she said, “I haven’t moved from this window.”
Laurie - thank you for sharing!! We’ve heard so many similar stories from different storytellers and interpreters. Was that your only experience?
Pamela K. Kinney says
Since i did a year at Colonial Williamsburg and even did the Tavern ghost tour in August I had experiences and gotten a shadow of something at a window on the second floor (area at top of stairs) in Randolph House. Plus when I done a regular tour of the house, I had a weird personal experience, plus my recorder shut off at same time my husband was holding for me, and portrait in other room has a pinkish glowing orb (if was my camera’s flash would be white as any I’ve gotten before). This is all in my published ghost book, Virginia’s Haunted Historic Triangle: Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, & Other Haunted Locations. Had my recorder shut of and could not get it back on-palace green on a tour one October. Not in m y book, as happened a year after it came out. And I got a picture of a male figure with hair tied like ponytail in front of me, at the capitol one afternoon as took a tour. The tour had left me as they went downstairs and I was only one on that landing.