Footsteps. Toys. Voices. All have been heard at the Peyton Randolph House in the dead of night when no one is supposed to be there. Who are the ghostly figures living in the historic house?
A lot of stories are floating around (pun intended) about ghostly inhabitants of the home. From children to adults and everyone in between, several people have died on the property. Stories of murder and accidents surround the home and it’s hard to say what is really true and what’s not.
What I am quite certain of is some kind of presence in the house. It’s not called the most haunted home on the eastern seaboard for nothing. Whenever I go inside I’m always glad it’s not during the witching hour. It’s spooky enough during the day.
Everyone has heard some rendition of a Colonial Williamsburg employee encountering something in the home. One story includes a security guard checking on the home at night well after closing time. He entered the home and shut and locked the door behind him, as protocol. While he was in the home, he heard footsteps upstairs. He called out, but heard no reply.
Many guests have taken pictures and swear they spot a figure in a window. Recently a visitor, Catherine Horne, sent me photos of the home. She and her partner were visiting the States in August and stopped in Williamsburg. “This may seem very strange, but as I was looking through our vacation photos a couple of days ago I noticed something odd in a burst of five photos I had taken near the Peyton Randolph house,” Catherine said. “In the bottom left window there is what appears to be a little ghostly face staring out of the bottom window pane.”
Do you see it? How about now?
What Catherine didn’t know was this is a very common occurrence among visitors. When I assured her she wasn’t alone, she was relieved.
Do you have any stories of your own from your experiences in the house? Share them in the comments. And if you don’t have any yet, you can come on an Official Colonial Williamsburg Ghost Walk, where you will be able to stand inside the gates of the property at night, unlike any other ghost tour that may come through our public streets. Tickets are only $5 for the entire month of October.
In October of 2014, I chaperoned my son’s 8th grade class to Washington DC and surrounding areas. Our group visited Williamsburg during our trip. I had made sure to charge my smart phone prior to exiting the tour bus to begin our Williamsburg visit. Approximately 15 minutes later the tour guide pointed out the Randolph House and mentioned it was one of the most haunted houses on the East Coast. Upon hearing that, I took a photo with my fully charged cell phone. We continued our walk to the shopping district, probably a 10 minute walk. I happened to look at my phone and discovered my battery now had 15% battery power and all the apps on my phone had disappeared!!! Even my phone app was gone! About 30 minutes later I was able to retrieve my apps , but it was very a weird feeling that something had targeted my phone as I took a photo and nearly drained my battery and temporarily scrambled my phone apps!!
Larry and Zack
I got an almost identical photo at Peyton Randolph house in August!!!
I have the originals. I’d love to share them with someone from the official tour. I tried emailing and filling out the contact form on the CW website, but no one responded.
I have a picture from my honeymoon (almost 2 years ago now) of the Peyton Randolph house during a walking ghost tour late at night. I’d love to share it with you! There’s definitely some eerie things going on there! Can’t wait to come back! My husband and I certainly saw something and a few photos show something(s). I’d love to stay in the house at night.
We took that tpur a time or two. The 2nd time, we had to leave about the time we got to this house (I had recently had gall bladder surgery). I was never so glad to get out of the bathroom!!!! I wasn’t alone!!! My fiance laughed at me!!
We were there 8/20/15-8/25/15, we took a night time ghost tour one evening and both of my kids (aged 13 & 10) swore they saw someone in a large brimmed hat walk past the lower left window (dark shadow they both said). They thought the tour was a waste of time till that moment.
It’s definitely something several people say they’ve seen!
Me and my wife went on this tour a year back, dead of night and as the haunted tour guide told us about the house and its occupants, something actually reached out and grabbed my ankle. I am quite sure the place is haunted, would definitely not want to visit inside the house day or night, period. Out side is fine by me.
I don’t know how I would have reacted to that, Joshua!
We were in Williamsburg this summer with our daughters. We took the kid friendly tour the previous night, but wandered on our own on this night. We came upon a ghost tour at the Randolph house and listened in. After hearing about someone answering a knock on the front door with a ghostly knock, my two teenage daughters and I tried it (while my wife and 10yo daughter stood far back). When we got no reply at the door we began to mock the idea of a ghost and knocked on the side door. Again no reply. As we walked away, my wife yelled out and said she felt something cold and wet felt wrap around her leg! We thought nothing of it until we researched the house and saw that this had been reported on several other occasions. We will no longer be mocking the inhabitants of the Randolph House!
Oh I love a great ghost story and haunted houses too, as long as they have great color 🙂
Donna, I am a big fan of ghost stories myself. Can’t get enough of them and we have so many!