Virginia’s Most Haunted Colonial Town
Before the turmoil that ensued with colonization, the region was a lively enclave of human habitation with Native American tribes scattered up and down the coast. Those who ruled in what would become Middle Plantation, and then Williamsburg, were known as the Powhatan Confederacy and its history is as ancient as time. Like time, it is filled with immeasurable tragedies and insurmountable bloodshed.
Many of the first colonial settlers in America starved to death in Virginia’s cold winter, fought bloody battles during decades of feuds and war with the Native population, or died of disease and plague long before Middle Plantation became Williamsburg, the capital of the Virginia colony and the wealthy and corrupt ruling elite. The foundations of the land they struggled and survived to build into the beginning of America had to be first baptized in blood and infamy. In those real, violent, and tragic events is the story of a sinister past overflowing with otherworldly phenomena that blend the dark, the haunted, and the historical into a black hole of ghostly encounters and hauntings that occur each night on Williamsburg’s forsaken colonial streets.
This land full of violence, scars, blood, and unmarked graves has been cursed by the black deeds of those who lived and died in its borders time and time again over the course of 400 long years.
Join Colonial Ghosts on a dark and ominous night-time ghost adventure and uncover the details of how the earth on which Historic Williamsburg now sits has been drowned in buckets of blood and mountains of corpses long before the Revolutionary War — and how its inhabitants have kept up with that terrible tradition ever since.
What Will I see?
Historic Streets Become Harrowing Shadows of Williamsburg’s Past
Williamsburg is one of the world’s most haunted cities in America and underneath its cobblestone historic streets, restored colonial architecture, and lively patriotic façade, there is something truly frightening waiting to be revealed in the shadows of the 400-year-old town.
One of Virginia’s first capitals, historic Williamsburg is a town full of terrors and historical wrongs where the ruling elite locked people in the debilitating, squalid conditions of one of the country’s first mental institutions. One, an English aristocrat named “Mad Lucy” even claimed friendship with then-Governor and future President Thomas Jefferson, before losing her mind and eventually her soul, which still haunts the property and building where she went mad.
This early colonial community also endlessly persecuted women as witches and even jailed and tormented one of the accused, Grace Sherwood, for almost two decades. You can still hear her pleading her case in the shadows of the Old Courthouse, whispering “It wasn’t me…it wasn’t me…it wasn’t me.”
Buried Secrets Rise From the Ashes
Colonial Ghosts tour takes you just outside the gates of the foreboding Governor’s Palace which housed generations of Virginia governors, from Alexander Spotswood who was a pirate hunter and responsible for the capture and killing of Blackbeard himself, to Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, who walked the colonial streets on the eve of the Revolutionary War.
The palace would be abandoned in 1780 and, during the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, would be used as a makeshift hospital before burning to the ground in December of that year. Its restoration more than 150 years later unearthed 158 skeletons, the remains of American soldiers who perished while being treated for their war wounds. The unrest is palpable, with the stench of lingering flames still being smelled by patrons and phantom lights being seen in the upstairs windows.
Evil in The Flesh.. And The Mystic
Of course, the Governor’s Palace isn’t the only building in Williamsburg that’s been tarnished by tragedy and death. Encounter the city’s most haunted hot spot, the Peyton Randolph House, considered by USA Today to be one of the most haunted houses on the East Coast–and by others to be the site of a vortex of evil–and hear the disturbing cries of the dead that will live in your subconscious.
Since its establishment in 1715, the Peyton Randolph House has been the site of over two dozen deaths and continues to be home to these unfortunate souls. Hear authentic, bone-chilling accounts of real victims and villains such as that of the evil Mrs. Randolph who allegedly tortured her slave, Eve, igniting an evil that was already buried deep beneath the foundations of the town when a Native American burial ground was first disrespected and disturbed.
From these events the darkness spread, engulfing many in its path. Death showed no mercy, claiming a pair of quarreling men, two young children that died in the same manner, and a civil war veteran who perished under mysterious circumstances, just to name a few. The home’s macabre series of death manifests itself, terrorizing those unfortunate enough to experience it. Reports include a security guard being accosted by a disembodied roar followed by being anchored to the ground by an invisible force for over 10 excruciating minutes before help arrived. His tale is actually part of the training for incoming security guards of the Randolph House, and it’s just one of many you’ll hear on the Colonial Ghosts tour.
Why is Williamsburg So Haunted?
