Ever wanted to sleep with ghosts of Williamsburg? They say Virginia is for lovers, and it is a great place to vacation. But wouldn’t you like to sleep around the ghosts of Williamsburg?
Unless you are taking a day trip, most vacationers need a place to stay overnight and for up to a week. That would include hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts. Unless the potential guest knows the history of the place, they might find more than a good sleep and a ghost tour at many of the locations in the Commonwealth.
They might discover unseen visitors trying to share the bed with them. I’m talking ghosts here. Colonial Ghost tours are popular in Williamsburg, as hundreds of visitors embark on a tour to hear one of 20 scary and true stories. But, others hope to catch a glimpse of something more, while a select few relish the thought of a closer encounter with the paranormal at a bed and breakfast or hotel.
Virginia has quite a few haunted hotels. Some have just one room that is haunted. Others, the whole hotel. Bed and breakfasts are where you get to sleep in a room, and the next morning, you are served a nice, hot breakfast by the owners. There are those that have more than wonderful hosts and a lovely setting. They have phantoms. So, is it sugar and cream with your cup of coffee or a headless ghost wandering by?
Discover more haunted hotels in Virginia on a Williamsburg ghost tour with Colonial Ghosts today!
Ghosts of Williamsburg
Williamsburg is a wonderful town to visit. It has plenty of places to stay, so after a day of tromping through Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, or Jamestown, visitors can be assured of a good night’s sleep. But I am sorry to say that many of these places have spooks.
Many hotels dot the landscape along Richmond Road in Williamsburg. Those staying in these buildings tell of seeing soldiers passing through their rooms. One woman on a ghost tour turned white told of her own experience. She had gone to get some ice, and when she returned to her room, a Confederate soldier walked by her in the hall.
He passed through the hotel wall and vanished! Another couple staying in a hotel woke up to the sound of someone going through their suitcase. They lay there frightened. Then the husband turned on the light, and they found clothing from the suitcases scattered across the floor.
What Haunted Hotels in Virginia Are Full of Ghosts?
Virginia is home to several haunted hotels, including Fort Magruder Hotel, where guests report ghostly soldiers from the Battle of Williamsburg roaming the halls. The Brick House Tavern, also in Williamsburg, has a chilling history of apparitions and eerie whispers linked to its colonial past. Then there’s the Boxwood Inn, one of the most haunted places in Virginia, where spirits of drain batteries of cameras and other equipment with ease.
Fort Magruder Hotel And Conference Center
Not just along Richmond Road either, Fort Magruder Hotel and Conference Center on Pocahontas Trail is haunted by many lively and, um, ‘spirited’ phantoms, mainly of the Civil War era. I can attest to that as someone who has stayed there and even investigated with ghost-hunting equipment. This is one of the most haunted hotels in Virginia.
Many of those working there have had their own experiences, as have guests. A woman who worked in the dining room never saw ghosts there but told me that some guests had told her something unusual at breakfast.
They had asked to be let out of their room after waking up to a Confederate soldier sitting on their bed.
People talk of an invisible someone running past them on the third floor late one night. Valuables disappear in the night and reappear in spots the people have searched.
The machines in the game room keep being straightened, only to be found moved crookedly. Figures have been seen and voices heard, both inside and outside, by the earthworks. This hotel is in the area where the Battle of Williamsburg happened, and skulls and Civil War relics were found when one part of the hotel ground was dug for a garden.
The 303 air-conditioned Fort Magruder Hotel and Conference Center guestrooms include complimentary newspapers and coffee/tea makers. Just know that when you rent a room at the hauntd Virginia hotel, you might get your chance to sleep with ghosts all night long.
Brick House Tavern
The Brick House Tavern, where one can sleep with ghosts as an alternative to the Colonial Williamsburg hotel, also has reports of paranormal activity. It is located on Duke of Gloucester (DOG) Street and has sixteen rooms; all have private, full baths.
The Brick House has been used as lodging ever since 1770. Back then, innkeeper Mary Davis advertised “12 or 14 very good lodging rooms” and noted that the first-floor rooms were reserved for ladies and the rooms above for gentlemen.
That meant that you were entitled to a meal and a place to sleep for the price. That did not mean you would have a private room, not even a private bed, for that matter. The standard price meant you would be sleeping with perfect strangers in the same bed, in a room that would house about twenty people.
