Virginia Halloween: historic ghostly apparitions

Virginia Halloween: historic ghostly apparitions

Virginia ranks at the top of the haunted places list from the National Register of Haunter Locations. Plan a Halloween tour now to Virginia's ante-bellum homes, formal gardens and cemeteries that concede encounters with the spirit world.

In the western mountainous region of Virginia, travelers seeking a spectral vision may find it at Camberley's Martha Washington Inn in the Southwest Blue Ridge Highlands town of Abingdon. This venerable establishment, built in the 1830s,s has harbored ghosts since Civil War times, according to many staff members.

Through the years, employees have reported seeing ghost-like apparitions throughout the elegant inn. During the Civil War, the building was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers. A young nursing student named Beth cared for one of the wounded Confederate soldiers. Nearing death, the soldier asked her to play the violin, and as she complied, he quietly passed away. Heartbroken, Beth died just a few weeks later, and it's said that the room where the soldier died has harbored her spirit since then.

On the campus of Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, written accounts report that tears were seen falling down the bronze face of the Sir Moses Ezekiel's statue of "Virginia Mourning Her Dead." Some say the statue mourns over the graves of the teen-aged VMI cadets who died in the Battle of New Market during the Civil War.

The statue isn't the only spooky VMI site. A cadet-accidentally locked up in Jackson Memorial Hall-claimed he saw figures moving on a large mural of the same battle and heard sounds and saw flashes of gunfire.

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, you're certain to enjoy a spirited trip in Virginia. This is but a sampling of Virginia's many haunted spots.

For more information, call the Virginia Tourism Corp., 800/932-5827 or 804/786-4484; or check the Internet at http://www.VIRGINIA.org