When you think of horror in the US, you mind might go to states such as Pennsylvania, Louisiana, California, New York, Florida, Massachusetts… but what if I told you that Virginia was a force to reckon with when it came to haunted history?
Since the early 1600s, Virginia was a place built on blood. Colonization, war, disease, slavery — all of these things contributed to form a dark red stain on the Commonwealth, one that persists today through film. Virginia actually has a few movies set here, including Mama (2013), The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016), Cherry Falls (2000), The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014), and parts of The Silence of the Lambs (1991). One of my favorite film shout outs is a small snippet in the opening credits of 2013’s The Purge that mentions the city I grew up in!
“But that’s just the movies!” you may say. Aiight, bet; Virginia is spooky in real life too.
Everywhere you go, there are ghost tours and haunted homes. From the economic hub in the north, down to the coastal beaches and straight over to the mountains, there is some ghost story to tell. Williamsburg, part of Virginia’s Historic Triangle and an admittedly amazing historical vacation destination, gets a lot of attention — not just for its beauty and attention to detail in the preservation of this country’s history, but for its bleak past and propensity for visitors to experience paranormal activity from a bygone era. The Travel Channel details just a small few haunted happenings around the area.
The Bunny Man Bridge is a more obscure, but much more frightening tale. In short, a man dressed in a bunny suit was said to attack passers-by under a small railway overpass. Compared to the Revolutionary-era sightings that most of Northern and Coastal Virginia sees, this tale is relatively recent; that said, it’s gotten to be such a captivating — and scary — story that it even has its own Wikipedia page.
Virginia is special in that it has five vastly different regions: Tidewater (Atlantic Coast), Piedmont (rolling hills and rivers), Blue Ridge Mountains (mountains, obviously), Valley and Ridge (caves), and the Appalachian Plateau (sitting atop the mountains). Each area has been occupied at different times, by different people, and has a different culture to it. That means that the spooky stories that come from one place are no match for another, all within the same state! For example, if George Washington walking around the grounds of Mt. Vernon doesn’t phase you, try the Woman in Black or the haunted Patrick Henry Hotel, both in Roanoke. Just as other states have a spooky lady, haunted hotel, creepy woods, or spectered theatre, Virginia has it too, sometimes, all in the same city.
The motto “Virginia is for Lovers” was created to describe how Virginia has an activity for everyone: Virginia is for history lovers, beach lovers, shopping lovers, food lovers, etc. And this is true. But let’s not forget that underneath all of this good, this state lies on a bed of flesh, one that leaks and shows itself through paranormal means. Virginia is for Lovers, alright… lovers of the macabre, lovers of the dark, lovers of horror.
Have you visited one of Virginia’s many haunted sites? Tell us about it in the comments!