If you had enough money to pay for “private accommodation,” you would sleep alone in your bed, but there would be multiple beds in the same room. Though supposedly you sleep alone in your bed at the building now, the spirits still act like it is 1770 and often share the bed with you!
Many strange occurrences take place in The Brick House Tavern. Footsteps are heard throughout the night, along with the sweet odor of tobacco (and it’s a non-smoking building!), and shadowy figures are seen. Lights often turn on and off, faucets are played with, and one woman even mentioned a man’s “stink.”
When this woman woke up and saw a man in breeches and long, greasy hair, she felt sorry for him until he tried to kiss her!
Market Square Tavern
Market Square Tavern is located on Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg, next door to Market Square and the Magazine. It has operated as a place of lodging since the eighteenth century. There are eleven rooms in all. Over the years, guests have heard tapping from inside the walls. Is it by paranormal means or animals inside the walls?
This spot once held the Greek Revival Church, a scene of horror during the Civil War. Many body parts were amputated in that church. Over two hundred bodies were buried in a mass grave and are still believed to be buried there today. It was a hellhole of a place. Though the church is no longer there, spirits of wounded soldiers are seen roaming the place, and their cries of anguish have been heard.
Sleep With Ghosts At Edgewood
Charles City is where you can tour plantations like Berkeley, Weston, and Shirley. There are also beds and breakfasts, and you can rent a room for a night or two, like North Bend Plantation and Edgewood Plantation. Just be forewarned that you might not be the only person to use that room at night.
At Edgewood, the ghost of Lizzie Rowland, daughter of Spencer Rowland, who built the house, haunts the place. She is joined by a ghost dog outside and another little girl. The land was once used to house the enslaved people of the plantation, so could the little girl be a slave child?
Sleep With Ghosts at Boxwood Inn Bed and Breakfast
A whopping total of seven spirits haunt the Boxwood Inn Bed and Breakfast in Newport News. The energy connected to it is strong. How strong? It was strong enough to drain new batteries in my camera after I had only taken one picture. This occurred in April 2014 during a paranormal event called Paracon. It is not a stretch to claim that the Boxwood Inn is one of the most haunted hotels in America.
Boxwood Inn is within easy reach of Williamsburg and Yorktown, in Historic Lee Hall Village. It is a lovely haunted bed and breakfast with the front-facing train tracks. In its past, it was once upon a time the home of Simon and Edith Curtis. One of them has not left the building since.
Edith and Other Spirits
Built around 1896, the Boxwood Inn has been the Warrick County Hall of Records, a general store, and a post office. The front door led into the general store, the post office, and even Simon’s office.
Edith’s family was from up North and into antiques. When the place was empty for ten years, and an auction was held of what was inside, they found four million dollars worth of them!
Edith spent her last days there with a nurse who smoked a lot and had a raspy voice. It is said the nurse also haunts the place. A couple once smelled smoke so strong that they asked if smoking was allowed there.
Kathryn and her husband, Derek Hulick, along with their daughter and son-in-law, took over Boxwood Inn on December 1, 2000. They didn’t believe it to be haunted, not at first. But soon, with paranormal investigators wanting to investigate it, they learned much differently.
The gentle spirit here is said to be Nannie Curtis. It is said that doors open and close all by themselves, thanks to Nannie. Nannie is also blamed for knocking on doors in the morning. Apparently, she does not believe in sleeping late. There are also stories of a phantom of an elderly gentleman with a cane being spotted.
We welcome you to stay at this lovely, haunted Virginia B&B. It’s in a nice spot right by the tracks. Just don’t be surprised when you rent a room and try to sleep late; Nannie will knock on your door to wake you up!
Haunted Williamsburg
Next time you visit Williamsburg, stay in one of the haunted hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts. We encourage you to sleep with ghosts to experience something unusual and unexplainable. Hit the streets once you’ve had enough of your spectral sleepover on a Williamsburg ghost tour! Our experienced tour guides will give you the rundown on who or what may have kept you up all night.
In the meantime, keep reading our blog for information on all the haunted places in Williamsburg. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for even more spooky content!
Sources:
- http://www.fortmagruderhotel.com/
- https://hauntedhouses.com/virginia/the-brick-house-tavern/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshiels/2016/09/28/haunted-house-overnight-stay-do-you-dare/
- https://frightfind.com/edgewood-plantation/
- https://www.virginiahauntedhouses.com/real-haunt/boxwood-inn.html