A Horrific History of Victims, Villains, and Violence
What happened in the years before America’s birth is mostly lost in lore, what occurred just after its foundation is the stuff of real ghost stories. Discover the Bruton Parish Church, a not-so-safe space that has been the site of deceit, debauchery, and death. The church’s wicked turn began with a less-than-honorable preacher, Reverend Jones, who remarried immediately following the death of his wife, breaking his promise to Mrs. Jones. The spirit of Mrs. Jones is frequently seen roaming the grounds, sobbing in agony, unable to rest as a result of her husband’s callousness.
Her soul isn’t the only tormented entity that remains on church grounds. In 1862 the church was used as a hospital for both Union and Confederate soldiers. It’s said that several soldiers are buried on the grounds with about 100 confederate soldiers resting in a mass burial site. Resting may be a bit of a stretch as sightings of their apparitions are a common occurrence throughout the grounds. However, none are as terrifying as the sight of the disturbing red eyes of the hanged man. Not only will you hear this tale on the tour, but you may just catch a sighting yourself.
America’s First Ghost Town Hidden in A Living History Museum
It didn’t help that the colonial ghost town was restored and rebuilt to its exact specifications 300 years later. A living history museum, and a dominion of the dead in a literal ghost town.
Visit this colonial landmark, one that houses the unrelenting dead, and travel to some of the most haunted places in Virginia. Walk down streets that serve as a final burial ground to tens of thousands and visit peaceful neighborhoods where cries of pain, suffering, and the cacophony of cannon fire reigned during the Revolutionary War.
Walk down colonial streets where raving madmen and deranged women howled at the moon and drove orderly insane in one of the US’ first mental asylums. You’ll discover gruesome tales, not fiction, in each corner of Colonial Williamsburg. A place where ghosts like Dr. Galt, the longtime head of the Eastern State Lunatic Asylum, continue to have brain hemorrhages that leave stained carpets for housekeepers to discover each morning. The bigger problem is that Dr. Galt died over 150 years ago from a laudanum overdose.
This terrifying adventure into the hallowed alcoves of this patriotic colonial town starts with an educational tour-de-force meant to unearth some of the real tragedies, unbelievable heroics, and the most shocking hauntings that this former capital of the dominion of Virginia still hides.
What’s so special about the Williamsburg Ghost tour?
A Once-in-a-lifetime experience — An adventure you’ll cherish ‘till the end.
Come with our guides, as we travel through wind-swept avenues, and stand under the brick colonial buildings once honored by the presence of John Smith, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and hundreds more. You will hear, see, and experience something unique, unforgettable, and maybe a bit spooky. Encounter the ghosts and specters, the figures that still call Colonial Williamsburg their home.
Each stop has its own take on what it means to be haunted. No two are the same. From romantic interludes and lovers that can never again cross paths, to the ravings of madmen and women stuck in their final resting place. Get ready to feel your skin crawl and for a bout of sleepless nights.
See a different side of a Ghostly Historic Destination
Before the sun sets, you’ll walk down the centuries-old Duke of Gloucester Street from Merchant Square to the Old Magazine to the Capitol and see the hustle and bustle of reenactors and interpreters painting the picture of colonial life in Williamsburg. If you don’t want the stories you hear and the encounters experience at home to be the same as every other visitor to Williamsburg, hop on a ghost tour of Williamsburg with Colonial Ghosts to learn the real history of Williamsburg and hear the raw, authentic accounts of terror and tragedy in one of the oldest colonial towns and capitals in America.
Listen wide-eyed as you hear the story of the real Blackbeard and his crew of pirates and how he and his crew met their bitter end in 1719, as British naval forces under the command of Lieutenant Robert Maynard managed to defeat the terror of the high seas at a bloody battle near Ocracoke Island.
Blackbeard was executed, his body quartered and his head treated with concoctions, and piked on the mast of his old ship “Queen Anne’s Revenge” for the world to see. Some say patrons of the Raleigh Tavern on Duke of Gloucester street could pay to take a sip from a cup made from his skull, handed down from Governor Spotswood to his favorite tavern keeper.
If you really want to see a new side of a familiar destination, this is your chance. Book Now!
Be Part of A Growing Ghostly Community
Journey with us through Colonial Williamsburg’s haunted past — a history laid bare on every site. Explore one of our country’s oldest locations. Book this once-in-a-lifetime experience, and be part of a growing community of investigators of the afterlife and of those who hunt ghosts.
If you’d like to walk the haunted streets of Colonial Williamsburg and see the Burg under a new light, book your tour with US Ghost Adventures today.
Experience the unexplained — many of our guests bear witness to the unknown. Become one of them tonight.